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Written by a dozen different authors, Headwaters and Hardwoods is sometimes uneven, as is the quality ofthe plentiful photographs and especially the maps and illustrations, but the story of the region and its people is never uninteresting. Studies similar to this one are uncovering local history across America, including folklife studies in many Kentucky counties, and the value ofthe work is a depth, detail, and personalization not found in more geographically comprehensive studies. —Garry Barker Boyd S. Ray. Blue Mountains and Green Valleys. Kearney, Nebraska: Morris Publishing, 1996. 105 pages. Paperback. $8.95. StoryteUers remain as much a part ofthe Appalachian experience as biscuits and gravy, dulcimers and folk songs. Outsiders often marvel at the abiUty of the natives to spin a spellbinding yarn, complete with sharp images, rhythmic language, and deeply satisfying punch Unes. Rarely, however, does the storyteUer write down the tales for aU the world to read. As one ofthe few to do that, Boyd S. Ray, a native of die East Tennessee hills around Johnson County, has gathered together stories and accounts of his life during the Great Depression. Overall, he has a knack for telling tales with vivid images and twists of plot that, when used expertly, place the storyteller at the reader's elbow, so richly he resonates in the reader's mind. Such a story, originally published in Appalachian Heritage, is "The Great Bean Adventure," which recounts the adventures of Boyd's favorite character, his father, as he struggles to grow a crop never before grown commercially in East Tennessee. While readers might assume that the focus in the story would be upon the ultimate success ofthe project and its influence on the local economy (an economy badly in need of a new crop), instead, most ofthe tale narrates the ingenious ways his father confronts and eventually outsmarts those who would try to take advantage of what they considered to be a "dumb hillbilly." Equally entertaining is "The Ray Medicine Company," a piece that focuses on the author's patent medicine business, an endeavor that boasted a liniment guaranteed "to be an effective remedy for the treatment of all the common forms of Rheumatism, such as Lumbago, Sciatica, articular, acute, and chronic, Neuritis, Arthritis, Neuralgia, inflammatory and muscular, as well as strains," a sort of medicine chest in a bottle. To hawk this cure-all, Boyd's father employed a hillbilly band that played live on the 67 radio station located some fifty miles away. And always looking out for a way to sell more of the potent tonic, "Daddy" decided that all those people suffering from various conditions luring them to Hot Springs, Arkansas, would be great potential customers. Little did he realize that the last thing the businesses in Hot Springs wanted was someone selling some medicine tiiat would cure all the spa patrons. Boyd's father returned home, Boyd says, disappointed and without much "enthusiasm for the Uniment and for any effort to sustain any business he had with it." While some other stories center on the author's father, they are not nearly as satisfying as "The Great Bean Adventure" and "The Ray Medicine Company." Occasionally, the stories deftly build toward an artful climax, only to fizzle in the last few lines. Proofreading errors add to the difficulties of some stories and draw the reader's attention to the misspelling , for example, rather than to the tale itself. One full page of text is completely missing, several words are misused—all unfortunate mistakes for a book with such wit and grace. Fortunately, though, most ofthe stories display only minor errors that allow the author to get on with the business of telling readers what life was like during a difficult time in one ofthe nation's poorest regions. In a later piece, in a section called "Tales Worth TeIUn'," "Jake looked at Boscoe and Boscoe looked at Jake" Boyd carves a finely crafted story about two young college students out to make some much-needed cash. Boscoe, a Bible salesman with a gift for scheming, cleverly manages to get paid for the same Bible three times. While it may be difficult to defend Boscoe's underhanded ways, the story...

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