"Appalachian Folk Tales" Compiled and Edited By Loyal Jones

Loyal Jones was one of the small handful of individuals who created the field of Appalachian Studies during his lifetime. There were perhaps no aspects of Appalachian Culture which Loyal Jones could not disucss cogently and clearly on a moment's notice. But Appalachian Folk Tales was an area about which he produced only a small amount of writing despite being a well known public speaker on both Appalachian Folk Tales and Appalachian Humor. He also cowrote several books on Appalachian Humor with song writer and playwright Billy Edd Wheeler. But this little book of a mere 117 pages constitutes the majority of his work on the title topic. "Appalachian Folk Tales" was published by the Jesse Stuart Foundation in 2020 only three years before his death at 95. The book was marketed as an introductory text on the subject for grade school aged children to "...delight and inform the children of today". The roughly three page "Note To Parents And Teachers" which serves as an introduction or foreword to the book was dated by Loyal Jones as having been written in 2010. The book contains a total of twelve Appalachian Folk Tales as told by several of the prominent experts over the last half century or so. Two of the stories have Loyal Jones listed as their author although the tale "Mutsmeg" is described in his introduction to it as having been publicly told by at least four other leading experts on Appalachian Folk Tales including Cratis Williams and Leonard Roberts who were two of the most skilled in the genre. Loyal Jones' introduction to "Jack Goes a-Hunting" describes it as having been either told or written in both "...Old World and American folk tale collections". Every tale in this little book is worth hearing and remembering. Each of them is a shining example of the folk tales which have been told and passed down from generation to generation in Appalachia ever since Old World settlers first came to this country. This book can serve as an introduction to Appalachian Folk Tales for anyone interested in the subject at any age. It is a great place to start if you know little about the topic and want the base of your knowledge to be well grounded from the beginning. Enjoy it!

Loyal Jones Photograph Above Copyrighted by Roger D. Hicks