# LOCAL FOCAL // Last Wisps of the Old Ways

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699/local-focal-last-wisps-of-the-old-ways
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699/local-focal-last-wisps-of-the-old-ways.md
Podcast: [American Songcatcher](https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699)
Published: 2023-03-26T08:30:07+00:00
Episode link: https://a1526ccb-749b-4804-ba7b-a9ed7525149e.libsyn.com/local-focal-last-wisps-of-the-old-ways
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/a1526ccb-749b-4804-ba7b-a9ed7525149e/319656296-44100-2-6040d284d990c.m4a?dest-id=5194670
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/american-songcatcher-688699/episodes/local-focal-last-wisps-of-the-old-ways
Duration seconds: 1081

## Resource

Today, we proudly present the first installment of the LOCAL FOCAL series, where we're collaborating with artists to share musical stories from different locations throughout America - in celebration of the parts that make up the whole fabric of American music history. First up, we're bringing you the works of Derek Piotr , a folklorist and musician who's been deep in research about a particular family of tradition-bearers from Avery County, North Carolina that have a lineage to Frank Proffitt, a key figure in Appalachian old time preservation. I was taken with Derek's story not only because by comparison, he's rather young in the immersive world of musicology, but also because of his unique interest in what's called Auto-Ethnography, which goes beyond detailed field notes and recordings, by linking the fieldwork to your own emotional life. A few years ago, Derek curated a compilation concerning this family, Last Wisps of the Old Ways , which intertwined field recordings he made with archival recordings of the family's lineage from The Library of Congress. Before that, he was merely preserving the legacy of his grandmother with a flip phone. His winding path to field recordings and eventually creating the Fieldwork Archive is a humbling journey. Last Wisps of the Old Ways Fieldwork Archive Official Support Independent Programming! Join the Patreon for as little as $1 a month! Send a one-time donation through Venmo or PayPal Follow American Songcatcher | Instagram | TikTok Credits: Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, Editing, Recording and Distribution Derek Piotr - Writing, Recording, Research

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/american-songcatcher-688699/episodes/local-focal-last-wisps-of-the-old-ways/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699/local-focal-last-wisps-of-the-old-ways.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.