Appalachian 20th Century Series

With the goal to illuminate the Appalachian experience over the course of a hundred years, Adam's Appalachian 20th Century series is a cycle of original program-length neo-traditional stories about our people and their situations. Each piece retells two traditional stories in new clothing, sets them in a different decade around actual historical events, and incorporates regional music and/or folklore. Each story is available for its own concert.

These concert pieces are intended for mature audiences and are best received in enclosed spaces, such as small theaters, black box spaces, art galleries, and house concerts. 

New decade stories will be added to this list as they are created and enter Adam’s touring repertoire. 

The Stories

  • Blind John

    1900s: A Ballad, combining Faust and John Henry
    runtime: 55 minutes
    artwork by Omar Williams

    Blind John's reputation as a womanizer and masterful musician precedes him through the south in juke joints, prisons, and churches. There is mystery in where his musical ability came from as well as this new style of blue music he performs. Rumors swirl about an unholy pact and his legendary father.

    As his finishing time draws nigh, John must make a spiritual trek to the Great Bend Tunnel and face his own demons along the way: his mother, the church, the men and women he has wronged, and the man he is deceiving into taking over his deal with the Devil.

    Dedicated to Susan Gordon.

  • Ashton

    1920s: A tragedy, combining Ashpet and Orpheus
    runtime: 55 minutes
    artwork by Or Gotham

    Ashton's musical life in a small coal town is forever changed when record company representative Ralph Peer comes collecting mountain music in Bristol. With love for her coal-miner husband Billy at her core, Ashton hitches a train and ventures to the city with her mountain songs and hope for a better life.

    Hopeful, touching, and sad, this piece brings listeners to laughter and tears. Ashton is also available as a live recording.

    Dedicated to Elizabeth Ellis.

    PURCHASE CD $12

    PURCHASE DIGITAL ALBUM $8

  • Daniel the Great

    1980s: A thriller, combining The Prodigal Son and Daniel & the Writing On The Wall
    runtime: 55 - 65 minutes
    artwork by Karen Gergely

    Danny works as a midway fortune teller for a traveling carnival, drawing upon his experiences as a child in the Pentecostal church. When the fair makes a stop in east Kentucky, he returns home after many years to find his preacher father has died, his brother Thad has taken over their holler's spiritual life, and their church is suffering from inner turmoil that his presence has caused. As the summer rains fall around the church, so do the reins of control.

  • Mr. Patches

    1990s: A plot twist, combining Joseph with Prometheus
    runtime: 55 minutes
    artwork by Adam Booth

    A small-town’s neighborhood school is saved from demolition when it is retrofitted into low-income assisted living apartments for senior citizens. Hope is a nurse who works in the very same school building she attended as a girl. It is there she discovers her new patient is Mr. Patches, the mesmerizing school storyteller from her childhood. Hope slowly unwinds his secret past - and her future - in this tale set in the present with vivid flashbacks to the 1990s in Appalachia and the 1940s in Europe.

    Dedicated to my mother, Terri Booth.

Have Insurance Will Travel

Great News!

Adam carries a Performers' Liability insurance policy and can travel with his own sound equipment depending on distance and availability. Pricing will depend on length and number of programs as well as distance to travel. Simply contact us at education@adam-booth.com to initiate a discussion so that we can create thought-provoking programs for your listeners!