Loyal Jones is the author of numerous books on Appalachian culture, including Country Music Humorists and Comedians. He served as director of the Appalachian Center at Berea College for twenty-three years.
"The reader will come away entranced, enchanted and captivated in
addition to becoming well-versed in the lives and contributions of
the pioneers in Appalachian folklore."--Appalachian Mountain
Books
"My Curious and Jocular Heroes . . . effectively describes the ways
that oral traditions contribute to a sense of place, and it is a
fitting tribute to its subjects, who made the compilation of those
traditions their life's work." --Journal of Appalachian Studies
"The strength of the volume rests in Jones's personal knowledge and
analyses of the four men. Beyond that the book is replete with
scores of tales, jokes, songs, and close readings of obscure words
and their derivation. It is a gold mine for those who appreciate
the region's culture." --North Carolina Historical Review "
"Anyone who appreciates entertaining stories, plaintive ballads,
and ribald humor will enjoy this collection of biographies of four
of the pre-eminent folklorists of Appalachia. . . .The charm of the
book lies in the ballads, tales, humorous stories and songs
accompanying each of the short profiles." --Southeastern
Librarian
"The strength of Jones's book is his familiarity with each of his
subjects, three of whom he knew personally, and two of
whom--Williams and Roberts--he knew well. Jones's intimate
knowledge of each man and his work makes his scholarly essays about
them read more like memoir than scholarship, though the essays are
indeed scholarly." --West Virginia History
“Loyal Jones’s engaging collection of biographies brings to life
four prominent figures of twentieth-century Appalachian folkways
whose names will be familiar to many readers but only distantly.
This is a major contribution to the study of America’s most
distinctive regional culture.”—Norm Cohen, author of Long Steel
Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong
"The colorful tales, anecdotes, word lore, customs, riddles, and
songs that Loyal Jones has chosen bring us into the humor, accents,
and often ribald color that marks our first frontier and its
inhabitants."—Stephen Wade, author of The Beautiful Music All
Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience
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