Book excerpt: Anderson-Green (English, Kennesaw State U.) tells the stories of several legendary performers and instrument makers from the Upper New River Valley-Whitetop Mountain region. With a focus on performers from Alleghany and Ashe Counties in North Carolina and Carroll and Grayson Counties in Virginia, she reveals how they started to bring the music of Appalachia to a wider audience well before the emergence of Nashville as a country music center, and she relates the experiences and values behind the practice of this musical heritage. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR