Radio Series
Cumberland Mountain Memories

Roadside Theater's original, six-part radio series, Cumberland Mountain Memories, aired on WMMT-FM in November 2002 and April 2003.

"After one hundred years, this story is still vital," says Ron Short, series producer. "The issues of economy and culture are still being questioned, and with the demise of the coal industry economy, our cultural history becomes even more important as we look toward our future."

The Cumberland Mountain Memories radio series features stories from Roadside's original play, Red Fox/Second Hangin', the story of M.B. "Doc" Taylor, the Red Fox of the Cumberlands. Taylor was a red-haired, red-bearded popular preacher, medical doctor, herb doctor, religious mystic, and U.S. marshall who was hanged in the Appalachian Mountains of Wise County, Virginia in 1893 for the alleged ambush murder of moonshiner Iry Mullins and his family.

Red Fox/Second Hangin', written by founding Roadside members Dudley Cocke and Don Baker, was pieced together from history books, old newspaper accounts, theretofore lost court records, and, most importantly, from conversations with the people who knew Doc Taylor or who had memorized stories passed down by close kin.

The play, Red Fox/Second Hangin', premiered in 1976, toured the US, received national critical acclaim, and enjoyed two successful runs off-Broadway in New York City.

The New York Times called the play, "as stirring to the audience for its historical detective work as for the vanishing art of frontier yarn spinning."

The November 2002 broadcast of Cumberland Mountain Memories was accompanied by a special edition of WMMT's Mountain Talk, a live public-affairs call in show airing Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Mountain Talk featured a discussion on the historical significance of the Red Fox story, including an examination of Doc Taylor's predictions for the region as coalmining continued relatively unchecked. The show featured Short, Cocke, and Ed Baker, grandson of Doc Taylor.