Cheri Lawson

2 weeks ago | weku.org | Cheri Lawson

For nearly five decades this married couple has been entertaining audiences with old-time music while raising awareness and challenging injustice. In 1977, Bev Futrell, Karen Jones, and three other women formed Reel World String Band. At their home in Lexington, Futrell and Jones play a song Futrell wrote in the mid-80s called Crank’s Creek. It’s set in Harlan County and focuses on strip mining and flooding. Futrell said their songs were always full of messages.

1 month ago | weku.org | Cheri Lawson

It’s a warm, windy spring day at Martin Luther King Park in Lexington, where dozens of kids and adults are enjoying the outdoors. The day is hosted by the Red Oaks Forest School, a non-profit organization in central and eastern Kentucky. Tina Brouwer-Kraska is the executive director and founder. She said the school’s mission is to connect people to nature and community through education, exploration, and play.

1 month ago | weku.org | Cheri Lawson

It’s a Wednesday evening at the Starlight Theater in Berea. On stage, four actresses sit around a long white piece of tobacco canvas draped across a quilting frame with sewing baskets at their feet. The play contains six scenes, each representing a certain time-period, from the Revolutionary War until the present day. Production assistant Kat Davis directs scene two, which represents the Civil War. Susan Crumbaugh was a slave in Kentucky during that time and lived to be 102 years old.

2 months ago | weku.org | Cheri Lawson

Musical performances, traditional old-time jam sessions, square dancing, shape-note singing, poetry readings, and workshops are examples of what’s to come this weekend at the 2025 Lexington Gathering. Kentucky award-winning musician Brett Ratliff will lead a Songs of Struggle and Resistance workshop.

2 months ago | weku.org | Cheri Lawson

Central Kentucky’s Young at Heart Big Band opens its show at Porter Memorial Baptist Church with its theme song, Young at Heart. With white hair, a goatee, and wearing a blue sports coat, ninety-seven-year-old George Ely sits between two other band members and plays his saxophone. Ely is the oldest member and president of the group. “It has given me something to do. I’ve been in the band now for 31 years and it keeps me busy. I enjoy it and fellowship, obviously the fellowship,” said Ely.