Born & Bred is not a magazine like you’re holding in your hands.
Since its retroactively bold conception in 2019 as a Grafton, West Virginia-based music festival and live concert series, the brand has been paused, cancelled, resuscitated, redefined to include statewide talent and broadened to feature a blog, a podcast and a variety of events designed to showcase musical talent.
“It would be more accurate to say we’re an online magazine and kind of a multimedia platform,” said art director and co-owner Maria Cusack, who spoke with me along with editor and co-owner Brendan Gallagher as they renovated their seasoned studio space in Shinnston, WV.
The location of the studio was a direct result of Brendan and Maria’s foresight for visuals. As early as they conceived a magazine, a video concert series was in the pre-pre-pre-planning stage, and no video concert series could take shape without an accommodating venue. Theirs is a spacious, homey hole off main street, with plenty of rustic carpet and dusty vinyl to satiate traveling artists and audiences alike.
Suffice to say, the place was already a mood before Mtn Craft was brought in to film “Stomping Grounds” session one in 2024. Known for providing high-quality commercial production to WV businesses big and small, Mtn Craft worked with Brendan and Maria to bring statewide performers to small-screen streaming, wrapping up session two this past spring.
“I thought that I could do it with a phone and some photography lighting, and it’d be great,” Brendan told me. “I’m so glad that I never recorded a single one of these with a cell phone, because I would look back and hate myself.”
Think of Stomping Grounds like West Virginia’s answer to a moodier Tiny Desk, lending the big production, controlled venue treatment to local acts who play to a silent audience of crew and cameras.
“From session one to session two, the production value increased magnificently,” said Brendan. “And the first session was already good.”
Session two is a potent display of the audio-visual proficiency that Mtn Craft brings to the table. (I think I can say that as a full-time employee.) Each act performs on a smokey, string-lit set, complete with neon wall signs, visible filmic hardware and spotlights casting the occasional shadowy texture through a conspicuously-placed ladder. It may sound like a familiar postmodern backdrop, but if West Virginia is “stuck in the past,” then the contemporary “retro obsession” yields a demonstrably prosperous overlap.
The season two lineup included rapper MonstaLung (Featured in YNST, Issue 05), singer-songwriter Kit Lindsey, new-folk act Andrew Parsons & Seneca, folk-rock four-piece Dalchord and even Brendan’s own alt-rock group, Last Year’s Model.
“West Virginia music has one defining trait,” said Brendan in reference to the hodgepodge of genre coverage. “West Virginia music is folk. West Virginia music is hip-hop. It’s rock. It’s metal. It’s everything from A to Z, but the main trait I’ve noticed in all of them is amazing storytelling.”
Brendan noted that traditionally non-or-faux-narrative genres gain a storytelling component when covered by acts brought up on ghost stories and folklore, citing oral tradition and iconic West Virginia literature like The Telltale Lilac Bush as possible inspirations. He named folkish pop-punk project Alabaster Boxer as one of his regional favorites before cutting himself off from naming any more, referencing the tedium of listing so many specific acts.
“I think, therefore, it’s very fitting we’re sharing other people’s stories that they’re creating through music, that we’ve partnered with Mtn Craft, who are telling stories through film,” said Maria. “So now, together, we’re telling stories with video and audio.”
Mtn Craft shares Born & Bred’s mission of regional centricity by extending Appalachian filmmakers a platform via the Mtn Craft Film Festival. The MCFF is the first and only film festival that stipulates eligibility based on Appalachian themes, a majority Appalachian crew, or filming/production within the Appalachian region. And, yes, they do include a category for music videos among their competitive genres.
Born & Bred has extended their partnership with Mtn Craft to the MCFF, as well, sponsoring a Sunday brunch with WV filmmaker Robert Tinnell (Feast of the Seven Fishes) as part of their 2024 program and further exemplifying the beneficial symbiotic relationship between the two organizations. After all, audio is a crucial component in film, and video… Well, music still sounds good without it, but how much cooler is your favorite song with a killer music video?
Come early August, Mtn Craft and Born & Bred are set to go into production for Stomping Grounds season three. In the meantime, you can find season two on Apple Music and on YouTube @ “Born & Bred Music.” Check out the Born & Bred Music podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, tune into news and articles onbornandbredmusic.com and be sure to follow @bornandbredmusic on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date on any upcoming news and events.
