Henry McCarthy in the studio at Emory & Henry University
By Bonny Gable
Bonny Gable is a former theater professor and freelance writer based in Bristol, Virginia. www.bonnygable.com
From his boyhood home atop Roan Mountain, Tennessee, Henry McCarthy could view the world in all directions. It was a perfect vantage point to feed his voracious curiosity, nurturing him into a man of myriad interests that would take him through a variegated maze of journeys in his life.
Such a rich existence naturally lends itself to a love of storytelling.
McCarthy recalls the beginnings of that love as a child. “All my mother’s relatives were Honeycutts and Buchanans who lived off the land. While picking apples, blackberries, strawberries or hoeing, they told stories to relieve the boredom. And at night we gathered around the fireplace and the old mountain men told stories mixed in with some prayer. I remember listening to ghost stories and then running the dark path home listening to hoot owls.”
These experiences fueled his vivid imagination and inspired a love of talking. By the time his family moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he had grown into quite a loquacious adolescent.
“When I went to high school in Winston-Salem,” McCarthy says, “I was made to take a dramatics class by Miss Daisy Lee Glasgow who said, ‘Young man, you talk incessantly, and you will take up acting.’ There are many back stories that I’ve shared with my psychiatrist, but, like Mark Twain, will only share those after I’m dead and return to earth as a spirit.”
What McCarthy does share about his storied life includes: a 30-year academic career as assistant dean of education at Appalachian State University; a stint as a high school English teacher; his efforts for prison reform — including work as an undercover prisoner; a side-hustle as real estate salesman; service on the Boone, North Carolina, town council; and a long-term stint as a husband, father and grandfather.
As he traveled these many journeys McCarthy never lost his love of verbal expression — both vocal and written word. He began sharing what life had taught him by writing poetry, eventually collected in his book “Never Read a How To Book.” He read his work at venues all around Southwest Virginia, which led to the birth of the “Poets & Writers” radio show on WEHC 90.7 at Emory and Henry College (now University).
The show originated as the vision of Reese and Kathy Shearer, who saw the value of a program featuring literature and poetry and those who create it. They pegged McCarthy as the perfect candidate to host it.
In the beginning, the intention was to make only 12 broadcasts. After the first show, McCarthy asked his wife Patty how he did, to which she replied, “You sounded like a cross between a college professor and a country preacher.” But the elixir worked. McCarthy honed his skills and scouted literary talent, keeping the show on air for 14 years and counting, accruing over 350 broadcasts for the archives.
“I was able to really branch out with the show,” McCarthy recalls, “when I got me a little digital recorder and started interviewing folks in bars, cars in 90-degree heat and even one interview in the bathroom of Union Books in Knoxville, Tennessee. Marilyn Kallet, a great poet, told everyone the location because it was the only quiet place.”
Whether in the studio or on the road, McCarthy’s guests include both local artists and those of national and international fame. He brings their unique gifts to light over the airwaves along with some interesting stories in the process.
His show featuring acclaimed southern author Lee Smith was a delight. However, when he arrived at her Hillsboro, North Carolina, home, he first had to help her chase down and catch her escaped dog before she allowed the interview to commence.
The late Sean O’Sullivan — Broadway actor, television producer, writer and Abingdon resident in retirement — filled the show with career highlights as well as humor. Once when working on “Playhouse 90,” a live TV series in the 1950s, an actor brought his Great Dane to work one day and tied him to the set. During the show the dog saw a mouse, lunged after it and brought down the entire set — all on live television.
Earl Carter (unrelated to “The Carter Family”) shared unique experiences from his work as photographer for some major newspapers as well as the Kingsport Tennessee Press. He is creator of the book “Appalachian Album,” a photographic story of the region and is well known for photography work in the coalfields and coal strikes. He regaled with a story about Johnny Cash and June Carter suddenly appearing at the Kingsport news office one day. They asked specifically for Earl, wanting him to photograph them. Quite an honor.
Other notable show moments include former Secretary of Defense William Cohen reading poetry on a show; police sirens nearly halting the interview with novelist and Lewis Carroll expert Charlie Lovett as robbers were arrested at the house next door; and a conversation with local author of international fame Barbara Kingsolver, discussing her writing career and Pulitzer Prize winning novel “Demon Copperhead.”
Perhaps most memorable for McCarthy was his interview with famous actress Rosemary Harris when she was living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “She was a class act,” he recalls. “I gave her a copy of my poetry book because I had a poem about her in it called “I Saw Spiderman’s Aunt Today.” She was very charming and asked me to read it to her, which made my day.”
While traversing the journeys of his life filled with a variety people, places and adventures, McCarthy developed his own philosophy of storytelling. “I know that all of us write poems in our hearts every day and are afraid to share them. So, we are all poets. I believe writing is talking on paper and each of us has a great story to tell.”
All broadcasts can be accessed on Apple Podcasts under “Poets & Writers WEHC.”
