BILLY EDD WHEELER APPALACHIAN RENAISSANCE MAN
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itting at a large desk in a garage studio at his home in Swannanoa, Billy Edd Wheeler is surrounded by his life’s work — photos of family and friends, musical instruments, handmade paintings, published novels and plays, and wall after wall of gold and platinum records. “Things happen in your life where you hardly realize at the time that something is happening,” the 89-yearold marveled. “I’ve just always been in-
terested in creative people and running with anything that inspires me — always pursuing any idea that pops into my head.” Born and raised in the mining town of Whitesville, West Virginia, Wheeler was surrounded by bluegrass, folk, blues and mountain music. And it wasn’t long before Wheeler himself picked up a guitar and started writing his own songs, all with hopes of someday recording and performing the material.
Wheeler was also a burgeoning playwright, but just barely scratching the surface of his many lyrical and literary talents in those early years. After graduating from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa in 1953 and Berea College (Kentucky) in 1955, he then served in the Navy and started working at Berea. And yet, it was a chance encounter around this time with legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright/novelist Thornton Wilder
Billy Edd Wheeler and Chet Atkins.
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BLUE RIDGE MUSIC TRAILS
