From the people of the Appalachian Mountains comes a special brand of humor: dry, colorful and earthy, aimed sometimes at the hillbilly's own foibles, but often at the outside world's pretenses, too. As longtime fans of and contributors to Appalachian lore, Jones and Wheeler collected the material for this popular and timeless volume at the Festival of Appalachian Humor sponsored by the Appalachian Center at Berea College. Includes jokes and yarns on such topics as hunting, lawyers and doctors, alcohol, and religion, along with essays on the nature and origins of humor.

Billy Edd Wheeler is a veteran of the country music scene, having worked as a Nashville songwriter since the early 1960s. Billy Edd knows country, and, as title-holder to the moniker "Dean of Country Humor," he also knows funny. "It's impossible to attend a recording session in Nashville without hearing lots of stories and jokes," Billy Edd observes. After all, stories and humor form the foundation of country music. Wheeler has gathered jokes from some of the greatest names in country music in what reads like outtakes from a long-running recording session. The list on contributors spans the...