Today, we have received notification that our school district will receive a $4 Million U.S. Economic Development Administration Grant dedicated to the construction of the Estill County Area Technology Center.  The Estill County Board of Education and the entire Engineer Family wants to thank the following individuals for their steadfast support of this project and their efforts during the EDA Grant Application process. 
First of all, I have to thank Teresa Dawes and Charlotte O’Bryan for leading this grant process from the very beginning.  These two ladies deserve all of the credit in the world for their dedication to this process and they should be commended for their efforts.  Both of them would also tell you that they had a lot of help along the way and we want to recognize some of them at this time.

• Estill County Central Office Personnel
• Carhartt, Citizens & Guarantee Bank, Marcum and Wallace, Our Original Community Partners
• President Akakpo, Bluegrass Community and Technical College
• EKU and Morehead State University
• All local businesses, individuals and organizations that provided support
• Joe Crawford, EDA and Estill County Chamber
• Jeff Speaks, JBS Communications
• Bertha Partin and Pam Farmer, EDA
• Jim Codell, Codell Construction 
• Peter Fisher and Ron Murrell, Ross Tarrant Architects
• Governor Matt Bevin
• State Senators Albert Robinson and Robert Stivers
• State Representatives “Bam” Carney, David Hale and Cluster Howard
• Congressman Andy Barr
• Senator Mitch McConnell

 
After a quick review by EDA Staff, this project will go to bid during August and construction is slated to begin September 15th of 2019.  We anticipate a sixteen month construction schedule and we hope to open the facility during the Spring semester of 2021. 
 
The Moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here!  This community has talked about this facility for a number of years and this dream is now becoming a reality.  What a great time to be an Engineer!
 
Jeff Saylor, Superintendent
Estill County Schools
                

Jim and Victoria Guthrie are no ordinary fans of independent artists. This couple from Kansas City, Missouri are SUPER FANS who open their home and hearth to traveling road dog musicians, all in an effort to help those artists make their living. Jim and Victoria recently visited the area for the Festival of the Red and it was such a joy to have them stop by and share how they began the Honky Tonk Hotel and how their efforts are helping to grow their local music scene.

You can find more about Honky Tonk Hotel here >>>www.facebook.com/honkytonkhotel/

Hear their interview:

John Looney and Anna Kline, also known as Grits and Soul were the featured artists of the Gateway Regional Arts Center's Woodsongs Coffee House Hour in the month of May. They put on a stellar performance of their well known favorites as well as some new tunes. They also shared their background and how they came to be Grits and Soul. If you haven't heard them before, you are in for a real treat. Looney, with has mad mandolin and guitar skills coupled with Anna's rich vocals makes for a delightful and energy-filled listening experience. Do yourself a favor and grab tickets to their next show.

Find Grits and Soul on their website >>>>gritsandsoul.com/
On Facebook >>> www.facebook.com/gritsandsoul/
You can check out the full performance below:

The Buffalo Wabs and The Price Hill Hustle are no strangers to Irvine, Kentucky or the Steam Engine Session Room for that matter. In fact, The Wabs have been playing the Session Room and local festival Kickin It On The Creek for several years and have built a great following of fans from the area. It was no surprise when the initial show for May 2019 was announced and tickets went on sale, the event was sold out within minutes. This prompted Steam Engine to add an additional night which, of course, sold out in minutes. 
On night one, Kevin Dalton and the Tuesday Blooms was the opening act and on night two the opener was Tim Lancaster. 
Both nights the Wabs brought their musical magic and energy to a packed standing room. And the double dose of Wabs has us hoping they'll return soon for another great night of high impact hustle! 
If you have not seen this band perform in person, you owe it to yourself to catch their show! Of course, you can hear their music on Pickup Country and as always, we recommend you purchase their music. 
The Wabs Official Website here www.pricehillhustle.com/home
Find them on Facebook here www.facebook.com/pricehillhustle/
​Facebook Fan Page here www.facebook.com/groups/buffalowabsfans/

​

June's Woodsongs Coffee House Hour, sponsored by Keystone Financial Group, is this Thursday June 27th at 7PM at The Gateway Regional Arts Center on Main Street in Mt. Sterling. The featured artist is Sasha Colette of Eastern Kentucky. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students and are available at GRACkentucky.org or at the door. The show will also be broadcast live from GRAC here on Pickup Country 104.9FM and online at listenlikealocal.com. This broadcast is made possible by Blessed Harvest Auctions with experience you can trust from property to estate and farm equipment to household consignment. Find Blessed Harvest Auctions on Facebook and contact them for your auction needs.
The WoodSongs Coffeehouse Hour is a grassroots music series held the fourth Thursday of each month — March through October — that highlights a regional singer-songwriter during a hour-long set of live music and interview. It's part of a national network of coffeehouses forming a public outreach of Michael Johnathon's WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, and is designed to support small, artistic stages and local musicians.  These events are sponsored by Keystone Financial Group and the GRAC, with support from the Kentucky Arts Council.
Pickup Country is pleased to share last month’s Woodsongs Coffee House Hour concert featuring Grits and Soul at 7PM Tuesday. Tune in on your radio to 104.9FM or online HERE.

                                              
                                                                                           
                                                                                                           

Contact: Clark Regional Medical Center                                                                             Sarah.Alexander@lpnt.net
  859.737.8564
 For Immediate Release:         
Clark Regional Medical Center Recognized by The Chartis Center for Rural Health
 as a 2019 Top 100 Rural & Community Hospital
 
June 13th, 2019 – Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester, KY today announced it has been named one of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States by The Chartis Center for Rural Health. Regarded as one of the industry’s most significant designations of performance excellence, the annual Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals award is based upon the results of the Hospital Strength INDEX® from iVantage Health Analytics.
 
“At Clark Regional, we share LifePoint Health’s commitment to Making Communities Healthier, and we recognize this is supported by the quality care being provided to our patients by our employees and providers,” said Aphreikah DuHaney-West, CEO of Clark Regional. “Our top priority is to provide world class healthcare close to home, and we are honored to be recognized as a Top 100 Rural & Community Hospital.”
 
Hospitals recognized as a Top 100 facility scored in the top 100 among all rural and community hospitals nationally. Now in its ninth year, the INDEX leverages 50 rural-relevant indicators across eight pillars of hospital strength (i.e. Inpatient Market Share, Outpatient Market Share, Cost, Charge, Quality, Outcomes, Patient Perspective and Financial Stability) to determine an overall score for each hospital. Each of the INDEX’s 50 indicators is culled from publicly-available data sources.  
 
“In an era of increased complexity and uncertainty, Top 100 hospitals have established themselves as a bellwether for rural provider performance,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader of The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “Top 100 status is a real indicator of how proactive these hospitals are when it comes to pushing for performance improvement in areas such as quality, outcomes, patient safety, market share and finance.”
 
Top 100 Rural & Community Hospital Resources:
The list of this year’s Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals, as well as the 2019 INDEX methodology, can be found at www.ivantageindex.com/top-performing-hospitals.
 
To learn more about The Chartis Center for Rural Health or to speak with someone regarding the INDEX and the 2019 Top 100, please email Billy Balfour at wbalfour@ivantagehealth.com.
 
About Clark Regional Medical Center
A part of LifePoint Health, Clark Regional Medical Center is a 79 bed, community hospital which has served the residents of east central Kentucky since 1917. The Medical Center has more than 100 affiliated physicians, over 700 employees, and 100 volunteers on its staff.  The hospital was acquired by LifePoint Health in May, 2010 and completed its relocation to a new, $60 million, state of the art medical campus in March, 2012.

​For more than 30 years, Tradio has been a listener favorite, airing 6 days a week and helping folks in the region to buy sell swap and give away items of all kinds. On Monday, we'll be airing a special Celebrity Tradio featuring Laid Back Country Picker. 
Tune in from 10AM to 12PM and Listen Live HERE.

As many of our loyal listeners know, we've already enjoyed having local celebrity and WSKV Alumni,  Chelsea Nolan in the DJ seat hosting Tradio the last several weeks. She graciously agreed to come fill in and help the station in Ethan's absence as he was helping care for his father and station owner, AC after he suffered serious medical issues. In addition to bringing her love of the region to the tradition of Tradio, she has also been delivering her powerful music to festivals and venues all over the state and beyond.

Chelsea Nolan Music
Chelsea's Facebook Page

​​When Chelsea suggested that we have David Prince aka Laid Back to host Tradio with her, we were beyond thrilled with the idea. After all, Laid Back Country Picker is no stranger to making deals as seen in Laid Back Makes a Deal and Laid Back Makes a Deal 2. Laid Back along with his lovely wife Honey, have been playing good country music for folks all over the region and he was recently the subject of the documentary film "Chico".
His larger than life persona added to Chelsea's infectious fun spirit should make for an entertaining Tradio episode for sure!

Laid Back Country Picker;s Facebook Page

Both Laid Back and Chelsea are playing this weekend at The Festival of the Red and will be giving away a pair of passes as we approach the noon hour.
SO get yourself familiar with the Tradio rules and plan to listen, call in or text.

If you haven't had the pure pleasure of experiencing a live show from Chris and Jenn Shouse, you owe it to yourself to add it to your "TO DO" list. They recently performed during the Woodsongs Coffee House Hour at the Gateway Regional Arts Center in Mt.Sterling, Kentucky to a captivated crowd. Chris and Jenn live in Estill County and perform at many of our region's festivals and venues, sometimes as a duo and sometimes with an upright bass and banjo. Music from their album "Gray Space" graces the airwaves of Pickup Country across multiple shows and drive times. They shared several new songs with the Woodsongs crowd that they are perfecting for their next album. Must hear new songs include; Mountain Lullaby, I Don't Have a Clue and Oh Me Oh My. Check out their full set below by way of our player or download as a podcast. 

Visit their music page and BUY Gray Space if you haven't already! https://shousemusic.com/

Follow Chris and Jenn on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chrisandjennshouse/

Pickup Country listeners have made it clear that they love Tyler Childers! He was the most requested and most played artist on our airwaves in 2018 and he is spreading his Appalachian fire like mad in 2019, playing for huge sold-out venues all over the country and beyond! Today Tyler announced some big news AND released a new music video for "House Fire" that is sure to make fans dance and clap! There is even a cameo appearance in the video of Casey Campbell of The Buffalo Wabs and The Price Hill Hustle! 

​From Tyler's Official Facebook Music Page:
"We’re happy to announce that Hickman Holler Records is teaming up with RCA Records to release my new album, Country Squire. To celebrate, we have new music, tour dates, and even a music video to share as well." #eatinbigtime

Pre-order here: http://smarturl.it/CountrySquire

All of us here at Pickup Country WSKV want to congratulate Tyler and his crew on these exciting developments. We can't wait to see the whole world singing your songs with us.