2022-23 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Appalachian Storytelling with Bil Lepp & James Froemel

Written by Adam Booth

This article features one of seven pairs supported by the statewide West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship program in 2022-2023.

NOW through August 26, 2024, apply for the 2024-2025 program!

*Storytelling Apprenticeship pair James Froemel (left) and Bil Lepp share a laugh, 2023. Photo by Mike Keller.*

When Bil Lepp first entered the West Virginia Liars’ Contest in 1990, he was following in his older brother Paul’s footsteps. Paul started competing at the Vandalia Gathering’s storytelling event in 1986, when the contest was only in its fourth year, and successfully drew upon his family affinity for telling stories to appeal to wider audiences. Paul was carrying on a family tradition; the Lepps’ grew up experiencing stories from their German grandfather ‘Grosspapa,’ who told them tales about his childhood. Those story experiences were augmented as uncles, aunts, and cousins chimed in. Bringing that tradition to the Liars’ Contest, Paul won six times and effectively shaped the trajectory of the event and style of stories told there for decades. He was soon to be followed by his youngest sibling and closest competitor, Bil, who went on to become a five-time champion.

*Bil Lepp tells a story at the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship showcase at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg, 2023. Photo by Mike Keller.*

The West Virginia Liars’ Contest was founded in 1983 by Ken Sullivan, who at the time was editor of Goldenseal Magazine, as a way to perpetuate the art of storytelling and oral traditions. Bil explains, “[Ken] called it the Liars’ Contest because he wanted people to come in the door and was afraid if he just called it a storytelling contest people wouldn’t.” As Bil claimed title after title, and his status in the world of storytelling rose, so did the caliber of events that invited him. A pivotal call came from the National Storytelling Festival in 2000 and, along with it, national exposure. Yet, Bil credits his Vandalia Gathering roots.

“If it wasn’t for the Liars’ Contest,” Bil says, “I don’t think I ever would have gotten into storytelling. I was the first West Virginian to be a featured storyteller at the National Festival and all of the people from West Virginia that have been featured at the festival [since] are from the Liars’ Contest.”

More than three decades after his first public storytelling competition, Bil’s career as a professional storyteller boasts appearances at events around the nation and an expansive publication catalog, both as audio and in print. And now, it is Bil whose footsteps are being followed.

*Bil’s apprentice James Froemel tells a story at the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship showcase at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg, 2023. Photo by Mike Keller.*

When James Froemel first entered the Liars’ Contest in 2015, his résumé already included a number of stage appearances. After receiving a BFA in acting from WVU, he performed with the Greenbrier Valley Theatre, West Virginia Public Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival (MA), and Footlight Players Theatre (SC). Yet, it was learning about the West Virginia Liars’ Contest and researching its most well-known champion that enticed him to vie for the contest’s top prize: a golden shovel. After winning first place in the contest again in 2023, James is now a four-time champion. It was during this multi-year period of competition that he began to seek mentorship from Bil Lepp.

Bil (Kanawha County) and James’s (Monongalia County) Appalachian storytelling apprenticeship officially began with the 2022 – 2023 cohort of the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. Knowing how important it is to develop an individual voice, Bil steered James and their shared time toward honing a sense of place within stories, with a focus on settings and character development. This comes from Bil’s own experiences telling stories about the region.

“The thing I learned first in my Appalachian Studies class my first year in college was that Appalachians don’t brag,” Bil explains. “My chief goal is to promote West Virginia in the best light possible and to counter a lot of the stereotypes that people have about West Virginia.”

While Bil’s stories are outwardly entertaining and humorous, beyond the surface level they serve to teach audiences about Appalachian people and behaviors.

“[My characters] talk like West Virginians. They’re mechanics and they’re coal miners and they’re deputy sheriffs, but they’re incredibly intelligent people, which is like so many of the people that we all know. […] I think my audience walks away with a better appreciation of West Virginians as a whole, and Appalachians.”

*James Froemel (right) responds to an audience question as Bil Lepp listens, 2023. Photo by Mike Keller.*

During the apprenticeship, James studied the work of Riley Wilson, a West Virginian raconteur and author who was well-known in the early 20th Century, as well as regional Jack tales, ghost story structure, and some storytelling theory. These studies were then applied within the creation of new work.

“Bil’s been really wonderful in terms of: I can send him something and…I trust him to say this is just the most awful story I’ve ever heard, but most of the time he comes back with really positive notes—here’s what I liked, here’s maybe where it drags.” — James Froemel

Appalachian Storytelling apprentice James Froemel workshops his stories, 2023. Photo by Mike Keller.

Bil also guided James in the development of stories about James’s “West Virginia hometown” of Possum Post and how to build stories that can stand alone or be linked together depending on how much time has been provided for telling. Under this tutelage, James was learning about story history, structure, and performance.

“When you travel [West Virginia] you find a lot of pride about traditions,” James reflects. “Who makes the best dandelion wine or this, that, and the other. Tying everything to that place becomes important, finding something [people] will recognize and go oh yes, I remember that thing in that time.”

James used this guidance to foster character development within his original stories, particularly as it manifests in teenage school life that many people will recognize, as well as in observations of how small towns change with the passing of generations. Ultimately, the apprenticeship focused on conversationality and reaching people through words and experiences.

Outside of the apprenticeship, an important organization for both of their development has been the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. Founded in 1996, the Guild has continuously presented storytelling festivals, workshops, and swaps as well as provided members the opportunity to practice their skills at arts events around West Virginia. In the late 1990s, the WVSG invited Ed Stivender, a Philadelphia-based storyteller on the national circuit, to participate in the West Virginia Storytelling Festival. It was there at Jackson’s Mill that Stivender spotted Bil’s abilities and recommended him to the National Storytelling Festival. Lepp credits Stivender and the WVSG with opening doorways to professional storytelling. James has also benefitted from Guild opportunities, and both men serve as instructors at statewide camps presented by the organization.

*The apprenticeship culminated with a storytelling concert at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg, 2023. Photo by Mike Keller.*

Bil and James’ year-long apprenticeship culminated in November with an evening of storytelling at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg. James kicked off the program with a short tale that won the 2023 West Virginia Liars’ Contest, followed by a longer set of Possum Post stories he developed during the apprenticeship. These stories center on his stock characters of Annie, Calvin, and himself as they navigate the life of a small town’s changing downtown, hometown parades, untold lives of community characters, and young love. Bil followed with a tale of Christmas gone wrong. This short story actually bookended a longer set of tales based on misunderstandings, demonstrating the skill of compiling stories to meet a given length of time that Bil had been teaching James through the year.

Watch Bil lepp and his apprentice James Froemel perform their stories at the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship showcase in Clarksburg on November 5, 2023.

About the Author

Adam Booth is the 2022 West Virginia Folk Artist of the Year, awarded at the Governor’s Arts Awards. As a nationally touring artist, his professional storytelling appearances include premier events across the country, including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the International Storytelling Center, the National Storytelling Festival, and as a headliner at arts events in thirty states. His journey began with a college research project about Paul and Bil Lepp and the West Virginia Liars’ Contest.

Featured interview quotes, recordings, photography, and videos are produced by the West Virginia Folklife Program.

The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

Read the 2022-2023 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program featured blog posts linked below:

Fiddle Repair with Chris Haddox & Mary Linscheid, written by Mary Linscheid
Old-Time Fiddle with Gerry Milnes & Annick Odom, written by Mary Linscheid
Clawhammer Banjo with Joe Herrmann & Dakota Karper, written by Mary Linscheid
Appalachian Storytelling with Bil Lepp & James Froemel, written by Adam Booth
Mushroom Foraging with Sharon Briggs & Anthony Murray, written by Emma Goldenthal
Soul Food Cooking with Xavier Oglesby & Brooklynn Oglesby, written by Emma Goldenthal
Fiber Arts with Enrica McMillon & Barbara Weaner (Featured in Fall 2023 Goldenseal), written by Jennie Williams