William Lynwood Montell -Monroe County native graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1960, then received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University in 1963 and 1964. Subsequently, he taught and held administrative offices at Campbellsville College (1963- 69) and Western (1969-99). He also taught as visiting professor at UCLA and the University of Notre Dame.
Montell has written 2major books, including The Saga of Coe
Ridge: A Study in Oral History (1970), which received the Award of
Merit from the American Association for State and Local History; Monroe County History (1970); Ghosts Along the Cnnberland: Deathiore in the Kentucky Foothills (1975); Kentucky Folk Architecture (1975); Don’t Go Up Kettle Creek: Verbal Legacy of the Upper Cimiberland (1983); Killings: Folk Justice in the Upper South (1986); Singing the Glory Down: Amateur White Gospel Music in South Central Kentucky, 1900-1990 (1991); Upper Ciiinberland Country (1993); Kentucky Ghosts (1993); Those Were the Days: Bob Dudney’s Recollections of Yesterday in Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland Region (1996); Kentucky Ghost and Witch Stories from the 1930’ s (1997); Always A People: Oral Histories of Contemporary Woodland Indians (with Rita Kohn,1997); Ghosts Across Kentucky (2000); Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky (2001); Tales From Kentucky Lawyers (2003); Tales From Tennessee Lawyers (2005); Reminisces and Reflections: African Americans in the Kentucky— Tennessee Upper Cimiberland Since the Civil War (with Wali Kharif,2005);
Grassroots Music in the Upper Cumberland (2006); Tales from Kentucky
Doctors (2008), and Civil War in the Kentucky-Tennessee Upper
Cumberland (2008). ‘—“I Montell has also contributed chapters iished in a half—dozen other books (including one each in england and Germany), and has written numerous scholarly journal articles published in the U.S. He has read papers at meetings of the American Folklore Society, American Studies Association, Association for State and Local History, American Speech Association, Baylor University’s Conference on Regionalism, British Folklore Society, International Folk Narrative Society, Oral History Assoc., Smithsonian Conference on American Folk Legend, Society for Ethno-History, Southern Anthropological Society, Southern Speech Conference, and the Western History Association. Montell has conducted numerous oral history workshops and folklife
seminars for historical societies, libraries, library districts, colleges and, universities, the American Association for State and Local History, and for Black and Jewish ethnics/nationality groups. He has served as history, folklore, and humanities consultant to federal, state, and regional institutions and agencies, private museums, and living history programs. For many years he has been featured as one of the statewide speakers/storytellers sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council, Lexington. He no longer teaches university classes, but intends to continue writing books and doing lecture/story telling presentations. Grassroots Music in the Upper Cumberland (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006). This book features old-time country, bluegrass, rock music, and rhythm and blues, blues, and jazz music genres in the Kentucky-Tennessee Upper Cumberland area from circa 1900 down to present times. Kentucky counties included in this book are Adair, Clinton, Cumberland, Metcalfe, Monroe, Pulaski, Russell, and Wayne; Tennessee counties include Clay, Cumberland, Dekalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton and Putnam. Although Montell is general editor of the entire book and author of the Monroe County chapter, all other chapters were written by individuals who are either county natives, or fully aware of the traditional music described in the chapter they wrote.
Paperback only. $24.00 Tales from Kentucky Doctors (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, (2008). The nearly 350 humorous, heartwarming, and sometimes tragic accounts in this book present an unusual perspective of the culture and tradition of Kentucky health-care practice across the years.
Hardback. $24.00 Civil War in The Kentucky-Tennessee Upper Cumberland, (2008) includes chapters relative to Beginning of the Civil War Down through the Battle of Mill Springs, 1861, Military Activities and Related Stories, 1862, Skirmish Continuation, 1863, Guerrilla-Bushwhacker Warfare and Skirmishes, Persons Killed by Guerrilla Chieftains and After the War to Present
Times (This is the only book that deals with local life after the Civil War).
Paperback only. $13.00 OTHER BOOKS BY MONTELL: (No longer available). These books are available to read in libraries. From Memory to History: Using Oral Sources in Local Historical Research. (1981)
Those Were the Days: Bob Dudney s Recollections of Yesterday in Free State and the Tennessee Upper Cumberland., (1996) Monroe County History. l820-197, (1975) Kentuck’’ Ghosts and Witch Tales From the 1930’s
BOOKS EDITED BY MON TELL: (No longer available) Folk Medicine of the Mammoth Cave Area  B lack Life in the Barrens Monroe County Folklife Mysterious Tales from the Barrens  MALL ORDERS: For mailings, include $2.00 extra for first book ordered. $1.00 for each title thereafter. Singing the Glow Down: Amateur Gospel Music in Southcentral Kentucky, 1900-1990 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1991. This is the first-ever book to study local nonprofessional white gospel singers and musicians. It begins by introducing and describing shape- note music and shape-note music teachers, then looks at the gospel quartet movement that engulfed the Upper South from the 1890’s to present times.
Thanks to the influence of this book, in 2002, the author was placed in the Kentucky Country Music Hall of Fame, Renfro Valley, Kentucky.
Hardback oniy. $27 .00
Uper Cumberland Country (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993). This is a book about life the way it was back then, and the way life is today in this bi-state area of Kentucky and Tennessee. Hardback and paperback available. $36.00 $18.00
Kentucky Ghosts (Lexington: University of Press of Kentucky, 1993). bight original ghost stories that the author retells by adding information about early architecture, geography, and local life and culture. Written for the New Books for New Reader series. Paperback only. S5.5()
Always A People: Oral Histories of Conternpprary Woodland Indians (With Rita Kohn) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997). This is a book of actual words spoken during interviews by forty-one tribal chiefs, chiefresses, and elders when interviewed in 1994-1995. Oil portraits of each person interviewed, painted by Evelyn Ritter of Peoria, IL., are included in the book. Cloth only. $30.00
.Qhcts Across Kentucky (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000). Contains stories that fit into 15 different categories, including the Civil Wsr headless creatures, eerie sounds, haunted spots on the landscape, haunted dorms, felt presences, and vanishing hitchhikers. gathered fl-oin 75-80 counties across the state of Kentucky. Paperback oniy. $16.00
 Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001). ‘l’he first book to ever feature Kentucky haunted house stories; includes stories from l03 of Kentucky’s 120 counties. Cloth only. $24.00
 Tales from Kentucky Lawyers (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 2003). A collection of insightFul, entertaining, humorous. and occasionally heartbreaking stories about Kentucky judges, lawyers, and clients, as told by the legal professionals in all geographical portions of Kentucky. Twenty-three stoiy categories are included. Cloth only. $21.00
Tales from Tennessee Lawyers (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005). (Same commentary as in the Kentucky lawyer hook. Seventeen story categories in this book. Cloth only. $24.0()
 Reminisces and Reflections: African Americans in the Kentucky-Tennessee Up_per Cumberland Since the Civil War. Co-authored with Dr. Wali R. Kharif, this book features black communities. the ole ways of life. recreaiion and social activities, religion, schools, black land occupation. race relations in perspective, the quest for civil rights, and an epilogue. (London, KY: Janze Publications. 2005). Paperback only. $17.00