People in recovery find a fresh start by crafting Troublesome Creek instruments

[0:00] AMNA NAWAZ. In Eastern Kentucky, the heritage of folk and traditional music from instruments [0:04] like guitars, mandolins and dulcimers is deeply seated. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey [0:10] Brown reports on an effort to capitalize on this rich culture, while offering some residents [0:15] a fresh start in the process. It's part of our ongoing coverage of the intersection of [0:20] health and arts, part of our Canvas series. JEFFREY BROWN. When I first started, I had [0:26] never really worked with any kind of fine woodworking. JEFFREY BROWN. Jeremy Haney hand-makes [0:31] mandolins for the Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company. JEREMY HANEY. It's been [0:36] a learning experience. It's been a challenge, a big learning curve for me, as far as, like, [0:41] paying attention to detail and having my eyes open to what to look for. JEFFREY BROWN. He's [0:45] proud of his craftsmanship, making instruments that will retail for about $2,000. But even [0:51] more so, he says, the work has given him purpose. JEREMY HANEY. I destroyed myself with drugs [0:57] and alcohol. JEFFREY BROWN. Jeremy Haney is proud of his craftsmanship, making instruments [0:58] that will retail for about $2,000. JEREMY HANEY. I destroyed myself with drugs and alcohol [0:59] and just wrong decisions. And the work that I found has given me something to plug my [1:02] mind into, to keep my hands busy. I love it. JEFFREY BROWN. Nearly every one of the more [1:08] than dozen workers at Troublesome Creek is in recovery from substance abuse. Doug Naselrode [1:15] heads Troublesome Creek. A master luthier or stringed instrument maker himself, he came [1:21] to Hindman here in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky to teach the craft about 14 years [1:27] ago and found people struggling. [1:29] DOUG NASELRODE. We began to realize that there was more dire need in the community [1:35] because the opioid epidemic and the damage that it had compounded with the downturn of [1:42] coal. JEFFREY BROWN. So, you came to fill one need, in a sense. DOUG NASELRODE. Yes. [1:46] JEFFREY BROWN. And then you found another one. DOUG NASELRODE. Yes. There was a larger [1:50] purpose that came with the people in addiction. JEFFREY BROWN. In partnership with a local [1:57] rehab center, the county's drug court, and the nearby Appalachian County Drug Center, [2:01] Appalachian Artisan Center, Naselrode co-founded a program called Culture of Recovery, providing [2:08] workshops for blacksmithing, ceramics and luthiery to those in recovery. DOUG NASELRODE. [2:15] Stringed instrument-making involves a long curve of delayed gratification. You have a [2:22] labor-intensive activity. The rewards are not immediate. You really have to come back [2:30] day after day and week after week to get there. JEFFREY BROWN. So, it's a long process. [2:32] DOUG NASELRODE. It's a long process. JEFFREY BROWN. It's a long process. DOUG NASELRODE. [2:33] JEFFREY BROWN. It's a long process. DOUG NASELRODE. It's a long process. DOUG NASELRODE. It's a long process. [2:33] JEFFREY BROWN. It's a long process. DOUG NASELRODE. It's a long process. JEFFREY BROWN. [2:34] If you engage in that and do so consistently, it is our experience that people can really [2:45] dig out of addiction when they find another focus. PAUL SOLMAN. In 2019, he started Troublesome [2:52] Creek as a nonprofit, hiring those like Haney who would take him to the craft. The company [2:58] is named for the creek that runs through Hindman, which, in the summer of 2022, lived up to [3:04] its name. [3:05] flooding quickly as part of an historic disaster that killed 45 people in the larger region, [3:10] including 22 here in Knott County. Downtown Hindman was under water, [3:16] and the building that housed Troublesome Creek's factory was inundated, [3:20] destroying instruments and hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment. [3:23] DOUG HINEMAN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [3:24] It broke everyone's heart. My boys were just like, Doug, did we just get fired? [3:29] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [3:30] They thought they had lost the work, the jobs. [3:32] DOUG HINEMAN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [3:33] The work, the job, their dream, their home in this place. [3:38] And almost instantly, I realized I had to gather them up and say, all right, boys, [3:45] get your work boots on. We're going to dig out. [3:48] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [3:48] For half a year, the Luthiers of Troublesome Creek became a cleanup crew, mucking out the space. [3:54] DOUG HINEMAN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [3:54] We cleaned up and salvaged everything we could. And the rest has been replaced by donations [4:02] and [4:03] grants and just hard work. [4:06] JEREMY HANEY, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [4:07] This whole neighborhood was underwater. [4:09] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [4:09] Jeremy Haney took us to the apartment he had just moved into when the flood hit [4:13] down the road from the workshop. Everything in his ground-floor apartment was destroyed. [4:18] JEREMY HANEY, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [4:19] I thought it was a total loss. I didn't think that I would ever [4:22] get to go back to work building mandolins there. And it was a bad feeling, too, [4:27] because I thought I was going to have to go back home to where I grew up at. [4:31] And that wasn't an option for me. [4:32] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [4:33] The 1930s-era building that Troublesome Creek is housed in was owned by a community college. [4:39] And once reconstruction was completed, it was donated to the instrument-making nonprofit, [4:44] including a community space for performances. [4:47] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [4:47] Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Knott Downtown Radio Hour. [4:51] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [4:51] We saw the first post-flood performance there of an occasional live stream musical [4:56] review featuring local artists, and even a few songs by employees of Troublesome Creek. [5:08] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:14] Owens is one of the newest employees coming to the work after more than two decades of addiction. [5:19] OWENS, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:19] Opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, I had done it all, [5:24] went into this rehab that got me into this place on an overdose, prison, back, prison again. [5:31] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:32] After landing in rehab, he pushed hard to start learning guitar-making at Troublesome Creek. [5:37] OWENS, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:37] I thought maybe I could get my foot in the door a little bit because [5:40] I knew what I was doing, so I talked a lot of big stuff to get in here. [5:43] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:44] But you knew something. I mean, you knew it could really help you. [5:47] OWENS, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:47] I have never done anything that I woke up and said, wow, I get to go to work. [5:52] You can't keep a job in addiction. You get a job, but you can't keep a job. [5:56] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [5:56] This is the longest I have ever kept a job in my life, and I have had this job a year. [6:00] And that's pretty pathetic, but it's just the case, you know? [6:04] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:07] Yeah, I love this place. [6:08] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:09] Are there failures along the way? I mean, are there people you have seen relapse? [6:13] OWENS, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:13] Yeah, one or two, which is heartbreaking every time. [6:18] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:18] But for those that can stick, Nieselrode says there is real transformation on the other side. [6:25] OWENS, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:25] I judge success in the lives of these people. [6:30] I would like to see us become a major economic engine in a tiny little town, [6:38] and we're well on our way to that. [6:40] But there's not much we can do. [6:41] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:41] There's different ways to measure profit. [6:43] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [6:47] For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jeffrey Brown in Hindman, Kentucky. [6:51] JEFFREY BROWN, Founder, Troublesome Creek's Factory, Knott County, [7:08] Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. [7:12] Donate now, or even better, start a monthly contribution today.