Country Miles Are Longer Than City Miles: An Important Document in the Art and Social History of Americana

Unplug the clock. Turn off the television. Put a stack of John Hartford albums on the stereo. Sit back and take a trip to the hills of eastern Kentucky. Come meet other real people among the hills, but don't expect to see any stereotypes of hillbillies or moonshine stills. His tribute to these gentle people is, in the best sense, poetic. His writing flows like a creek running down the piney mountains. Royce has given the world an impressive record of one of the last remnants of American culture still uncontaminated by a plastic mentality. It is hoped this warm and beautiful book will not be an epitaph to the mountain culture, but the start of the renaissance of their natural lifestyle. -Greg Bailey, Columbia Missourian Country Miles are Longer than City Miles, a sort of Kentucky Foxfire that examines with reverence about 20 of the state's artisans and their work. Royce's book is a genuine artcraft of its own kind, a lovingly carved little piece of work that exudes vibrant enthusiasm from every page. It is good to see ourselves as others see us. In this case, it can bring us back to some sense of ourselves. Commitment to excellence is a rare enough quality in most any human undertaking, and it is this quality that Craig Evan Royce is concerned with in Country Miles are Longer than City Miles. -Review by Don Edwards Herald-Leader Literary Columnist The Lexington Herald-Leader This is a craft book of a different genre. It is the story of the inseparable love that the true craftsman has for his work - and his respect for nature. Each chapter opens with a sepia photo - and every priceless photo tells a story. Interviews with the individual craft folk are written in dialect - and the first-hand mountain memoirs are indeed moving and enlightening simultaneously. Author Royce has compiled a unique and inspiring glimpse into the art of the southern highlands from which all who read, be they craftsmen or not, can benefit. -edited by Susan Bruno, The NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS