Reel World String Band
The Reel World String Band is an all-women, Lesbian, American roots music band from Kentucky. Their first record was released in 1981.
They formed in 1977 when the University of Kentucky hosted a musical event during the International Women's Year Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. They originally joined with a few other female musicians to perform at the event. Sue Massek, one of the band members, stated, "We all enjoyed ourselves so well that we continued to gather as often as we could." They then became the Reel World String Band, one of the nation's first feminist bands.
Their main focus when writing music was to advocate for social issues, such as women's rights, coal workers' rights, and environmental concerns caused by the excessive amounts of coal mining in Appalachia. Over time, as they continued to write music, they started expanding the issues they focused on. Since they were a lesbian group, they began writing music that touched on queerness in Appalachia, as it was seen as controversial during that time. Amber Moon Productions, an all-female nonprofit organization in Lexington, Kentucky, hosted the Reel World String Band at their events throughout the 1980s.
In March 2016, George Ella Lyon, Silas House, and the Reel World String Band gathered at the University of Kentucky to celebrate the donation of the band's archives to the university and to honor the 30th anniversary of the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Reel World also performed at Lexington's Lyric Theater.
In November 2016, the Reel World String Band performed its final concert at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center in Lexington, Kentucky. After nearly 40 years of creating music together, the concert served as a community gathering to process the election that had taken place just days before.
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