Joe McHugh is a storyteller, old-time fiddler, author, and public radio journalist/producer. In 1999, he set out on a quest across the United States to record people telling their family stories, the kind of stories that get passed down in families and organizations that help tell us who we are and where we come from. They encompass the experiences of families living on farms, in small towns, and big cities, of what it was like to leave Europe, Africa, and Asia to come to America in hopes of finding a better life, of working in coal mines and in factories, of running for political office, and, well, it’s a long list but collectively these stories help tell the American story with an authenticity and passion often lacking in text books.