Braise with Salt Potatoes
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Matthew Sidney Parsons is a poet, songwriter, educator, and speaker from Carter County, Kentucky. His writing explores themes of place, masculinity, labor, and rural identity. He is the author of Mountain Roosters (Pine Row Press) and Holy Land (Bottlecap Press), with work published in Rattle, Still: The Journal, 2River View, and others. Parsons holds an MFA from EKU’s Bluegrass Writers Studio and has taught writing, music, and Appalachian literature in both college and community settings. He has served as director of the Carter County Public Library and a proud faculty member of the Hindman Settlement School’s Appalachian Writers Workshop. He was also named to the 2024 cohort of the Tremont Writers Conference. As a musician, Parsons performs both solo and with his family band, Whistle & Fish, often joined by his longtime friend and collaborator Logan Cooper. His song “I Built a World” was recorded by Grammy-winning fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes as the title track of her Grammy-nominated album. His latest solo single, “Middle Class,” is available on all streaming platforms. He lives with his wife, writer and musician Annuet Soehnlen, and their children on a family subsistence homestead in Olive Hill, Kentucky, where they practice traditional foodways, raise animals, and host community meals.
