The U.S. continues to struggle with racial discrimination, and this episode of Us & Them looks back at a moment in the 1960s when music and race collided in Charleston, West Virginia. At a time when America’s popular music scene was becoming increasingly integrated, a local band found itself forced to choose between playing the gig and standing up for principle.
Host Trey Kay speaks with John Smith, the surviving member of The In Crowd, a Charleston-based band that played popular tunes during that era. One night at the Charleston Athletic Club, a mixed-race couple was denied the right to dance. Smith recalls the band’s response: If they couldn’t dance, we wouldn’t play. The decision carried consequences, and the musicians paid a price for taking that stand.
Decades later, Smith and his late bandmates have been recognized for their quiet act of resistance. For this episode, Kay meets Smith at the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame to reflect on that pivotal moment and its lasting impact.
Kay also gathers with the Charleston-based band The Carpenter Ants for a rehearsal that turns into a conversation. Musicians from different generations share their experiences in the local music scene, reflecting on how it has mirrored both the divisions and the unity of their community. Together, they explore how music can both expose and heal the nation’s deepest wounds.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
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Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“If they didn’t serve [the mixed race couple], then we weren’t going to play anymore… So he told us to ‘go the hell out.’ And we did.”
— John Smith, surviving member, The In Crowd
Photo courtesy of John Smith
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“The band did the right thing… The union that was supposed to be there representing them was on the wrong side of history.”
— Michael Pushkin
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“People have always thought what they wanted to think… but now they just come out and say it. You don’t care where you go, they’re just gonna say it.”
— Charlie Tee, the late lead singer of The Carpenter Ants
“You go to this one place and they show you what you really are… It was a wake-up call.”
— Jupie Little, drummer and vocalist, The Carpenter Ants
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
date: 2026-02-12 20:55:00