YNST Magazine

16/09/2025

New YNSTees are here, hot off the presses! 🙂‍↕️👕

Grab yours this weekend exclusively at Healing Appalachia music festival 🎻 We will be vending all weekend, swing by our table, grab some swag and say hello! (Leftovers will go on the online shop).

Shirts screen-printed by the team at & designed by YNST’s own .c

29/08/2025

CALLING ALL CREATIVES! 📣🎨✍️ We want to publish your work in print and online.

YNST is by and for Appalachian creatives, and always free to submit. 🪄🌄 Right now we’re seeking art, creative writing and fashion as we round out the rest of this year's creative content.

Already submitted but created something new? We want to see that too! Submit your samples on our website at ynstmagazine.com/submissions

23/08/2025

125 years ago, a yellow brick church was built on Atwood Street in Pittsburgh. Today, six decades since its last formal worship service, the church is brimming with a different kind of spirit: the spirit of DIY. ⛪️

Under the church’s new moniker, Haven, community is foundational, because the independent music venue is operated by a completely volunteer-based creative collective called Post Genre. Utilizing a rotating cast of more than 100 dedicated people who exchange their skills in the pursuit of the fleeting musical moment, Haven’s opening in 2025 breaks a 20-year dry spell for music venues in the Oakland neighborhood.

There’s no bar in the back, no corporate logos. Instead, there’s a volunteer-built stage, art on the walls, and volumes of creatives gathering each week to make music for the sake of music.

Read more about the higher power of DIY that you can find at .pgh only when you pick up YNST Issue 08! 🤘

✍️: Ella Jennings
📸: Colin Tierney & Anya Hammer

22/08/2025

Nicholas Tankersley (aka NDTank) came to design through pure exploration. 🔭

After graduating, the self-taught designer started experimenting with t-shirt design. This quickly snowballed into bigger and more frequent freelance opportunities from music festivals, like Jeff Tweedy and even the album cover for Becky Buller’s “Jubilee.” His client list rapidly expanded, including work for Wilco, the 20th anniversary tour of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Radio City Music Hall, Lake Street Drive and the Ghost of Paul Revere’s final shows.

Growing up, Nicholas spent a lot of time in the woods wandering around and getting lost in the landscape, so naturally, themes of nature and wildlife show up in his work often. “I’m also drawn to forgotten places: abandoned buildings, worn-out signage, little hints of history that have been left behind,” he said. “There’s something beautiful about the way the past lingers here. I try to carry that into my work.”

NDTank is one of the four creatives we chatted with about their process in The Music Issue, available everywhere now (including in his shop, Lost Appalachia, in Fayetteville, WV)! 🩵

✍️:

20/08/2025

When Emily Sokolosky opened Base Camp Printing in 2016, she had a vision: to carry forward the letterpress tradition with bold design and a commitment to local culture. But she had no idea just how directly that tradition would be passed down to her.

Shortly after opening Base Camp, a man named Harry “Moke” Wagner Jr. walked in, and after testing her about her commitment to the craft, offered Emily his late father’s entire print shop — wood type, engravings and all. “This was absolutely life-changing,” she said. “Most things needed to have a letterpress print shop are not being made anymore.”

The look of their shop is inspired by the type and images Harry collected, and their mission is inspired by Moke’s gift. “We wouldn’t be who we are without Appalachian generosity. Each poster is created with inherited tools.”

Base Camp, which she runs with her sister Betsy, has become a staple of the Charleston, WV music scene, producing stunning linocut-and-type posters for West Virginia’s Mountain Stage Radio Show

For Emily, these posters are about more than just art. They’re about expression, particularly for Appalachians. “When Appalachian musicians and visual artists collaborate together, we are able to express a deep sense of place all Appalachians share,” she said, “even when it’s hard to explain to those outside of Appalachia.”

Basecamp Printing is one of the four creatives we chatted with about their process in The Music Issue, available everywhere now (including in their shop in Charleston)! 🩵

✍️:

19/08/2025

Logan Schmitt’s illustrations are unmistakable, with densely detailed wildlife, mysterious forests and animals mid-motion, often swirling in rich textures and soft palettes. Logan, who is based in Wheeling, WV, has become a go-to illustrator for Appalachian musicians and festivals, blending his love of nature with a growing roster of musical collaborations.

Logan has worked with artists like Tyler Childers, The Avett Brothers and the Nelsonville Music Festival. He first broke into the scene in 2015, designing a poster for a band that he didn’t know personally, a post-rock instrumental band from Akron called If These Trees Could Talk.

The connection between nature and music runs deep in Logan’s work, and he believes the region’s artists are helping shape something special. “Hopefully folks in Appalachia can feel proud to see artists and designers from Appalachia making imagery for Appalachian bands and musicians,” he said. “It’s something we can all feel a little bit of ownership over.”

Logan Schmitt is one of the four creatives we chatted with about their process in The Music Issue, available everywhere now! 🩵

✍️:

13/08/2025

In an era where the music industry can feel increasingly digitized and distant, handmade work is thriving across Appalachia.

A growing cohort of visual artists like are carving, inking and illustrating their way into the soul of the region’s music scene — creating limited-run gig posters and merchandise that carry as much heart as the songs themselves. 🪕👐

Marietta, Ohio native Bobby Rosenstock’s process is deeply hands-on and time-intensive. He starts with rough sketches inspired by the musician and the venue, which are then refined and sent for approval. Once finalized, each color is individually carved into a separate block of cherry plywood. The result is a dynamic multi-layered masterpiece that can take up to four weeks to complete.

JustAJar Design Press is one of the four creatives we chatted with about their process in The Music Issue, available everywhere now! 🩵

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05/08/2025

The buzz around The Local Honeys has never been stronger. 🐝

Molded by the realities of rural life and raised by “story-tellers, bullsh*tters and people that love to sit around and talk,” musicians Montana Hobbs and Linda Jean Stokley are part of a proud lineage of Kentucky women: tough, down-to-earth, unshakably honest.

With their May 2025 releases, “Darlin’ You Don’t Know That’s Wrong” and “The Space Girl’s Song,” both self-produced for their new independent record label, Soli Doli Records, they’re stepping forward not just as musicians, but as defining voices for a new Appalachia.

For over a decade, have been shaking up the folk and roots scenes — breaking rules, blending traditions and taking inspiration from their own lived experiences as two “little girls actin’ like men.”

Read the full story only in YNST Issue 08, the Music Issue, out everywhere now.

✍️:
📸: 1 & 3 courtesy of Case Mahan / 2 & 4 by .nightbird

28/07/2025

18/07/2025

Rock out this summer with an extra special edition of YNST, the Music Issue. 🎸🤘🪩🎧🩵🪕

With more pages, stories and artists than ever before — Issue 08 is as colorful and captivating as the music scene in Appalachia today. We are so excited to have in in-depth conversations with music icons The Local Honeys and Indigo De Souza! 🎶

Hear the plea for public arts funding by going inside Mountain Stage with Kathy Mattea. Explore the world of musical collaboration with electric gig poster illustrators. Discover the best festivals and most unique music venues across the region. Experience the power of DIY and the magic of music-inspired fashion. Plus, dig in to a supersized creative writing section and dozens of vibrant original masterpieces from Appalachian artists to perfectly complement the soundscape of today!

PREORDER OR SUBSCRIBE TODAY! https://linktr.ee/ynstmagazine

Cover: Eldana Smith wearing Kay Andrada's brand Bebot shot by Jason Hawke

20/06/2025

Over halfway of our goal in less than 24 hours. THANK YOU to all who have donated

20/06/2025

This West Virginia day, join us in helping our neighbors rebuild. 🌅

We are raising funds through The Friendlier City Project to directly support families impacted by floods and the organizations on the ground helping them rebuild.

Visit givebutter.com/wvfloodfund to donate today.