Try asking Cathryn Craig about Appalachian links with the UK... her Great Grandaddy was even recorded and photographed by Cecil Sharp when he was in the Appalachians researching exactly that.

This is FACT, not OPINION.

These days Cathryn tours with her partner, Brian Willoughby (ex Strawbs), and proudly talks about the UK/Appalachian connection during gigs. As she's talking about her immediate family, I reckon she's something of an authority on the subject...

Oh, and Debbie McClatchey is another you could ask...