Cover image for Hillbilly Odyssey by C. L. Willis. Black text reads "Hillbilly Odyssey: Resilience in a Small Mountain Mill Town, C.L. Willis" over a black and white image of a rural barn and land.

Hillbilly Odyssey: Resilience in a Small Mountain Mill Town

Redhawk Publications
Publication date: January 4, 2024
ISBN: 978-1-959346-31-9
Paperback | $17.00


C. L. Willis’ memoir weaves together the threads of family, community, church, and place, presenting them as the very essence of Appalachian life. Willis deftly showcases the remarkable resilience exhibited by his family and the indomitable spirit of his hometown in the face of adversity. These stories serve as a poignant counterpoint to the prevalent, reductionist, and often derogatory portrayals that have long plagued the Appalachian people and their culture.

Available wherever books are sold. For signed and personalized copies, please visit Malaprop’s, Blue Ridge Books or Blue Moon Books.


  • C. L. Willis’s Hillbilly Odyssey: Resilience in a Small Mountain Mill Town is a memoir that refutes the Appalachian stereotyping embedded in J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy and instead offers a realistic and authentic portrayal of the hard-working Appalachian family struggling to succeed in a time of limited opportunities and low wages. The author’s family life from youth and beyond is more typical of the self-reliant, resilient families of the Appalachian region. His yearning to flee from hardships and the rigorous determination his family endured come full circle with his passion and love for his mountain home restored and entirely on display through this warm-hearted volume.

    Les M. Brown, author of Iron Bridge Sunday and Other Stories

  • C. L. Willis’ deeply personal memoir could not be more timely. He was raised near Canton, N.C. a community challenged as never before by the closing in 2023 of the papermill that has sustained it since 1908. Willis conveys traits that others fail to recognize among so-called hillbillies. It’s these traits—care for their neighbors, independence, understanding of their environment, and fierce determination to persevere—that ensure that Canton will once again thrive.

    John E. Ross, Author of Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time

  • Like Cecil Willis, I, too, was raised in the North Carolina Appalachian mountain culture, but never delved so deep into the good and bad aspects of being a hillbilly. This book by Willis does just that; he paints the good and bad with brushes and colors that will surprise and intrigue everyone. Whether a Canton boy, a mountain hillbilly, or an outlander, you’ll have to read Hillbilly Odyssey to appreciate the authors’ memories and his impressions of growing up in Canton—and to learn if he ever came back home to the cool mountain breezes.

    Carroll C. Jones, Author of Thomson’s Pulp Mill: Building the Champion Fibre Company at Canton, N.C., 1905-1908