Contains material related to the color documentary Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning, a 1988 release. The film is a portrait of balladeer Gunning who was born in eastern Kentucky in 1910. Gunning is interviewed about the organizing drives and coal mine strikes of the 1920s and '30s and the poverty of the Depression. Gunning's a cappella roots music and labor organizing songs are intercut with interview and archival footage. Subjects include coal mining, Kentucky ballads, the Depression in the Appalachian region, and labor organizing.