Joe McHugh is a storyteller, musician, writer, educator, and award-winning public radio journalist. He served as the founding director of the Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia where he also produced and hosted a weekly segment on Appalachian folkways for West Virginia Public Television. As an artist and curriculum developer, he has worked for numerous government agencies and non-profit organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, United State Justice Department, West Virginia Department of Culture and History, Pennsylvania Department of Education, California Department of Education, California Youth Authority, Judicial Counsel of California, Washington State Office of Public Defense, California School Library Association, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association.

He has also served on the faculty of the Gates Foundation-funded Washington State Educational Leadership Academy, the Evergreen State College, and Davis and Elkins College. He has authored seven books as well as numerous stage and radio plays. He is currently the producer and host of two public radio/podcast series: Rosin the Bow, an Audio Journey Through the World of the Violin Family (rosinthebow.org) and The Telling Takes Us Home, a Celebration of American Family Stories. (americanfamilystories.org)