This folklorist, musician, filmmaker, and teacher has spent his life studying and sharing the traditional culture of West Virginia. He grew up loving music, learned guitar and banjo as a child, and later picked up the fiddle after hearing old-time musicians. In 1975, he moved to West Virginia, where he began recording and studying local traditions like music, crafts, food, and storytelling. He worked for many years at the Augusta Heritage Center, where he created a huge collection of recordings and photos about Appalachian life. Milnes also made films, wrote books about folklore, and supported other artists by teaching and mentoring them. Over time, he earned many awards for his work, including the National Heritage Fellowship in 2026, the nation's highest honor for preserving folk traditions.