Nicholas Phinney lifts an unfinished acoustic guitar into the light and studies the grain of the wood and the careful craftsmanship of his co-workers at the Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company, who transformed an idea and a few blocks of wood into an instrument nearly ready for the stage or studio, or a picking session on a front porch. Nicholas is a finisher, and his work will bring out the wood’s detail and color and make the instrument shine.
Tucked inside a former high school building in Hindman, KY, where the headwaters of Troublesome Creek meet, the Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company is a place where Phinney and about a dozen others in recovery from addiction are building something of their own: stability, purpose, and a way forward through work. For Phinney, support from EKCEP’s Recovery & Reentry workforce development services helped make that work possible, providing a paid opportunity to learn a craft, develop new skills, and build a foundation for his working life.
The instruments created in the shop are distributed around the world, but for the people who build them, the work represents something much closer to home.
Phinney’s journey began far from the hills of Eastern Kentucky.
“I’m from the state of Maine,” said Phinney. “I came to Kentucky for recovery on Thanksgiving 2024.”
Before traveling to Kentucky, Phinney was looking for a path forward in recovery when he came across a story about Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company on television. What might otherwise have been a passing moment instead offered an unexpected possibility.
“We actively made a decision that we needed to find a recovery center or some kind of solution,” Phinney said. “And lo and behold, God put this place on the television in front of us.”
Troublesome Creek’s mission of providing meaningful employment for skilled craftspeople in recovery immediately resonated with Phinney.
“Putting two and two together, it just made sense to reach out,” he said.
Phinney eventually connected with Esther Haley, a Career Navigator with LKLP Community Action Council, which delivers EKCEP’s workforce services locally. Through that partnership, people in recovery receive career guidance, help addressing barriers to employment, and opportunities to gain paid work experience. For Phinney, Haley helped arrange a placement at Troublesome Creek through EKCEP’s Recovery & Reentry services, supported by a grant from the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. The program covered his wages while he learned the craft, giving him an income and the company an opportunity to train him before adding him to its payroll.
“LKLP helped me get my foot in the door in gaining financial stability,” he said. “They allotted a certain amount of hours for me to be employed and learn the craft, which is half the battle.”
Phinney completed his treatment program in June and remained employed at Troublesome Creek through August with assistance from EKCEP’s Recovery & Reentry services before being added onto the company’s payroll in September.
That transition provided Phinney with something he viewed as essential to rebuilding his life in recovery.
“Coming out of recovery, financial stability is key,” he said. “That was very, very helpful to me. It helped me get back on my feet, to feel more comfortable with some of the decisions I was making moving forward while trying to rebuild a better life for myself.”
The opportunity to work and continue moving forward in recovery also brought Bryce Roberts to Troublesome Creek. After completing treatment, Roberts studied advanced manufacturing at eKAMI in Paintsville, Kentucky. EKCEP’s workforce services, delivered locally by LKLP through the Kentucky Career Center network, connected him with a paid work experience placement at the company.
The opportunity has become about more than earning a paycheck. It has also provided an environment where he can continue developing himself while learning a new trade.
“In my recovery, it’s very important that I continue personal growth,” he said. “Learning new skills is the main way that I continue my recovery.”
Joe Hall, a native of nearby Perry County, KY, also received employment assistance through EKCEP and LKLP’s workforce partnership. At Troublesome Creek, he has found a similar sense of purpose in the work. Accustomed to physical labor, he is learning a craft that calls for patience, precision, and careful attention to detail.
“It’s a really strategic skill,” he said. “You have to watch what you do and you have to be really careful because you can get started on one and you can mess it up really bad, and there you go. You’ve destroyed it.”
That need to slow down and concentrate has brought a different rhythm to Hall’s working life. Along with the challenge of learning to make instruments, he said, the work has helped him stay focused on his recovery.
Building stringed instruments is skilled, labor-intensive work that takes time to learn. Doug Naselroad, director of Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company, said new employees need a pathway into the craft and an opportunity to train, practice, and develop their abilities. Support from EKCEP and LKLP can help make that pathway possible, allowing individuals to earn an income and begin to build stability while learning the work.
Naselroad also sees the work itself as an important part of recovery. The craft requires employees to stay with a demanding project over time, giving them a focus and a sense of accomplishment that he believes can support their recovery.
“Having a job is important, of course,” he said. “Critically important is having that therapeutic value that we’ve come to expect and love and appreciate of presenting people with a labor-intensive, long-curve project that they have to focus on, and they have to focus on it for a long time.”
The work asks for patience and persistence, but it also offers a chance to see progress take shape. As employees learn what they can create, they begin to see new possibilities for themselves.
“There’s a great reward in making a musical instrument out of a piece of wood,” he said. “You start with a piece of wood, and at the end of it you end up with music.”
EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. EKCEP is funded by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, along with various federal and state grants and private donations, and is a proud partner in the American Job Center network. Learn more at ekcep.org.