Mountain Blog

Mountain Stage is happy to welcome WFWM-FM in Frostburg, MD to our family of stations. Beginning THIS THURSDAY, July 1, WFWM listeners can hear Mountain Stage at 8pm. WFWM is a service of Frostburg State University, with a translator station, 96.3, spanning to Oakland, MD.

We look forward to sharing two hours of live performance radio from the Mountain State with you each and every week. Be sure to tell some friends and let us know what you think!

Mountain Stage would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who came out to our recent live recordings as part of FestivALL Charleston. You make Mountain Stage unique and we never forget that.

We recorded two episodes in one weekend. The first features an extended set by Marc Cohn, with some of his well known favorites plus a few songs from his upcoming CD "Listening Booth: 1970", out July 20. Australian pop-singer Kate Miller-Heidke impressed a reviewer for the Charleston Gazette and most everyone in the audience. Austin, TX up and comer Sahara Smith  previewed her debut release for us and Israeli instrumentalist and singer David Broza played songs from "Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poems of Townes Van Zandt." Plus, a performance by our own pianist and his group, The Bob Thompson Unit.

The second episode features country star Dierks Bentley & the Travelin' McCourys with songs from Dierks' latest, bluegrass-flavored disc "Up on the Ridge." Canadian roots man Fred Eaglesmith did his honky-tonk side-show for us, with songs from "Cha Cha Cha" and songs of his that Miranda Lambert and Alan Jackson have recorded. There are plenty of instrumental fireworks on the way as well. We welcomed "Titan of the Telecaster" Bill Kirchen, Country Music Hall of Famer and harmonica wiz Charlie McCoy, and the gypsy jazz great John Jorgenson and his Quintet. This show was reviewed in the Charleston Gazette also and you can see some photos on the Friends of Mountain Stage MySpace profile.

These shows will go out to radio listeners in early July so keep your eyes on the Broadcast Schedule for more info.

We have one show scheduled in July featuring Dar Williams plus Appalachian Voices: Yim Yames (of My Morning Jacket) Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore. Tickets are on sale now online, by phone at 800.594.TIXX or locally at Taylor Books.

We are also working on some great shows for August. Coming soon to Mountain Stage are Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band, Mary
Gauthier, the Steeldrivers and much more. Stay tuned to the Mountain Stage Blog for the latest.

Coming up on the radio is a encore broadcast featuring Nanci Griffith, Todd Snider, the Greencards, Ashleigh Flynn and Holsapple & Stamey. Check out the playlist and find a station in your area where you can listen. We hope you'll tell some friends on facebook to tune in.

Fresh off of Friday's Live Recording with Marc Cohn, David Broza, Sahara Smith, Kate Miller-Heidke and the Bob Thompson Unit, we're ready to record episode #721 on Sunday.

The Charleston Gazette has Five Questions with Fred Eaglesmith(above) who wrote the title track to Alan Jackson's latest CD "Freight Train." 
Eaglesmith's latest, Cha Cha Cha, came out June 15.

John Jorgenson who makes his third appearance Sunday, has a nice interview in the Charleston Daily Mail.

He's had success as a founder of the Desert Rose Band, the Hellecasters, not to mention playing multiple instruments in Elton John's band. But now, its Gypsy Jazz all the way, as evidenced by his last few stellar releases, the latest of which is One Stolen Night!

It was Dierks Bentley and "Up on the Ridge"at the center of attention on CBS Sunday Morning last weekend. Dierks just got done with a Telluride NightGrass performance and heads to Charleston Sunday, along with the Travelin' McCourys and tunes from the bluegrass influenced CD.

Dierks took a break to chat with the Herald-Dispatch about his upcoming FestivALL appearance.

Show-time is 7p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available HERE, at Taylor Books, the Clay Center Box Office or by phone at 304.561.3570. We can't wait to see you at the show!

We've had a change in the line-up for our Friday, June 18 FestivALL edition of Mountain Stage.

Due to unforeseen circumstances Gurrumul was forced to cancel his United States Tour. We wish Gurrumul the best and hope he can make it to our side of the world soon.

Fortunately we were able to land an amazing artist who agreed to drop in on June 18. World-renowned Tel Aviv artist David Broza, who was on Mountain Stage once in 1994, will join us June 18. Tickets are available ONLINE, by phone at 304.561.3570, or locally at Taylor Books in Charleston. Also appearing are Kate Miller-Heidke, Sahara Smith and a special one-hour performance by Marc Cohn (more on Cohn's latest below).

Show-time on Friday is 8pm. 

Broza's latest, "Night Dawn," is a collection of the unpublished poems of Townes Van Zandt, left for Broza to interpret - here is an excerpt from his website, and a captivating video below:

David Broza’s latest collection of poems-put-to-music stems from a tale that dates back to 1994 when the Israeli troubadour was summoned to Houston to participate in Linda Lowe’s “Writers in the Round” series. That night, the lineup consisted of Lowe, David Amran, David Broza and none other than Townes Van Zandt.

Anyone who has ever attended these types of shows knows that one or two songwriters usually end up stealing the spotlight. In this case, it was Townes and Broza, a true clash in styles if ever there was one—Townes, the legendary but wavering voice of Texas Americana and Broza, an international songwriter who splits his styles halfway between Middle Eastern folk rock and Mediterranean world pop. Townes was best known for jotting his dark visions directly onto the page while Broza adapts his melodies to the words of poets he finds on dusty bookstores shelves from New York to Tel Aviv.

Flip forward a few more years to a phone call from Lowe to Broza. Townes had tragically passed away on New Years Day, 1997. The conversation is cryptic: something about Townes leaving David Broza unpublished poetry. . . .

Click HERE to order a copy of Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt.

"Walkin' In Memphis" singer Marc Cohn will make his second appearance on Mountain Stage Friday. His latest, "Listening Booth: 1970" features original interpretations of songs from that seminal year in music. Check out his laid-back cover of "The Letter," originally sung by the late Alex Chilton on the Box Tops' original, released in 1970 by Joe Cocker, in the video below.

Pre-Order "The Listening: Booth: 1970" (released July 20).

Get your tickets for Friday's show ONLINE, locally at Taylor Books, or by phone at 304.561.3570. You can also stop by the Clay Center and purchase tickets in-person. Check out our Live Show Schedule for our other upcoming shows and be sure to stay up to date on facebook.

We have a brand new episode coming your way this week on the radio. Back in April we recorded this show along with Jakob Dylan & Three Legs featuring Neko Case & Kelly Hogan, April Smith & Great Picture Show, The Watson Twins, The Tallest Man on Earth and Clare & The Reasons with our friends at WVU Arts & Entertainment.

At the heart of Clare & the Reasons are Clare and Olivier Manchon who, on this occasion, features a horn section of West Virginia University Students. Our Song of the Week offers a preview of The Genesis classic "That's All," which gets the chamber-folk treatment by Clare & the Reasons on this week's show and on their latest CD "ARROW."

Click HERE to find a station in your area and be sure to tell some friends that you "like Mountain Stage Radio Show."

As you know Mountain Stage is recording two new episodes in one jam-packed FestivALL Charleston weekend.

We've got a brand new edition of our "Setting The Stage Newsletter" (PDF File) ready for your perusal. The latest news is that we've added our very own pianist Bob Thompson and the Bob Thompson Unit (above) to the line-up on June 18. Bob and company are readying their latest CD "Smile" for a June 22 release as a follow-up to "Hit From the Git."

The newsletter features a little info on each of our guests, links to their websites and instructions on how to buy tickets. You can easily share this post with your social networks by using the "Share/Save" tool at the top of this post. Remember you can like us on facebook.

Over at NPR Music you can hear the special extended performance by Buddy Guy, featuring his trademark run-through of guitar styles, plus well known hits like "Feels Like Rain" and "Skin Deep" from 2008's Grammy-nominated album of the same name.

You can also hear "Skin Deep" on our Song of the Week page.

There's more at NPR Music, including a soul-stirring set by Shemekia Copeland that will have you dancing in your seat. Dig her interview "Backstage at Mountain Stage" below.

There's also a raucous boogie-filled performance at NPR by slide-guitar showman Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials, who just appeared on Conan O'Brien's comedy tour stop in Chicago. Stay tuned for a set from Duke Robillard, and look for the whole show as a podcast on Monday.

We are getting excited about recording some new episodes here at Mountain Stage. On  Sunday, June 20 we welcome country star Dierks Bentley whose latest, bluegrass influenced, CD "Up on the Ridge" was released June 8. You can ORDER HERE and get a glimpse behind the scenes with THIS VIDEO.

You might recognize some of our friends in the video. Recent guests like The Punch Brothers, Chris Stapleton of The Steel Drivers, Tim O'Brien and the one and only Del McCoury and his sons, Rob & Ronnie, all make cameos.

Dierks & the Travelin' McCourys join us Sunday, June 20, along with Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy, Canadian Country singer/songwriter Fred Eaglesmith, honky-tonk guitar hero Bill Kirchen and gypsy swing giant John Jorgenson.

Tickets are available online, at the Clay Center box office, at Taylor Books or by phone at 304.561.3570. 

Remember to "like" us on Facebook and suggest us to some of your like-minded music-loving friends. We hope to see you in Charleston!

Mountain Stage is happy to welcome WFWM-FM in Frostburg, MD to our family of stations. Beginning Thursday, July 1 WFWM listeners can hear Mountain Stage at 8pm. WFWM is a service of Frostburg State University, with a translator station, 96.3, spanning to Oakland, MD.

We look forward to sharing two hours of live performance radio from the Mountain State with you each and every week. Be sure to tell some friends and let us know what you think!

We're getting geared up to hit the stage for our first live recordings since April. We have two very exciting shows in one jam-packed weekend as part of FestivALL Charleston, the city-wide arts & entertainment festival here in the capitol city of Charleston, WV, held June 18-27.

Visit their website (check out their iPhone App!) and come spend a few days with us in the mountain state.

We help kick things off at 8pm on Friday, June 18 with Marc Cohn, who is set to release his latest CD "Listening Booth: 1970" on July 20. (Click HERE to Pre-order) The album features Cohn's interpretations of songs from that seminal year in pop music. Watch the video below to see how this album actually starts with a young teenage Cohn in his local record store in Cleveland, OH. Hear his version of "The Letter," by The Box Tops, on MySpace.

The second show in three days starts at 7pm Sunday, June 20 with Dierks Bentley, Charlie McCoy, John Jorgenson Quintet, Bill Kirchen and Fred Eaglesmith.

Country music fans are getting excited about Dierks' latest CD "Up On the Ridge." Even US Magazine, who are streaming a new track, Buddy & Julie Miller's "Love Grows Wild," have Dierks-fever. We are happy to welcome him back for the third time to Mountain Stage.

The album drops next Tuesday, June 8, but you can preorder now at Amazon. Here's a preview video with Dierks talking about the title track.

Tickets for both shows are available online, at the Clay Center Box Office, Taylor Books in downtown Charleston or by phone at 304.561.3570.

REMEMBER: Friday, June 18 showtime is 8pm, Sunday, June 20- an hour earlier- at 7pm.