Mountain Blog

As you might imagine, when the Mountain Stage Band appears alongside a guest artist, there’s a lot of preparation involved. And while the hard work that goes into preparing for a show is a tale for another day, we thought we’d share these pictures of Mountain Stage band director Ron Sowell and Ryan Kennedy (the most electrifying guitar player in Public Radio house band entertainment) going over chord charts before a show.

Mountain Stage is happy to announce that we’ve added two more bands to two of our upcoming shows.

The first is August 7 at the Civic Center Little Theater: Blame Sally will appear alongside pop-rock staple John Oates and 2010 Mountain Stage New Song winner Amber Rubarth. Comprised of four of San Fransisco’s most celebrated female singer-songwriters, Blame Sally’s music runs the range from acoustic folk to straight ahead pop rock. Head over to their YouTube channel to sample their music. Tickets for this show are available online, and at the Civic Center Box office.

And for August 14 show at the Culture Center Theater, we’ll be joined again by West Virginia’s own The Fox Hunt. No stranger to Mountain Stage audiences, The Fox Hunt is in the midst of their summer tour and in January they were guests at Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, Scotland.

They’ll be joined by their musical friends The Henry Girls, from Ireland, and Americana stars Ollabelle. Tickets for this show are available online, and at Taylor Books.

Additional acts for these shows are yet to be announced. Check back in with us here and on Facebook for the latest news. Got something to say? Leave a comment, and we'll get back to you. Thanks for supporting Mountain Stage.

On this week’s encore edition of Mountain Stage you’ll hear from legendary flat picking guitarist Doc Watson. He performs a set of his longtime favorites, some of which are included in his 3-disc interview/performance collection “Legacy.” 

The show was recorded in Bristol TN/VA, the historic border town where in 1927, Ralph Peer recorded what would become the first successful country music songs of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and the Stoneman family. Now the town is formally recognized as the Birthplace of Country Music.

This makes our Song of the Week, Watson singing Jimmie Rodgers’ “T For Texas,” all the more special.

Find a radio station in your area where you can tune in and tell some friends how they can hear the show.

Also featured on the broadcast is Grammy Award-winning American folk artist David Holt. Holt performs a unique acoustic set with songs from his various releases, including “Daybreak in Dixie” off his album David Holt and the Lightning Bolts with part-time Lightning Bolts Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth, who can also be heard later in the episode.

Also heard this week is Justin Townes Earle. He brings songs from his latest album Harlem River Blues. 

Irish-American singer-songwriter John Doyle takes the stage with his traditional Irish music. His latest, Exiles Return, is a collaboration with his former Solas partner, Karan Casey.

North Carolina’s own Laura Boosinger, and Texas musical ambassador to the world Bob Livingston join us as well.

It’s listeners like you who make Mountain Stage possible. Like us on Facebook for the latest news and information about upcoming broadcasts and live shows. Thanks for tuning in!