Mountain Blog

He's tall and lean and gets compared to Townes, Clark and Keen, but there's only one Mr. Hayes Carll. 

Over at NPR.org/mountainstage they've just posted a full set from our FestivALL Charleston show on June 29. The unedited full version of that show, also featuring Jakob Dylan, Andy Davis, Krista Detor and Priscilla Ahn is still available on our main page at www.mountainstage.org (in the bottom right box). It'll only be up until Monday August 4 though.

Those of you who were in the house at the Clay Center when this set from Hayes Carll was recorded might recall he followed a mesmerizing and crowd-thrilling set by Priscilla Ahn, prompting Carll to dedicate his entire set to her, adding "That was ridiculous."

We hope you're enjoying our new home on NPR.org as much as we are. Tell some friends about it!

Thanks for listening!

Our dearest thanks to everyone who came out to Mountain Stage last night at the Cultural Center Theater here in Charleston. We had a packed house of close to 500 total for Amos Lee, the SteelDrivers, Sharon Little and Peter Bradley Adams. It was nice to see our good friend Don Dixon make an appearance as well. Don has a great new record called "The Nu-Look"  that's available now and some folks in Charleston got a taste of it last night.

You folks who were in the audience can hear yourselves on the radio the last weekend of September (keep an eye on the broadcast schedule) and then we will post the show for download on September 29. The show featuring Jakob Dylan, Hayes Carll, Priscilla Ahn, Andy Davis and Krista Detor will be up today on mountainstage.org and will be available until next Monday.

It's always tempting to dwell on a successful show such as last night's, but we are always looking forward to the next show (we're creeping up on 700). Check out our Live Show Schedule and get your tickets now.

And be sure to visit our new home for on-line content, www.NPR.org/MountainStage.

Thanks for listening!

As mentioned in a previous post, we are excited to travel south to see our friends down in the Tenn./Va. border town of Bristol on August 17. We were just announced as a kick-off event to Bristol Motor Speedweek, celebrating the opening of the 2008 racing season at "the world's fastest half-mile."

Our thanks to the good folks at Bristol Motor Speedway for incorporating us into their freindly fold. We all know that good music and fast cars go together like Mountain Stage and the Birthplace of Country Music.

Get your tickets to Mountain Stage at the Paramount Center for the Arts here or by calling 1-423-274-8920. 

See you in Bristol!

Check out this review for Janiva Magness' latest CD, "What Will Love Do" from Harp Magazine's Blurt-online.

"Detroit-born Janiva Magness stands out as far above the competition. The dearth of truly captivating contemporary blues artists with something distinctive to offer beyond a retro rehash or a tepid “update” is the situation to which Magness' music responds so directly. Just as she did with her excellent 2006 album, Move You, Magness brings vibrance, viscerality, guts, and plain unadulterated soul to her Alligator debut, What Love Will Do."

Thanks to Tim at Alligator records for spotting this great review. Read the whole thing here.

Janiva is bringing the "plain unadulterated soul" at to Mountain Stage on August 31 here in Charleston. Tickets are available here.

See You in Charleston!

With commercial radio basically resting calmly in a state of artistic complacency, getting a "hit song" these days has more to do with I-tunes sales and advertising licensing than it does with charts and airplay. Luckily, over here on the public radio side of things, and especially at Mountain Stage, we're willing to put these folks on the radio (though it may not be at the same time every hour, like the other end of the FM spectrum).

Case in point: Sharon Little, who'll visit us in Charleston this weekend. This sultry chanteuse has gone from weary waitress to satellite-searing second bill on the expansive Raising Sand tour featuring Alison Krauss, Robert Plant and T Bone Burnett.

Her song "Spaceship" has already been used in a segment of the CBS series Numb3rs, and "Follow That Sound," a hypnotic soul-funk number, was featured on crime-drama NCIS. So if that can be compared to a Top 40 Hit, then having a song chosen as the theme for a show, as "Follow" recently was for the new Benjamin Bratt series on A&E "The Cleaner" must be like breaking the Top 10. Heck, you can even get the tune on your cell-phone. Just please be sure to silence it at the Cultural Center theater this Sunday.

See you there!

If you haven't taken the time yet, be sure to check out our new home for listening online at NPRMusic.org. Thanks to our new deal with National Public Radio, they'll be posting a different artist from each week's show every day, Monday thru Friday, with some bonus material every now and then.

On the radio Mountain Stage is one hour and 58 minutes every week. Unfortunately this means that some material, good or not-so-good, has to hit the cutting room floor. Thanks to NPRMusic.org, we can post an artist's set as it happened the night it went down.

Those of you long time listeners will take special interest in hearing a set by our host, artistic director and co-founder Larry Groce. Larry hadn't done a full set on the show in over 15 years and he'd never included the entire version of "Simple Song," the Mountain Stage theme, in the radio version of the show. If you check out Larry's portion of our special Mother's Day celebration, you can hear that and some other mother infused songs. Click Here.

We just added two new acts for our show in Bristol TN/VA at the Paramount Center for the Arts on State Street. Ed Snodderly, who I first heard at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, will bring his worn country wisdom to the stage. If you like guys like Greg Brown, John Prine and Peter Case, you'll be hip to Snodderly in no time.

Also just added to the Bristol show is Mike Farris, who's brings a praise inflected gospel with a dixie-land beat. His new record on INO Records is called "Salvation in Lights." Get a glimpse at www.mikefarris.net.

And finally for those of you in the Charleston, WV area, our good friend Janis Ian makes her return to the Mountain Stage on August 31, Labor Day weekend. 

She's got a lot of labor to celebrate as of late with a new autobiography and a career spanning companion CD. Let us know if you're making the trip for the show- we'd love to hear from you. Who will travel the farthest? 

Thanks for reading, and keep listening!

All of you radio listeners may have heard our re-broadcast of Mountain Stage featuring Dierks Bentley and others a couple of weeks ago. That show was taped at the Paramount Center for the Arts on State St. in Bristol, TN. Bristol has become sort of an adopted-sister for Mountain Stage, thanks in large part to the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance and the superb folks on their staff.

On Sunday, August 17 we return to Bristol for our fourth appearance at the Paramount. We can't say enough good things about Bristol, so if you are within driving distance, and you probably are no matter where you live, we would love to have you in the audience. Click here for more info on tickets.

We'll be honoring Bristol's distinction once again with a line-up of stellar country music that would make Ralph Peer proud, starting with Carter family heir Carlene Carter. Carlene is the daughter of June Carter and her first husband Carl Smith.

Personally, I'll never forget watching this video, which launched Carlene's career to a new level.  No wonder it became such a hit- you can spot Heartbrearkers Bentmont Tench and Howie Epstein, who produced the record- playing and singing along in the video.

Check out Carlene's latest, "Stronger," and get your tickets for Bristol. More on Eric Church to come.

Thanks for listening!

The line-up for the July 27 Mountain Stage has been finalized. There are still tickets available here and at Taylor Books in downtown, Charleston. You can also charge by phone at 1-800-594-TIXX (8499).

Just added is Alabama native Peter Bradley Adams who you may know from the folk/pop duo eastmountainsouth.

Blue Note recording artist Amos Lee makes his second appearance on Mountain Stage while blue-eyed soulstress Sharon Little, Papa Mali and the SteelDrivers all make their first appearance. Click here for more on each artist.

This promises to be an exciting, stylistically varied show, which we know is how you like it!

See you in Charleston!

For the Fourth of July holiday, the Mountain Stage Band joined forces with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra for a celebration of American and Appalachian music. The group performed four shows over four days in four WV cities: First in Clarksburg, then to Wheeling, followed by Canaan Valley and Weirton.

The Mountain Stage Band features our host and artistic director Larry Groce on vocals, our wonderful singer Julie Adams, band leader/guitarist/harmonica player Ron Sowell, pianist Bob Thompson, electric guitarist Michael Lipton (and Executive Director of the WV Music Hall of Fame), bassist Steve Hill and drummer/percussionist Ammed Solomon. The following is the band's set-list which they performed under the direction of maestro André Raphel Smith featuring string arrangements by WV Symphony Principle Viola Sandra Armstrong Groce, also of the Montclaire String Quartet.

"Simple Song (Mountain Stage Theme)"- written and performed by Larry Groce.
"The Cuckoo" Traditional arranged by Groce.
"Coal Tatoo" written by Billy Edd Wheeler and performed by Ron Sowell.
"Crazy Horse Blues," written and performed by Bob Thompson.
"In the Wilderness," written and performed by Larry Groce.
"Paradise Park," written by Larry Groce and Webb Wilder, performed by Larry Groce.
"I Know I'm Home," written by Ron Sowell and Al Smith and performed by Ron Sowell.
"Stella Can Bake," written and performed by Julie Adams.
"Let the Good Times Roll," written by Louis Jordon, performed by the Mountain Stage Band and Wheeling Symphony.

The song "I Know I'm Home" is available on a compilation of WV Songs produced by Ron Sowell called "The Road Home," which is available online through Tamarack, one of Mountain Stage's major underwriters.

Visit Tamarack and check out "The Road Home" here.

Thanks to all who came out to the Symphony concerts. I know that the band enjoyed singing and playing for you.

It's a busy July here at Mountain Stage, and we have some exciting news to share with our loyal listeners.

Thanks to our new partnership with National Public Radio, Mountain Stage is being featured onNPRMusic.org.

Click here to listen to our first installment featuring country music superstar Dierks Bentley in live performance. Dierks is heard here recorded during our trip to Bristol TN/VA as part of 80th Anniversary of the 1927 Bristol recording sessions which first captured Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Widely reffered to as the "Big Bang" of Country Music, those sessions give Bristol it's distinction as the Birthplace of Country Music. Find out more about the BCMA at their web-site.

If you hadn't noticed, we'll be returning to Bristol this August for a special show featuring rising country star Eric Church and a member of country music's first family, Carlene Carter, just a few blocks from where her ancestors cut those landmark tracks over 80 years ago. Plan a trip to Bristol for August 17 and get your tickets here, or by calling 1-423-274-8920.

Thanks for listening!

The following comes from jambands.com, regarding former Phish bassist / Leo Kottke collaborator/wordsmith Mike Gordon and his latest touring troupe: 

"Last evening at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mike Gordon performed with his current quintet. The band also includes Scott Murawski on guitar, drummer Todd Isler, percussionist Craig Myers and keyboardist Tom Cleary.

The group debuted much of the material from Gordon's forthcoming release, The Green Sparrow (set to hit on August  5). In addition, the band offered up covers of the Beatles' "She Said, She Said" and J.J. Cale's "Ain't Love Funny."  The evening concluded with a version of the Phish song "Meat" that segued into The Green Sparrow's "Dig Further Down." Next up for the group is a performance at the High Sierra Music Festival on Friday." 

So if you're in the Charleston, WV  area on August 10th, you too can catch some of the new material before you can even buy it in stores as Mike Gordon and the "Green Sparrow" land on Mountain Stage.

Thanks to Chris at Music in Motion Promotions for sending the article.

Get your tickets here!