Mountain Blog

Mountain Stage is thrilled to announce that we’re traveling to Athens Ohio on Sunday, October 9 for a show at the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, where our guests will include alt-country pioneers The Jayhawks. We’ll also be joined by Hot Tuna, Karan Casey & John Doyle, Ha Ha Tonka, and Southeast Engine.

Tickets for this show will be available August 1 at the box office, online and by phone (740-593-1780). Doors open at 6:30, and showtime is 7 p.m.

Led by the sweet harmonies, gifted songwriting and crunchy guitars of Gary Louris and Mark Olson, The Jayhawks were among the first bands to combine elements of traditional country, punk, folk, and classic rock into a form of stately Americana that would eventually be labeled “alternative country.”

After the release of the two landmark albums Hollywood Town Hall in 1992 and Tomorrow the Green Grass in 1995 Mark Olson departed, launching his own acclaimed solo career, while Louris stayed on to record three more Jayhawks albums before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2004. In 2005 Louris and Olson eventually found their way back together and began playing a series of shows together before releasing Ready for the Flood in 2009.

Now reunited as the Jayhawks, the band issued a compilation disc in 2009, and will release an eagerly-awaited album of new material in September called Mockingbird Time.

We’ll also be joined by iconic blues-roots band Hot Tuna. Formed some four decades ago by Jefferson Airplane members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, Hot Tuna has released its first new album in twenty years, Steady as She Goes.

Irish vocalist Karan Casey and guitar virtuoso John Doyle were founding members of traditional supergroup Solas, and for their new project Exile's Return, the two former bandmates reunite to create a stripped-down album that showcases the power of traditional songs.

Ozark based indie rockers Ha Ha Tonka wrap rural images of their native Missouri with southern rock, folk, country and bluegrass. This spring they released Death of a Decade, and the bad was recently featured in the Ozarks episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations alongside Winter’s Bone author Daniel Woodrell.

Drawing from both the rich melancholy of Appalachia and the once-thriving indie rock scene in nearby Dayton Southeast Engine was launched in 1999 by Ohio University students singer/songwriter Adam Remnant and drummer Leo DeLuca. The band signed with Misra Records in 2007, and released their first internationally distributed album, A Wheel Within A Wheel, later that year. The group’s latest album Canary tells the story of an Appalachian family struggling through the great depression.

Be sure to visit our Live Show Schedule for more information on upcoming events.

Mountain Stage is back this week with a premier broadcast recorded live during FestivALL Charleston, featuring bluegrass stars Mountain Heart, along with the Charlie Sizemore Band, Greensky Bluegrass, Diana Jones, and Shawn Camp.

Known for their uncommon ability to combine traditional bluegrass sounds with live energy evocative of the best rock & roll shows, Mountain Heart has won a loyal following across genres. Formed by members of bluegrass legend Doyle Lawson’s band Quicksilver, founding members Gary Abernathy (banjo, vocals) and Jim Van Cleve (fiddle) are joined by Jason Moore on bass, Aaron Ramsey on mandolin and dobro, Jake Stargel on guitar, and Josh Shilling on lead vocals, guitar and piano.

The final track from their new album That Just Happened (and the final song from their lively Mountain Stage set) came about when Shilling took to Facebook to ask fans what they’d like to hear. The result was a fiery cover of the Allman Brothers’ Whipping Post, a compelling showcase for Shillings’ soaring vocals and piano.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Shawn Camp makes his second appearance on Mountain Stage. After leaving the family farm in Arkansas at age 20, Camp soon became one country music's most sought-after sidemen. He charted a Top 40 single of his own in the '90s with “Fallin’ Never Felt So Good,” and since then has earned respect as one of Nashville’s premier songwriters, penning hits for Garth Brooks (“Two Pina Coladas”) The Del McCoury Band ("My Love Will Not Change") Josh Turner (“Would You Go With Me”) and others.

Camp recently came to the attention of Warner Music Nashville President John Esposito, who discovered that Warner/Reprise had shelved an album he recorded nearly two decades ago. Available at last, it has been re-titled 1994. His set features a song from that album, the unsentimental tearjerker “The Grandpa That I Know,” which you can preview now as our Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

Greensky Bluegrass also appears. Since winning the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, Greensky Bluegrass have been playing more than 170 shows a year and sharing stages with Sam Bush, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth. (The group’s fourth album, Five Interstates was produced by Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone.) The group’s Mountain Stage set features a preview of their forthcoming album, Handguns.

You’ll also hear from Charlie Sizemore. A clear, crisp tenor and a respected songwriter, Sizemore spent nine years as a singer for Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, directly following in the footsteps of Keith Whitley. Balancing his career as a lawyer, family man and bluegrass singer, Sizemore’s set includes the tune “Alison’s Band,” which spent several weeks atop the Bluegrass Unlimited’s Top 30 Single Chart. His most recent effort is Heartache Looking For a Home.

Finally, Diana Jones returns to Mountain Stage with her own blend of country, blues and mountain music in the vein of Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent. The title of her current release, High Atmosphere, refers to flooding that occurred in Nashville in 2010 and how her house - built on top of hill in 1900 - escaped damage.

Find a radio station in your area where you can listen by clicking here, and connect with us on Facebook to stay in touch with the latest information. Thanks for listening to Mountain Stage!

Mountain Stage is excited to announce that two more acts have been confirmed for two of our upcoming live shows.

Heartland blues-rockers Moreland & Arbuckle round out the August 7 show at the Civic Center Little Theater. The pair met at a Wichita open mic in 2001, and have been playing together in different capacities ever since. Assisted by Brad Horner on drums, their stripped down 3-piece sound combines elements of traditional delta blues with a lo-fi electric edge that will no doubt remind some listeners of groups like The Black Keys and the White Stripes.

John Oates, Amber Rubarth, Blame Sally and Frontier Ruckus will also appear. Tickets for this show are on sale now online, by phone (800.745.3000), and at the Civic Center box office.

The August 14 show at the Culture Center (featuring Ollabelle, Henry Girls and The Fox Hunt) takes shape with the addition of jangle-country duo Foster & Lloyd. With an influential sound that drew just as much from the Beatles as Buck Owens, Bill Lloyd and Radney Foster rose to fame during the late 80’s, an unprecedented period of creativity in country music that saw artists like Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle and k.d. lang receiving mainstream airplay. (Steve Earle would later call this period “The Great Credibility Scare.”

Foster continued to see success as a songwriter and solo artist (“Just Call Me Lonesome” was a CMT staple through much of the 90’s) and Lloyd continued on as one of Nashville’s most sought-after session guitarists. After 20 years, the two have picked up where they left off with It’s Already Tomorrow. Tickets for this show are available online, and at Taylor Books.

Click here to see the entire live schedule, and get with us on Facebook to hear the latest.

Thanks for supporting Mountain Stage!

Nashville-based bluegrass band The SteelDrivers perform an energetic round of music on this week's encore edition of Mountain Stage. Their second, and most recent album is called Reckless. You can hear a preview of the SteelDriver’s set in our Mountain Stage Song of the Week, their soulful (and often covered) original “If It Hadn’t Been For Love.” You can check out their Backstage at Mountain Stage YouTube interview here.

Click here to find a radio station in your area where you can listen and tell some friends how they can hear the show.

Things kick off with banjo player and singer Abigail Washburn, who brings us a set new material from her album City of Refuge. You can catch footage from her set in this special Backstage at Mountain Stage interview with host Larry Groce.

Also on the bill is Knoxville, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter Scott Miller. He opens his set with a humorous song titled “Lo Siento, Spanishburg, West Virginia,” a sleepy little town in West Virginia. His most recent release is For Crying Out Loud.

Bloodshot Records recording artists Whitey Morgan and the 78’s take the stage to perform their brand of Honky-Tonk Outlaw country. The band's self-titled album was released last year.

Finally, veteran country music singer (and frequent Rhonda Vincent collaborator) Gene Watson sings some of his classic hits including “Paper Rosie” and the chart-topping “Farewell Party,” plus the title track to his new release "A Taste of the Truth."

Find a radio station in your area where you can listen by clicking here, and connect with us on Facebook to hear the latest. Thanks for supporting Mountain Stage.

After a few weeks off, Mountain Stage will return August 7 with a live show at the Charleston Civic Center Little Theater. Tickets are on sale now, and if you haven’t scooped yours up, they’re available online, by phone (800-745-3000), and at the Civic Center box office.

Four acts have been announced for this show so far, one of them being one half of one of the most successful pop duos of all time, John Oates. His new solo album, Mississippi Mile, is a raw, sincere exploration of the rhythm & blues and soul roots of the music he made famous. Most of the songs on the record were recorded in two or three takes with very few overdubs, and features contributions from roots music legends Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. It was produced by Mike Henderson of the SteelDrivers, who (conveniently enough) appears on this week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage.

In addition to the bluesy standards that form the backbone of Mississippi Mile, Oates is also known to spin out retooled versions of his own songs:

Amber Rubarth, Blame Sally and Frontier Ruckus are also set appear on this show, with other acts to be announced. Keep checking in with us on the Mountain Stage blog for more previews, and the latest news about this upcoming event. See you there!

Mountain Stage has added another artist to the August 7 show at the Civic Center Little Theater. Michigan-based band Frontier Ruckuswill be appearing alongside John Oates, Amber Rubarth and Blame Sally. Led by singer and gifted wordsmith Matthew Malia, Frontier Ruckus’ sound evokes early Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown, while staying true to their own unique instrumentation and subject matter.

You can check out a lot of their music on YouTube, and their most recent release is called Deadmalls and Nightfalls. If you like what you hear, let some friends know.

Tickets to this show are available online, by phone (800.745.3000) or at the Civic Center box office. We hope to see you there!  

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!

Fun fact: The upcoming Mountain Stage show in Bristol TN/VA featuring Vince Gill was our fastest selling event since R.E.M.'s appearance in 1991. Mountain Stage is fortunate to have had a few other fast selling shows recently, but what bears mentioning this time is that all the tickets were gone within just a couple of days of the show even being announced. Over a holiday weekend, no less.

In the past, fast selling shows were announced several days before tickets actually went on sale. Why were the good people of Bristol (as well as several West Virginians, we’ve heard) so eager to step away from their Fourth of July cookouts to scoop up Mountain Stage tickets? What's the big deal?

We’ve had a couple friends ask us that – friends who readily admit to not being the greatest of country music fans, especially the more modern stuff, which is understandable. And it is perhaps because of Vince Gill’s massive success as a contemporary country hitmaker that some remain unaware of his long ties to roots music.

Gill spent most of the mid and late 70’s as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist with outfits like the Bluegrass Alliance and Ricky Skaggs’ Boone Creek before joining country rockers Pure Prairie League – a group his high school bluegrass band had opened for – in 1979. He left in 1981 to join Rodney Crowell’s renowned backing band The Cherry Bombs. It was there he met Emory Gordy, Jr. and Tony Brown, who would go on to produce Gill’s wildly successful solo career.

In 1982 Gill appeared alongside Gordy on the on-off David Grisman project Here Today, where he recorded one of the finest traditional bluegrass vocals you will ever, ever hear:

Gill’s solo career launched in 1984, and while he managed to chart a couple of Top 10 hits, things didn’t really take off until ’89, with the release of When I Call Your Name.

It was around this time that Gill turned down an offer from Mark Knopfler to become a full-time member of Dire Straits. (Gill talked about this just a few days ago on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me )

This video was shot around that time, and while it’s not the best quality, it leaves no doubt whatsoever about what Knopfler saw in Gill’s musicianship:

It wasn’t long after this that Gill became an outright country superstar, releasing multiple Top 10 platinum-selling albums, and hosting the CMA awards a record-setting 12 consecutive times. And he’s done all this while bucking long-established Nashville conventions, writing nearly all of his own songs and featuring his own virtuoso guitar playing on his records – a path that would later be followed by country superstar / guitar heroes like Keith Urban and Brad Paisley.

Check back with us on the Mountain Stage blog for more information about this show, including additional acts as they are announced, as well as the radio broadcast and podcast schedule. Thanks for supporting live performance on public radio.

Josh Ritter (who is featured on this week’s Mountain Stage radio broadcast) is one of those songwriters whose work is almost always described as having a connection to literature. And the same is often said of musicians like Patterson Hood and Bruce Springsteen. Where some excel at crafting intricately detailed vignettes, others possess the ability to tell sprawling, cinematic stories within the confines of a four-minute song.

So it’s only fitting that noted storyteller and all-around Renaissance man Josh Ritter has written a novel, called Bright’s Passage.

Released just last week, Bright’s Passage tells the story of a man who returns from World War I to his home in West Virginia, only to find himself on a myth-like survival quest through the foothills with his small infant son, a goat, and a horse. (It’s worth mentioning that the horse talks.)

It’s getting solid reviews on Amazon, with comparisons being made to revered science fiction and fantasy author Neil Gaiman.

Check it out, and let us know what you think.

The August 21 Mountain Stage show in Bristol TN/VA is now sold out.

We’d like to thank everyone who bought tickets for their support and enthusiasm, as well as our friends at the BCMA for helping make this special show possible. Keep your eyes on the Mountain Stage Blog for the latest news and information about this and upcoming Mountain Stage events.

This week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage features acclaimed singer-songwriter Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band.

Since the release of his album “Golden Age of Radio,” Idaho-born Ritter has been splitting his time between the US and Ireland. In 2006, he was included in Paste Magazine’s “100 greatest living songwriters” alongside Dylan, Springsteen, and Neil Young.

During his Mountain Stage set, Ritter showcases songs from his most recent album, So Runs the World Away. You can listen to a preview of his performance right here in our Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

Also appearing on the show is folk icon Judy Collins.

Inspired by trailblazers like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and taking cues from the ‘50s folk revival, Collins embarked on a four decade long career that has spanned multiple genres. Backed by Russell Walden on piano, Collins sings songs from her most recent release Paradise.

Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder also appears.

Armed with a riveting stage presence and a powerful three-octave vocal range, Ryder has been wowing audiences throughout the world. Now signed to Atlantic Records, Ryder was named “Artist of the Week” by Paste, and her full-length debut, Is It O.K. premiered at No. 1 on Billboard’s “Heatseekers Albums” chart and received a prestigious Juno Award for “Adult Alternative Album of the Year.”

Alt-country singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier also joins us.

Gauthier ("Go-Shay") exploded onto the scene in 1999 with her release Drag Queens in Limousines, which earned a four star review from Rolling Stone. Gauthier writes what she knows: She was put up for adoption by her birth mother and, at 15, she stole a car from her adopted parents and hit the road, eventually spending her 18th birthday in a Kansas jail. After attending culinary school, Gauthier opened the successful restaurant in Boston. Her most recent album is The Founding.

Finally, you’ll here from Nashville-based indie pop musician Megan McCormick.

McCormick has garnered praise for her songwriting, beautiful vocal style and virtuoso guitar playing. Born in Idaho and raised in Alaska, McCormick moved to Nashville at age 16 after receiving the coveted Public Performance Scholarship at East Tennessee State University. She quickly became an integral part of the city’s vibrant songwriter community and an in-demand session player. McCormick’s debut album is Honest Words.

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