Mountain Blog

Mountain Stage is back at the Culture Center Theater this weekend for our last show of 2011.

We’re thrilled to the marrow to be joined once again by the original Honky Tonk Hero, the legendary Billy Joe Shaver.

 Revered by everyone who’s anyone as one of the greatest songwriters of the 20^th century and beyond, Shaver first came to the attention of music lovers when Waylon Jennings filled nearly an entire album with Shaver’s songs, kicking off the outlaw country movement. To date, Shaver has released 23 albums, and his songs have been recorded by Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Bob Dylan – just to name a few. His latest is a honky-tonk gospel affair, Everybody's Brother, which features duets with Marty Stuart, John Anderson, Tanya Tucker and more.

Banjo man Noam Pikelny will also be there. A charter member of the Chris Thile project The Punch Brothers, in 2010, Steve Martin awarded Pikelny the first ever “Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass,” describing Pikelny as “a player of unlimited range and astonishing precision.” On his new release, Beat The Devil and Carry A Rail, Pikelny is backed by an all-star band of heroes and legends of acoustic music, including fellow Punch Brothers Gabe Witcher and Chris Eldridge, bassist Mark Schatz, fiddle player Stuart Duncan, vocalist-mandolinist Tim O’Brien, and dobro player Jerry Douglas. (Witcher, Eldridge and Schatz will appear alongside Pikelny this Sunday),

You’ll also hear from country singer-songwriter Matraca Berg. One of Nashville’s most revered and sought-after songwriters, Matraca Berg’s tunes have been recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Reba McEntire, Dusty Springfield, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Suzy Bogguss, Pam Tillis, Deana Carter and Martina McBride.

 She earned her first No. 1 song at 18, her first Grammy nomination at 22, and in 1997, won the Country Music Association’s “Song of the Year” for “Strawberry Wine.” She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008, and just recently her song “You and Tequila” (performed by Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter) was nominated for a Grammy. The song also appears on her new album, The Dreaming Fields, her first new release in 14 years.  

The April Verch Band, and the Caleb Klauder Country Band round out the show. Building on Klauder’s intense love of honky-tonk, rockabilly, outlaw and early country, and infusing the songs with Caleb's dry, dusty voice and mature songwriting, the Caleb Klauder Country Band is a rising star in today's Americana pantheon. You can read more about Klauder here.

 April Verch is a young, yet internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and stepdancer who roots music luminary Dirk Powell called “… a rare mix of all the technique and super-flashy things, along with the deep soul and tradition that comes from having grown up with the music.” Her 8^th album, That’s How We Run, braces southern mountain and old time music with her plucky Canadian roots.

Tickets for this show are available online, by phone (800.549.TIXX) and in person at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston. You can get your tickets at the door this Sunday at the Culture Center, but you save yourself 10 bucks by purchasing in advance.

Thanks for supporting Mountain Stage in 2011. We begin our 29^th season at our home-away-from-home in Morgantown, where our guest will be incendiary blues-rock guitarist and living legend Johnny Winter and soul-blues sensation Ruthie Foster.

Our next show in Charleston is February 5, with roots music icon Darrell Scott. You can see our current 2012 live show schedule here. We’ll see you there!