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Mike Doughty, appearing on Mountain Stage November 11. |
We’ve made several exciting additions to our fall and winter
schedule that we’d like to pass along.
First, on November 11, we’ll
travel once again to Morgantown, where we’ll
be joined by Mike Doughty. Formerly the frontman
of the jazzy experimental rock band Soul Coughing, singer-songwriter and
guitarist Mike Doughty cut his first solo record while that group was still
together.
Soul Coughing disbanded in 2000, but Doughty's 2005 album Haughty Melodic
spawned his hit "Looking at the World Through the Bottom of a Well." An avid blogger with a wry
sense of humor, the title of his new album, Yes
And Also Yes was taken from the headline of his profile on an online dating
site. We’re not making this up.
Tickets for this show are
already on sale, online, by phone (304.293.SHOW) and in person at the CAC
Box Office in Morgantown. Four more
acts will be added to this show in the very near future. Watch this space for
the latest.
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Robert Cray, appearing on Mountain Stage December 9 |
On December 9, we’ll return to our home at the
Culture Center Theater here in Charleston,
where our guests will be the Robert Cray Band, Shemekia Copeland, and Kelly
Hogan.
As one of the foremost names in blues music for decades now,
Robert
Cray needs no introduction. He’s out on the road with his band again,
but this time with a refreshed lineup that includes bassist Richard Cousins,
whose original tenure with Cray included his landmark Strong Persuader and Don’t be
Afraid of the Dark albums; along with longtime Cray keyboardist Jim Pugh, and
drummer Tony Braunagel (who has worked with Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, B.B King
and many more).
“Blues is one of the foundations of our music, but it’s not
all that we play,” Cray says. “When I first started playing guitar, I wanted to
be George Harrison – that is, until I heard Jimi Hendrix. After that, I wanted to
be Albert Collins and Buddy Guy and B.B. King. And then there are singers like
O.V. Wright and Bobby Blue Bland. It’s all mixed up in there.” Cray’s latest
album is This Time.
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Shemekia Copeland, appearing on Mountain Stage December 9 |
Blues singer Shemekia Copeland is
a force of nature. With a voice like a blast-furnace, her music has the kind of
timeless power and a heart-pounding urgency that few can achieve. Born in Harlem, New York, in 1979, Copeland actually came to her singing
career slowly. Her father, the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, brought
her on stage to sing at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club when she was just eight.
At
the time, Shemekia’s embarrassment outweighed her desire to sing. But when she
was fifteen and her father’s health began to fail, her outlook changed. At only
19, Shemekia stepped out of her father’s shadow with the Alligator release of
1998 debut recording, Turn the Heat Up!
She’s just released her brilliant new album, 33 1/3, which was produced by
Oliver Wood for Telarc records.
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Kelly Hogan, appearing on Mountain Stage December 9. |
Kelly Hogan will also be there. Many music fans will recognize Hogan as the prominently
featured backing vocalist who has shared the stage with Neko Case on hundreds
of tour dates, along with Jakob Dylan, Mavis Staples, Otis Clay and Andrew
Bird. Her extraordinary new solo album,
I
Like to Keep Myself in Pain has already wound up on several critics “best
of” lists, and features songs written by Vic Chesnutt, The Magnetic Fields, The
Mekons’ Jon Langford, John Wesley Harding, Robbie Fulks, Robyn Hitchcock, M.
Ward and more.
Tickets for this show are
available now online, by phone (800.549.TIXX), and in person at Taylor
Books in downtown Charleston.
We’ll be adding a couple more acts to this
show in the future. Check back with us for the latest, right here, on Twitter, and via Facebook.
See you at the show.