Across the nation, more than 390,000 children rely on foster care. However, a shortage of licensed foster homes is creating a national crisis. While official foster care cases are carefully tracked, many informal examples of kinship care aren’t part of the data. For this Us & Them episode, we hear the experiences of those who’ve been part of the foster care system.
Want to hang out with some great live performance radio this Labor Day weekend? Of course you do! To celebrate the end of summer, “Mountain Stage After Midnight” is serving up some delicious performances straight from the Mountain Stage archives. Broadcast from 1am-5am Saturday and Sunday mornings here on West Virginia Public Radio, “Mountain Stage After Midnight” takes the best episodes from the show’s 31 year history and shares their memories and songs with our late-night listeners. Each week we’ll hand-pick two of our favorite episodes and they’ll alternate order each night.
Tune in for two great 2010 performances that will air Saturday August 30 and Sunday August 31 on “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
First you’ll hear a April 2010 performance from the WVU Creative Arts Center. This show features alt-folk super-group Jakob Dylan & Three Legs (featuring Neko Case & Kelly Hogan), indie folk duo The Watson Twins, quirky pop outlet Clare & the Reasons, Swedish singer-songwriter The Tallest Man on Earth, and American folk rockers April Smith & the Great Picture Show. See the playlist.
Next is a June 2010 performance from good ol’ Charley West featuring Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, Australian alt-pop artist Kate Miller-Heidke (who’s coming back to Mountain Stage this fall), Texas country-rock singer Sahara Smith, modern pop legend David Broza, and Charleston’s very own Bob Thompson Unit. See the playlist.
Which Mountain Stage performances do you want to hear next? Give us your music suggestions over on the show’s Facebook and subscribe to The Mountain Stage Podcast to hear why Mountain Stage remains the home of live music on public radio.
WVPB's Matt Jackfert speaks with harper, composer and producer Maeve Gilchrist. They discuss her compositions, the Silkroad Ensemble and the group's upcoming performance.
On this West Virginia Morning, Sue and Stan Jennings for 30 years have run Allegheny Treenware, a company that makes wooden kitchen utensils. But they started off as a couple of coal miners. Folkways Reporter Capri Cafaro has more.
On this West Virginia Morning, violets bloom across Appalachia throughout spring, but the flowers are more than just some extra color in the yard. They’ve long been a key ingredient in herbal remedies.
On this West Virginia Morning, the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, which caused the deaths of 29 miners, happened 14 years ago. Ashton Marra worked for WVPB at the time and covered the trial of Don Blankenship, CEO of the company that owned the mine. Briana Heaney sat down with Marra to talk about what it was like being a reporter covering the trial.