Stock car racing’s roots run deep in Appalachia. Our twisty roads and dark hollers were home to moonshiners — and moonshine runners, who became known for their driving skills. And they became some of NASCAR’s first stars when it formed in 1948. But NASCAR’s oldest continuous racing team had nothing to do with moonshine.
Don’t get us wrong, we love doing themes for “Mountain Stage After Midnight” (see: Celtic music for St. Patrick’s Day, archived sets in honor of new releases). But this week’s archived shows are nothin’ but good music, plain and simple.
Broadcast from 1am-5am Saturday and Sunday mornings here on West Virginia Public Broadcasting, “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.
Take a mid-day nap and stay up late to hear some amazing live performance radio on Saturday April 18 and Sunday April 19 during “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
First up is a January 2008 show featuring Bill Evans Soulgrass with Sam Bush & Richard Bono, Marc Cohn, Jeremy Fisher, Kelly Sweet and Amy Correia.
We’ll also hear a February 2008 show featuring Tim Finn, Otis Taylor, Grant Lee Phillips, Patty Larkin and Joe Rathbone.
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.