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This week's broadcast of Mountain Stage was recorded at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA. On this episode, host Kathy Mattea welcomes GRAMMY-winning Australian rock star Colin Hay, Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, legendary folk and country artist Ramblin' Jack Elliott, San Francisco rocker Chuck Prophet and his band The Make Out Quartet, and folk duo The Lucky Valentines.
Home » July 28, 1915: Polka King Frankie Yankovic Born
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July 28, 1915: Polka King Frankie Yankovic Born
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America’s Polka King, Frankie Yankovic, was born at Davis in Tucker County on July 28, 1915, to Slovenian immigrant parents. But just days after he was born, his father was caught bootlegging and moved the family to Cleveland.
Yankovic learned to play the accordion from lodgers at his home in Cleveland. By age 16, he was playing polka music regularly on a local Slovenian radio show.
After serving in World War II, he returned to the states and did more to popularize polka music than any other performer. He was the first polka artist to score a million-selling single, the first to perform on television, and the first to win a Grammy for Best Polka Album. His hits included “Just Because,” “Beer Barrel Polka,” “Too Fat to Polka,” and “In Heaven There Is No Beer.”
Although he’d lived in West Virginia for only a few days as an infant, he returned to the Mountain State frequently in the 1980s to perform at the Vandalia Gathering. Frankie Yankovic died in Florida in 1998. A decade later, he was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
On this West Virginia Morning, Randy Yohe talks with ABCA Commissioner Fred Wooton about the marketing, tourism and product enhancement initiatives that are key aspects of a forward-thinking mission statement.
The 45th Vandalia Gathering returns to the state capitol grounds this weekend after being canceled in 2020 and scaled back in 2021. Saturday and Sunday will see the return of arts, live music, dance and storytelling.