Alert (March 11, 2026): Our TV translator in Flatwoods is experiencing technical issues. Our engineers are troubleshooting the problem. Thank you for your patience.
This week, "Our Common Nature" is a new podcast from WNYC. It features cellist Yo-Yo Ma and producer Ana González, as they explore America and talk to folks like West Virginia coal miners. We follow Yo-Yo and his team as they venture into Appalachia. And we talk with González about meeting people where they are.
LISTEN: Amy Ray Band Has The Mountain Stage Song Of The Week
Amy Ray Band performs on Mountain Stage with Alison Brown.Chris Morris/Mountain Stage
Listen
Share this Article
Amy Ray returns to Mountain Stage on this week’s encore broadcast along with her band. We’ll also hear New York trio The Lone Bellow, progressive banjo player Alison Brown, slide guitar master and banjo champion Tony Furtado, and Nova Scotia folk group Villages. This episode was recorded at the People’s Bank Theatre in Marietta, Ohio with guest host Larry Groce.
Our Song of the Week is by Amy Ray Band, who has been performing on Mountain Stage since 1990 as a solo artist and with Emily Saliers to make up the Indigo Girls.
“A Mighty Thing” is the leading title off her 10th solo album, If It All Goes South. On the recorded album and for this live performance, Ray includes the banjo skills of Alison Brown and her live touring band to round out its rich harmony-driven chorus.
Be sure to check out our podcast page for the newest episodes, including this episode (1,014), and check out our live show schedule to help plan your trip to be a part of our live radio audience.
Lindsay Lou and Larry GroceAmy Ray Alison BrownVillagesTony FurtadoThe Lone Bellow
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
Streets in the capitol city will be closed Saturday and Sunday mornings for the return of a marathon to Charleston for the first time in more than 30 years.
Lots of public radio listeners know acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In the fall, WNYC released Our Common Nature, a podcast that follows the musician and producer Ana Gonzalez as they explore the country. This included a visit to West Virginia. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams spoke with Gonzalez about the podcast and what she and Yo-Yo Ma learned along the way.
On this week's premiere broadcast of Mountain Stage, host Kathy Mattea welcomes The Steel Wheels, Sam Weber, Peter Holsapple, Lily Talmers, and Rylee Bapst Band to the Memorial Auditorium in Athens, OH.
The hillbilly stereotype is frequently used to shame mountain people, but there are gentler versions, like Snuffy Smith, the long-running comic strip character. Snuffy Smith originally started out as a supporting character in his comic strip, which first launched in 1919 when Billy DeBeck created Barney Google. Artist Fred Lasswell was brought in during the ‘30s to create Snuffy Smith and his friends. And now the strip is written and drawn by John Rose, who lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.