Following the American Civil War, a group of freed people fled violence and bought land in Western North Carolina. In the summer of 1873, these people formed a Black communal society they named “The Kingdom of the Happy Land.” A new novel tells a story set in the kingdom, both in the past and in the present day. It’s titled, “Happy Land.” Host Mason Adams spoke with its author, Dolen Perkins-Valdez.
LISTEN: Bela Fleck Has The Mountain Stage Song Of The Week
Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart, performing on Mountain Stage in 2022.Chris Morris/Mountain Stage
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Mountain Stage officially kicks off our 40th Broadcast Season this week with our 39th anniversary celebration featuring Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart, The Brother Brothers, Alice Howe with Freebo, The Bing Brothers featuring Jake Krack, and a special appearance from West Virginia’s Poet Laureate Marc Harshman.
By our best count, Bela Fleck has appeared on Mountain Stage more than 15 times, including trips with his wife Abigail Washburn, alongside his band The Flecktones, small group performances with Edgar Myer, Zakir Hussain, Chris Thile, and his very first which occurred in 1989 as a member of New Grass Revival.
New Grass Revival, 1989, courtesy of Mountain Stage Archives.
His most recent appearance is perhaps the most star-studded yet. Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart features Fleck on banjo with Sierra Hull on mandolin, Michael Cleveland on fiddle, bassist Mark Schatz, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, and guitarist Bryan Sutton. The corresponding album My Bluegrass Heart won top honors in the Bluegrass Album category at the 2022 Grammy awards.
Our Song of the Week is the opening track on that album, “Vertigo,” performed live on Mountain Stage.
This week’s broadcast of Mountain Stage features a collection of five memorable sets from five different episodes recorded in 2024. Our “Five Favorites” special includes performances by Blitzen Trapper, Amy Helm, Kyshona, Chuck Prophet &...
This week's encore broadcast of Mountain Stage features an indie supergroup that’s been clawing its way through the music scene with the fun folk-rock tunes off their debut album, Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat.
Our Song of the Week comes from rising Americana, fingerstyle and slide guitar star, Cristina Vane. She joined us for her first Mountain Stage appearance and wowed the audience with a collection of songs, including tracks from her third studio album, Hear My Call, which was released in February of this year.
