Rex Stephenson, a theater professor at Ferrum College at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, has died at the age of 81. He was best known for telling Jack Tales, in performances that mixed drama, humor, and musical performances to entertain and engage their audiences.
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.
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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Tim Finn on the Mountain Stage in 2008.
We’ll also hear a February 2008 show featuring Tim Finn, Otis Taylor, Grant Lee Phillips, Patty Larkin and Joe Rathbone.
On this West Virginia Morning, the immigration crackdown is creating concerns for the specialized workforce of Kentucky's billion-dollar horse racing industry. And a Huntington music fest celebrates the diverse sounds of a troubled teen from the early 1900s.
The Appalachian String Band Festival is an annual celebration at Fayette County’s historic Camp Washington-Carver. The camp serves as West Virginia’s mountain cultural arts center and a fitting backdrop for the five-day festival. Randy Yohe takes us to the crowning event of the string band fest, where old-time mountain music bridges generations into a worldwide fiddle and banjo community.