Folk music is not the easiest way to make a living, but artists still find a way to balance making music with putting food on the table. Mason Adams traveled to MidMountain arts collective in Virginia, where he spoke with both veteran folksingers and emerging talents.
2015 was a big year for Mountain Stage. We began a beautiful friendship with public radio music discovery machine VuHaus. We created a new, bite-size podcast called Mountain Stage 2 Go.
And across nine venues in four states, we recorded over 100 live sets that showcased the best and brightest musicians in the world today. (Of course, none of this would have happened without your support!)
Before we embark on our 33rd musical year around the sun, Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage crew have picked out 27 performances that deserve another listen and another round of applause. From A to Z, these are our favorite Mountain Stage performances of 2015. (Hint: click the Episode # for their Mountain Stage podcast episode, where available.)
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Allen Toussaint (Keith-Albee Theater in Huntington, WV on February 15, 2015 – Episode #838)
This week's encore broadcast of Mountain Stage was recorded on the campus of West Virginia University (WVU) at the Canady Creative Arts Center. On this episode, we hear live performances from Duke Robillard Band, Cedric Burnside, Sam Weber, Las Cafeteras, and The Black Feathers.
Our encore broadcasts continue this week with episode 1,030 of Mountain Stage featuring guest host David Mayfield. Joining us in live-performance are Shenandoah Valley bluegrass band Nothin’ Fancy, 10-time International Bluegrass Music Association Bass Player of the Year Missy Raines & Allegheny, acoustic roots and blues guitarist Rory Block, singer-songwriter and guitarist Ed Snodderly, and multi-instrumentalist folk artist Meredith Moon.
In this album, Soltis performs works all by American female composers, highlighting a group of underrepresented musicians in the Classical realm. Soltis says this album shows how “American women in classical music are not isolated novelties … but rather they represent an unbroken tradition of compositional excellence.” Some highlights from the album include Amy Beach’s “Berceuse” and Florence Price’s "Adoration."
This week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage was recorded at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California. On this episode, host Kathy Mattea welcomes GRAMMY-winning Australian rock star ...