This week, a poet and musician draws inspiration from a distant family connection to the Grand Ole Opry’s Little Jimmy Dickens. Also, for 15 years, a Virginia library has been hosting a weekly Dungeons & Dragons game for teens.
And, a taxidermist in Yadkin County, North Carolina found her calling before she could drive a car.
Put down the mixtapes and turn on West Virginia Public Radio this weekend to hear the best live performance radio, courtesy of “Mountain Stage After Midnight.” Broadcast from 1am-5am Saturday and Sunday mornings here on West Virginia Public Radio, “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. Each week we’ll hand-pick two of our favorite episodes and they’ll alternate order each night.
Join us as we flashback to performances from the year 2011 for Saturday August 16 and Sunday August 17 on “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
First you’ll hear a November 2011 performance from self-proclaimed “song-doodler” Katie Costello, country crooners The Sweetback Sisters, post-bluegrass band Bearfoot, retro-pop group Fitz and the Tantrums, and American rock-and-rollers Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. See the playlist.
Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Billy Joe Shaver’s 2011 performance marks his sixth appearance on Mountain Stage.
Next a December 2011 performance featuring country singer-songwriter Matraca Berg, all-star ensemble NoamPikelny & Friends, American roots group Caleb Klauder Country Band, Canadian troupe April Verch Band, and outlaw country singer Billy Joe Shaver. See the playlist.
Have a Mountain Stage performance in mind that you’d love to hear overnight weekends? Post your your recommendations on the show’s Facebook and Twitter. While you’re at it, make sure to check out The Mountain Stage Podcast to hear why Mountain Stage remains the home of live music on public radio.
Our Song of the Week comes from The Critton Hollow String Band, a band that has been performing traditional American music to audiences around the world since 1975. The trio stopped by Mountain Stage during their 50th anniversary and performed a handful of songs, including "A Better Life to Find," which is our Song of the Week. The song features an old melody and a traditional refrain, with lyrics updated by the group's Joe Herrmann.
This week, vaccine requirements in the state of West Virginia change again, a look ahead at PEIA, and we talk with photographer Roger May about communities in southern West Virginia rebuilding after the February floods.
On this week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage, we revisit the first of two 41st anniversary shows, which were recorded at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, West Virginia in December 2024. Guest host and CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Conor Knighton welcomes Stephen Kellogg, Jill Sobule, Mindy Smith, Caleb Caudle & The Sweet Critters, and The David Mayfield Parade.