Pearls are prized gemstones that have been crafted into jewelry for millennia. They can be found in the wild, but they’re also cultivated on farms. We hear a report from North America’s lone freshwater pearl farm located along Kentucky Lake in Tennessee.
Want to hang out with some great live performance radio this Labor Day weekend? Of course you do! To celebrate the end of summer, “Mountain Stage After Midnight” is serving up some delicious performances straight from the Mountain Stage archives. 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.
Tune in for two great 2010 performances that will air Saturday August 30 and Sunday August 31 on “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
First you’ll hear a April 2010 performance from the WVU Creative Arts Center. This show features alt-folk super-group Jakob Dylan & Three Legs (featuring Neko Case & Kelly Hogan), indie folk duo The Watson Twins, quirky pop outlet Clare & the Reasons, Swedish singer-songwriter The Tallest Man on Earth, and American folk rockers April Smith & the Great Picture Show. See the playlist.
Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Kate Miller-Heidke performed for the first time on Mountain Stage with her husband, Keir Nuttall, on guitar and backing vocals.
Next is a June 2010 performance from good ol’ Charley West featuring Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, Australian alt-pop artist Kate Miller-Heidke (who’s coming back to Mountain Stage this fall), Texas country-rock singer Sahara Smith, modern pop legend David Broza, and Charleston’s very own Bob Thompson Unit. See the playlist.
Which Mountain Stage performances do you want to hear next? Give us your music suggestions over on the show’s Facebook and subscribe to The Mountain Stage Podcast to hear why Mountain Stage remains the home of live music on public radio.
Listen this week for an encore broadcast of Mountain Stage featuring Larkin Poe, Victoria Canal, Raye Zaragoza, Ron Pope, and Christian Lopez. This episode was recorded with our host Kathy Mattea on the campus of West Virginia University, thanks to our friends at WVU College of Creative Arts and Media.
Our Song of the Week comes from the legendary jazz fusion band, best known for their 70s era records with the great pianist Herbie Hancock, The Headhunters. “Watermelon Man” was written by Hancock and was first released in 1962. On this live recording, you’ll hear Michael Clark on drums, William Summer on Vocals and Percussion, Donald Harrison on Saxophone, Shea Pierre on Piano, and Chris Severin on bass.