One of America’s pioneering filmmakers had nothing to do with Hollywood but nevertheless left his mark on the emerging industry. Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader, who then turned his attention to making movies in the early 1900s. He was a Black man who made movies for Black audiences at a time when they weren’t allowed into mainstream, white-only theaters. And for several pivotal years in the 1920s, he operated out of Roanoke, Virginia.
"Mountain Stage is one of the greatest musical crossroads of our time. It's a national treasure." -Daniel Lanois
Need the perfect soundtrack for your late nites/early mornings? Why not tune your radio dials to “Mountain Stage After Midnight,” broadcast from 1am-5am Saturday and Sunday mornings here on West Virginia Public Radio. It’s but one of the many lovely programs on our improved radio schedule, and it’s because of your listenership that we’re able to dig into the music archives to hear the best from Mountain Stage’s 31 year history. Each week, we’ll choose two of our favorite Mountain Stage performances and alternate their order each night.
Expect to get your indie/alternative boogie on for the Saturday July 19 and Sunday July 20 editions of “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
First, an episode from November 2010 featuring indie pop-folk lovebirds The Weepies, acoustic “super group” Punch Brothers, pop bluegrass group The Infamous Stringdusters, and alt-folk band Trampled by Turtles. In terms of very recent music news, Trampled by Turtles released their seventh studio record, Wild Animals, this past week See the playlist here.
Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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This November 2010 performance was mega-producer/Black Dub founder Daniel Lanois’ fourth appearance on Mountain Stage.
Next, you’ll hear an episode featuring the likes of artrock collective Black Dub, indie rock group Delta Spirit, Brooklyn-by-way-0f-Vermont singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, ukelele-strumming starlet Danielle At the Sandwich, and chamber folkers Horse Feathers. In terms of future music news, Delta Spirit will have a new record out this September called “Into the Wide.” Check out the playlist here.
Do you have a Mountain Stage performance in mind that you’d love to hear overnight weekends? Send us your recommendations over at the show’s Facebook and Twitter.
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On this week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage, host Kathy Mattea welcomes Dan Tyminski, Darrell Scott, I Draw Slow, Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert, and Jacob Jolliff Band. This episode was recorded live at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah released "Still + Bright" last year, which featured guests like S.G. Goodman and Billy Strings. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams spoke with Kiah from her home in Johnson City, Tennessee at that time. We listen to an encore of that conversation.
America continues to wrestle with racial division, but music has often been a space where those barriers are challenged. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay revisits a 1960s moment when a band refused to perform unless a mixed-race couple was allowed to dance — and paid the price for taking that stand. It’s a story about courage, consequences and the uneasy intersection of music and race in America.
The struggle against racial discrimination has hundreds of years of history in the United States. On the next episode of Us & Them, Trey Kay looks at the intersection of music and race in the 1960s. It’s about a band that took a stand against racism – and musicians who suffered the consequences.
