Spellbinding folk with a captivating voice. It would only make sense for such a performance by Aoife O’Donovan to be titled “Magic Hour,” one of the many songs we’ll preview on this week’s Mountain Stage broadcast.
We’ll also hear performances by Old Crow Medicine Show crooner Willie Watson, Grammy-nominated country songwriter Brandy Clark, Chicago indie rockers Frances Luke Accord, and acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter John Doyle.
Like what you hear? Subscribe to the Mountain Stage podcast to hear Aoife O’Donovan’s full set in the coming weeks.
And across seven venues in four states, we recorded over 120 live sets that showcased the best and brightest musicians in the world today. Along the way, we video streamed eight of our shows through VuHaus and made some new #gotowv friends along the way (with posters and glass records in tow!). Of course, none of this would have happened without your support.
Before we embark on another musical year around the sun, Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage crew have picked out 33 performances that deserve another listen and another round of applause. From A to Z, these are our favorite Mountain Stage performances of 2016. (Hint: click the Episode # for their Mountain Stage podcast episode, where available.)
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Aoife O’Donovan – In the Magic Hour (Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV on October 30, 2016 – Episode #883)
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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Aoife O’Donovan on Mountain Stage
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Billy Bragg & Joe Henry – Gentle On My Mind (Byham Theater in Pittsburgh, PA on September 25, 2016 with WYEP & Pittsburgh Cultural Trust – Episode #879)
Mountain Stage with Larry Groce has announced three live shows for October in Charleston, including two at the Culture Center Theater on the State Capitol Grounds, and one at The Clay Center with an on-stage intimate experience.
On Sunday, October 16, Mountain Stage will record episode #880 at The Clay Center with an on-stage limited seating event. The show (which will later be heard on over 170 NPR Stations nationwide) will include Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance, who is signed to Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records, and Australian folk-pop duo Oh Pep!. It will also feature the return of Amanda Shires, who has appeared twice as a solo performer and once with husband Jason Isbell. Philadelphia-based pop-folk songwriter Carsie Blanton and folk blues rocker Chris Kasper will also perform on this October 16 show.
Tickets are already available for Clay Center subscribers. Single tickets go on sale for the general public on August 8 and are $35 in advance and $40 day of show.
On Sunday, October 23, Mountain Stage returns to the Culture Center Theater for a show presented by FestivALL Fall, which will feature the third appearance of husband and wife garage-folk duo Shovels & Rope, folk troubadour Joe Purdy, Asheville folk-poppers River Whyless, and Rhett Miller of Old 97’s returning for his second solo appearance on the show.
Tickets for this October 23 show are $20 in advance and $25 day of show, available online, by phone (877-987-6487), and locally at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston.
On Sunday, October 30, Mountain Stage records episode #883 at the Culture Center Theater. Aoife O’Donovan, of groundbreaking string band Crooked Still and the folk-noir trio Sometymes Why, returns for her seventh total appearance, second as a solo performer. Folk singer Willie Watson will also return to the Mountain Stage for this October 30 show, along with country songwriter Brandy Clark, Grammy-nominated Irish multi-instrumentalist John Doyle, and indie folk duo Frances Luke Accord.
Tickets for this October 30 show are $20 in advance and $25 day of show, available online, by phone (877-987-6487), and locally at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston.
Turkey and post-turkey naps aside, Thanksgiving is really about spending time with loved ones. With that in mind, this week’s “Mountain Stage After Midnight” showcases friends and kin coming together for the sake of great music. 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 that’ll alternate order each night.
Put down the gravy and turn on the radio for great tunes this Saturday November 29 and Sunday November 30 on “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
First is an April 2012 show from the Keith Albee Theater in Huntington, West Virginia, featuring folk rock band Delta Rae, Huntington native-turned-Broadway star-turned-folk singer Michael Cerveris, blues rocker Paul Thorn and folky-family band Arlo Guthrie & Boys Night Out.
Mary Chapin Carpenter & Shawn Colvin performed a special extended set on Mountain Stage.
Next up is a Mary 2013 show with husband-and-wife duo Marti Jones & Don Dixon, Bronx singer-songwriter Ari Hest, Americana crooner Aoife O’Donovan and legendary singers and longtime friends Mary Chapin Carpenter & Shawn Colvin.
Thanksgiving Fact #2: In 2008, Mary Chapin Carpenter released a holiday record titled “Come Darkness, Come Light,” which featured a “Thanksgiving Song.”
