This week, “A Change of Tune” host Joni Deutsch interviews Andrew Barr of The Barr Brothers, an up-and-coming Canadian quartet with roots in American folk, African desert, Delta blues and classical string, to say the least. The band’s newest record, Sleeping Operator, just goes to prove that The Barr Brothers are the Ra Ra Riot of transcendental folk. Check out the interview below to learn more about the band, their longform music style and their connections to alt music friends The War on Drugs and of Montreal. If you’re a fan of sprawling soundscapes that are as much warm as they are catchy (see: Bahamas), this interview and music are recommended for you.
The Barr Brothers just released Sleeping Operatorthis past month. Check out their fall/winter tour schedule with Bahamas over on their website, and you can follow Joni Deutsch for more music news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To hear more from The Barr Brothers, tune in to “A Change of Tune” this Saturday at 10 PM EST on West Virginia Public Radio.
It was a Mountain Stage Radio Show match for the ages: Randy Newman vs. Robert Cray vs. Colin Hay vs. Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. Which performances would we choose for “Mountain Stage After Midnight?” Luckily, you made the tough call by voting for your favorite performances on Mountain Stage’s Facebook, and now it’s time to listen to the winners on this week’s “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.
By popular demand, West Virginia Public Radio will air Bela Fleck & the Flecktones’ 2003 performance and Robert Cray’s 2009 performance this Saturday October 18 and Sunday October 19 on “Mountain Stage After Midnight.”
Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Bela Fleck rehearsing before his 2003 Mountain Stage performance.
First you’ll hear the 400th episode of Mountain Stage featuring performances from the the late/great R&B singer Fontella Bass, Virginian instrumental trio The Holmes Brothers, West Virginia troubadour Todd Burge, American folk singer Chris Smither, Americana couple Tim & Mollie O’Brien, and the innovative “blu-bop” group Bela Fleck & the Flecktones.
Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Robert Cray rehearsing for his 2009 Mountain Stage performance.
Next is Mountain Stage’s 700th show featuring performances from old-time banjo player Riley Baugus, husband-and-wife country-folkers Robin & Linda Williams, Australian singer-songwriting couple Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, iconic Texas grassroots band The Flatlanders, and the blues-rock’n Robert Cray Band. See the playlist.
It's early morning around 6 am, and I'm standing with Chef Tim Urbanic in the kitchen of the Cafe Cimino Country Inn. Tim grew up in western Pennsylvania…
It’s early morning around 6 am, and I’m standing with Chef Tim Urbanic in the kitchen of the Cafe Cimino Country Inn. Tim grew up in western Pennsylvania in a coal camp, and his mother, Julia Cimino, was a first generation Italian immigrant from Calabria.
“The polenta was a staple in our family. This is a polenta that I’ve known all my life, since I was a little kid. We add to this Romano cheese, fresh butter, and then we use water for the base.”
The night before, Tim cooked the polenta- it takes time for it to firm. This morning, he cuts it in triangular wedges, dusts it in flour and a bit of salt and pepper, and then fries it in oil.
Tim is serving polenta for breakfast, along with an omelet, scones, date and molasses cake, and a fruit cocktail served with fresh mint and peace nectar. The polenta has perfectly crisp corners and a creamy texture inside. It tastes perfect.
Tim has been teaching his son Eli to cook their family recipes, which originated in Calabria. Tim’s mother’ s maiden name is Cimino, and he named his restaurant after her. Julia Cimino is now 101 years old- and Tim brings her freshly made polenta when he visits.
“She just really has brought culture into my life. And so I still bring her a little bite of food. I’m still the baby, she still calls me ‘Timmy.’”
This polenta is from locally grown, heirloom Bloody Butcher cornmeal- grown by Frances Meadows and her 93 year old father in Craigsville. Their farm is called Spring Creek Farm. They’ve had this heirloom seed in their family for about 5 generations. Frances says she grew up eating polenta, except here, in West Virginia, everyone always called it “Corn Mush”.
“Polenta is, you know, it’s just a form of grits. With, you can put different cheeses in there for flavoring. But in the old days, they made grits, but they called it “mush.”
This morning, Tim Urbanic cuts the thick polenta into triangular wedges. He dusts it in flour and a bit of salt and pepper, and then fries it in oil.
Tim discovered this corn when he met Frances Meadows, at a “chef and farmer dialogue” event in 2004. At the meeting, Meadows said that her family’s farm had more than a ton of Bloody Butcher corn, but she couldn’t find a buyer. Tim has been using it in his restaurant ever since.
Credit Allender Stewart
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Larry Mustain grinds the Bloody Butcher corn that’s used at Cafe Cimino
“It’s an antique corn, and the seeds are very very hard to find.”
Indeed, these seeds are very rare, especially because few farmers even use their family’s heirloom seeds anymore. Except for rare farmers like Frances Meadows, this history would be lost.
“It’s family tradition. I think it’s important if you’ve got an heirloom seed like that’s unchanged, I just think it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect that.”
Someone who agrees with Frances is Dr. Jim Veteto, an anthropologist based out of Yancey County, North Carolina. He’s spent the last 15 years researching heirloom vegetables throughout Appalachia.
“My research has shown that actually, central and southern Appalachia is the most diverse foodshed in most of North America. So all the U.S., Canada, and northern Mexico.”
Dr. Veteto also directs a seedbank called the Southern Seed Legacy Project, based out of Western Carolina University. This project helps encourage farmers throughout Appalachia, like Frances Meadows, and Larry Mustain, to save their family’s heirloom seeds.
Credit Frances Meadows
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Spring Creek Farm in Craigsville, W.Va.
“Most people I talk to talked about, ‘well this is a part of our cultural heritage. It reminds me of my grandmother, who I used to farm with, I think of my mother. I think of my lost uncle.”
That’s why Frances is growing her family’s Bloody Butcher. Not only to help preserve her family’s history, but to continue the food history that her family is connected to.
“I mean, that’s what America was started out on, and I think the younger generation needs to keep that tradition going.”
As College Basketball Season nears, West Virginia University Head Coach Bob Huggins is hoping his team can take a step towards the top of the Big 12 Conference.
A year after finishing with 17 wins and 16 losses and a first round loss to Georgetown in the National Invitational Tournament, West Virginia University Basketball hopes with several new players things are better this season. The Mountaineers finished 6th in the Big 12 last season and are picked to finish in the same spot, sixth, according to the Big 12 preseason poll.
The Mountaineers will be led by last year’s league lead – scorer, Juwan Staten. He averaged 18 points per game and led the conference in minutes played per game at just over 37. Staten was also named preseason Big 12 player of the year. Last year’s top three shooters are now gone, and replaced by 7 newcomers including three junior-college players.
West Virginia gave up 80 points or more 14 times last season.
The Big 12 held its conference media day yesterday in Kansas City.
Streams and lakes across West Virginia will be stocked with about 42,000 pounds of trout during the next two weeks.
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources began its fall trout stockings on Tuesday. Trout stockings will continue next week. Nine lakes and 25 streams will be stocked.
Wildlife resources chief Curtis Taylor says in a news release that information about trout stockings will be posted first on the DNR’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wildlifewv , at 2:30 p.m. each day. The information will be posted on the DNR’s website, www.wvdnr.gov, and on the Fishing Hotline, 304-558-3399, an hour later.
For the first time since the final polls of the 2002 season, Marshall University Football is ranked in the top 25.
After a 49-24 win over Middle Tennessee State Saturday in Huntington, Marshall Football found itself ranked in both major polls Sunday. The Herd sits at 25th in the newest Associated Press College Football Poll and 24th in the newest Coaches Poll.
Marshall returns to action at 6 p.m. Saturday when the travel to Miami, Florida to take on Florida International University.
