Host Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage team culled together this episode of songs by some of music’s greatest songwriters, performed by various artists over the years on Mountain Stage.
We touch on the songs of Bob Dylan, with performances by The Band, Chris Smither, Jimmy LaFave, and The Derek Trucks Band. Songs of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter are done by Joan Osborne, Catherine Russell, and Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams. Brandi Carlile does Leonard Cohen and Mary Black covers Joni Mitchell.
You’ll hear a touching Bruce Springsteen deep-cut interpreted by David Lindley, who also does Warren Zevon’s ”Vast Indifference of Heaven.”And we couldn’t have an episode like this without some songs of the Beatles, done by the likes of John Pizzarelli, Judith Owen, Curtis Stigers, and The Mutual Admiration Society.
Musician Frank Hutchison was born in Raleigh County on March 20, 1897. As a child, he moved to Logan County, where he encountered blacks who had migrated from the Deep South to work in the southern West Virginia coalfields. After listening to the music all around him, Hutchison started merging the blues with traditional Appalachian mountain music. He also developed a distinct style, featuring his slide guitar and high-pitched vocals.
Hutchison recorded some 32 numbers between 1926 and 1929. Although he never achieved much popularity during his lifetime, his blending of the blues and mountain music became a major influence on country musicians of the 1950s as well as a young Bob Dylan.
Frank Hutchison died in 1945 in Dayton, Ohio, at age 48.
Singer Joan Osborne has made eight appearances on Mountain Stage. In her most recent performance, she brought songs from her new collection called “Songs of Bob Dylan.” For our Mountain Stage Song of the Week, we chose her version of “Tryin’To Get To Heaven,” from Dylan’s 1997 release “Time Out Of Mind.”
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Bettye LaVette performs songs from “Things Have Changed,” her collection of Bob Dylan songs, on this week’s broadcast of Mountain Stage.
This week’s broadcast includes more Dylan tunes from Bettye LaVette, who released “Things Have Changed,” her own collection of Dylan songs, earlier this year. We also have a set from acoustic-blues mainstay Chris Smither, and some electrified Chicago Blues from the Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Gruenling.
A great deal has changed since 1964. But when rockabilly purveyor Bill Kirchen performed “The Times They Are A-Changin'” on Mountain Stage in 2017, it brought it back into focus.
This week’s rebroadcast also features performances from The Early Mays, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands and Tom Paxton and the Don Juans.
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This Sunday, February 25 Mountain Stage is hosting a four-act show in Charleston, WV at the Culture Center Theater. Tickets are still available. Soul music powerhouse Bettye LaVette will make her fourth appearance on Mountain Stage since 2003, with songs from her new album of Bob Dylan songs called “Things Have Changed.” There are plenty of tour dates planned around the March 30 release of “Things Have Changed,” but Mountain Stage audience members will be the first to hear LaVette and her band play the songs publicly.
Dylan fans are in for a treat however, because another one of music’s most versatile and talented singers has also released a collection of songs by Dylan. Released in September, 2017 Joan Osborne’s Songs of Bob Dylan features Osborne putting her voice to songs like “Tangled Up In Blue,” “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and others. Perhaps the most interesting part? LaVette and Osborne both did full albums of Dylan material but not one song appears on both.
It won’t be “all Dylan all night,” however, as February 25 we will also welcome acoustic blues mainstay Chris Smither and a rockin’ set of electric blues as we are joined for the first time by The Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Gruenling.
Smither’s latest, “Call Me Lucky,” is his first set of brand new originals in six years. Smither’s deft guitar picking is matched by his trademark observational humor and commentary. “Call Me Lucky” is a duel disc affair: Disc one features the eight originals and two covers the sessions started with, and disc two catapults some of the very same songs into another dimension. Essentially Smither covering Smither.
Credit Chris Monaghan
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Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Gruenling on harmonica will make their first appearance on Mountain Stage Feb. 25.
Chicago guitarist Nick Moss has been releasing music under his own name since 1998, which quickly established him as a guitarist and bandleader to watch. Now a 30-year veteran of the city’s take-no-prisoners blues scene, Moss’ latest incarnation includes New Jersey’s Dennis Gruenling, who is considered among today’s best blues harmonica players. Alligator Records, the seminal blues label based out of Chicago, is set to release its first collaboration with Moss, “High Cost of Low Living,” on March 9.
Tickets for February 25 are $30 in advance and $35 day of show (when available). Purchase tickets online, by phone at 877.987.6487 or at Taylor Books in Downtown Charleston. Be sure to RSVP on Facebook and follow along on Twitter and Instagram to glimpse behind the scenes.
This episode will be recorded for broadcast later this Spring on 240 NPR Stations across the country. Keep an eye on our Broadcast Schedule and find your station here.
Mountain Stage Members make a recurring gift to Mountain Stage of $10/month or more, and receive seven days of exclusive online pre-sale access to all Culture Center Shows. Find out how to become a member here.
