Bit Logic is the latest album from road-tested, blue-collar rockers Bottle Rockets, who have been visiting Mountain Stage since 1995. In their ninth appearance on the show, the Missouri-based group performed a big chunk of Bit Logic, including “Stovall’s Grove,” our Mountain Stage Song of the Week.
You can hear the entire set from Bottle Rockets, plus live performances by Amy Helm, John R. Miller & the Engine Lights, Hubby Jenkins and Alela Diane, on this week’s encore episode of Mountain Stage.
Find out where and when to listen on a station near you, and stay tuned for premiere episodes beginning September 6.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Guests on this week’s episode of Mountain Stage include John R. Miller and the Engine Lights, Bottle Rockets, Amy Helm, Alela Diane and Hubby Jenkins (not pictured).
Tickets are still available for this Sunday’s Mountain Stage with Larry Groce featuring Bottle Rockets, Amy Helm, Alela Diane, John R. Miller & the Engine Lights and Hubby Jenkins. Now, thanks to our colleagues at VuHaus and West Virginia Public Broadcasting you can watch along wherever you are.
This Sunday Mountain Stage will be celebrating the fall with live-performances from some returning favorites and a few new faces. We’ll record episode #933 at the Culture Center Theater. Doors open at 6:30pm and showtime is 7pm. Come back to this post or point your browser to MountainStage.org or VuHaus.com to watch live from anywhere with a web connection.
Be sure to send us a Tweet or post on Instagram to let us know where you’re watching from.
Road-tested, listener-approved rock and rollers Bottle Rockets, return for their eighth appearance on Mountain Stage since 1995. The band’s brand-new album Bit Logicwas released Oct. 12, and Wide Open Country recently called the title track “a roots rocker made for anyone who finds their head spinning over our society’s obsession with social media and technology’s advance into do-it-all virtual assistants. (Or all-knowing, all-seeing surveillance overlords, depending on how you may feel.)”
Amy Helm makes her second solo appearance on Mountain Stage this Sunday at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston. Tickets are still available.
Amy Helm’s most recent release This Too Shall Light uses what the singer calls a “circular sound.” You can hear wisps of genres ranging from Americana to blues throughout the album which was produced by Grammy Award winner, Joe Henry. This will be Helm’s second appearance on Mountain Stage, the first being in December of 2015, after appearing three times as a member of the modern folk group Ollabelle.
Previously of the Grammy Award winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Hubby Jenkins will pull you into a trance with his ability to pick like the legends. He has also been a regular member of Rhiannon Giddens’ band, and he will join us as for a solo performance this weekend. Have a listen below.
Alela Diane makes her first appearance on Mountain Stage with Larry Groce this Sunday in Charleston.
“This music is about motherhood,” says singer, songwriter and vocalist Alela Diane, of her highly anticipated fifth album Cusp. “Even just by saying that, it feels like people will write you off. It’s like you’ve suddenly lost the charm of being youthful and even attainable––you’ve been commoditized as available. There is not a big place in the music industry for 30-something women with kids making music.” She laughs as she pauses, then adds, “Maybe we can create that space.”
A founding member of West Virginia bands Prison Book Club and The Fox Hunt- and a professed favorite of Appalachian luminaries Tyler Childers and William Matheny-John R. Miller & The Engine Lights carries along his own torch of country blues & folk with his new full-length album, The Trouble You Follow.
You can get tickets online or head over to Taylor Books in downtown Charleston, W.Va. More details here.
This episode is scheduled for distribution by NPR Music starting November 9. Find a station where you can listen to Mountain Stage each week here.
Roots rock standard-bearers the Bottle Rockets return to Mountain Stage this week. Here the Bottle Rockets perform their song “Dog,” which showcases lead singer Brian Henneman’s irreverent humor, as well as his love for his canine friend.
This week’s broadcast also features performances from HONEYHONEY, Marshall Crenshaw, Mike Cooley and Webb Wilder.
Like what you hear? Download the entire show right now on the Mountain Stage podcast (just look for Ep. 866). While you’re at it, make sure to subscribe, leave us a rating/review and send us a tweet with your favorite song: we’re @mountainstage.
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)
Sunday’s performance at Charleston’s Culture Center Theater marks Mountain Stage’s 866th episode and features performances by Indie-minded roots rock band Bottle Rockets, Drive-By Truckers’ co-founder Mike Cooley, Cali alt-folk rockers HONEYHONEY, legendary tunesmith Marshall Crenshaw and honky-tonk rocker Webb Wilder. Our radio listeners will hear this episode on over 150 NPR stations via NPR Music starting April 29.
For those of you watching along online, make sure to share your listening/watching experience with us! Use #MountainStage and #gotowv on Instagram for the chance to win a swag bag.
In case you haven’t been tuning in (or, “logging on”, rather) to the ‘Songs From the Doc’ series, the music presented in these posts is pulled from an hour-long radio documentary I produced for the 30 year anniversary of our live performance radio show, Mountain Stage.
As I’ve mentioned before, the songs used in the documentary represent only a fraction (about 1/700, by my rough math) of the show’s “Smithsonian grade” archives. While Mountain Stage is looking to digitize their entire catalog, they need some help in making that possible. And YOU can help. But, until the entire archive becomes available, their podcast archive and the ‘Songs From the Doc’ series will have to suffice.
Todd Snider – “Alright Guy”
Take a listen to any of Todd Snider’s songs and it won’t take long to realize why he’s a been a favorite of Mountain Stage host Larry Groce since he first came to play on the show in February 1995. Snider’s smart, witty, and has a keen ability to criticize American culture and politics that’s unapologetic and nearly impossible to argue with.
Because I knew Snider would headline the 30th Anniversary show in December (and also because I’m a big fan) I wanted to somehow incorporate him into the documentary. He wasn’t available for an interview that I could use for broadcast (phone line quality wasn’t going to cut it for a documentary), so using a tune of his was the next best thing.
If you listen closely to the opening of ‘Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective’ (the part immediately following the “teaser sound bites”) you can hear the first few bars of Snider’s “Alright Guy”–but, it’s quickly faded down. What I’m trying to say is that if you liked the documentary and wanted to learn more about the music, this one is a real treat.
Bottle Rockets – “Welfare Music”
Credit Josh Saul / Mountain Stage
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Mountain Stage
Brian Henneman is arguably one of the most underrated songwriters and guitar players in American music. From his days in alt-country (whatever that’s supposed to mean) forerunners Uncle Tupelo and Chicken Truck to forming the incomparable Bottle Rockets, Henneman has established himself as a mainstay in blue collar, roots-driven rock music.
Songs like “Thousand Dollar Car”, “Radar Gun”, “I’ll be Comin’ Around” off their second full-length release The Brooklyn Side prove the Rockets’ ability to craft songs for the everyman without being too simple or too complicated, either. Rightfully so, their song “Welfare Music” is one of Larry Groce’s–and the entire Mountain Stage family’s–favorites.
TheBottleRocketsWelfareMusic.mp3
Bottle Rockets – "Welfare Music"
The Band – “The Weight”
The first time The Band played the show technical issues almost kept the show from happening.
However, Levon Helm and the boys returned to Mountain Stage in April 1996 and chief engineer Francis Fisher was back at the helm of mixing the show for broadcast. Performing songs like “Rag Mama Rag” and Bob Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell”, The Band came and did what they always did: hit right to the heart and soul of Americana.
TheBand_TheWeight.mp3
The Band – "The Weight"
Ricky Skaggs – “How Mountain Girls Can Love”
Credit Dave Mistich
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Ricky Skaggs stopped by our Charleston studios in August for an interview for ‘Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective’. He cheersed us after he was finished and, don’t worry, that’s a cup of coffee (thanks to Mountain Stage assistant producer Vasilia Scouras).
Bluegrass has always been an important part of the identity of Mountain Stage for obvious reasons and, not surprisingly, the show has hosted a long line of greats from the genre, including Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, and Tony Rice. Although Skaggs has only played Mountain Stage twice, I felt his status as a bluegrass legend and his ties to Appalachia made him a perfect interview subject for the project. He stopped by our Charleston studios in August to chat for a bit about the show’s roots in Appalachia and how that translates to a family feel. Here he is performing on Mountain Stage’s 400th episode in November 1996.
RickySkaggs_HowMountainGirlsCanLove.mp3
Ricky Skaggs – "How Mountain Girls Can Love"
Editor’s Note: Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc is a multi-part series that serves as a companion to a recent documentary that details the history of the show. Stay tuned to wvpublic.org as the series is rolled out over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
