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.
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.
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)
“Aw man, [band] AND [artist] were on your show in [year]? That sounds amazing. Why wasn’t I there!”
If this sounds familiar to you, that’s because it’s a symptom of Mountain Stage fever, a music fanatic habit that comes about whenever we pull out the Mountain Stage archives and show off our 30+ year history of live performance radio.
This weekend, get ready to ooohhh and ahhhhh over a pair of 2009 shows featuring Regina Spektor, Yo La Tengo, Indigo Girls and more on Mountain Stage After Midnight.
Broadcast from 1am-5am Saturday and Sunday mornings here on West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Mountain Stage After Midnight takes the best episodes from the show’s 32 year history and shares their memories and songs with our late-night listeners.
Join us this Saturday September 5 and Sunday September 6 for Mountain Stage After Midnight for a great set of shows.
First, an episode from September 2009 featuring Indigo Girls, Chris Smither, Jill Hennessy, Alison Brown Band and Gary Jules.
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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Regina Spektor made her second appearance on Mountain Stage back in 2009.
Then an October 2009 episode recorded at the WVU Creative Arts Center in Morgantown with WVU Arts & Entertainment featuring Regina Spektor, Yo La Tengo, Sonny Landreth (who’s returning to the Mountain Stage this fall!), Will Hoge and Great Lake Swimmers.
The undisputed master of acoustic blues guitar, Chris Smither’s songwriting often draws on the influences of poets, folk singers, philosophers and humorists. Now in his 5th decade of making music, Smither made his 13th appearance on Mountain Stage last year when the show returned to the lakeside town of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Here he performs “Get a Better One,” recorded live on the campus of the North House Folk School.
An undisputed master of acoustic blues guitar, Chris Smither’s songwriting often draws on the influences of poets, folk singers, philosophers and humorists. Now in his 5th decade of making music, Smither made his 13th appearance on Mountain Stage this year, when the show visited the lakeside town of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Here he performs “Get a Better One,” recorded live on the campus of the North House Folk School.
