Hear Glen Phillips makes his eighth appearance on Mountain Stage starting this weekend and enjoy this preview with his performance of “Held Up,” recorded in January of 2020.
From his work as singer and songwriter behind the hit-making group Toad the Wet Sprocket, to his solo albums and side-projects like WPA and Mutual Admiration Society, Glen Phillips is one of the most revered songwriters of his generation. This week we revisit his career-spanning set, accompanied by the Mountain Stage Band, on stations around the country.
1 of 6 — Larry Groce holds a poster from this week's show.
Larry Groce holds a poster created by Base Camp Printing Company. We revisit this show starting January 29 on our public radio affiliates.
Brian Blauser / Mountain STage
2 of 6 — Nellie McKay on Mountain Stage, 2020
Nellie McKay performing on Mountain Stage, in January 2020. Hear this episode starting January 29 on our public radio affiliates.
BRIAN BLAUSER / Mountain Stage
3 of 6 — Chris Barron of Spin Doctors on Mountain Stage 2020
Hear Chris Barron on Mountain Stage starting this Friday January 29 on our NPR affiliates.
BRIAN BLAUSER
4 of 6 — Hot Club of Cowtown, 2020
Hot Club of Cowtown joins us on this week’s encore broadcast, starting January 29 on our NPR stations.
BRIAN BLAUSER / Mountain Stage
5 of 6 — Jonathan Something on Mountain Stage, 2020
Jonathan Something makes his first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded in 2020. Hear the episode again starting January 29.
BRIAN BLAUSER / Mountain Stage
6 of 6 — finale song from January 2020
Artists gather for one more number to close the show back in 2020. Hear this episode on our NPR affiliates starting January 29.
BRIAN BLAUSER
For Phillips’ entire set, tune in to this week’s encore episode, starting January 29. We also hear engaging live performances, recorded in Morgantown, W.Va. with WVU Arts & Entertainment, from Chris Barron of Spin Doctors, Nellie McKay, Hot Club of Cowtown and Jonathan Something.
This week on Mountain Stage we look back to another classic episode from 2010, this time featuring live performances from Cake, Hayes Carll, Old 97s and Hot Club of Cowtown. Tune in on one of these public radio stations starting this Friday, May 1.
When they appeared in 2010, Texas trio Hot Club of Cowtown were touring in support of their excellent Texas swing album What Makes Bob Holler? This tribute to the pioneer of Western Swing Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys found the band covering classics like “Stay a Little Longer” and “Faded Love.” Our Song of the Week, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby” appears on their 2003 album Continental Stomp.
Hot Club of Cowtown joined us earlier this year with songs from their latest The Finest Hour. A live album recorded in Minneapolis, The Finest Hour is filled with a “glorious array of music on the radio across the United States in 1945 at the end of WWII and celebrates artists from Bing Crosby to Billie Holiday, Bob Wills to Doris Day.”
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Members of Old 97’s, Hot Club of Cowtown, Hayes Carll and Cake gather for the finale song on December 5, 2010,
You’ll also hear an interactive set from alt-rockers Cake, a band set from Hayes Carll, and a predictably raucous set from country-rockers Old 97s. Check out the playlist and find out where you can hear the show on one of these public radio stations and enjoy the sound of audience applause that we’re all admittedly missing right about now.
Mountain Stage returns to Morgantown on January 19. Tickets for all three Charleston shows are available online to Mountain Stage Members first.
Friday, November 14, 2019-Larry Groce and the entire team at Mountain Stage are pleased to announce the first run of live events for the public radio program’s 37th season.
The year begins in Morgantown, WV as Mountain Stage will once again be guests of the WVU Arts & Entertainment series on the campus of WVU. Appearing at the WVU Creative Arts Center’s Lyle B. Clay Concert Theatre on Sunday, January 19 will be undefinable singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Nellie McKay, and the modern hot jazz/western swing trio Hot Club of Cowtown. Both of these artists have a history of crowd-pleasing performances on Mountain Stage, which the audience in Morgantown will soon experience. Tickets for Sunday, January 19 are available now online and at 304.293.SHOW. For venue and ticket details, visit WVU Arts & Entertainment.
Credit Shervin Lainez
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Nellie McKay will appear on Mountain Stage in Morgantown, WV Sunday January 19 as the show kicks off their 37th season.
Nellie McKay has released seven acclaimed albums, won a Theatre World Award for her Broadway portrayal of Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, co-created and starred in the award winning off-Broadway hit Old Hats, and has conceived and performed musical biographies of Barbara Graham, Rachel Carson, Joan Rivers, and Billy Tipton (named one of the Best Concerts of the Year by the The New York Times). Produced and performed by Nellie, her latest EP Bagatelles is the companion release to 2018’s Sister Orchid.
Hot Club of Cowtown appear on Mountain Stage Sunday Jan. 19 in Morgantown, WV
Since 1998, the Western swing-gypsy jazz trio Hot Club of Cowtown has traveled the world bringing their own brand of magical musical chemistry to audiences far and wide. The veteran trio are equal partners in this original marriage of gypsy-jazz-inspired by the music of Django Reinhardt — which accounts for the “Hot Club” portion of their name — with the hoedowns, traditional tunes, and Western swing-inspired music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, represented in the “Cowtown” of their name.
Stay tuned for more artist additions to the January 19 line-up.
Larry Keel, Keller Williams, and Jenny Keel will appear on Sunday Feb. 9 on Mountain Stage in Charleston, WV as Keller & the Keels.
The first “home show” of 2020 will take place on Sunday, February 9 at the Culture Center Theater, the longtime venue for Mountain Stage. Teaming up for a joint Mountain Stage appearance on February 9 will be jam-grass legends Keller Williams & The Keels. Made up of guitar wizard Keller Williams, and the husband and wife duo of high-octane pickers Larry and Jenny Keel, the trio is set to release a second collaborative album, Speed, due on November 22.
Making their first appearance on Mountain Stage is the Portland-based roots-rockers Fruition, who are in the midst of releasing a string of singles and a new EP. Available everywhere November 8th, Fruition’s Wild As The Night “conveys the emotions of our darkest, and sometimes weakest, moments.”
The first single, “Wild As The Night,” was highlighted as part of NPR Music’s most recent “Station Breaks” feature, compiled by VuHaus stations.
More guests for Feb. 9 will be announced soon. Keep scrolling for more live show news.
The SteelDrivers are back on Mountain Stage Sunday, February 16 at the Culture Center Theater.
It’ll be a bluegrass lovers’ night on Sunday, February 16 as we welcome back the newest configuration of The SteelDrivers. Handling lead vocals with the group these days is selecting Kentucky native Kelvin Damrell, who joins the band’s long-standing core members- songwriter and fiddler Tammy Rogers, bass player Mike Fleming, banjo player Richard Bailey and multi-instrumentalist Brent Truitt. The Grammy-winning band lead The Philadelphia Inquirer to declare “You can call it power-bluegrass or country soul, but whatever you call it, Nashville’s SteelDrivers have bushels of it.”
The SteelDrivers – “Long Way Down” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-IOLc5emC4
Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Also on the bill Sunday, February 16 is Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out. In September, Moore became the International Bluegrass Music Associations most awarded male vocalist of all time when he won his sixth trophy for “Male Vocalist of the Year.” The group’s vocal prowess has built them a reputation as one of the finest bands in the land, and we can’t wait to have them on Mountain Stage in February.
Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out- “Pretty Little Girl from Galax”
Christopher Paul Stelling, a deft guitarist and golden-voiced singer, will be there February 16 to showcase songs from his upcoming Ben Harper-produced album, Best of Luck, due February 7 on ANTI- records. “It’s not Americana or alt anything, it’s really just soulful folk music,” Harper says of Best of Luck.
Christopher Paul Stelling – “Trouble Don’t Follow Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxqGu1msdhw
Credit Shredded Elements Photography
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Railroad Earth will appear on Mountain Stage for the fourth time since 2003 on Sunday February 23.
On Sunday, February 23 we welcome back Railroad Earth for their fourth appearance on Mountain Stage since 2003, and their first in nine years! The band followed 2017’s Captain Nowhere with The John Denver Letters, a dual-sided single featuring recently discovered lyrics by Denver set to music by the Railroad Earth. The single was released on Earth Day and a portion of the proceeds go to environmental causes. American Songwriter premiered the video for “If You Will Be My Lady.”
Also making a long-awaited return to Mountain Stage, for the first time since 2007, is ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro, whose masterful arrangements and dazzling technique have led him to prestigious venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House, and he has dazzled audiences at music festivals including Bonnaroo, SXSW, the Playboy Jazz Festival and Fuji Rock Festival.
Tickets for all three February shows are $20 in Advance and $30 at the door when available. Good news for Mountain Stage Members, as your tickets are only $15 each for all three shows.
Those $15 tickets are available online to Mountain Stage Members* now. Members should check their email inbox for instructions on how to get their presale access.
Tickets for the February shows will be available online and at Taylor Books starting Friday, November 22 at 10a.m.
*Mountain Stage Members make a recurring gift of $10/month or $120 annually and receive exclusive online presale access to Culture Center Theater shows. If you’d like to become a Mountain Stage Member, click here to browse the membership levels and make your contribution. Once your membership has been processed, please allow 2-3 business days, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to gain presale access.
Mountain Stage began taping regularly scheduled episodes in December 1983 and has been the home of live music on public radio for more than 35 years. Artists who have been featured on the show include Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Norah Jones, Patti Smith, R.E.M., Mavis Staples, Martina McBride, Wilco and thousands more. Mountain Stage is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting and is distributed to 240 public radio stations every week by NPR Music.
Did you hear? Our good friend Tift Merritt is returning to Mountain Stage this fall! Since we have such a “Sweet Spot” for the singer-songwriter, we’ll look back at one of her last performances (in Alaska, no less!) on this week’s 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.
Stay up late this Saturday August 1 and Sunday August 2 for some spectacular sets on Mountain Stage After Midnight.
We’ll hear our set of 2012 shows from the Davis Fine Arts Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. One featuring Hot Club of Cowtown, Horse Feathers, Tim Easton, Melissa Mitchell and The Whipsaws.
Credit Todd Paris/Mountain Stage
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Hot Club of Cowtown on a special Fairbanks, Alaska broadcast.
The other featuring David Lindley, Bearfoot, Tift Merritt, Pat Fitzgerald & Robin Dale Ford, Steve Brown & the Bailers and Susan Grace.
Want to hear more from Mounain Stage? Check out our live show schedule and be a part of our next recording! Listen to our 24-7 stream of archived shows (that you can’t hear anywhere else!). You can also keep up with our travels on social media (find and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram). And if want Larry and the Mountain Stage crew to bring the party to you, contact your local public radio station and request the show be recorded in your neck of the woods.
Move over, Santa! Greensky Bluegrass and Hot Club of Cowtown are com’n to town this winter. Since Mountain Stage just announced that it’s bringing the pair to Charleston in January, this weekend’s “Mountain Stage After Midnight” will get you bounce’n in your bobsleds before the bands hit the stage. 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.
Tune in this Saturday December 13 and Sunday December 14 on “Mountain Stage After Midnight” for some rock’n and folk’n jams from Greensky Bluegrass and Hot Club of Cowtown.
Hear a December 2010 show featuring honkey-tonk singer Hayes Carll, alt-country stalwarts The Old 97’s, jazzy-swingy trio Hot Club of Cowtown and alt-rock legends Cake.
Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Greensky Bluegrass, performing on Mountain Stage back in 2011.
You’ll also experience a June 2011 show that features the musical talents of mountain crooner Diana Jones, sought-after Southern songwriter Shawn Camp, bluegrass maestro Charlie Sizemore, Americana jamgrass group Greensky Bluegrass and cutting-edge bluegrass rockers Mountain Heart.
Need more Mountain Stage in your life? Look no further than our new website, which features past show playlists and even a 24/7 Mountain Stage stream? Keep in touch with us on the show’s Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, and subscribe to The Mountain Stage Podcast on iTunes to hear the best live performances around these public radio parts.
