Jesse Winchester Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Mountain Stage After Midnight: Tommy Emmanuel, Calexico, Jesse Winchester

Late nights, good tunes and great friends. That’s what’s in store for you this weekend 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 31 year history and shares their memories and songs with our late-night listeners.

Clear your schedules for archived tunes Saturday May 9 and Sunday May 10 on Mountain Stage After Midnight.

We’ll hear a January 2010 show from the Creative Arts Center on the campus of West Virginia University. This show features Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing, Tommy Emmanuel, Vetiver (who have a new LP out), Kaukonen & Bromberg, Among the Oak & Ash and the DePue Brothers.

Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers made their first group appearance on the Mountain Stage in 2010.

We’ll also hear a January 2010 show at the Culture Center in Charleston featuring Calexico (who have a new record out!), Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, Solas, Harper Simon and the late/great Jesse Winchester.

But wait! There’s more.

Listen to even more archived Mountain Stage sets on our 24/7 Mountain Stage stream (made possible by your support!). Connect with the show and check out our show shenanigans on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. Join our monthly email newsletter for up-to-the-minute show announcements and ticket deals. And if Mountain Stage isn’t available in your neck of the woods, contact your public radio station and let them know that you’re hanker’n for Mountain Stage and great live performances.

Relive 1988/89 with Mountain Stage After Midnight

Get excited, ’cause West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s spring pledge drive is happening this week! Since this station is our “Mountain Mama,” we’re pulling out all the stops to show you why West Virginia Public Broadcasting is “Almost Heaven” and deserves your pledge of support! That’s why we’re playing exclusive, archived shows from 1988 and 1989 on this weekend’s Mountain Stage After Midnight.

And this weekend (April 11 & 12) is no exception. Keep your eyes (and ears) open for sets that you can’t hear anywhere else but on WV airwaves.

First up is a show from March 20, 1988, recorded at the former Capitol Plaza Theatre (now known as the West Virginia State University Capitol Center Theatre). The show features Red Clay Ramblers (their first Mountain Stage appearance, as a matter of fact), Tommy Thompson (now a West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inductee), Norman & Nancy Blake (did you hear his recent chat with NPR’s Fresh Air?) and Mick Moloney & Friends (who received the National Heritage Award, the highest official honor a traditional artist can receive in the United States).

Jesse Winchester on the Mountain Stage in 1989.

We’ll also hear an April 9, 1989 show that features such legendary acts as Grammy winner Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, David Grisman & the Bluegrass Experience featuring Del McCoury and our old friend Jesse Winchester.

It takes a whole lot of time and manpower to make Mountain Stage happen, but as the old saying goes, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” We’d love to have you as part of our community, whether that’s by connecting with us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram), signing up for our monthly email newsletter or pledging your support for Mountain Stage.

Listen to Jesse Winchester Play "Never Forget to Boogie," Live on Mountain Stage

Jesse Winchester – who passed away this April – visited Mountain Stage 8 times during his career; always captivating the audience with his nimble lyrics and trademark low-key delivery. A songwriter’s songwriter in the truest sense, he had come to count Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffet and Neko Case among his most vocal fans. Winchester continued to create amazing new music until the end of his life, including the instant Mountain Stage staff favorite “Never Forget to Boogie,” which was recorded during his final appearance on the show in October of 2014.

Hear Jesse Winchester play "That's What Makes You Strong," Live from Mountain Stage

Many have tried – but the late Jesse Winchester was among the elite group of songwriters who could truly captivate an audience with just his words, his voice, and an acoustic guitar. Here he preforms one of his most beloved tunes, “That’s What Makes You Strong,” in front of an entranced Morgantown audience during his final Mountain Stage appearance, recorded in October of last year.

Mountain Stage Remembers Jesse Winchester

ThatsWhatMakesYouStrong.mp3

Jesse Winchester – "That's What Makes You Strong" – Live from Mountain Stage

JustLikeNew.mp3

Jesse Winchester – "Just Like New" – Live from Mountain Stage

LonelyForaWhile.mp3

Jesse Winchester – "Lonely For a While" – Live from Mountain Stage

Songbird.mp3

Jesse Winchester – "Songbird" – Live from Mountain Stage

LittleGlassOfWine.mp3

Jesse Winchester – "Little Glass of Wine" – Live from Mountain Stage

Jesse Winchester was an unforgettable personality and his songs were instantly identifiable. He visited Mountain Stage ten times from 1986 through 2013. His talent, charm, and gentle charisma became more potent with each visit.

The recent tribute album, Quiet About It, put together by Mac McAnally, with Winchester covers from Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint and seven more of the best singer songwriters you can name is a hint of the respect he has earned among peers and admirers.

In 2001, Blue Plate Records released Jesse Winchester Live from Mountain Stage which included thirteen beautiful songs. The notes for that collection said “Jesse Winchester’s songs have an old fashioned air to them; a genteel atmosphere that comes out of the benevolent side of the Old South. His lyrics are subtle, almost antique at times, and his themes are often classically bittersweet – lost love, desire and guilt, the entire spectrum of feelings that that come ‘As soon as you learn that you don’t live forever,’ as he says in ‘Little Glass of Wine’.”

Jesse seemed fragile during his last visit, but his recent illness explained that, and we never thought it would be the last time we’d see him. As always, he captivated both young and old in the audience and even sang two songs he identified as new. One of them, “I Never Forget to Boogie” was an instant classic in our world, and a fitting goodbye from a man who always seemed to remember what was important in this life. -Larry Groce, April 2014

Jesse Winchester – That's What Makes You Strong – Live on Mountain Stage

Many try – but Jesse Winchester is among the elite group of songwriters who can truly captivate an audience with just his words, his voice, and an acoustic guitar. Here he performs “That’s What Makes You Strong” in front of an entranced Morgantown audience, from this week’s premier broadcast of Mountain Stage with Larry Groce.