Songwriter Joe Pug has made six appearances on Mountain Stage since 2008. His ability to paint a scene is among his greatest gifts, as you can hear in our song of the week, “After Curfew.”
The song appears on Pug’s 2019 release, The Flood In Color. Like many artists, Pug quickly adapted to the pandemic by getting creative early on sharing his talents online with personal concerts and the series Sunday Songs, a weekly live stream. His latest record, The Diving Sun will be released in March. You can hear the entire set from Pug, plus exciting performances recorded last February by Railroad Earth, ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro, songwriting duo The Mastersons, and Emily Scott Robinson, on this week’s encore broadcast.
1 of 4 — Emily Scott Robinson
Emily Scott Robinson made her Mountain Stage debut weeks before the pandemic put live events on hold.
Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
2 of 4 — Jake Shimabukuro
Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro known for his fast and complex finger work, brought his new trio to the show.
Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
3 of 4 — Railroad Earth
Jamgrass festival favorites Railroad Earth closed out the evening of live performance. You can hear their set on 270+ public radio stations this week.
Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
4 of 4 — The Mastersons
Husband – wife duo The Mastersons are no stranger to the show. Hear their set this week on Mountain Stage.
Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
Find the playlist here and tune in via one of these NPR Music stations. This week’s show is the last episode recorded with a live audience before the pandemic took shape.
Stay tuned to Mountain Stage on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for news. As always, we thank you for listening and we hope hearing the applause during Mountain Stage will resonate with you in new and familiar ways.
Revisiting an episode from 2013 featuring Billy Bragg, The Flatlanders, Amy Speace, Joe Pug, and Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche. Support for this podcast is provided by Digital Relativity. https://digitalrelativity.com/
Songwriter Joe Pug has made six appearances on Mountain Stage since 2008. His ability to paint a scene is among his greatest gifts, as you can hear in our song of the week, “After Curfew.”
The song appears on Pug’s latest release, The Flood In Color. Like many artists, Pug is adapting to the current state of affairs by getting creative. He has started his own “Social Distancing Tour” by offering personal concerts online.
You can hear the entire set from Pug, plus exciting performances recorded last February by Railroad Earth, ukelele phenom Jake Shimabukuro, songwriting duo The Mastersons, and Emily Scott Robinson, on this week’s broadcast. Find the playlist here and tune in via one of these NPR Music stations.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Guest artists gather for one more number to close out this week’s episode. This is the last fresh episode we recorded prior to the national pandemic.
This week’s show is the last of the fresh episodes we recorded before the pandemic. In the coming weeks we’ll be airing some favorites from our archive, and soon we’ll be asking you to vote on which episodes we revisit on the radio this May.
Mountain Stage is adding guest artists to their array of live shows already on the calendar.
There are currently six shows on sale for audiences to be a part of our live Mountain Stage events. Browse the entire schedule for details on each show, and let us know you’re coming on Facebook. Be sure you’re signed up for our e-mail newsletter, and better yet make sure you sign up for Mountain Stage Membership, as we have three live shows coming for the month of June in our hometown of Charleston, WV- including some exciting plans during FestivALL Charleston.
But first….
Darrell Scott, bonafide troubadour and musical beacon, has been added to the bill on March 15 when Kathy Mattea returns to guest host with a talent-packed lineup that already includes J2B2 (featuring John Jorgenson on acoustic guitar, mandolin and vocals; Herb Pedersen on banjo, acoustic guitar and vocals; Mark Fain on bass; and Patrick Sauber), Ireland’s Karan Casey, Western North Carolina’s rustic blues maestro Malcolm Holcombe, and critically acclaimed artist, producer and musician Jonathan Wilson.
Scott just memorialized the anniversary of the passing of Hank Williams on New Years day by releasing the first single from his upcoming album Darrell Scott Sings the Blues of Hank Williams. You can hear “My Sweet Love Ain’t Around” below and click here for tickets to see him live on March 15.
Credit Amber Estes Thieneman
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Joan Shelley will join the line-up Sunday April 26 in Athens, OH.
Our April 26 show at Ohio University has generated a lot of interest already with the buzz surrounding the 4 Grammy nominations for UK country-soul sensation Yola, who leads a bill with guest host Kathy Mattea that already includes Kim Richey and Carsie Blanton. Recognition keeps building for Yola, who was recently awarded both UK Album and UK Artist of the Year at the AmericanaFest UK.
Fitting nicely among those artists on April 26 will be revered folk singer and songwriter Joan Shelley. She appeared recently on the popular WTF podcast with Marc Maron, and last year released Like the River Loves the Sea. The hauntingly beautiful collection was recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland with James Elkington co-producing.
We’ve completed the line-ups for our upcoming February shows, including one that is already sold out. On February 16, guest host Kathy Mattea will welcome Dom Flemons, former member of the popular string-band Carolina Chocolate Drops, with songs from his 2018 release titled Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys. The album garnered a GRAMMY Nomination for “Best Folk Album” at the 61st GRAMMY Awards and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Bluegrass Charts, receiving multiple year-end album recognitions. Flemons was also nominated for “2018 Artist of The Year” at the International Folk Music Awards. He recently announced a deluxe re-issue of his 2014 album Prospect Hill, via Rolling Stone Country.
Tickets for February 16 have already sold out, thanks to a powerful lineup that also features The SteelDrivers, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, soulful folk artist Christopher Paul Stelling, and roots duo The Small Glories.
Emily Scott Robinson appears for the first time on Mountain Stage Feb. 23 in Charleston, WV.
There are still a limited number of tickets available for Sunday, February 23 when Larry Groce returns to welcome beloved “amplified string band with drums” Railroad Earth, ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro, singer songwriter and podcaster Joe Pug, and Red House recording artists The Mastersons. We’ve finalized the line-up with the addition of road-tested singer and songwriter Emily Scott Robinson. Robinson’s debut Traveling Mercies was named one of Rolling Stone’s 40 Best Country & Americana Albums of 2019.
Next up are THREE new events coming for the month of June, with news hitting Mountain Stage Member inboxes this Friday, February 7 around 10 a.m. Sign-up for membership here to enjoy presale access to all our Culture Center Shows before they’re available to anyone else.
Conductor, multi-instrumentalist and composer of more than 100 orchestral and chamber works, “the Renaissance man of American music” David Amram performs a stunning rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”
This week’s show also features performances from Mokoomba, Okkervil River, Curtis McMurtry and Joe Pug.
Like what you hear? Find the full episode in the Mountain Stage archive and stay tuned for new episodes starting September 7 on 240 NPR affiliates far and wide.
2015 was a big year for Mountain Stage. We began a beautiful friendship with public radio music discovery machine VuHaus. We created a new, bite-size podcast called Mountain Stage 2 Go.
And across nine venues in four states, we recorded over 100 live sets that showcased the best and brightest musicians in the world today. (Of course, none of this would have happened without your support!)
Before we embark on our 33rd musical year around the sun, Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage crew have picked out 27 performances that deserve another listen and another round of applause. From A to Z, these are our favorite Mountain Stage performances of 2015. (Hint: click the Episode # for their Mountain Stage podcast episode, where available.)
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Allen Toussaint (Keith-Albee Theater in Huntington, WV on February 15, 2015 – Episode #838)
