Due to the current circumstances, Mountain Stage is canceling our live shows scheduled for June 7, June 21 and June 28, in Charleston, West Virginia.
We’ll be working to reschedule the artists for another time. We’re unsure when we’ll record our next new episode, but we look forward to doing so when it’s safe for everyone. Be sure to sign-up for our e-mail newsletter so you can be among the first to receive updates when we have them.
If you purchased your tickets through our online ticketing service Eventbrite or at a live show, your refund will be processed soon. This normally takes 5-7 business days, but it could be longer due to staff reductions at Eventbrite.
Our local box office Taylor Books remains closed as a preventative measure, therefore, refunds for tickets purchased at that location cannot be offered at this time. If you purchased your tickets at Taylor Books, please send a photo of the tickets (including the full barcode), along with your mailing address, to live@mountainstage.org. We will send a gift certificate via U.S. Mail in the coming weeks, for an amount equivalent to the tickets purchased.
Mountain Stage has now canceled nine live events, including three shows in March, one April event in Athens, OH, and our two events scheduled for May. These include the May 17 show scheduled with Saving Grace feat. Robert Plant and Suzi Dian at The Clay Center. Please call the Clay Center box office at 304-561-3570 to request a refund if you have tickets to that particular show.
We are working to reschedule all these guests though nothing has been finalized. Be sure to sign-up for our e-mail newsletter so you can be among the first to receive updates when we have them.
“Why don’t you go out and hear some live music, wherever you are, just as soon as you can.”
The words of Larry’s slogan might translate a little differently when you hear them this weekend on NPR stations across the country. He says it after the credits at the end of every episode.
Every. Episode.
Live music is important to us. In the last couple of weeks, a lot of us are realizing how we’ve taken it for granted.
“Just as soon as you can,” has an indefinite tone to it these days. The shows you’ll be hearing on radio in the next couple of weeks were recorded in February. We certainly aren’t encouraging anyone to defy CDC guidelines. Social distancing it is.
Here in West Virginia we’ve canceled at least six shows with uncertainty of when we might tape live episodes again. Our broadcast schedule won’t be the shows we intended, but we’ll still be hearing some of our favorite performances. We’re fortunate to have a wealth of archive material that we can dip in to for the time being. We may even ask you folks, our listeners and friends, to help us chose which episodes hit the airwaves later this Spring. More on that later.
Credit Base Camp Printing Company
/
However, there are plenty of artists and venues who aren’t having as much good fortune. Our broadcast schedule will go on, but our canceled shows are just one of an increasing number of gigs that our guest artists won’t get to do. Lots of them are planning live stream web concerts, some are offering deals on their merchandise, and many are already working to reschedule shows for later this year. Suffice it to say that artists, and the entire music business, will be affected deeply. We’re working to reschedule stuff too- fingers emphatically crossed.
We are happy to provide a little live music for you while we wait out this virus, and hope it offers you some peace, some familiarity, and we hope it resonates with you in new and familiar ways. Music and public radio can be a comforting companion, and I hope we never find ourselves taking either one, or each other, for granted again.
Here are all of the stations that carry Mountain Stage and when you can tune in. You don’t have to go out, but you can still hear some live music, wherever you are.
Advance tickets for our May 17 Mountain Stage at the Clay Center sold out in just under one-hour. Thank you for the support. This show will hit airwaves later this year via NPR Music.
Original Post: Tuesday March 3, 9:30a.m.
Debut North American Performances Include Mountain Stage At The Clay Center On May 17.
Tickest Go On Sale Friday, March 6 at 10 AM EST.
On Sunday, May 17 Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, the long-running live performance public radio program, will welcome Saving Grace, the latest project from music icon Robert Plant.
With Saving Grace, Robert Plant comes back to the North American shores in extreme transcendental form bringing new faces, a new sound, and another way of looking and listening. The band’s tour begins on May 12 in Minneapolis, MN and ends in Washington, DC on May 23. Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 6 at 10am local time. For complete details and ticket availability, please see www.robertplant.com.
A new cooperative comprised of Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone and acoustic guitars), Robert Plant (vocals), and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic and baritone guitars, cuatro), Saving Grace made its debut in early 2019 with a series of surprise gigs in small venues across England, Wales, and Ireland and later, a trio of UK dates supporting Fairport Convention. The intimate performances saw the band drawing from a repertoire of “music inspired by the dreamscape of the Welsh Marches,” songs that span Plant’s diverse tastes and influences, notably his lifelong passion for British and American folk, spirituals, and traditional blues, including a number of beloved standards and longtime favorites by Doc Watson, Donovan, Moby Grape, and Low, among others.
WATCH A SNIPPET OF SAVING GRACE’S LIVE PERFORMANCE OF LOW’S “EVERYBODY’S SONG”
Saving Grace will perform an extended set on Mountain Stage with host Larry Groce on Sunday, May 17 at The Clay Center in Charleston, W.Va. The show is recorded for broadcast later this year via 240 NPR Music stations.
Limited tickets will be available online to Clay Center members and current Mountain Stage Members starting Thursday, March 5 from 10a.m. to 10p.m. Members should check their e-mail to obtain their access code. Because of the pre-sale’s limited timeframe, we can only offer it to current Mountain Stage Members.
General on sale begins this Friday at 10a.m., online via TheClayCenter.org and by phone at 304.561.3570.
All seats are reserved; $25, $35 and $45 plus applicable fees. Also appearing will be Maryland blues artist Catfish Keith, and more guests to be added as they are confirmed.
Saving Grace’s unprecedented performances were met with rapturous applause from all who were lucky enough to witness them:
“The sound (Saving Grace) create is glacial and throbbing, drenched in reverb and delay…But, despite their excellent playing, this set is all about the vocals…The night is given a spiritual quality, not just by the lyrical content of the bluegrass songs, but by Plant’s truly transformative delivery. He lives and dies for every note, more so now in his quieter years than when he was screaming to thousands in the 70s.”
“Plant showed that not only does his voice seem to have acquired even more depth but his collaboration with other Midland musicians as part of the band Saving Grace is set to soar…His harmonies with Suzi Dian, who has an outstanding voice, are so well suited they bring a magic and beauty to the stage.”
“Plant has been the one to continue to carry the creative flame, consistently searching out like-minded souls to fuel his musical fire and keep his bar set high. And with Saving Grace he seems to have raised that bar yet again…The approach and delivery suggest a performance of wholly original songs such is the attention to detail and care in which they are played.”
“Herein lies part of what makes Saving Grace so special. It’s the songs. In a word, they’re great. They’re great songs to start with, but this band (and it is very much a ‘band’, in no way a ‘victory lap’ platform for Plant) takes them to new places… While you could hear the swampy origins, the magical thing is the way this set is rocked up and reworked with a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, mandolin and cuatro, all delivered with great depth and colour.”
“The energy and appreciation that is flowing between the musicians is palpable. When Dian or Plant are singing they are intently watching the others play with nothing but elation in their eyes and a natural movement in their bodies…These five musicians have produced a supreme ninety minutes of music with considered interpretations of others’ compositions, ensuring they present an innovative exploration of the songs whilst maintaining their true essence. Furthermore, this odyssey has been undertaken in the spirit of appreciation, musicianship, and exultation: they truly are a band of joy!”
“Say what you like about Robert Plant, but he goes where the muse takes him…He has become some sort of living embodiment of the explorations made by both authors into the music of the past and how its vitality is still with us. And that’s not even to mention Plant’s connection with the music of other places…I have watched Plant live in many incarnations but I’ve never heard his voice sounding as comfortable as it did tonight, at home in the family he has created with these master musicians…Almost entirely alone amongst his peers, Plant’s questing seems far from over. This is an artist to be treasured.”
UPDATE: All three of these shows are on sale now online and at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston.
Ticket buyers will notice sales tax has been added to the cost of these tickets. Due to a change in West Virginia tax law, Eventbrite will now collect sales tax on all Mountain Stage tickets for Culture Center shows, starting with our June 2020 events.
Original post:
Three Mountain Stage events for June have been added to the already packed calendar for the live performance radio show. All three shows are on sale to Mountain Stage Members right now for just $15. Tickets will be available online and at Taylor Books starting Friday February 14 at 10a.m. EST. Mountain Stage Members should check their inbox for redemption instructions.
Members make a recurring gift of at least $10 a month or $120 annually and receive early online presale to our Culture Center shows and other periodic discounts and benefits. Click here to browse the levels and sign-up for a membership.
On Sunday June 7 Portland’s Blitzen Trapper will make their third appearance on the show, along with the folk rock of Nashville’s Lilly Hiatt, and songwriting super-trio Nobody’s Girl. This will also be Hiatt’s third appearance on the show since 2015, and her new record, Walking Proof –due March 29 on New West Records- is one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year. You should check out American Songwriter’s recently published preview and interview.
Credit Valerie Fremin
/
We’ll also welcome Nobody’s Girl on June 7. The indie-folk trio features Rebecca Loebe, BettySoo and Grace Pettis, who have been friends now for a decade. They first met at the legendary Kerrville Folk Festival, each a winner of the prestigious annual “New Folk” award there. The trio’s first full-length album (a follow up to their critically acclaimed EP, Waterline), is due in May 2020 and we’re looking forward to hearing these harmonies live and in person.
Sunday June 21 will be the first of two Mountain Stage shows during the 15 days arts extravaganza FestivALL Charleston. This city-wide celebration of the arts takes over our hometown each June. FestivALL turns our city into a work of art, and it’s a great time to plan a visit to see what Charleston is all about.
We’re excited to welcome the “Psychedelic-Soul Force” of Black Pumas, to the show for the first time. The “Best New Artist” Grammy nominees have already taped an appearance on Austin City Limits and they’re currently touring the UK behind their stand-out self-titled album Black Pumas.
Country Music icon and West Virginia native Kathy Mattea will return to guest host on Sunday June 28 as we close out the FestivALL activities at the Culture Center Theater with a set from New Jersey-bred singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins. Atkins is currently wrapping up a European tour ahead of the release of her upcoming album Italian Ice- out April 17th via Single Lock Records.
Recorded at legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, Italian Ice features legends Spooner Oldham and David Hood, plus collaborations with Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers, Erin Rae, and John Paul White. According to promo materials, “At turns as opulent as symphonic pop and gritty as garage punk, the album wanders into shades of psych-rock and honky-tonk and girl-group melodrama, endlessly spotlighting the tightly honed musicianship and unbridled originality at heart of Atkins’s artistry.”
Rolling Stone just premiered the first video and single, “Captain,” featuring Spoon front man Britt Daniel.
Tickets for all three June shows are $20 in advance and $30 day of show, available starting Friday February 14 at 10a.m. online and at Taylor Books, 226 Capitol Street in downtown Charleston.
As always, be sure to follow Mountain Stage on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates and to glimpses behind-the-scenes.
Two shows in Charleston and one in Morgantown have been added to the live show schedule. Guests include J2B2, Karan Casey, Marc Cohn, Amy Speace, The Haden Triplets, Kat Edmonson and Ranky Tanky.
Friday Dec. 6, 2019 – Mountain Stage is adding to an already busy schedule of live tapings for 2020 with three shows just announced for the month of March. Two events scheduled for Charleston, WV are on sale NOW to Mountain Stage Members who make a recurring gift of $10 a month or $120 annually. Current Mountain Stage Members should check their e-mail inbox for instructions to get in on the pre-sale.
Our March 29 show in Morgantown, WV is on sale now.
Keep scrolling for all the show dates, times and artist info, and make plans to be a part of our national radio audience in 2020.
Credit Mike Melnyk
/
J2B2 (John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band) appear on Mountain Stage March 15 in Charleston, WV.
On Sunday March 15, Mountain Stage will emanate from our home at the Culture Center Theater on the State Capitol Grounds. With an esteemed resume that includes stints in the touring band of Elton John, and a member of the country-rock purveyors the Desert Rose Band, guitarist John Jorgenson will appear March 15 with his bluegrass project J2B2. The band features an elite group of pickers and singers, including another former Desert Rose Band colleague, and a past member of legendary bluegrass group The Dillards, Herb Pedersen. Mark Fain (Ricky Skaggs, Dixie Chicks, Alabama) joins on bass and Patrick Sauber (Peter Rowan, Laurie Lewis) will be on acoustic guitar and vocals.
J2B2’s debut album, From The Crow’s Nest, was recorded in Sheryl Crow’s home barn studio in Nashville,
Tennessee. The album was recently released as part of a John Jorgenson limited edition, 3-CD box set called DIVERTUOSO (Cleopatra Records). The collection also includes a set of gypsy jazz numbers, and electric instrumentals, both of which Jorgenson has developed an expert reputation. This will be Jorgenson’s fifth stop on Mountain Stage since 2006.
Alongside J2B2, appearing on March 15 will also be Karan Casey, one of Irish folk music’s most distinct and revered voices. In a career that has spanned over 25 years, Karan has released 7 solo albums, a children’s album and a duet release with John Doyle, in addition to countless other collaborations. This will make Casey’s fourth appearance on Mountain Stage since 2001.
Credit Andrea Furlan
/
Making his fourth appearance since 2008 on March 15 is North Carolina’s authentic acoustic blues and roots singer Malcolm Holcombe, whose latest, “Come Hell or High Water” is “trademark Malcolm: chiseled out of a life abundant in both hard times and sweet ones.”
Tickets for March 15 will be available online and at Taylor Books, 226 Charleston, WV, starting Friday December 13 at 10a.m. EST.
Credit Courtesy of the Artist
/
Grammy winner Marc Cohn returns to Mountain Stage on March 22, 2020.
Sunday March 22 Mountain Stage reconvenes in Charleston once again for a showcase of modern American roots music, with some world-renowned talents and some of the next generations emerging talents.
Revered singer, songwriter and Grammy winner, Marc Cohn will return on March 22, armed with songs from his prolific career that began with his smash hit song “Walking In Memphis.” His most recent output includes Work to Do, a highly praised collaboration with the veteran gospel stars Blind Boys of Alabama.
Joining us on March 22 will be Amy Speace (rescheduled from August), who will bring with her songs from the universally praised latest release Me And The Ghost Of Charlemagne. “An album about the colliding of dreams and reality,” Speace is at her most honest state on this record, recorded with long time collaborator Neilson Hubbard and recorded during the final weeks of Speace’s pregnancy with her first son. In November her song “Some Dreams Do” was featured at Rolling Stone Country as one of 10 Best Country & Americana Songs to Hear Now.
Amy Speace appears on Mountain Stage Sunday, March 22 in Charleston, WV.
The Haden Triplets—Petra, Rachel and Tanya— are preparing for the January 24 release of their new album, The Family Songbook (Trimeter Records / Thirty Tigers). Promo materials state “The Triplets’ sound is as otherworldly as ever—evocative of both the old, weird America and a specific brand of vocal charm that anyone who’s minded indie-rock since the early ’90s will recognize.” The Family Songbook contains Americana standards like “Wayfaring Stranger,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Wildwood Flower” and “Pretty Baby,” as well as outside the box choices like Kanye West’s “Say You Will,” which gets a stark, flamenco-tinged treatment. They join us March 22 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV.
Also appearing on March 22, for their second time on Mountain Stage, is the alt-indie duo Frances Luke Accord. Founded while Nicholas Gunty and Brian Powers were attending University of Notre Dame, they moved to Chicago in 2013 while releasing two self-produced EPs. Their full-length debut, Fluke, arrived in 2016 to critical acclaim and led to their first appearance on Mountain Stage. Frances Luke Accord have done shows with Darlingside and Anais Mitchell, meanwhile drawing comparisons to legends like Simon & Garfunkel while embracing a style contemporary to Bon Iver and Jose Gonzales. Maria (2018) and Silver & Gold EP (2019) reflect their evolution with a fresh vitality and set the bar high for their upcoming sophomore LP, coming in 2020.
Tickets for March 22 will be available online and at Taylor Books, 226 Capitol St. Charleston, WV, starting Friday December 13 at 10a.m. EST.
Credit Courtesy of the Artist
/
Kat Edmonson returns to Mountain Stage Sunday March 29 in Morgantown, WV.
Mountain Stage returns to Morgantown on Sunday March 29 for a show packed with talent and wide stylistic breadth. Regaled vocalist and songwriter Kat Edmonson, who has joined us three times previously, will be bringing her whole band and new songs from her anticipated album Dreamers Do, out on February 7 via Spinette Records (pre-order HERE). The album blends original compositions and reimagined mid-20th century classic Disney songs, and tells a story, which takes place over the course of one sleepless night.
You can revisit her lats appearance and hear some songs from Old Fashioned Gal via NPR Music.
Credit Peter Frank Edwards
/
Ranky Tanky appears in Morgantown, WV on Sunday March 29 as part of Mountain Stage presented by WVU Arts & Entertainment
Recent Grammy-nominees Ranky Tanky will return to Mountain Stage on March 29 in Morgantown. This South Carolina group specializes in a regional blend of gospel, blues and roots that’s garnered praise from all over. Their new album Good Time was just nominated for next year’s Grammy Awards for Best Regional Roots Music Album.
We’re excited to bring the expansive sound of Moonlight Benjamin to Morgantown on March 29. This group’s new album Siltane boasts a fusion between “Caribbean voodoo melodies and rhythms, and the 70’s US blues rock.” Featuring Haitian vocalist Moonlight, the band’s “Voodoo Trance” is going to a hypnotic addition to the line-up.
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
/
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
/
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.
