This week we continue our look back at some favorite episodes from the Mountain Stage archives. We’re going back to 2010 for a show recorded in Morgantown, W.Va. with Jakob Dylan & Three Legs, The Watson Twins, The Tallest Man on Earth, April Smith and the Great Picture Show and Clare & The Reasons.
Clare & The Reasons on Mountain Stage in Morgantown, WV
In a prior musical life, so to speak, they released three studio albums, two live albums and went on several world tours as Clare and the Reasons. When they appeared on Mountain Stage in April, 2010, Clare & The Reasons brought a full ensemble and songs from their collection Arrow. Our Song of the Week is the band’s inventive take on “That’s All,” originally recorded and popularized by Genesis.
You can hear the band’s entire set, plus classic performances by Jakob Dylan & Three Legs (featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan), The Watson Twins, The Tallest Man On Earth, and April Smith and The Great Picture Show, on this week’s episode of Mountain Stage. Tune in or stream through one of these stations starting Friday Sept. 4.
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The West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame has announced that “Mountain Stage” co-founder and chief engineer Francis Fisher will be among the 2020 class of inductees at the Museum of Radio and Technology, located in Huntington. Fisher joins his fellow co-founders, host and artistic director Larry Groce, and Executive Producer Andy Ridenour, as members of the prestigious hall.
“No one deserves this honor more than Francis,” Groce said upon learning of Fisher’s induction. “He has distinguished himself on every level of broadcasting from head engineer at WDNE in Elkins to designing and maintaining the statewide, multi-broadcast-tower system at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, to national engineering work with the NBC radio network in New York City.
He also engineered all but one of Mountain Stage’s 962 shows over 36 years, a Herculean accomplishment that may never be equaled. On Mountain Stage, he has mixed audio and recorded artists ranging from R.E.M., Phish, Martina McBride, Buddy Guy and Eric Church to Bill Monroe, Pops Staples, Vince Gill, Joan Baez, Ali Farke Toure and Alison Krauss. Francis Fisher is a remarkable man who has proven it again and again in a career that has lasted more than five decades and is still going strong.”
Fisher’s broadcast mix can be heard weekly on over 240 NPR stations across the country and throughout the state on WVPB’s radio network.
Credit Mountain Stage Archive
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Francis Fisher sits at an early version of his broadcast mix position backstage at Mountain Stage. Francis has engineered nearly every episode of Mountain Stage.
As a child growing up in Parkersburg, W.Va, Fisher grew up listening to the classic radio of the ‘40s and ‘50s. His earliest training in electronics began in the Navy, where he learned to repair all manner of communications and electronics equipment.
“From the time I was 15, I always knew what I wanted to do with my life,” he said in the book 20 Years of Mountain Stage. “I wanted to be a broadcast engineer and I wanted to go to New York and work at a network.”
He did just that, joining the staff at NBC radio in Rockefeller Center at age 23. After NBC, Fisher moved to Elkins, taking up film developing, candle sales and running an electronics shop. He joined WVPB in its Beckley studio, where he designed and implemented the microwave system that linked the state’s public radio stations, a first of its kind in the country, according to 20 Years of Mountain Stage. Soon after he met Ridenour, they developed the idea of a live performance radio show that would eventually become “Mountain Stage.” Originally using three 8-channel mixers bridged togeter, Fisher’s mix of the show has been recorded to every major recorded format, from reel-to-reel, to Digital Audio Tape (DAT), to Mini-Disc, to CD to now digital hard drive.
A ceremony is tentatively planned for late-October. The full release is below.
(Biographical information pulled from 20 Years of Mountain Stage profile written by Michael Lipton)
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Fisher takes time to eat during sound-checks at one of over 960 episodes he’s mixed for Mountain Stage.
Press Release:
Museum of Radio and Technology expands its Broadcasting Hall of Fame
(Huntington, W. Va., July 23, 2020)—Three renowned broadcasting professionals will be inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame on Saturday, October 31, at the Museum of Radio and Technology in Huntington, W. Va. How the enshrinement ceremony will be conducted due to the Covid-19 Pandemic is not definite yet. In the past the event has been held with an audience of invited guests and has been broadcast live on a statewide network of radio stations. Details will be announced soon.
Tom Resler, the Museum’s Hall of Fame committee chairman, said that the selection committee chose from a wide field of nominations. “The ones who were finally selected contributed hugely to the field of broadcasting and clearly are worthy of this high honor,” he said.
The 2020 West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductees are:
Francis Fisher – A Parkersburg native, Fisher moved to New York and engineered shows on the NBC radio network in the mid-1960’s working alongside legends like Chet Huntley and Don Pardo. Years later he won acclaim as sound engineering expert for West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s “Mountain Stage.” He has sound-mixed performances of R.E.M, Sheryl Crow, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Randy Newman and many other musicians from around the world.
Mark Martin – He has served as Sports Director for both WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV in Charleston/Huntington since 2000. This Fairplain resident has been a broadcaster of games telecast on ESPN, has won an EMMY, was named Sportscaster of the Year in West Virginia in 2002 and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Associated Press in 2009.
Eric McGuire – That was the radio name of Eric Howdershelt, a creative, witty and outrageously funny DJ and show host who was raised on a dairy farm in Barbour County and has retired there now. He had a brilliant career at WELK in Elkins, in Grafton at WTBZ, WHAR in Clarksburg, Weston’s WSSN-FM, and Morgantown’s WVAQ. Topping off his more than three decades in broadcasting he even had his own statewide hookup, the Eric McGuire Network.
This week’s broadcast reflects on some of our favorite performers who appeared on Mountain Stage in recent years during FestivALL Charleston, the city-wide arts celebration that helps our hometown become a work of art throughout the year, including their summer and fall festivals.
For this retrospective our host, Larry Groce (a co-founder of FestivALL), chose some of the best performances in recent years, including Todd Snider, Lucius, Alsarah & the Nubatones, and a couple West Virginia artists, William Matheny and John R. Miller, to name a few. The show culminates with an outstanding set from The Wood Brothers, whose track “Can’t Look Away” is our Song of the Week.
Hear this special “FestivALL Favorites” episode starting Friday, June 19 on these public radio stations. Here in West Virginia you can tune to WVPB at 8p.m. on Saturday, June 20 (West Virginia Day!) and Friday June 26. See the entire playlist here and be sure to watch for our special virtual presentation, “There’s a Stream,” coming on Sunday, June 28 at 7p.m. at MountainStage.org and LiveSessions.NPR.org.
With essentially every large American music festival canceled for the summer of 2020, we sure could use a dance-inciting funky live set to pry us off the couch and help us shout it out, shake it off and get our groove back.
Straight from the New Orleans hot-funk time machine comes Dumpstaphunk, which stopped by the Culture Center Theater in Charleston on March 23, 2014, for a smoking set on an all-star night that also included blues ‘n’ soul veterans The Robert Cray Band, gospel legends The Blind Boys of Alabama, and blues torchbearer John Hammond.
Keyboardist Ivan Neville, who’s toured and played with everyone from The Rolling Stones to The Neville Brothers, leads the band, which includes his younger cousin, Ian Neville, son of Art Neville who organically built the band in the early 2000s. Dumpstaphunk debuted at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2003, and has returned every year since, resulting in a couple of live releases.
On this legendary March night in 2014 at Mountain Stage, the band kept everyone on their feet rolling a sweet wave of funk over fans with an infectious double-bass fusion and funk jam style that has made Dumpstaphunk main stage favorites at massive festivals from Bonnaroo to Lockn, and helped draw in everyone from Carlos Santana and Bob Weir to Trombone Shorty, Flea and Chaka Khan to perform with them.
“People have gone crazy about them for a decade and compared them to some greatest funk bands of all time – The Meters, James Brown, Parliament, Booker T – and I think they are carrying on in all that tradition,” said Mountain Stage founder and host Larry Groce introducing the band.
Playing songs mostly off of their album Dirty Word, on Louisiana Red Hot Records, Dumpstaphunk transported the crowd down to the Big Easy in their groove-powered mothership with the set opener “Dancing to the Truth.” Drummer Nikki Glaspie — who spent half a decade as Beyonce’s hand-picked percussionist – trades lead vocals with the band’s two bassists Tony Hall and Nick Daniels, before blasting full steam ahead into the fast-paced rocker, “Blueswave” showcasing the sound and fury of Ian Neville’s shredding lead electric guitar.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Dumpstaphunk performing on Mountain Stage in 2014.
Glaspie took over lead vocals to pay respect to Betty Mabry Davis, the female funk pioneer on her smoking hot song “If I’m in Luck,” which was recorded with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea sitting in on the album cut. After the smoke cleared, Dumpstaphunk slid back comfortably into their Sly and the Family Stone-like funk revival with more of their sweet trade-off lead vocals and harmonies served up on two powerful message-packed songs preaching unity and social equality – “Reality of the Situation,” and “Everybody Want Sum.”
“Everybody just can’t get along – that is the reality of the situation/ Instead of hurting each other, let’s look out for one another,” the band sang on “Reality of the Situation.”
Dumpstaphunk continued its powerful voice for unity on their topical 2017 single and music video, “Justice,” featuring fellow NOLA super rocker Trombone Shorty, which bears revisiting in light of recent events.
Currently Ivan is offering virtual “Piano Sessions” on the band’s Facebook page, and they have plans to release their fourth studio album later in 2020.
Dumpstaphunk is one of 60 bands performing at Quarantine Comes Alive, a one-day virtual music fest on Saturday, May 30. This donation-based event will directly benefit the participating musicians as well as Sweet Relief, MusiCares, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, World Central Kitchen, Partners In Health, Trans Lifeline, Backline, and local organizations helping the homeless. Those who donate will be e-mailed a link to watch the event on various platforms.
This week’s broadcast continues our Listeners’ Choice series with a 2015 episode we recorded at The Clay Center in Charleston, W.Va. during FestivALL Charleston. We’ll hear performances by Chris Stapleton, Joan Osborne, Joe Ely, and a collaboration between The Fairfield Four and The McCrary Sisters called “Rock My Soul.”
Revered vocalist and song stylist Joan Osborne first appeared on Mountain Stage in 1995 and has continued to return, always with a different batch of songs wrapped in her singular vocal style.
Our Song of the Week, “Brokedown Palace,” is a Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia collaboration from the Grateful Dead cannon, performed here by Osborne with keyboardist Keith Cotton accompanying.
When writing about the song for Dead.net, David Dodd theorizes “The song can be a song to someone departed from life, or just from the relationship with the singer. Or maybe the singer is departing, and possibly departing this life, or possibly departing a relationship. Some have suggested it is a song about reincarnation, and the journey through existences”
This 2015 set from Osborne also includes a remarkable, stripped-down version of her mega-hit “One of Us.” Take a peek at the playlist and find a station where you can listen here starting Friday May 29.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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The McCrary Sisters’ and The Fairfield Four’s collaboration is called “Rock My Soul.” Hear some of the songs recorded live on this week’s encore broadcast starting May 29.
This show was taped at The Clay Center during FestivALL Charleston, our hometown’s multi-faceted arts festival that takes place each June. This year their summer event is taking place online, with special FestivALL VirtuaLL events scheduled from June 14-28. Click here to view the entire schedule, and set a reminder for our special virtual presentation, “There’s a Stream…” scheduled for June 28, at 7p.m.
In the midst of a historical lockdown with people spending a hazy daze of unprecedented hours in their house, what a time to dive back into a set of music written about home’s comforts and complexities. Who better to pull back the complicated shades of home than a seasoned veteran of the road, like Jason Isbell.
It was October 23, 2011 when Green Hill, Alabama native Isbell stopped by Mountain Stage with his well-oiled alt-country machine, The 400 Unit, to take the audience on a trip down South. This kinetic four-song set of material comes from Isbell’s third solo album, Here We Rest; an album whose themes revolve around the idea of home.
Mountain Stage founder and host Larry Groce gave a welcoming nod to the road warrior, who had played the Grand Ole Opry by 16 and spent his 20s rocking, writing and living furiously with The Drive-By Truckers from 2001-2007. “This album is a wonderful, wonderful CD,” Groce said, “Here We Rest,” is an early motto of the state of Alabama. When you hear the songs, you will know why it is named that way.”
Held in equally high regard as a guitarist and as a songwriter, Isbell made his first appearance on Mountain Stage in 2010. He marched into this 2011 set with his trusted comrades- bassist Jimbo Hart, drummer Chad Gamble, former Son Volt keyboardist Derry DeBorja- who make up the 400 Unit. The name was derived from a psychiatric ward of Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Alabama, near Isbell’s hometown on the border of Alabama and Tennessee.
With a train shuffling snare, jangling guitars and swirling organ, Isbell and the 400 Unit warm up in style walking a soldier home in “Tour of Duty”- written about an Iraq War soldier stepping off the train and straight into the cobwebs of civilian life – trying to devour the missed goodness of home, while bottling up emotional demons to hide his fears.
“I promise not to bore you with my stories/I promise not to scare you with my tears/I never would exaggerate the glory/I'll seem so satisfied here.”
The band pours a flurry of hurt into his now classic “Go It Alone,” about the wake of his first divorce and being left with himself in a quiet house of regret.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, seen here performing on Mountain Stage in Charleston, W.Va. in October 2011.
Isbell and the 400 Unit saved the best for last, closing with what have become two of his most recognized songs from Here We Rest: “Alabama Pines,” which would go on to win the 2012 Americana Music Association’s Song of the Year, and the crowd-pleasing set-closing jam of “Codeine.”
In “Alabama Pines” Isbell captures that illusive feeling of truly feeling at home with yourself. And while we may all feel a bit unanchored in our current state, we are not in this alone. Take a deep fresh breath in these evergreens. We still have these songs to transport us musically back home, “through those Alabama Pines.”
Isbell, who has gone on to win four Grammy Awards, has a new album, Reunions, produced by Dave Cobb and featuring such guests as David Crosby, and his wife Amanda Shires.
Set List: Tour of Duty Go It Alone Alabama Pines Codeine
