Mountain Stage with Larry Groce Story Archives - Page 2 of 24

Listen: Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets have the Mountain Stage Song of the Week

Iconic musician, songwriter and producer Nick Lowe returned to Mountain Stage flanked by surf-rock legends Los Straitjackets last Fall. They performed a legendary set, including tunes from their latest EP “Love Starvation/Trombone,” and Lowe’s most timeless song, “(What’s So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding.”

Lowe was producer on the early works of Elvis Costello, who popularized Lowe’s song “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding.” Here the song is reprised by Lowe and the Straitjackets as the set-closer of the group’s appearance on this week’s episode of Mountain Stage.

Listeners will also be treated to a set of beautiful new songs from Patty Griffin, an amped up performance from alt-rock poet Craig Finn & Uptown Controllers, and the fresh sound of Shook Twins. Find a station that carries Mountain Stage here and be sure to tune in to this ‘can’t miss’ episode.

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Patty Griffin appears on this week’s episode of Mountain Stage hitting the airwaves nationwide starting November 8.

Listen: A Classic from Bill Monroe for Our Song of the Week

This week’s episode is a special called “The Class of ’89,” featuring notable performances from that landmark year in Mountain Stage‘s history.

Our Song of the Week is by the Father of Bluegrass Music himself, Bill Monroe, and his 1989 version of the Blue Grass Boys. Here’s the bluegrass classic “Uncle Pen,” recorded on May 21, 1989 in Charleston, W.VA.

Hear this song as well as other rare performances from the likes of Dr. John, Lucinda Williams, Mose Allison, Rick Danko & Garth Hudson, June Tabor, New Grass Revival and many others, on this week’s special edition of Mountain Stage.

Find a station in your area and tune in to this week’s episode.

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Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn Have the Mountain Stage Song of the Week

With unmatched musicianship and a good dose of humor, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn are featured on this week’s episode of Mountain Stage with Larry Groce.

The first family of the banjo returns to Mountain Stage this week when Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn perform songs from their 2017 release, “Echo In the Valley.”

Our Song of the Week from this week’s episode is the couple performing “Bloomin’ Rose.”

Tune in to one of these public radio stations to hear the entire episode starting Friday, July 31. You’ll also hear sets from Kentucky song craftsman Chris Knight, blues-guitar great Sue Foley, progressive Western swing from The Quebe Sisters and former member of The Stray Birds, Maya DeVitry.

The Quebe Sisters and their band are a part of this week’s episode of Mountain Stage starting October 11.

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Listen: T-Mart Rounders with the Mountain Stage Song of the Week

Percussive dance blends with old-time instruments for a fresh take on traditional music by the trio called T-Mart Rounders, who have our Song of the Week.

Dancer Becky Hill, fiddler/vocalist Jesse Milnes and banjoist Kevin Chesser comprise the T-Mart Rounders, who began playing together in Elkins, W.Va. Their debut album features updated versions of traditional numbers along with a song written by Milnes. Their performance of Milnes’ original “Margaret’s Song” is our Song of the Week.

Milnes said he wrote the song based on a story he was told at a laundromat in Beverly, W.VA.

“I was waiting for my clothes to come out of the dryer, playing fiddle as you do. This woman walked in and looked at me and said, ‘My husband loved that fiddle music.’”

The result is this heartbreaking story-song of love lost to illness, and the sacrifice the husband makes for his true love.

This week’s encore episode was recorded in partnership with the Augusta Heritage Festival on the campus of Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, W.Va. Hear the entire show starting Friday July 24, with performances from past Old Crow Medicine Show member Chance McCoy (below), award winning traditional group the Big Possum String Band, folk-blues guitarist Jody Carroll, and the trio of Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer and Sam Gleaves.

Find a station where you can listen and join us on the radio. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive some live music and other updates in your inbox.

Read more about the Augusta Heritage Summer Workshops and their upcoming virtual offerings for this Summer on the Augusta Heritage website.

Chance McCoy, a West Virginia native, recently took hiatus from Old Crow Medicine Show to work on his solo material. You can hear his performance on Mountain Stage starting Friday, July 24.

Listen: Charlie Hunter & Lucy Woodward on Mountain Stage

Travel complications led to a last-minute collaboration between guitarist Charlie Hunter and vocalist Lucy Woodward. The chemistry was so evident that the pair decided to do an album together, released in 2019, called “Music! Music! Music!“

Hunter and Woodward set out to record songs from a broad but “very specific time frame,” Woodward says “1894 to 1987.” Our Song of the Week, “Be My Husband,” is an Andy Stroud composition most usually associated with Nina Simone. Percussionist Keita Ogaura rounds out the trio heard here.

You can hear this fiery set, along with performances by Molly Tuttle (who just announced a brand-new record of covers due in August 2020), John Paul White, Jeff Black and Charley Crockett (who also has new music out very soon), all on this week’s encore episode of Mountain Stage, recorded at the Peoples Bank Theatre in Marietta, OH in July 2019.

Molly Tuttle and her band performing on Mountain Stage at the Peoples Bank Theatre in Marietta, OH.

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Listen: The Milk Carton Kids on Mountain Stage

Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale are the singers, songwriters and guitarists that comprise the modern folk duo The Milk Carton Kids. Hear their 2019 performance on “Mountain Stage” starting this Friday.”Mourning In America,” a song they co-wrote with Bhi Bhiman, appears on the band’s Joe Henry-produced album All The Things That I Did And All The Things That I Didn’t Do, released in 2018.

You can hear The Milk Carton Kids’ entire set, plus performances by Steve Poltz, Vera Sola, Griffin House and Twisted Pine, on this week’s new episode of Mountain Stage.

Listen this week on one of these Mountain Stage affiliates, and mark your calendar for our special online event “There’s a Stream” this Sunday, June 28 at 7p.m. ET.

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