Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc (Part Four)

Ask anyone who has worked on Mountain Stage or has been to the show more than a few times and they’ll tell you picking a favorite show or act would be like asking someone to choose their favorite child. There’s simply been too much incredible music to whittle it down to just one or two favorites.

That remains ever-so-true for me, too, but this post is my hands-down personal favorite of the ‘Songs From the Doc’ series I’ve put together. It’s not just because of the inclusion of R.E.M. and how great their crew has been to West Virginia Public Broadcasting and to me personally. I’m a rock and roll guy at heart (it’s fair to say the music of The Band has changed my life) but, I have really come to grasp the importance of Bob Thompson’s incredible playing.

The Mountain Stage archive is massive and this slice of it proves it with performances that are–to steal a phrase about the show widely used by others–of “Smithsonian grade.”

R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion”

When R.E.M. shared the Mountain Stage documentary on their website and social media channels, their fans have begged for the release of this entire set and for good reason. With the band only playing three shows in 1991 to promote the release of their chart-topping release Out of Time, their appearance on Mountain Stage has appropriately reached legendary status.    

Billy Bragg – “Tank Park Salute”

The most fascinating part about music for me is its potential to be catalyst for personal discovery and its ability to articulate the way we feel in such a way that we couldn’t (or hadn’t been able to) express ourselves. Of all the songs included in ‘Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective’ none more hits as close to home for one member of the Mountain Stage family as this tune does. I could tell the story myself but, I’ve only witnessed it second hand. It’s all best left up to Mountain Stage crew member Lance Schrader. Ask him sometime, and I’m sure he’ll have no problem telling you about the bond he’s forged with Bragg thanks to this song.

BillyBragg_TankParkSalute.mp3
Billy Bragg – "Tank Park Salute"

Bob Thompson – “Blues for America”

Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Mountain Stage

Although Bob Thompson had been a frequent guest on Mountain Stage since the very beginning (he was even one of the acts on the March 1981 pilot show), it wasn’t until 1991 when he became a member of the Mountain Stage Band. 

This tune, penned by Thompson himself is included on his Live On Mountain Stage release from 2007 and was recorded at the Paramount Theater Bristol, Tennessee in July 2006.

Thompson is true a treasure to Mountain Stage and West Virginia and we sure are glad to have him.

BobThompson_BluesforAmerica.mp3
Bob Thompson – "Blues for America"

The Band – “The Shape I’m In”

The only show Mountain Stage’s audio wizard Francis Fisher ever missed was when The Band was booked at the last minute in January 1994. Assistant engineer Dave McClanahan took the reigns and had to deal with some seemingly impossible technical issues but somehow found a way to make the show go on. The results are exactly what you’d expect.

TheBand_TheShapeImIn.mp3
The Band – "The Shape I'm In"

Editor’s Note: Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc is a multi-part series that serves as a companion to a recent documentary that details the history of the show. Stay tuned to wvpublic.org as the series is rolled out over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc (Part Three)

Lyle Lovett – “Cowboy Man”

One of the most impressive things about Mountain Stage’s roster of guests isn’t just who has played the show but when they did so.  Acts like Alison Krauss, Ani DiFranco, Norah Jones, Counting Crows, and Phish performed on Mountain Stage before they were widely known across America and the world. While this practice of introducing audiences to emerging talent is par for the Mountain Stage course these days, it took awhile for the show to stabilize itself and be able to develop this side of its identity. One of the first acts the show introduced the rest of world to was country crooner Lyle Lovett in May 1987.

Ray Wylie Hubbard – “Dallas After Midnight”

Mountain Stage host Larry Groce and singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard have known one another most of their lives, having both graduated from Adamson High School in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas together. Hubbard first came on Mountain Stage in June 1988 at the Kerrville Folk Festival. During that performance, he played this song and even teases the crowd for a bit with “I Fought The Law”.

RayWylieHubbard_DallasAfterMidnight.mp3
Ray Wylie Hubbard – "Dallas After Midnight"

Richard Thompson – “Turning of the Tide”

When I interviewed Richard Thompson for ‘Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective’ he was extremely contemplative in answering my questions but was also (very appropriately) careful in describing what the show is and means. He gave answers that teetered on both sides of the proverbial fence.

“I think that Mountain Stage definitely is Americana. You can say it’s Americana. You can say it isn’t as well."

Thompson’s playing is much like the way he describes Mountain Stage. It’s exactly rock but also folk. It’s exactly folk but also rock. It’s both of those styles and neither at the same time.

And while discussions of genre can inevitably become an idiosyncratic rabbit hole, I’ll save us all a whole lot of time. Richard Thompson’s music is simply good music.

Kevn Kinney & Peter Buck – “The Last Song of Maddie Hope”

When R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck joined Drivin N Cryin’s Kevn Kinney on Mountain Stage in April 1990, he told Larry Groce he wanted to bring his band back to be on the show. As one might expect, Groce couldn’t believe it, but–in the end–Kinney and Buck’s appearance on the show paved the way for R.E.M. to land on the show a year later. The rest is history.

KinneyBuck_LastSongOfMaddieHope.mp3

Editor’s Note: Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc is a multi-part series that serves as a companion to a recent documentary that details the history of the show. Stay tuned to wvpublic.org as the series is rolled out over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc (Part Two)

First off, Merry Christmas!

Hello again and welcome back (presuming, of course, you stopped by for the first installment in this series a few days ago)! While Monday’s post is a nice run-down of the earliest moments of Mountain Stage, from here on out you can expect some incredible performances from a wide range of artists included in ‘Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective’.

I really can’t emphasize enough the fact that the music used in the documentary barely scratches the surface of the Mountain Stage archives. With over 1,200 artists and 2,000 hours of live performance radio, an hour-long documentary couldn’t ever do the show’s history due justice. But never fear: soon enough the full vault will be available to the public. In the meantime, Mountain Stage could use some help in making that possible.

The Fabulous Twister Sisters – “Look What I Do To You”

After appearing on the show’s first episode in December 1983, Deni Bonet and Julie Adams were recruited rather quickly to have reoccurring role on Mountain Stage as The Fabulous Twister Sisters. With an incredible pop-based sensibility, The Twisted Sisters twisted their vocals around one another for a sound all their own. Here they are performing together on Mountain Stage’s first regular broadcast in December 1983.

Hot Rize – “Radio Boogie”

There’s arguably no other musician who has played Mountain Stage that’s been a bigger champion and ambassador for the show as Wheeling, West Virginia native Tim O’Brien. Mountain Stage jumped quickly at the chance to feature his nationally recognized bluegrass group Hot Rize when O’Brien’s mother wrote a letter to the show asking to have him on. Hot Rize’s appearance helped take the show to the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina in June 1985, which was the first time Mountain Stage was broadcast nationally via NPR. 

HotRize_RadioBoogie.mp3
Hot Rize – "Radio Boogie"

Kathy Mattea – “Love at the Five and Dime”

Country music star and West Virginia native Kathy Mattea first appeared on Mountain Stage in 1985 as a then-unknown. By the time she came on a second time in April 1986, the trajectory of her own career and Mountain Stage’s popularity were already headed straight up. Here’s Mattea performing on the show in San Diego at the Public Radio Program Director’s Conference.

KathyMattea_LoveAtTheFiveAndDime.mp3
Kathy Mattea – "Love at the Five and Dime"

Stark Raven – “Can’t Go Back”

As the Mountain Stage band began to solidify its lineup in the mid-’80s, the show recruited musicians from locally revered band Stark Raven, which included Bonet and Adams. Drummer Ammed Solomon, bassist John Kessler, and guitarist Ron Sowell of the band were all added very early on to the mix. Here they are performing a song by Steve Goodman as one of the featured acts on Mountain Stage in April 1984. Members of Stark Raven reunited for the Mountain Stage’s 30th anniversary celebration in December.

Credit Amos Perrine / nodepression.com
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nodepression.com
StarkRaven.mp3
Stark Raven – "Can't Go Back"

Townes Van Zandt –  “If I Needed You”

Townes Van Zandt signs the wall backstage at the Capitol Plaza Theater while Guy Clark looks on. The two performed on Mountain Stage together in 1987 and again in 1991.

There’s pretty much nothing that can be said to fully describe the emotional heft of this performance by Townes Van Zandt on Mountain Stage. Just listen.

TownesVanZandt_IfINeededYou.mp3
Townes Van Zandt – "If I Needed You"

Editor’s Note: Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc is a multi-part series that serves as a companion to a recent documentary that details the history of the show. Stay tuned to wvpublic.org as the series is rolled out over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From The Doc (Part One)

Probably–well, not probably, most definitely–the most fun part of producing a documentary on 30 years of Mountain Stage is getting to cull through the archives of 2,000 hours of live performance radio. It’s daunting, humbling, and exciting all in one. There’s music recorded on virtually every format: reel to reel, DAT, miniDisc–you name it–they’ve got it on that medium.

Some of the archive more accessible than other parts, and sometimes it is necessary digitize the tapes in real time (meaning a 2-hour show takes 2 hours to “dub”). But, never fear, the Mountain Stage crew is planning to digitize their entire archive and will soon make every bit of it available to the public. If you’re interested and have the means, you can help them out with this endeavor. 

Until then, I (and the folks that work on the show) wanted to offer you a taste with a series of posts that contains the music from ‘Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective’.

So, without any further adieu, here’s part one in a series to be rolled out over the holidays–enjoy!

Larry Groce – “Junk Food Junkie”

Long before Mountain Stage began, Texas native Larry Groce landed in central West Virginia as a musician-in-residence with the National Endowment for the Arts.  In 1976,  “Junk Food Junkie” shot up on the charts, reaching #9 on the Billboard Top 100. Groce toured the country in support of the single and landed on national radio and television programs, including The Dick Clark Show, The Rich Little Show, and The Merv Griffin Show.

Bob Thompson – “Take the ‘A’ Train” 

  Also before Mountain Stage came into being, Andy Ridenour of West Virginia Public Radio produced live music events around Charleston. One of the first acts was local jazz pianist Bob Thompson. While this version of “Take the ‘A’ Train” was recorded live on Mountain Stage in 2004, I felt it was a safe enough bet that Thompson has been performing it for years. And plus, everyone loves some Bob Thompson.

BobThompson_TaketheATrain.mp3
Bob Thompson – "Take the 'A' Train"

 Larry Groce – “West Virginia Hills”

With hopes of putting on a regularly scheduled program, Mountain Stage creators Larry Groce, Andy Ridenour, and Francis Fisher put together a one-off pilot show in March 1981. Athough they lacked a proper theme song on the pilot episode, Ridenour and Groce introduced the show with the chorus of state’s official song, “West Virginia Hills”.

Pilot_WestVirginaHills.mp3
"West Virginia Hills" – Performed as the show opener by Larry Groce on the pilot episode of Mountain Stage in March 1981.

Larry Groce & Company – “Mountain Stage Theme”

Although today’s audiences of Mountain Stage recognize the show’s current theme as “Simple Song”, the earliest days of the show featured a theme song that was much different. Here’s the first version of the Mountain Stage Theme from the December 1983 broadcast, the first one the show produced that kicked off the show’s official beginning.

ThemeSong_1983FirstShow.mp3
The Mountain Stage Theme Song from the first broadcast – December 11, 1983

Editor’s Note: Mountain Stage at 30: Songs From the Doc is a multi-part series that serves as a companion to a recent documentary that details the history of the show. Stay tuned to wvpublic.org as the series is rolled out over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Jefferson Co. Considers Ban on Big Music Festivals

Jefferson County commissioners are considering banning large music festivals in the county.

County commissioner Dale Manuel tells The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md., that problems at the 2011 All Good Festival in Preston County prompted the commission to look at banning such events.
 
Organizers of the festival had planned to hold it near Kabletown in Jefferson County in 2014. They notified the commission earlier this month that they were withdrawing those plans because the owners of the property were unable to come to terms on a lease.
 
Manuel says the 2011 festival cost Preston County taxpayers $250,000. He says there also were traffic problems and festival goers filled three area jails.

Masontown was home for The All Good Festival from 2003 to 2011 before moving to Thornville, Oh. in 2012 and 2013.  Festival organizers recently announced they will take a year off in 2014 with  plans to return in 2015 at an unspecified venue.

Lead organizers Tim Walther and Junipa Contento say they hope to bring All Good back to the mid-Atlantic region in 2015.

Mountain Stage at 30: A Radio Retrospective

For 30 years and with over 800 episodes, Mountain Stage has been a mainstay in public radio and American music.

Like anything that evolves into a lasting endeavor, Mountain Stage’s success is part happenstance mixed with years of dedication and hard work. Truly, though, it all comes down to the people who made the show possible coming together with a shared vision.

In this hour-long radio special, you’ll hear how the show came to be, its rise to a national program, and examine what it is that makes Mountain Stage mean so much to the artists who have performed on the show and the audience it reaches.

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