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.
Read more about the Augusta Heritage Summer Workshops and their upcoming virtual offerings for this Summer on the Augusta Heritage website.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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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.
Larry Groce will be leading the Mountain Stage band, staff and crew north to Elkins, W.Va. for the sixth time to help close out the Augusta Heritage Festival. A rare Saturday show for Mountain Stage will take place at the Myles Center For The Arts- Harper-McNeely Auditorium on campus of Davis & Elkins College with a 7:30p.m. show time.
Tickets can be found at the Augusta Heritage office on campus, or online. All tickets are general admission, $25.
Appearing on Saturday is a line-up of all-stars in the roots and old-time music genres. Old Crowe Medicine Show member Chance McCoy is prepared to release his solo debut later this year. We’ll get a preview of the material when he joins us Saturday in Elkins. McCoy caught up with the Charleston Gazette-Mail in advance of Saturday’s appearance.
Big Possum Stringband will join us in Elkins, WV Saturday July 27 as we close out the Augusta Heritage Festival.
The Big Possum Stringband are also set to release their debut album soon. They carry on the tradition of the original Big Possum string band, who were on Mountain Stage back in 1988, believe it or not, with fiddler Harvey Sampson. Comprised of contest winners Tessa Dillon (fiddle) and Seth Swingle (banjo) and multi-instrumentalist Evan Collins, this group is keeping Applachian Stringband music alive and well. They’ve been winning awards left and right, including 1st place in the 2018 old-time stringband contest at the Appalachian Stringband Festival, a.ka. “Clifftop.” The band join us before heading to the 2019 activities at Clifftop, then they’re headed off to Australia.
Another group expanding on the traditions of old-time music is the T-Mart Rounders. Featuring Jesse Milnes on guitar, fiddle and vocals, Kevin Chesser on banjo, and the percussive dance of Becky Hill, T-Mart Rounders are re-envisioning Appalachian clogging and flatfooting as its own instrument within the band. They were founded in 2012 in Elkins, and in 2017 released their debut recording.
Two-time Grammy winning duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer have been making traditional and contemporary music together for several decades now, and they’ve recently brought in young banjo player Sam Gleaves for an album called “Shout and Shine”. Sam was on Mountain Stage in Elkins back in 2015, and Fink & Marxer joined us most recently in 2017.
We’ll also hear from Portland, Oregon based acoustic roots luminary Jody Carroll, whose blend of progressive and traditional acoustic blues is beloved in folk and blues music circles alike. He wowed at MerleFest in 2018 and has shared the stage with many blues greats. His latest labum is called Back to the Country.
Jody Carroll – Aces & Eights
Tickets for Mountain Stage this Saturday are available online and at the Augusta Heritage office on the Davis & Elkins campus. Show time is 7:30p.m. and you can RSVP on Facebook to let us know you’re coming.
More updates on our September live shows below.
Credit Mat_Dunlap
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In other news: On Sunday September 15 we’re excited to welcome back our guest host Kathy Mattea for performances by Shawn Colvin, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis, Lucy Kaplansky, and Rebecca Loebe.
Just announced, we’ll be joined by Canadian duo Kacy & Clayton, whose latest for New West Records was produced by Jeff Tweedy. The pair will be showcasing at the Americana Music Association Festival this year, and will be heading out to support Ray Lamontagne later this fall. They join us September 15 here in Charleston. Tickets are available here, and locally at Taylor Books.
On Sunday September 29 Larry Groce will be back with us as The Steel Wheels return for their fourth appearance on the show. Last week we told you that songwriter Amy Speace had been added, as well as the duo of Kieran Kane and Rayna Gellert. This week we’re happy to announce the return of revered songwriter, and recent author, Radney Foster to the bill on September 29. Tickets are available online and at Taylor Books.
Foster has released For You To See The Stars, his first book of fiction, as a companion piece to his 11th album of the same name. Journalist Peter Cooper puts it best, “Radney Foster writes with uncommon depth of emotion, humor, empathy, and clarity. I’m going to ask him how he does it, and if he tells me I’ll let you in on his secret. Until then, it’s best that we read, wonder, and revel.”
Foster has written eight number one hit singles, including his own “Nobody Wins,” and “Crazy Over You” with duo Foster & Lloyd. His discography contains countless cuts by artists ranging anywhere from country (Keith Urban, The Dixie Chicks, Luke Bryan, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) to contemporary (Marc Broussard, https://youtu.be/vjOgyVETIVk”>Hootie & The Blowfish, Kenny Loggins, Los Lonely Boys).
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)
Public radio hosts from across the country came together this past month to pick their favorite songs of 2015. The result? An NPR Music Best Songs of 2015 playlist, of course! Here’s a recap of that list and the music you heard this past year on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Mountain Stage host and artistic director Larry Groce was one of the 50 public radio music hosts selected for NPR Music’s year-end list. His favorite song of 2015 came from Darlingside, an indie folk group who performed on Mountain Stage this past fall and appeared on our own Inside Appalachia podcast. This is what Larry had to say about their music:
Darlingside, "God Of Loss" The instrumentals are just as meticulous as the harmonies, the harmonies just as haunting as the lyrics, and the lyrics a testament to the Boston quartet's success to come.
Mountain Stage assistant producer and “A Change of Tune” host Joni Deutsch had this to say about the emerging electro-R&B act who left an impression on her:
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" From its Tarantino spaghetti western start to its groovy "Purple Rain" end, this single by the Portland-by-way-of-New Zealand band is a cinematic treat for our ears.
The NPR Music list includes other familiar faces, like singer-songwriter Sam Gleaves, whose song about an openly gay, West Virginia coal miner led to an interview with Roxy Todd for Inside Appalachia and Us & Them, as well as a guest appearance on Mountain Stage.
Morgantown native Dave Bello also chatted with “A Change of Tune” about his band The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die and their 2015 single “1/10/2014” long before it became an NPR Music pick, as did Beach House drummer and West Virginia native Graham Hill, The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens and Canadian crooner Andy Shauf.
And our locally-produced music programs Eclectopia, Lost Highways and Sidetracks spun more than a few NPR Music favorites from Jason Isbell, Courtney Barnett, Laura Marling, Hiatus Kaiyote, The McCrary Sisters, Turnpike Troubadours and more.
Listen to the complete list of NPR Music’s Best Songs of 2015 here and subscribe to West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s podcasts (including Mountain Stage, Inside Appalachia, Us & Them and more) here.
Want to keep emerging music and thoughtful stories alive on West Virginia airwaves? Make a contribution in any amount here.
Americans’ attitudes toward gay relationships have changed dramatically in a short time. Host Trey Kay returns to his home state of West Virginia to see how this change is playing out in a state where 53 percent of residents believe the Bible is the literal word of God.
From West Virginia Public Broadcasting, this is “Us & Them” the podcast where we tell stories from America’s cultural divides.
Subscribe to “Us & Them” on iTunes or however you listen to podcasts.An edited version of “Us & Them” airs bi-weekly on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available at wvpublic.org/podcast.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @usthempodcast or @wvpublic, or reach us on the feedback page at usandthempodcast.com.
And if you enjoyed this episode, join our community and sustain “Us & Them” with a pledge of support.
Songwriter Sam Gleaves was inspired by the story of Sam Williams, a former coal miner who was harassed at work for being gay.
Sam Gleaves is a musician who grew up playing old time mountain music in Southwestern Virginia. His songs have a high lonesome, old-time sound. Their roots are deep in Appalachia, and the stories they tell explore some bitter truths about how hard it can be to be different here. I met up with Gleaves at his home in Berea, KY to talk about one song in particular.
Sam Gleaves says he’s been drawn to music since he was kid in Rural Retreat, Virginia. He loved to listen to Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks. “I was always interested in songs that told stories about real people and real emotion. So I was drawn to folk music.”
Sam Gleaves. Photo by Susi Lawson.
When he was 12, he got a guitar and started playing along with the radio, picking out the chords.“I’d been teaching myself to play the guitar for about a year or so, and my mom said ‘there’s a fella over there in Rural Retreat that teaches music lessons in his barber shop.’ So I went in his barber shop for the first time. There were two young men playing an old time dance tune. And I had never seen that, up close and personal in that way. Just to think it was just two guys it was really amazing to me.”
Sam Gleaves started taking lessons from that barber, an old time musician whose name was Jim Lloyd. Last spring Sam graduated from Berea college in Berea, KY, where he studied oral history and played in the college’s bluegrass band. Now, he’s turning his attention towards something other than traditional old time music. He’s producing an album of original songs called Aint We Brothers. The title song is based on the true story of a coal miner from West Virginia who was harassed and threatened at work after his co-workers discovered he was gay.
I was born here just the same as you/ Another time, another day
I’m sure the good Lord took his time/ Making each of us just this way
I walked beside you step by step/ And it never crossed my mind
That I would grow up one of the different kind
“I wanted to write the song about what it means to be a man. LGBTQ folks in Appalachia have a particularly complex identity because because you have modern queer culture, which is very urban, and very young feeling. And then there’s what we think about Appalachian culture- having deep roots and being rural. But then you have people that belong to both of those identities. Like as a gay man who grew up in southwestern Virginia, I have to claim my whole self,” said Gleaves.
The coal miner who inspired his song recently sent Sam Gleaves an email, letting him know how much he enjoyed hearing the song. The coal miner, also named Sam, used to be known as Sam Hall. He married his partner Burley Williams in D.C. back in 2010, and recently took his husband’s name. Sam and Burley Williams live in a small town a few miles outside of Charleston W.Va.
Sam Williams is 32 years old, tall and muscular, with hands that are chiseled from the seven years they’ve spent cutting coal from these hills. But he’s not a coal miner anymore. He quit Massey energy in 2010 after working as a miner for seven years. I spent an evening at their home. At their kitchen table, I ate a nectarine while Burley Williams cooked burritos. Sam Williams talked about what happened when his coworkers found out he was gay.
“Not that I ever even told them that I was gay. They just watch, follow, see me come out of a bar, automatically stereotype me. I faced a lot of things in the mines. I’ve been told that they hope all faggots die. There’s a fine line between someone saying that they’re joking and somebody looking you in the eye and saying it and knowing that that’s what they meant. But when it’s your supervisors it’s a whole different ball game.”
Then I asked him about Sam Gleaves’ song. Williams said he thinks it’s a very powerful song, especially the verse that goes:
First things first I’m a Blue-collared man
With scars on my knuckles, dust on my hands
Probably wouldn’t have ever known
I’ve got a man waiting on me at home
“Yes, that relates to me so much because I know that Burley was waiting for me at home. He’d wait for me until I got in and then he’d have dinner waiting on me, even if I got in at 3:00 in the morning,” said Williams.
Burley and Sam Williams were married in D.C. in 2010. Last year when same sex marriage became legally recognized in West Virginia, Sam took his husband’s name.
He and Burley have lived together since 2009. The first years they were dating, Sam Williams was dealing with the worst of the harassment and threats from his co-workers. Burley says there were nights when he feared for Sam’s life.
“And they messed with his vehicle, like scratched ‘Quit Fag’,” says Burley Williams. Sam’s co-workers “took the wheel weights off his tires. It was nerve-wracking because when he didn’t come home, I had to go out drive to the mines and go search for him. I’m thinking someone’s shot him on the side of the road.”
Sam’s co-workers even came to their house late at night to bang on their door. To protect himself and Sam, Burley bought his very first gun. He also got a concealed weapon permit, in case they were ever confronted when they went out in public.
“You always know that there’s hate out there. There’s individually people that never will be accepting of gay individuals. So you do have to take precautions to protect yourself and your family and your loved ones,” said Burley Williams.
Sam Williams relaxing with his two dogs Bella and Lacy.
Sam Williams finally had had enough, and he quit his job in 2010. He sued his former employer, Massey Energy for sexual harassment.
He couldn’t sue for discrimination, because in West Virginia it’s legal to discriminate against people who are gay. State law prohibits discriminating against people on the basis of sex or race – but the law doesn’t include sexual orientation. The same is true of other states in Appalachia, like Kentucky and Virginia.
Andrew Schneider is the Executive Director of Fairness West Virginia, a gay rights advocacy group. The group is trying to pass a law that would make it illegal to discriminate against an employee based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“It’s particularly, I think, risky now, that we have marriage equality, because you can get married on Sunday and fired on Monday. Marriage, in some ways, makes our relationships in the gay community more visible. You are more prone to having your picture of your loved one on your desk. You’re more likely to wear your wedding ring. You want to talk with your co-workers about what you did with your family over the weekend. We never expected we would get marriage before we got non-discrimination,” said Andrew Schneider.”
Even without that legal protection, Sam Williams was able to get a settlement from his former employer. In 2011, Massey Energy was bought out by Alpha Natural Resources, and the new owners agreed to settle Sam’s case out of court. Alpha declined to comment on the case, but they did send an email saying the company “is committed to a workplace that is free of discrimination and where all employees, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation, are treated fairly and with respect.”
Still, Sam Williams says he doesn’t think it would be safe to go back to mining. Now he works as a manager at a Dollar General.
“I do miss running good coal. I miss being top dogs on the coal crew- before everything started getting more violent. If there was a perfect world out there I’d love to be a coal miner again. But it’ll never happen again…more than likely. But it was fun.”
But it wasn’t fun once he had to look over his shoulder all the time, worried that somebody he worked with would follow through on their threats to kill him.
Even years later, Sam Williams still seems hurt that the people he thought were his close friends turned against him. In the song about him, the coal miner has a conversation with his co-workers. In the song, the miner tells them he’s still the true West Virginian he always was. That doesn’t change just because he’s gay.
To tell you the truth, I don’t want to fight
I just want to say one thing outright to you:
Ain’t we flesh and blood too?
And ain’t we brothers too?
Sam Gleaves is currently recording his debut album Aint We Brothers in Nashville, TN. The album is being produced by Cathy Fink and will be released this May.
Our story on Sam Gleaves and Sam Williams was reported by Roxy Todd, in collaboration with a new podcast WVPB is working on called Us & Them. Us & Them explores how Americans are divided along cultural fault lines. Listen for new episodes this spring.
