'It’s Not Just a Show… It's a Spectacle:' The Company Stores on Love, Loss & 'Little Lights'

“When we get on stage, I feel like that’s where we’re supposed to be… that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.”

From West Virginia Public Broadcasting and A Change of Tune, this is 30 Days of #WVmusic, the interview series celebrating the folks who make the West Virginia music scene wild and wonderful.  

And today’s interview is with a folk-fusion band out of Charleston who command the stage with Appalachian rock, old-time jazz and even a few theatrics. This… is The Company Stores.

The Company Stores’ latest release is Little Lights. Find their tour schedule and check out their music on social media. Hear more #WVmusic on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Connect with A Change of Tune on FacebookTwitter and Instagram. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic and subscribe to our RSS / podcast feeds.

Credit Perry Bennett Photography / Facebook.com/perrybennettphotography
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The Company Stores performing at 2016’s Kegs for K-9s.

Interview Highlights

On forming The Company Stores:

Matt Marks (guitarist): I started working at Charleston’s Pies & Pints in 2012, and Casey [Litz] started a couple of months after. It was a slow day shift, and we were talking about music, she said she wrote songs and played open mics. I told her I’d been writing music for a while, and we decided to get together. She came over to my house and started singing and as soon as I heard her voice, I was like, “We need to start a band.” I grew up playing music, and I was always interested in it, my dad was a pastor. I started playing drums at five, and then at 8 or 9 years of age I got bored with that. The violin didn’t stick. I started playing guitar when I was 14.

Casey Litz (vocalist): Before that, I had been playing open mics by myself, and I’d really been looking for a guitar player. And that day at Pies & Pints, I was talking to one of my tables about how I played music, and they were like, “Oh, you know one of your other employees plays music, too.” I was playing less than a year before I met Matt, and I always wanted to sing and I was learning guitar. I grew up in Lincoln County, but I went to George Washington High School [in Charleston], so I spent a lot of evenings on a farm in the middle of nowhere. We were allowed to do one thing on the weekends since it was too much driving. And I was never that interested in music in high school; it came later on.

Credit The Oberports
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The Company Stores

On the band’s new record Little Lights:

Marks: It’s hard to incorporate everything from the record into one direct message; it touches on a lot of different things. But the title track “Little Lights” is about my best friend who passed away in 2016. He committed suicide. And this song is a realization that I came to during the mourning process. Brian was his name, and even though he’s gone physically, there are certain parts of him ingrained in my personality. There are things I say, phrases I got from him, things that I do.

One of my favorite authors is Stephen King, and if you read a lot of his books, they talk about how kids growing up have this tight unit that is hard to break, and whenever they get older, they still have that connection. For me, it was like I could look at my friends and see him in all of us. So in a way, that part of him is never going to die and will be passed on to other people. The more time you spend with someone, the more you affect them. Casey knew Brian before she ever met him through me. So I took the “This Little Light of Mine” hymn and incorporated it into our light, our being, having an effect on the people we touch, and that goes on even after we’re gone. It’s how much we choose our light to shine.

Litz: Matt has written a lot songs on this album, and he’s gone through so much change, and I’m grateful he’s able to take all that’s going on and putting it into this outlet that’s music because I think it’s really healthy. Once you hear his stories and then hear our songs, I think it’s really inspiring. 

Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
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Mountain Stage
The Company Stores perform on Mountain Stage in February 2017.

On making their Mountain Stage debut in February 2017:

Litz: For me, it was a point I will remember for the rest of my life. I was also so nervous! We’ve played hundreds of shows, but this was a different kind of show. It was so cool to see everything that went into the production. Mountain Stage has been an all-time inspiration for why I wanted to start playing music. I remember going to a show with my dad and thinking, “I want to do that, I need to do that.”

Marks: It was so short [laughing]; it went by so quickly. I was trying to savor it as much as I could, trying to soak everything in.

Credit Perry Bennett Photography / Facebook.com/perrybennettphotography
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The Company Stores are a Charleston staple.

On the future of the band:

Marks: We definitely don’t want to plateau so we’re touring a lot more, we’re hitting Nashville, Lexington, New Orleans, Tampa. We’re going to try to keep expanding our radius. There’s been some talk about relocating, but we’re going to try to figure out what’s right for us and right for the band. We always want to keep climbing. We played Orange Peel in Asheville last December, and the promoter was like, “I didn’t know West Virginia had music like that. I wish I had known.”

Litz: This is where the band is supposed to be for now. Playing in Charleston and being from here has kept us grounded and humble, but personally I think we’re ready to spread our wings and get out there. You have to keep pushing yourself.

Music featured in this #WVmusic chat:

The Company Stores- “Little Lights”

The Company Stores- “So Good”

The Company Stores- “Shenandoah Fall”

Support for 30 Days of #WVmusic is provided by Kin Ship Goods, proud supporter of DIY music and the arts. Locally shipped worldwide at kinshipgoods.com.

Preview New Music & Hang Out with WVPB at Fayetteville's #WhyListen Party

Have you ever wondered what makes a new song into a good song? Or why we like the songs we like? West Virginia Public Broadcasting invites you to the #WhyListen: First Listen Music Party on Thursday, April 7 from 6 to 8 p.m at The Grove at Secret Sandwich Society in Fayetteville.

“The response to our last #WhyListen parties in Huntington and Charleston were phenomenal,” says West Virginia Public Broadcasting host and #WhyListen event coordinator Joni Deutsch. “Getting young folks in the same room to listen to new, local tunes and have an open music discussion is a special thing to witness. We can’t wait to bring the party to the New River Gorge this April.”

The #WhyListen event will include a first listen of music from West Virginia and beyond, including the premiere of new music from regional acts The Company Stores, The Parachute Brigade, Mark Cline Bates and The Kind Thieves. Guests will enjoy Secret Sandwich Society’s local brews and beverages for the night as they “talk tunes” with Mountain Stage host and artistic director Larry Groce, West Virginia Public Broadcasting host Joni Deutsch and Fayetteville singer-songwriter Andrew Adkins.

The event marks West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s fourth project with NPR Generation Listen, an initiative to bring young, intellectually curious minds into the public broadcasting community. This event marks the station’s first collaboration with Secret Sandwich Society and Generation New River Gorge.

Enjoy West Virginia-made beverages and get to know #WVmusic fans at April 7’s #WhyListen.

“We are happy and excited to host this forward-thinking event,” said Secret Sandwich Society owner Lewis Rhinehart. “Attracting and retaining a younger population is just what the doctor ordered for our great state.”

“Events like #WhyListen are exactly what our communities need to remain inviting and innovative,” added Generation New River Gorge President Angela Sundstrom. “Young professionals are especially attracted to such gatherings, so we hope to see these events flourish throughout the New River Gorge region, as well as the entire state.”

The April 7 #WhyListen event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. For more information on the #WhyListen first listen music party and to reserve a seat, visit whylistenfwv.splashthat.com.

About West Virginia Public Broadcasting: West Virginia Public Broadcasting tells West Virginia’s story through high-quality programming and services including radio, television, Mountain Stage®, wvpublic.org, WV LearningMedia and Ready To Learn®. West Virginia Public Broadcasting is a trusted resource for education, news, emergency services and community development.

Get to Know WVPB's Hosts at Live on the Levee

Get ready, Charleston! Jim Lange, Matt Jackfert, Bill Lynch and Joni Deutsch are coming to town (well, to Live on the Levee, at least).

 

Come on down to Moses’ Live on the Levee this Friday night to see Charleston pop rockers A Story Told and Charleston eclectic folkers The Company Stores (who produced their new record at our station) play a free show on Haddad Riverfront Park.

Music starts at 6:30pm and the headliner hits the stage at 7:30pm. For more information about Live on the Levee (including where to park and what to bring) click here.

Credit Joni Deutsch
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Grab some goodies from WVPB’s booth at Friday’s Live on the Levee.

Even better, West Virginia Public Broadcasting will have its own table at the event. Stop on by and meet local music program hosts like Eclectopia’s Jim Lange, All Things Considered’s Matt Jackfert, Lost Highways’ Bill Lynch and A Change of Tune and Mountain Stage’s Joni Deutsch. Grab some #wvpublic swag, take some pics with the voices of WVPB and tell us why you like to #listenlocalwv. Oh, and make sure to follow the show and our radio hosts (Jim, Matt, Bill and Joni) on social media.

See you tomorrow night, music fans!

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