And across seven venues in four states, we recorded over 120 live sets that showcased the best and brightest musicians in the world today. Along the way, we video streamed eight of our shows through VuHaus and made some new #gotowv friends along the way (with posters and glass records in tow!). Of course, none of this would have happened without your support.
Before we embark on another musical year around the sun, Larry Groce and the Mountain Stage crew have picked out 33 performances that deserve another listen and another round of applause. From A to Z, these are our favorite Mountain Stage performances of 2016. (Hint: click the Episode # for their Mountain Stage podcast episode, where available.)
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Aoife O’Donovan – In the Magic Hour (Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV on October 30, 2016 – Episode #883)
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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Aoife O’Donovan on Mountain Stage
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Billy Bragg & Joe Henry – Gentle On My Mind (Byham Theater in Pittsburgh, PA on September 25, 2016 with WYEP & Pittsburgh Cultural Trust – Episode #879)
This weekend, Mountain Stage listeners will hear a new voice on the show as we welcome a very special guest host: Joni Deutsch.
The show, which was recorded June 26 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, West Virginia, will feature live performances by dreamy indie poppers Lucius, acclaimed singer-songwriter Rachel Yamagata, New York-based rocker Margaret Glaspy, gothic blues artist Adia Victoria and West Virginia rock-and-roller William Matheny.
Find a station in your area here or tune in to West Virginia Public Broadcasting (the home of Mountain Stage) this Saturday, September 17 at 8 p.m. and again Friday, September 23 at 8 p.m.
“I was honored that Larry asked me to step in and guest host the show,” Joni Deutsch said. "Were it not for the support of Mountain Stage listeners over the last 32 years, our live performance program wouldn’t be here. I’m grateful to be a part of this team and for the continued support of our public radio audience.”
While it’s her first time hosting the program, Joni has worked with Mountain Stage for the past three years and currently acts as assistant producer for the program, announcing the opening and closing credits of the show, contributing to radio specials, and hosting the monthly Mountain Stage 2 Go podcast. If you’ve ever attended a live show, Joni is the first person you see on stage as she welcomes the audience before the recording begins.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio listeners may also know Joni Deutsch as the host of her own indie/alternative music program A Change of Tune, heard every Saturday night at 10 p.m., as well as the coordinator for West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s NPR Generation Listen events.
In over 870 episodes, Joni Deutsch is now the second person other than Larry Groce to host Mountain Stage after Tim O’Brien hosted in May of 2014.
"We're all very excited that Joni will be a guest host of Mountain Stage," said Larry Groce. "Her warm, welcoming and informed style is truly in the spirit of the show, and we know you'll enjoy her fresh presentation of 'Live Performance Music from the Mountain State'."
Stay tuned to Mountain Stage on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Tumblr) for the latest news, including the announcement of our next guest host.
For more live performances from Mountain Stage, catch up on our podcast, browse segments at NPR Music and watch performances on VuHaus.
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats ranging from Bud Carroll to Goodwolf, Rozwell Kid to Coyotes in Boxes and beyond.
But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day was this month (and with A Change of Tune’s second birthday on the horizon), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with Morgantown singer-songwriter-rocker William Matheny, who joined a band and began touring when he was but a wee lad. Flash-forward to today, and he has a great new release to his name, and he’s primed to make his NPR Music debut on Mountain Stage. We chatted with William about his experience playing music up in Mountaineer Country, the friends he’s made over the years in West Virginia, and what we can expect at his June 26 Mountain Stage…
William Matheny’s newest release is the Blood Moon Singer EP, which is a preview of his upcoming full-length Strange Constellations. You can hear his music on his website. Catch him on Mountain Stage on June 26 with his band friends Bud Carroll, Ian Thornton, Rod Elkins, and Adam Meisterhans. Hear more #WVmusic on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic and subscribe to our RSS / podcast feeds!
Credit Josh Saul
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William Matheny, performing at The Empty Glass in 2016.
Interview Highlights
On his family’s roots in music:
My great-grandfather was a regionally known gospel singer, and then his son (my grandfather) was a regionally known country singer named Mansfield Matheny. He had a band with some of his friends called The Rhythm Rascals, this would’ve been in the late ‘40s/early ‘50s. My grandfather was the lead singer of the group and played rhythm guitar.
My dad also plays music. He was in a really good bluegrass band in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. They traveled around, did some stuff, and recorded an album, and then they all got married and had kids. Basically, I broke up the band. He still plays guitar in the church choir. He taught me how to play music, and we actually played in bands together when I was a kid. We played in cover bands when I was an adolescent and in early high school.
It was a long series of different bands, and I really have to give my father a ton of credit on this. I always stress this with people: my parents weren’t stage parents at all. This all was my idea. Basically I’d been playing guitar, and I told my parents I wanted to play in a band. And when you’re a small kid in a really small town, maybe you know people who play music, maybe you don’t. My dad got on the phone and said, “Hey, my son plays music. He wants to start doing stuff. Would you be interested in joining a band?” I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I’m incredibly grateful for it now just because I’m imagining being an adult and getting that call from one of your acquaintances like, “Hey, would you want to join a band with my 9-year-old son?” [Laughing] I would be obviously be incredibly skeptical of that.
On beginning his music career in Morgantown:
I grew up about an hour south of Morgantown. By that time I’d become acquainted with the scene up here and all the bands, [not to mention] making music and doing albums and touring and stuff, I really wanted to get involved with [the scene]. At that point, I started playing with this guy named Brian Porterfield who had this band in the ’90s called Cheap Truckers’ Speed. Brian doesn’t really play anymore, but I say this to anyone who listens: he’s probably the best songwriter I know personally. In terms of people I can call on the phone and say “hello,” he’s just really, really great. Like one of those unknown treasure people.
I wanted to join his band. I looked him up in the phonebook, we knew some mutual people so it wasn’t totally like a cold-call, and I tried to pitch myself. It took a few phone calls, but eventually I joined as his drummer. That was my first proper band that was doing original material. I did that for like two years, like the second half of high school.
That band stopped playing like three or four months after I graduated from high school and turned 18. That was sort of when I [began playing front-and-center]. I was writing songs the whole time and played them a little bit, but it wasn’t my main focus. By that point, I was itching to get back to playing guitar, and I wanted to have a band that was playing my own material. I didn’t go to college; instead, I just moved to a college town and joined like five bands. I didn’t say no to any gig for a really long time. I was playing with a bunch of different groups, and it was a wonderful learning experience. I’m super happy about doing it. It meant I could learn how to play a lot of different genres and have a really good time doing it. There’s no shortcut into doing that. I wouldn’t recommend the same thing if you want to be a brain surgeon, but for music? Do it.
Credit Courtesy of William Matheny
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William Matheny performed at U92 FM’s inaugural Moose Fest at 123 Pleasant Street.
On playing in Morgantown:
123 Pleasant Street is obviously the biggest venue here in terms of ones that do things consistently. I’ve played at 123 for 16 or 17 years at this point. It’s been a really long time, and I’ve always really enjoyed it. It’s still my favorite club. Whatever place you latch onto when you’re young and impressionable, it will always be that gold standard for you. Every time I go out of town, I’m always comparing it to 123.
Gene’s [in Morgantown] is great. It’s this really nice neighborhood bar that’s a block away from my house. The owner Al [Bonner] is one of the best people in the world, just a great human being. It’s a very small place with a little PA, and it almost feels like you’re playing a house party more than anything. But it’s really great. He’s been very cool about getting in touring people. Sharon Van Etten played their once, and so did Lydia Loveless, John Paul Keith, and Webb Wilder. Gene’s is wonderful.
On recording his new record and forming a band of friends for it:
When we started recording, there wasn’t a concrete band line-up. Southeast Engine had stopped, and I knew I wanted to make a record. I wanted to get back to doing what I do. At the time, Rozwell Kid’s Adam Meisterhans was hanging out with Bud Carroll trying to make a record of his own (titled Best Vibrations, which I have to point that out because the title’s great), and I guess Adam sent me a text while he was down there saying it’d be fun for the three of us to work on a record. That seemed as good as an idea of any, so we went down, and we didn’t know what any of us would be playing on it. While we made it, Adam plays most of the bass, Bud plays most of the drums. I used to joke and tell people that if you’re going to make an album, you need to find the best two guitar players you know and have them play something else.
William Matheny’s upcoming full-length is ‘Strange Constellations.’ In the meantime, check out his 3-song EP ‘Blood Moon Singer’ at this week’s Mountain Stage.
On the new album and the band sharing the name of Strange Constellations:
Initially, I decided it was going to be the name of the record, and I wanted some continuity sort-of between the album and then name of the band. It comes from this thing in Moby Dick where Ishmael is talking about being in the Southern Hemisphere under different stars. What I took that to mean was if you’re astrologically inclined at all, you’re not really sure about the star signs that are guiding you, which is one of the main themes of the record. We wanted to tie the name of the band into that.
This is my fourth time. I did it twice with Todd Burge and once with Southeast Engine. It’s the first time under the guise of doing my own material. We’re obviously really excited. We’re doing the rarest of things in our band where we’re practicing. We’ve decided what we’re going to play, sharpening our knives and getting ready for the street fight.
Credit Josh Saul
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A FestivALL favorite, William Matheny has been performing in Charleston for years.
On advice to anyone getting into music:
The big thing is to don’t quit; that will get you further than anything you can do. After that, you just have to get out of town and play as many places as you can. That can be really discouraging at first, especially when you don’t know what that’s supposed to be like. If you’re playing popular shows in your hometown, you kind of immediately think everything should be like this. You’re going to do this, and it won’t be fun as playing in your hometown is initially, but if you keep coming back, it will. While it may not seem like you’re having an impression, you really are. So the best thing you can do is stay with it.
I’d hardly call myself qualified to give advice, but keep working and don’t get discouraged. That’s the important thing. Keep working, everything will improve. Don’t let it get you down.
Music featured in this #WVmusic chat:
William Matheny- “29 Candles”
William Matheny- “My Grandfather Knew Stoney Cooper”
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats ranging from Rozwell Kid to Beach House drummer Graham Hill, Goodwolf to Teammate’s Scott Simons and beyond.
But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day is coming up (not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with Hello June, an indie rock four-piece that was started just a few years back by Morgantown native Sarah Rudy. The band has now grown to include Summersville’s Nate Snyder and Charleston buds Whit Alexander and Chad Brown. We sat down with the band to talk about their new release and what it’s like being a rock’n group of twenty-somethings in northern West Virginia.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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How did Hello June come together?
Nate Snyder (bassist): Sarah started the band in 2013 with Whit. It started as a little project, mostly recording songs that Sarah was writing. And that’s how Hello June’s EP came out around that time. it kind of took off from there. Eventually, everything went on a little break. Sarah ran into me, randomly, through another band practice that never worked out. We hit it off, and she asked me to play in Hello June. So I came up, and Chad moved in with us around the same time. Me, Sarah and Chad actually live together. So we all started playing, and Whit rejoined as the drummer as he was the guitarist previously.
Sarah Rudy (vocalist & guitarist): Hello June was my first official project. But Chad, Whit and I had a little project when we lived in the same apartment building around 2008 or 2009. So we had a history of playing together. And the reason why things are coming together so quickly with Hello June is because Chad and White grew up learning how to play together, so it’s really awesome to have them in the same room.
Nate: I literally just joined in February of this year [laughing]. It’s only been this formation since mid-March.
Are you all from West Virginia originally?
Sarah: Whit and Chad are from Charleston. I’m from Morgantown.
Nate: I’m from Summersville.
How did you get into music?
Nate: Well, I started playing bass originally than switched to guitars and then drums, because in Summersville, nobody ever seemed to have a drummer. When I was about 15, I was sneaking into bars to play a 30-minute set with bands who were in their 40’s, and then I would have to sneak out really quickly. That was my first taste of playing music, and then it kind of just kept going from there.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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Hello June in silhouette.
Sarah: I grew up playing. My grandfather played guitar, so he taught me how to play. Music is just integral to my family.
Chad Brown (guitarist): I started playing drums when I was 5, then switching to guitars at around 11. Everyone in my family plays music, so I’ve been around the Appalachian music scene since I could walk.
Whit Alexander (drummer & percussionist): My dad and uncle both played guitar, so I grew up around that. And when Chad had a band in high school, they were in need of a drummer, so I starting drumming on tables and then starting drumming with real percussion instruments.
When you were growing up in West Virginia, did you look up to any bands playing in the state?
Nate: Growing up, no. If you count college growing up, then I eventually found Daniel Johnston. He became a very big influence on me, and it was pleasure to find out that he was from West Virginia. When I was younger, I never got into the country music thing. I was always idolizing classic rock, and then I find indie and went in that direction very quickly.
Sarah: I always appreciated Jason Molina. He lived here for a little bit. He’s one of my favorite artists, so the fact that he had any ties to West Virginia was exciting to me.
Chad: For me, growing up in Charleston and being around Mountain Stage, Michael Lipton has been one of my favorite guitar players for a long time.
Whit: I had the opportunity to work with Larry Groce for a little bit on Mountain Stage about eight years ago, and he’s somebody that I’ve always idolized in the West Virginia music scene. But also, Bud Carroll had a band called American Minor that, when I was in high school, a band that I got really into. Their sound was really cool.
It’s interesting you all brought up Jason Molina and Daniel Johnston. Of the #WVmusic interviews I’ve done so far, no one has cited those artists for inspiration.
Sarah: I’m not surprised. We’re a little bit weird [laughing]. I know William Matheny loves Jason Molina…
Nate: …he just won’t admit it [laughing].
Sarah: [Laughing] He just doesn’t love Jason as much as I do.
When you were growing up in West Virginia, was it hard trying to make music that was less country and more indie rock?
Nate: Absolutely. For me it was, at least. I grew up listening to Garth Brooks, and I can literally remember the day I first heard The Beatles. And I thought, “Oh ok. That’s cooler than everything else.” I started down that path, which lead to classic rock and indie music eventually. But when I would hang out with my friends, and they would want to listen to the new Jay Z or Kanye West or Toby Keith album at the time, I would say, “That’s cool… but Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (which is another band from West Virginia that I should mention)!” And my friends would say, “Yeah… nobody cares. Go away. Go listen to your weird music.”
The lead singer from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is actually from the Morgantown area, if I’m not mistaken. I got to meet Surfer Blood when they played up here at 123 Pleasant Street, and the first question they asked me was, “Does everyone here love Clap Your Hands Say Yeah because of West Virginia?” And I was like, “I don’t think anybody else besides me knows that they’re from West Virginia.” [Laughing] The lead singer is from here, but he eventually moved to New York. There’s actually a line “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” that says, “Far, far away from West Virginia / I will try on New York City,” and that’s literally what he did. It’s kind of an autobiographical song.
And Katy Goodman from La Sera (who recently played here at 123 Pleasant Street) and Vivan Girls said that her family was from the Lewisburg area.
Chad: I came up on a lot more traditional Appalachian music. There was a lot of acoustic string music and a lot of Southern rock in my house. We played a lot of juke joints and dive bars, so it was a lot more normal for me to deal with that than to go out and fight to play a surf punk song or a metal song.
Sarah: I honestly don’t know if I ever thought about. I think I just do whatever I feel like doing [laughing]. I grew up listening to a bunch of different stuff like Neil Young and Elton John and some crazy things my mother would bring to the table. I never really thought about where we were in West Virginia or where I was even in the world. I just did whatever I felt was right at the time [laughing].
Credit Aaron New
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Hello June is Chad Brown, Whit Alexander, Sarah Rudy and Nate Snyder.
I’ve tried to find bands that have made good music, regardless of where they’re from or who’s in the band, but I would say that only a small portion of those bands involved women. What are your thoughts on that, Sarah?
Sarah: I think that’s pretty accurate. Haley Slagle is around Morgantown, and she’s one of the first women artists in West Virginia I noticed when I moved back here. The music scene around here is very male-dominated, and I don’t think that’s unique to Morgantown; I think it’s across the state. I definitely think that’s a good observation [laughing].
I really don’t know why we don’t see more women playing around the state. If you go to a show any given night, it’s extremely rare to see a female up there. So I don’t know if it’s because it’s expected because it’s the norm as of now or something else. I do think it’s changing in a different direction. Recently, I’ve come into contact with different females in our music. Tonight, we’re playing a show with The Furr, which has a female drummer, and that’s pretty cool. But in general, the female presence is lacking in my humble female opinion [laughing].
Nate: I will say that I have no experience in being a female member of a band [laughing], but pretty much every band I’ve been in has had a female in at some point, either permanently or is led by a female. It’s always been great. When I was younger, I heard somebody say, “Well, that band would be a lot better if that girl wasn’t on stage.” That really irked me at a young age, and even though I don’t necessarily seek it out, I always enjoy whenever there’s a female in a band. So when Sarah asked me play up here, it was even better because I knew how strong of a lead she was and how her work would be a good push for young girls and older women to just get out there and step up on stage, stand in the spotlight and do their thing.
Sarah: Thanks, man. Appreciate it.
Where does the name Hello June come from?
Sarah: I loved Johnny Cash growing up. I actually thought my grandfather was Johnny Cash probably until the year 2000. And I also looked up to June Carter Cash and her presence, probably because she was female and I felt connected to her. So Hello June stemmed from that. It sounds silly, but whenever Johnny Cash would get up on stage and say, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” putting those concepts together is how I came up with that band name.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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A snapshot of Hello June’s recording space.
How would you describe Hello June’s sound?
Nate: That’s actually been a really difficult question for us. We describe our sound as indie rock in general. Some people describe us as bummer rock, which…
Sarah: I don’t agree with that.
Nate: We don’t agree with it. There’s a mellow feel to what we do, even though we do get intense from time to time in our live shows. I always tell people that it’s a little bit of rock, a little bit of indie and it’s also got a country tinge to it.
Sarah: Honestly, it’s really hard for me to categorize it. Hopefully one day I will be able to articulate that to you [laughing].
What are some of the influences on the band and the music?
Nate: The National is really big for me, I think for Sarah also. For me, I look up to bands like Frightened Rabbit and Death Cab for Cutie. Those all are really depressing bands, which I realize…
Sarah: Yeah about that “bummer rock” description… [laughing]
Nate: I’m the bummer, and they’re the rock [laughing]. But those bands have been big to me. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Lady Lamb recently, because I’ve been trying to get more into the mindset of Sarah’s style of playing. I’m producing the new Hello June record, so I wanted to make sure I understood how female vocals sat into the mixes and how they should be presented. And going to newer bands like Lady Lamb, La Sera and Alvvays, I paid a lot of attention to those sounds and used those influences on how we recorded.
<a href=”http://hellojune.bandcamp.com/album/hello-june-ep”>Hello June EP by Hello June</a>
It doesn’t seem like you’ve released much since your 2013 self-titled EP. Is there a reason for that?
Sarah: We just took a very long break. Whit and I released that EP, and we desperately tried to get a band together at that point, but it just wasn’t happening. We both went back to school (Whit studies computer science, I was studying biology), and we finished our degrees. We just weren’t focusing on music at all. Just recently, I decided to pull it back up and see what we could do with it.
Now you have the band back together and a new single out titled “Handshakes.” Can you talk about this new release a little bit?
Sarah: I wrote the bones of it a couple years ago, and I always wanted to do something with it. I brought it to these guys, and it started coming together. When we started playing together, that’s when things really started coming together, and we started figuring out different arrangements that we appreciated. And then we started recording it.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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Hello June’s new single is “Handshakes.” Expect a full-length from the band by the end of the year.
Nate: When Sarah first asked me to play, I was already a huge fan of the self-titled EP. So when she said she was working on a full-length, I thought that was incredible and jumped on the opportunity as quickly as possible. I didn’t know what my part was going to be. I fell into playing the bass after trying several different instruments including a very small synthesizer [laughing] which is funny because I’m 6’4’’ and giant. So a little tiny synthesizer was an interesting choice for me.
But whenever we started restructuring the songs that Sarah had written three or four years ago, it was originally just me, Sarah and Chad with headphone practice and ran everything through the computer in our apartment because we couldn’t play loud. For a little while, Whit was even playing drums in the keyboards, which was hilarious and awesome at the same time [laughing]. He was actually really good at it. We finally got a space, and as soon as we got into the space, we could finally play how we wanted to…
Sarah: Like real people [laughing].
Nate: We could make as much noise as wanted to, and we definitely did. I think it took two or three practices when we began feeling really tight as a band and how to react to each other doing things. Sarah did the self-titled EP pretty much by herself with Whit on it as well (she had a drummer at the time who also did some tracks), but she handed the reins over for me for most of “Handshakes.” Between the four of us, we’ve all been jumping in and attacking the recording process on our own, taking things one step at a time. We all had enough experience to know how it would go, but not enough to see how it would turn out…
Sarah: We still don’t know how it’s going to turn out [laughing].
Nate: [Laughing] Yeah. But so far, we’re pretty pleased with what we’ve done. We’re anticipating eight to ten songs on the new full-length, and the original three songs from the EP will be recorded the way we play them now for the upcoming full-length release. Because they still get a lot of attention and good response from the shows, so we thought it was time to rerecord them and put them back out.
Let’s talk about you all playing in Morgantown. How welcoming has the city been to your music?
Sarah: Very welcoming. The response we’ve gotten has always been positive.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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Hello June performed at U92 FM’s inaugural Moose Fest at 123 Pleasant Street.
Nate: I was recently talking to U92 FM’s Aaron New about Moose Fest, which was our first full-band show. We were playing the upper bar of 123 Pleasant Street and the tiny area in front of the window. He said that from what he heard, other than Rozwell Kid playing the fest (who has been an established band for a long time), and he said that people were really excited to see us and the bar was full when we played. A lot of people did respond really strongly to Hello June’s first EP, and I think everybody was excited to hear that something new was coming out.
We picked a weird time to start being a band and playing out more since all the college students leave, so the audiences are cut in half in Morgantown, but a lot of the locals have come out and are being receptive to our music.
Sarah: When I came back from Baltimore around 2011, I was not super into playing shows at that point. I felt like the Morgantown music scene was harsher at that point. But more recently, there’s been some really, really quality bands that have popped up, and the audiences have helped with that.
What have your experiences been playing music in West Virginia?
Nate: Having played in West Virginia most of my life, it’s definitely been a lot of positives and a lot of negatives, especially being an indie band. Morgantown is really the only place you can fit in, for the most part. Maybe Charleston (sometimes). It’s hard to book shows if you’re not playing modern country songs, not even classic country. We’re lucky to have 123 Pleasant Street, and Mainstage Morgantown is starting to get a little more indie. And Gene’s is starting to put on shows. The fact that they’re opening the doors to alternative and indie bands, not just your typical metal and country and bluegrass, that’s just amazing. Don’t get me wrong, there are downfalls for playing in the same spot. But you just have to keep pushing through that and look at the positives.
#thestruggletostay has been a big topic of conversation in West Virginia. Do you all expect this band to stay in West Virginia much longer?
Chad: If we got the opportunity, I don’t think anyone would think, “No, we can’t move. This is not an option.” It’s so cheap, and we’re all here. Whit is married. There’s no need for us to go anywhere now. It’s easy here.
Sarah: I like it here. I wasn’t expecting to stay much longer after moving back from Baltimore. I was just finishing up some school stuff, but I now appreciate the mix of things going on in Morgantown.
Nate: For the longest time, my life’s goal was to leave West Virginia. But I realize now that it’s not a terrible place, and I can accept where I am for right now.
When people walk away from this interview, what is the one thing they should know about Hello June?
Chad: We have fun [laughing]. We do.
Sarah: We’re all really good friends. We have a strong connection.
<a href=”http://hellojune.bandcamp.com/track/handshakes”>Handshakes by Hello June</a>
Hello June’s newest single is “Handshakes,” available now on their Bandcamp. Hear more #WVmusic on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic and subscribe to our RSS / podcast feeds!
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats that range from Heavy-Set Paw-Paws to Qiet, Sean Richardson to Goodwolf and beyond. But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia day is coming up, not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday, we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new West Virginia music interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers to Parkersburg singer-songwriters to venues and management and artists, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with Parkersburg’s own Todd Burge, who’s often named one of West Virginia’s premier singer-songwriters. From choir boy to punk rocker to folky acoustic musician, Todd Burge has played it all and seen it all. He’s even co-hosted Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, but we’ll get to that in the interview.
Todd Burge’s newest release is Todd Burge: Live on Mountain Stage. You can find him, his music and his tour schedule on toddburge.com. You can hear him on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic.
Interview Highlights
On playing in bands over the years:
It really was the punk rock scene of Morgantown in the eighties [that led me to being a musician]. It really struck me. I can pin-point the second that I decided I had to be a songwriter and get into the music scene. I was turning the corner of Kingwood and Wilson, and I heard a band called Gene Pool on U92 there in Morgantown on the radio, and it was a song I heard the night before called “Pilots are Melting.” It was my first venture into the Underground Railroad there, what’s now 123 Pleasant Street. I heard that song on the radio, and as silly as it sounds, it was like a bolt of lightning. I thought, “I’ve got to do that! Here’s a local band… on the radio? Are you kidding me?!” That didn’t happen in Parkersburg. It was unheard of, and it just blew me away.
Six or seven weeks later, I learned three chords, got together with some buddies, and we were in the garage writing songs. There was an attitude there, a do-it-yourself attitude… Live music is crucial. I went from a choir boy to literally weeks later playing at some club in Parkersburg.
On his “bad record business” story:
Everybody who’s been in it long enough and has been signed to a label has their little “bad record business” story, and this is kind of mine. I had a falling out, I couldn’t get tour support and the label went under, and I could never get those [Bunj and the Beats] tapes for that record, which I really liked. And 30 years ago this year, literally a month ago, I got those tapes back and had it digitized. [Laughing] So I have this record that has never been released, which was my first full-length record with this band, Bunj and the Beats. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but I still like it.
Credit Courtesy of Todd Burge
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Todd Burge, performing with his band 63 Eyes back in 2013.
On transitioning from playing in bands to being a solo singer-songwriter:
It didn’t just happen. I always wrote songs on acoustic guitar. Always. I would take those songs to whomever I was around. The music became something different depending on whatever room I was in and whoever was with me. A lot of people say Dylan, Black Francis or Jello Biafra was my biggest inspiration. For me, more realistically, it’s the people you’re sitting in the room with, whether it’s Mark Poole of the Phantom Six (who I was with in 63 Eyes), Jimmy Clinton, Tim O’Brien or William Matheny. The songs become what they are depending on who you’re surrounded by.
I was always really writing what I considered acoustic-based, folky-sounding stuff, and then I would put it in whatever weird blender. 63 Eyes was really melodic, and I still consider it folk stuff, but nobody would say that about that kind of music [because] I had to sing over top a chain saw and [laughing] some bone-crunching rhythm section.
I started playing some acoustic shows for fun at Maxwell’s in Morgantown. I would play two sets by myself and realize, “Jeez, I could make more money by doing this.” That’s really where the acoustic stuff started. That’s really where the acoustic solo stuff started. It was an ego trip for me to pull off a show by myself, too. [Laughing] I’m willing to admit: I’m here for the attention, folks.
On the difficulty of making original music (and the value of playing covers) in West Virginia:
When I came back to West Virginia and started this band, 63 Eyes, there was no way I wanted to do a regular job, even though I had four years at WVU. I took psychology and English, and I wasn’t going to go into psychology and have [63 Eyes] as my backburner thing. The music had to be number one for me. And we realized that there was a big demand for cover bands… everywhere. So how could we be a cover band, an offshoot band, a different band with the same members so we didn’t have to depend on other people, and make that our day job and our way to pay the bills while we were home. Because you couldn’t play original music in this area. Nobody was doing it in the Parkersburg area at that point.
So we started going to the animal lodges and seeing what they’d do there, and they were all playing Bob Seger and stuff that just wore us out. And we thought, “Well Jeez, no one is doing Dwight Yoakam and Hank (as in the original Hank).”
Credit Courtesy of Todd Burge
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63 Eyes’ alter ego (Triple Shot) made an appearance for this 2013 show.
So we started this rockabilly traditional George Jones-like cover band called Triple Shot. Same three guys, but totally different band genre-wise, but we realized those places didn’t want to hear that stuff. [Laughing] But we forced our way through and finally started getting gigs, and we played every honkey-tonk imaginable as Triple Shot. And then we’d sneak in Replacements covers, and no one would notice. We would do some Neil Young, and we would throw in some originals. It was such a music education to learn those covers in that genre, and it really was where I learned how to do bass. It was an invaluable education to come up with 50 songs.
We would play the Pub 47 in Parkersburg. We would start on Wednesday and play till Sunday, five sets a night. It was a physical work out, and you were getting these classic songs embedded into your nervous system. It was valuable.
On live recordings vs. studio recordings:
I always say that the CD is small but the music’s been enlarged to show texture, and that’s what happens in the studio. You take the songs and you expand them, and it’s nothing like what the live experience is like. But people are always asking me when I play live, “What CD is most like what you just did?” And I’ve thought, “Well… nothing really.” [This new CD] is real, and it is live, and it’s a totally different vibe. There’s an energy you just can’t get in a studio. There’s a huge difference really. It’s a totally different beast.
On staying motivated as a musician:
You have to struggle through. A lot of times, what I chose to do was to answer to myself. People think that I sit here and write songs all day. “Oh god, that would be great to be you and sit around and play music all day!” I have to carve out time to do that, to write, and it’s a must because it doesn’t survive without that. But it’s just like anything that anybody does, really. You have to be tenacious, you have to stick with it if you’re self-employed. My challenge to myself is to always do something new and to not repeat myself, and that’s a blast and a challenge. And to realize that eventually, something interesting will come along that I like that I can present it. I try not to get wrapped up in the dry spots creatively. I try to stay calm in that regard. But the frustrating part is that people don’t understand what I’m doing [laughing], but the beautiful part is also that as well.
Credit Josh Saul
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Only Todd Burge could convince Bob Thompson (normally known for his role as the Mountain Stage Band’s pianist) to sing along with Ron Sowell and Julie Adams during this 2015 Mountain Stage performance.
[Mountain Stage] was like being on Saturday Night Live. It was huge, and it still is in my mind. It’s not like I’ve gotten used to being on Mountain Stage (even though I’ve done a few of them).
I think I tried to get on [the show] for a year-and-a-half or two years, as people do.
The story goes that I opened up for [The Dukes of Hazard’s] Tom Wopat in Parkersburg here at the Smoot Theatre. And I asked Deni Bonet from the Mountain Stage Band to play fiddle with me. I didn’t know her at all. I just called her and asked her to do it, expecting her to say no. Because in the music business, they say no. I would say 90 percent of the time, the things you ask or want to do or are reaching for, “no” is the answer. That’s just the way it is. But she said “yes,” and I freaked out. She played with me, so I came in through that backdoor. She listened to my music, and I started bugging Larry Groce. I sent every newspaper article that was written about me. I sent postcards. I would invite them to shows when I would come to play Charleston. On and on and on.
And then Larry told me I was supposed to be on a show with Joan Baez, and that just blew my mind. I mean, she used to date Bob Dylan! But then I got bumped by Bob Mould for my first Mountain Stage. And then I waited another six months before I was on that first one. But from there on out, I was able to say that I was on Mountain Stage and I would literally book shows (pre-Internet) on the road by saying I had been on Mountain Stage, without even sending stuff. Through the years, it’s worked for me in that way. It gives you “cred.”
On performing on Mountain Stage since 1991 but releasing Todd Burge: Live on Mountain Stage with performances starting in 2006:
I started performing in 1991, but if people want to know why [the record] started in 2006… One reason was a technical reason: around that time, [Mountain Stage] went digital. So it was much easier to get those recordings from 2006.
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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For Todd Burge, this 2006 Mountain Stage performance was a career reawakening of sorts.
Now, there’s another thing: in 2006, at that Tamarack show, something clicked in me. Nothing before that time for me made sense musically. Those performances were crucial before that time, between 1991 to 2006, but I was not really happen with [my performances] on Mountain Stage. I was a wreck. I was a mess. I was a bundle of nuts. And so I never really relaxed and performed on that show, and that was a long freak’n stretch. People have told me, “Jeez, I would have never known,” but I can’t even exaggerate how flakey I was on that show. I was glad to get it over with, [laughing] but I’m on freak’n Mountain Stage! I just couldn’t get over the nerves. I didn’t really get comfortable on stage as a solo performer until the year 2006. It was around that year where I got to the point where I had a show, I had an act, and I had a comfort level where I was real on stage. I was just faking it up till then. That’s another thing I can’t exaggerate: what Mountain Stage has meant to what I do.
On what it takes to be a musician from West Virginia:
The West Virginia thing is brought up almost like it’s a weight that we’re carrying, or like we’re trapped on this side of the mountain or living in a bubble or whatever. People make a lot of that. But what I’d say is get in your car, drive out of the state, play some shows and come back. [Laughing] It’s that simple.
Being from West Virginia is a big plus. I’ve lived in Austin, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh, and I’ve lived most of my life in West Virginia. What I’d tell people is work your ass off, organize your work, and book your shows and go. Make your shows as good as they can be. Once you do that, make your show better and keep doing that. Make that your priority.
I’m here because I want to be. Maybe I have to be in West Virginia. Maybe if I was working a regular job (whatever a regular job means) and had to tend to that every day, I don’t know if I could do that. I think it’s a plus, especially when I go up north. I’ve got a little bit of a twang in my voice and people dig that. There’s this thing about West Virginia.
Music Featured in this #WVmusic chat:
Todd Burge- “Time to Waste Time – Live on Mountain Stage”
Todd Burge- “The Longer – Live on Mountain Stage”
Todd Burge- “Enough About Me – Live on Mountain Stage”
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats ranging from Ona to Tyler Childers, Rozwell Kid to Qiet and beyond. But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day is coming up (not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
Today, we’re chatting with Huntington’s own Ian Thornton, a 30-something who has become a sort of father figure to the West Virginia music scene, and no wonder: he’s played here, he’s booked shows here and he’s even put on a local music festival that’s grown exponentially over the last 7 years. But we’ll let him describe what he’s done and what he hopes to do for West Virginia music.
On his start in music and his father (the namesake for Whizzbang Booking and Management):
I guess it ultimately goes back to my dad. Huge music buff. Couldn’t snap his fingers in rhythm, but he could tell you everything about the Kinks or Dublin Bagpipes or folk music. The guy was incredibly intelligent on a lot of fronts. That’s where I got a love of music from the get-go, getting into the Beatles or the Stones or Buddy Holly.
Then I got my first instrument in high school [as a] freshmen, hanging out with friends and playing music. But I really started taking part in the music scene with The Love Coats, which was my first band that was really doing stuff in Huntington. With them we saw moderate regional success. We weren’t huge or anything, but we did well in our area.
I was in another really cool band called Desolation Row, [where] we were a little heavier. [Then] AC30 came from a band called Whirling Dervish, [which] lost a couple of members, added a couple of members and turned into AC30.
On wanting a career in music at a young age:
I knew I wanted a career in music since middle school, [but] I didn’t know how. Everyone wants to be in a famous band. Who doesn’t want to play Wembley or Madison Square Garden? Always carry day jobs, that’s the thing about music. You always need some other income. If you depend on music from the get-go, you’ll be in a lot of trouble, [and you’ll] be really hungry.
On opening a bar in Huntington:
We got ahold of Shamrocks, my brother and I, in ’08. The Love Coats had broken up already, and I was still in love with playing shows, meeting bands and that whole atmosphere. The Shamrocks venue was actually where I played my first rock’n’roll show, [which] was called Marley’s Doghouse at the time, and it came up for sale. None of us had ever been in the bar business or ran a bar, we kind of jumped in with two feet and I took over the entertainment and booking side.
That’s kind of where it all started with me learning how to book shows, talk to bands, and handle events of that nature. It was a long process, a lot of learning, but we caught our stride and were doing really well there for awhile.
It was a good venue, cool room. Dirty dive bar. Smelled terrible, concrete floors. That was the essence of it. I was going through Myspace, trying to find bands in the area. Most venues have to field so many emails about bands wanting to play, being picky-choosey. [But] at that time, I was like, “Please play this bar. We have to have music.”
I was putting really funny bills together. Which is something I’ve liked to do since then. I’d put a country act with a metal act, or a punk rock with a hip hop. At first it was out of desperation but I really like the eclectic style. I like more than one style of music; I think people like more than one style of music. If you limit yourself to only one, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
That first year was rough. It was slow going. But eventually we started catching some tread in the area. The thing about Huntington is there isn’t a lot of choices for live music. Today, we’re down to the V Club. There’s other places that will do music, but I wouldn’t call them venues. Like they’ll have music in their bar.
With Shamrocks, we were hitting a niche. We took the role of the dirty dive bar, and I like that. That’s what rock clubs are: musty and dark. That’s where the best things happen, I feel. We caught on with a lot of the scene, and people who couldn’t really get shows in Huntington. We were more open arms.
On the sustainability of #WVmusic:
If people aren’t getting behind it, and you aren’t having that thriving force behind it, it’s hard for people to sustain it. People get older too. That’s a thing with bands: it’s a lot of fun when you’re 22 or 23, but you get older and have to get more serious about your life, [so] bands take backseats. From our heyday, there’s only a few left [like] Sly Roosevelt and Deadbeats and Barkers. I think music scenes go in ebbs and flows, a lot of high points then it kind of drops off. Recently we’re on another upturn. People are getting inspired again, and you see bands popping up.
Credit Courtesy of Ian Thornton
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Ian Thornton began the Huntington Music & Arts Festival on a wing and a prayer. Now, it’s grown to a full week of music, arts and collaboration in Huntington.
There weren’t any festivals in town promoting our local scene other than two bars. And the problem with that is you’re cutting out 90 percent of your potential listeners. Not everyone wants to come to a bar and a show that starts at 10:30 at night. You’re limiting yourself to people listening to your music. I wanted to bring those bands out of the bars and to the forefront of Huntington. A daytime family-friendly event where they could enjoy some of these bands that I felt were doing really good and that I could get behind. You could have fun and still go home and get to bed at a decent hour if you needed to.
The first year… the event went well, but it was a hard thing to get together. I had never done it before, and I jumped into it. I’m a really particular person because “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself,” and I’ve been burned in the past. I wanted to take it upon myself to have a successful event, [where] I have to do a majority of the work to pull it off. I’ve probably put more work on myself than I should at times, and I’m getting to a point where I can rely on people. I can finally delegate some stuff out. I’m learning… [laughing] I’m slowly giving up!
When it comes to picking bands out, I try to see as many shows as I can throughout the year. My main concern is if a band is active, they’re actually doing something. I want them to have something to promote. I guess it’s kind of like Mountain Stage: you’re not just picking people to pick people. You’re [looking for] a working band, aspiring to do something positive, promote your music and do things. [So] that’s what I like to look for: bands on the rise, or are actively doing it.
It gets a lot tougher because I have to separate friends [from work]. I have to treat the Huntington Music & Arts Festival with a level of responsibility and can’t let everyone on it.
Like Of the Dell, those boys are a perfect example. They were hounding me last year, [and I would tell them,] “You guys are great, and I love you, but you’re just not ready.” Now they’re more than ready for a spot this year. They’ve hit the game hard and have over 25 original tunes [now]; they’ve put the work in and you can see it.
Credit Kaci Tallman
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Ian Thornton (far left) enjoying a break from a festival with his #WVmusic friends (who happen to be members of Tyler Childers & the Foodstamps and Ona).
Essentially what I’m doing is selling a band. I’m trying to sell a band to a venue who’s never heard of this person, or me, so if you’re just doing to make a little dough, it’s a half-hearted attempt. I refuse to act in that manner. So when it came to picking the roster, those are all people I have a lot of faith in, and I really enjoy their music personally. I could listen to it, and I listen to it often. I think that makes my job easier because you’re more sincere about it. I think sincerity is a big proponent of this sort of thing because if you don’t believe in it, how can you get someone else.
I try to rely on my credibility, that I’m passionate about what I do.
Credit Courtesy of Ian Thornton
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Ian Thonrton began Whizzbang Booking and Management in the Spring of 2016.
On being friends with (and managing) Morgantown’s William Matheny:
I’m incredibly excited about William. He’s one of the first ones I’ve contacted back in the Shamrocks days, and to this day I’ll stand behind the Born of Frustration album. We hit it off early, and I’ve been a huge fan of his for so long. At Shamrocks, I would only let sound guys play local music in-between bands. I don’t know how many times I’d only play Billy’s record back there.
From a managing sense, Billy’s incredibly intelligent. He’s been in the scene for a long time. He knows what he wants. In terms of managing, I only truly manage Tyler, Ona and Of the Dell; the rest I help out [with], give ideas, talk back-and-forth. I primarily book those acts. [But] William is a force of his own. He teaches me things. He asked me to join his band, [which] I think he and Bud [Caroll] came to the conclusion because Adam Meisterhans plays bass on a majority of the record [and] he wouldn’t be able to make all the gigs. So they invited me to play, and I jumped on it to play with a guy I’ve been a huge fan of for years. It’s kind of fun to be that involved in something and separate yourself to pitch it too. We’re a nice couple; we make it work.
Bud and I really hit it off! I knew who he was early on, [but] we weren’t really friends in the early Shamrocks days. [But] The Love Coats opened up for American Minor, we started talking and we’ve been incredibly close ever since. He’s been integral to the early days of the Huntington Music & Arts Festival. [Our band] AC30 was a really fun run, and we never really broke up; we kind of just stopped playing. Hopefully we play again. We’ve got some songs recorded that I’d like to get out there.
On being called a “father figure” in the #WVmusic scene:
It’s been a main goal of mine to treat bands well from the get-go, and I think that stems from me having a musician background to begin with. And I think when you treat people well, you get it in return. Ultimately when it comes to taking on the roll I have, it wasn’t intended by any means. If you told me 8 or 9 years ago that this would be where I was, I don’t know if I’d believe you or not. It’s a matter of doing it, really. It just became a passion of mine that kept going. When it comes down to it, people can talk all day, but until you take the effort and step forward and take the responsibility on, nothing’s going to change, nothing’s going to happen with it. I didn’t really see that getting done at the time.
So I just felt it upon myself, I had a great opportunity with a rock venue. One thing just kept leading to another. I was earning the respect from a lot of bands with the venue treating them right when they weren’t being treated right at other places.
I do get joked about with that stuff every now and then. All the Ona boys call me dad, and in return the Foodstamps starting calling me mom. [Laughing] So I have the whole thing there.
It’s a matter of wanting to do it, and actually enjoying it. Nothing I’ve done is for recognition or anything. The main goal is promoting WV/Tri-State music. I would put our scene against the Seattle boom in the ’90s or the Austin boom. I think we’ve got, per capita, just as good of stuff as anywhere in the nation. If I have to be the one to push it, that’s what I’m going to do. Until I can’t do it anymore, or for some reason it gets pulled out from under me but so far so good!
Credit Max Nolte
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Ian Thornton on public transportation in D.C. as he accompanied Ona to their Sirius XM The Loft performance.
On the highlight of his #WVmusic journey:
Huntington Music & Arts Festival. If I had to be proud of something, it’d be that. It brings a lot of people together. That thing takes months and months of planning, phone calls, hitting the streets and getting sponsorships myself. But then it’s over in a flash. You get there at 8 in the morning and before you know it, the last band is hitting the last note. It kind of shoots by. I did all this stuff and now it’s over. But it’s such a thrill. It isn’t just a Huntington thing; it’s West Virginia-Kentucky-Ohio. Seeing these bands so happy and being together with other bands their friends with or love, and seeing them all onstage in one day, or it’s a whole week at this point. We’re growing this to something I think will be something Huntington pushes. I think it will be one of their attributes, and that’s my goal. People coming around to see it, filling up the hotels and businesses. Doing what we can to make Huntington a great city.
It’s obviously a grandeur idea, but like how SXSW is. All different art forms are expressed, people come from miles-and-miles, countries away. I mean, it’s Austin, TX. But I think we can do that on a small scale. And we’re finally getting noticed some of the people in Huntington…. We’re not just a bunch of rock n rollers renting out the amphitheater playing guitars loud. This is a serious thing; we all take it seriously. We’re here to promote it and show what your city has to offer you. All you have to do is buy a ticket.
On the future of the #WVmusic scene:
I think we’re on quite the rise, I think some great things are about to happen. I’m seeing new bands pop up; new bands I really dig. You know, I preach Tyler Childers and Ona heavier than anything. I’m closer to those guys. I believe in them more than anything. I’d risk life and limb for both of them. I think seeing them doing things that are quality and getting recognition across the country, literally. Even other countries at this point. I look at their sales and the attention they’re getting, and it’s inspiring. All it does is keep increasing passion. It’d be one thing to keep beating a dead horse, or run into a wall, but if you get behind something and it catches on, it does nothing but invigorate you, and make you want to push harder, get more acts doing things.
When I came into the scene, it was really funny. The Love Coats were the only pop-rock band around, so there was no one to play with. What we did was learn 3 hours’ worth of music, basically do our own shows because it was a really heavier scene.
The ’90s Huntington scene which was a little before my time was huge with bands like Chum doing huge things. We were a heavier scene, and it was starting to wain off when I started coming up to it. It’s transitioned now, I don’t think you put your finger on just one thing or another. We’re eclectic and I love it. Being eclectic will bring more music than being stifled. Seeing new bands pop up across genres is really inspiring, and I think we’re on a rise personally. There’s great things happening, past couple of years, and great things to come.
On advice to young West Virginians looking to get into music:
I would say just love what you do, and be passionate about it. And be ready to work hard, because that’s what it takes. And don’t put money as your ultimate goal, I know bands that do that and nothing good comes of it. If you love music, love music. If you love what you do, love what you do. Believe in what you do and push for it. You will reap benefits from hard work. Love what you do, practice, hone your craft and just believe in yourself. Network, meet other bands, become friends with other bands because nobody can do everything on their own. It takes that networking and comradery to make a music scene to help build everybody. It’s not a one-person thing; it’s a music scene for a reason. So you go watch other people’s bands so they’ll watch your band. You have to be a part of it. You can’t just jump in and expect anything. Work for it, earn it.
On his hopes for #WVmusic in the years to come:
I hope that we become a focus of the national music scene, and I hope we can set a bar because, I hate to be the guy to beat on West Virginia, but we have a stigma about us. [Laughing] Hell if they even know West Virginia is a state. It’s constantly a thing we have to battle. I’d like to have such an impact that people will be like, “We have to do what they’re doing in Huntington. A small city, but look at what they’re doing. Look at how active they are and in sync with each other.” I want to build a music scene that can be admired from the entire nation, not just West Virginia or the surrounding areas.
