Hear Glen Phillips makes his eighth appearance on Mountain Stage starting this weekend and enjoy this preview with his performance of “Held Up,” recorded in January of 2020.
From his work as singer and songwriter behind the hit-making group Toad the Wet Sprocket, to his solo albums and side-projects like WPA and Mutual Admiration Society, Glen Phillips is one of the most revered songwriters of his generation. This week we revisit his career-spanning set, accompanied by the Mountain Stage Band, on stations around the country.
1 of 6 — Larry Groce holds a poster from this week's show.
Larry Groce holds a poster created by Base Camp Printing Company. We revisit this show starting January 29 on our public radio affiliates.
Brian Blauser / Mountain STage
2 of 6 — Nellie McKay on Mountain Stage, 2020
Nellie McKay performing on Mountain Stage, in January 2020. Hear this episode starting January 29 on our public radio affiliates.
BRIAN BLAUSER / Mountain Stage
3 of 6 — Chris Barron of Spin Doctors on Mountain Stage 2020
Hear Chris Barron on Mountain Stage starting this Friday January 29 on our NPR affiliates.
BRIAN BLAUSER
4 of 6 — Hot Club of Cowtown, 2020
Hot Club of Cowtown joins us on this week’s encore broadcast, starting January 29 on our NPR stations.
BRIAN BLAUSER / Mountain Stage
5 of 6 — Jonathan Something on Mountain Stage, 2020
Jonathan Something makes his first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded in 2020. Hear the episode again starting January 29.
BRIAN BLAUSER / Mountain Stage
6 of 6 — finale song from January 2020
Artists gather for one more number to close the show back in 2020. Hear this episode on our NPR affiliates starting January 29.
BRIAN BLAUSER
For Phillips’ entire set, tune in to this week’s encore episode, starting January 29. We also hear engaging live performances, recorded in Morgantown, W.Va. with WVU Arts & Entertainment, from Chris Barron of Spin Doctors, Nellie McKay, Hot Club of Cowtown and Jonathan Something.
This week’s broadcast of “Mountain Stage” revisits a show from last April with special guest host Kathy Mattea that includes an awe-inspiring set from New England quartet Darlingside. Our Song of the Week is the band’s harmony-rich performance of “Hold Your Head Up High,” recorded in Morgantown, West Virginia in partnership with WVU Arts & Entertainment.
"If it's possible to embrace distopia with optimism and curiosity, these are the guys to do it." -Kathy Mattea, introducing Darlingside.
The song is included on the band’s critically acclaimed album Extra Life.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Guests from the show gather for one last number at the WVU Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, W.Va.
Hear the entire set from Darlingside, plus performances by Greg Brown, Lula Wiles, Sean McConnell, and Si Kahn & The Looping Brothers, on this week’s encore episode of Mountain Stage with our special guest-host Kathy Mattea.
Find the station where you can listen here, and be sure to visit our Live Show Schedule so you can make plans to be in the audience for a live taping of Mountain Stage. We have NINE shows currently on sale to help you make your plans to visit #AlmostHeaven.
North Carolina’s Mandolin Orange have been guests on Mountain Stage four times since 2013. Their latest album, Tides of a Teardrop, was released shortly after their most recent appearance, and it landed at the top of four different Billboard Music Charts.
Here’s the duo’s performance of “The Wolves,” from this week’s encore broadcast, recorded in Morgantown, W.Va. with WVU Arts & Entertainment in January 2019.
Listen this weekend for the entire set by Mandolin Orange, plus more music from Gregory Alan Isakov, Elysian Fields, The Brother Brothers and Hush Kids.
Mountain Stage returns to Morgantown on January 19. Tickets for all three Charleston shows are available online to Mountain Stage Members first.
Friday, November 14, 2019-Larry Groce and the entire team at Mountain Stage are pleased to announce the first run of live events for the public radio program’s 37th season.
The year begins in Morgantown, WV as Mountain Stage will once again be guests of the WVU Arts & Entertainment series on the campus of WVU. Appearing at the WVU Creative Arts Center’s Lyle B. Clay Concert Theatre on Sunday, January 19 will be undefinable singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Nellie McKay, and the modern hot jazz/western swing trio Hot Club of Cowtown. Both of these artists have a history of crowd-pleasing performances on Mountain Stage, which the audience in Morgantown will soon experience. Tickets for Sunday, January 19 are available now online and at 304.293.SHOW. For venue and ticket details, visit WVU Arts & Entertainment.
Credit Shervin Lainez
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Nellie McKay will appear on Mountain Stage in Morgantown, WV Sunday January 19 as the show kicks off their 37th season.
Nellie McKay has released seven acclaimed albums, won a Theatre World Award for her Broadway portrayal of Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, co-created and starred in the award winning off-Broadway hit Old Hats, and has conceived and performed musical biographies of Barbara Graham, Rachel Carson, Joan Rivers, and Billy Tipton (named one of the Best Concerts of the Year by the The New York Times). Produced and performed by Nellie, her latest EP Bagatelles is the companion release to 2018’s Sister Orchid.
Hot Club of Cowtown appear on Mountain Stage Sunday Jan. 19 in Morgantown, WV
Since 1998, the Western swing-gypsy jazz trio Hot Club of Cowtown has traveled the world bringing their own brand of magical musical chemistry to audiences far and wide. The veteran trio are equal partners in this original marriage of gypsy-jazz-inspired by the music of Django Reinhardt — which accounts for the “Hot Club” portion of their name — with the hoedowns, traditional tunes, and Western swing-inspired music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, represented in the “Cowtown” of their name.
Stay tuned for more artist additions to the January 19 line-up.
Larry Keel, Keller Williams, and Jenny Keel will appear on Sunday Feb. 9 on Mountain Stage in Charleston, WV as Keller & the Keels.
The first “home show” of 2020 will take place on Sunday, February 9 at the Culture Center Theater, the longtime venue for Mountain Stage. Teaming up for a joint Mountain Stage appearance on February 9 will be jam-grass legends Keller Williams & The Keels. Made up of guitar wizard Keller Williams, and the husband and wife duo of high-octane pickers Larry and Jenny Keel, the trio is set to release a second collaborative album, Speed, due on November 22.
Making their first appearance on Mountain Stage is the Portland-based roots-rockers Fruition, who are in the midst of releasing a string of singles and a new EP. Available everywhere November 8th, Fruition’s Wild As The Night “conveys the emotions of our darkest, and sometimes weakest, moments.”
The first single, “Wild As The Night,” was highlighted as part of NPR Music’s most recent “Station Breaks” feature, compiled by VuHaus stations.
More guests for Feb. 9 will be announced soon. Keep scrolling for more live show news.
The SteelDrivers are back on Mountain Stage Sunday, February 16 at the Culture Center Theater.
It’ll be a bluegrass lovers’ night on Sunday, February 16 as we welcome back the newest configuration of The SteelDrivers. Handling lead vocals with the group these days is selecting Kentucky native Kelvin Damrell, who joins the band’s long-standing core members- songwriter and fiddler Tammy Rogers, bass player Mike Fleming, banjo player Richard Bailey and multi-instrumentalist Brent Truitt. The Grammy-winning band lead The Philadelphia Inquirer to declare “You can call it power-bluegrass or country soul, but whatever you call it, Nashville’s SteelDrivers have bushels of it.”
The SteelDrivers – “Long Way Down” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-IOLc5emC4
Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Also on the bill Sunday, February 16 is Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out. In September, Moore became the International Bluegrass Music Associations most awarded male vocalist of all time when he won his sixth trophy for “Male Vocalist of the Year.” The group’s vocal prowess has built them a reputation as one of the finest bands in the land, and we can’t wait to have them on Mountain Stage in February.
Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out- “Pretty Little Girl from Galax”
Christopher Paul Stelling, a deft guitarist and golden-voiced singer, will be there February 16 to showcase songs from his upcoming Ben Harper-produced album, Best of Luck, due February 7 on ANTI- records. “It’s not Americana or alt anything, it’s really just soulful folk music,” Harper says of Best of Luck.
Christopher Paul Stelling – “Trouble Don’t Follow Me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxqGu1msdhw
Credit Shredded Elements Photography
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Railroad Earth will appear on Mountain Stage for the fourth time since 2003 on Sunday February 23.
On Sunday, February 23 we welcome back Railroad Earth for their fourth appearance on Mountain Stage since 2003, and their first in nine years! The band followed 2017’s Captain Nowhere with The John Denver Letters, a dual-sided single featuring recently discovered lyrics by Denver set to music by the Railroad Earth. The single was released on Earth Day and a portion of the proceeds go to environmental causes. American Songwriter premiered the video for “If You Will Be My Lady.”
Also making a long-awaited return to Mountain Stage, for the first time since 2007, is ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro, whose masterful arrangements and dazzling technique have led him to prestigious venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House, and he has dazzled audiences at music festivals including Bonnaroo, SXSW, the Playboy Jazz Festival and Fuji Rock Festival.
Tickets for all three February shows are $20 in Advance and $30 at the door when available. Good news for Mountain Stage Members, as your tickets are only $15 each for all three shows.
Those $15 tickets are available online to Mountain Stage Members* now. Members should check their email inbox for instructions on how to get their presale access.
Tickets for the February shows will be available online and at Taylor Books starting Friday, November 22 at 10a.m.
*Mountain Stage Members make a recurring gift of $10/month or $120 annually and receive exclusive online presale access to Culture Center Theater shows. If you’d like to become a Mountain Stage Member, click here to browse the membership levels and make your contribution. Once your membership has been processed, please allow 2-3 business days, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to gain presale access.
Mountain Stage began taping regularly scheduled episodes in December 1983 and has been the home of live music on public radio for more than 35 years. Artists who have been featured on the show include Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Norah Jones, Patti Smith, R.E.M., Mavis Staples, Martina McBride, Wilco and thousands more. Mountain Stage is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting and is distributed to 240 public radio stations every week by NPR Music.
Mountain Stage looks towards Spring as we finalize our upcoming shows in April and May. Browse our entire live-show schedule for details and more links, and be sure to purchase early before the show sells out, like our April 14 event with Matt Nathanson, Stephen Kellogg, Carbon Leaf and others.
On Sunday, April 7 Mountain Stage returns to Athens, OH on the campus of Ohio University thanks to our hosts at OU Performing Arts. We’ve completed the line-up with the addition of two Ohio-based artists, Over the Rhine and Adam Remnant, who join The Lone Bellow, Scott Mulvahill and Anna Tivel when we record at Memorial Auditorium.
Over the Rhine have been coming to Mountain Stage since 1993, and will return this time with songs from their newly released project titled Love & Revelation. The 11-songs on Love & Revelation were recorded in Culver City, CA and showcase the pair’s timeless songcraft and understated yet soulful delivery.
Ohio’s Adam Remnant will appear on Mountain Stage April 7 in Athens.
Adam Remnant, a founding member and principal songwriter in the alt-roots group Southeast Engine, has struck out on his own with a solo album, Sourwood, recorded in his home studio of Athens, Ohio.
Si Kahn is preparing to celebrate his 75th Birthday and Mountain Stage will welcome him on April 28 in Morgantown, W.Va.
On April 28 Mountain Stage returns to the Lyle B. Clay Concert Theatre in Morgantown’s Creative Arts Center with our partners at WVU Arts & Entertainment. Just added to the line-up is folk musician, activist and composer Si Kahn, who will be performing on the show in celebration of his 75th birthday, along with European bluegrass group The Looping Brothers. Their latest collaboration will be released in March, a follow-up to their 2013 release Aragon Mill: The Bluegrass Sessions. In 2017, Kahn was acknowledged by the International Folk Alliance with their “Spirit of Folk Award.”
Also joining the April 28 bill in Morgantown will be Nashville-based songwriter and singer Sean McConnell, whose new album, Secondhand Smoke, was released last month. McConnell has a long career at a relatively young age, since the 34-year-old started releasing his own music at age 15. Sean earned his first no. 1 single on country charts as a co-writer in early 2018 with breakout artist Brett Young’s delivery of “Mercy.” The video for his song “Here We Go” was recently featured in NPR Music and World Café’s monthly web feature “Heavy Rotation.”
Tickets for April 28 in Morgantown are reserved seating, available online or by calling 304.293.SHOW.
More news below the next video.
The Devil Makes Three return to Mountain Stage in Charleston, WV Sunday, May 12.
The Devil Makes Three’s new release, Chains Are Broken, was recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in El Paso, TX with producer Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Dropkick Murphys). It’s the band’s sixth full-length record and first since 2013, and May 12 will mark the band’s second appearance on Mountain Stage.
The Devil Makes Three join the line-up on Sunday, May 12 along with The David Bromberg Quintet, one-man-psych-rock band The Suitcase Junket, folk-music icon Eliza Gilkyson and Ireland’s Jarlath Henderson. Tickets are available now online and at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston.
You can be in the radio audience for performances by Leftover Salmon, Tim O’Brien’s Bluegrass Band, Matt Nathanson, Darlingside and more.
Mountain Stage has announced five additions to its Live Show Schedule, with Mountain Stage Members already enjoying exclusive pre-sale access to the Charleston, W.Va. shows. Mountain Stage Members make a recurring gift of $10/month or more and receive pre-sale online access to live shows, frequent discounts, member newsletters with playlists and more perks throughout the year. Click here to become a Mountain Stage Member and as soon as your donation is processed you’ll receive your member code to purchase tickets.
Credit Bob Carmichael
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On Sunday March 3 we welcome back perennial jamgrass innovators Leftover Salmon, who are celebrating the February release of their new book by Tim Newby, “30 Years of Festival.” Emerging traditional Irish group The Jeremiahs will join us as well. This show falls during Charleston’s Celtic Calling weekend of events. More guests will be announced soon.
March 24 marks the return of our frequent guest and long-time friend Tim O’Brien with a new batch of songs and a new bluegrass configuration. Joining the bill will be 2018 IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. More info here.
Sunday April 7 we are in Athens, OH as guests of OU Performing Arts and our affiliate WOUB. Joining The Lone Bellow on campus at Memorial Auditorium will be emerging songwriter Anna Tivel. Tickets are already on sale here.
On Sunday April 14 Mountain Stage returns to our home at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston to welcome back two of our favorite singer-songwriters- Matt Nathanson and Stephen Kellogg- along with journeymen Virginia rockers Carbon Leaf and pianist Pete Muller. Tickets are on sale now to Mountain Stage Members.
The show returns to Morgantown, WV on Sunday April 28 as guests of WVU Arts & Entertainment. We will mark the highly anticipated return of indie-folk charmers Darlingside, whose first appearance on Mountain Stage wowed audiences in person and on radio. All tickets are reserved seating in Morgantown and are on sale here.
The indefinable sound of multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg and his Quintet will be featured guests on Sunday May 12 in Charleston. This roots music mainstay’s new record, The Blues, the Whole Blues, and Nothing But the Blues, was produced by Larry Campbell and finds the Americana godfather touching on the blues music that inspired him early-on.
