Mountain Blog

We're happy to announce that country super star Dierks Bentley will make his third appearance on Mountain Stage Sunday, June 20, at the Clay Center here in Charleston, WV.

Tickets will be on sale soon via the Clay Center website and at Taylor Books in Downtown, Charleston. Advance Tickets will be $20 and $29 at the door. 

Bentley is preparing to release "Up On the Ridge," a rootsy, bluegrass-leaning affair with guest spots by Del McCoury, Chris Thile and Kris Kristofferson, Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson. Below is a sneak peak video of "Up on the Ridge." Click HERE to pre-order your copy.

Also on board is Canadian country musician Fred Eaglesmith, whose song "Freight Train" is the title track to Alan Jackson's lastest release, and Toby Keith and Miranda Lambert have cut his tunes as well.

Eaglesmith's latest, due June 15, is "Cha Cha Cha," a follow-up to 2008's acclaimed CD "Tinnerbox." According to Eaglesmith, "Cha Cha Cha" is like "a 50's Hollywood record that collides with the late sixties early seventy's rock and roll sound and throws in a little red dirt for good measure." It is available for pre-order HERE. We're looking forward to hearing what he's got in store for us this time.

Stay tuned to the Mountain Stage Blog for ticket on sale dates.

This week's radio broadcast features indie-trail blazer Ani DiFranco with her band, Louisiana's rising star Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, finger-style guitarist and YouTube sensation Andy McKee, pop-rocker Chuck Prophet and bold, creative songwriter Erin McKeown. Find a station in your area to listen to, and tell some friends too!

Read the playlist.

Over at NPR Music you can hear sets by Lucero, The Bottle Rockets and Sam Bush. Keep checking back for sets by Central Virginia's Sons of Bill and WV-based band Bud Carroll & the Southern Souls.  There will be an mp3 of the whole show available Monday morning in our ARCHIVES, which you can subscribe to via iTunes and Feedburner.

Thanks as always for tuning in, logging on and listening. Without you there would be no Mountain Stage. We never forget that.

We're happy to announce an addition to the line-up for our FestivALL Charleston edition of Mountain Stage, June 18 at The Clay Center.

Australian singing sensation Geoffrey “Gurrumul” Yunupingu, whose self-titled debut drops June 15 (click to pre-order), will join us along with Marc Cohn. Tickets are available ONLINE, at the Clay Center box office or by phone at 304.561.3570. Doors are at 7:30pm, Showtime is 8pm.

Gurrumul came to prominence as a member of Yothu Yindi, where he played an integral role until 1992. On his own, Gurrumul received the Album and Song of the Year honors in 2008 at the NT Indigenous Music Awards.

This week's radio broadcast features Memphis rockers Lucero who join us for the first time. Also on board are New-Grass pioneer Sam Bush and his fine band, Heartland rockers The Bottle Rockets make their sixth appearance, and two new groups - Central Virginia's Sons of Bill and WV born and raised band Bud Carroll & the Southern Souls.

Check out the playlist and get a preview on our Song of the Week Page, where we've highlighted the softer side of Lucero with a performance of the closing track from their acclaimed 1372 Overton Park, "Mom."

Find a station in your area and tell some friends when to tune in. As always, thank you for listening to Mountain Stage, and we hope you'll go out and see some live music wherever you are, just as soon as you can.

We've got lots of fresh material all over the Internet for your listening (and viewing) pleasure.

Starting at NPR Music we've got an extended set by Robert Earl Keen from our Valentine's Day, 2010 show. Still to come later this week are sets from Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Sweetback Sisters, Danny Barnes and Darrell Scott. Remember, new sets go up each weekday, so keep checking back.

You can also subscribe to the Mountain Stage Podcast on iTunes and Feedburner, where we put up the ENTIRE show, including songs that might not have been heard on the radio, for you to download and take on the go.

In light of the explosion that took the lives of 29 miners in Raleigh County, West Virginia on Monday, April 5, Mountain Stage host Larry Groce dedicated the finale song of our April 11 recording to the miners and their families. This episode is scheduled to air in June but we're sharing this version of Merle Travis' "Dark as a Dungeon" as a special Song of the Week.

Some of our guest artists took part in the finale, including Kelly Hogan, who sings a verse, and Paul Rigby, mandolin, of Jakob Dylan & Three Legs. Our thoughts are with the community and families impacted by this tragedy.

This week's radio show is an Americana dream come true. We recorded this episode on Valentine's Day 2010- which explains the mood-clothing chosen by Robert Earl Keen. Also on the bill are funky-banjo guru Danny Barnes, classic country and novelty songs by
The Sweetback Sisters, the incomparable Darrell Scott with songs from "The Crooked Road" and our longtime friend and former Larry Groce band-mate Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Our Song of the Week preview features Mr. Keen doing Townes Van Zandt's "Flyin' Shoes," which can also be heard on Keen's chart-topping album "Rose Hotel," also out on Vinyl LP.

If you're not sure if Mountain Stage is carried in your area, find a station nearby HERE or standby to NPR Music for individual guest segments, which start going up Monday. You can also subscribe to our Podcast via iTunes and Feedburner, so you don't miss a single second.

Below is our interview with guitar phenom Tommy Emmanuel, who gives our host Larry Groce some insight into his performing mentality
plus some great performance footage. If you've never heard Tommy play guitar, do yourself a favor and check out his latest set at NPR Music.

While you're there check out sets from Calexico, Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers plus the latest segment from iconic country gentleman Jesse
Winchester (pictured below).

We'd like to say thank you, once again, to each of you who came to see us in Morgantown, WV on Sunday April 11. We'd like to thank our guests Jakob Dylan & Three Legs, April Smith & Great Picture Show, Clare & the Reasons, the Tallest Man on Earth and the Watson Twins, as well as our friends at WVU Arts & Entertainment, for helping us record episode # 719.

There are some photos from that evening at our MySpace Page.

We awoke Monday morning in Morgantown to find a feature on Jakob Dylan in The USA TODAY. His album, "Women & Country" came out last week, and is available at Amazon.com on CD and Mp3.

You can hear this episode on the radio in June. Visit our Broadcast Schedule and find a station in your area so you know when to tune in.

Keep up with the latest here on the Mountain Stage Blog and if you haven't done so already, we hope you'll join the 6,200 + Fans on Facebook.

We've posted a preview on our Song of the Week page, a Calexico fan-favorite titled "Man Made Lake" from Carried to Dust.  Click HERE to listen.

Visit our Broadcast Schedule to see who you'll be hearing in the coming weeks on Mountain Stage. Robert Earl Keen, Lucero, Ani DiFranco and many more are lined up for April. 

If you haven't been to our site at NPR Music then now is the time to catch up on a lot of great music. Featured there now are Among the Oak & Ash, based upon the duo of Josh Joplin and Garrison Starr, featuring banjo by David Mayfield of Cadillac Sky.

Check out Larry Groce's interview with Joplin and Starr "Backstage at Mountain Stage" below and hear their segment at NPR Music. There is also an interview with fiddler Mark O'Connor and music by Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing and Tommy Emmanuel.

This weekend we'll head to the Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, WV, the home of West Virginia University to record Mountain Stage Episode #719 with our friends at WVU Arts & Entertainment. Read our "Live on Stage" newsletter for more on each guest.

Our guests will be Jakob Dylan & Three Legs featuring Neko Case & Kelly Hogan, The Watson Twins, Clare & the Reasons, April Smith & Great Picture Show and The Tallest Man on Earth.

Tickets are available online, by calling 304.293.SHOW or on campus at the Mountainlair ticket office.

April Smith & Great Picture Show, whose fan-funded CD "Songs for a Sinking Ship" came out in February, was featured at the Dominion Post in Morgantown. Read the feature by Lindsey Fleming HERE. There's a "continuation" link at the top for page 2. Smith has been gigging recently with past-guest JD Souther.

We hope to see you Sunday in Morgantown. Doors open at 6:30pm, Show-time is 7pm. Get your Tickets online, by phone at 304.293.SHOW and click HERE for some driving directions.

This week's radio broadcast is the premiere episode of Mountain Stage's 27^th season. You'll hear some amazing musicianship all around from our guests Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing, Tommy Emmanuel, Among the Oak & Ash, Vetiver, the Depue Brothers and Jorma Kaukonen & David Bromberg . Check out the play list and get a preview on our Song of the Week page. We've got the hottest of "hot swing" from O'Connor and his band, featuring Julian Lage and Frank Vignola on guitar, performing "Sweet Suzanne."

Find a station and airtime in your area and tell some friends to tune in.

Don't forget to subscribe to the Mountain Stage Podcast on iTunes or FeedBurner so you won't miss the latest mp3 in our ARCHIVES.