West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Mountain Stage with Larry Groce

+ Mountain Stage Web site

When

Sunday, April 15

Where

WVU Creative Arts Center

Show Performers

Mary Chapin Carpenter
Five-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist Mary Chapin Carpenter’s music has transcended genres. Carpenter’s first album Hometown Girl, released in 1987, was embraced by country music followers. Her success continued when her single “Down at the Twist and Shout” reached the #2 spot on Billboard’s country charts in 1992. Carpenter’s biggest mainstream success, however, came with her release Come On Come On, which featured several Billboard hits, including “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” and “Passionate Kisses.” The album led to consecutive Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year wins in 1992 and 1993. Her next album Stones in the Road contained the smash hit “Shut Up and Kiss Me” and won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Country Album. To date, Carpenter has released 11 solo albums. Her newest effort, The Calling, was released this month.


Elvis Perkins
Folk singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins has been compared to the likes of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Having lost both his parents to tragedy, his music is reflective of both heartbreak and hope. He has been hailed as an excellent live performer after delivering appealing performances at the Sasquatch and Austin City Limits music festivals. Perkins’ full-length debut album, Ash Wednesday, was released nationally in February.


Dale Ann Bradley
Bluegrass/Americana artist Dale Ann Bradley, who has released albums both as a solo artist and with the New Coon Creek Girls, is known for her distinctive, gentle vocal phrasing and covers of popular (yet non-genre-related) songs by artists such as U2, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce, and Stealer's Wheel.


The Holmes Brothers
The Holmes Brothers' unique synthesis of gospel-inflected R&B harmonies, accompanied by good drumming and rhythm-based guitar playing, gives them a down-home rural feeling that no other touring roots music group can duplicate. Brothers Sherman and Wendell Holmes, along with drummer Popsy Dixon (the falsetto voice), are the group's core members. All three harmonize well together. The Holmes Brothers are so versatile, they're booked solid every summer at folk, blues, gospel, and jazz festivals, as they play a style of music that is a gumbo of church tunes, blues, country, funk, reggae, roots rock, and soul. Although people like Bo Diddley and especially Jimmy Reed were early influences on Wendell and Sherman, gospel music also played an important role in their respective upbringings. The Chicago Tribune call them “the undisputed masters of blues-based American roots music.”

Howie Beck