West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Mountain Stage with Larry Groce
When
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Where
WVU Creative Arts Center
Scheduled to appear:
Fountains of Wayne
Named for a lawn ornament store in Wayne, NJ, the New York City-based Fountains of Wayne is anchored by the singer/songwriter duo of Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood. Sharing a mutual affection for smart, melodic British pop the group was founded in 1996 and released its self-titled debut on Atlantic Records the same year. Schlesinger penned the Grammy-nominated title theme for the Tom Hanks’ rock ‘n’ roll film That Thing You Do!. Schlesinger also co-wrote several songs for the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack and produced albums for the Verve Pipe, David Mead and They Might Be Giants. The band’s first Top 40 song, “Stacy’s Mom,” was from 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers. Fountains of Wayne released Traffic and Weather on Virgin Records. Schlesinger and David Javerbaum, executive producer of The Daily Show, co-wrote holiday-themed songs for “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All,” a one-hour musical special on Comedy Central. Javerbaum and Schlesinger also collaborated on the Broadway musical Cry-Baby, which received four Tony nominations including Best Musical and Best Score.
Cowboy Junkies
Formed in Toronto in 1985, the Cowboy Junkies is still comprised of its four original members: Margo, Michael and Peter Timmins, and longtime friend Alan Anton. After exploding on to the alternative scene with 1988's stark Trinity Sessions"—recorded in an abandoned church with one microphone for about $250—the Cowboy Junkies earned a solid niche in both the college and adult markets. The combination of Margo’s haunting vocals and brother/guitarist Michael’s ethereal songwriting helped define their soaring “Canadian sound.” The group has collaborated with U.S. singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen and, more recently, visual artist Enrique Martinez Celaya who produced a commemorative booklet for 2006's retrospective Cowboy Junkies XX. In 2007, the band released At the End of Paths Taken, a concept record of songs about “family and all of the complex relationships that are suggested by the word.”
Clarence Bucaro
Recorded in two intense days, Clarence Bucaro’s second release, ’Til Spring, reveals an introspective singer/songwriter in the tradition of Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell with soulful touches gleaned from listening to Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. A recent review in The New York Times compared Bucaro’s sound to “late-1960s Van Morrison.” A Cleveland native and the son of a classical music buff who worked as a deejay at a country station, Bucaro became serious about his music while studying political science and natural resources at Ohio State—and immersing himself in American roots music.
Tom Wilson dba Lee Harvey Osmond
After playing with Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Canadian singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Wilson’s latest project, Lee Harvey Osmond, takes folk music in a dark direction. The band’s release, A Quiet Evil, includes a cover of Cowboy Junkie Michael Timmins’ “Angels in the Wilderness.”
Ana Egge
Described as “a folk Nina Simone” by Lucinda Williams, Ana Egge was raised by “motorcycle-riding hippie farmers” in North Dakota. Now based in Brooklyn, she has appeared on releases by Ron Sexsmith and Eliza Gilkyson. Her vocal style has drawn comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt, and a review in USA Today said “Ana can write and sing rings around” her contemporaries. Her sixth release is titled Road To My Love.