This episode will air Nov. 17, 2023 on NPR.
Mountain Stage has been the home of live music on public radio for 40 years. Each
two-hour episode, produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, hosted by West
Virginia native and Grammy Award-winner Kathy Mattea and distributed by NPR
Music, can be heard weekly on more than 280 stations across America and around
the world. Mountain Stage features performances from seasoned legends and emerging
stars in genres ranging from folk, blues and country to indie rock, synth pop,
world music, alternative and beyond. Each episode is recorded before a live audience
and typically features performances by five artists. “Music and hospitality – that’s
what it’s all about,” Mattea told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “And those
two things? That’s West Virginia right there.”
SCHEDULED TO PERFORM:
VINCE HERMAN BAND
Vince Herman is a guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as one of the founding
members of Leftover Salmon. He recorded is first solo album, "Enjoy the Ride,"
which happens to be a country album in 2022. Herman told Rolling Stone that he
"always kind of considered Leftover Salmon to be a country band, in the sense of
like the Grateful Dead is a country band." Herman says this solo album digs deep
into the Americana on which country music was built.
ROY BOOK BINDER
Roy Book Binder has the goods: the original, the bare-knuckle, the low-down … blues.
Who can say they were friends with the Rev. Gary Davis, Pink Anderson and Robert
Lockwood? And toured with Arthur Big Boy Crudup, Hot Tuna, JJ Cale & Bonnie
Raitt? Roy can. He has the stories, the licks and the mystery of timeless music
in his fingers. He’s been featured on a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) special
and interviewed by Terry Gross on “Fresh Air.” He’s also a regular at Fur Peace
Ranch, where he teaches along with Jorma Kaukonen. Roy is a one-man blues-fest.
roybookbinder.com
TEDDY THOMPSON & JENNI MULDAUR
British singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson and New York folk-rock artist Jenni Muldaur
both grew up decades and hundred of miles from when and where the great country
duets of 1960s and '70s were recorded. Yet the poetry and hard luck humor
in these songs of euphoric, put-a-ring-on-it love and private-tears heartbreak
spoke to them. Now, Thompson and Muldaur are sharing this music with new generations
of fans with their achingly beautiful and faithfully-recorded album, "Once More:
Teddy Thompson & Jenni Muldaur Sing The Great Country Duets" (Sun Records)
released this month. Thompson is the son of folk-rock legends Richard and Linda
Thompson and has six albums to his credit. Muldaur, daughter of Maria Muldaur (songwriter,
vocal arranger and producer), is one of the most sought-after backup singers, having
worked with Eric Clapton, Linda Thompson, John Cale and others.
sunrecords.com
KAT WRIGHT
Kat Wright, whose voice is both sultry and dynamic, delicate yet powerful; gritty
but highly emotive and nuanced, has been described as “a young Bonnie Raitt meets
Amy Winehouse.” There’s soul flowing in and out of her rock ‘n’ roll with a serpentine
seduction. Some of soul music’s sweet, grand dames belt, shout, seethe and succumb,
while Wright sings gently like a heartache’s apology. It’s funky in spots and beautiful
all over. And it hurts a little … like it should.
LARRY & JOE
Currently based in the Triangle of North Carolina, Larry Bellorín and Joe Troop are
versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that
music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian
folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, guitar, maracas and whatever else they
decide to throw in the van. The program they offer features a distinct blend of
their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways
that music and social movements coalesce.
