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Harpers Ferry is a historic West Virginia city and international tourist hub. But four years ago the national park and surrounding town were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joel Cummins of Umphrey's McGee Talks New Woodlands Festival, Piano Workouts & Debussy
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“It’s a place that’s kind of our second home at this point.” That’s what pianist Joel Cummins says about Charleston, SC, the location of a new music festival, the Woodlands Festival. The event is being put together by Joel’s band, Umphrey’s McGee themselves, for its inagural run this November 7th, 8th and 9th. He says the location looks to be on a beautiful 6000-acre nature preserve, and, says talent will abound with a lineup that has the likes of Big Something, The Empire Strikes Brass, Zach Deputy, and of course, Umphrey’s McGee. You can still find tickets, including single-day passes here.
Joel is clearly passionate about Charleston and the Woodlands festival as you’ll hear in the interview. He also discusses his love of Claude Debussy piano pieces (as well as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin), which he often features on his solo piano shows. “I think it’s just so important to pass that on to listeners,” he says. Joel also discusses how Impressionist music like Debussy’s that fits into the what the Umphrey’s sound is. Umphrey’s even quotes Mozart and Grieg in their songs “Der Bluten Kat” and “Thin Air” respectively as discussed below.
Joel also talks about his new book, The Realist’s Guide to a Successful Music Career, which is about… a realist’s guide to a successful music career. It features discussions with some of the greats of music: Huey Lewis, Susan Tedeschi, Victor Wooten, Ivan Neville, Taylor Hicks, Chuck Leavell (music director for the Rolling Stones), and more. You can purchase a copy online here. He’s also a pretty cool guy, so check out the interview below…
On this West Virginia Morning, Erika Howsare is the author of The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild Neighbors, a book that takes some of the mystery out of the white tail deer that have lived on the edge of humanity for a very long time.
On this West Virginia Morning, it was a shock when author, musician and West Virginia University professor Travis Stimeling died abruptly in November. They were 43. Folkways Reporter Zack Harold collected remembrances from colleagues, former students and friends. He shared them recently on Inside Appalachia.
In walked Travis Stimeling. Burly and ebullient, Stimeling grew up playing guitar in church as a child in Buckhannon, West Virginia, then went on to study trombone in college. That eventually led to a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a teaching gig at Millikin University in Illinois.
On this West Virginia Morning, our state Senate reporter Briana Heaney sat down with Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, on The Legislature Today to discuss where things stand in the legislative process and how that compares to what they planned to do at the beginning of the session.