Adam Harris Published

WATCH LIVE: Mountain Stage with Kathy Mattea featuring Josh Ritter, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, and more

JOSH RITTER

This Sunday we are kicking off our 2022 live-show season with a compelling lineup of veteran Mountain Stage guests along with some fresh faces performing on the show for their very first time.

This show is currently SOLD OUT at 50% capacity, however tickets often become available on show-day. Anyone who wishes to attend the live show at the Culture Center Theater should show up around 5 p.m. when the lobby doors open to inquire about available tickets. We ask that in-person attendees remain masked throughout the duration of the performance and sincerely appreciate everyone’s cooperation in keeping each other safe.

We are once again offering a live stream for fans that may not be able to make it. You can watch from wherever you are at MountainStage.org or LiveSessions.NPR.org when the show streams live Sunday night at 7 p.m. EST. This free stream is provided by the video production department at WVPB and our colleagues at NPR Music’s LiveSessions, and anyone who wishes to support the show can purchase a donation-based “Pay What you Wish” Ticket via Eventbrite.

This Sunday host Kathy Mattea will welcome the prolific songwriting and prose of Josh Ritter, Americana troubadour Drew Holcomb and his band The Neighbors, melancholy blues-tinged folk of singer-songwriter Jake Xerxes Fussell, Appalachian folk-pop artist Dori Freeman, and the ethereal sounds of neo-folk indie rock duo Oshima Brothers.

Below is a quick rundown of what you can expect from each one of these exciting guests.

“On the Water”- Josh Ritter

Josh Ritter’s latest studio album “Fever Breaks” (2019) was produced by Jason Isbell, who said “Josh’s music is a perfect document of these times.” He also released another novel, “The Glorious Goddamn of It All,” described as “A lyrical, sweeping novel about a young boy’s coming-of-age during the last days of the lumberjacks.”

“Without a Light” – Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors have always charged listeners’ hearts and minds while inspiring them to think, feel, dance, and love. Their latest single “Without a Light” is no exception. Grab ahold of your heartstrings and prepare to have them pulled.

“Love Farewell” – Jake Xerxes Fussell

North Carolina-based singer, guitarist, and folksong interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs, a practice which he approaches with a refreshingly unfussy lack of nostalgia and preciousness. By recontextualizing ancient vernacular songs and sources of the American South, he allows them to breathe and speak for themselves and for himself.

“The Storm” – Dori Freeman

Dori Freeman’s inimitable signature sound is in peak form on her fourth studio album, Ten Thou-sand Roses. Raised among a family of musicians in the Blue Ridge Mountains and hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the most authentic vocalists to emerge from the hills of southwestern Virginia in recent years,” she’s a bonafide Appalachian artist, while simultaneously shattering the archetype by empowering the characters in her songs with personal strength and homegrown wisdom. Through this process, she both defies and expands notions of what it means to be from the region.

“Burning Earth” -Oshima Brothers

Maine-based indie duo Oshima Brothers’ have been creating music together since childhood. The brothers blend songs from the heart with blood harmonies to produce a “roots-based pop sound that is infectious.” (NPR) On stage, Sean and Jamie offer lush vocals, live looping, foot percussion, electric and acoustic guitars, vintage keyboard and bass – often all at once.