ALERT (03/07/2024): Due to a lightning strike, WVPB TV will be off the air in the Bethany/Wheeling area until new parts arrive. Thank you for your patience.
Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability. No one is there to watch over things. Local news also provides a sense of cohesion and identity for a community. What happens when it’s gone? This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Listen: Steve Earle & The Dukes Have The Mountain Stage Song Of The Week
Listen
Share this Article
Our artistic director and co-founder Larry Groce is back at the host microphone for this week’s encore broadcast featuring live sets from seasoned vets and emerging talents alike.
We’re treated to a set of tunes from Steve Earle & the Dukes’ New West Records release Ghosts of West Virginia, an album of songs that Steve Earle created for the play Coal Country.The production recently wrapped up a return performance off-broadway and traveled to West Virginia for a performance in June 2022.
Earle and his band were previously in West Virginia to perform the songs on Mountain Stage in 2021, including our Song of the Week, “Union, God, and Country.”
Steve Earle-Union God And Country live on Mountain Stage
Steve Earle & the Dukes perform "Union, God, and Country" live on Mountain Stage in August 2021. Hear this show starting October 1 on our NPR affiliates.
On this week’s episode, we are also treated to exciting and engaging performances from North Carolina Appalachian roots/blues man Malcolm Holcombe, West Virginia born singer and songwriter John R. Miller performs songs from his Rounder Records debut Depreciated, and Nashville-based artist Rachel Baiman performs songs from her album Cycles, along with a seasoned band of accompanists.
Plus, we hear more songs from Appalachia by Mary Hott, who is joined by Charleston, West Virginia mainstays The Carpenter Ants, and members of the Mountain Stage Band.
1 of 6 — John R Miller, live on Mountain Stage
BRIAN BLAUSER brianphoto@yah
2 of 6 — Malcolm Holcombe live on Mountain Stage
BRIAN BLAUSER brianphoto@yah
3 of 6 — Mary Hott live on Mountain Stage
BRIAN BLAUSER brianphoto@yah
4 of 6 — Rachel Baiman Band live on Mountain Stage
BRIAN BLAUSER brianphoto@yah
5 of 6 — Steve Earle and the Dukes live on Mountain Stage
Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage
6 of 6 — Larry Groce leads our guest artists in a finale song to close the show.
Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability. No one is there to watch over things. Local news also provides a sense of cohesion and identity for a community. What happens when it’s gone? This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Coles and Theresa “Red” Terry have been fighting over the Mountain Valley Pipeline nearly since it was first proposed in 2014. The project connects natural gas terminals in Virginia and West Virginia with a 303-mile pipeline that stretches across some of Appalachia’s most rugged terrain. Almost immediately after construction began, protestors tried to block it by setting up and living in platforms in trees along the route.
Here’s a story about a unicorn. Well, it’s really a story about an artist in Appalachia who lost her mojo. And it’s about the woman who helped her get her mojo back. With the help of the unicorn.
On this West Virginia Morning, shortly after the first COVID-19 case hit West Virginia four years ago, our way of simple day-to-day living drastically changed. Many of those alterations dealt with how we went shopping. Randy Yohe spoke with West Virginia Retailers Association President Bridget Lambert on COVID-19’s effect on retail – and how our shopping lives have forever been changed.