Mountain Stage Song of the Week

On this West Virginia Morning, we explore how some transgender families celebrate Father’s Day, we hear a story from this week’s Inside Appalachia podcast featuring craft breweries, and we listen to this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

Our Song of the Week comes from acclaimed Nashville singer and songwriter Kim Richey, along with her band and San Francisco's Chuck Prophet, who was a guest on this episode and also appears on Richey's new album "Edgeland."

On this West Virginia Morning, we explore breastfeeding, we hear the latest from the statehouse, and we bring you this week’s Mountain Stage “Song of the Week.”

The seeds of our Song of the Week were sown from a tune that Los Angeles area musician Joachim Cooder would sing to his houseplant, called a Fuchsia Machu Picchu.

On this West Virginia Morning, Jeremy Farley is a self-taught expert on Appalachian storytelling.  He grew up in Wythe County, Virginia, and is the founder of Appalachian Magazine. Jeremy is also one of 10 new reporters with the Folkways Reporting Corps. Inside Appalachia host, Jessica Lilly, recently sat down with Jeremy to talk about Appalachian Magazine, and his new position on the team. We hear part of that conversation.

Our Song of the Week is a modern-day blues original by the incomparable Adia Victoria.

On this West Virginia Morning, Greensboro is a small town in southern Pennsylvania, just across the West Virginia border. It sits on the banks of the Monongahela river, surrounded by small hills and patches of trees.

Over the years the town has weathered boom and busts of a pottery industry, river trade, and coal.  Lately, it’s been more bust than boom.

But now, some artists are trying to stimulate the local economy using what they know best: creativity. Our folklife reporter Caitlin Tan visited the Greensboro Art Cooperative to find out more.

Our Song of the Week is a fan-favorite from Colorado's The Devil Makes Three.

This week's broadcast of "Mountain Stage" once again welcomes special guest-host Kathy Mattea, and includes an awe-inspiring set from New England quartet Darlingside.

On this West Virginia Morning, there’s only one high school in Preston County. But there used to be many, and the sports rivalry and team spirit at each school were strong.

Former students from the original schools banded together to create the Preston County Sports Museum, to help memorialize the sports league of years past. It’s the only one of its kind in the state.

Inside Appalachia folklife reporter Caitlin Tan visited the museum and spoke with a brother and sister who graduated from one of the schools in the 1950s.

Morgantown, West Virginia native Charles Wesley Godwin's  song "Coal Country" reminds us that the commodity's impact reaches far beyond Appalachia, broadening the definition of what many think of as "Coal Country."

On this West Virginia Morning, science can be a hard subject to understand, especially upper-level higher-ed science courses. A professor in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle is creatively cracking the code to help his students understand tricky topics. Corey Knollinger has more.

Our Song of the Week is from pop-songsmith Matt Nathanson, who expertly combines the heartfelt and the humorous, in his song "Bill Murray."

On this West Virginia Morning, reporters with Marketplace spent more than a year in central Appalachia. They were investigating how the opioid epidemic has changed as law enforcement began cracking down on prescription drugs. The series is part of a podcast called “The Uncertain Hour”. West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Trey Kay, host of Us and Them, recently spoke with producer Caitlin Esch. They talked about how it’s difficult to fight a drug epidemic through law enforcement alone.

This week's Song of the Week is by Americana trio The Lone Bellow.

This performance by jazz and blues vocalist Catherine Russell comes from a 2006 Mountain Stage show where she put her special touch on "New Speedway Boogie," a song written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, first popularized by The Grateful Dead.

Award-winning bluegrass group Balsam Range made their first appearance on Mountain Stage earlier this year with songs from their newly released album "Aeonic".

John Gorka has been a regular guest on Mountain Stage since his first visit in 1989. He has our Song of the Week with "Tattooed," from his latest album "True In Time," accompanied by the Mountain Stage Band.

Songwriter James McMurtry is highly admired by listeners and peers alike for his astute observations and ability to develop characters while painting scenery with just a few, well-chosen words. This week's Song of the Week is McMurtry's "State of the Union," which depicts a family's inner-conflicts, long-standing grudges and stubborn optimism. 

"We're all in the family/The Cursed and the Blessed/It's the State of the Union I guess."

On this West Virginia Morning, it’s not every day you meet someone who’s turned their hobby into their livelihood, and that they still pursue it with passion.

But Jane Gilchrist was that person. She was a hand weaver in Harrison County who turned her love of fabrics into a business. She was able to preserve a craft that hadn’t been a necessity since the pioneer days in Appalachia.

This week singer-songwriter Mark Cline Bates makes his second appearance on Mountain Stage with songs from his upcoming album, "King Of The Crows." In our Song of the Week, "Ginger," Bates weaves a heart-wrenching tale about aging, reflection, regret and loss.

Fayetteville, West Virginia's Andrew Adkins is renowned for his honest and heartfelt songwriting. His  fourth solo album, "Who I Am," was produced by Mountain Stage band leader Ron Sowell.

North Carolina's Mandolin Orange have been guests on Mountain Stage four times since 2013. Their latest album, Tides of a Teardrop, was released shortly after their most recent appearance, and it landed at the top of four different Billboard Music Charts. 

On this A bill to modify West Virginia’s foster care system – House Bill 2010 – would transition the system to a managed care model. The issue has sparked debate at the statehouse and the state. On last night’s episode of “The Legislature Today,” Health Reporter Kara Lofton brought both sides of the issue together to have a discussion about the bill and ways to meet in the middle.

A brand new season of Mountain Stage with Larry Groce kicks off this weekend as we celebrate our 35th Anniversary.

Ranky Tanky are a South Carolina based band that specializes in "Gullah" music- a style born out of the coastal region and influenced by West African traditions. Here's the band's take on the American folk song, "O Death," for our Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

This week's Song of the Week is from Kenny White, a highly regarded session musician, producer, songwriter and pianist.

Singer Joan Osborne has made eight appearances on Mountain Stage. In her most recent performance, she brought songs from her new collection called "Songs of Bob Dylan."

Poet, performer, visual artist and rock-and-roll icon Patti Smith joins us on this week's  encore broadcast of Mountain Stage.

Here she performs "People Have The Power," the driving anthem co-written with her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith, a native of Lincoln County, W.Va. who was posthumously inducted into the WV Music Hall of Fame the evening prior to this performance.

Dailey & Vincent's song "More Than a Name on a Wall" is what Larry Groce calls "one of the most patriotic songs ever performed on Mountain Stage." A beloved favorite for long time fans of Dailey & Vincent, "More Than a Name on a Wall" is for those who have lost loved ones who "died for God and Country in a place so far away."