Buckhannon, WV – Mountain Stage w/ Larry Groce,” the internationally distributed live performance radio program returns to the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WVa,   Sunday, April 7 for a performance at the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts. General admission tickets for the event will be $30 in advance. A limited number of student tickets will be available on campus for $20. More details are below.
All tickets will be on sale Friday, February 1 at 10am.

The two-hour radio program showcases five guest artists on each episode and records the show for later distribution to 130 NPR stations nationwide and overseas via the Voice of America satellite system. Three guest artists have already been confirmed for April 7, with additional guests to be announced.

On April 7 Mountain Stage will feature two of the world’s most highly regarded banjo players, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, in a very rare duo performance. Mountain Stage is one of only two scheduled performances in the United States before the duo embarks on a European tour later in the month.

Throughout their years together, Fleck and Washburn have always made music, whether for their own pleasure, during a year of touring with the Sparrow Quartet or other live performances. After a somewhat impromptu festival performance, the duo realized they had a strong canon of songs they could perform together. Both have performed on Mountain Stage in various different musical incarnations, but this will be their first as a duo.

Nashville-based modern bluegrass band The SteelDrivers will also perform. The group’s third release, “Hammer Down,” features the band’s unparalleled intensity, vocal strength, peerless harmony and instrumental virtuosity. This will be the group’s third appearance on Mountain Stage.

The third act is up-and-coming string band The Stray Birds, whose self-titled album was included on a list of “Best Folk & Americana Albums of 2012” by NPR Music.

Two more guest artists will be added to the bill in the coming weeks.

Mountain Stage is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting. This episode will be scheduled for later distribution by NPR in spring 2013.

 Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn - This banjo duo pairs Bela Fleck - regarded as the world’s premier proponent of the instrument - with adventurous traditionalist, singer/banjoist Abigail Washburn. Fleck has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical and geographical maps. Meanwhile, Washburn’s music ranges from her 2005, bi-lingual solo release, “Song of the Traveling Daughter,” and the “chamber roots” sound of the Sparrow Quartet (which often included Fleck) to the rhythms, sounds and stories of “Afterquake,” her fundraiser CD for the Sichuan earthquake victims. Long taken with Chinese culture, Washburn is fluent in Mandarin and has become something of a cultural ambassador. In conjunction 2011's “City of Refuge,” she completed a month-long tour of China’s Silk Road. Along with 24 other creative thinkers worldwide, Washburn was named a TED fellow and gave a talk at the 2012 TED Convention in Long Beach about building US-China relations through music. 

SteelDrivers - This supergroup of seasoned, alt-country Nashville veterans blend a love of bluegrass with a fresh, soulful spirit. With the release of its 2008 debut, the group quickly amassed an impressive lineup of fans including Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller. After its 2010 release, “Reckless” - which was produced by Luke Wooten - the SteelDrivers changed personnel and issued “Hammer Down” in 2013.

The Stray Birds - Drawing on the rich tradition of American folk music, The Stray Birds’ music features strong harmonies and songwriting. Hailing from Lancaster, PA, the trio is comprised of singer/songwriters Maya de Vitry and Oliver Craven, and bassist Charles Muench. De Vitry attended both University of North Carolina - Asheville and Berklee College of Music. She has since taken 4th place in the 2011 Telluride Troubadour Competition and 3rd place in the BMI/John Lennon Scholarship Awards. Growing up, the highlight of each year was the family's annual trip to West Virginia's Appalachian String Band Music Festival. After taking classical violin lessons, Craven began playing fiddle alongside his parents in the Craven Family Band. Prior to joining The Stray Birds, he toured with Americana artist Adrienne Young. Muench was inspired by his bass-playing father, earned a degree in Music Education from West Chester University and cut his teeth in weekly bluegrass picking sessions in the woodshed of a nearby horse farm. The group’s self-titled debut was issued in 2012.

Glen Phillips - Singer/songwriter Glen Phillips is best known for his work with the group Toad the Wet Sprocket - a group he co-founded when he was 14. The band signed with Columbia Records and charted a number of singles in the late-‘80s and early-‘90s. Following the group’s breakup in 1998, Phillips released his first solo effort in 2001. In 2004, he teamed up with Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, Sean Watkins and Chris Thile, and former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones for a project called “The Mutual Admiration Society.” Phillips released “Mr. Lemons” in 2006 and toured North American with a reunited Toad the Wet Sprocket. Next was the all-star Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) that featured Sean and Sara Watkins, Benmont Tench, Luke Bulla, Greg Leisz, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher. Following a collaboration with Garrison Starr (Plover) and work on the soundtrack of the film “Imagine That,” Phillips released “The Coyote Sessions” in 2012. The set featured songs he had played live but never recorded, and was recorded live, around a single microphone.

Houndmouth - From Indiana and newly signed to the Rough Trade label, this quartet plays electrified folk-rock with a heavy nod to The Band. According to Rolling Stone’s David Fricke who caught Houndmouth at SXSW: “The music is earthy melancholy with a rude garage-rock streak – the kind of garage where you find tractors and hoes.” 

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 For more information, including hi-res photos and interview requests, please contact Adam Harris, 304.556.4900.