THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “NPR Music and West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s live radio show Mountain Stage just announced the new compilation album Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers, due April 19 through Oh Boy Records. The album will feature live appearances by various artists captured during Mountain Stage tapings over the years, including Rhiannon Giddens, Margo Price, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Indigo Girls, Tyler Childers and Birds of Chicago featuring Allison Russell — along with a cover of the David Bowie classic Space Oddity by Wilco that you can hear right now.
“As a gratefully, if not begrudgingly, Earth-bound band, it’s always an honor and a challenge to tackle any of David Bowie’s space-soaring arrangements,” Wilco said in a statment. “Striving to reach the heights of his freedom and talent is a wise goal for any band. We thank Mountain Stage for letting us give this song another home on Earth.”
Last year, Mountain Stage celebrated its 40th-anniversary season, becoming the second-longest running nationally distributed performance radio show, behind only the Grand Ole Opry. Since its inception in 1983, Mountain Stage has become an institution, standing as one of the most beloved and enduring programs in public radio history, broadcasting thousands of unforgettable live performances by rising stars and veteran legends alike.
Produced out of the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, Mountain Stage is heard weekly on over 250 public radio stations nationwide. Each two-hour episode of Mountain Stage is recorded in front of an audience and features a variety of musical styles, in genres ranging from traditional roots, folk, blues, and country, to indie rock, alternative, synth pop, world music, and beyond. Some of their most iconic guests over the years have included John Prine, The Band, Odetta, R.E.M., Angélique Kidjo, Phish, Pops and Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Alison Krauss, Townes Van Zandt, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Miriam Makeba, Dr. John, Buddy Guy and Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
“Mountain Stage has always been about our guests,” says founder and original host Larry Groce. “Our only purpose has been to showcase their incredible talent. We’ve heard a lot in 40 years and these songs are just a few of the treasures from our archives that we want to share with the world. When we got the chance to work with Oh Boy Records on this project, we jumped at it. John Prine is an American music icon who set the bar for performing songwriters like the ones in this collection. There’s a lot of fun here but there’s also a lot of insight as to what life is all about.”
Live From Mountain Stage: Outlaws & Outliers Track List
1 | Wilco – Space Oddity (4:31)
2 | Watchhouse – The Wolves (3:45)
3 | Molly Tuttle – You Didn’t Call My Name (4:07)
4 | Tyler Childers – Going Home (4:21)
5 | Lucinda Williams – Joy (5:01)
6 | Eric Church – Sinners Like Me (3:59)
7 | Margo Price – Hurtin’ (On The Bottle) (4:10)
8 | Gillian Welch And David Rawlings – One More Dollar (4:24)
9 | Birds of Chicago – Lodestar (5:31)
10 | Kathy Mattea – Red-Winged Blackbird (3:14)
11 | Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine (4:14)
12 | John Prine – Souvenirs (3:45)
13 | Steve Earle – You Know the Rest (2:29)
14 | Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn – What’cha Gonna Do (3:25)
15 | Sierra Ferrell – I’d Do It Again (3:25)
16 | Tim O’Brien – Cup of Sugar (3:35)
17 | Rhiannon Giddens – Black Is the Color (5:22)
18 | Alison Krauss – Let Me Touch You For A While (3:16)
19 | James McMurtry – Canola Fields (4:29)
20 | Jason Isbell – Traveling Alone (4:48)
21 | Sam Baker – Isn’t Love Great (2:58)
