Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers
In more than 40 years of radio broadcasts, Mountain Stage has shown that American roots music can both be constantly evolving and timeless. The product of West Virginia Public Broadcasting (and distributed by NPR Music), the show’s roster of artists could double as an Americana Highways playlist – always innovative, but not reinventing the wheel so much as consistently pushing sound (and subject matter) forward. To celebrate four decades of those weekly radio broadcasts, Oh Boy Records, the home of John Prine’s small stable of excellent artists, is releasing Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers, a collection of 21 of the program’s core artists and outstanding performances.
The first single released from Live On Mountain Stage comes from a band that has its origin in the early days of alt-country, but the song they chose stretches further back than the radio show itself. Making an appearance just past a month after the death of David Bowie, Wilco elected to perform an appropriately understated cover of “Space Oddity,” with Jeff Tweedy wisely not choosing to ape Bowie’s dramatic vocals, instead dialing it down a bit, using his acoustic guitar and percussion from Glenn Kotche to fill in the gaps, and allowing the song to keep its spacey, wonder-filled vibe intact.
Most of the songs on Live On Mountain Stage are originals, delivered by the giants of Americana. Lucinda Williams, days off releasing her career altering Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, issues a fiery version of “Joy,” full of vitriol and spiky guitars. James McMurtry’s best late-era song, “Canola Fields,” reminds us advanced-middle-aged folks how much, well, joy is still left. And Steve Earle arrives with just his guitar, his harmonica and a set of corrupted tall tales in “You Know the Rest.”
The true fun of Live On Mountain Stage, though, is in its prescience. Molly Tuttle shows up, with only one Americana Award (at the time) for best instrumentalist (and before her debut album), and wows the crowd with her flatpicking and her heartbroken voice on “You Didn’t Call My Name.” We hear Tyler Childers a full two years before Purgatory is released, with a rollicking “Going Home” that more than hints at the force he’s about to become. Sierra Ferrell and her mandolin bust out “I’d Do It Again” just as we’re getting to know her during the pandemic. And, on the collection’s most interesting sequencing, a 1995, new-to-us Gillian Welch and David Rawlings deliver a lovely, plaintive “One More Dollar,” followed by Birds of Chicago introducing us to Allison Russell and partner JT Nero (performing “Lodestar”) before Russell became one of the most recognizable (and important) people in Nashville. Yes, it’s seemingly easy to release these performances now, but Mountain Stage had to book these folks when they were relative unknowns. To his eternal credit, original host and artistic director Larry Groce created an environment that encouraged an ear for talent over an eye for big names.
As one might expect in our preferred corner of the music world, listeners can’t leave the Mountain Stage without having their hearts broken a couple of times. Jason Isbell and his 400 Unit show up in 2013, fresh off the release on his seminal album Southeastern, to play the gorgeous “Traveling Alone” featuring Amanda Shires on fiddle and backing vocals, a pairing that just…hits different in 2024. And, of course, John Prine is here, dedicating “Souvenirs” to his late friend, Steve Goodman. As Prine catalogs a lifetime’s worth of mental tchotchkes, we’re reminded of all the performers (and friends) we’ve lost over the past 40 years. But, because of shows like Mountain Stage, we’ve plenty of memories left to make.
Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers was executive produced by Larry Groce, Marc Dottore and Michael Krumper. Artists on the album include Wilco, Watchhouse, Molly Tuttle, Tyler Childers, Lucinda Williams, Eric Church, Margo Price, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Birds of Chicago, Kathy Mattea, The Indigo Girls, John Prine, Steve Earle, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Sierra Ferrell, Tim O’Brien, Rhiannon Giddens, Alison Krauss, James McMurty, Jason Isbell, and Sam Baker.
Go here to order Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers (out April 19): https://ohboy.com/products/pre-order-live-from-mountain-stage-outlaws-outliers-colored-lp-oh-boy-records
Go here to listen to and explore Mountain Stage: https://mountainstage.org/
https://orcd.co/outlawsandoutliers