THROUGH THE LENS: Mountain Stage Celebrates 40 Years of Roots Music

Mountain Stage’s 40th year of presenting one of a kind performances before a live audience to listeners and viewers around the world was a momentous one. The show traveled to four different venues within its home state of West Virginia (Morgantown, Clarksburg, Huntington, and Clarksburg), and three out of state (Walnut Creek, California, Athens Ohio, and Franklin, Tennessee). There was also an AMERICANAFEST showcase in Nashville.

All in all, there were 22 live shows, 107 performers, and audience members from 39 states at its home on the grounds of the State Capitol in Charleston. While the show is taped for later listening on 260 NPR stations around the country and via podcasts, home shows could be viewed live on the internet around the world. 

The cool thing about watching Mountain Stage via the web, or of course attending the show in person, is you get to see the entire show, which can often run up to three hours instead of the edited two-hour version for later broadcast. Plus, you get to see what many feel is the show’s highlight, the finale song where most, if not all, the performers let down their hair, stretch out and join in the communal spirit that is live music. Like the finale songs themselves, no two performances are alike. Each leaves the audience with a warm, uplifting feeling.

Since host Kathy Mattea also has a touring schedule, guest hosts fill in for some shows. Last year West Virginia-native Conor Knighton (a correspondent for the CBS Sunday Morning television show) made a return visit, and bluegrass musician David Mayfield emceed several shows. Having appeared on the show numerous times — including 2024 — as a performer Mayfield is no stranger to the Mountain Stage audience. With a quick wit and an outrageous sense of humor, the Ohio-native has endeared himself to Mountain Stage fans, of which I am certainly one.   

It had been some 25 years since the last Mountain Stage compilation album, as well as albums by individual artists such as Bill Monroe, Jesse Winchester, and Laura Nyro, and an all star tribute to John Hartford. But in April the show pulled out all the stops to celebrate its 40th anniversary when it partnered with Oh Boy Records to issue a 21 track double album, Live From Mountain Stage – Outlaws & Outliers. The album features John Prine, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jason Isbell, Rhiannon Giddens, Alison Krauss, Tyler Childers, Sierra Ferrell, and 14 others. It hit #1 on the Alternative Country Specialty Chart, #6 on Billboard’s Compilation Album Chart, and #30 on the Americana Music Association Albums Chart. Not too shabby.

Click on any photo below to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow. All photos were taken in Charleston, West Virginia unless otherwise noted.