transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Support for this podcast comes from Webroot, offering total protection for your digital life. Keep your online world safe from viruses, scams, identity theft and data breaches. Learn more and save 60% at webroot.com/npr. From NPR Music and produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support provided by Bailey Glasser. Welcome to Another Mountain Stage with our host, Kathy Matea.

Speaker 2:
[01:14] Thank you, thank you, thank you. Hello and welcome once again to the Mountain Stage, live performance radio from the Mountain State of West Virginia. I'm Kathy Mateja, and we are in beautiful Athens, Ohio this week. Yay! At Memorial Auditorium here at Ohio University as guests of Ohio Live and our friends at WOUB Public Media. We are so glad to be back in Athens and happy to have you here with us as well. This week, we are happy to welcome back the Virginia-based progressive roots band, The Steel Wheels. Yeah. We'll also welcome back a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist who makes lush pop songs that we know you'll love. Sam Weber is here. Later on in this hour, we'll hear an act from right here in this area, who's quickly building a fan base in the region with their bluesy and rock sound. This is the Rylee Bapst Band is here. And in just a little bit, we welcome back a power pop veteran of the DBs, also a high profile sideman and a wonderfully thoughtful songwriter himself. Mr. Peter Holsapple is back with us. But we're going to start the show with a singer, songwriter and band leader raised in Michigan, now based in Brooklyn, New York. She is steeped in the rich community of musicians that live and play in Brooklyn, and that has spawned some wide-ranging collaborations with various fiddlers, horn and woodwind sections, rhythm sections and Greek bazooka players, among others. Her influences include Greek music, Portuguese and Western classical and roots music. Her latest album is self-produced. It's called, It is Cyclical, Missing You, and all the songs were recorded live in one take. She's here to play solo for you tonight. Please welcome Lily Talmers.

Speaker 3:
[03:30] Thank you.

Speaker 4:
[03:31] Thank you.

Speaker 3:
[03:32] How are you doing? Wow. Nice. I'm so honored to get to start this beautiful show out for you. I thought it would be appropriate to play a song about meeting and the special thing that happens when you encounter someone and you know that it's fleeting and it might never happen. So I'm glad that we're, you and I are having this right now. The song is called I'm So Happy. Thank you. Next, I'll play a song about growing up in Michigan. I live on a coast now, but I feel like Michigan, there are lakes, so it seems like there's a coast sometimes, but often you sort of feel stuck in the middle, like you can't get out, you know? So this is a tune about feeling that way a little bit. But I still feel that way in New York, even though I'm on a coast, so I had a misperception about the cause. I'm always trying to write a song about swimming, because I just think it's a good thing to do. It unites us all. So that's what happened in the following song. It's called The Big Idea, and it's, I think, the biggest idea that I have. For you, here, now. Big Idea. And I'll just say, it is an open question. If you know what the hell the big idea is, I'm really soliciting responses. You can let me know, find me somewhere. I found this guitar in Philly yesterday, and I spiritually united with it in a guitar shop owned by a guy named Bob. And Bob was so nice that I gave him an offer that was $300 less than what was initially asked for. And then he gave me an offer that was $50 less than that. So I think I'm going to move to Philly, because that's how I want to be treated all the time. I gave him the $50 anyway and told him to buy a space heater because he says he gets chilly a lot. So hopefully he's doing well. I'm going to play a song. This will be my last song. It's been so lovely to meet you and hang out with you a little bit. You're going to be so thrilled at all the people coming up. This soon is also about being in Michigan and living with a lot of ice and frozenness. It's nice that this seems like one of the first days of spring. So we're heading out of what I'm describing, which is like an eternal winter. So yeah, we'll get through it together and then we'll be onto greener pasture. Thank you so much. I'm Lila Thomas. I'm so grateful to have played for you.

Speaker 2:
[21:35] Yes, sir. We were all sitting backstage. You could hear a pin drop back there. It was just like we were waiting for every word. What's she gonna say next? Where are we going next? In 2024, Lily won the New Folk Competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. That's not a small thing. She's also opened for Tommy Emmanuel, the Brother Brothers and Anna Thivel, among many others. Her latest album is self-produced. It's called It Is Cyclical, Missing You. That was Lily Talmers. Well, we've invited our friend, Brittany McGuire, to do a song for us tonight. She'll be singing along with The Mountain Stage Band. Brittany lives in Charleston, West Virginia, and she's appeared on our show with the Parachute Brigade and Woodbine, which is the band she leads. She'll be joined by our great Mountain Stage Band tonight. That's Ron Sol, the leader of the band on acoustic guitar. Michael Lipton is on electric guitar. Bob Thompson is over at the piano. Steve Hill is playing bass. And Ahmed Solomon is our drummer. Yes, you can clap for them. Brittany's gonna sing an original song for us tonight. It's called Full Moon. Please welcome Brittany McGuire.

Speaker 5:
[23:23] Scorpio.

Speaker 2:
[27:12] That was Brittany McGuire with Full Moon, a song she wrote herself. You're listening to Mountain Stage, live performance radio from the Mountain State of West Virginia. Remember, if you missed part of Mountain Stage or you want to hear something again, you can visit the Podcast section of mountainstage.org. Each podcast includes songs not heard on the radio and the complete finale song. If you enjoy the show, take a moment to subscribe and leave a review wherever it is that you listen. Our next guest is an icon of indie pop rock. He is a founding member of the DBs, and he's also released nine albums on his own, and with his partner in the DBs, Chris Stamey. He was an auxiliary band member with REM for years, including their very famous around here performance on Mountain Stage in 1991. He also toured with Hootie and the Blowfish as an auxiliary member for over 20 years, and then he joined the Continental Drifters. His latest solo album is called The Face of 68. It's a continuation of his legacy of high-quality songwriting and electric guitar playing. Produced by famed Ohio-based producer Don Dixon. Please welcome back to the Mountain Stage. This is his sixth time on the show and his first time playing solo. Please welcome Peter Holsapple.

Speaker 6:
[34:05] Thank you so much, it's really great to be back at Mountain Stage. As Cathy said, it's the sixth performance that I've gotten to be a part of. And every one of them has been remarkable and fun. And this time, I get to do it solo, and I get to do it with the lovely members of the Mountain Stage Band, who have been lovely. They did their homework really well. They probably know my songs better than I do, which we're going to see here in just a second with this one. This is another song. I'm going to do a bunch of songs from the new record, The Face of 68, because I only put out solo records every 17 years or so. Or, you know, it just seems like it was the right time to put it out. So this is a song from the record. It's a true story. It's called One for the Book.

Speaker 4:
[37:57] Oh, take it again, Michael.

Speaker 6:
[40:11] Thank you. Any record collectors in the audience? No, I don't mean you still have your copy of Rumors from College. I mean, you know, like, the full declination of everybody that was ever in the Savoy Brown Blues Band, all the records that didn't come out that Prince recorded, you know, that sort of thing. So this is, if that's the case, which I assume it is, I'm going to do this one for you. And I do want to say, if there's any small children in the audience or people that are offended by four-letter words, this might be a good time to go use the bathroom, but it's called That Kind of Guy. We're gonna get our host out here to sing a song with me too. Boy, you know, you meet this famous star, and she says she's gonna sing on your song, and then you go, what, really? So I'm very excited about this. This is a, I don't write a lot of songs about my wife, and I should, but she's an incredibly talented person, and I wrote one song about when she rescued our kids from Katrina, and it had been a good long while since I've written anything, so I figured this was probably, it was probably the right time to do it, and so I done did it. This is called She and Me.

Speaker 2:
[48:57] Thank you, guys.

Speaker 4:
[49:02] Thank you so much.

Speaker 6:
[49:06] I'm going to do one more song, and then I'm going to turn the stage over, and over and over. This is a song by the DBs that we're going to do for you now.

Speaker 2:
[51:17] Thank you all. He has an online blog called, Does This Band Make Me Look Fat? His latest solo album is called The Face of 68, along with our Mountain Stage band, that was Peter Holsapple. We hope you'll take a look at our website, mountainstage.org. There you'll find links to our podcast, and you can follow us on social media and find tickets to our next live show. You can also find information about our next collaboration with Oh Boy Records called Fire on the Mountain Stage. Another double vinyl or two CD compilation featuring live tracks by the Derek Trucks Band, Grace Potter, and Widespread Panic, as well as rare gems from Leo Kotke and Mike Gordon and Colonel Bruce Hampton. Find out more about the release at mountainstage.org or ohboy.com. Our next guests are based right here in Athens. They blend blues, soul, and rock and roll into a sound that's both fresh and familiar. Rylee was a 17-year-old guitar phenom. He came to study here at OU, fell in love with songwriting, started playing the coffee houses around campus, and then somewhere along the way, he discovered John Mayer's combination of guitar playing and songwriting, and he saw his own path forward. He gathered some musician friends around him and started a band, and they have a new single just released as we record this show called Winter Blues. Please welcome for the first time to The Mountain Stage, the Rylee Bapst Band.

Speaker 5:
[53:24] What up, y'all? Thank you. Hey, those are a couple songs that are going to be on our album. Over there on the guitar is Landon Elliott. Makes County's Finest, Bobby Wheeler. Back there on the drums, Dom O'Corn. Over here on the keys, Zach Winkelman. My name is Rylee Bapst with the Rylee Bapst Band.

Speaker 2:
[67:38] We got one more for you.

Speaker 5:
[71:41] Hey, thank you all so much, thank you The Mountain Stage, we are the Rylee Bapst Band.

Speaker 2:
[72:04] All right, look for them playing around Athens and beyond. Their latest single is Winter Blues, and as he was saying, they'll be an album out soon. It's called Unprofessional, I hear. That was the Rylee Bapst Band. We'd like to say a special hello to you right now if you're listening over WMRA in Harrisonburg, Virginia, or over WOUB Public Media right here in Athens, Ohio. We are glad to have you listening, and we hope you can join us next week when we're back home in Charleston with Cyril Neville, Lowe's Straight Jackets with Deke Dickerson, Sons of Town Hall, and Amanda Pascali. Also, we wanted to say special thanks to everyone here at Ohio University, Ohio Live, and the staff here at Memorial Auditorium for their hard work and for making us feel so at home. Yeah. We first brought Mountain Stage to Athens in 2004, and we hope to keep coming back for many years to come. This is Kathy Matea, and you're listening to Mountain Stage, live performance radio from the Mountain State of West Virginia. Mountain Stage is supported in part by this station and by West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Hotel accommodations for Mountain Stage guests are provided by the Charleston West Virginia Marriott Town Center Hotel, centrally located for the business and pleasure traveler in downtown Charleston's retail district. This is Mountain Stage from NPR.

Speaker 5:
[75:07] Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2:
[75:09] Hello again, and welcome to the second hour of Mountain Stage. I'm Kathy Mateja, and I'm so glad you joined us. We are here at Memorial Auditorium in Athens, Ohio with our friends at WOUB Public Media and Ohio Live. We are glad to be back and glad to have you out there listening on the radio. We have another great hour of live music for you. In just a bit, we're going to hear from the hardworking, wide-ranging roots ensemble, The Steel Wheels. But we're gonna open this second hour with our next guest, who is originally from Canada, and after some years in LA, is now based out of Portland, Oregon. He is accomplished as a singer, songwriter, producer, and guitar slinger. He was featured in Guitar Player Magazine at age 17, and is still one of the youngest artists ever to be featured there. He blends folk, rock, Americana, and jazz into a sound all his own. His latest album is called Shape Confused Cowboy BU on Big Secret Records. Please welcome back to The Mountain Stage, Sam Weber.

Speaker 5:
[83:55] Thank you very much. Keep it going for Sebastian Owens on the upright bass, everybody. This is a new number, it's called Oh My. Thank you. Me and Seb, we made a record called Sweetgrass Halo that's coming out in May. So keep an eye out for that. This is a song from that album. It's called Slow Decline. Thank you. All right, y'all. You've been so lovely to us. Thank you so much. Thanks to The Mountain Stage crew. We've got one more number for ya. And it's on a record out there. This song is called Cowboy. And yeah. Thank you guys so much for coming out. And after all these years, I hear Athens, Ohio is a staple for The Mountain Stage. So thanks for showing up. We love it. Thank you, guys. See you next time.

Speaker 2:
[101:52] He was championed early on by fellow Canadian artist, Bahamas, and he shared the stage with Bahamas' Feist and the Tragically Hip, among many others. His latest album is called Shape, Confused Cowboy BU., but look for a new release at the end of May called Sweetgrass Halo, and look for him out on tour with Madison Cunningham. That was with Sebastian Owens on bass, Sam Weber. Well, it's time for our pianist, Bob Thompson, to do a song for you now. And this week, he's chosen a classic. He's going to do his take on, In My Life, the Lennon and McCartney song. Please welcome Bob Thompson. You can find his music on colortones.com. That was Bob Thompson with the Lennon and McCartney Classic in My Life. You're listening to Mountain Stage, live performance radio from the Mountain State of West Virginia. If you have questions or suggestions for us, our email address is feedback at mountainstage.org. You can also connect with us on Facebook, peek behind the scenes on our Instagram, and watch select performances. You can find all those links at our website, mountainstage.org. Well, we're gonna close the show this week with an Americana Roots and Folk Rock Band based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They are celebrating their 20th year together. They first came to see us in 2011, and they're about to release their ninth studio album called simply The Steel Wheels. It was produced by Dee James Goodwin, who's produced Goose, Bonnie Light Horseman, and I'm With Her in a brand new studio back home in Virginia where they started the band. They are all about music and community and since 2012, they've hosted their own music festival in the Shenandoah Valley called the Red Wing Roots Music Festival known for its diverse lineup of Americana artists and its family-friendly atmosphere, and we are so happy to have them back for the seventh time here on Mountain Stage. Please welcome The Steel Wheels.

Speaker 4:
[118:50] How you doing, Athens? What a beautiful, beautiful place. Thanks for welcoming this wild traveling musical circus that is Mountain Stage. We're so honored to be here. Thanks for having us.

Speaker 6:
[122:33] How about the crew and everybody who makes this machine run? Thank you so much. I just had to do, I just did this motion, and all of a sudden water appeared in my hand. It's a, that's a miracle. You guys are real pros around here. We are playing a bunch of songs off this new record, and we decided to finally name an album after ourselves, a self-titled album. It's a little bit borderline self-indulgent, but we finally feel like we became ourselves. And so here we are. We stand before you, The Steel Wheels. This song, we were talking with Larry Gross downstairs. He's here somewhere. And he was just talking about his gratitude. And I appreciate that man so much myself. And I have so much gratitude for the way he supported our music. But yeah, a lot of the songs on this record really are about trying to remain in the moment. Well, there are so many distracting things and scary things that can draw you out of that moment. But I just want to call attention to this right here, right now, us together in this room, enjoying art and music and putting our energy into it. It is a moment I want to remember. So thank you for being a part of that. This song is called Cold Call. Waiting on a lightning bolt, soft ride, static radio, I look for change in the wind. I know it's all about a daily dose, love least and lose the most. Thank you so much. Well, hey, why don't you give it up for this guy over here on my right, your left, playing the guitars and the mandolin, singing a lot of harmonies. That's Mr. J. Lap over there. My right, your left. Over here on the fiddle, from Singers Glen, Virginia, give it up for Mr. Eric Brubaker. Back there playing the drums for us. Why don't you give it up for Mr. Kevin Garcia. And the man on the bass, keeping it solid on the low end for us, Mr. Jeremy Darrow. And our man here in the middle, he's our songwriter, playing that guitar and banjo.

Speaker 1:
[129:38] He lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Speaker 6:
[129:40] I want you to make it nice and loud for Trent Wagler. This is a song called, Who Wins the War?

Speaker 1:
[134:49] Thank you very much.

Speaker 6:
[135:02] We've got time for one more, and we're gonna sing it around one mic for ya. It's a Sunday night, so we'll give you a little quasi gospel of you.

Speaker 1:
[138:11] Look for their new album, The Steel Wheels, which should be coming out at just about the same time this show airs, from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and that region. That was J. Lapp, Eric Brubaker, Kevin Garcia, Jeremy Darrow, and Trent Wagler, The Steel Wheels. Thank you to The Steel Wheels. Our thanks to Sam Weber, to the Rylee Bapst Band, Peter Holsapple, and Lily Talmers. Thanks to WOUB Public Media and Ohio Live, and thank you to everyone here at Memorial Auditorium at Ohio University. Thanks as always to you out there listening on the radio, because without you, there'd be no Mountain Stage. We never forget that. I hope you'll be back next week when we welcome Cyril Neville, Los Straight Jackets with Deke Dickerson, Sons of Town Hall, and Amanda Pascali. Mountain Stage is produced by Larry Gross and Adam Harris. Senior producer is Jeff Shirley. Associate producers are John Ingram and Mallory Richards. We're engineered by Patrick Stevens, Richie Collins, Jay Lipschutz, and Greg McGowan with production assistance by Michael Lipton, Lance Schrader, Chris Mead, Don London, Kelly Lasseter, Jen Brown, Kaylin Cole-Frasier, and Tony Patterson. Photographic services by Chris Morris. Promotion is coordinated by Mallory Richards, John Ingram, and Music in Motion Promotions. Special thanks to Mountain Stage members Walter and Sean Williams for their generous support. Lodging is provided by the Marriott Town Center Hotel, centrally located for the Business and Pleasure Traveler in downtown Charleston. Mountain Stage was founded by Andy Ridenour, Francis Fisher, and Larry Gross. Why don't you go out and hear some live music wherever you are, just as soon as you can. You've been listening to Mountain Stage, live performance radio from the Mountain State of West Virginia. All right. We pulled out this old John Hyatt song, because it's about springtime in Ohio. All right. That's also about winter in New York City as well, so don't get too excited. All right, Mike Lipton. Bob Thompson. All right, Brittany McGuire. Eric Brubel, get around the fiddle.

Speaker 6:
[146:14] Major funding for Mountain Stage is provided by Bailey Glasser. This is NPR.