Josh Ritter, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Dori Freeman & more on Mountain Stage

1900 Kanawha Blvd E,Charleston , WV WV 25301

09 January, 2022

Description

Josh Ritter, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Dori Freeman & more on Mountain Stage with host Kathy Mattea ALL AGES Josh Ritter, Drew Holcomb And The Neighbors, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Dori Freeman, Oshima Brothers Be a part of the live audience as Mountain Stage records a fresh episode for NPR Music! We ask that audience members remain masked throughout the performance regardless of vaccination status, in order to lessen the risk of unknowingly spreading the virus.  Those who are unvaccinated are at the greatest risk of serious illness if they contract the virus. If you are not yet vaccinated, we strongly encourage you to assess the potential health risks of attending an indoor live Mountain Stage. We invite you to come back when the time is right or catch the livestream. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to [email protected].  Ticket Information All tickets to this show are e-tickets, and will be emailed to you upon purchase. Open up the pdf and the QR code on your ticket will be scanned at the door. This event will also be offered as a live stream. Watch the livestream! Mountain Stage livestreams are free, however there are some incredible folks out there who’d like to show their support through a donation-based, pay what you want ”ticket” for the livestream. This is a donation-based “ticket” to show some love for the program and is not a ticket to the live event. You’ll be able to catch the show from the comfort of your home (or wherever you wish) Sunday, January 9th,  at 7 PM ET at mountainstage.org. Click the ‘Buy Tickets’ button below to join us from anywhere! Josh Ritter “Josh Ritter? Hell, he was born dead center of the whole country, who else is gonna tell us what it’s really like.” That’s Jason Isbell, who knows a little something about songwriting, on why Josh Ritter’s songs are so important right now. What must it feel like, to do what Josh Ritter can? To be able to see the world clear as it is, to be able to hold in your mind the various ways it might roll, spin or cant, to draw these versions for us in a few, perfectly chosen words, set to melodies as instantly memorable as they are fresh? I imagine it must feel like a calling and a burden, and must bring about in Ritter a sense of gratitude and obligation—To hear those voices, those couplets, those musical lines and to know that there are so many of us waiting for him bring them to us, like a basket of just ripened tangerines on an arid summer day, exactly what we need at the exact moment we most need it. There is a hint for us in the title of Josh’s new album, Fever Breaks. And listening to it, I can sense the fever that took hold of Josh as he was writing, the insistent, all encompassing waves of emotion and heat, the chills and shakes that blew through him and finally broke just before it would have killed him. This urgency shows itself in the songs he wrote, in the playing and singing that elevates the recordings into incantations of hope in desperate times, into that one ray of light sneaking its way through the one needle sized hole in the ground above the collapsed mine shaft we are all stuck in: the United States of America in 2019. “In between nothing but the thin air and the unknown,” Ritter sings in “On The Water,” describing not only the fragile state of a relationship, but also the state of the US as he apprehends it at this particular moment in history. But one of Josh’s many gifts is that, even as he documents the meanness, the songs themselves lift us out of it, into a place of reverie. As I listen, I find myself singing along, laughing, entered into a shared place of joy. This is secular church music, because it unifies us, bonds us, brings us together in a search for love, peace, understanding and an escape from the earthly cruelty all around us. When I asked Isbell, who produced Fever Breaks, what it was about Josh Ritter’s music that made him want to collaborate with Josh, he spoke of Ritter’s perfectionism, of Ritter’s willingness to do the work required to turn an instant of inspiration into a great song. And then he got quiet for a long moment. “Look,” he said. “This American experiment is getting to the point where we need to call for help. We’re not under water yet, but we are stuck on the rocks. Josh’s music is a perfect document of these times.” Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors have always charged listeners’ hearts and minds while inspiring them to think, feel, dance, and love, never more so than on his latest album Dragons. His most collaborative to date, the record is his first with featured artists & songwriters including Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Sean McConnell, The Lone Bellow, and Ellie Holcomb. With several critically acclaimed albums under his belt, Holcomb has been featured by NPR, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, CMT and more. An Emmy Award-winner with music synced in over 75 of TV’s most watched shows, Holcomb has also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! twice. Among Holcomb’s ambitious projects are his Moon River Music Festival, an annual festival in Chattanooga, and Magnolia Record Club, a monthly vinyl subscription service - both curated meticulously by Holcomb. A road warrior for more than a decade, Holcomb has traveled the globe with a catalog of vibrant, honest songs that explore the full range of American roots music. The band has appeared at Bonnaroo, Americana Fest, Stagecoach, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and more, while sharing stages with legendary artists like Willie Nelson, John Hiatt, and The Avett Brothers. Dori Freeman Ten Thousand Roses, the fourth studio album from singer-songwriter Dori Freeman, showcases an artist who has cemented an inimitable signature sound while simultaneously establishing her as capable of a wide variety of styles. Freeman is about as “bonafide” as an Appalachian artist can be: she was raised among a family of musicians in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Yet here she shows how multifaceted she is as an artist and how eclectic she is as a person, defying and expanding notions of what it means to be someone from the region, a young woman in the music industry, and as an Americana artist. Her soaring alto and singular style are on fine display throughout this collection of nine originals and one cover. She wrote the songs during the pandemic, when, like millions of others, she stayed home and spent more time outside. “I really observed and appreciated nature during that time,” she says. Natural elements such as storm-clouds, wildflowers, and spiders show up as motifs throughout the record, which examines everything from being deeply in love with someone to realizing that you don’t need another person to complete you. Jake Xerxes Fussell Jake Xerxes Fussell’s fourth album finds the acclaimed folksong interpreter, guitarist, and singer navigating fresh sonic and compositional landscapes on the most conceptually focused, breathtakingly rendered, and enigmatically poignant record of his wondrous catalog. Produced by James Elkington and featuring formidable players both familiar (Casey Toll, Libby Rodenbough) and new (Joe Westerlund, Bonnie “Prince” Billy), it includes Jake’s first original compositions; atmospheric arrangements with pedal steel, horns, and strings; and cover art by Art Rosenbaum. Oshima Brothers Raised in a musical family in rural Maine, the brothers have honed a harmony-rich blend of contemporary folk and acoustic pop. On stage, Sean and Jamie create a surprisingly full sound with dynamic vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, octave bass, loops, and percussion. The brothers live in Maine but are often on the road performing, producing music videos, and dancing. Josh Ritter, Drew Holcomb And The Neighbors, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Dori Freeman, Oshima Brothers For more than 30 years, Mountain Stage has been the home of live music on public radio. Produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed by NPR Music, each two hour episode of Mountain Stage can be heard every week on more than 240 stations across America, and around the world via NPR Music and www.mountainstage.org. Recorded in front of a live audience, Mountain Stage features performances from seasoned legends and emerging stars from genres across the board.