Robert Randolph, Carolyn Wonderland and more on Mountain Stage

We are excited to return to the historic Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg, WV.

Available at tickets.therobinsongrand.com
Or by phone 855.773.6283

• Doors at 6pm
• Show at 7pm

Since 1983, Mountain Stage has been one of the most beloved programs in public radio history. Eclectic and authentic, the show’s varied guests have included iconic artists from John Prine and Townes Van Zandt to Wilco and Phish. Under the leadership of Grammy Award-winning country and bluegrass star Kathy Mattea since 2021, Mountain Stage continues to bring surefire energy and music discovery to parts known and unknown.

Produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed by NPR Music, each two-hour episode is recorded in front of a live audience and can be heard every week on nearly 300 stations across America, and around the world via NPR Music and mountainstage.org.

Robert Randolph is a rock-blues pedal steel guitar virtuoso whose music blurs the lines between gospel, rock, blues, and soul. Raised in the House of God Church in New Jersey, he first made his mark channeling the ecstatic energy of worship through his instrument—known in his tradition as “Sacred Steel.” Now, with his new album Preacher Kids on Sun Records, Randolph steps into a bold new chapter. Produced by Shooter Jennings, the album features fellow musicians who, like Randolph, are preachers' kids bridging the church and the secular stage.

Recorded in LA and Nashville, the project began as jam sessions that evolved into fully formed songs—retaining the spirit and spontaneity of their origins. Known for his GRAMMY-nominated work with The Family Band and collaborations with legends like Eric Clapton, Santana, Norah Jones, and Beyoncé (on the GRAMMY-winning Cowboy Carter), Randolph has also earned 13 Emmys for his work in sports broadcasting and created the theme for Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football. With Preacher Kids, he returns to his roots while pushing the boundaries of where gospel-inspired music can go next.

Carolyn Wonderland was born in Houston, Texas in 1972, growing up in a house full of musical instruments. She first started making music at age six, and by eight had decided, in her own mind, that she was a musician. After she scratched her mother’s vintage Martin guitar by imitating Pete Townsend’s famous windmill move, she was forbidden from using a pick. Because of that, she developed her aggressive, distinctive fingerpicking guitar attack. By age 15, she was performing at Houston’s famed Fitzgerald’s club, playing solo or with friends. As a 16-year-old, she swapped songs with Townes Van Zandt. She formed her first band when she was 17, and began proving herself on the tough, competitive Houston club scene. A year later, she joined forces with famed Houston musician Little Screamin’ Kenny and formed The Imperial Monkeys. Before long, Carolyn Wonderland And The Imperial Monkeys were touring as far as Utah, New York and South Dakota, and winning every music award Houston had to offer. A booking at Austin’s famous Antone’s club left a strong mark on Wonderland, who moved to Austin in 1999 at the urging of her friend Doug Sahm. “Come to Austin,” he said. “It’s the land of free guitar lessons.”

After two self-released recordings, Wonderland recorded four albums produced by her friend, famed musician Ray Benson, founder of the multiple Grammy-winning band Asleep At The Wheel. According to Benson, “Carolyn’s got that unbelievable, incredible voice, one of the great voices of our times. She’s also an incredible guitar player and a great person. The combination is disarming and totally real. That’s magic.” Carolyn first met Ray when Bob Dylan asked him how to get in touch with her in 2004, as he was a fan. Ray didn’t know Carolyn but tracked her down and the two Texans became quick friends. Then, according to Wonderland, “Bob asked me to write answer verses for his song Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat and he asked me to meet him at soundchecks on his tour.”

The popular and critical response to Wonderland and her music has led to appearances on Austin City Limits, NPR’s Weekend Edition and NPR Music’s Mountain Stage. Features and reviews have run in publications from The Los Angeles Times to The Boston Herald. She’s jammed with countless musicians including Johnny Winter, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, James Cotton, Los Lobos and Levon Helm.

In 2018, legendary musician and bandleader John Mayall chose Wonderland to be lead guitarist in his band, The Blues Breakers. She became the first woman to ever hold that position, with the previous members comprising an all-star list of iconic guitarists including Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Coco Montoya, Walter Trout and Buddy Wittington. She toured the world with Mayall and played on his last two albums, including the GRAMMY-nominated The Sun Is Shining Down. She’s performed with her own band all over the U.S. and in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Panama, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Canary Islands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Japan.

Wonderland’s 2021 Alligator Records debut, Tempting Fate, brought her to her largest audience yet. The response was immediate and glowing. Premier Guitar proclaimed, “Wonderland is a Texas legend…a rising global star. She has a ferocious fingerpicking style and a passion for bringing fire to the blues.” Living Blues said, “Every song showcases Wonderland’s never-waste-a-note guitar work and warm, soaring vocals. There may not be a better album this year.” For her efforts, she won the Austin Music Award for both Best Blues Artist and Best Guitarist and was inducted into the Austin Music Hall Of Fame. She’s been nominated for three Blues Music Awards.

In addition to her music, Wonderland works tirelessly for a wide variety of charitable and social causes. While in her 20s, she lost her lease, and lived in her van for two years, where, she says, “I learned how much more expensive it is to be poor.” She is a founding member, along with Marcia Ball, of H.O.M.E. (Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers, HomeAustin.org), which provides emergency financial assistance to older Austin based musicians in need.

In 2011, Wonderland married humorist A. Whitney Brown, in a ceremony performed by the late Michael Nesmith on Austin’s Doug Sahm Hill and documented in The New York Times’ VOWS section. Nesmith, who had previously produced a song for Wonderland on an earlier album, proclaimed, “When she goes into that mode where she decides to grab the heart of the song and hold it up for everybody to see, it’s just so searing. Nothing can be this raw. Nothing can be this real.”

PATTY LARKIN is a visionary of sound and wonder, a real deal version of artistry made of equal parts guitar wizardry, vocals shot through with soul and inventive lyrics that ripple across the terrain of the heart. Described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune), “hypnotic” (Entertainment Weekly), and a “drop-dead brilliant” performer (Performing Songwriter), Patty has captured audiences for over 30 years with an imagination, enchantment, and technical artistry that has redefined the boundaries of the guitar driven singer songwriter.

With eleven studio albums and two live recordings under her belt, Patty mines the intersections of poetry and song with her innovative 14th release, Bird in a Cage, released on her own Road Narrows Records. Bird in a Cage puts poems from ten notable poets to song, including US Poet Laureates William Carlos Williams, Stanley Kunitz, Kay Ryan, Robert Pinsky and Billy Collins, for a new and haunting collection that pulses with the magic of lyricism. Poems are made to be shared aloud, and with Bird, Patty takes up that tradition and sets it aglow: her extraordinary musical shadings make each poem a star.

Bird in a Cage grew out of her songwriting practice. As Patty describes it, “Over the years I began my writing days by reading my favorite poets just to be amazed and inspired. I looked to poetry as I look at nature: with awe. This morning ritual evolved into a desire to make music of some of my favorite poems. The rhythm and cadence of the lines felt new and fresh to me, the melody slowly revealing itself. And uncovering a melody that is slowly revealed by the words was pure joy.”

This new album leaves standard songwriting forms behind, crossing instead into a world where rhyme is optional and phrases unfold at their own speed. Bird in a Cage embraces those creative spaces where boundaries are fluid; its ten tracks are full of cross-disciplinary energy, the hot spark of one artist collaborating with another. The album’s liner notes say it best with this reflection from Patty on Bird’s genesis: “This project is my way of holding brilliance in my hand.”

Bird was co-produced by Patty and Mike Denneen, who Patty has called her “musical compass.” Their collaboration spanned 16 years and 5 albums. Mike, whose work as a record producer was nothing short of genius (Aimee Mann, Howie Day, Jen Trynin, Letters To Cleo), passed away in July of 2018, just shy of Bird’s completion. For Bird in a Cage, Mike created a lush sonic landscape, playing vintage keyboards on several tracks. Patty and Mike’s shared vision for an album with layered, atmospheric sound was secured with backup support from friends Jonatha Brooke (vocals and guitar), Merrie Amsterburg (vocals) and Marc Schulman (electric guitar), and strings by Catherine Bent (cello) and the Parkington Sisters (violin, viola, vocals). Patty’s long-time drummer and percussionist, Ben Wittman, kicks up the mix on the last track, an inspired version of Billy Collins’ “Introduction to Poetry.” (bio) Patty’s recent projects include Still Green, an album written in a dune shack on the Outer Banks of Cape Cod’s National Seashore, and 25, a retrospective album that includes the contributions of 25 friends, among them Grammy award winners Rosanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and Janis Ian, as well as acclaimed singer songwriters Bruce Cockburn, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Greg Brown, among others. Patty was the Executive Producer of the groundbreaking La Guitara, a compilation of women guitarists actively changing preconceptions about gender and guitar heroes.

Patty was raised in the Midwest, and is a descendant of a long line of Irish American singers and taletellers. Her mother was a painter, and her sisters are both musicians. She studied English Literature and Folklore in the Pacific Northwest, as well as jazz guitar and voice at the Berklee College of Music. While in Boston, Patty honed her performance chops in listening rooms, clubs, and festivals. Her songs have been covered by various artists including Cher and Holly Cole and have been featured in television and film including Evolution (DreamWorks); Random Hearts (Columbia Pictures); Sliding Doors (Miramax); and Men in Trees. With 11 Boston Music Awards to her credit, Patty is also the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music and she has been honored by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino for her music and philanthropy. She lives with her family on Cape Cod.

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