From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made in March of 1981.

Charleston, West Virginia West Virginia Public Broadcasting was trying something new, something that would eventually become the greatest live music showcase in all of American public broadcasting.

44 years ago, the pilot episode for what became Mountain Stage featured music from the Bob Thompson Jazz Trio and the Putnam County Pickers.

It was fun, little ramshackle, shoestring budget, and for two years, that pilot episode was the only episode.

But in December of 1983, Mountain Stage took off, eventually becoming a kind of musical cathedral, with a couple dozen new shows each year airing on hundreds of NPR stations.

Some of the biggest names in music have come to the mountain stage.

Joan Baez, the late John Prine, Wynonna Judd, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Widespread Panic.

It's a long list for me.

It includes an equally long list of artists who are huge to me, even if they're not huge to everybody, even if they were just up and comers when they first hit the mountain stage.

Steven Kellogg.

The Weepies.

Dawes, Brett Denning, Glenn Phillips.

We could do this all day.

And they say live music is dying.

They say that artificial intelligence will eventually eliminate the need for human songwriters.

All right, maybe that's the future.

But today, Mountain Stage is still very much the present.

And next week, Mountain Stage comes to Rochester for a live show at Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.

We'll tell you about how you can get tickets and be a part of that.

But first, let's have some fun this hour.

Kathy Mateos, the Grammy winning artist and The Voice, the host of Mountain Stage.

It is great to have Kathy on the program.

Hello, how are you?

Kathy Matea.

Hi.

I'm doing great.

Evan, so nice to be with you today.

We're so excited about coming up to Rochester.

Well, we're excited to have you.

And I know Mike black, who is my colleague, radio program manager for WXXI, is excited.

Long time listener Mike black, long time listener, fan of Kathy.

fellow West Virginian, which is great.

And, you know, I got to meet her in person in New Orleans.

And it was like, you know, coming home and everything else.

So yeah, very excited.

Would you like me to leave?

I'll come back in an hour.

Would you like to host the program?

You and Kathy are probably good to go.

Now we've got Hanna Marin in studio with us as well.

Who is a singer songwriter?

That's right.

Also, the music director and afternoon host for The Root.

Hey, hey, how are you?

I'm great.

Thanks for having me.

Live music and songwriting is not dead, Hanna.

It truly is not.

It is alive and well.

It's bigger and better than ever, and we're, just excited for it.

I well, I want to say, Kathy, I my first job out of college, I lived in Hurricane, West Virginia.

Oh, I worked in Charleston, Huntington and the television news market there.

we had a split newsroom, and the town that I lived in, listeners was spelled hurricane, but it was pronounced with roughly one and a half syllables.

Hurricane.

yes, I for a time, I had cousins in hurricane, cousins in tornado, West Virginia, and cousins in Winnfield, West Virginia.

How about Polk?

And next door to me was Poca Poca listeners.

If you live in a town called polka, what do you think the school mascot.

It's got to be?

It's the dots.

It's the polka dots.

And they were.

My mother was a polka dot.

I have to tell.

There you go.

Wow.

The state champion football team.

When I was in West Virginia was the polka dot.

But one thing I never did, Kathy.

I was too young to be aware of mountain stage.

I should have known because in Charleston, not only was Mountain Stage off and happening in Charleston, but there's a bar down the street.

There's these great after hours jams, and I missed all of that.

I'm.

Can you believe that?

Well, you know, you have to be an insider.

You kind of have to be, you know, you have to know the right people.

And, you know, it doesn't matter if you came to the party late, you're still welcome at the party.

Well, this party's been going on for more than 40 years, and we're going to be talking to Kathy about how she got involved with Mountain Stage and the value of this program to countless listeners across this country.

But first, I should tell you that it is next Friday, March 21st, eight days from now at the Kodak Hall, the Eastman Theater, 7 p.m. Kathy is hosting, along with Loudon Wainwright the Third, along with, some other wonderful guests there.

Kathy, for listeners who are new to Mountain Stage, how often are you traveling to do shows like this?

We do about, I don't know, 2 to 4 a year, just depending on the schedule.

and it's a big job.

They've gone as far away as Glasgow, Scotland and Alaska.

we're trying to get booked in Hawaii right now.

We figure, what the hell?

Yeah.

For sure.

it's a it's a big job to move the, you know, the move the beast and all the equipment and all the people.

But it is so much fun.

It is.

It's a park that I didn't see coming when I took this hosting job.

Well, we've got a link for tickets on our website.

it's presented by the Eastman School of Music, in partnership with the Root Mountain Stage.

You can hear it, by the way, every Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on the route and Finger Lakes Public Radio, WLS 89.5 FM throughout the Finger Lakes region.

So, I mean, there's still so many great places to engage with Mountain Stage.

What was the first what was yours?

I mean, how far back do you go with this?

Mike Black?

You know, I was listening, listening to the program before I jumped back from public TV into public media.

public radio.

I should say.

Now it's public media.

And, when I came to us in Geneva after we got, the public radio programing, got able to get NPR programing, and a mountain stage was one of the first programs we picked up, partly because, I was born in Fairmont and I had to have, like, you know, a West Virginia show.

But the show was so good.

It was just wonderful.

As far as the showcase, it fit the music we were playing.

they featured artists that actually some from the Finger Lakes.

I think the Horseflies were on there at one time, and just Richie and Rosie and so many other people that, we know is as common names in this area.

And you got to hear new talent.

And just the way the show was done, it was it was a family type of performance.

It just fit so well.

Had to have it.

So I've been a fan for a long time.

Not as long as, you know, the rewards in the show.

and I know that our, vice president for radio, Jean Fisher, when she was at West Virginia Public Radio, she was there when the show was first getting started.

And you're a fan of Kathy Mateos?

Oh, you know her?

What a match.

Now, my, I know probably my mom is watching this right now.

Kathy was in the studio would be definitely really cool.

But she is a huge fan of Kathy.

And also from the standpoint of, you know, the song that, you know, your husband wrote is one of her favorite.

So, I mean, that's the kind of thing goes back a while.

So it's really neat.

that's, you know, Kathy, you've been doing this long enough that you've got fans of multiple generations.

So what does that mean to you when you connect with people like that?

I mean, I know you hear it all the time.

is it still Hitchin?

Oh, of course.

I mean, you get lucky enough to do this for a living.

You hope you mean something to someone.

I have to tell you, that's been one of the.

That's been one of the real surprises of stepping into the host position in Mountain Stage is that, I mean, there was this wonderful singer who came through.

She had like a four octave range.

She was scatting like a mother.

She was amazing.

As she comes in in the afternoon and we were friendly, you know, and she soundchecks and stuff.

She finishes her performance that night and she steps off the stage and she just steps right next to me and grabs my hand.

She said, up to tell you, I didn't really realize that you were you.

And, my mom is blowing up my phone right now because we listened to you all the way to the beach and back every summer, and I you were the soundtrack of my life.

Our whole family listened to you together, and that has happened so many times.

And I don't think I would have the chance to hear those stories if I wasn't in this position.

It's been a sweet surprise, and we're going to talk a little bit about songwriting this hour, and, you know, I was thinking about the really thoughtful people and music that we have here at KCI, that we've had over the years.

W r u r was.

And Hannah, you know, you have this great sensibility being a singer songwriter, appreciating the craft here.

I was going back last night watching a lot of Mountain Stage over the years, and I'm going, oh my gosh, how did I miss this?

Or how did I miss that?

And what I got wrapped in and wrapped up in was just watching how sort of spare and and I mean, not use the right word here, but just not dressed up just how truly kind of raw the singer songwriter craftsmanship is on Mountain stage and how the audience just connects with that.

And it did my heart good because I'm going, oh, people still want it.

People still want this.

Of course they do.

Right?

Yeah, they do absolutely.

And that was the first thing that I noticed about Mountain Stage when I started listening to it, you know, as a young adult.

And, that it gives a really great platform to songwriters who have that raw essence to them, songs that might not be super catchy radio hits.

You know, we talked about this previously, those catchy earworms that get stuck in your ears.

But Mountain Stage gives a platform to people that are writing their souls into music and, especially up and coming artists.

I think it is such a good spot for up and coming artists, people that you've never heard of or people that are just skyrocketing their careers or just gaining some momentum.

Those are the kinds of people that you see on Mountain Stage, and you can definitely expect to see some really good songwriting as well.

And Hannah, I think it's so cool looking at that archive that there are names that are, you know, in that up and comer category, and then there are names that like, they're coming back because they want to.

Indigo girls goes back because they want to, you know, there's a lot of people who don't have to do it, but probably, you know, in your world, Hannah, you probably love engaging with people who just want an audience that cares, that wants to listen, right?

Yeah.

I think that fans of Mountain Stage are the people that care, that want to see it, that want to experience that over and over and over again, especially somebody like Indigo Girls who do have that raw songwriting that I saw them recently here in Rochester, and the whole crowd was like singing the entire set.

And it was it's interesting to see that because it's not this huge spectacle.

It's just two girls playing guitars and singing, and there's not a lot of big stages that hold space for that.

so with Mountain Stage, you get that.

I think it's really important.

I mean, Kathy, I know that the show is different everywhere you go, but the soul of the show is the same here.

And when we see these performances that are a little bit more sparse, they're not over produced.

They're just that beauty of songwriting.

you know, I went back and I listened to Dawes to 11 years ago on Mountain Stage playing a song called A Little Bit of Everything, that if you listen to the show last hour, we had some pretty heavy themes, and those are reflected in a song like that, but I'd never heard it performed the way that they did.

It was just it was a little quieter, it was a little more raw, and everybody is just locked in.

What is it like Kathy being part of a show like that, where, you know, the audience is there for the music?

They're not.

Hopefully very few of them are stuck on their phones and, you know, texting people, not paying attention.

They're there for the song writing craft.

Yeah.

It's it's, you know, it's a privilege to be part of an institution that has has held the space for that for so long.

And I'd say, you know, public media is the place where you can do that because it's not interrupted by a commercial every 30s it's funny you would mention doors because, we had Mick Taylor of Hiss, Golden Messenger and Taylor Goldsmith on just last Sunday.

The two lead singers of these two bands, are on a tour with just their guitars, and they sang and played on each other's hits, and they kept bouncing back and forth from one to the other.

So everybody knew the songs, but they were presented so that the everything was stripped away and there was nothing but the voice and the song and the harmony and, you know, I love it.

That mountain stage makes room for that also.

I mean, mountain stage had the band on, and we had just had The Headhunters that Herbie Hancock's legendary jazz group, and they were amazing.

And sometimes it's all singer songwriters, sometimes it's all bands, and sometimes it's a mix of both.

But our kind of theme is if you come because you're a fan of one act, you will walk away a fan of at least one new musical entity that you have not heard before.

Kathy Matera, my guest, who is a award winning performer herself, of course, but also the host of the Mountain Stage and the Mountain Stage, doing live music production for NPR stations around the country for more than 40 years.

The Mountain Stage is coming to Rochester next Friday, eight days from now, March 21st to 7 p.m.. Show at Kodak.

Call it the Eastman Theater.

Can you imagine a better place to just sit in this intimate environment and enjoy great music with people who care and love it?

Loudon Wainwright the Third is going to be there Joe Beer, John Allison and more.

Mike Black is probably going to be there, probably not performing.

You're probably just give in the I know you do not want to even attempt that.

No, no, I, I will be I will be there because of just the whole value production.

When you get to see I've seen mountains, mountain stage live.

and when you see something like that, you see like what used to be, you know, Prairie Home and Chris Steely when he took that over, or you go to a live performance of the Grand Old Opry, when they do the radio broadcasts and at the Ryman, it you got to see it at the Ryman.

You know, it's not quite the same, if you see it out at the Opry land.

But I will tell you off the bat, when you get the chance to experience that radio aspect of it as far as the performance, and I know this is it is taped, but still, that aspect of that production is also very special.

It's it's something that is unique.

It's not the same as going and watching a concert that was taped for TV.

It just has this intimacy that, isn't there, on a regular television program.

I think that's really well said.

And, Kathy, I also want to dispel any ideas that this is, you know, only for one generation or a certain segment of an audience.

I so I think my son, who turns 13 this month and I've learned you cannot force your music on your kids.

Kids will make their choices on music.

In fact, the more you try to force it, the more they call it dad music, which, you know, when Indigo Girls, when Steven Kellogg and the Sixers came out on my list, he would be like, This is dad music.

We're going to change it.

And then he put his own list together a few months ago, and he had a Steven Kellogg song on there called See You Later, see you soon.

And I said, oh, what's going on here?

But like and he's like, he's like, wow, that's a good song.

I like it.

And he had to come there on his own.

But, I love that moment because he loves the craftsmanship.

He doesn't really know why, but he what he is experiencing is that here's a great, thoughtful songwriter, and there have been countless on the mountain stage over the years.

I love seeing kids still appreciate this.

Are you worried about the future of songwriting?

Are you worried that we've become too technological and we're gonna move away from this?

Cathy I tell people all the time, I have more faith in music and people's creativity than I ever have, because not only other people.

But, you know, I've been the host of this show for a few years now, and I listen to people and have met people and seen people that I've never heard of before who blew my mind.

And there's so many of them.

I also have to say, you know, as you were saying earlier, the the live performance aspect of Mountain Stage, you get the banter between the artist and the audience, and you get to feel that conversation.

And so, you know, when the when the pandemic hit, a lot of people around the country wrote in and said, thank you.

We can't see live music right now, but we still have Mountain stage and it still makes us feel connected to that experience.

You know what your kid, your son experienced is just that spark that that happens when music connects with you.

You don't need to know why you can, just relishing it.

And during hard times.

During good times.

I mean, that's what music is for.

So you know, if he's finding a connection and then suddenly you both find your individual connection to the same artist independently, that's just that's one of the that's just a sweet joy about all of it.

Cathy, do you remember the first time you ever were performing live, and you saw someone in the audience singing along to a song you wrote and they weren't family.

They weren't a friend.

You didn't know who they were.

Can you remember that?

I remember, yeah, I do.

I remember for a long time I have the song called 18 years on a Dozen Roses, which is kind of a classic now.

And, after a long time, I was like, I'd love to get people singing, but I was afraid.

I was afraid that I'd say, come on, you guys sing.

And then they wouldn't sing.

And then I'd just feel foolish and they'd feel foolish and.

And one day I just.

I thought, you know, Kathy, you've waited your whole life to have a song that everybody knows you should do this.

And it is just one of the great joys of my life to get an audience singing along like the first.

I remember when it started to happen spontaneously, and that was sort of what pushed me over the edge.

and I have to say, you know, during the pandemic, when we couldn't tour, when I came back, the first show, I was touring with my friend Susie Boggess, the two of us, and I think we came in, played in Rochester, actually.

and the first time people just burst into song and started singing along, I couldn't finish the song.

I had to stop for a minute because I just never thought I wouldn't be able to hear that, you know?

It was just it was such a picture of what a gift it is.

Yeah.

I mean, I've got two brothers who are phenomenal songwriters and both left college to pursue it.

And just watching them get crowds of people just packed to the rafters in these small places and in the Midwest and just singing so passionately and loud.

I would just watch that and go, I wonder what that is like.

Like, you know, like, here's the song that I wrote and here's someone I've never met singing along with it.

Like, let alone the best track in the world.

I just, I was just going to say that is the best feeling in the world.

I mean, that's it is kind of like a drag, isn't Hannah?

It is.

Actually.

I had a I had a a similar experience recently at a very small bar.

There must have been ten people in this bar and I was singing a brand new song.

I had never played out, and it must have been catchy because they were singing it before I even ended the song.

They had picked it up, which I was like, oh my gosh, it's happening, you know?

And then afterwards they were singing it in the crowd after the show, like to themselves and to their friends.

And I was like, I'm doing it, you know, that's like, yes, such a satisfying feeling.

And, you know, Mike, you're the guy who's in the audience as the guy singing, not the guy right in it.

But why is it better?

Why is it different for you?

You know, we have this digital world.

You can listen to whatever you want.

You can listen to Hannah, Kathy, Matea or anybody you want at any time.

Why live for you?

Because it's it's it's probably the difference between, you know, hearing the beautiful, tailored to the ear, wonderful creation that the artist has in mind when they release a record that is great.

But when you're there and the artist is there, that artist is singing just to you and you're there, even if you have 50,000 of your friends in the in the stadium or the arena or 50 or 10 or five or whatever it happens to be, you do have that, kind of like one on one thing, and especially if you're within and it doesn't matter where you're sitting, you could be way up in the back, you could be in the front.

But when that artist is looking in your direction, they're singing right to you.

And you get that sense that they are trying to reach your heart, reach your mind with that particular song and that lyric.

It happens and it just is.

It's just an entirely great environment.

And to me that is worth seeing live music.

That's why live music so important.

Most genres, it really is important.

Particularly important for jazz, which is really meant to be experienced live of any format.

I think that is probably, in my opinion, the most that you really do need to see live.

But somehow seeing whether it's an orchestra or a band or just a guy with a guitar, I mean, it's just an entirely different, overall experience versus listening to the, CD.

You're going to be there next Friday, Mike.

Absolutely.

Mountain stage is coming to Kodak College, Eastman Theater, next Friday, 7 p.m., and what we're going to do after our only break of the hour, we'll see if we can get Mike to come back.

He's got other work to do.

Well, how selfish of him.

But Mike is going to go back and get some other work done.

His radio program manager for one of the biggest mountain stage fans.

I've got Hannah here with us in studio from The Root and a singer songwriter who's going to tell us more of these great stories.

I love these stories about singer songwriting.

It's just I love the way that people still connect over music.

And the great Kathy Matea is with us.

We're going to talk to Adam Harris, executive producer of Mountain Stage.

Let's take this only break and we'll come right back on connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Friday on the next connections, my colleague Eric Logan hosting the program and the first hour, a look at the connection between cannabis and medical care and the latest on what we know.

Then in our second hour.

A Horse's Friend is an organization that takes kids from urban centers and gives them an entirely new experience.

And we'll hear all about it.

Talk with you Friday.

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Oh, Mountain stage is coming to Rochester.

And Kathy Matteo, the host of Mountain Stage, is with us, joining us this hour, getting ready for a show in Rochester next Friday, March 21st at 7 p.m..

It's happening at the Eastman Theater.

Loudon Wainwright the third is going to be there.

Joe Beer, John Allison and more.

They always have a great time and they would love to see you there.

Mountain stage is a program that I'm sure you've heard, but if you haven't, you can listen every Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on the route and finger Lakes Public Radio.

iOS it's only been around for more than 40 years now, bringing outstanding live music, songwriting, craftsmanship up to NPR stations across the country.

So it's just a thrill to be able to talk to.

Kathy was with us, and I want to welcome Adam Harris, who's the executive producer of Mountain Stage.

Hello, Adam.

Hey, everybody.

Been enjoying the show?

Thanks, Evan.

when did you get involved with Mountain Stage?

Adam.

Oh, man.

It was like, 20 years ago.

Last week, actually.

Or last month, rather.

I came on as an intern, in February of 2005, and, we they like to say I stuck around until they had to pay me.

And then, I was part time for a few years there.

And then my predecessor, Andy Ridenhour, who was one of the co-founders of the show, he and Larry Gross and our chief engineer, Frances Fisher.

They started the show.

and Andy retired in 2012.

And so at that time, I transitioned into the executive producer role.

And I've been enjoying it ever since.

And and, I know it's kind of cliche, but I do want to ask you if there is a particular moment or an evening that stands out.

I mean, in so many ways, they all stand out because these songwriters, you know, whether they're huge names, the John Prine's The Judge, the Sheryl Crows, the Indigo Girls, those kind of names that almost everybody knows, to all the way down to names that, you know, if you're in the know, you know, but maybe not.

I know they're all special, but anything stand out that you want to share?

Oh, there's there's way to.

Maybe we could do an hour of just my favorites.

Of course.

some of that stand out to me, from my earliest time with the show and, the first time I got to work with Marty Stuart, who was somebody I was just such a huge fan of growing up.

The first tape I ever bought with my own money was at a magic Mart in Reno, West Virginia.

And it was it was, Marty Stuart's hillbilly rock.

And so I actually still had that cassette, and I brought it to Mountain Stage.

And I don't ask for many autographs, but I had Marty sign, that copy of that cassette.

And when I handed it to him, he said, you want your money back.

And and just a great a great experience.

And then, I did also we worked with Billy Joe Shaver many times.

he was a treasure to me.

an absolute favorite of mine.

Just an American treasure in my mind.

And I had a copy of Billy Joe's biography, and he signed that for me.

so that's another autograph I asked for on the show.

and then the third that I'll mention is the very first show I ever worked in February of 2005, as a young, wide eyed intern.

I had never heard the music of Chuck prophet.

but he was on the show that day.

He worked with our band, and so that was the first time I got to see an artist come in independently.

do about a 45 minute rehearsal with our Mountain Stage band.

And then they went up and did it on live radio a few hours later, you know, and that was just fascinating for me to watch.

And I've been such a huge Chuck prophet fan ever since.

And that's an artist that I'll like, drive to go see if I get a chance.

Adam, how do you and the team decide who's going to be on the mountain stage?

it's it's it's a weird formula.

It's never the same.

I like to say mountain stage is the exact same thing, only completely different every week.

but it's it's a mixture of things.

A lot of artists come to us.

We've been, you know, prior to me, you know, the relationships that Andy, rod and I were started are some of the ones that I still enjoy today.

and so because of that, we have great connections with, you know, a lot of the agents, a lot of the managers.

And to this day, we still get a lot of work through publicists, because publicists are so great to work with, they always respond and they see mountain stage for the value that it is.

It's not a money gig.

You know, we do pay our artists, but it's almost never what they ask for, you know, quote unquote, real retail.

they have to want to do it for the promotional purposes.

And for the most part, publicists, especially if they've been working with us for a long time.

And the same is true for agents and managers.

They understand the value in a mountain stage performance, because it's not just about a gig in West Virginia or beyond, but it's about the 270 stations or so that carry the show each week.

How did you convince Kathy Mateo to take this hosting job?

That was a coup.

Huge coup.

I mean, we joke, but we none of us thought she'd be interested.

we were having guest hosts.

Tim O'Brien guest hosted.

there's a wonderful actor from West Virginia named Michael Server as he guest hosted, we had Conor Knighton, who was a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning.

And, you know, my predecessor, Andy, lives a little closer to the DC metro area.

And he went to see a show by Kathy and stopped by afterwards and was chit chatting and she said, hey, I heard they're having guest hosts.

And Andy was like, yeah, yeah, they're, you know, working on that.

And she's like, well, they haven't asked me.

And we were like, well, okay, you know.

And Andy like literally called us the next day and said, hey, talk to Kathy.

She's interested.

And like, again, me and Larry, we're just kind of like, no way, you know?

Are you serious?

And then, she was on the show on a show that we did in Elkins, West Virginia, when she put out her album.

I think it was calling me home.

but she was on the on the show as an artist.

And then we all had breakfast the next morning, and Larry was like, you know, I just want to hear it from you.

But if you're interested in this, you know, we should.

We would love to do it.

And and it's worked out amazing.

I can't say enough, what a great fit Kathy is.

and especially because she views things from the artist standpoint, as well as a host.

And so she understands what it's like on the other side of that microphone.

And then she also understands what it's like, for an artist who's maybe coming into a situation that's new or a little different than what they're used to doing, and she's the most comforting, the most comforting presence to our artists.

She knows their work front to back.

All five artists.

You know, if we treat everybody on the same playing field, whether it's your 15th appearance or your fifth appearance or your first, we like to think we treat everybody with the same kind of hospitality and admiration, really.

And that's the thing that Kathy shows, is that she's done her homework and she's intimately familiar, with the artists and their work.

Well, and just that, that sincerity is so important.

Listeners, Kathy knows, Adam knows.

Hannah knows.

If you're not sincere, listeners know it.

And so, yeah, if you haven't done the work, listeners know it.

When you have a job that is on air, public facing, that's one of one.

There's almost a sacred responsibility.

That's how I feel about hosting this program.

I mean, Kathy, is that how you feel?

I mean, what is it like now to to have a few years under your belt doing this?

It's been it's been really interesting.

It's like, it's a completely different use of my skill set.

And so it's I, you know, my, my, my motto has been, it's good to scare yourself in your 60s, you know, it's also what Adam said is really true.

I feel like I get to welcome the artists.

Some of them have no idea.

You know, some of the young people, they're like that.

I don't know anything about.

They don't know who I used to be.

And, so, you know, it doesn't matter.

But I get to hold that feeling of what it was like when I came on the show and they welcomed me.

And for the young artists, you know, I could I can sort of give them the lay of the land and just tell them to relax and tell them they can start all over if they need to.

And, all of that.

But I will also say, I don't think I would have been as musically restless as this show has forced me to be.

And there's something really nice about, you know, I've spent my whole life talking about my music and my next record and my songs and my band and all of that, and all of a sudden I'm talking about other people.

And really, what made me decide to take the gig when they asked me was, I just thought, you know, this is just about music and love.

That's all it is.

Like, my only job is to just, like, listen and dig into someone's body of work and try to put into words what's special about them and invite the audience in and sort of make a little pathway, a little open door for them to open themselves up to something they might never hear otherwise.

And what a what a great way to spend your time.

What a great way to live your life, you know.

So it's been a blessing for me.

Well, let's talk a little about live performance here.

I was talking during a brief break with my colleague Hannah Mayor here, and I've been thinking about like, what are the shows that pop to mind?

And every listener would have a different one.

What's the best show you've ever seen?

for many big fans, Mountain Stage, it's going to be a mountain stage show.

You know, for me it was seeing Indigo Girls in the rain outside in Cleveland when I was 14 years old, when they put rites of passage out like that, that felt like a spiritual experience.

James Taylor, I can't believe how pure his voice is.

Live like it feels fake.

How good he was.

He is, there was a band when I was growing up called Cowboy Mouth, who?

Their lead singer was a drummer and it wasn't always my favorite music, but it was absolutely amazing watching someone capture 200 people in a small club that way.

And then I was a big Guster fan growing up.

I was a college Guster rep, and what I loved about them was they were never as good live or as pure live as their studio stuff.

And it didn't matter because they were better, because they were authentic.

And the crowd was so in touch with.

It's totally the opposite of James Taylor.

I mean, I love those guys, so all those shows pop to me for different reasons.

Hannah, what pops to you when you think of best shows I've seen?

I'm I'm circling through them all.

I know it's like your mind is spinning.

Yeah.

The very first show I ever saw was the Allman Brothers, Tom petty and the Derek Trucks Band, which sticks with me because what a lineup that was your first show.

First show ever?

Pretty good.

I have very cool parents.

Shout out to Carol and Jack.

Carol and Jack.

Yeah, that was the first show ever.

Very cool.

But other than that, the ones that stick with me are in smaller venues.

Like I saw a band, I saw this band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard play, great band name.

they played at the Bug Jar here in Rochester, and the bug jar was packed and people were crowd surfing, and it's a small bar, so just imagine people crowd surfing in a tiny bar where they can touch the ceiling.

That was kind of the energy.

most of the shows that I think stick with me were the smaller, more intimate venues.

Yeah.

I mean, like, I think we've all probably been to big stadium concerts and like, that's cool.

You know, like the first show I took my ten year old to was a, you know, 19,000 people.

And I'm like, these are 19,000 of your fellow travelers, dude, feel free to sing along and just be you.

It took him 30s and he's singing along, but I would have loved it if it was a place with 100 people.

It's just a different thing, you know?

So, for you, Kathy Mattel.

Yeah.

I mean, growing up, was there an experience like Hannah had that?

Did you have a cool family?

It was taking you to cool stuff and what what what lit you up growing up?

I was the black sheep of my family.

I was the artsy one.

Oh.

She's different.

She's the artsy one.

My brothers were jocks and my dad loved music.

My mother said, oh, honey, I can't carry two.

I just can't do it.

but I was always interested in music, and I think Hannah made a really good point earlier.

Like when she was like, there's ten people in this bar, and by the end of the song, they're singing along on my song.

It doesn't matter.

It's not for me.

It is the connection.

If I.

When music connects people, it does it sort of through the back door of your brain.

You know, my my joke is like, you know, when you're sitting next to somebody singing 18 wheels and they're singing 18 wheels, you have no idea who they voted for, and you don't care because you're connected by something that hits you deeper.

And so for me, that was the thing I it was that connection that always got me, whether it was the high school marching band or my little girl group in junior high and high school.

it didn't it didn't matter to me.

It was just I just it pointed my compass early, and, I think that's, you know, for me, whether it was a tiny little foot club in college at WVU or, you know, the first time I ever played in a big arena opening for George Strait, it's like, it doesn't matter, you know, it's like it's if you can feel.

I used to just think my drummer, longtime drummer, plays with Amy right now when she's out doing solo stuff.

And wow, he and I, she was on the show with him and my husband got sick and I couldn't make it, and I was so bummed.

But he and I used to sit and talk about this a lot, and he used to do this drum solo in the middle of the show, where he had his hand drum, and he'd walk the front of the stage and play a solo.

And I said to him, I said, dude, sometimes I feel like I'm throwing you to the wolves every night.

And he said, and he just stopped.

And he looked at me and he said, and I just figure there's maybe one guy in the back of the room who's never heard anything like that before.

Maybe I'm just playing that solo for him.

And that's the magic.

If you stay focused on it, you will find that because it's always present when there's music being played.

I also want to talk a little bit about songwriting in a second, but let me just ask you one other point connected to what you're saying there, Kathy, about not knowing who someone in the audience voted for, not feeling bogged down by culture wars or political wars all the time.

So when I lived in West Virginia for just a year and a half, right out of college, that the governor of West Virginia was a Democrat, there was a the senators were one Republican, one Democrat.

West Virginia's changed a lot, in terms of political stripe as a lot of places have.

But what even more than that, what feels different is that everything feels like it has to be political, or people want to know who you voted for or like.

Is that the right crowd to be with?

And what you are describing is a resistance to that, that urge, that temptation to to kind of gatekeeping that way.

Is that harder these days, or do you feel like my job has nothing to do with politics?

I never, ever wanted to have anything to do with politics.

well, here's here's the really honest answer to that question.

And this is why I love my job hosting mountain stage.

Mountain stage never tells an artist what to play.

We have had artists.

We've been in D.C. and had an artist call out a political figure sitting in the audience from the stage and sing a song to them.

But we don't tell you.

Yes.

No, we don't tell anyone what to play.

This is Larry that set it up this way.

We don't tell you what to play.

We don't tell you who to be.

We make a platform for everyone to be heard and for all kinds of music to be heard.

And then we get out of the way, and we we try to.

It's like we know what our mission is, right?

It is to provide a space.

And so we don't take a stance either way.

We just we just celebrate what music brings to all kinds of people.

And so I think that's also something that people feel if they may not be able to put it into words.

But I think it's what what makes the show really special as well.

Adam, do you agree with that, that, that that music has a way of at least being that, bomb might be the wrong word, but at least it doesn't have to get stuck in the culture wars sometimes.

Yes.

Yeah, I would think so.

And sometimes it is a welcome distraction.

and I think one of the, one of the philosophies Larry had, and it's part of what Kathy is saying just now, is, Larry always said a couple things.

He's got a good a couple of phrases about the show.

One of them is Mountain Stage is located halfway between the bar and the church.

And that's really true because we, we hear all kinds of music that would be at home in a honky tonk or in a club.

But then we also have, artists come on that do very spiritual music or songs that may even have a place in church or another spiritual community.

and we use and Larry is fond of saying, you can sing the hymns, just don't preach the sermon.

And it's like if someone gets up there in between songs and gives something sort of a rant or a tirade that's a little political, we might be more likely to take that out of the show just to prevent causing any dissension.

But if they put it into a song, it's it's going to get left in.

And that's what Kathy said.

We don't tell anybody what to sing.

We just give them an amount of time.

And I will say that even if something that might be dubbed political is put into a song, it's way more digestible for someone who might be opening their eyes and their ears to that concept for the first time.

And I would like to think that we've opened a few people up to perspectives, through songs, that they maybe didn't have previously.

I think as much as I'm probably overly naive about the way politics and the culture War I, sometimes I'm way too optimistic.

five years ago, Covid was hitting and I. I had this idea that, well, this is going to be tough, but this is going to bring us together.

We've all got this common enemy.

It's a virus.

It's not a politician.

It's not a political party.

And we're going to figure out a way through this, and we're going to come out the other side and we're going to be stronger as a country, which goes to show you no one should ever listen to my predictions.

And, but, listeners probably remember that, one of the first, at least to me, one of the first big names that we lost to Covid was John Prine.

And when he was very sick, we had a program in which we welcomed a number of performers on on this show, John Daly performed Hello in There, Ryan Sutherland performed souvenirs, Maria Guillard perform Chain of Sorrow, Scott Austin did Angel from Montgomery, Missouri.

he did as well.

Fran Broderick performed all the best.

Steve Piper did fish and whistle.

I mean, like, it was this beautiful hour of a tribute to a great artist suffering from Covid.

And we we were all worried we were going to lose him.

And we did.

And as great as that was, I got an email from somebody like, I didn't know John Prine was a liberal who don't like what we do doing, like, I can't believe what I'm and that's what I that's when it started.

And that was like a month into the pandemic and I started to go like, we are not really going to come together over this, are we?

So so I go ahead and then I just yeah, I think, I think that's why mountains that's another reason that mountain stage and all this music that we're talking about, everything from the small club to the stadium is important.

What you're feeling, I believe, is social, the influence of social media.

And if you don't pay attention to that, you pay attention to what's going on in the room and what happens to people when they're listening to music.

Then you will see that it is doing a service and it is really important.

And we are coming together even for a brief time, even if people don't want to admit it.

Oh, Kathy, I really appreciate that point.

I think that's such a good point.

It's such an important point for all of us, because I think this is one of those cases where the medium is the message, and I think that that has warped the way we talk to one another.

I think it's warped the way we interact, in ways and especially when we're online, we say things that we would hopefully never say if we're standing next to someone at a concert, the way we sneer and mock.

So yeah, I'm trying to I'm trying to instead of scrolling on social media, I am trying to put on a new artist and listen to their music.

And I keep like, if I'm going to quote unquote, burn some time or, you know, whatever you want to call it, I'd rather be putting new music into my work.

I just listened for a whole evening to his Golden Messengers entire catalog the other day, and was absolutely knocked out of my shoes.

I thought, that is a great way to spend my time.

You know, this is if music is the stuff of life, it will.

It will take you to what's it will it will start to vibrate deep in you.

What's important.

But, but but you weren't squirrel.

What did you miss on Twitter?

I mean, you probably miss some things on Twitter, I would think.

I'm not on Twitter.

I'm on Facebook on my own.

That's I confess, I don't do it.

I don't do it.

Kathy, Kathy, Matteo.

Just bringing us wisdom.

We have a few minutes left here.

I want to remind you that we are having this conversation with the great Kathy Matea.

This our Grammy Award winning artist, host of Mountain Stage, Adam Harris is the executive producer of Mountain Stage.

And Mountain Stage is coming to Rochester next Friday, eight days from now, March 21st, 7 p.m., Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.

Last I checked, I think there are still tickets available.

don't hold me to that.

But move fast because this is always a popular program around the country and they're going to be here.

So, Kathy will be here, of course, but so will Loudon Wainwright the third, and Joe Beard and John Allison and and and more than that.

So we'll have a link on our website if you want to check it out.

It's presented by the Eastman School of Music in partnership with The Root and Mountain Stage.

If you haven't heard it, you should.

Every Sunday afternoon, 2 p.m. on the route and Finger Lakes Public Radio.

Now, my colleague from the Root, Hannah Mayer, had to step out and go back to work.

My colleague Mike black, radio program manager, is back, and we're going to close talking about a little bit about songwriting.

So Mike is someone who just loves to consume the music of Cathy matter and consume the mountain stage these days.

Do you want music that is more politically driven?

Do you want something else, or do you think doesn't matter?

If it's a great tune, it's a great tune.

I almost feel like I need to plead the fifth on this one.

you know, I, I'm not, I think songwriting should be written with a purpose.

And that purpose could be, you know, telling you, telling somebody and comforting them.

It can be telling, a point of view or addressing something.

I've been perusing.

They just released all the The Tiny desk, entrants this year, and it's amazing.

And seeing the variety of the songs, some of them are incredibly on point talking about what's going on now.

Other times they're they're just tender and talking about life and or what life should be.

And I think there's a variety of things that can be done.

I mean, obviously when you look at, you know, Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger and some of these amazing, icons that have written some of the most brilliant, pointed songs, ever penned, and then you also hear some very tender love songs from artists that you may never know who they are.

To me, that it always depends on the moment, the mood, what you're looking for.

So as long as it reaches the heart and touches you, I think or addresses the situation that you might be passionate about.

I think that is really the key to songwriting sometimes make it.

To your point about a love song, there's been a million love songs written, of course, more than that.

But sometimes you hear a phrase, an expression that you've never heard before and you think, oh boy, this is such a simple thought, but I've never heard it expressed this way, and that sometimes that just rings a bell in a way that's profound.

And that's why we turned to Kathy Matthews.

So, I mean, I, I, I have to I got to mention some I mentioned this because, you know, the song that Cathy recorded, that if I think too much about it, I will cry.

you know, Where Have You Been is just like one of the most amazing love song.

True stories ever.

And to me, that is really does.

I mean, I'm getting welled up just thinking about that song and that I know it was one of my mom's favorites.

It just is so pointed that it's the type of song that when you hear it for the first time, it changes you, it touches you, and it will stick with you for the rest of your life.

Cathy, you want to follow that?

sure.

For those who aren't familiar with the song, it's a song my husband and our friend Don Henry wrote about my husband's grandmother, and she, had lost her memory and was stuck in a hospital.

And her husband, John's grandfather, went in the same hospital, and she didn't remember anybody.

And wouldn't eat and wouldn't talk to anybody.

And he brought him in to see her and put him in a wheelchair and brought him in, because they were on separate floors and when she saw him, she came back to herself and said, where have you been?

And it was it was the last thing she ever said.

She died a couple of weeks later.

but it's been an interesting thing because when I first started performing that song, I could hear audible sobs around the room and I had to do it outside at fairgrounds.

I had to do it in arenas and in, you know, small theaters and, it taught me a lot, that song.

It taught me there were people, you know, there were grown burly men who were like, I don't know, I couldn't help myself.

And that's what music's supposed to do.

It's supposed to wake up, parts of you that have lain dormant and show you tenderness and, you know, it is the magic of songwriting that you can write something so specific, but it can tickle the universal in people.

So, it's been a great gift for me.

And I still sing it every night.

Cathy, do you get in streaks where you're writing more?

You're trying to to get more done, or you're driving one day and you go, oh my gosh, here's a phrase.

Here's here's a little rhythm that I, I've got to find a way.

I got to get home.

I got to do this.

How how does it hit you?

Well, I'm more of a singer who sometimes writes.

My husband is a songwriter who sometimes sings.

And I'm here to tell you, he can write five songs in his head without writing anything down.

How?

Except, I don't know, he's a freak.

But I will tell you that when he's doing that, I can't have a conversation with him.

I'll be like, hey, did you talk to so-and-so the other day?

And he'll say, yes, I did.

And then in mid-sentence, he'll stop and I'll look at him and his mouth is moving because he's working on the lyrics and he doesn't even realize that he's left the building.

Yeah, but, you know, it's it's been very interesting to live with somebody who's so creative in that way.

And, we're not competitive, so it's a sweet kind of compliment.

Well, Adam Harris, executive producer of Mountain Stage, we're down to our last couple of minutes.

Let Rochester and Finger Lakes listeners know if they have not seen Mountain Stage, and they're going to come next Friday night at 7 p.m. at Eastman Theater.

What kind of experience they'll have?

Well, it's going to be really interesting, especially for anybody that's been listening to the show.

But has never seen one because, first of all, you might have some disappointment in this in the looks of our band, but Kathy is going to look amazing and she will be just as magical as you remember.

But, what you get to see is, first of all, we have the greatest crew in the world, and we do changeovers really quickly.

And a lot of people enjoy the the NASCAR pit stop style, changeovers that we have.

Our crew, are almost invisible.

You barely even notice they're there.

and our changeovers go really quick.

And what you see is kind of the radio production side of things, because we perform our theme song live on every episode.

we perform our radio drop ins that are for station identifications.

Those are all performed live in the show, and we maintain a live feel even though we're taping, you know, for delayed broadcast, on the radio, you'll hear a one hour and 58 minute version of the show, but when you come to see it live, you get a little bit extra.

There's a little bit of inevitably we have to edit the show into that two hours, and then the show goes about 2.5 hours, usually, all told.

And you'll also get to see our singer, Julie Adams, who is a regular performer on our show.

It doesn't always make it onto the radio broadcast, and the same with our piano player, Bob Thompson.

He has a featured song in every show as well.

And again, that's kind of an editing tool for us.

We use it when we need to, but we try to focus primarily on our guest artists.

And so you'll be able to experience the show live in person and then go back and hear the final product when it airs, a little bit later this spring on, stations like The Root.

Well, Adam, thank you for making time for the program today.

Continued success.

And we're looking forward to the Rochester show, sir.

Hey.

Great job.

I appreciate you guys having us on.

Adam Harris is the executive producer of Mountain Stage.

And in a minute, where instead of the traditional connection show music, you're going to hear Kathy McKay doing the theme song for Mountain Stage.

Kathy, it's been a privilege, an absolute honor.

Mike and I have loved it.

Thank you very much.

Kathy Matea.

Thank you very much, Evan.

It's been a it's been fun.

Mike.

Is this the most fun you can have on the radio?

Come on, man, I always, always loved doing this one.

You can talk about shop and talk with the great people.

It's always good.

awesome.

And Mike, bring in the knowledge of the Kathy Matic catalog.

Listen to how people are touched by this music.

It's awesome from all of us.

Thanks for listening.

We're back with you tomorrow on member supported public media.

Leave me alone around the world.

It's just a simple song.

This world is turning a simple song.

Thank you.

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