From North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s Americana artists Mipso visited the Blue Plate stage. Their music is heard regularly on WDVX, and Mipso is touring to promote the release of their new album “Coming Down The Mountain” (April 7, 2017). On the new CD, Mipso has ventured further than ever from their string-band pedigree to discover a broader Americana where classic folk-rock and modern alt-country sounds mingle easily with Appalachian tradition – including adding drums and electric instruments to their intimate four-part harmonies. This tune, “Train Down The Line”, is from the new release. Mipso is: Libby Rodenbough-fiddle/vocals, Joseph Terrell-guitar/vocals, Wood Robinson-bass/vocals, Jacob Sharp-mandolin/guitar/vocals, and Yan Westerlund-drums. Find out lots more about Mipso on their website at: https://www.mipsomusic.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

From Berkeley Springs in the West Virginia Panhandle, Marv Ashby and High Octane came to the Blue Plate Special. They brought their hard-driving mix of traditional and contemporary bluegrass music, which features Marv’s aggressive flatpicking style and straight-ahead vocal arrangements. High Octane is: Doug (Beardie) Moats on bass, Larry Crawford on fiddle, and Jack VanOrden on banjo. After a short fiddle intro (“Fire On The Mountain”) the band picks “I’m On My Way Back To The Old Home”, from their 2014 project, “The Recipe”. To find more info about, and keep up with Marv Ashby and High Octane, visit https://www.reverbnation.com/marvashb…

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

Blue Mother Tupelo returned to the Blue Plate Special recently. BMT is Ricky and Micol Davis – and they began their musical life together as (The) Blue Mother Tupelo at an open mic night at Sassy Ann’s in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1995. A move to Nashville followed, and they have been performing ever since, releasing multiple albums and entertaining crowds with their distinctive Southern soul and stomp. This is “Meet Me Down River”, which appears on Blue Mother Tupelo’s CD, “Only Sunshine” (2014). Be sure and watch for their new album, due to be released in June, 2017. Find out more about Blue Mother Tupelo on their website at: https://www.bluemothertupelo.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

Ian Thomas brought his Band Of Drifters to the Blue Plate stage for some Classic Country string bending songs that have been compared to Waylon, Hank, and the like. Ian treated the crowd to selections from the Band’s latest release, “Live In 2016”, including this cry in your beer number, “Nickels and Dimes”. Band Of Drifters is Ian Thomas on vocals and guitar, Jon Whitlock on drums, Chris Zuhr on bass, and Brock Henderson on electric guitar. Learn more about Band Of Drifters at http://www.bandofdrifters.com/ . Ian also performs solo and with The Bus Driver Tour. Check out those websites at http://www.ianthomasmusic.com/ and http://www.thebusdrivertour.com/

Ian Thomas & the Band of Drifters are playing Tennessee Shines Radio Show this Wednesday night at Boyd’s Jig and Reel. The show starts at 7pm and the doors open at 6pm. Tickets are $10 at the door and $7 in advance here.

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

Sam Morrow took the Blue Plate stage with his own brand of Country-tinged Americana which has been compared to Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, and Jason Isbell. Sam is from Texas, lived in New York, and is now based in Los Angeles. He shared several tunes from his two releases, “There Is No Map” (2015), and “Ephemeral” (2014). Sam also let us know that he is set to start recording a new album in a couple of months. As a special treat, Sam and the band also covered Waylon Jennings’ “Waymore’s Blues”. Joining Sam on stage: Tyler James Kelly on guitar, Ben Eyestone on drums, and Tyrone Coughlin on bass. Find out more about Sam Morrow on his website at http://sammorrowmusic.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

Our sixth Blue Plate Special Road Show took us to the campus of historic Maryville College and the beautiful Clayton Center for the Arts. We will be back home at our newly remodeled Knoxville Visitor’s Center stage on March 3, 2017! The standing room only audience welcomed Blount County’s own Pistol Creek Catch of the Day to the stage. Members include Edward Harper (acoustic guitar), David Rasnake (electric guitar), Carl Gombert (bass), Brad Hitch (drums), and Doug Harris (harmonica). As an extra special treat, PCCOTD was joined by Rare Aire, the Medical Fitness harmonica group of COPD patients at Blount Memorial Hospital that is discovering new ways music can heal (and is led by PCCOTD guitarist Edward Harper). Connect with Pistol Creek Catch of the Day at: https://www.facebook.com/pistolcreekc… and enjoy this article about Rare Aire at http://blountmemorial.org/secondary.p…. Visit Maryville College and the Clayton Center on their websites at: http://www.claytonartscenter.com/ and https://www.maryvillecollege.edu/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

Our sixth Blue Plate Special Road Show took us to the campus of historic Maryville College and the beautiful Clayton Center for the Arts. We will be back home at our newly remodeled Knoxville Visitor’s Center stage on March 3, 2017! Jay Clark, a favorite in the East Tennessee music scene for more than 20 years (and an adjunct professor in the Biology Department at Maryville College) took the stage in front of a SRO crowd. His band, The Tennessee Tree Beavers, features Knoxville’s own Greg Horne on lead guitar & Daniel Kimbro on upright bass. Jay recently released his fifth recording, “Of Mountains & Heartbreak” (2016). This tune, “Mountain In The Sky” is from that album, and in the intro, Jay explains that concept he had when writing the song. Learn more about Jay Clark and his brand of “Original Appalachian Folk” at http://www.jayclarkmusic.com/. Visit Maryville College and the Clayton Center on their websites at: http://www.claytonartscenter.com/ and https://www.maryvillecollege.edu/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/ Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WDVXradio/ See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

The Blue Plate Special Road Show traveled to The Knoxville Museum Of Art for the fifth “to go” version while our downtown stage nears remodeling completion. On stage was Knoxville’s own Ben Maney, an eclectic pianist well known to audiences as a soloist, as well as from collaborations with other bands. He’s also a piano instructor at Community School of the Arts. It was just Ben and his piano this time, and he treated us to one of his original tunes, “Lonely Mountain”. Be sure and see Ben with his current musical partner, vocalist Yasameen Hoffman-Shahin. They performed at last year’s Big Ears kickoff party, and with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra at Ijams Nature Center’s annual Symphony in the Park fundraiser. You can connect with Ben and Yasameen on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?…

See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

The Blue Plate Special Road Show traveled to The Knoxville Museum Of Art for the fifth “to go” version while our downtown stage nears remodeling completion. On stage was Knoxville’s own Americana duo, Pale Root. Pale Root was born out of the collaboration of songwriters Aaron Freeman and Jordan Burris. Together, the two craft tales influenced by their admiration of traditional folk, country, bluegrass as well as modern folk and Americana. The full house heard tunes from their self-titled debut album, including this one, “Colorado”. Pale Root was joined on stage by Asher Smith on bass and Evie Andrus on fiddle. Find out lots more about Pale Root on their website at http://www.paleroot.com/ and connect with them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/palerootmusic/

See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio

In our fourth road show while the Knoxville Visitor’s Center performance area is being remodeled, the Blue Plate Special traveled to the historic Grove Theater in Oak Ridge. Opening the show were the students from the Oak Ridge High School Fusion Orchestra. This small group is made up of players from the 200 member ORHS Orchestra, under the direction of instructor Doug Phillips. Mr. Phillips tells us that in Fusion Orchestra, the challenge is to take classically trained musicians and teach them how to improvise on the spot, and it’s also an opportunity to teach songwriting and arranging skills. The tune in this video is called “Highway Boogie”. Mr. Phillips said, “That’s kind of the cool thing about it – I’m not just standing in front of the kids dictating what to do, I just become an equal member of the group with the kids – and so we’re having a lot of fun with it.” (That’s him on drums!) Student members of the ORHS Fusion Orchestra are: Sheila Wilder, Emily Lutner, Zach Trabalka, Julia Steed, Brittany Wensell, Sooah Lee, Matthew Daring-Yerk, and Owen Mull. Learn more about the award winning ORHS Orchestra on their website at: http://orhsorchestra.org/, and on their Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/Oak-Ridge-Hi…. Discover the history of The Grove Theater at http://thegrovetheater.org/

See more live performances and subscribe to our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/WDVXRadio