This Old Porch™
Sunday 3:00pm - 6:00pm

WNCW’s program of old-time and traditional dance music. John Fowler and Carol Rifkin host this show that keeps the music of the mountains alive.

John Fowler	John started as a volunteer radio announcer in the spring of 1995, spinning vinyl and a brand new media, the Compact-Disc. He recalls, “In those days we had, reel-to-reel recorded programs, and guests crowding around the one mic to perform live - all bundled up into a 2 hour live old-time radio show." Now This Old Porch is three hours of top notch programming with up-to-date technology. “On top of that nothing has changed,” he said. When John is not playing his favorite traditional tunes on Sunday afternoon he is busy presenting old-time storytelling and music programs at schools, festivals, college's and special events throughout the region. He also conducts folklore research and workshops for grant development projects. John play's a number of old-time instruments including; banjo, fiddle, harmonica, spoons and auto-harp. "I love the old authentic music, the way it used to sound, and I enjoy playing this music when I'm on-the-air".
Carol Rifkin	Carol Rifkin is a  longtime member of the mountain music community and is a nationally known, award winning musician, singer and dancer who has performed on TV, radio, recordings, at festivals, in the BBC documentary Down Home, Appalachia to Nashville (with fiddler Tommy Jarrell), the movie Songcatcher, documentaries like Rank Strangers, Why Old Time,  public TV shows and more.  A 30-year member of the internationally known Green Grass Cloggers, she appeared with them in Emmy Award Winning productions and recently at the Smithsonian, MerleFest and Philadelphia Folk Festival. A journalist who writes about music for the Asheville Citizen Times and national music publications, she loves mountain music and performs at most of the traditional music events in the region with her band Paul’s Creek. Devoted to the preservation of traditional music, she is a long time supporter of WNCW and loves to play the special blend of old time, mountain traditional, early country and bluegrass that makes This Old Porch so special.