Martin Anderson
Music Director & HostEschewing his mother’s taste for easy listening music early on, Martin Anderson was raised on his dad’s love for jazz, his brother’s Beatles/classic rock LP’s, and the bluegrass and Top 40 radio of the D.C. area. He began volunteering for the University of Delaware’s WXDR/WVUD eclectic overnight and morning mixes in 1989. Upon graduating with an American History degree, he moved to Eugene, Oregon, he spent the 90’s working in natural foods, environmental causes, and above all, public radio. He hosted various folk, world, Triple-A, and other shows at KLCC, and started a “Miles of Bluegrass” show at KRVM.
After two years working underwriting sales and various music and public affairs programs at KHSU in Arcata, CA, Martin joined WNCW in 2001 as your weekday morning host. He loves interviewing the many talented musicians who come to Studio B, stretching out with the many styles ‘NCW embraces, and reflecting listener requests, events of the day, and our beautiful Southern Appalachian landscape. As Music Director, he books our live sessions, and keeps in touch with the record labels and promoters that send us new music. When not at the station, he enjoys gardening, hiking, traveling, history, and raising his daughter on good music and more.
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"This whole project grew out of a box of old four-track tapes from the ’90s that I found recently,” singer/songwriter Eric Earley explains. “The tapes were full of songs I’d written and recorded back when I was 19 or 20 years old, and the sound and the spirit of those recordings got me excited to start writing music again, to go back to working the way I did when I was first starting out.” See if you can pick up on that ‘90s psychedelic and classic rock-inspired sound on this one, which will be available May 17th via Yep Roc Records. The Portland, Oregon band will host an online listening party on May 15th, FYI. -
It’s the legendary band’s first new studio album in 12 years, first-ever all-blues album, and the first one to feature percussionist Sam Clayton on lead vocals on every song. The current lineup also has Bill Payne on Keyboards and Vocals, Fred Tackett on Guitars and Vocals, Kenny Gradney on Bass, Scott Sharrard on Guitars and Vocals, and Tony Leone on drums and vocals. Bonnie Raitt is featured on one of a couple Muddy Waters tunes, and they also cover Willie Dixon, Walter Jacobs, Preston Foster, and Bobby Charles. -
Get to know this English indie-folk-rock musician, whose inspirations include Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Adele, and whose 5th album draws on inspiration from her young son (with another one due soon!) It’s striking how smoothly this album seemed to come together, as she describes: “Once the songs starting forming, I knew drums and bass would be integral, so I invited David (Dyson) and Ben (Daniel) down to Brighton and we jammed through all the songs in my living room. They took shape and I decided to take Paul Weller up on his offer to use his studio Black Barn, to record them. I honestly thought we were making demos to then go find a producer, but it soon became apparent, we were beginning the making of an album. We recorded live takes, no click, and simply committed to the best take, and that was the bones of the record, which you can hear in the demo versions available. With the help of producer Kwes, we added keys, strings, brass, flute, guitar and the record was ready for mixing and mastering. -
We wrap up our New Tunes at 2 series this week with three sneak peeks at some future albums coming our way. The Songs From the Road Band has helped keep Western NC as ground zero for some of the best new bluegrass music, and they’ve got a catchy foot-stomper about musicians’ life on the road with “Get Me Where I’m Going.” Sam Burchfield, from Upstate SC and now North GA, has a beautiful new song about spending time on “The Ridge”. And, well, we lost The Man in Black in 2003, but back in 1993 he’d recorded some great songs he’d written over the years that then got put aside when he signed on with Rick Rubin for that great “American Recordings” series. His son John Carter Cash has recovered these demos, and completed the tracks with work from musicians who played with Johnny in the past including guitarist Marty Stuart and the late bassist Dave Roe, along with others. “Well Alright” is the first single from an album “Songwriter” that will be released on June 28th. -
Peak of the Week"Katie Crutchfield's voice is the centerpiece of her music as Waxahatchee. It's shaky in a way that feels resilient...She's finding herself on Tigers Blood. You can hear the confidence shining through." (NPR). Saint Cloud was a breakthrough album for Waxahatchee, a welcome musical escape and comforting reflection for many from the pandemic, and it cemented her status as an important voice in the indie-Americana scene. We also loved her 2022 collaboration with Jess Williamson for the project called Plains. Now with Tigers Blood we see Crutchfield dig even deeper; the result is a complex and beautiful album that is sure to find a special place in people’s hearts once again. She plays in Asheville on Tuesday April 30th. -
Martha Spencer is a singer-songwriter, mountain musician and dancer from the Blue Ridge Mountains (Grayson County) of Virginia. She grew up in the musical Spencer family and learned to play several instruments (guitar, fiddle, banjo, bass, dulcimer, mandolin) and flatfoot/clog at a young age. This Whitetop Mountain Band was originally formed in the 1940s by Martha’s uncle, legendary fiddler and luthier, Albert Hash. Since then, she’s also worked with the Wonderland Country Band, the Blue Ridge Girls, the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program, and assorted other duos and groups. Most of her upcoming shows look to be in SW Virginia and East Tennessee, but she’ll stop by Studio B for a visit with Roland on Wednesday to play some songs from a fun new album coming out May 28th. -
Chris Smither “taps his foot to keep the rhythm, much like the late blues legend John Lee Hooker. His finger-picked guitar lines are sleek, unhurried and insistent. And then there’s the voice – equal parts gravel and molasses.” (NPR). “Cast your mind back to the first time you heard Hank Williams, Big Bill Broonzy or JJ Cale and remember how good it felt. Think of the opening encounter with Leon Redbone or Leo Kottke. They say newcomers to Chris Smither’s brand of country blues-tinged southern folk experience those same emotions. It’s true.” (Maverick) These are just some of deserved descriptions of the man whom we’ve loved hosting for decades now, and he’s got a wonderful new album – his 20th – as he approaches his 80th birthday. He plays the Grey Eagle in Asheville Wednesday evening. -
Did you know fellow Texans Hayes Carll and the Band of Heathens have a history of jamming together? “We’ve played a lot of music together over the last 10 years,” says Carll, “and our creative relationship continues to evolve into its own thing. Hayes & The Heathens is that thing.” “This sort of medicine show, revival, rock and roll circus is a unique presentation of our music,” adds Ed Jurdi of Band of Heathens. “I think anyone who loves the spontaneity and chemistry of a live performance is going to be in for a magical evening. I know we’re going to have a good time!” They’ve collaborated on some new material together, and Hayes and at least a couple of the Heathens pay us a visit on Wednesday morning before their show in Asheville that evening, following their Tuesday Knoxville show. -
It’s his 20th album, he’s approaching his 80th birthday, and he’s still got some deeply rich, absolutely incredible songs and performances to share. In fact, he’ll perform live for us in Studio B on Wednesday May 1st! Joining him on this new album are producer David Goodrich with a variety of instruments, Zak Trojano on percussion, BettySoo on accordion and harmony vocals, and the mournful flood of New Orleans jazz legend Chris Cheek’s saxophone. -
You know Anya’s music, right? The Asheville resident and SW Virginia native was formerly in Tellico, and Dehlia Low before that, and won the Merlefest Chris Austin Songwriting Contest and was a finalist in the Hazel Dickens songwriting competition in 2019 for her song “Ballad of Zona Abston,” and was runner-up in the International Acoustic Music Awards in 2022 for “Hills of Swannanoa.” Well the name of her latest album is about as far from Southern Appalachia as you can get: Oceania comes from an area of the Pacific Ocean that is the only geographical region in the world that encompasses more water than land. Anya has found it to be a metaphor for aspects of her own life lately: “The state of being lost, and the prospect of finding the shore, is so remote and improbable that is truly tests the heart and spirit.” Get to know these new songs of hers, on this album that includes John Doyle, Mick McAuley, Billy Cardine, River Guerguerian and others. Her upcoming area shows include Citizen Vinyl in Asheville on the 27th (with The Billy Sea & Mary Lucey), and the Albino Skunk Festival on May 11th.
