Bands & Musicians in West Virginia

West Virginia's sound is Appalachian at its core: old-time fiddle tunes, bluegrass, and gospel carried through mining towns and mountain hollows. The Wheeling Jamboree aired country statewide for generations, and Mountain Stage in Charleston still broadcasts roots music nationally. The state produced soul songwriter Bill Withers and bluegrass singer Hazel Dickens, while Elkins' Augusta Heritage Center keeps traditional music alive.

Charleston hosts Mountain Stage, the live public-radio show, at the Culture Center, and the Vandalia Gathering fills the capitol grounds with old-time music each spring. Morgantown's 123 Pleasant Street has booked indie and punk for decades, the Purple Fiddle in Thomas draws touring roots acts to the highlands, and Wheeling's Jamboree keeps its stage tradition alive.

Bill Withers from Slab Fork wrote enduring soul standards. Country singers Little Jimmy Dickens, Brad Paisley, and Kathy Mattea all hail from the state, bluegrass singer Hazel Dickens carried its coal-country songs to folk audiences, and one-man band Hasil Adkins invented his own raw rockabilly.

Morgantown, home to WVU, runs the state's busiest bar and house-show circuit, with Charleston and Huntington, home to Marshall University, close behind. Old-time players can join weekly jams around Elkins and the Augusta program. For bigger gigs many musicians drive to Pittsburgh or Columbus, or first find West Virginia collaborators on BandMate.