LEXINGTON, Ky. — It's a Monday night in Lexington, Kentucky, but at the Lyric Theater, one of the most listened to radio shows in the world is being recorded:
"And now, gather the family around and sit back in your easy chair. It is now time for the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour — our worldwide celebration of grassroots music. Let's welcome author, folk singer and tree hugger, Michael Johnathon!"
The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour is broadcast on 500 radio stations, mostly public radio, around North America. Its reach though is worldwide. Woodsongs is now heard in 177 stations around the world.
Woodsongs is the brainchild of folksinger Michael Johnathon, who features what he calls front porch music to audiences around the globe. The growth of the show is amazing, but it started very small.
"I was on tour with Judy Collins, and we were playing a big outdoor amphitheater in Chicago … and we were in the town car heading there, and they played a show called 'Prairie Home Companion' on the radio. I thought, 'How hard can it be to start your own live audience radio or TV series?" Johnathon said. "Well, it’s very hard, but that is how it started, in a tiny little studio that sat about 12 people sitting on cushions. We would serve apple cider and homemade cookies to draw people there on a Monday night."
Now the show has a worldwide following — listened to around the globe. Johnathon is thankful.
"Public TV coast to coast, the RFD television network nationwide and in schools with lesson plans, we like to introduce kids in classrooms around America. What the guitar is with Tommy Emanuel," Johnathon said. "What are vocal groups like Blind Boys of Alabama and what are banjos like with Bela Fleck. With all of this, with lesson plans for the teachers to really get the kids involved with Front Porch America."
Think of Woodsongs as a cross between the Grand Ole Opry and "Prairie Home Companion." Those two shows had a reputation for bringing together different types of people under the banner of wonderful music and a lasting heritage of quality.
"America is in a very strange place right now, and there is a lot of hurting, a lot of negativity. There is a lot of struggle going on. To me, America has lost sight of its front porch. Woodsongs is sort of the comfortable, music rocking chair on America's front porch. What we want to do is bring the adventure of roots music of all kinds to the American audiences and worldwide," Johnathon said.
Everyone on the show is a volunteer. It is a group effort with engineers, sound mixers, stage crew, TV production folks and even popcorn makers, giving of their time freely to the Woodsongs cause. That includes the performers. Well-known acts like Jewel, Bela Fleck guitar legend Tommy Emanuel and lesser known but equally talented artists have graced the Lyric Theater stage. The theme here is: "You don't have to be famous, you just have to be very, very good."
Muriel Anderson is regarded as one of the finest guitar players in the world. She loves performing on the Woodsongs stage with her string harp guitar. She has guest-starred on the show several times, and her music is heard around the planet.
"I have had kind of a long career, so that has happened many times, many different ways, but I really like the way Woodsongs has done that, has really worked, so they’re in all different places the servicemen can hear it," Anderson said. "There's affiliates all over, so I think they have done a marvelous job in being able to spread this music to a lot of people."
Sisters Savanna Love Cool and Sara Cool are part of Woodsongs Kids, a part of the show that is so popular that it has its own program on PBS stations. The show features all kinds of music, performed by children, and Sara has seen her tastes enhanced.
"I am starting to become very interested in country," Sara said. "At first because I am from the city, I hadn't really been exposed to country music. It is really just nice hearing something new, and it has definitely exposed me to something different."
Listeners to this show are exposed to bluegrass and gospel, jazz and country, even folk and rock and roll. All of the music has one thing in common: It is grassroots and home-grown.
Sit back in your easy chair and tune in. Woodsongs is giving the world a little music diversity from the Bluegrass, and all you have to do is relax, soak it in and enjoy.
More of Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky:
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Visiting fabled horse parks
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Finding giants at Bernheim Forest
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Cabins on the cliffs and in the trees
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Rail Explorers
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Red River Gorge underground kayaking
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Touring the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Rocking with Rick Faris
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Western Kentucky BBQ Trail
- Chuck's Big Adventure in Kentucky: Berea College
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