It’s always great news when we learn of another radio program playing bluegrass music over the air. One such debuted last week, Jonathan Buckner’s Appalachian Revival, playing a mix of secular and Gospel bluegrass on Willie 94.5 in Bluefield, WV. The show airs at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evenings, and can also be heard online.
Buckner is the leader of popular bluegrass Gospel touring act Chosen Road. He started the band in college, and they now spend roughly 150 days a year performing all over the US at churches, festivals, and concerts. Jonathan is a native West Virginian, where he lives to this day, and a firm believer in the message of the Gospel, as well as the power of the musical forms which derive from Appalachian culture.
But Appalachian Revival is not meant primarily as Christian broadcasting. He will include a mix of the latest releases in bluegrass weekly, along with a few classics of the genre, in each program.
Buckner tells us that the new show will soon be offered on a number of stations affiliated with WAMN in West Virginia, and elsewhere in the southeast. Bluegrass lovers can listen over the air within the region, or live online from the Willie 94.5 web site. It is also posted online after broadcast at the Appalachian Revival site, and delivered to popular streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music.
The radio program will be all music, but Jonathan is also launching a podcast with the same name, where he will converse with artists and personalities in the bluegrass field, and talk about Appalachian life, music, and culture with the people who live it. Those episodes will be available from Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.
Jonathan explained a bit behind the concept.
“Appalachian Revival Radio and Appalachian Revival Podcast was an idea that was born a few years ago, but I wanted to wait until the right time to launch both programs. Appalachian Revival Radio is a celebration of the types of music, primarily bluegrass, that came from the mountains that I call home. Appalachian Revival Podcast will be a deeper journey into the these mountains via conversations with those who make the music and live their lives here. The radio show is now in its second week of production, and the podcast is expected to launch in the near future. I couldn’t be more excited about this new journey. It’s a privilege to continue to shine a positive light on Appalachian music and the people who make it.”
With 150 show dates each year, we wondered where Buckner would find time for a radio program and podcast, but he tells us that he is taking recording gear with him on the road to take advantage of opportunities to interview his fellow artists when they see each other out on tour.
You can visit the show’s home on the web to hear the very first episode, and to stay in the loop as future programs and podcasts are released.
