I had the occasion recently to speak at length with Tim White, emcee and co-producer of the popular Song Of The Mountains concert series and television show, aired on 170 PBS affiliates in the United States.

The show originates from Marion, VA at the exquisitely restored Lincoln Theatre, an Art Deco masterpiece built in 1929, designed to resemble a Mayan temple. It was reopened in 2004 and is listed as a Virginia Historic Landmark and is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the first Saturday of each month, a concert is held at the Lincoln, most of which are taped for later broadcast. Four bands appear at each taping, allowing the producers to create 24 episodes each year for distribution to public television.

The first show was taped in July of 2005, and in 2006, its reach grew from a single station (WBRA – Blue Ridge Public television in Roanoke, VA) to 30 stations. Their affiliates are unsurprisingly clustered in the southeastern US, but the show is also quite popular in the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets, and on numerous stations in both the midwest and northwestern states.

The first three seasons have seen some of bluegrass music’s brightest starts and living legends take the Lincoln stage. Rhonda Vincent, Larry Sparks, The Kruger Brothers, Lonesome River Band, Roni Stoneman, Curley Seckler, Steep Canyon Rangers and David Parmley are just a few of the acts who have been featured.

The 2009 season is set to begin in May, and Tim was excited about this year’s lineup. New shows on tap will have live sets from Lost & Found, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Larry Cordle, Beth Stevens, Tom T. Hall, NewFound Road, Donna Ulisse, Mike Seeger, Gold Heart, Cherryholmes and Dale Ann Bradley and several others.

Song Of The Mountains is offered royalty free to member stations and subscribers of the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). The presenting affiliate is WCVE in Richmond, VA.

The success of the TV show has led to the launch of an annual, three day Song Of The Mountains bluegrass festival, held at the Davis Valley Winery in Rural Retreat, VA in late June.

More details about the show can be found at songofthemountains.org.

Marion, VA is a town you might miss, unless you are traveling on I-81 through Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains. The area has a rich musical heritage, however, and is now the home of Song Of The Mountains, a live concert series which is recorded for broadcast television from Marion’s restored Lincoln Theater.

The show is the brainchild of Tim White, a well-known performer and radio personality in East Tennessee (Troublesome Hollow and The VW Boys), and Andre Burroughs, Production Manager at Blue Ridge Public Television in Roanoke, VA. They launched in the summer of 2005, drawing a local audience and filming several of the shows for airing on BRPTV.

These shows were also offered to PBS affiliates all over the US, and 26 picked the show up over the course of that first season. In 2006, shows were recorded for the 2007 broadcast season, and the show received a Telly Award for their work in season one.

The 2007 broadcast season will include live shows featuring Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys, The Lost & Found, Roni Stoneman, The VW Boys with special guest “Tater” Tate, Mike Seeger, Paul Williams & the Victory Trio, Randy Waller & the Country Gentlemen, Wayne Henderson & Jeff Little, Heather Berry & Dominion Grass and many others.

Tim White tells us that they have 50 PBS affiliate stations carrying the show now, and that it is distributed for broadcast to members of the National Educational Telecommunications Association through the NETA Program Service.

Stations wishing to contact Tim for more information can do so by email.