CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia native and country music artist Kathy Mattea has been a guest on ‘Mountain Stage’ a number of times over the last several of years. This Sunday, she’ll guest host the show.
Mattea, a Grammy-winning artist, will step into the shoes of host and co-founder Larry Groce for the show at the state Culture Center in Charleston Sunday night.
“For me to be asked to, even just for one day, to step into those shoes it’s daunting and at the same time I feel like my job is to be the ambassador for Charleston and West Virginia and for the history of this show,” she told MetroNews “Hotline” Host Steve Bishop this week.
The show includes appearances by Seamus Egan Project, Cheryl Wheeler, Kenny White and more.
Mattea said she may even pick up the mic and sing.
“I’m thrilled that they’re asking me to sing because they’re like don’t get confused about the talking part, because you might have to do the singing part,” she said.
‘Mountain Stage’ has been around since 1983. Mattea has been a guest on the show 19 times.
Mattea grew up in Cross Lanes and went to West Virginia University where she discovered her love for music.
“I was a physics, chemistry and engineering major. I met up with people who loved music as much as me, so I crammed for the tests and did fine and then play music in my spare time. There was this moment when I realized — when I’m doing music I feel really, really different than when I’m doing when I do when I’m doing math and science,” she said.
She ended up moving to Nashville, Tenn. with one of her band members.
“I knew that if I didn’t go, for the rest of my life there would be this monkey on my back. There would be this voice saying what would’ve happened? What would your life have been like? I needed to answer the question. Even if it was a no — no you don’t have a place in music and you won’t get to sing — I would have peace going forward,” Mattea said.
Sunday’s show starts at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Advance tickets cost $20. Tickets at the door are $35.
The tickets are available online, by phone at (866)-987-6487 or at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston.