NPR‘s long-running nationally syndicated concert program Mountain Stage will open its vaults for a sprawling new compilation album Live on Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers. Out April 19th via John Prine‘s Oh Boy Records, the tracklist features cross-generational talents including Tyler Childers, Margo Price, Wilco, Sierra Ferrell, Prine himself, and many more.

Launched in 1983 and broadcast weekly before a live audience from the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV, Mountain Stage is the second-longest-running radio performance program behind the Grand Ole Opry. Over the decades, Mountain Stage has become a voice not only for the continuously renewing roots/Americana movement but also a space for rising artists of all genres from indie rock to world music and beyond.

Outlaws and Outliers focuses on the heavy-hitting folk and country artists that have played the program including Jason Isbell, Molly Tuttle, Steve Earle, Alison Krauss, Eric Church, Watchhouse, and more. The album announcement arrives alongside the lead single, Wilco’s cover of David Bowie‘s “Space Oddity” which also lands on streaming services on what would have marked Bowie’s 77th birthday.

“As a gratefully, if not begrudgingly, Earth-bound band, it’s always an honor and a challenge to tackle any of David Bowie’s space-soaring arrangements,” Wilco said of the cover. “Striving to reach the heights of his freedom and talent is a wise goal for any band. We thank Mountain Stage for letting us give this song another home on Earth.”

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For over 40 years, Mountain Stage has been a beacon for established and emerging artists alike, airing weekly on over 250 radio stations nationwide. The program’s storied history has seen guests as celebrated and varied as The Band, R.E.M., Phish, Patti Smith, Townes Van Zandt, Allen Ginsberg, Dr. John, and many more.

“Mountain Stage has always been about our guests,” founder and original host Larry Groce, who handed the reigns over to current host Kathy Mattea in 2021, said. “Our only purpose has been to showcase their incredible talent. We’ve heard a lot in 40 years and these songs are just a few of the treasures from our archives that we want to share with the world. When we got the chance to work with Oh Boy Records on this project, we jumped at it. John Prine is an American music icon who set the bar for performing songwriters like the ones in this collection. There’s a lot of fun here but there’s also a lot of insight as to what life is all about.”

Check out Wilco’s David Bowie cover below or on your preferred platform and pre-order Live on Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers here. Scroll down for the full tracklist and album artwork.

Wilco – “Space Oddity” (David Bowie)

Live on Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers Tracklist:

01) Wilco – “Space Oddity” (David Bowie cover)
02) Watchhouse – “The Wolves”
03) Molly Tuttle – “You Didn’t Call My Name”
04) Tyler Childers – “Going Home”
05) Lucinda Williams – “Joy”
06) Eric Church – “Sinners Like Me”
07) Margo Price – “Hurtin’ (On The Bottle)”
08) Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – “One More Dollar”
09) Bird of Chicago – “Lodestar”
10) Kathy Mattea – “Redwing Blackbird”
11) The Indigo Girls – “Closer To Fine”
12) John Prine – “Souvenirs”
13) Steve Earle – “You Know The Rest”
14) Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn – “What’cha Gonna Do”
15) Sierra Ferrell – “I’d Do It Again”
16) Tim O’Brien – “Cup of Sugar”
17) Rhiannon Giddens – “Black Is the New Color”
18) Alison Krauss – “Let me Touch You For A While”
19) James McMurtry – “Canola Fields”
20) Jason Isbell – “Traveling Alone”
21) Sam Baker – “Isn’t Love Great”

View Tracklist