Across the Blue Ridge #72 - Lightnin' Wells, one-man band [LINK]
by Paul Brown
May 12, 2017
Mike "Lightnin'" Wells brings traditions together in his entertaining, informative and down-home one-man shows. His latest album, titled O Lightnin' Where Art Thou?, displays his range as never before as he plays and sings his way through songs from early country and bluegrass to blues, gospel, and old time mountain music. Born in West Virginia and largely raised in North Carolina, Lightnin' was smitten early by the famed WWVA Jamboree radio show out of Wheeling, West Virginia. When his family moved to the Chapel Hill, North Carolina area, he discovered a rich vein of piedmont blues and old time music as well. On this episode of Across the Blue Ridge, we hear selections from the new album, plus an interview and songs from his 2016 appearance at Muddy Creek Music Hall in Winston-Salem, NC. Also on the show, a selection of classic cuts from the three most significant bands in the early history of bluegrass music: Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys; The Stanley Brothers; and Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys. There's some great old time string band music as well from The Reed Island Rounders and The Camp Creek Boys.
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