Larry and Sandra Groce
Shows at the Purple Fiddle |
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Visit Larry and Sandra Groce on the web!
Special guest guitarist – Michael Lipton, of the Mountain Stage band!
Larry Groce is a singer, songwriter and one of the founders of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Mountain Stage, distributed nationally by NPR to over 150 stations. He’s been host and artistic director of the show since its beginning in 1983. Mountain Stage is one of the longest running national radio programs in the country and Larry’s taste and judgment have shaped its two-hour format into the most intriguing and stylistically diverse collection of live performances found on radio or television.
Larry has recorded twenty-four albums. The most recent, “Live Forever” released in 2016, was produced by Don Dixon (REM, The Red Clay Ramblers, James McMurtry). Larry’s top ten hit novelty single “Junk Food Junkie” was Dr. Demento’s Song of the Year in 1976. Larry’s albums span styles from folk/Americana to hymns to children’s recordings for Walt Disney records, one of which was nominated for a “Children’s Record of the Year” Grammy.
The New York Times, People Magazine and other national publications have profiled him and he performed on The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, American Bandstand, The Midnight Special, The Rich Little Show, Nashville Now, The Disney Channel, Doctor Demento and A Prairie Home Companion.
Sandra Groce was the principal violist for the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and its Montclaire String Quartet from 1996 until 2010 when she stepped down to raise the couple’s two daughters. She continues to perform with the WVSO and other regional orchestras. Previously, she was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami, the Spoleto Orchestra (South Carolina and Italy) and the Central City (Colorado) Opera Orchestra. Performing folk, country and pop music has been a recent development in her long musical career and one she has taken to with a passion.