Welcome to The Back Porch page!  Norm and Al will try to keep you up to date here on top acoustic/Americana albums and other major acoustic music happenings around the WVPE listening area.   We hope you'll stop back often!

PLAYLIST INFORMATION - You can go to this link - http://lists.psu.edu/archives/folkdj-l.html - to see our Back Porch playlists.  Just click on the week in question and look through the postings to find our playlist which will contain artist's name, song title and album title.

REQUEST LINE! - Call 574-674-8895 during The Back Porch to make a request.

Note:  We are often asked where the albums you hear on The Back Porch can be purchased.  Except for the very biggest name artists, most of the talent you hear on The Back Porch only sell their CD's at their performances and through their web sites on the Internet.  If you wish to purchase any of the albums listed below, do a search on Google or a similar search engine - entering the artist's name is usually enough to take you to a link to their web site.  This method often works by entering an album title, and sometimes even a song title or a line of lyric from a song, as well.  Another good place to check is at www.cdbaby.com.

The Back Porch Best Albums Of 2007*

Artist/Album Title

Arlon Bennett – Summer’s Voice

Rod & Annie Capps – In This Town

Craig Carothers – Solo

Cherryholmes II – Black & White

Steve Chizmadia – It Is What It Is

Eliza Gilkyson – Your Town Tonight

The Gougers – A Long Day For The Weathervane

The Greencards – Viridian

Mark Johnson  & Emory Lester – Acoustic Rising

Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplan – Kane, Welch, Kaplan

Kennedy’s Kitchen – A Pocketful Of Lint (Local Artist!)

Kenny & Amanda Smith Band – Tell Someone

Alison Krauss – A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver – More Behind The Picture Than The Wall

Louis Ledford – Adios King

Claire Lynch – Crowd Favorites

Joel Mabus – The Banjo Monologues

Peter Rowan & Tony Rice – Quartet

Red Molly – Never Been To Vegas LIVE

Duane Rutter – Waiting Room

Venitia Sekema – Hell On High Heels (Local Artist!)

Emily Singleton – Spirit On The Prowl

Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby – Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby

The Spinney Brothers – If I Were Your Brother

Eric Uglum, Christian Ward & Austin Ward – The Old Road To Jerusalem

Uncle Earl – Waterloo, Tennessee

Corinne West – Second Sight

Jack Williams – Laughing In The Face Of The Blues

Robin & Linda Williams – Radio Songs

Adrienne Young – Room To Grow

The Back Porch Best Albums of 2006*

Artist/Album Title
Janet Beazley - 5 South
Ruth Bloomquist - One Day Ain't Enough
Chuck Brodsky - Tulips For Breakfast
Michael Cleveland - Let 'Er Go Boys!
Mark Dvorak - Every Step Of The Way
The Gibson Brothers - Red Letter Day
John Gorka - Writing In The Margins
Tracy Grammer - Flower Of Avalon
Sarah Harmer - I'm A Mountain
The Hunger Mountain Boys - Blue Ribbon Waltz
Bill Isles - The Shores Of My Hometown
Jeff & Vida - The Simplest Plans
Diana Jones - My Remembrance Of You
The Laws - Live At The Camp St. Cafe
Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands - The Golden West
The Lonesome Sisters w/Riley Baugus - Going Home Shoes
The Lonesome Sisters - The Lonesome Sisters
Dan Menzone - Menzone Drive
The Milroys - The Milroys
Alecia Nugent - A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane
Dave Potts - $12.99
Darryl Purpose & Julie Beaver - Live At Coalesce
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder - Instrumentals
Jan Smith - 29 Dances
Truckstop Souvenir - Leave Nothing Behind
Two High String Band - Moonshine Boogie
Rhonda Vincent - All American Bluegrass Girl
The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
Corinne West - Bound For The Living
Pat Wictor - Heaven Is So High

The Back Porch Best Albums of 2005*

Artist/Album Title
The Grascals - The Grascals
Venitia Sekema - Lucky Numbers (Local Artist!)
Ricky Skaggs - Brand New Strings
Mando Saenz - Watertown
Kate Campbell - Blues And Lamentations
David Francey - The Waking Hour
Malcolm Holcombe - I Never Heard You Knockin'
Wyatt Law - Jurassic Law
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - You Gotta Dig A Little Deeper
Jed Marum - Miles From Home
Nickel Creek - Why Should The Fire Die?
Redbird (Kris Delmhorst, Jeffery Foucault & Peter Mulvey - Redbird
The Bills - Let 'Em Run
Anna Wolfe - My Treasure
The Foghorn Stringband - Weiser Sunrise
The Greencards - Weather And Water
Nanci Griffith - Hearts In Mind
Adrienne Young & Little Sadie - The Art Of Virtue
The Biscuit Burners - A Mountain Apart
Blue Highway - Marbletown
Jackstraw - Live At The White Eagle
Mountainheart - Force Of Nature
Tim O'Brien - Fiddler's Green
The Peasall Sisters - Home To You
Uncle John & Cousin Greg - Indiana Line (Local Artist!)
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage - Ragin' Live
Hit & Run Bluegrass - Without Maps And Carts
John Prine - Fair And Square
Becky Schlegel - Drifter Like Me
Uncle Earl - She Waits For The Night

The Back Porch Best Albums Of 2004*

Artist/Album Title
The Cantrells - The Heart Wants What It Wants
Slaid Cleaves - Wishbones
Dyad - Who's Been Here While I've Been Gone?
Jeffrey Foucault - Stripping Cane
The Gibson Brothers - Long Way Back Home
Leela & Ellie Grace - Leela & Ellie Grace
Timm Grimm - Names
Hit & Run Bluegrass - Beauty Fades
Dallas Jones - Wherever You Roam
Kieran Kane & Kevin Welch - You Can't Save Everybody
Allison Krauss & Union Station - Lonely Runs Both Ways
Leah Larson - Long Journey
The Laws - Another Road
Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum - Guest House
Joel Mabus - Golden Willow Tree
Karen Mal & Laurie McClain - Live At The Main Street Cafe
The Mammals - Evolver
Tom Paxton, Anne Hills & Bob Gibson - Best Of Friends
Harvey Reid & Joyce Andersen - Kindling The Fire
Peter Rowan & Tony Rice - You Were There For Me
Steppin' In It - Last Winter In The Copper Country
Chris Stuart - Saints And Strangers
Uncle Earl - Going To The Western Slope
The Wailin' Jennys - 40 Days
Robin & Linda Williams - Deeper Waters

The Back Porch Best Albums Of 2003*

Artist/Album Title
Maria Dunn - From Where I Stand
Vollie McKenzie - This Train
Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem - Gambling Eden
Joyce Andersen - Right Where I Stand
Amy Fradon - Small Town News
The Gibson Brothers - Bona Fide
Johnathan Byrd - The Waitress
Missy Raines & Jim Hurst - Two
Allison Krauss & Union Station - Live
Mustard's Retreat - A Resolution Of Something
Janne Henshaw - Drifter's Prayer
Lynn Morris Band - Shape Of A Tear
Front Range - Front Range Live
Doc Watson - Trouble In Mind: Country Blues Collection 1964-1998
Rhonda Vincent - One Step Ahead
Carrie Newcomer - The Gathering Of Spirits
Harvey Reid - The Autoharp Album
Mad Agnes - Magic Hour
Laurie McClain - The Trumpet Vine: Tribute To Kate Wolf
Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs - The Three Pickers
Tim O'Brien - Traveler
Kennedy's Kitchen - Kennedy's Kitchen (Local Artist!)
Emily Singleton - Life In The Moment
Tony Rice - The Bluegrass Guitar Collection
Eddie & Martha Adcock - Twograss

*Some albums in each of the above lists may have been released a year or two prior to the year shown.  We sometimes don't receive CD's until a year or two later if we are not on the artists' or labels' mailing list.  Instead, we pick them up at music conferences or from other sources.  We include them in the year shown because that's when we received them - and if the album is exceptionally good, we still want you to know about it.  You wouldn't want to miss out because we got the album a few months late, would you?  Well, we wouldn't want you to miss out, either!