John Pizzarelli, Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel, and more on Mountain Stage

Be a part of the live radio audience as Mountain Stage records a fresh episode for NPR Music with guest host David Mayfield!

GUEST ARTISTS: John Pizzarelli, Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel, Peter Case, Jedd Hughes, and Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore

Ticket Information

All tickets to this show are e-tickets and will be emailed to you upon purchase. Open up the pdf and the QR code on your ticket will be scanned at the door. This event will also be offered as a livestream.

Watch the livestream!

Mountain Stage livestreams are free, however, there are some incredible folks out there who’d like to show their support through a donation-based, pay-what-you-want “ticket” for the livestream. This is a donation-based “ticket” to show some love for the program and is not a ticket to the live event.

You’ll be able to catch the show from the comfort of your home (or wherever you wish) Sunday, April 19, 2026 – at 7 PM ET at mountainstage.org.

Click here to learn more about Mountain Stage and the live show experience!

• Doors to lobby open at 5pm
• Doors to theater open at 6:30pm
• Show starts at 7pm

John Pizzarelli

Guitarist and singer, John Pizzarelli, has been hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.” Established as one of the prime contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Pizzarelli has expanded that repertoire by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim and the Beatles. In addition to being a bandleader and solo performer, Pizzarelli has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as Natalie Cole, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Wopat, Rickie Lee Jones and Dave Van Ronk, as well as leading jazz artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Ruby Braff, Johnny Frigo, Buddy DeFranco, Harry Allen and, of course, his father Bucky Pizzarelli. He won a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category as co-producer of James Taylor’s American Standard in 2021. A radio personality who got his start in the medium in 1984, Pizzarelli is co-host, alongside wife Jessica Molaskey, of Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli. He has performed on America’s most popular national television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and Great Performances, as well as the talk shows of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Regis Philbin and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Duane Betts & Polmetto Motel

By the time Duane Betts began working on Wild & Precious Life (2023) — his triumphant debut solo album — he'd already spent the better part of two decades creating his own version of guitar-slinging, story-driven American rock & roll. "It felt like the right time to make something that was entirely my own vision," he says. "This is a record that guitar players will love, but at its core, it's really a song record. It's an album about who I am, where I come from, and what I believe in."

Duane had spent 10 years playing guitar alongside his father, legendary Allman Brother Dickey Betts. He’d release an EP, Sketches of American Music and co-found Allman Betts Band. Even so, the need to create a full-length solo LP gnawed at him; one that nodded to his roots while simultaneously pushing ahead. Following his instincts, Duane assembled Johnny Stachela, Berry Duane Oakley, John Ginty and Tyler Greenwell, and took up an offer from friends Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks to record at their Swamp Raga Studio in Jacksonville. The album was cut to 2-inch analog tape during a series of live studio performances in 2022.

Peter Case

“I try to take things I love and use them in a new way,” said triple Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Peter Case of his 16th solo album Doctor Moan. Case brings his considerable songwriting ability to an 11-song collection, largely performed on piano, including his first solo recorded instrumental. Released by Sunset Blvd Records, Case’s piano-based songs are emotionally, sonically and stylistically rich.

As a founding member of the early punk era trio The Nerves, in 1977 Case toured the nation sharing bills with the Ramones, Mink DeVille, Pere Ubu, and Devo. The Nerves single “Hanging on the Telephone,” was covered by Blondie. In 1979, Case formed the Plimsouls, a record-breaking live act in California, recording albums for Planet/Elektra and Geffen. Their independent single, “A Million Miles Away,” entered the Billboard charts and remains a garage rock standard, performed by bands around the world. The band performed in the cult classic film Valley Girl and the Nerves and Plimsouls timeless teenage rock ‘n’ roll continues to appeal to fans of each new generation.

After the Plimsouls, Case rediscovered his musical roots on his self-titled solo debut, produced by T Bone Burnett. The New York Times declared Peter Case the best album of 1986. It earned a five-star Rolling Stone review and a Grammy nomination. As one of the first songwriters of his generation to turn from rock music toward an acoustic sound, Case also helped usher in what became known as Americana music.

Jedd Hughes

In the summer of 2019, Jedd Hughes will release WEST, a years-anticipated solo album of his expansive, roots-anchored rock-and-roll. Hughes’ easy tenor, smart songwriting, and masterful guitar playing transports listeners to dark corners, astral visions, desperation, and poignant recognition––all riding grooves born of sparse blues, classical drama, and rock grit. A long list of musical giants that jumps generations and artistic bents have long-since counted him as a trusted collaborator and inspiration, including Patty Loveless, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Vince Gill, Ryan Bingham, Sarah Jarosz, the late Guy Clark, Jim Lauderdale, Brandy Clark, and more. With WEST, an exciting new chapter unfolds for an artist’s artist who has taken his time and gotten it brilliantly right.

Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore

Mollie O’ is a singer’ singer. Rich Moore is the guitarist every singer dreams of. Grammy Award winner Mollie is a vocal chameleon shifting the color of her voice to what the song demands. Rich is a master of providing exactly the right kind of musical support in a way only careful attention reveals. Forty-plus years of making music together will teach you a thing or two. Let’ just say these two are excellent students of each other.

To say musical roots run deep would be a profound understatement. O’ and younger brother Tim had a mother who made sure they heard all kinds of musicians while growing up. Both brother Tim and Mollie have had intersecting careers over the years, releasing three critically acclaimed albums on Sugar Hill records. Perhaps one of the defining moments for Mollie came when she was working in New York and gave Tim’ band, the Ophelia Swing Band a place to crash. A lot of music happened. "They just completely turned me on end. And I said, “I have to sing,” she recalls.

Mollie should be a heroine to every girl singer that ever was. She will tell you straight up, with fierce intensity, “ IS an instrument.” She is a master of her instrument.

Speaking of impeccable, Rich Moore is as versatile and masterful a guitarist as is his singing bride. His clean fingerstyle playing effortlessly seduces gorgeous sound out of his guitars, including a Martin or two here and there. It’ not clear if his 2020 instrumental guitar release, Voiceless, was perhaps so named as a result of his droll humor. Maybe we just go with the published intent, which was to let the instrument speak for itself.

Between them they have released sixteen CDs including four as a duo on their label Remington Road Records; a CD with their daughters, Brigid and Lucy Moore; and Rich’ solo CDs Voiceless, (recorded in 2020 during the first months of the pandemic) and Steady State (in 2001). Their latest CD, Lost In The Crowd, was released in 2025.

Together, these two are the definition of delight. No pretense. No fuss. Just a gorgeous lean in to a world of slyly accessible, comfortable, musical virtuosity. Together, every performance is a master class in spare, exposed beauty.