Larry Groce

LARRY SHORT BIOGRAPHY

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 270 stations. He was host and Producer/Artistic Director of the show since its inception but retired as host in 2021. 

Larry has recorded twenty-four albums spanning styles from Americana to Gospel to children’s recordings.  The most recent, “Live Forever” released in 2016, was recorded with his wife Sandra on viola and produced by Don Dixon (REM, The Red Clay Ramblers, James McMurtry).  It featured a guest vocal by Larry’s old friend, Ray Wylie Hubbard. In 1976, Larry’s  novelty single “Junk Food Junkie” was a top ten hit and favorite of Dr. Demento. Several of his Walt Disney Records albums have gone gold and platinum and his Disney book/record, “Winnie the Pooh for President”, was nominated for a “Children’s Record of the Year” Grammy. In all, he performed on nine albums and 30 other recordings for Disney, and 36 of his songs are recorded on Disney albums, singles and EPs.

He has 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 and has been the subject of features in The New York Times and People. In 2018 he was featured in James and Deborah Fallows’ New York Times best-selling book, “Our Towns” and Included in the 2021 HBO documentary based on the book.

Larry was born in Dallas, Texas and lived in Illinois, New York City and Los Angeles before moving to West Virginia in 1972 as part of a National Endowment for the Arts Musician-in-Residence program. He’s lived in The Mountain State ever since. Between 1972 and 1986, Larry sometimes worked as artist-in-residence in communities and schools in twenty-two states from Washington to Florida. This work included teaching songwriting and music performance to school children and adults.

Over the years, along with his music work, Larry owned the Morgantown School of Ballet and co-owned the WV alternative news and humor magazine, Graffiti. He also helped to create and was Executive Director of the ten-day multi-arts event FestivALL Charleston from its inception in 2005 until 2015. 

In 2017, Theatre West Virginia commissioned Larry and Daniel Boyd to write a musical adaptation of Boyd’s feature film, “Paradise Park”. “Paradise Park – The Musical” was premiered by Theatre West Virginia in 2018 and produced again in 2019. It was also produced by The Charleston (WV) Light Opera Guild in 2022. Boyd and Groce teamed up again to write a children’s musical, “Miss Dirt Turtle’s Garden Club”, which was produced by the Albans Art Center in 2021 and Theatre West Virginia in 2022. The show won Broadway World’s Best WV Musical of 2021. Larry is now collaborating with West Virginia songwriter, Todd Burge, on a musical about the settling of Marietta, Ohio.

Awards and Honors

• 2008 Received the West Virginia Governor’s Award for Leadership in the Arts
• 2010 Inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasters Hall of Fame  
• 2017 Named a “Southerner of the Year” by Southern Living magazine
• 2019 Declared “West Virginian of the Year” by the Charleston Gazette-Mail
• 2020 Inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame
• In 2023 Received an Honorary Doctorate from West Virginia University and previously received Honorary Doctorates from West Virginia Wesleyan College and The University of Charleston
• 2024 Inducted into the Folk Radio Hall of Fame

Larry and his wife Sandra live in Charleston, WV and are parents of two daughters.

* Mountain Stage has featured The Band, Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Sheryl Crow, Van Dyke Parks, Yousou N’Dour, Barenaked Ladies, Alison Krauss, Boozoo Chavis, Ani DiFranco, Alex Chilton, Phish, Counting Crows, Richard Thompson, Ryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Jason Isbell, Daniel Lanois, Los Lobos, Donovan, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman, Arlo Guthrie, Warren Zevon, Jeff Buckley, Bill Monroe, Ali Farke Toure, Uncle Tupelo, Umphrey’s McGee, Ralph Stanley, Bruce Hornsby, Bela Fleck, Doc Watson, Pops Staples, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Chris Stapleton, Vic Chesnut, Regina Spektor, John Prine, Judy Collins, Eric Church, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Dr. John, Keith Urban, Allan Toussaint, Allen Ginsburg, Brownie McGee, Bruce Cockburn, REM, Martina McBride, David Lindley, Brad Paisley, Mose Allison, Tyler Chiders and Norah Jones among thousands of other performers.

 SANDRA BIOGRAPHY

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. 

LARRY FULL BIOGRAPHY

Larry Groce is a singer, songwriter, arts event producer and one of the founders of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Mountain Stage, distributed nationally by NPR to over 270 stations. He was host and artistic director of the show from its beginning in 1983 until he handed the hosting duties to Kathy Mattea in 2021. He continues to co-produce. Mountain Stage is one of America’s longest running national radio programs and Larry’s artistic direction shaped its two-hour format into the most stylistically diverse collection of live performances found on radio or television.

The show helped introduce Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Barenaked Ladies, Alison Krauss, Ani DiFranco, Phish, Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Ryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Lucinda Williams, The Avett Brothers and Tyler Chiders to the American public. It has featured rock/pop icons Randy Newman and Warren Zevon, presented American legends Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson, Pops Staples, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Allen Ginsburg and Brownie McGee and hosted superstars REM, Chris Stapleton, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Eric Church and Norah Jones.

Larry was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and attended a high school rich in singer/songwriters. Besides Larry, 1963-67 graduates included Michael Martin Murphy (“Wildfire”), Ray Wylie Hubbard (“Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers”) and the late B.W. Stevenson (“My Maria”).

The first of his twenty-four albums was a recording of hymns, recorded in 1969 while he was still in college, and co-produced in Nashville by bandleader and comedian, Kay Kyser.

In 1970, at 22, Larry moved to New York and became a regular performer at an organic food restaurant and coffeehouse co-owned by Larry Brezner, who went on to become part of Rollins and Joffe Management.  Brezner’s wife at that time, Melissa Manchester, was also a regular performer at the club. That year he also signed a recording contract with RCA distributed Daybreak Records, and his first album of original songs, The Wheat Lies Low, was released, earning a positive review from Rolling Stone which described Larry as "an artist of unusual sincerity and depth". In 1971, Larry moved to Los Angeles and in 1972 he moved again, this time to West Virginia.

Larry recorded twenty-two albums from 1969-1990, a twenty third in 2008 and released his last, Live Forever, produced by Don Dixon (REM, Smithereens, James McMurtry, Red Clay Ramblers) in 2016. He has also made scores of singles, EPs and collections for RCA/Daybreak, Warner-Curb, Walt Disney Records and independent labels. They range in style from Americana to gospel to children's music.

Sidemen on his recordings have included Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel (The Band), Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner, Billy Ray Latham and Dean Webb (The Dillards), Gib Gilbeau, Melissa Manchester, Sneaky Pete Kleinow (Flying Burrito Brothers), and Emory Gordy, Jr. (Elvis Presley, John Denver, Emmy Lou Harris). On Live Forever he sings a duet with old friend Ray Wylie Hubbard.

In 1976, his satiric novelty song "Junk Food Junkie" became a top-ten national hit. It generated feature articles in The New York Times and People Magazine and led to radio and television appearances 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.

Between 1979 and 1990 Larry’s vocals and songs were included on nine Disney albums including Disney’s Children’s Favorites Volumes I-IV, Disney’s Lullaby Favorites and Disney’s Christmas Favorites I-II, most of which are still selling. His first Disney recording, Winnie-the-Pooh for President, was nominated for a Grammy - “Best Recording for Children” - in 1976. Altogether, 36 of Larry’s songs have been recorded on Walt Disney Records, including a series of “Little Golden Book” book/records. Four of these Disney albums were awarded gold records two platinum.

Larry has performed in almost every state of the USA as well as in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, France, England, Italy, Greece, Russia and Slovakia and has appeared on television and radio shows in Canada, England and Russia. From 1972-1985 he was part of a National Endowment for the Arts sponsored "musician-in- residence" program, visiting schools in twenty different states. The first of those residencies brought him to West Virginia.

In the 1970’s Larry composed music for two film documentaries, one of which was shown at the President's White House Conference on Children. In 1991, he produced, directed and composed music for an audio version of "Gauley Mountain", a collection of 81 historical poems by the late WV Poet Laureate Louise McNeill. In 2003 he produced a three-hour audio version of five short stories written by Louise’s father, G.D. McNeill, in his book, “The Last Forest - Tales of the Allegheny Woods.” He owned and operated The Morgantown School of Ballet from 1980-85 and was part owner of West Virginia's only statewide arts and entertainment alternative tabloid, Graffiti, from 1990 until 2004.

In 2008 he was awarded the West Virginia Governor’s Award for Leadership in the Arts. In 2010 he was inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasters Hall of Fame and in 2012 he was named Outstanding West Virginian by the West Virginia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. In 2013 he was an honoree at the Charleston Community Music Association’s Arts Awards, and in 2015 was awarded the Cast Iron Cook-Off Pioneer Award for promoting tourism in West Virginia.

Larry was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2020, joining the likes of Bill Withers, Hazel Dickens, Billy Edd Wheeler, Little Jimmy Dickens and George Crumb. He went into the Folk Music Radio Hall of Fame in 2024 and has received honorary doctorates from West Virginia University, West Virginia Wesleyan College and The University of Charleston.  

In 1990, Larry starred in a low budget feature film made in West Virginia called “Paradise Park”, a hillbilly fantasy set in a Mountain State trailer park. He co-wrote the title song with Webb Wilder who also appeared in the film along with country stars Porter Waggoner and Johnny Paycheck and wrestler Dusty Rhodes. In 2017, Theatre West Virginia commissioned Larry and Daniel Boyd to write a musical adaptation of Boyd’s feature film, “Paradise Park”. “Paradise Park – The Musical” was premiered by Theatre West Virginia in 2018 and produced again in 2019. It was also produced by The Charleston (WV) Light Opera Guild in 2022. Boyd and Groce teamed up again to write a children’s musical, “Miss Dirt Turtle’s Garden Club”, which was produced by the Albans Art Center in 2021 and Theatre West Virginia in 2022. The show won Broadway World’s Best WV Musical of 2021. Larry is now collaborating with West Virginia songwriter, Todd Burge, on a musical about the settling of Marietta, Ohio.

FestivALL Charleston, a ten-day multi-arts festival that draws over 50,000 visitors each year, began in 2005 with Larry among its founders. He served as Executive and Artistic Director of the festival from its beginning until 2015.

In 2001 Larry married Sandra Armstrong, violist with The West Virginia Symphony. The couple have two grown daughters.