Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 3, 1994                   TAG: 9407020001
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JENNIFER BUNDY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, W. VA.                                 LENGTH: Medium

HE'S MORE THAN A VOICE OUT OF THE MOUNTAINS

The words are the soothing theme to ``Mountain Stage,'' which airs weekly on 121 American Public Radio stations, including WVTF (89.1, FM Public Radio), on Sundays at 2 p.m.

``It's better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating,'' Groce says, quoting Oscar Wilde, and he introduces the first musician.

Groce's laid-back on-air attitude masks an energy that is one key to the success of ``Mountain Stage.''

The two-hour show celebrated 10 years on state airwaves earlier this year. It was picked up by National Public Radio in 1986 and switched to American Public Radio in 1989.

Groce is the show's spirit, said Executive Producer Andy Ridenour. ``He's the artistic director. He's co-producer. He's host.''

``You don't tune in because I perform,'' Groce said. ``If you tune in for me, it's because of my taste.''

Groce chooses the guests, an eclectic mix that makes ``Mountain Stage'' a showcase for well-known musicians such as country singer Kathy Mattea, folk singer Joan Baez and rockers R.E.M.

But Groce also likes listeners to know the little-known who should be better known.

``There's an honesty about him. There's a knowledge when he talks about the music or the musician ... and a sincere desire to present this music in the way that we do it,'' Ridenour said.

Groce, a singer-songwriter, has made 21 albums of hymns, folk and children's music for the Walt Disney Co. Two of his Disney albums are platinum, and two are gold. He also starred in a 1992 video about a West Virginia trailer park.

He's an advocate for the homeless, literacy and the environment who has toyed with running for the state Senate.

The balding, heavyset 45-year-old has so much energy he has trouble sitting still.

He prefers rocking chairs. When he can't find one, he rocks back in forth on his own.

``I have to rock,'' he said. ``I have to do something to relieve the tension. I don't do a lot of things people in my profession do. I've never smoked, I've never drank and I don't take drugs.''

He says his vices are eating, golf, race tracks and rocking, the latter ``I can quit anytime I want.''

Groce never took music lessons growing up in Dallas, but he began singing and writing songs in junior high school. He earned a degree in English literature at Principia College, a liberal arts school in southern Illinois, and made his first album there, a collection of hymns.

He moved to New York after college to get into the music business, and played regularly in a coffeehouse on the Upper West Side, owned by pop singer Melissa Manchester's husband.

Groce moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and made two albums that didn't sell.

Then he heard about a job in West Virginia. The National Endowment for the Arts had just funded a program to hire a musician to spend nine months performing in schools and community clubs.

He has never left. Groce and his wife, Devon McNamara, a poet and former professor at Principia College, bought an old house in Barbour County in 1975 and have been fixing it up since.

Groce got a manager in Los Angeles in 1974 and tried to break into the commercial record business again.

He toured and made recordings, including the surprise 1976 hit ``Junkfood Junkie.'' That got him guest spots on ``The Tonight Show,'' ``Merv Griffin'' and ``Canada Tonight.''

But he realized that the things he liked were less commercial. ``It's not that I try to avoid things that are popular,'' he said, ``it's just I don't tend to be drawn to them. If I don't do something I believe in, I will not be successful.''

West Virginia is something Groce believes in.

``The thing I like most about the state is almost impossible to articulate,'' Groce said. ``It gets a hold of you. There's a very ancient feeling of something here.''

Groce said the spirit affects the musicians who appear on ``Mountain Stage,'' a stage away from the big-city pretense and hype of the music business.

``They get here and they see right away they don't have to impress anybody any more,'' Groce said. ``People are going to like them if they're good. If they're not, they'll be polite to them.''

Groce said his life is at a crossroads: ``Mountain Stage'' doesn't leave him enough time to write songs and perform, and he misses it. But he won't give up his radio job any time soon: ``I'm not ready to hang it up yet,'' he said.

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