Larry Groce

Larry Groce (born April 22, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and radio host. From 1983 until 2021, Groce served as the host and artistic director of Mountain Stage, a two-hour live music radio program produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed by NPR. He first entered the national spotlight in 1976 when his novelty song "Junk Food Junkie" became a Top Ten hit. After that, Groce's voice became well known by children and parents alike as a result of his Platinum recordings of children's folk songs for Walt Disney Records Children's Favorites four-volume series: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 and Volume 4 (released from the late 70s-1990).

Biography Early life Groce was born in 1948 in Dallas to H.T. and Bobbie Groce, the eldest of three children. He has a younger brother, Gary (born July 7, 1951), and a younger sister, Janna (born April 8, 1961). He became interested in music while in elementary school. The family lived in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas and he attended Adamson High School there. His classmates included singer-songwriters Michael Martin Murphey, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Owen Temple, and B. W. Stevenson. visiting schools in twenty US states. and led to appearances on The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, American Bandstand, The Midnight Special, The Rich Little Show, Nashville Now, The Disney Channel, Dr. Demento, and A Prairie Home Companion. Between 1979 and 1990, Groce performed on nine Disney albums, one of which was certified gold and five certified platinum. The show has also featured musical pioneers including Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson, Pops Staples and Brownie McGhee as well as modern superstars R.E.M., Martina McBride and Norah Jones. Groce retired from hosting Mountain Stage in 2021; his successor is Kathy Mattea.

In 2016, Groce released his first recording in 27 years Live Forever with his wife, violist Sandra Groce. and in 2020, was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

Side projects In 1990, he starred in Paradise Park, a low budget feature film made in West Virginia about life in a Mountain State trailer park. (It was later re-released as Heroes of the Heart.) Groce also co-wrote the title song with Webb Wilder, who also appeared in the film with country musicians Porter Wagoner and Johnny Paycheck. Groce co-wrote a musical theatre version.

Groce owned The Morgantown School of Ballet from 1980 to 1985. He was part owner of West Virginia's only statewide arts and entertainment alternative tabloid, Graffiti, from 1990 until 2004. In 2005, he became executive director of FestivALL Charleston, a ten-day festival of music, dance, theater and visual arts in Charleston, the capital of West Virginia.

Personal life Larry Groce lives in Charleston, having moved there in 1972. He is married to Sandra Groce (née Armstrong), a classically trained violist. They have two daughters.