© 2026 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Scott Ainslie, A Musician of All Trades

Host Frank Stasio talks with Ainslie about his life and music.

WhenScott Ainsliewas just three years old, his mother found him sitting at the piano playing melodies from records she played around the house. His proclivity toward music seemed innate, and his musical career evolved from there. He went on to learn every instrument he could get his hands on from flute to guitar, fiddle, and banjo. But he has also devoted his career to learning the deep history of American music and translating those stories to a public audience. He spent four years working with the now-defunct NC Visiting Arts Program that placed professional artists on community college campuses across the state. He also published a DVD and CD about musician Robert Johnson. Host FrankStasiotalks withAinslieabout his life and music. 

Watch an excerpt from Scott Ainslie's multi-media performance "The Land Where The Blues Began" (titled in homage to Alan Lomax's work):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ6oE-fThj4

Scott Ainslie showing off the back of his National guitar, a 1931 Style O from a pawnshop in Columbus, GA.
Scott Ainslie /
Scott Ainslie showing off the back of his National guitar, a 1931 Style O from a pawnshop in Columbus, GA.

Copyright 2016 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.