Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

Now it’s Provo’s turn in the spotlight.

On Thursday, Provo will join the series “Sense of Place” hosted by “World Cafe,” a daily music and interview program distributed by NPR that highlights the music scene in cities around the world. The program has been to LA; Austin, Texas; London; Vienna; Melbourne, Australia; Chicago; Portland, Oregon; Dublin; and Madrid, but one of their most recent visits was to the Utah County seat.

Nestled in the valley, surrounded by overwhelming, snowcapped mountains is the seemingly quiet town of Provo, said “World Cafe” host Raina Douris, but when they walked around the city’s streets they found a bustling and vibrant culture of music ranging from rap, indie, gospel, pop and much more.

Douris said while they have explored big cities in the past, lately they have been interested in exploring the music in cities people would not think of right away as having a rich music culture. “World Cafe” visited Provo for four days in November to speak to musicians and venues and experience the culture. The team consisted of Douris, contributing host Stephen Kallao, Senior Producer Kimberly Junod and Producer Miguel Perez.

As Douris explained, they have been excited about what they have discovered so far, and surprised at how much is going on in these small cities. “We mostly are just looking for places that feel like they have a lot going on but that your average person who doesn’t live in that city, and maybe has never been there, wouldn’t know,” she said.

Courtesy photo

The Provo series of “Sense of Place” will premiere Thursday and a new episode will be released around noon (Mountain time) every weekday through Jan. 26. It can be listened to on the hundreds of radio stations across the world that tune into “World Cafe,” at Worldcafe.org, online at World Cafe on NPR Music or through their podcast: “World Cafe Words and Music Podcast.”

The “Sense of Place: Provo, Utah” series will contain seven episodes highlighting local musicians and venues that give up-and-coming artists a chance to be heard. Creators spoke to representatives of Velour Live Music Gallery and ABG’s Libation Emporium and with artists including The Aces, The National Parks, Melody Clinger of The Clinger Sisters, Little Moon and JTM. They also spoke to Zach Collier of Provo Music Magazine and Scott Wiley of June Audio among other musical influencers and artists in Provo.

Those tuning in will experience a variety of sounds from local Provo musicians as well as hear the stories of their journey as artists. The Daily Herald sat down with John-Ross Boyce, the talent booker at ABG’s and a designer of promotional posters, to hear about his experience with “World Cafe” and his thoughts about Provo’s music culture.

Boyce gave a preview of what listeners can expect to gain from tuning in. “I hope what they get out of it is pleasant surprise. … I hope that whoever’s listening maybe respects the town a little bit more, respects it as a place where good art flourishes.”

Many people, even those who grew up in Provo, he said, sometimes do not realize or appreciate the unique music and art culture that Provo offers. He hopes these episodes change that.

Courtesy Kimberly Junod

When Douris and her team came to Provo, they had already picked out the artists and venue owners/organizers they were going to interview. However, they were surprised at the richness of the music culture present here as they walked around and spoke to the local musicians.

Douris explained that people often make assumptions about places that are usually proven wrong when they visit and dive deep into the culture. For Utah, she said, there is the assumption that there are a bunch of “Mormons” who are good, calm and quiet. She said, “I really hope that what they (listeners) find out is it’s really interesting and vibrant.”

Boyce said these assumptions are what fuels which bands he books for ABG’s. He focuses on having bands that bring original, unique music to Provo listeners and others from out of town. He hopes people coming through will enjoy the music and see and hear something they couldn’t find anywhere else.

More insight into Boyce’s process of interacting with local artists is featured in the episode airing Jan. 22. Boyce will talk about how ABG’s pays their performing bands to help them grow and why that is such a priority for him as a former member of a band that played there in the past.

Sharing her observations of Provo, Douris said: “It’s like a quiet mountain town that makes a lot of music. It’s like it’s deceptively quiet; there’s a lot going on. It’s a really interesting place and it’s way more than this sort of one-dimensional idea people might have about it.” She hopes this series provides more dimensions and nuances for people who may not know anything about Utah, let alone think of it as having a music scene that is alive and diverse.

Courtesy Miguel Perez

This series dives into the wide variety of music offered in Provo but discovers a common theme of religion, specifically of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and how it is integrated into artists’ music in some way or another.

Boyce explained that as he has worked with hundreds of bands, he has noticed how connections to the church, whether positive or negative, affect Provo artists and “creates very impassioned musicians.”

“You have people that are impassioned, really spiritual about their music, and that can take a number of different forms,” he said. “Then you have people that feel the fire of social and religious oppression, from their personal experience.” Both kinds, he added, react to their experiences through their art.

When Douris visited Provo, she saw the influence of religion within the musical community as well. She said as she spoke to local artists, she discovered a particular importance placed on music within the Utah community because of the importance of music in the church. Many who grew up in Provo and were taught the importance of music have extended that value onto more than just gospel music, which has helped to create the culture of Provo.

Douris explained how the music culture of Provo differs from the other cities they have visited for this series, saying, “There was a real pioneering spirit, basically, to every person.” She connected this pioneering spirit to the importance of the Latter-day Saint pioneers to members of the community.

A few of these pioneering spirits who are highlighted in the radio series are JTM, who is one of the first Latter-day Saint rappers to teach about the gospel through his music; Melody Clinger, who led her sisters in starting the first female rock and roll band titled The Clinger Sisters, with each woman playing their own instrument; and ABG’s, the first and only standalone bar in Provo with live music. But there are many more, Douris added.

“I really found that at the same time as there was this collaborative and caring spirit in the music community, the people who are making the music, there’s like a real kind of fearlessness to it,” she said.

She explained that as people listen to the series, they will hear the stories of these artists who were the first to try something and hear how it didn’t always work out as they planned. “Being first, being a trailblazer, doesn’t always mean that you get to enjoy all of the things that you’ve blazed the trail towards. But I really found that that was the theme that stuck out to me — there was this pioneering spirit that people had when it came to making music and when it came to fostering the scene there,” Douris said.

While many cities are known as a birthplace of different genres of music, Boyce said for Provo, “It’s not the birthplace of any one particular thing.” He explained Provo’s art scene has become a place where unique people from all different backgrounds can express themselves. “Provo’s identity, from an artistic perspective, is one of unlikely depth and one of unlikely breadth.”

There is not one object or sign that represents Provo, he said, because “it is a surprisingly diverse, artistic landscape.”

In December, users of the audio streaming app Spotify received a personalized recap of their listening habits called Spotify Wrapped, which this year included a “sound town” matching their musical preferences. Many people across the U.S. received Provo as their sound town. KUER reported that as Spotify users looked into the artists they listened to and where they originated, they were surprised to find many originated in Provo, including Little Moon, who will be featured on “World Cafe” in the Provo series.

Paired with the additional exposure through the “Sense of Place” series, it’s helping put Utah County music on the map.

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