More than 100 friends and fans of legendary radio producer and longtime Falls Church resident Mary Cliff gathered to celebrate her radio life in joyous style at a sold-out event Sunday afternoon at Ireland’s Four Provinces.
Songwriters and musicians sang and praised Cliff and her half century plus in the business at the event sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington. Cliff was its president for several terms.
The commemoration was a homegrown version of “This is Your Radio Life, Mary Cliff!” moderated by Peter Maier who said the tribute was “a little like the Ken Cen honors” which took planning for several years.
Cliff’s gentle voice is instantly recognizable to most in the region since she was on air for decades and hosted her own show, “Traditions,” Washington’s longest running folk music program.
She began her radio career in 1966 as a typist when she earned $25 a week working at the Cellar Door nightclub in Georgetown which lead to her work programming and “doing everything they needed to have done,” she said in an earlier interview.
“I learned by standing behind people and watching what they did. I engineered, I scripted, I interviewed politicians, criminals, everybody under the sun. I was learning as I went and I really liked it.
“All my life I’ve been a music and radio nut who got to know quite a few musicians.”
Her radio home for almost four decades was WETA-FM before it switched to an all-classical format and she went over to WAMU-FM until a new station manager “decided he wanted less music, less bluegrass and fewer people they had to pay.”
She then moved to WERA-LP, an Arlington independent station, for eight years until it went off air last January. Over the years Cliff helped notable names like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, Nancy Griffith, Garnet Rogers and Mary Black get up and running in the music world.
On Sunday when she entered Ireland’s overflowing dining room, Cliff was greeted by a standing ovation.
Camille Hall of Falls Church, a musician and singer, was in the crowd who came because “I love Mary Cliff and am so thankful for all she did for folk music and the folk community.”
Ed Miller, a Scottish singer, said Cliff “has always been really good about having live performances on her show as well as playing CDs. She’s a key person as far as Scottish and Irish music is concerned in this area for which I am very grateful.”
Before festivities began, Andrew Acosta sat in a booth, strumming his guitar and singing softly, “Everybody’s Talkin.’” A “born and bred” Falls Churchian, Acosta said he “has known Mary a long time; listened to her on the radio and am just glad to be part of the tribute to her. She did a lot for folk music.”
Lisa Brown Bushman, a fiddler who teaches music, came from Alexandria to applaud Cliff. “I listened to Mary Cliff’s program for decades. As long as she’s been on the radio, I’ve been listening.”
The performers on Sunday were some Cliff has known for years whom she personally selected to play at her event. Acosta played the guitar and Randy Barrett, the banjo.
Jennifer Cutting introduced Lisa Moscatiello who played guitar and sang “Now Be Thankful,” Moscatiello, who said she grew up “down the road, listening to Mary.”
Guitarist Cathy Fink led the crowd in her sing-along of “Childless Cat Lady” to laughter and a chorus of “cats can’t vote, but we sure can, they leave us to do it in house, we’ll take our cats to the voting booth and we’ll vote with a mighty meow,” the last meow’s refrain the enthusiastic crowd sang loudly for several seconds.
Moderator Maier who called himself “just a listener,” said in an earlier interview that “I thought it better to do something for Mary while she’s still alive.” (She is 81.) He thanked the musicians who performed for free and read letters of tribute from those who could not attend, including John McCutcheon, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin from Maryland, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Andy Wallace.
Cliff is looking for a new venue while simultaneously laughing about retiring which does not seem to be happening anytime soon. She’s hoping WERA comes back on air soon for where’s there’s folk, there’s Cliff.
