CARTHAGE – New England Celtic Arts will host the Old Time Radio Gang, which plays vintage American country music from the 1930s and ’40s, at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at The Skye Theater.

The veteran musicians play and sing renditions of classic melodies that recapture the mood of a unique period in American history when popular music told “stories from our hearts.”

Simple, honest and in many ways innocent, country music of those two decades was purely acoustic with six-string guitar, mandolin, banjo and stand-up bass. Country music had its start, in many cases, as live broadcasts over the radio or was performed in Grange halls and churches.

The band’s selections include spirited fiddle and train songs, gospel music, hand-clapping and toe-tapping tunes, and ballads of love and heartbreak.

The Old Time Radio Gang has 11 recordings to its credit. Among them are “Old Country Radio Songs,” chosen by CD Review as one of the Top 4 country CDs since the magazine began in 1984; “When the Roses Bloom Again;” and “New River Train,” submitted by Folkways Records for a 1993 Grammy Award. The group recently recorded four albums for Fishtraks: “Get on Board,” “Sunbonnet Mother,” “River of Memories,” and “Down in Memory Lane.”

The Old Time Radio Gang has performed at such diverse venues as The Bangor State Fair, Steamboat Springs’ Strings in the Mountains, Bates College, The Imperial Theater in St. John, New Brunswick, The International Festival Calais/St. Steven New Brunswick, The Maine Center for the Arts, and Country Night at The Pops with The Reading Symphony.

Skye Theater is at 2 Highland Drive off Winter Hill Road and U.S. Route 2. Tickets are $10 at the door. Call New England Celtic Arts at (207) 562-4445 for reservations. For more information, log on to www.necelticarts.com.