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.

The family resided in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, and he attended Adamson High School there.

After graduating in 1970, he moved to New York and became a regular performer at a "Focus", an Upper West Side organic food restaurant and coffeehouse co-owned by future Hollywood producer and manager Larry Brezner.

Mountain Stage was the first nationally broadcast radio or television program to feature live performances by Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sheryl Crow, Barenaked Ladies, Alison Krauss, Ani DiFranco, Phish, Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Ryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams, David Gray, the Avett Brothers, and Laura Nyro, whose performance at Mountain Stage was released on CD three years after her death.

[6] The show has also featured musical pioneers such as 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 also co-wrote the title song with Webb Wilder, who also appeared in the film with country musicians Porter Wagoner and Johnny Paycheck.

[1] He was part owner of West Virginia's only statewide arts and entertainment alternative tabloid, Graffiti, from 1990 until 2004.