Celebrating Tom Waits

This week we’ll spend our two hours in a shroud of barroom musk, out-of-tune brass, and painted ladies all spent before the tunes of an American treasure. We speak of Tom Waits. The New York Times, in a review of Barney Hoskyns’ 2009 biography of Tom Waits, Lowside of The Road describes our subject today thusly: “He is as potent and unpredictable a musical force as most of us have witnessed in our lifetimes, and that’s not faint praise. The graveyard croak of his gravelly, bellowing baritone is righteous, paint-scraping, unmistakable; it scatters small animals and slaps your synapses to startled attention. With what’s left of your adrenalized wits, you can attend to his mordant lyrics, which he packs into songs he divides (as his wife, Kathleen Brennan, put it) into two primordial categories: “the grand weeper” and “the grim reaper”. He’s our neighbor here in Sonoma County and we could not be more proud of the boy…really.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2John Hammond, Jr. Clap Hands Wicked Grin Amazon
3Courtney Marie Andrews Downtown Train Come On Up To The House – Women Sing Waits Amazon
4Tom Waits Tom Traubert's Blues Small Change Amazon
5Willie Nelson;Sheryl Crow;Lukas Nelson Come On Up To The House Heroes Amazon
6The Blind Boys Of Alabama Way Down In The Hole Spirit Of The Century Amazon
7The Holmes Brothers Train Song Promised Land Amazon
8King Ernest House Where Nobody Lives Not The Same Old Blues Crap, Vol. 2 Amazon
9The Blue Hawaiians Jockey Full of Bourbon Savage Night Amazon
10Tom Waits Dead & Lovely Real Gone Amazon
11Tom Waits Ice Cream Man Closing Time Amazon
12Holly Cole (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night Temptation Amazon
13Norah Jones The Long Way Home Feels Like Home Amazon
14Tom Waits I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You Closing Time Amazon
15Hayes Carll I Don't Wanna Grow Up Trouble In Mind Amazon
16Eagles Ol' '55 The Very Best of the Eagles [2003] Disc 1 Amazon
17Willie Nelson Picture In A Frame It Always Will Be Amazon
18Tom Waits On The Nickel Heartattack And Vine Amazon
19Marc Ribot Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) (feat. Tom Waits) Songs of Resistance 1942 – 2018 Amazon
20Tom Waits The Soul Of A Man God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson Amazon
21Solomon Burke Diamond in Your Mind Don't Give Up on Me Amazon
22Tom Waits Whistlin4 Past The Graveyard Used Songs 1973-1980 Amazon
23Tom Waits Georgia Lee Mule Variations Amazon

O Brother Revisited

Roots music found commercial success in 2000 with the release of the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, a finely crafted but outrageous tale of Depression-era America with fantastical imagery of hair wax, baptisms, and chain gangs woven into a tapestry built from Homer’s Odyssey. The music, assembled by T-Bone Burnett, was a major component of the film and recorded before the film even began with Burnett working with the Coen brothers while the script was in its working phases. It would become an effort that elevated a genre at the turn of the century called Americana. This week’s show will share some of the period-specific music that helped to propel the notion that blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, and gospel could be used to put that time and a ghostly familiar culture into focus. We’ll use O Brother’s musical sensibilities to take us somewhere quite familiar (and at the same time quite terrifying) as we pay homage with Americana roots, featuring sounds from The Carters, Jesse Fuller, Dan Tyminski, Jimmie Rodgers, W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys, among others.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Estil C. Ball Lonesome Valley Sounds of the South [Disc 3] – Negro Church Music & White Spirituals Amazon
3The Carter Family With Special Guest Johnny Cash Lonesome Valley Keep On The Sunny Side Amazon
4Harry McClintock Big Rock Candy Mountain O Brother, Where Art Thou? Amazon
5Jimmie Davis With Charles Mitchell's Orchestra You Are My Sunshine Decca Country Classics 1934-1973 [Disc 1] Amazon
6Alison Krauss Down To The River To Pray A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection Amazon
7Peasall Sisters Fair and Tender Ladies Home to You Amazon
8Roberta Martin Singers The Old Ship of Zion Halleluja Gospel & Prayers Amazon
9The Stanley Brothers A Life Of Sorrow Stanley Brothers & Clinch Mountain Boys Amazon
10Dan Tyminski/Soggy Bottom Boys Man of Constant Sorrow O Brother, Where Art Thou? Amazon
11W. Lee & His Hillbilly Boys Please Pass The Biscuits Pappy Western Swing Chronicles Vol. 4 1933-1938 Amazon
12Country Gentlemen I Am Weary (Let Me Rest) 1963 (Warped 6305) Amazon
13The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys Clinch Mountain Backstep Constant Sorrow: Bluegrass From Root To Flower [Disc 3] Amazon
14The Whites Keep on the Sunny Side O Brother, Where Art Thou? Amazon
15Chuck Wagon Gang I'll Fly Away 1941-1948 (Warped 4128) Amazon
16Hannah Peasall/Leah Peasall/Sarah Peasall/The Peasall Sisters In the Highways O Brother, Where Art Thou? Amazon
17Ralph Stanley Oh, Death (Featuring Gillian Welch) Clinch Mountain Sweethearts Amazon
18Jesse Fuller Amazing Grace 15 Down Home Gospel Classics Amazon
19The Statler Brothers Statler Brothers – Amazing Grace Bless This House [Disc 3] Amazon
20The Stanley Brothers Angel Band O Brother, Where Art Thou? Amazon
21Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord Constant Sorrow: Bluegrass From Root To Flower [Disc 2] Amazon
22Doc Watson In the Jailhouse Now Memories Amazon
23Robert Johnson They're Red Hot ABC Of The Blues Vol 18 Amazon
24Lefty Frizzell My Rough And Rowdy Ways Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers Amazon
25Jimmie Rodgers Frankie And Johnnie Recordings 1927 – 1933 [Disc 2] Amazon
26Peerless Four Trouble in My Way Southern Journey Vol 8 (Velvet Voices: Eastern Shores Choirs, Quartets, and Colonial Era Music) Amazon
27Chuck Wagon Gang/Jack Greene Family Bible 70th Anniversary Amazon
28J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers Goin' Down To The River Of Jordan Take Me To The Water Amazon
29The Carter Family River Of Jordan Can The Circle Be Unbroken Amazon
30W. Lee O'Daniel O'Daniel radio show sign off Western Swing Chronicles Vol. 4 1933-1938 Amazon
31The Carter Family Can The Circle Be Unbroken Can The Circle Be Unbroken Amazon
32John Hartford Indian War Whoop [Instrumental] O Brother, Where Art Thou? Amazon

Soothe Me

We’re digging into the archives. Deep down into the wells…for a collection of rhythm & blues, country, gospel, and tradition with performances from Patsy Cline, Sonny Boy Williamson, Marty Stuart, Dinah Washington and nearly three dozen others. Friday morning inspiration from the courtroom bench, the gospel pew, and from the piano bench…as we bring you another episode of the very best of the past 100 years to the stream. There’s trouble and some double entendre from Julia Lee, some rousing sanctified call and response from Eugene Smith and The Roberta Martin Singers, as well as a bootleg Dylan piece that we’ll share with you. Join Dave Stroud this coming Friday morning for the very best of America’s music from the past century.
No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Bob Dylan I Want You (Take 4, Alternate Take) The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12 (Sampler) Amazon
3Eugene Smith And The Roberta Martin Singers Satisfied How Sweet it Was Amazon
4Marie Knight Satisfied With Jesus Hallelujah What A Song! Amazon
5Spiritual Five Satisfied With Him I Heard The Angels Singing : Electrifying Black Gospel From the Nashboro Label 1951-1983 [Disc 3] Amazon
6Sam Cooke And The Soul Stirrers I Have A Friend Above All Others The Complete Specialty Recordings [Disc 2] Amazon
7Johnnie Taylor/The Soul Stirrers Walk With Me 20 Gospel Greats Amazon
8Sam Cooke Trouble In Mind The Rhythm And The Blues Amazon
9Steve Forbert Devil (Here She Comes Now) Compromised Amazon
10Shorty Long Devil With a Blue Dress On Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971 Disc 1 Amazon
11Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels Devil with the Blue Dress On /Good Golly Miss Molly Detroit Breakout! 1 Amazon
12Julia Lee Trouble In Mind Kansas City Star [Disc 1] Amazon
13Julia Lee Lotus Blossom Kansas City Star [Disc 1] Amazon
14Wynonie Harris Good Morning Judge All She Wants To Do Is Rock Amazon
15Chuck Berry Have Mercy Judge The Chess Box Disc 3 Amazon
16Carl Martin Good Morning, Judge Carl Martin, Tennessee Chocolate Drops, Louie Bluie & Ted Bogan, Willie "61" Blackwell — Complete Recorded Works Amazon
17Sonny Boy Williamson Your Funeral And My Trial His Best: Sonny Boy Williamson – The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection Amazon
18Hugh Laurie Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair Didn't It Rain (Deluxe) Amazon
19Dinah Washington Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair The Bessie Smith Songbook Amazon
20Johnny Otis Court Room Blues Various Artists: Rhythm & Blues Goes Rock & Roll/Volume 2/[Disc 1] Amazon
21Jorma Kaukonen Judge, I'm Not Sorry The Land Of Heroes Amazon
22The Country Gentlemen The Sentence The Early Rebel Recordings [Disc 2] Amazon
23Ernest Tubb Dear Judge Last Sessions: All Time Greatest Hits Disc 2 Amazon
24Patsy Cline A Church, a Courtroom, and Then Goodbye Live at the Opry Amazon
25Washboard Sam Bucket's Got a Hole in It [Remastered 2002] That's Chicago's South Side (When the Sun Goes Down series) Amazon
26Hank Williams My Bucket's Got A Hole In It The History Of Country & Western Music – Vol. 18 Amazon
27Louis Armstrong & All His Stars My Bucket's Got A Hole In It The Ultimate Collection [Disc 2] Amazon
28Page & Plant My Bucket's Got A Hole In It Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy Of Sun Records Amazon
29Joe Ely Rock Me My Baby Musta Notta Gotta Lotta [rem] (1981) Amazon
30Marty Stuart A Satisfied Mind Country Music Amazon
31Tennessee Ernie Ford Cool, Cool Kisses Masters 1949-1976 [Disc 3] Amazon
32Bea Foote Weed The Ultimate 30's & 40's Reefer Songs Amazon
33Sam & Dave Soothe Me The Best Of Sam & Dave Amazon
34The Persuasions Soothe Me Good News Amazon