This morning’s show finds a festive free form summer set featuring the usual suspects and a whole lot of fine sounds from the deeper wells. We’ll be sharing country classics from George Jones, Floyd Tillman, and Pee Wee King as well as some sweet upbeat R&B from Clyde McPhatter, Big Maybelle, and Ivory Joe. Taj Mahal, some doo wop pioneers, and the great Ella Fitzgerald will round things out in a free form fest on Sonoma County Community Radio. Tune in at 9am Pacific at www.kows.fm/listen.
Category Archives: Early Pop
100 Years Ago
We’re taking this ‘Century of America’s Music’ theme quite serious this week. The tracks we’ll be playing are from the the first few decades of the 20th Century. Parlor music had lost its attraction by the turn of the century in favor of minstrel, vaudeville, and the emergence of Tin Pan Alley. Ragtime and jazz would evolve in an organic manner and blues would inform much of the jazz and band music that would become popular with the advent of the Victrola. Music today includes tracks from Vernon Dahlart, Billy Murray, Frank Crumit, and Ben Selvin & His Orchestra as we find the music of the teens and early 20s on a show that keeps our tagline strong. Tune in for this celebration of American popular music in its infancy.
Early Female Pop Vocals
Here’s to the pioneering pop mavens. Don’t think we won’t draw a little bit outside the lines as well in this show, bringing in flappers, jazz, and novelty sounds. The groups and solo acts are thoroughly represented with the likes of Marion Harris, Ruth Etting, Billie Holiday, Kate Smith, and The Andrews Sisters. We’ll go a little bit further and bring you songs to uplift in hard times, ring with a bit of jingoism in war time, and celebrate the good times in every way possible. West County radio will get a good dose of the best of the early and mid-century popular music…all from the ladies.
Free Form – Roll Like a Big Wheel
We mix it up once again. Nothing like ending the week on a high note, a low note, and just the right mix of jazz, pop, rock, country, bluegrass, and R&B. You know it won’t stop there because if it’s one thing we do well is find all that is good in between the boards. Join Dave Stroud for music featuring tracks from The Boswell Sisters, Red Foley, Julia Lee, The Prisonaires, Mose Allison, and John Prine. Friday mornings in West County … where we kick off the weekend on the stream our hearts out!
Free Form – Old Records
Old records are honored…as they are each week. The 33s, the 45s, and the 78s…all forms, all speeds. We’ll take a musical trip back to the dawn of doo wop, head to the border for an encounter with el toro relajo, visit the Big Broadcast sounds of early radio and hotel orchestras including Ted Weems and the Sunshine Boys. We’ll also gear up for a classic 1914 recording by the piano genius Felix Arndt. Arthur Alexander, Los Lobos, Tampa Red, and Left Frizzell also join in…just for you on a free form Friday morning on Deeper Roots.
A Dreamer’s Holiday
Sit back and relax. Today’s Deeper Roots takes on a quieter mood with easy and sweet pop melodies from the past century. Dreamy classics from the American Songbook featuring the likes of Ray Charles, Leon Redbone, Willie Nelson, Sam Cooke, The Pied Pipers, and many more. From the 1930s to the 2010s, this week’s show contains the polish of moonlight, the wisp of clouds against a blue sky, and a trip to the Isle of Golden Dreams. Something to ponder…a dream or two…adrift like smoke rings in low light. All for our West County fans on Community Radio.
Free Form – September 2017
Join Dave Stroud for a special edition of Deeper Roots: A Century of America’s Music. He’ll be sitting in for Steady Eddie’s Retro Music Archives, filling the airwaves with sounds you would expect to hear on either show. With a little blend of roots Americana stirred in. Hot rod sounds, killer diller Memphis Minnie blues, early century pop from Annette Hanshaw and Mae West, gospel from the Blind Boys of Alabama and Sam Cooke…and some sweet soul vocals from The Ravens and Barbara Lewis. You won’t go wrong on a Sunday afternoon in West County. Tune in.
The Year in Pop – 1932
We look back…even though we weren’t there. Our show this week will celebrate the American songbook and popular music in the darkest of times: the year 1932. The clouds were only starting to clear in the heart of the Great Depression and the music was hopeful, sometimes saccharine, and the songwriting talent abundant. The performances were not bad either. The Mills Brothers, Bing Crosby, The Boswell Sisters, Cab Calloway, Mildred Bailey, and many others contributed. Tune in on our morning look at the popular sounds of 1932.
Free Form – June 2017
We’re going to mix it up this week on Deeper Roots in a regular free form show featuring music that runs the gamut. We’ll hear from Doug Sahm and Arthur Alexander, John Fogerty and Betty Wright, Memphis Minnie and Guy Lombardo, as well as a track from the late Gregg Allman. The topics will range anywhere from bad blood and bad boys to good news and bad news on a fresh collection of the vintage, on KOWS radio: Free Speech. No Bull. Community Radio for West Sonoma County.
Free Form – November 2016

While the show this week is free form (something we like to do every few weeks), we’ll be leaning on a number of ‘connections’ including a couple of sets that feature tracks from the 1950 classic country album “Beyond The Sunset” which was released by Luke The Drifter aka Hank Williams, Sr. We’ll hear interpretations and originals that keep the focus on the country gospel solemnities that made this album one of country’s most interesting albums of the time. We’ll also be rocking with The Prisonaires, Aretha Franklin; riding down the canyon with Gene Autry and Jonathan Edwards; and connecting with boot kicking pieces from Robert Gordon and Elvis. An interesting and fun two hours is in store for you on West County community radio. Join Dave Stroud for selections from the last 100 years.