Category Archives: Country Blues

Time’s Getting Hard

Music this week that speaks to hard times. From the Dust Bowl and Great Depression to personal hardships, we’ll share some bluegrass sounds, tunes steeped in tradition, soothing notes of country gospel, and folk blues. We’ll hear from The Weavers, Mavis Staples, Bobby Bare, and Pearly “Grandma” Davis (a nugget from Mike Seeger’s Old Time Music series). There will be talk of failing crops, revolution, and Oklahoma dust this week. Deeper Roots goes a little bit deeper with more songs about hard times this week on KOWS Community Radio, broadcasting live from the Cherry Street Historic District of Santa Rosa, California, where our neighbors just experienced their own hard times from flood waters. Thinking about them.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Bobby Bare Going Down the Road (I Ain't Going to Be Treated This Way) fcc warning Darker Than Light Amazon
3Tracy Chapman Talkin' Bout a Revolution Tracy Chapman Amazon
4Uncle Tupelo No Depression No Depression Amazon
5Bob Dylan Hard Times Good As I Been To You Amazon
6Dave Alvin Waiting for the Hard Times to Go Interstate City Amazon
7Mavis Staples Hard Times Come Again No More Beautiful Dreamer: the Songs of Stephen Foster Amazon
8The Byrds Old Blue The Byrds [Box Set] Disc 3 Amazon
9Peter Rowan Seeds My Daddy Sowed Dust Bowl Children Amazon
10Jimmy LaFave My Oklahoma Home (It Blowed away) Peace Town Amazon
11Pearly 'Grandma' Davis It's These Hard Times Close To Home: Old Time Music From Mike Seeger's Collection, 1952-1967 Amazon
12Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three Hard Times Come and Go Riverboat Soul Amazon
13Eddie Dattel Trickle Down Blues Trickle Down Blues Amazon
14Buck Owens Waitin' In Your Welfare Line The Very Best Of Buck Owens, Volume 1 Amazon
15Ryan Bingham Hard Times Mescalito Amazon
16Ry Cooder You Must Unload The Prodigal Son Amazon
17The Louvin Brothers Preach The Gospel The Family Who Prays: 26 Classic Tracks Amazon
18Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys Never No More Hard Times-Blues The King Of Western Swing-25 Hits 1935-1945 Amazon
19Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys Hard Times Have Been Here (But They've Gone) 1978-1979 Amazon
20Country Joe McDonald Talkin' Dust Bowl Vanguard Visionaries Amazon
21The Weavers Bring Me Li'l Water Sylvia Dust Bowl Blues: Essential American Folk [Disc 2] Amazon
22Josh White Hard Times Blues ABC Of The Blues, Vol. 51 Amazon
23Sheryl Crow No Depression In Heaven The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family Amazon
24Country Joe McDonald This Land Is Your Land Vanguard Visionaries Amazon
25R.B. Morris That's How Every Empire Falls Singing Through the Wall. Songs for Western Sahara Amazon
26Bobby Bare Times Are Gettin' Hard 1964 (Warped 6425) Amazon
27The Tillers All You Fascists Bound to Lose The Tillers Amazon
28Aiken County String Band Hard Times Breakdown 78s Amazon
29Eels Rock Hard Times Shootenanny! Amazon

Deeper Charley Patton

This week we’ll explore the music of the legendary Charley Patton. We’ll be dipping our toes into the birth of the Delta blues featuring some classic tracks from the gravel-voiced masked wonder as well as some rich covers from contemporary performers. Listen in for music from Otis Taylor, David Johansen, Corey Harris, and Taj Mahal…just to drop a few names. We’ll also scratch the surface of Charley’s career including some reflections from a master’s thesis written by none other than the American musicologist and musician, John Fahey. Tune in Friday morning as we board ourselves a raft to roll down the waters in search of the rich and elusive legend of the Mississippi Delta blues that was Charley Patton.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Bob Dylan High Water (For Charley Patton) Love and Theft Amazon
3Charley Patton I Shall Not Be Moved The Definitive Charley Patton [Disc 2] Amazon
4Paul Rishell & Anne Raines I Shall Not Be Moved Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
5Son House The Pony Blues Complete Library of Congress Sessions, The Amazon
6Charley Patton Pony Blues (Pm 12792, 15216–) The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932) Amazon
7Guy Davis, T-Bone Wolk, Mark Murphy & Levon Helm Some of These Days Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
8Charley Patton Some Of These Days I'll Be Gone The Definitive Charley Patton [Disc 2] Amazon
9Charley Patton Poor Me The Definitive Charley Patton [Disc 3] Amazon
10Rising Sons By And By (Poor Me) [Album Version] Rising Sons Amazon
11Charlie Musselwhite Pea Vine Blues Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
12Otis Taylor Stone Pony Americana Roots Songbook: Modern Blues Amazon
13Charley Patton Stone Pony Blues The Definitive Charley Patton [Disc 3] Amazon
14McHouston Baker High Sheriff Blues Mississippi Delta Dues Amazon
15David Johansen High Sheriff Shaker Amazon
16Charley Patton High Sheriff Blues Pony Blues (The Blues Collection Vol.47) Amazon
17Steve James & Mark Rubin Elder Greene Blues Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
18Charley Patton Elder Greene Blues The Definitive Charley Patton [Disc 1] Amazon
19Taj Mahal High Water Everywhere, Part 2 American Epic: The Sessions [Disc 2] Amazon
20Graham Parker Poor Me Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
21Corey Harris Moon Going Down Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
22Charley Patton Moon Going Down Pony Blues (The Blues Collection Vol.47) Amazon
23Dave Van Ronk Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
24Robert Nighthawk Mean Black Cat Greatest Blues Licks Amazon
25Charley Patton Charley Patton – Mean Black Cat Blues 24 Classic Blues Songs From The 1920_Vol 11 [ Blues Images ] Amazon
26Joe Louis Walker Sugar Mama Down the Dirt Road: The Songs of Charley Patton Amazon
27The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band Some of These Days I'll Be Gone (Charley Version) Peyton On Patton Amazon
28Charley Patton High Water Everywhere – Part 1 The Return Of The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of Amazon

Carl Sandburg’s Songbag Pt 2

We had so much fun with our first installment a few months back that we thought it was worth a second installment…well, that and the depth and breadth of the American Songbag certainly lends itself to doing so. It doesn’t hurt either that it fits our deeper roots sensibilities so well. This installment finds us meandering about those classic songs whose topics include mellow blues ballads, hobo songs, Mexican border songs (how appropriate), tarnished love tales, and the ‘road to heaven’. Helping us through our sets we’ll be featuring an interesting collection of performers:  Dave Van Ronk, Dock Boggs, Rosanne Cash, and Peter Case. A host of others will join in the fun on Community Radio for Sonoma County.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Dave Van Ronk Willie The Weeper Down In Washington Square: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection Amazon
3The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Willie the Weeper Dirt, Silver & Gold Disc 1 Amazon
4Dan Zanes Roll The Chariot Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
5Josh White Barbara Allen Best Of Josh White Amazon
6Delmore Brothers Frozen Girl Brown's Ferry Blues Amazon
7Dock Boggs Pretty Polly Country Blues Amazon
8The Carter Family My Sweetheart Is a Poor Working Girl/Waves of the Sea (Instrumental) On Border Radio – 1939 – vol. 1 Amazon
9Tony Rice House Carpenter Church Street Blues Amazon
10Hylo Brown Pretty Fair Maiden Legends & Tall Tales Amazon
11Ola Belle Reed, John Miller, Burl Kilby The Orphan Girl Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line Amazon
12David Rawlings Midnight Train Poor David's Almanack Amazon
13Arlo Guthrie Gypsy Davy Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys (Remastered 2004) Amazon
14Peter Case Roving Gambler Sings Like Hell Amazon
15Rosanne Cash Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow The List Amazon
16Aaron Copland, London Symphony Orchestra & William Warfield Old American Songs (Set One): Zion's Walls Copland Conducts Copland (Expanded Edition) Amazon
17Louis Armstrong Ezekiel Saw De Wheel Louis And The Good Book Amazon
18Sister Rosetta Tharpe Things That I used to do (and I Don't Do No More) The Gospel Truth Amazon
19The Robinson Children I Ain't Gwine Study About War No More Swinging Gospel Sounds (1935-1942) Amazon
20The Bronzemen Dese Bones Gwine Rise Again The Bronzemen – Radio Transcriptions (1939) Amazon
21Septeto Habanero Cielito Lindo Cuba. Por La Musica Amazon
22Los Panchos La Cucaracha – La Adelita Cattle Call-Early Cowboy Music And It's Roots Amazon
23Dan Zanes Lo Que Digo Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
24Kathy Reid-Naiman Pretty Betty Martin Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie Amazon
25Laurie Lewis Weevily Wheat Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals Amazon
26Dan Zanes Cuckoo Waltz Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
27Tom Paxton Times A-Getting Hard, Boys Seeds – The Songs Of Pete Seeger, Vol. 3 (Disc 2 Of 2 – Friends Of Pete) Amazon
28Bobby Bare Times Are Gettin' Hard Memories – RCA Singles 1962 – 1969 Amazon
29Ronnie Gilbert Lincoln And Liberty Songs Of The Civil War Amazon
30Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur The Boll Weevil Penny's Farm Amazon
31Dave Van Ronk Gamblers Blues Dust Bowl Blues Essential American Folk Amazon

Carl Sandburg’s Songbag

Published in 1927, populist poet Carl Sandburg’s anthology of American folksongs was in print for over 70 years. It influenced generations of musicians and is a cornerstone in the foundation of American folk and tradition. Sandburg himself described it as a “ragbag of stripes and streaks of color from nearly all ends of the earth…rich with the diversity of the United States.” Today’s show pulls samples from the book featuring performances by Dan Zanes, Bob Dylan, The Weavers, The Blue Sky Boys, and David Rawlings. True Americana from the deeper wells of America’s music.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Zora Layman & The Hometowners When The Curtains Of The Night Are Pinned Back By The Stars Howdy! 25 Hillbilly All-Time Greats Amazon
3Johnny Cash The Streets of Laredo Come Along And Ride This Train [Disc 2] Amazon
4Sons of the Pioneers Lone Star Trail Songs of the Prairie – CD2 Amazon
5Tex Ritter Whoopee Ti Yi Yo (Git Along Little Dogies) Have I Stayed Away Too Long Amazon
6The Weavers Get Along Little Dogies The Weavers Almanac Amazon
7Woody Guthrie Buffalo Skinners (traditional, arr. Woody Guthrie) Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection [Disc 2] Amazon
8Oscar Brand The Tenderfoot Pie In The Sky Amazon
9The Blue Sky Boys Trail To Mexico American Roots- A History Of American Folk Music: [Disc 1] Amazon
10Marc Williams The Little Old Sod Shanty On My Claim Howdy! 25 Hillbilly All-Time Greats Amazon
11Mac Wiseman Turkey In The Straw Sings Old Time Country Favorites Amazon
12The Blue Sky Boys Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet Presenting The Blue Sky Boys Amazon
13Dan Zanes I Was Born Almost Ten Thousand Years Ago Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
14Dan Zanes California Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
15Hylo Brown Sweet Betsy From Pike Legends & Tall Tales Amazon
16BR5-49 Sweet Betsy from Pike Song of America Amazon
17Tennessee Ernie Ford Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot This Lusty Land Amazon
18Gid Tanner & The Skillet Lickers The Old Gray Mare And The Skillet Lickers Vol. 2 Amazon
19David Rawlings Money Is the Meat in the Coconut Poor David's Almanack Amazon
20Kilby Snow Chicken Reel (Folk) Masters of Old-Time Country Autoharp Amazon
21The Everly Brothers Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet Songs Our Daddy Taught Us Amazon
22Carolina Chocolate Drops Sourwood Mountain Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind Amazon
23Molly Mason & Jay Ungar The Lover's Lament The Lovers' Waltz Amazon
24Marty Robbins Red River Valley All-Time Greatest Hits Amazon
25Dick Curless Red River Valley A Tombstone Every Mile (7CD Set) CD2 (1950-1969) Amazon
26The Doc Watson Family One Morning In May Tradition Amazon
27Dave Van Ronk Kentucky Moonshiner Inside Dave Van Ronk Amazon
28Otis Redding Down In The Valley Dreams To Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology [Disc 1] Amazon
29Slim Whitman Down In The Valley Country Greats #2 Amazon
30Bob Dylan Froggie Went A-Courtin' Good As I Been To You Amazon
31Tex Ritter Froggie Went A-Courtin' Singing In The Saddle Amazon
32Dan Zanes The Monkey's Wedding Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
33Doc Watson The Ship That Never Returned My Dear Old Southern Home Amazon
34Hank Penny It Ain't Gonna Rain No More King Of Hillbilly Bebop [Disc 1] Amazon

Naughty Blues

For goodness sake! We’re going to toss aside our puritan ethics (what ethics, you ask) and look towards the sideways glances and double entendres for our inspiration this week on Deeper Roots. Songs about Sam The Hot Dog Man, keyholes, sugar bowls, poodles, jockeys, and lemons…all subjects that find their way in and around the blues in an auspiciously direct route to the heart of the matter. We’ve got the naughty blues today…songs that will encourage a blush or two…or three. We’ve got The Swallows, Lil’ Johnson, Emma Barrett, Tampa Red, and a host of other blues greats on a Sonoma County spring morning. Be sure to tune in and find your own blush point…

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2The Delta Rhythm Boys Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me I Dreamt I Dwelt In Harlem Amazon
3Crown Prince Waterford Move Your Hand Baby Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
4Barrelhouse Annie If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
5Memphis Minnie Dirty Mother For You Blues Classics: '27_'69 [Disc 1] Amazon
6Tampa Red Let Me Play With Your Poodle ABC Of The Blues Vol 38 Amazon
7Lightnin' Hopkins Let Me Play With Poodle Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
8Hattie Hart I Let My Daddy Do That Vintage Songs of Sex, Drugs & Cigarettes Amazon
9Emma Barrett I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None Of This Jelly Roll Sweet Emma Amazon
10Butterbeans & Susie I Wanna Hot Dog For My Roll [Explicit] Those Dirty Blues Volume 1 [Explicit] Amazon
11Lil Johnson Sam The Hot Dog Man Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
12Mabel Scott Just Give Me A Man Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
13Connie Allen Rocket 69 Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
14The Swallows It Ain't The Meat It's The Motion Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
15Julia Lee My Man Stands Out The Essential Julia Lee Vol 1 Amazon
16Julia Lee King Size Papa Kansas City Star [Disc 3] Amazon
17Al Miller I Found Your Keyhole Vintage Songs of Sex, Drugs & Cigarettes Amazon
18Charlie Pickett Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon Vintage Sex Songs Amazon
19Bessie Smith Kitchen Man Vintage Songs of Sex, Drugs & Cigarettes Amazon
20Bessie Smith Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl The Essential Bessie Smith Amazon
21Hunter & Jenkins Lollypop Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts & Lollypops Amazon
22Frankie Half Pint Jaxon and The Harlem Hamfats Wet It [Explicit] Those Dirty Blues Volume 1 [Explicit] Amazon
23Victoria Spivey How Do You Do It That Way? Black Snake Blues – The Best Of Amazon
24Madelyn James Stinging Snake Blues Vintage Songs of Sex, Drugs & Cigarettes Amazon
25Lucille Bogan Skin Game Blues [Album Version] Shave 'Em Dry: The Best Of Lucille Bogan Amazon
26Lil Johnson Get 'Em From The Peanut Man (Hot Nuts) [Album Version] Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts & Lollypops Amazon
27Lonnie Johnson I Got The Best Jelly Rollin In Town Dirty Blues [Disc 2] Amazon
28Wynonie Harris Hard Ridin Mama Playful Baby Amazon
29Bull Moose Jackson Big Ten Inch Record Badman Jackson Thats Me Amazon
30Blu Lu Barker Don't You Feel My Leg Chronological Blue Lu Barker (1946-1949) Amazon
31Blu Lu Barker Buy Me Some Juice Don't You Feel My Leg Amazon
32Lillie Mae Kirkman He's Just My Size Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts & Lollypops Amazon
33Lil Johnson & Black Bob Press My Button, Ring My Bell Flashbacks #3 CopulationBlues 1926-1940 Amazon

Ships Upon the Sea

A wayfaring lot…music that touches on seafaring tragedies, punctuated by the loss of that most famous of them all: the HMS Titanic. This week’s show will focus on music that commemorated the ships that were lost at sea; tragedies that were headlines around the world; songs of the seafaring life and the sailors and crew that were a part of it.  The stories are told in songs from the wells of tradition. We’ll hear from Frank Hutchison, Papa Harvey Hull, Pink Anderson, The Dillards and Dan Zanes. We’ll also hear some classic maritime music from the Smithsonian catalogs. Blues, country, folk, and so much more…all celebrating those ships upon the sea and the ones we lost along the way.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Bob Gibson Titanic Joy Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson Amazon
3Rory Block Titanic (When That Great Ship Went Down) Confessions of A Blues Singer Amazon
4Pink Anderson The Ship Titanic Gospel, Blues, and Street Songs Amazon
5Charley Jordan Titanic Blues Charley Jordan Volume 2 1931-1934 Amazon
6Hi Henry Brown Titanic Blues 21 Classic Blues Songs From The 1920's Vol. 10 Amazon
7Bessie Jones And Group The Titanic Alan Lomax Collection Sampler Amazon
8Papa Harvey Hull & "Long Cleve" Reed Sinking Of The Titanic Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice Amazon
9Richard (Rabbit) Brown Sinking Of The Titanic Times Ain't Like They Used To Be – Volume 1 Amazon
10Lead Belly Titanic The Definitive Leadbelly [Disc 3] – Leaving Blues Amazon
11Frank Hutchison The Last Scene Of The Titanic If You Take Me Back Amazon
12Clyde Spencer And Harry Fannin The Sinking Of The Titanic Folksongs Of Another America: Field Recordings From The Upper Midwest, 1937-1946 [Disc 1] Amazon
13Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton After The Sinking Of The Titanic On The Banks Of A Lonely River Amazon
14Roy Acuff The Great Titanic compliments of grimriper2u@yahoo.com Amazon
15Woody Guthrie When That Great Ship Went Down This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings Vol. 1 Amazon
16Ralph Stanley Storms Are On The Ocean [Album Version] A Distant Land To Roam: Songs Of The Carter Family Amazon
17Gordon Lightfoot The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Songbook [Box Set] Disc 3 Amazon
18Jimmie Driftwood The Ship That Never Returned Americana, Vol. 3 Amazon
19Little Jimmy Dickens When The Ship Hit The Sand The Essential "Little" Jimmy Dickens Amazon
20Arlo Guthrie with The Dillards The Sinking of the Ruben James Thirty Two Cents Postage Due Amazon
21June Carter Cash Sinking in the Lonesome Sea Wildwood Flower Amazon
22Ashley Monroe The Storms Are On The Ocean Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited Amazon
23Cowboy Copas A Thousand Miles of Ocean Settin' Flat On Ready Amazon
24Red Allen Out on the Ocean Lonesome and Blue: The Complete County Recordings Amazon
25The Country Gentlemen Take Me In A Lifeboat The Early Rebel Recordings [Disc 2] Amazon
26Dan Zanes Across The Western Ocean Parades And Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected By Carl Sandburg For The American Songbag Amazon
27The Dicey Doh Singers The Sloop John B. Classic Maritime Music Amazon
28Sam Eskin Clear Away the Track and Let the Bullgine Run Classic Maritime Music Amazon
29Henry Morrison & St. Simon's Island Singers I'm Gonna Sail Like A Ship On The Ocean Sounds of the South [Disc 3] – Negro Church Music & White Spirituals Amazon
30Louis Prima & Keely Smith Barnacle Bill The Sailor Breaking It Up! Amazon

Deeper Mississippi John Hurt

Join us as we peer into the music of Mississippi John Hurt, performed by contemporary artists with some bits and pieces of his own music. We’ll also feature some fragments from the original interview conducted by Tom Hoskins in 1963 after some simple sleuthing, in the town of Avalon not far from Hurt’s boyhood home of Teoc, Mississippi. The story of his rediscovery after the sixties folk revival (and Harry Smith’s original Anthology of American Folk Music) is legend. Sit back on a Friday morning and listen in for some of the great music of the minstrel from Teoc

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Bruce Cockburn Avalon, My Home Town Avalon Blues: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt Amazon
3Jesse Colin Young Creole Belle Together Amazon
4John Oates Spike Driver Blues Arkansas Amazon
5Doc & Merle Watson Got the Blues (Can't Be Satisfied) Live & Pickin' Amazon
6Bill Morrissey Avalon Blues The Essential Collection Amazon
7Taj Mahal Frankie And Albert The Best Of Taj Mahal Amazon
8John Hiatt I'm Satisfied Avalon Blues: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt Amazon
9David Johansen Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me Shaker Amazon
10Dave Van Ronk Spike Driver Blues Two Sides of Dave Van Ronk Amazon
11Rhiannon Giddens The Angels Laid Him Away Freedom Highway Amazon
12JL Stiles Trouble I Had All My Days Solo Sessions Amazon
13Taj Mahal Satisfied 'N' Tickled Too The Essential Taj Mahal Amazon
14Chris Smither Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt Honeysuckle Dog Amazon
15John Fahey Requiem for John Hurt Essential John Fahey Amazon
16Big Bill Broonzy Frankie And Johnny Classic African-American Ballads (Smithsonian Folkways) Amazon
17Ben Harper Sliding Delta Avalon Blues: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt Amazon
18Bettye LaVette Nobody's Dirty Business American Epic: The Sessions [Disc 2] Amazon
19Mike Dowling Blue Harvest Blues The Blues Ain't News Amazon
20Rory Block Candy Man Avalon: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt Amazon
21Lucinda Williams Angels Laid Him Away Avalon Blues: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt Amazon
22Dave Alvin With Dean Schlabowske Louis Collins The Executioners Last Songs, Volume 2 Amazon
23Mississippi John Hurt Chicken Best Of Mississippi John Hurt [Live] Amazon
24John Oates My Creole Belle Arkansas Amazon
25Doc & Merle Watson Stack O'lee Ballads From Deep Gap Amazon
26Mississippi John Hurt Avalon Blues Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings Amazon
27Spuyten Duyvil Make Me A Pallet Social Hour Music Amazon

Early Gospel Blues

Gospel music informed much of the music from the early century and the blues took it’s soul and inspiration from many passages. Numerous street corner buskers promoted the scripture and many, like Blind Willie Johnson, Gary Davis, Oda Mae Terrell, and Mother McCollum were known as musical evangelists in addition to their place in the church. And the spirituals also informed the music of Blind Boy Fuller, Charley Patton, Barbecue Bob, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and so many early blues men and women. We’ll sample a few and take our Friday evening show with some reverence and grit.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Washington Phillips Denomination Blues – Part 1 Preachin' The Gospel – Holy Blues Amazon
3Mississippi John Hurt Praying On The Old Camp Ground Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings Amazon
4Mother McCollum Jesus Is My Air-O-Plane Guitar Evangelists (1928-1951) Amazon
5Mother McCollum Oh Lord I'm Your Child Guitar Evangelists (1928-1951) Amazon
6Blind Lemon Jefferson He Arose From The Dead The Complete Classic Sides Remastered: Atlanta & Chicago 1926 [Disc 2] Amazon
7Blind Joe Taggart And Joshua White Scandalous And A Shame (Pm 12780, 20942-4) The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932) Amazon
8Sam Collins I Want To Be Like Jesus In My Heart Complete Recorded Works 1927-31 Amazon
9Barbecue Bob When The Saints Go Marching In Complete Recorded Works Vol 1 Amazon
10Blind Willie Johnson I'm Gonna Run To The City Of Refuge Preachin' The Gospel – Holy Blues Amazon
11Charley Patton Lord I'm Discouraged Blues Images Presents: 1920's Blues Classics Vol.14 Amazon
12Bukka White I Am In the Heavenly Way Masters Of The Delta Blues: The Friends Of Charlie Patton Amazon
13Bo Weavil Jackson (Sam Butler) Heaven Is My View Backwoods Blues (1926-1935) Amazon
14Lil McClintock Sow Good Seeds 21 Classic Blues Songs From The 1920's Vol. 10 Amazon
15Blind Nesbit Gussie Pure Religion Vol. 2-(1929-34) Amazon
16Blind Gussie Nesbit Canaan's Land When I Reach That Heavenly Shore: Unearthly Black Gospel 1926 – 1936 Amazon
17Skip James Jesus Is a Mighty Good Leader Complete Early Recordings Amazon
18Blind Boy Fuller Precious Lord Heart Ease Blues (The Blues Collection Vol.55) Amazon
19Blind Boy Fuller Must Have Been My Jesus Heart Ease Blues (The Blues Collection Vol.55) Amazon
20Josh White Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed Preachin' The Gospel – Holy Blues Amazon
21Josh White Lord, I Want To Die Easy Complete Recorded Works 1929-1940 Vol. 2 Amazon
22Blind Willie McTell I Got Religion I'm So Glad (w/ Kate McTell) The Classic Years: 1933 – 1935 New York " Chicago Amazon
23Bull City Red I Feel Like Shoutin' Blues And Gospel From The Eastern States (1935-1944) Amazon
24Memphis Minnie Let Me Ride Memphis Minnie – Queen of Country Blues, 1929 – 1937 [Disc 4] Amazon
25Brownie McGhee Done What My Lord Said The Complete Brownie McGhee [Disc 2] Amazon
26Jimpson & Group No More My Lord Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 19471959 Amazon
27Sister O. M. Terrell God's Little Birds Country Gospel 1946-1953 Amazon
28Rev. Gary Davis Get Right Church Gospel, Blues, and Street Songs Amazon
29Reverend Gary Davis I Am The Light Of This World Harlem Street Singer Amazon
30Blind Willie McTell Lord Have Mercy If You Please Pig 'n Whistle Red Amazon
31Sister Rosetta Tharpe Everybody's Gonna Have A Wonderful Time Up There Vol. 3-1946-47 Complete Record Amazon
32Sister Rosetta Tharpe Saviour Don't Pass Me By Complete Recorded Works, 1938 – 1944; Volume 1 Amazon
33Big Joe Williams King Jesus Shake Your Boogie Amazon

Dead Roots

While the lyrics and music of Robert Hunter took the Grateful Dead into remarkable directions, codifying their place among the bands of the latter half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, by the time they reached their peak their roots were already firmly established. Their early music was clearly anchored in the sounds of tradition, reaching from the Appalachians to the Texas Gulf Coast. We’ll hear early (and contemporary) performances that inspired the band with songs of Blind Willie Johnson, Red Allen, The Mississippi Sheiks, Henry Thomas and Obray Ramsey. The landscape we’ll traverse includes blues, gospel, hillbilly, and folk…no Dead music, only music that served to inspire. This week on Sonoma County Community radio.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2David Grisman/Jerry Garcia Been All Around This World Been All Around This World Amazon
3Dave Van Ronk Hang Me, Oh Hang Me Dave Van Ronk Amazon
4Obray Ramsey Rain And Snow Best Of The Troubadours Amazon
5Vince Martin & Fred Neil I Know You Rider Tear Down The Walls/Bleecker & MacDougal Amazon
6Henry Thomas Dont Ease Me In Ragtime Texas Complete Recorded Works 1927-29 Amazon
7The Memphis Jug Band On The Road Again Times Ain't Like They Used To Be – Volume 1 Amazon
8The Memphis Jug Band Stealin' Stealin' Memphis Jug Band Vol. 2 (1928-1929) Amazon
9Cannon's Jug Stompers Viola Lee Blues First Time I Met the Blues (When the Sun Goes Down series) Amazon
10Hammie Nixon Viola Lee Blues Living Country Blues: An Anthology Disc 3 Amazon
11The Monroe Brothers Rosa Lee McFall Early Blue Grass Music Amazon
12Prairie Ramblers Deep Elem Blues White Country Blues (1926-1938) Amazon
13Mississippi Sheiks Sittin' On Top of the World Columbia Records' 125th Anniv. Amazon
14Roscoe Holcomb Sittin' On Top of the World Classic Piedmont Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Amazon
15Dillard Chandler Rain and Snow Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways Amazon
16The Chieftains Rain And Snow Down The Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions Amazon
17Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers Minglewood Blues Bob Dylan Presents: Cover to Cover – The Originals Amazon
18Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur, et. al. New Minglewood Blues Jug Band Extravaganza Amazon
19Blind Willie Johnson Nobody's Fault But Mine Various Artists: Bob Dylan – Cover To Cover – The Originals VOL. 2 [Disc 3] Amazon
20Sister Rosetta Tharpe Nobody's Fault But Mine The Great Gospel Women Amazon
21Rev. Pearly Brown Nobody's Fault But Mine You're Gonna Need That Pure Religion Amazon
22Lightnin' Hopkins See That My Grave Is Kept Clean The Real Blues Brothers Vol. 2 Amazon
23Lightnin' Hopkins One Kind Favor Jake Head Boogie Amazon
24Memphis Slim Next Time You See Me The Greatest Hits Of Amazon
25Bob Dylan Jack-A-Roe World Gone Wrong Amazon
26Joan Baez Jack-A-Roe Rare, Live & Classic [Box] (3 of 3) Amazon
27The Sunshine Boys What's the Matter With Deep Elem The Western Swing: Doughboys, Playboys, and Cowboys – Oakie Boogie [Disc 4] Amazon
28Red Allen Deep Elem Blues The Folkways Years 1964 – 1983 Amazon
29The Light Crust Doughboys Sittin' On Top Of The World 1936-1941 Amazon
30Dock Walsh In The Pines In The Pines – Tar Heel Folk Songs And Fiddle Tunes – Old-Time Music Of North Carolina 1926-1936 Amazon
31John Sebastian Minglewood Blues Chasin' Gus' Ghost Amazon

Back on the Farm

The farmer, the farm, and songs of farming are at the core of this week’s theme show. Whether the songs’ focus is that of the hard-working folk of the farm, the raw materials, or the nostalgic reminders of life on the farm, we’ll push forward the playlist plough and take you to the barn for an early morning celebration with performers including bluegrass from James King, gritty Americana from Levon Helm and Bill Neely, core country from Bobby Bare and Porter Wagoner, or maybe some field recordings from the 20s featuring the likes of the Carolina Tar Heels…all of this music going Back On The Farm.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Marty Stuart/Merle Haggard Farmer's Blues Country Music Amazon
3Freeman Stowers Sunrise On The Farm Sinners and Saints: Complete Recorded Works 1926-1931 Amazon
4Bill Frisell Farmer Disfarmer Amazon
5Levon Helm Poor Old Dirt Farmer Dirt Farmer Amazon
6Bill Neely Black Land Farmer 16 Down Home Country Classics Amazon
7James King Thirty Years of Farming Bluegrass Number 1's: A Collection of Chart-Topping Songs Amazon
8Junior Sisk with Becky Isaacs Bowman and Sonya Isaacs Yeary The Wheat Crop Mac Wiseman – I Sang The Song Amazon
9Lemuel Jones Po' Farmer (Poor Farmers) Field Recordings, Vol. 1: Virginia (1936-1941) Amazon
10Peter Rowan Let the Harvest Go To Seed Bluegrass Boy Amazon
11Carolina Tar Heels Got The Farm Land Blues Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 1B: Ballads Amazon
12Cisco Houston Farmer's Lament The Folkways Years: 1944-1961 Amazon
13J.E. Mainer & The Mountaineers (With Morris Herbert) 17 Living On The Farm The Legendry J.E. Mainer, Volume 4 Amazon
14Walter Brennan Old Rivers Old Rivers Amazon
15The Bently Boys Down On Penny's Farm Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 1B: Ballads Amazon
16Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur Down on Penny's Farm Penny's Farm Amazon
17The Four Wanderers Farmer's Life For Me Black Vocal Groups Vol. 9 (1929-1942) Amazon
18Ben & Ellen Harper Farmer's Daughter Childhood Home Amazon
19Bobby Bare The Farmer Feeds Us All Hard Time Hungrys Amazon
20Porter Wagoner The Farmer and the Lord 20 All-Time Greatest Hits Amazon
21Paula Brown Farm Hollers Hollerin' Amazon
22Warren Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers McDonald's Farm (1928) Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard: Hard Time, Good Time, And End Time Music, 1923-1936 Amazon
23Bubby Bishop I Want To Go Back To The Farm The Great Vintage Country Amazon
24Wilf Carter (Montana Slim) On A Little Two Acre Farm Dynamite Trail-The Decca Years, 1954-58 Amazon
25Goose Island Ramblers I Worked For a Farmer Polkabilly Amazon
26Buster Carter & Preston Young A Lazy Farmer Boy Before The Blues Vol. 3 Amazon
27Rosetta Howard Plow Hand Blues [Album Version] Roots 'N' Blues/The Retrospective 1925-1950 Amazon
28Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys I'll Reap My Harvest In Heaven King of Country Music [Disc 3] : Fireball Mail Amazon
29Fiddlin' John Carson Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Them All [Remastered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
30Ray Wylie Hubbard After the Harvest Crusades of the Restless Nights Amazon
31Dry Branch Fire Squad Devil, Take The Farmer 481 Bluegrass Class of 1990 Amazon
32Glen Campbell Arkansas Farmboy Adios Amazon
33Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies When It's Harvest Time, Sweet Angeline Daddy of Western Swing, Vol. 4 : Keep a Knockin' Amazon
34Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs With Mother Maybelle Carter The Homestead On The Farm [Album Version] Songs Of The Famous Carter Family Amazon