“Rhythm n’ Blues” and “Rock n’ Roll” were both born of a raw sound that was an amalgam of lyrical call-and-response, the upbeat bounce of barrelhouse and juke joint piano, traditional rhyme, and an abundance of musical brilliance from the many itinerant performers who plied their trade. This week on Deeper Roots we’ll go find the “Roots of R&B” and find a stage that we often visit, spending time with the performers that we seem to always find in its lights. Big Bill Broonzy, Roosevelt Sykes, Leroy Carr, Memphis Minnie, and Lonnie Johnson are just a sampling of the music we’ll bring you on our show produced especially for KWTF 88.1 FM, listener-supported community radio for Sonoma County.
No.
1
Artist
Title
Album
Buy
2
Mamie Smith
Crazy Blues
Folk Blues & Gospel: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
3
Tampa Red
It Hurts Me Too
Country Blues [Disc 1]
4
Tampa Red
Anna Lou Blues
The Guitar Wizard (The Blues Collection Vol.51)
5
Leroy Carr
How Long-How Long Blues
Whiskey Is My Habit, Women Is All I Crave: The Best of Leroy Carr Disc 1
6
Little Brother Montgomery
Vicksburg Blues (Pm 13006, L-502-1)
The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932)
7
Little Brother Montgomery
No Special Rider Blues (Pm 13006, L-501-1)
The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932)
8
Roosevelt Sykes
44 Blues
The Honey Dripper
9
Roosevelt Sykes
Night Time Is The Right Time
As Good As It Gets: Country Blues [Disc 2]
10
Georgia Tom
The Duck Yas-Yas-Yas
Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey [Disc 1]
11
Georgia Tom
Hear Me Beefin' at You
Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1928-1930)
12
Tampa Red;Georgia Tom
Dead Cats On The Line
Tampa Red The Guitar Wizard
13
Blind Boy Fuller
Truckin' My Blues Away
Country Blues [Disc 1]
14
Bill "Jazz" Gillum
Key To the Highway [Remastered 2002]
That's Chicago's South Side (When the Sun Goes Down series)
15
Bill 'Jazz' Gillum
Go Back to the Country
Heartbreakers Blue & Lonely
16
Lonnie Johnson
6 / 88 Glide
Steppin' On The Blues
17
Lonnie Johnson
Furniture Man Blues Pt. 1 (w/Victoria Spivey)
Complete Recordings Vol. 4
18
Memphis Minnie
Bumble Bee
Queen Of Country Blues
19
Memphis Minnie
Me And My Chauffeur Blues
Blues Was Her Business
20
Roosevelt Sykes
Drivin' Wheel
Chicago Boogie
21
Bill "Jazz" Gillum W/ Big Bill Broonzy
Jockey Blues
Broke, Black & Blue [Disc 3] : Good Whiskey Blues
22
Bill "Jazz" Gillum
Sarah Jane
Vintage Songs of Sex, Drugs & Cigarettes
23
Washboard Sam
Bucket's Got a Hole in It [Remastered 2002]
That's Chicago's South Side (When the Sun Goes Down series)
24
Washboard Sam
Let Me Play Your Vendor
Vol. 6 1941 – 1942
25
Big Bill Broonzy
How You Want It Done
Blues From The Vocalion Vaults
26
Big Bill Broonzy
Key to the Highway
Columbia Records' 125th Anniv.
27
Big Bill Broonzy
I Can't Be Satisfied
ABC Of The Blues Vol 5
28
Speckled Red
The Dirty Dozen
Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey [Disc 1]
29
Speckled Red
The Dirty Dozen Pt 2
Rude Dudes
30
Speckled Red
You Got to Fix It [Remastered 2002]
That's Chicago's South Side (When the Sun Goes Down series)
31
Speckled Red
Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
Classic Piano Blues
32
Sunnyland Slim
Illinois Central [Remastered 2002]
That's All Right (When the Sun Goes Down series)
33
Arthur Crudup
Mean Old Frisco Blues
Lonesome Whistle – An Anthology Of American Railroad Song
34
Arthur Crudup
That's All Right Mama
Bob Dylan Presents: Cover to Cover – The Originals
Saturday morning in West County…our first week of summer with Deeper Roots and we’ve got an early set of New Orleans swamp classics followed by shreds of rockabilly and sounds from The Killer. There’s also gospel with The Staple Singers, high octane early century pop from The Boswell Sisters and Johnny Hamp and the Orchestra. We’ll sum the day up with folk, pop, and R&B…and everything in between.
No.
1
Artist
Title
Album
Buy
2
Bobby Marchan
Chicken – Wah – Wah
The History of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues [Disc 1]
3
Lazy Lester
I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter
Louisiana & The Old New Orleans Sound
4
Irma Thomas
Ruler of My Heart
Soul Queen of New Orleans
5
Aaron Neville
Get Out Of My Life
Brother To Brother ([Disc 1]: Aaron)
6
Fats Domino
What a Price
Fats Domino Out of New Orleans
7
Shirley Gunter
Oop Shoop
Shirley Gunter
8
Jerry Lee Lewis
Let's Talk About Us
A Half Century Of Hits [Disc 1]
9
Wanda Jackson
Man, We Had A Party
Queen Of Rockabilly
10
JD McPherson
Fire Bug
Signs & Signifiers
11
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Two Little Fishes Five Loaves Of Bread
Gospel Train
12
Sam Cooke
Touch The Hem Of His Garment
The Wonderful World Of Sam Cooke
13
The Staple Singers
Pray On
The Best of the Vee-Jay Years
14
Dorothy Love Coates
You Better Run
The Best Of Dorothy Love Coates And The Original Gospel Harmonettes
15
Andy Mosely & Hogman Maxey
Brother Mosely Crossed The Water
Angola Prison Spirituals
16
Blind Willie Johnson
Jesus Is Coming Soon
The Complete Blind Willie Johnson (Disc 1)
17
Lena Horne
Stormy Weather
Stormy Weather
18
Johnny Hamp And His Kentucky Serenaders
If I Had A Talking Picture Of You
Johnny Hamp at Archive
19
The Boswell Sisters
Shuffle Off To Buffalo
The Object Of My Affection
20
George Olsen & His Music (v: Fran Frey)
The Varsity Drag [1927]
The Charleston Era
21
Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers
Shreveport Stomp
Jelly Roll Morton – Vol. V
22
Louis Armstrong
On Treasure Island
Rhythm Saved The World
23
Django Reinhardt & Stiphane Grappelli
It Don't Mean A Thing
Quintesential
24
Dinah Washington
Teach Me Tonight
Gold [Disc 2]
25
Ray Charles
Drown in My Own Tears
The Birth of Soul Disc 2
26
Chuck Jackson
Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)
Chuck Jackson The Great Recordings [Disc 1]
27
Frank Sinatra
Just in Time
Come Dance with Me!
28
Sarah Vaughan
The Nearness Of You
Great American Songbook
29
Charlie Spand & Blind Blake
Hastings Street
Down In The Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove Of Vintage 78s: 1926-1937
30
Pine Ridge Boys
Farther Along
Classic Field Recordings
31
David Bromberg
I Like To Sleep Late In The Morning
The Player: A Retrospective
32
Doc Watson
Steel Guitar Rag
Memories
33
The Country Gentlemen
One Morning in May
The Complete Vanguard Recordings
34
The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys
This Weary Heart You Stole Away
Appalachian Stomp
35
The Stripling Brothers
The Lost Boy
Down In The Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove Of Vintage 78s: 1926-1937
Just ahead of World War II, a sound began to bubble up through the floorboards. There was the new, brash, swinging sound of big bands, country swing had surfaced, and jazz was alive and well as an evident inspiration to both. But there was a raw, bluesy, expressive, jump sound coming from the barrooms and halls of the urban expanses of Chicago, Kansas City, New York City, and beyond; something that would become known as R&B and would later be the bedrock of rock and roll. Deeper Roots explores the sounds of Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Buddy Johnson and a host of others, including the ladies: Effie Smith, Nellie Lutcher, Julia Lee, and Viola Wells. This episode has them all and more…
Another beautiful winter Saturday morning in West Sonoma County and it’s time for a collection of hot blues, country gospel, early rock, early century pop, and swinging country on Deeper Roots… everything from Eddie Cantor’s 1922 song about a trapeze and Blind Willie McTell covering Jimmie Rodgers around mid-century, to a track from 2014 from a new band out of New Orleans called Hurray For The Riff Raff…another reason our tag line reads “A Century of America’s Music”. Join Dave Stroud on a brisk Saturday morning from the KOWS studios in downtown Occidental, California.
Lots of early sounds mixed with the new this weekend. Stay tuned for music from the medicine shows, lost provinces, gospel tents, swamps, bandstands, and digital playgrounds. We’ve got Sam Samudio, Shorty Godwin, The Seldom Scene, Shel Silverstein, and Tom Russell in our bi-weekly show broadcast live from the KOWS studios in downtown Occidental, a hamlet tucked into the redwoods along the Bohemian Highway in west Sonoma County. The drought is being beat down and, while we would welcome more rain, we’re hoping that it’s dispersed so that our neighbors can manage without threat of flooding. So we’ll flood you all with a fine collection of performances from the last century of America’s music.
We’ve got a special Monday episode of Deeper Roots. The show originally broadcast live from the KOWS studios in Occidental, California, opens with some Light Crust Doughboys, fires up some modern country gospel from the Watson Twins and Johnny Cash, then goes for the jugular with a collection of Baptist-flavored gospel from Moses Mason, Mother McCollum, and Madam Edna…and that just scratches the sacred surface. The show also features the secular: jump blues from Jesse Price, jazz from Lincoln Center and Willie “The Lion” Smith. Had enough? You won’t. Be sure to check it out.
It’s part two of our “Chicago Breakdown” series. In Part I, we explored the early days that promised what was to come but in Part II, we feel the warm wind of change from the south that would meet with the cold winds off of the Great Lakes. It created a vortex where jazz and barrelhouse would reign.
The urban cauldron in this city of big shoulders would fill with a sound that had its roots in the Mississippi Delta , from the cotton plantations and delta heat, and the juke joints that could be found down the side roads off of Highway 61. The Great Migration also provided those who relocated and found work with disposable income allowing them to establish a new life in a big city after the Great Depression and, most certainly, after the war. The resulting energy was inescapable in the clubs and barrooms throughout Chicago.
Here’s your morning coffee and tea! Join Dave Stroud for a helping of ukulele, blues, gospel, and outlaw meta-modern country sounds. If you haven’t had a chance to find us on a West County Saturday morning, your chance is every second and fourth Saturday morning at 9 PST on TuneIn radio http://tunein.com/radio/KOWS-LP-1073-…. This eclectic blend of music from the past century is also played out on Sundays at 10 PM This week’s show will feature a Langston Hughes reading, some Maria Muldaur, some early century pop from The Boswell Sisters, some cold hard country facts from Sturgill Simpson and Porter Wagoner, and blues from Dave Alvin and Big Bill Broonzy.
Some time ago, Deeper Roots explored the female blues pioneers of the early century in a show called “Black Pearls”. In this week’s episode, we’re going to move forward in time a bit, into the mid-century to explore the ‘inheritors’, those women who were influenced by the blues stylings of Sara Miles, Sippie Wallace, and Victoria Spivey. Performers this week will include Julia Lee, Lil Armstrong, Nellie Lutcher, and many others in an episode titled “Blues Divas”. Post-Depression and Post-War jazz, R&B, and blues sounds from some of the influential female artists who, in step with their early century counterparts, would go on to provide a foundation for the many who would follow. Be sure to tune in.
Every now and then Deeper Roots will take a step back and look at the unknowns, not for their anonymity as much for their stories and why their music is so important to the American story. A documentary was recently released entitled “Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Genius of James Booker”, http://www.bayoumaharajah.com/ directed by Lily Keber. It tells the story of the classically trained session man and we’re going to also explore the contributions that Booker made to the music of others, his quirky yet brilliant talent in performances of his own, and we’ll also share some of the stories of James Booker’s celebrated ups and tragic lows.
