We’ve got ourselves a blend of free form sounds from the Deeper Roots archives with themes of midnight runs, trains, and happiness spiced with instrumental punch. Tune in on a Friday morning on KOWS Community Radio for some oddball tunes from John D. Loudermilk, Bob Gibson, and Chip Taylor and The New Ukrainians. We’re already halfway through the month and we’ll find ourselves with a brighter eclectic blend of sounds from the past century. The antenna is installed and now the volunteers who pedal the wheels to churn those dynamos will soon have our signal spreading it’s joy throughout the county. Go volunteers!!
Tune in why don’t you…
Category Archives: Americana
Doug Sahm Retrospective
This week we’re taking a look back at a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, musician, and performer who helped to enlighten a younger set to Tex Mex music, even making inroads into the sixties San Francisco ‘summer of love’ with a top 20 hit in 1965. Considered a child prodigy, he would appear on the Louisiana Hayride by the age of eight and would find his influences in blues, country, r&b, and conjunto sounds from across the border. Our retrospective will feature contemporaries and music from his close-knit cadre of compadres that would go on to form a sort-of supergroup called The Texas Tornados. Tune in on a Spring morning in April for a collection of pure Americana treats from Texas as we overlook (for a brief two hours) its abhorrent decline into a state of hate and anti-democratic principles.
Americana Covers 2022
We’re taking a bit of a break to pull the covers out. A lot of the covers we’ll be sharing today come from recent years and cut a broad swath through the past, with a special emphasis on ‘modern sounds’ including new wave, country and rock covered by some of the modern Americana performers that you hear on KOWS Community Radio’s Blue Moon Americana each week (and mornings at 5). Tune in for Jason Isbell, Bill Kirchen, Carrie Rodriguez, Sarah Jarosz, Nick Lowe, and a host of others. A fun run of sounds this morning as we kick off spring with fresh Americana covers.
Sagebrush Sweethearts
When we say roots, we mean roots. This week on Deeper Roots we’ll kick off Women’s History Month by paying tribute to the many female performers from early country, the Golden Age, and well into our latest century. Influential, talented, and more than many of the opposite sex, not afraid to make a political statement now and then. We’ll also be sharing some recent Americana ‘cowboy sweethearts’ with songs that are both winsome and traditional. Tune in to Community Radio for Sonoma County as we go back to the 30s with the Girls of The Golden West, Patsy Montana, and The Tune Wranglers. We’ve also got some favorites from Margo Smith, Dale Evans, Rose Maddox and Dolly Parton to share with you.
Higher and Higher
A carefully curated concoction of sounds on a Friday morning will keep you on your toes going into the weekend here in Sonoma County. We’ll pay tribute to Beverly “Ruby” Ross, a songwriter and musician who co-wrote some early rock n’ roll classics who passed away last week. And there’s no stopping the classics from rolling in with some country from the Golden Age including The Browns and Johnny Horton, an eclectic run of blues with Jimmy Reed and BB King, and some of the sweeter sounds from Patti Page, Jo Stafford, and Linda Ronstadt. Jackie Wilson will open our show this morning and we’ll be sure to feed your soul with some Geraint Watkins from across the pond. Join us on the stream at kowsfm.com/listen.
Gospel Firebrands
Classic pairings with some rocking gospel from Elvis, country and bluegrass classics, some sacred steel, tradition, and some of the richest black gospel performances from the past century, with the focus being on those performers who put the passion into the ‘word’. The roots of rock, jazz, blues, and country are closer to the surface than you’d imagine and we’re here to share it with you: The Golden Gate Quartet, Willie and Bobbie Nelson, The Jordanaires, Nina Simone, and a couple dozen others here to celebrate and evangelize through great music. Deeper Roots heads back through the church and barn doors from the past century where the power of music tells a story in all it’s glory. Join us!
Dallas Frazier Tribute
We lost one of the great country songwriters last week. You know his songs, no doubt, but it’s not likely you know his name. Dallas Frazier grew up with songsmithing in his blood. And he got around: the Bakersfield scene, penning a bit hit for The Hollywood Argyles and The Oak Ridge Boys, Portland, Los Angeles, Capitol Records and, of course, Nashville. He penned music for the likes of Elvis, Ferlin Husky, Connie Smith, George Jones, Charley Pride and dozens of others with a blending and re-imagining the kind of music he’d always been fond of: music of the early 20th century. Join us as we share the songs of Dallas Frazier and tell you a little bit about him in our next show here on Sonoma County Community Radio.
Time To Kill
Free form sounds with time to kill from the past century. This week’s Deeper Roots show features soul, seventies rock, some gospel, country and rhythm & blues. We’ll be sharing an interesting blend of under-the-radar sounds from some greats: Ben E. King, Wanda Jackson, The Band, Mavis Staples, Neil Young, and beyond. Sonoma County Community radio is community radio at it’s best. Join Dave Stroud for a selection of classics from the Cherry Street Historic District of Santa Rosa. We enjoy sharing and we hope you enjoy listening on Friday mornings on KOWS Occidental (and Friday evenings on KRJF Santa Rosa).
Brand New Day
That new car smell…applied to everything we can think of…all to celebrate this new 2022 thing…365 more rotations and one long trip around that giant luminous orb. What a long strange trip it was. So let’s celebrate all that’s new as we move into our second decade of celebrating the past century of America’s music. This week, we’re taking on the theme of ‘brand new’….new heartaches, new cars, new neighbors, new mornings, and new hopes…same as the old hopes no doubt, but with a different slant. We’ve got performances by Mel Tillis, Dion, Ruthie Foster, Fats Domino, Steve Earle and a couple dozen others to keep our dreams worth holding onto. Let’s put COVID in the rear view. Let’s send the truth-doubters back to their rat’s nests. And make good trouble. Welcome 2022 with a promise to hold those who led an insurrection and those who voted for the leaders accountable. Tune into the show. I promise we’ll keep it real.
Who We Lost 2021
New Year’s Eve will bring a look back at those we’ve lost this past year. 2021 was another year of COVID-19 with a couple of variants slipping into and out of the world. We wait patiently, for the most part, for vaccines and adult behavior to work. Unfortunately, there is a selfishness about our species that cannot be denied. This year’s losses have no boundaries musically: everyone from Biz Markie to Stephen Sondheim, Vicente Fernandez to Nanci Griffith, Lloyd Price to Stonewall Jackson. Performers of our lifetime. We go into 2022 having hope. Join Dave Stroud for a musical look back.