Blues, folk, and plenty of tradition. Songs that celebrate sisters in a fight for equal rights. That’s right. This is still part of the conversation in the 21st century. The right to vote. The right to equal pay. And the right to choose. There is still exclusivity beyond measure and yet gender equality is still a topic, not a reality. This week’s show stands up for International Women’s Day, held this past Sunday, March 8th, around the world. Deeper Roots digs deep for soul from Aretha, Nina, and Betty Wright, blues from Lucille Bogan and Bessie Smith, and fresh sounds from Amy Rigby, TLC, and the Secret Sisters on a Friday morning in Sonoma County. Join us. #EachforEqual #IWD2020.
Category Archives: Fifties Country
Candy
Yes, there’s a theme this week and it’s about as sweet a theme as you’ll hear on Deeper Roots. It’s not surprising there’s a wealth of content to choose from given that it is one of the favorite attention- getters, no matter your age. Candy. Sweets. Whether that’s a nickel, a penny, or a quarter a dose. Our favorites from the convenience aisle near the cash register, there to lure you. This week’s show is not for the glucose intolerant as we walk the convenience aisle of 20th century pop, rhythm & blues, country, jazz, and vocal group odes to the sugar in all things, sweet and small, short and tall, and sticky with the syrup-sweet. We’ll hear from The Strangeloves, Elvis, Lee Dorsey, Eddie Holland, Red Foley, and Barbie Gaye in our exploration of the sugar rush.
Ants In My Pants
Whether it was Prohibition, the need for comic relief from the worst Depression our country has known, or the release from Victorian norms in the age of the flapper…something was afoot. The humor it portended is not something that we all understand in this age… but it’s worth looking at. Novelty ruled the day and every Victrola and Edison radio spilled a silly song, whether it worked from puns or light humor (pop music), corny songs that sometimes had hidden charms (country and folk), or right in your face real life naughty bits (the blues)…there was something for everyone to sample. We’ll hear from Lonzo and Oscar, Milton Brown, Frank Crumit, George Formby, and Lonnie Johnson in this week’s episode of Deeper Roots. A hoot and a holler by any other name on Sonoma County Community Radio.
Stay on the Gospel Side
We’ll be taking a bit of a traditional free form exploration of gospel, blues, soul, and country, pairing up The Blind Boys of Alabama with James Carr and Bobby “Blue” Bland for a soul stew of the day. The fun doesn’t stop there; in face, it just gets started and we’ll be reaching into the dusty country bins for some Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. And new sounds: a benefit piece, a cover of Tom Petty’s For Real performed by Willie Nelson and the Family…right alongside a new track from The James Hunter Six. Friday evenings on KWTF pushes the roots envelope every week. Join Dave Stroud at 9 Pacific.
The Year 1952
A good year…if I do say so myself. We’re going to count down the top ten of the year 1952…in pop, country, and R&B. The music that year featured sounds that portended the birth of rock ‘n roll, the blossoming of the Golden Age of Country, and the droll mainstream charts couldn’t have been more ripe for steamrolling. Webb Pierce and Hank Williams dominated the country charts while the white bread pop charts found Al Martino, Johnny Ray, and Rosemary Clooney. But it was the R&B charts that mirrored the emerging energy of swing, rhythm and blues, and rock with the likes of The Clovers, Ruth Brown, and The Five Royales. The DOW Jones average closed at an all-time high of (a whopping) 269.86. Tune in for the countdown. 67 years in the rear-view on Sonoma County Community Radio.
Country Leftovers
Turkey leftovers? No, country leftovers. “…and I fell asleep with a troubled dream and dreamed I road on the hellbound train.” Just one line from one track from our Friday morning Deeper Roots show which focuses on some country songs ‘from the edge’. An eclectic blend of sometimes morose and other times kitschy stories of mid-century country singers looking for the next “Big Bad John” with stories of engine mishaps, disturbances of mind and relationships, and the general consensus of lyrical country that ‘the world is a monster’. Hillbillies, rabble rousers, and would-be crooners give us those tormented testimonies of country music. Join Dave Stroud for a very unusual collection of sounds from the archives of the fifties and sixties, when country blossomed; the songs he’s going to feature had a hard time cracking the Top 100 because the stories told are ‘out there’, even for country music.
Moon Baby
A laid back Friday morning in store as we celebrate a century of America’s music with classics from every corner. Dave Stroud hosts with a potpourri of doo wop, gospel, rock, R&B, soul, and country wrapped up just for Deeper Roots listeners out there. We’ll be hearing from Johnny Cash, The Ravens, Mike Farris, (more than one) Bo Diddley, and The Neville Brothers as we watch the trees turn their late summer umber under warm Sonoma County September skies. Tune in for the very best, including The Living Sisters and The Andrews Sisters, side by side, this one time. Only on Community Radio because all other $$$ stations fail to play with heart.
Country Gamblers
Gamblers, ramblers, casinos. Barstools, loaded dice, tumbling dice, poker hands, and the demon rum, and chance. Honky-tonks, Vegas, and craps…all for you on the country side. Join Dave Stroud for a high-falootin’ time on Deeper Roots as the demon chance teams up with casino country in music. We’ll walk the fine carpets of the Vegas casino as well as the sawdust floors of the country bar with performances by Buck Owens, Tex Williams, The Country Gentleman, and Jimmie Dolan. We’re heading out west to pay a little bit of an homage to the gaming side of the stories this week on Community Radio for Sonoma County. Hope you can join in.
Fat Daddy
“…crazy ’bout that woman ’cause Caldonia is her name”. Tune in for a mix of sounds coming from the free form archives, celebrating a century of America’s music as is the habit each Friday morning at 9 on Sonoma County Community Radio. We’ll be exploring the Cherry Red Blues, Evil Gal Blues, and Louis Jordan’s jump piece Caldonia as part of our show today. Country sounds feature two Georges: Strait and Jones, soul sounds from The Miracles and Arthur Alexander, rhythm & blues from the ladies including Varetta Dillard, Etta James, and Albinia Jones, and an oddball opening set that takes us down into some strange and exotic places “Ahbe Casaba” and “Katanga!”
Red River Valley
Deeper Roots will be filling in for Steady Eddie’s show this week while Eddie takes a well-deserved vacation. And Dave Stroud is jumping into those two hours with a nostalgic mix of Stephen Foster, western campfire trail songs, and silver screen sendups of life on the trail. Join the fun with some classic Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, Jimmie Driftwood, and John Hartford as we listen to those crickets callin’ and those coyotes makin’ their wail. Listening to the music as the wind is strummin’ a sagebrush guitar. A hundred years of America’s music on Sonoma County Community Radio on Deeper Roots.