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.
Category Archives: Country
Shake That Thing
Gospel, Wynonie Harris, Muleskinner Blues, and Lady Soul. Fine Friday free form festivities coming your way on KOWS Community Radio, broadcasting live from the studios in downtown Santa Rosa, California. We’ve got Bobby Bare, The Boswell Sisters, Johnny Cash, David Lindley, and so much more that we’re bursting. Every month or so Deeper Roots takes a break from themes, genres, tributes, and the sometimes studied look at the last century of America’s music and kicks back in the musical easy chair, sharing a cross section of performances from some of the best artists and songwriters. Tune in for an uplifting selection this Friday evening.
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.
New Moon
Deeper Roots goes extraterrestrial with a theme this morning. A ‘new moon’ is the phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun and invisible from earth and, shortly thereafter, at a time when it appears as a slender crescent. This morning we honor this evening’s phase even though it’s one that has no face; the more celebratory of the moon’s visibility are full moons, half moons, and quarter moons. But that won’t stop us from celebrating with sounds from the deep past, the recent past, and what will someday be the past. Join Dave Stroud for the crooners (Crosby and Frankie), the 88 key boomers (Fats Waller and Ray Charles), and the songsmith tuners (Willie, Hank Snow, and Patsy Cline) as Friday morning takes to the night sky from Sonoma County’s own Valley of the Moon.
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.
Rock Island to James Alley
From the rail yard to back alleys of the urban south to St. James Infirmary, we explore that short life of trouble blending populist, folk, blues, and songs of the west. And we’ll hear contrasting sounds of new and old; stories of Gypsy Davie, Black Jack David, and hard gospel truths from the likes of Josh White, The Meat Purveyors, The Carters, Merrill Moore and Blind Willie Johnson. Deeper Roots’ first show of 2020 will inject the clarity of folk blues with traditional songs performed by contemporary artists alongside early century classics. Tune in every Friday morning at 9 on KOWS Community Radio for Deeper Roots. Streaming at kowsfm.com/listen.
Who We Lost in 2019
Another year passes and with each year we take stock of the legacies that are not ‘left behind’ but live on in their contributions. The past century of America’s music has brought talent, wit and wisdom, and the artists’ take on arrangement, delivery, and rhythm. This was another year of profound loss including contemporaries like Daniel Johnston and Ric Ocasek, studio production legends Hal Blaine and Dave Bartholomew, songwriting greats Robert Hunter and Donnie Fritts, and prolific performers like Fats Domino, Doris Day, and Art Neville. Two hours means we draw the line and that’s never easy. Tune in for a look back at who we lost in 2019. www.kowsfm.com/listen is the stream.
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.
Party at the House
November kicks off with a party at our house. Some rare R&B nuggets, some classic old time country and honky-tonk, and a little bit of the New Orleans and house party themes to kick off the morning here on Deeper Roots. House parties, rent parties, and dance hall jamborees are celebrated by Bob Wills, Babs Gonzales, Little Esther, Jackie Brenston, and Dale Watson. We’ll also hear from Willie, T-Bone, and Merle on a Friday morning show that brings a little bit of light into the Sonoma County after weeks of trepidation from the fires. Please join Dave Stroud broadcasting live from downtown Santa Rosa.