It’s all about the traditional and popular dance music celebrated in the song of the past century. The show opens with the recognition of folk dance’s lineage, those ancestral elements that inhabit a very large part of our need to communicate and celebrate as a society. Most of the early rhythms we’ll hear to start the show are a blend of ancestral folk but we’ll also share the sound of popular dance. Tune in for country, pop, and folk sounds including cajun sounds from Michael Doucet, old-timey guitar and fiddle sounds of Darby and Tarlton, Tejano polka from Flaco Jimenez, and plenty more waltzes, polkas, and two steps.
Category Archives: Country
Country Swing Pioneers
Join Dave Stroud for two hours of the very best of country swing music on Deeper Roots Radio: A Century of America’s Music. The west had been long-settled when a new sound exploded out of the dance halls and barn-dance venues of the Midwest that was to become popular for it’s upbeat blend of jazz, hillbilly, and down-home blues. The arrangements blended strings, guitar, fiddle and bass, with the rhythmic sounds of urban jazz to reveal something catchy and danceable…and marketable. Before the beat was modernized into the mass market country blandness that paralleled mainstream pop, there were the pioneers including Milton Brown, Bob Wills, Adolph Hofner, Spade Cooley, Light Crust Doughboys, and a host of others.
Higher Power Country Gospel
We visit the classic sounds of country and bluegrass with thematic overtones of gospel. The love of country music often had its roots in a performer’s childhood memories of community church and the sound that would evolve from country and bluegrass provided a tone that grew from those memories…with a tenor that could easily echo the word’. The greatest of them elevated their popularity with their flock by invoking the name of that higher power of God and church in the community of bluegrass: The Stanley Brothers, Mac Wiseman, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson, and even country groups like the The Louvin Brothers and The Whitstein Brothers made gospel a core of their repertoire.
Back Country Blues
Our show features the sounds of the acoustic country blues. We’ll hear from early century greats like Jim Jackson, Luke Jordan, Geeshie Wiley, and Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers. There will also be a little help from some contemporaries who were their influence by this music. Get ready for some deeper sounds from Daddy Stovepipe, Papa Charlie Jackson, and Frank Stokes to round things out on a chilly evening in the North Bay on Sonoma County community radio.
Guitar Theme
Once considered in its earliest forms a noble instrument, the history of the guitar can be traced back over forty centuries (yes, that’s 4000 years). While we won’t got back quite so far in our exploration, we will explore the popular form of this instrument in song this week. We’re not going after the genius as much as we go after the topic with songs whose theme is that of the guitar. It seems that there has always been a personal connection between the instrument and the player, sometimes as a confidant and others as a foil. Our show will feature yodeling guitars, lonely guitars, Bo’s guitar, long-legged pickers, amigos, and a number of performances about ‘one’s first guitar’. Join Dave Stroud for plenty in a guitar themed journey.
2015 Tributes and Covers
We’re going to take a step away from vintage releases in our first episode of 2016 and look back at last year’s Americana releases, focusing on tributes and covers from some of the very best performers of the time. We’ll hear from Happy Traum, Jorma Kaukonen, Robert Earl Keen Jr., the Alvin Brothers, Bob Dylan, Jonathan Edwards and many others as the cover music from the past century. While most are those of tradition, we’ll also hear covers of Stephen Foster, Carter Family, and Woody Guthrie for good measure. Tribute albums include Bob Dylan’s Shadows in the Night and Asleep at the Wheel’s “Still The King” Bob Wills tribute. Lots of territory to cover so I hope you’ll join in!
Folk Songs of North America
Folk Songs of North America was first published in 1960. Compiled by Alan Lomax (with melodies transcribed by Peggy Seeger), it featured traditional music organized by locale and topic. The anecdotes provided by Lomax and others were culled from both the oral and transcribed traditions of those who listened and performed. Deeper Roots goes deeper and features sets organized by topical pieces outlined in the book. Performers of the early century are featured including Dock Boggs, David McCarn, Gid Tanner, the Carolina Tar Heels, and The Bently Boys. We’ll also feature a handful of mid-to-late century performers to cap things off. Join Dave Stroud for another two hours of the last century of America’s music on Sonoma County’s newest member-supported radio voice, KWTF 88.1 FM, streaming to the world on kwtf.net.
Christmas Special 2015
We’ve got some holiday roots music featuring new and old. Join Dave Stroud for Deeper Roots Radio: A Century of America’s Music for music from the outskirts of R&B, rock, blues, country, and pop. We’ll hear holiday cheer in the form of blues with Leroy Carr, Blind Blake, and Lloyd Glenn; contemporary pieces from Nick Lowe, Raul Malo, and The Boxmasters; confectionary pop from The Andrews Sisters, Eileen Barton, and The Beach Boys; and some of the very best R&B from Ray Charles, Betty Carter, and Amos Milburn. There’s a large helping of country pop and blues including Groovey Joe Poovey & The Big ‘D’ Boys, The Living Sisters, and (of course) Elvis. Two hours of Christmas cheer on a hump day Wednesday evening on the voice of West Sonoma County! You can follow it here: http://www.kows.fm/listen
Free Form – December 2015
Every couple of months, Deeper Roots shares a free form playlist with host Dave Stroud. This week we’ll share ‘contemporary roots’ infused music including the sounds of Howell Devine, Jason Isbell, and Ian Tyson as well as a broad selection of R&B (from The Blenders), early blues (from Blind Lemon Jefferson), and ‘ding dong daddy’ country swing (featuring Bob Wills). We’ll also wrap it up with a festive foodie theme.
There She Goes – KOWS 12/16/15
West County has seen it’s first consistent (and consecutive) days of rain and boy did we need it. El Nino looks to be making some waves. We’ll be making some waves this week on our Wednesday night foray into the past century of America’s music. We’ll hear new music from the Oxford American Georgia music issue, as well as a good share of early country, some Stephen Foster (by the Hamilton County Ramblers), and some Jelly Roll Morton. There will be a few local performers to sweeten the mix: Kevin Russell, Carl Hendel & Eddie Meisse, and an alumni of Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa…Dan Hicks. Tune in for music that keeps on giving.