Paramount Records was born in 1917 and in the mere fifteen years of their existence they would introduce some of the greatest names in the blues. Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Skip James, and Papa Charlie Jackson are but a few. In 2013, Jack White’s Third Man Records teamed up with Revenant Records to release the first of what would become one of the most ambitious attempts at documenting the story of a record company born from a furniture company that was driven to create product for the record cabinets they sold. Based on the book “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records”, part two of the omnibus will be released later this year (or in early 2015).
This week on Deeper Roots, we share some of the story…and a lot of the music which was not necessarily limited to the blues but also some incredible gospel, mountain, and jazz recordings. When listening through what Dean Blackwell of Revenant Records calls the “gauze of static”, you’ll hear the music of the last century come alive. Tune in Friday night at 9 o’clock for a rare listen.
Bluegrass is our theme. The sound and tradition can be traced back to Jamestown settlers who migrated into the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Virginias. Bringing the memories and traditional sounds of music they recalled from home, they would compose new songs about their day-to-day life experiences in the new land. Their rural life would bring their music to reflect their life on the farm or in the hills and it would come to be known as mountain music. The phonograph and radio brought this sound out of the South, expanding its audience and ensuring its entrenchment in the American traditional psyche. Join Dave Stroud this week for music from old and new; from Wade Mainer and The Stoneman Family to the Monroes, Jimmy Martin, and Bela Fleck. A sound that’s sure to entertain.
It’s another two hours celebrating the best of the last century of America’s music on Deeper Roots. In this week’s episode, Dave Stroud will be exploring the secular side of Thomas Dorsey, as Dorsey performed early century blues as Georgia Tom, and then more about Dorsey’s sacred side as the Reverend Thomas Dorsey in the mid-to-late century. As the Great Depression brought chaos to the lives of many, including the performers of the day, Dorsey finalized a lifelong transition from the secular to the sacred, although there is clear evidence that personal misfortune had its hand in the move. The evening’s playlist includes excerpts from Dorsey interviews, music by contemporaries and those who were influenced by his music, as well as pieces performed by Dorsey as Georgia Tom, featuring Tampa Red on guitar. Johnny Cash, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Kansas City Kitty, Clara Ward, and Sweet Honey in The Rock are among the acts who we’ll hear in a show called “Deeper Thomas Dorsey”.
Our show explores traditional pieces and versions that have been covered by contemporary artists. “Mama Don’t Allow”, “Soldier’s Joy”, “That Nasty Swing”, “Worried Mind”, and “Mary of the Wild Moor” are just a handful of the selections we’ll share in our show tonight. Some of the performers included in our set include Ivory Joe Hunter, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, The Dixon Brothers, and Byrd Moore. Join Dave Stroud tonight at 9 on KWTF as he shares the stories of the music, song stories, and performers from the last American century…it’s roots music that does matter.
Deeper Roots: A Century of America’s Music goes deeper…back 87 years to the summer of 1927 when Ralph Peer, a producer for the Victor Talking Machine Company visited the town of Bristol, Tennessee scouting for talent. He brought with him the equipment necessary to capture those first-take performances which would come to be known as The Bristol Sessions. From late July through early August artists such as The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and the Stoneman Family made recordings in a makeshift studio inside downtown Bristol’s Taylor-Christian Hat Company. Johnny Cash once said that “These recordings…are the single most important event in the history of country music.”
Join Dave Stroud as Deeper Roots goes beyond the more notable names from these recordings and, with a certain leaning to the country sounds, he will also reveal the gospel and folk tradition that came out of these and the later Johnson City Sessions. We’ll hear from The Johnson Brothers, The Stamps Quartet, Alfred Karnes, Uncle Eck Dunford, and a host of others.
Join Dave Stroud tomorrow night for some Fourth of July Americana from the last century of America’s music. He’s been digging into those dusty digital archives for songs celebrating America. It’s the Fourth of July and all of the fireworks, flags, bunting, barbecues, and patriotic celebrations can be traced back as well to a century of America’s music. We’ve got broadway and silver screen classics, country music new and old, songs with tongue-in-cheek flag-waving wit, and a number of ballads that celebrate the good in all of us…we’ll also reflect on a little bit of the bad. Our playlist Friday night includes The Piper’s Gap Ramblers, Dave Alvin, James Brown, Morton Gould doing Sousa, Randy Newman, and many more in an eclectic blend of patriotic pandering and tongue-in-cheek rambling.
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Artist
Title
Album
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2
Woody Guthrie
This Land Is Your Land (Alternate Version)
Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection
3
Bill Chitwood & His Georgia Mountaineers
Fourth Of July At The Country Fair (1927)
Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard: Hard Time, Good Time, And End Time Music, 1923-1936
4
Pipers Gap Ramblers
Yankee Doodle
Serenade The Mountains: Early Old Time Music On Record, [Disc 1]
Let’s go deeper into the past century, celebrating an icon of American music from the 19th century. Stephen Foster composed almost two hundred songs, a half dozen ranking with the world’s greatest ballads; at least 25 of them have become American folk songs. He achieved a truly American expression in his music. Although born and bred in Pittsburgh, he was not influenced by the European music that enslaved composers who lived on the more cosmopolitan seaboard cities of the day. His influences were instead the touchstones of the heart…home and the comfort of friends. His lyrics were a reflection of the time but never cruel in the context of the time, keeping his focus on relationships and the good in everyone.
Our show will feature music of the McGarrigle Sisters, Bill Frisell, Sam Cooke, The Light Crust Doughboys, and an extended selection of Stephen Foster classics performed by The Sons of The Pioneers.
Deeper Roots explores a minor genre in this episode; coming from early 19th century minstrel shows and adapted with bawdy humor, double entendre, and biting sarcasm. A little bit blues, a little bit country, and always in your face, they call it “hokum”. The English dictionary defines the term as ‘nonsense’ or ‘trite, sentimental, and unrealistic’ but as a musical genre, it goes well beyond those simple definitions. As noted in Wikipedia, “Although the sexual content of hokum is generally playful by modern standards, early recordings were marginalized for both sexual “suggestiveness” and “trashy” appeal, but still flourished in niche markets outside the mainstream. Our show will take a journey through early to mid-century examples featuring numerous pieces by Tampa Red, Papa Charlie Jackson, Memphis Minnie, and Georgia Tom as well as some later fifties R&B examples that drew from the hokum well including The Dominoes, Julia Lee, and Bullmoose Jackson. Join Dave Stroud for a fun mix of musical nonsense that is anything but trite or sentimental.
Bluegrass music owes more than a debt to Bill Monroe. It owes a name, a legacy, and a following to a man whose songwriting and musical prowess went well beyond the genre that bears his brand. Inspired by the early mountain music that his uncle, Pendleton Vandiver, would introduce him to, Bill developed a keen eye for talent and expected only the best from his band (although his lack of business acumen would trip him up time and again). That keen eye paired with an ear for stellar musicianship would show in the performers he ‘discovered’ and who rank among the greatest of the genre: Mac Wiseman, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Peter Rowan, Kenny Baker, Del McCoury, and many others. Please join us for sets that explore Bill Monroe’s legacy. The sets include
The traditional music of Uncle Pen
The talent of Monroe’s sidemen
The early classic sound of “The Monroe Brothers”
Classic covers of Bill Monroe’s music done by late century artists
Two sets of some of the greatest of Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys
On Deeper Roots …”The 99 Percent Blues”, featuring music reflecting on the Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, and the recent financial crisis…songs and stories of the working class. We take a trip back to the twenties and share with you the sounds of Vernon Delhart, Joe Stone, Harry McClintock, and others…and we’ll share the more contemporary songs of Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, and Uncle Tupelo.
No.
1
Artist
Title
Album
Buy
2
Uncle Dave Macon
All In Down And Out Blues [2003 Remastered]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
3
Joe Stone
It's Hard Time
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
4
Vernon Dalhart
The Farm Relief Song
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
5
Charlie McFadden
Times Are So Tight
Bankers Blues – A Study in the Effects of Fiscal Mischeif
6
Snooks and the Memphis Ramblers,Julia Gerity and Her Boys
Sittin' on a Rubbish Can [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
7
Ry Cooder
No Banker Left Behind
Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
8
Little Village
Do You Want My Job
Little Village
9
The Reverend J.M. Gates
President Roosevelt Is Everybody's Friend [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
10
Randy Newman
Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man)
Good Old Boys [Expanded] Disc 1
11
The Weavers
Brother Can You Spare a Dime
The Weavers Almanac
12
Cisco Houston
Do Re Mi
Best Of The Vanguard Years
13
Woody Guthrie
Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh) [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
14
Mac "Harry" McClintock
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
15
Fiddlin' John Carson
Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Them All [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
16
Ry Cooder
Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Us All
Into The Purple Valley
17
Hank Penny
Taxes Taxes
Bob Dylan: Radio Radio – Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 5 [Disc 4]
18
Ralph Willis
Income Tax Blues
Bankers Blues – A Study in the Effects of Fiscal Mischeif
19
Fenton Robinson
Somebody Loan Me A Dime
Living The Blues: The 70's Blues Classics
20
Bob Miller
The Rich Man And The Poor Man [Rematered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
21
Roy Bargy;Ramona
Raising the Rent [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
22
Bing Crosby
Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
Columbia Records' 125th Anniv.
23
William (Bill) Moore
Ragtime Millionaire
1927-30-Ragtime Blues Guitar
24
Lead Belly
The Bourgeois Blues
Best Of Leadbelly
25
Ry Cooder
The Bourgeois Blues
Chicken Skin Music
26
Uncle Tupelo
No Depression
No Depression
27
Sheryl Crow
No Depression In Heaven
The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family
28
The Carter Family
No Depression In Heaven
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music, Volume Four
29
David McCarn
Poor Man, Rich Man (Cotton Mill Colic No. 2)
Gastonia Gallop – Cotton Mill Songs & Hillbilly Blues 1927-1931
30
Cedar Creek Sheik
Jimmy Shut His Store Doors [Remastered 2003]
Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series
31
Woody Guthrie
The Jolly Banker (Woody Guthrie)
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection [Disc 2]
32
Bo Carter
Times Is Tight Like That
Bankers Blues – A Study in the Effects of Fiscal Mischeif
