Category Archives: Folk and Tradition

The 99 Percent Blues

99 Percent Blues
99 Percent Blues

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.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Uncle 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 Amazon
3Joe Stone It's Hard Time Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
4Vernon Dalhart The Farm Relief Song Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
5Charlie McFadden Times Are So Tight Bankers Blues – A Study in the Effects of Fiscal Mischeif Amazon
6Snooks 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 Amazon
7Ry Cooder No Banker Left Behind Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down Amazon
8Little Village Do You Want My Job Little Village Amazon
9The 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 Amazon
10Randy Newman Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man) Good Old Boys [Expanded] Disc 1 Amazon
11The Weavers Brother Can You Spare a Dime The Weavers Almanac Amazon
12Cisco Houston Do Re Mi Best Of The Vanguard Years Amazon
13Woody 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 Amazon
14Mac "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 Amazon
15Fiddlin' 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 Amazon
16Ry Cooder Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Us All Into The Purple Valley Amazon
17Hank Penny Taxes Taxes Bob Dylan: Radio Radio – Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 5 [Disc 4] Amazon
18Ralph Willis Income Tax Blues Bankers Blues – A Study in the Effects of Fiscal Mischeif Amazon
19Fenton Robinson Somebody Loan Me A Dime Living The Blues: The 70's Blues Classics Amazon
20Bob 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 Amazon
21Roy Bargy;Ramona Raising the Rent [Remastered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
22Bing Crosby Brother Can You Spare A Dime? Columbia Records' 125th Anniv. Amazon
23William (Bill) Moore Ragtime Millionaire 1927-30-Ragtime Blues Guitar Amazon
24Lead Belly The Bourgeois Blues Best Of Leadbelly Amazon
25Ry Cooder The Bourgeois Blues Chicken Skin Music Amazon
26Uncle Tupelo No Depression No Depression Amazon
27Sheryl Crow No Depression In Heaven The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family Amazon
28The Carter Family No Depression In Heaven Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music, Volume Four Amazon
29David McCarn Poor Man, Rich Man (Cotton Mill Colic No. 2) Gastonia Gallop – Cotton Mill Songs & Hillbilly Blues 1927-1931 Amazon
30Cedar 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 Amazon
31Woody Guthrie The Jolly Banker (Woody Guthrie) Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection [Disc 2] Amazon
32Bo Carter Times Is Tight Like That Bankers Blues – A Study in the Effects of Fiscal Mischeif Amazon
33Woody Guthrie Pastures of Plenty Dust Bowl Blues Amazon

Mississippi Delta Blues

Mississippi Delta Blues
Mississippi Delta Blues

Blues from the Mississippi Delta highlights this episode of Deeper Roots: A Century of America’s Music. The sounds are as deep and wide as the river and area of the south that gave it its name. The traditional music of all of the sounds that passed through, from the Civil War, to the music from the hills, the barrooms, brothels, and front porches are blended into a raw and sinuous sound that moved north with its performers, landing in the urban stages of the north. Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and Detroit…all born in the Mississippi Delta. We’ll start with Charley Patton, Garfield Akins, and Robert Johnson and work our way forward to Johnny Shines, Robert Lockwood Jr., and Honeyboy Edwards.

The Mighty Mississippi

The Mighty Mississippi
The Mighty Mississippi

This episode of Deeper Roots explores music celebrating the “Father of The Waters”, “The Big Muddy”…”The Mighty Mississippi”.  Between its head, Lake Itasca in Minnesota, to the point where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi is responsible for the watershed of 31 states, although its banks only border on 10 of them. Over the centuries, it’s been an inspiration in traditional song and story.  Join us as we are entertained by the likes of J. J. Cale, The Mississippi Sheiks, Bessie Smith, Dr. John, and a host of others in a show about a natural wonder that is part of our national identity.

Deeper Roots – The Band

Deeper Roots - The Band
Deeper Roots – The Band

Deeper Roots visits the sounds of The Band.  From their early bar band roots, traveling the Northeast with Ronnie Hawkins, their introduction to a wider audience from Woodstock and the Music from Big Pink from upstate New York, and their individual accomplishments after the group “disbanded”…it’s all part of the journey.  We’ll explore the depths of their music so firmly rooted in American lore…nd coming from Canada, no less. Join Dave Stroud for two hours of music from the late 20th century, on a show produced especially for member-supported community radio for Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, California.

Mountain Roots Covers

Mountain Roots Covers
Mountain Roots Covers

Deeper Roots’ Covers! We’re going to hear a selection of songs from the past 100 years guided by covers…some better than others, some of the great originals, and sometimes even greater covers. We’ll also dedicate a set to the great Charlie Poole, featuring covers by Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, and Loudon Wainwright III. We’ll also hear from David Lindley, Chuck Berry, Steve Miller, and Lonnie Johnson…just to name a few. Join Dave Stroud for a walk through the last century of America’s music on a show broadcast on KWTF 88.1 FM, member-supported community radio for Sonoma County.

That Gospel Sound

That Gospel Sound
That Gospel Sound

Enjoy another slice of heaven from a century of America’s music .  Deeper Roots features “That Gospel Sound” exploring the music of singing groups like the Fisk Jubilee Singers who joined a mounting number of performers who celebrated not only religion but tradition and heritage in their performances. We’ll also hear from the Dixie Jubilee Singers, Thomas Dorsey, Josh White, and some country gospel from Roy Acuff, The Carter Family, and others.

Post-slavery singing groups like the Fisk Jubilee Singers trained their voices to sing the cultured songs of European composers, but it was always “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Ezekial Saw the Wheel” and the rest of the slave songs segment of the program that brought audiences to their feet. Our show will feature Fisk Jubilee Singers as well as Arizona Dranes, Thomas Dorsey, and the Dixie Jubilee Singers.

Songs of The Civil War

Songs of the Civil War
Songs of the Civil War

Our show is Songs of The Civil War. Deeper Roots plays a selection of music that explores the passions, purpose, and politics that led to the war. Join Dave Stroud as he shares the music of the battlefield, the hymns from homes, and the traditional music that soldiers from both sides would adopt to pass the time, to bond, and to help ease the fear of an unknown fate in their longing for home and family.  We’ll hear a number of contemporary performers including the Carolina Chocolate Drops, David Wilkie, John Doe, and David Grisman as well as those long past like John Hurt, The Carter Family, and Paul Robeson. Be sure to tune in.

Deeper Jimmie Rodgers

Deeper Jimmie Rodgers
Deeper Jimmie Rodgers

Deeper Roots explores the influences, the music, and those who themselves were influenced by the yodeling brakeman. His music was influenced deeply by the blues of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Willie Jackson, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. And the performers he influenced read more like the comprehensive list of jazz, blues, country, and pop greats….to this day. It is sure to entertain with the music of Rodgers, Bob Dylan, Lefty Frizzell, and Merle Haggard.

Blue Light Christmas Special

Christmas Special
Christmas Special

Deeper Roots celebrates its first holiday special this weekend spending two hours celebrating a wild yuletide journey filled with blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, and a bit of country. It’s our Blue Light Christmas Special! This year marks the release of a third volume of excavated Christmas recordings by Document Records out of the UK. These are the folks that have brought us the Blues Odyssey series by Bill Wyman and, most recently, they’ve teamed up with Third Man Records for an incredible set of re-mastered Charley Patton and Mississippi Sheiks vinyl releases. We’ll play a number of cuts from their most recent Christmas release, “Blues Blues Christmas” as well as tracks from the first two volumes. The show features performers like Kansas City Kitty, Titus Turner, Bumble Bee Slim, and Smokey Hogg…as well as a blend of country pieces from Merle Haggard, Nick Lowe, and Jimmy Martin. Keep in mind that our Deeper Roots podcasts are always available later in the weekend on deeperroots.podomatic.com for any of you who can’t make the party!

Sixties Folk Revival

Sixties Folk Revival
Sixties Folk Revival

We’re going to revisit the folk music scene of the sixties. It’s been over a year since we visited the coffeehouses and shops of Greenwich Village, Washington Square, and the festivals that largely celebrated sounds that echoed from a long-ago past. A new generation of songwriters and performers surfaced that would have as much an influence on America’s music as those they were inspired by. We’ll hear from performers who remained under the radar: Bob Gibson, Fred Gerlach, and Fred Neil…and those who found a larger share of fame including Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, and The Kingston Trio…with those ‘in the middle’ making up the bulk of what we’ll be share with you.