Category Archives: Free Form

Songs About Jail

Songs About Jail
Songs About Jail

It’s theme time once again on Deeper Roots. We’ve got songs that explore the topic of jails, prisons, work farms, and the incarcerated. There we find the overnighters, the vagabonds, the jealous lovers, the desperate thieves, and the stories of ladies and gentlemen on both sides of the bars. There will be old-timey cowboy classics from Vernon Dalhart and Carl T. Sprague, modern covers by David Johansen and The Byrds,  blues from Lightnin’ Hopkins and Blind Boy Fuller, and a whole lot more. Join us for the stories of the songs and performers this week on Deeper Roots.

Deeper Roots Goes To Mardi Gras

Deeper Roots Goes To Mardi Gras
Deeper Roots Goes To Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday or, translated to French, Mardi Gras, comes but once a year and signals the penitential season of Lent. It also provides us with an outlet for the many things that we do as part of our celebration. One of them involves the backdrop of music. We’ll visit the sounds introduced by the Second Line of “Sugar Boy” Crawford, Fats Domino, and Stop, Inc. We’ll follow with The Meters, Bo Dollis and The Wild Magnolias, Louis Armstrong, and many others in a show that separates our locales by almost 2000 miles. Join Dave Stroud for the big beat coming from the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, and the Mississippi waterfront in our newest episode, another produced exclusively for KWTF, 88.1 FM, member-supported community radio for Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, California.

The Railroad Blues

Railroad Blues
Railroad Blues

The railroad is the muse for the morning here in Occidental as the show uses the theme of the railroad: the stories of those who built it, the promise of the golden sunrise that awaits at our destination, the sorrow of a love taken away by rail, and the lonesome whistle from some far away valley. As an aside, did you know that Occidental itself was once a bustling community where the train would haul off the timber and bring tourists from San Francisco and cities beyond?

Join us for the sacred and the secular, including Peter Rowan, ELVIS PRESLEY, Kevin Russell, Paul Warmack & His Gully Jumpers, Furry Lewis, and many others as we explore the genres of bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country, and so much more.
#rootsmusic #railroad #Americana

Songs About Texas

Songs About Texas
Songs About Texas

It’s theme time once more on Deeper Roots Radio: A Century of America’s Music. Join Dave Stroud as he digs up some classic songs about the Lone Star State.

We defer now to John Steinbeck: “I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox. But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing. For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans.”

It’s  country, bluegrass, blues, R&B, jazz, and more from the past century of America’s music.

KOWS Show – November 19, 2014

KOWS 11-19-2014
KOWS 11-19-2014

We open our Deeper Roots show with some gospel from George and Tammy, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Frank Jenkins and then move onto some R&B, bluegrass and country. The first hour celebrates the sound of roots music from the West Sonoma County studio of KOWS, 107.3 FM while in the second hour, we talk to Josh Windmiller of the North Bay Hootenanny about a show coming up this Sunday at Petaluma’s Mystic Theater featuring David Luning, The Sam Chase, and John Craigie. Josh performs and provides some back stories to the upcoming show.

 

Halloween Theme

Halloween Special
Halloween Special

Okay…what the heck and why not? Deeper Roots goes holiday flavor with songs of spiders, witches, graveyards, and that voodoo that we do. Tune in for musical selections from the vaults of the last century of America’s music, including pieces that celebrate the genres of jazz, country, blues, and rock. We’ll also cover some excerpts from some of the more famous ‘Halloween’ screen themes. Performers include Spike Jones, Fats Waller, Luis Russell, and (of course) Leon Russell’s backup piano with the Crypt-Kickers on Monster Mash.

 

Night Theme

Night Theme
Night Theme

We have a fresh new episode produced exclusively for KWTF, community radio for Sonoma County. In this week’s two hour journey hosted by Dave Stroud, he takes a ‘theme time-out’ to explore a topic with music from the past century. The theme this week is “Night”…of course. Join Dave as he explores some midnight weeping blues with Barbecue Bob, a celebration of the night time being the right time with Nappy Brown, travels to Memphis in the night from Roy Acuff and Jerry Lee Lewis, some blues in the night with Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra, and nights wasted with Freddy Fender…and that’s only a sampling. Join us  as we explore the night…our muse that carries us into the morning hours.

Play Me That Song

Play Me That Song
Play Me That Song

Take a guided tour exploring the last century of America’s music on Deeper Roots as we play with the theme of jukeboxes, DJs, turntables, house parties, record shops, Victrolas, and transistor radios…celebrating music with music. We’ll hear a diverse set of songs by artists including a later Roy Orbison piece, three from Merle Haggard, party music with Sam Cooke, Margie Singleton singing about old records, a pair of pieces from Fats Waller, and a host of others.

Money Theme

Money Theme
Money Theme

It’s ‘theme time’ in this episode of Deeper Roots. We’ll listen to performances that explore that not-so-curious passion for money, the anxiety and fear of not having enough, and stories of a time when was hard to come upon. We’ll hear what would be paid for a song or keeping quiet; fantasies of what it might be like to in a position of wealth and nightmares of when the money’s all gone. Mostly, however, we’ll hear stories about what would be paid in exchange for a man’s time, or maybe a man’s soul. Join Dave Stroud for another journey through a century of America’s music where he’ll include among the performers Buddy Guy, Lefty Frizzell, The Blue Sky Boys, Gillian Welch, Chuck Berry, and Howlin’ Wolf.

Fourth of July Special

Fourth of July
Fourth of July

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.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Woody Guthrie This Land Is Your Land (Alternate Version) Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection Amazon
3Bill 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 Amazon
4Pipers Gap Ramblers Yankee Doodle Serenade The Mountains: Early Old Time Music On Record, [Disc 1] Amazon
5Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys Stars And Stripes On Iwo Jima Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys Amazon
6The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Stars And Stripes Forever Stars And Stripes Forever Amazon
7John Prine Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore In Person & On Stage Amazon
8Phil Ochs Power and the Glory There But for Fortune Amazon
9Bob Dylan Chimes Of Freedom Another Side Of Bob Dylan Amazon
10Cisco Houston Roll On Columbia Best Of The Vanguard Years Amazon
11Randy Newman Sail Away Sail Away Amazon
12Randy Newman My Country Bad Love Amazon
13Robert Earl Keen Forth Of July Picnic Amazon
14Steve Earle Dear Old Flag Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War Amazon
15Dave Alvin Fourth of July Romeo's Escape Amazon
16Neil Young America The Beautiful Living With War Amazon
17The Abyssinian Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir Battle Hymn Of The Republic The Civil War Amazon
18Rosanne Cash 500 Miles The List Amazon
19Morton Gould: Morton Gould Orchestra Sousa: Fourth Of July Brass & Percussion Amazon
20London Symphony Orch./Copland Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man Columbia Records' 125th Anniv. Amazon
21Kate Smith God Bless America American Songbook Series: Irving Berlin Amazon
22James Cagney Yankee Doodle Boy Warner Brothers 75 Years of Film Music (2) Amazon
23The Delta Rhythm Boys Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition The Best Of 1940-50 Amazon
24The Merry Macs Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition The Groups Sing [Disc 2] Amazon
25Willie Nelson American Tune Across The Borderline Amazon
26John Mellencamp Small Town Scarecrow Amazon
27Bobby Bare God Bless America Again The Essential Bobby Bare Amazon
28Ray Charles America the Beautiful Genius – The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection Amazon
29James Brown Living In America Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky Amazon