Category Archives: African American Gospel

San Antone – KOWS August 10, 2015

Deeper Roots on KOWS
Deeper Roots on KOWS

We’re filling in once more for Mark Hogan and his Bluegrass and Old Time Hour. This week, we’ve put together another two hours of music that spans close to a full century…including Cliff Edwards from 1933, Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Lunceford, and Dave Van Ronk (just to name a few). There will be some themes and schemes built into our sets this evening including the story of Caldonia, the Texas town of San Antone, and heading down a dusty road of a century of America’s music.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Charlie Gracie Just A Closer Walk With Thee Angel on My Shoulder Amazon
3Doug Sahm Chicken and the Bop Best of Sir Douglas 68-75 Amazon
4Charley Pride Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone Superstars Of Country: Good Ol' Songs [Disc 1] Amazon
5Buddy Emmons/Ray Pennington/Swing Shift Band Mama Was the Rose of San Antone Swingin' by Request Amazon
6Tommy Duncan Stars Over San Antone Beneath a Neon Star in a Honky Tonk Amazon
7Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen San Antone Running Wild Amazon
8Les Paul I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way (feat. Bing Crosby) [Remastered] 100 (100 Original Tracks – Remastered) Amazon
9Bobby Bare Going Down the Road (I Ain't Going to Be Treated This Way) fcc warning Darker Than Light Amazon
10Woody Guthrie Going Down the Road (Feeling Bad) Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection Amazon
11Ralph Stanley & Jimmy Martin I'm Going Down the Road First Time Together Amazon
12Doug Jayne Running Lightly Down The Road It Looks Like She's Going on a Trip Amazon
13Leon Redbone Ain't Gonna Give You None of My Jelly Roll Any Time Amazon
14The Mills Brothers Old-Fashioned Love The 1930's Recordings – Chronological Volume 3 Amazon
15Cliff Edwards It's Only A Paper Moon Columbia Records 25th Amazon
16Frank Auburn Orchestra w/Benny Goodman I Found a Million Dollar Baby Vintage Music: Original Classics from the 1920s and 1930s Amazon
17Jimmie Lunceford Cement Mixer Strictly Lunceford Blues In The Night Amazon
18Frank Sinatra I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' Bob Dylan – Radio Radio – Theme Time Radio Hour Volume Four [Disc 2] Amazon
19Ella Mae Morse Forty Cups Of Coffee The Morse Code [Disc 2] Amazon
20Smiley Lewis Cadonia's Party Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour: The Best Of The Second Series Amazon
21Louis Jordan Caldonia Number Ones Amazon
22B.B. King Caldonia Let the Good Times Roll: The Music of Louis Jordan Amazon
23Dave Van Ronk Your Feet's Too Big Sweet & Lowdown Amazon
24Nat King Cole Trio Honeysuckle Rose The Nat King Cole Trio: The Complete Capitol Transcription Sessions [Disc 1] Amazon
25Fats Waller & His Rhythm It's A Sin To Tell A Lie Fats Waller – The Complete Recorded Works Volume 3 – Rhythm and Romance 1934-1936 Amazon
26Ivory Joe Hunter It's A Sin Chronological Ivory Joe Hunter (1950-1951) Amazon
27The Blasters Trouble Bound Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings (1981-1985) (2 of 2) Amazon
28The Staple Singers This Train Freedom Highway Amazon
29The Fairfield Four Hallelujah Revival Amazon
30Sam Cooke Trouble Blues The Rhythm And The Blues Amazon
31Maria Muldaur I Belong To That Band Richland Woman Blues Amazon
32Mother McCollum Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Guitar Evangelists (1928-1951) Amazon
33Emmylou Harris When Halley Came To Jackson Mark Twain: Words & Music [Disc 1] Amazon
34Arthur Alexander Every Day I Have to Cry Some Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter Amazon

Wake Up! – KOWS August 8, 2015

Deeper Roots on KOWS
Deeper Roots on KOWS

It’s a joy to queue up a century of America’s music every other Saturday morning in West County…live from the heart and voice of West Sonoma County’s KOWS studios in downtown Occidental. A common theme will run through this morning’s show and it’s all about waking up: gospel’s Mahalia Jackson and When I Wake Up in Glory, Roy Milton and the Wake Up Blues, James Brown’s Get Up Offa That Thing … and more!

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Junior Brown Gotta Get Up Every Morning Semi-Crazy Amazon
3Buck Owens I've Got A Tiger By The Tail The Very Best Of Buck Owens, Volume 1 Amazon
4Dwight Yoakam Little Sister Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years (1 of 4) Amazon
5The Mavericks All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down Music for All Occasions Amazon
6Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers Get Up John At The Ryman [Live] Amazon
7The Band Get Up Jake A Musical History [Disc 3] Amazon
8James Brown Get Up Offa That Thing 20 All Time Greatest Hits! Amazon
9Lavern Baker Get Up Get Up (You Sleepy Head) London American Label Year By Year 1956 Amazon
10Jimmy Murphy Wake Me up Sweet Jesus Electricity Amazon
11Mahalia Jackson When I Wake Up In Glory The World's Greatest Gospel Singer Amazon
12Bill Landford And The Landfordaires Trouble Of This World [Album Version] The Gospel Tradition: The Roots And The Branches, Vol. 1 Amazon
13Reverend CL Franklin Wings Of Faith Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
14Clara Ward Singers Packing Up Somebody Bigger Than You & I Amazon
15Charlie & His Orchestra You're Driving Me Crazy Flashbacks # 6: Hitler & Hell Amazon
16Bob Brozman You're Driving Me Crazy Devil's Slide Amazon
17Big Joe Turner Lipstick, Powder and Paint Big Joe Rocks Amazon
18Smiley Lewis Hook Line & Sinker Smiley Lewis Vol 1 Amazon
19Merrill Moore Yes Indeed (EP Version) Boogie My Blues Away [Disc 1] Amazon
20The Carlisles Nine Have Tried (and None Have Died) (Second Countdown) Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 3 Amazon
21Roy Milton Waking Up Blues ABC Of The Blues Vol 30 Amazon
22Ike & Tina Turner Wake Up Don't Play Me Cheap Amazon
23The Everly Brothers Wake Up Little Susie 5 Classic Albums Amazon
24Roy Orbison Ride Away The Soul of Rock and Roll Amazon
25Hank Garland Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair) Move! – The Guitar Artistry of Hank Garland Amazon
26The Knockouts Darling Lorrane The Doo Wop Box, Vol. 2 Disc 3 Amazon
27Bobby "Blue" Bland Poverty The Definitive Collection Amazon
28Townes Van Zandt Snowin' On Raton (with James McMurtry) Texas Rain Amazon
29Jonathan Edwards Mole Tomorrow's Child Amazon
30Elvis Presley Somebody Bigger Than You and I Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Songs Disc 1 Amazon
31Kim McLean Somebody Bigger Than You and I Boots Too Big to Fill: Tribute to Gene Autry Amazon
32J.J. Cale Money Talks The Very Best of J.J. Cale Amazon
33Roy Zimmerman The Faucet's On Fire The Faucet's On Fire Amazon

Ladies of Gospel

Ladies of Gospel
Ladies of Gospel

The influence of gospel music on the forms of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, and soul are fairly well documented. The elements of early black gospel music arose from a tradition of work songs, anthems, spirituals, hollers, and the stylized performance of hymns. The evolution of the form, particularly in the Church of God In Christ (COGIC), reveals a freedom of expression that made its listeners ‘move with the spirit’. We’ll hear from the ladies from the COGIC as well as the traditionalists that could bring in the masses to the church with their uplifting, sometimes roaring voices including Sister Ernestine Washington, Edna Gallmon Cooke, Sister Goldia Haynes, Mahalia Jackson, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Clara Ward Singers When The Saints Go Marching In Somebody Bigger Than You & I Amazon
3Sister Ernestine Washington Jesus Is All The World To Me Sister Ernestine Washington (1943-1948) Amazon
4Sister Ernestine Washington I Know The Lord Will Make A Way Sister Ernestine Washington Vol. 2 (1954-c.1958) Amazon
5Sister Rosetta Tharpe Teach Me To Be Right Vol. 3-1946-47 Complete Record Amazon
6Sister Rosetta Tharpe Cain't No Grave Hold My Body Down Gospel Train Amazon
7Marie Knight Marie Knight – Tharpe and Singing Interview Amazon
8Marie Knight Gospel Train Hallelujah What A Song! Amazon
9Mahalia Jackson Move On Up A Little Higher Jubilation! Great Gospel Performances, Vol. 1: Black Gospel Amazon
10Mahalia Jackson I Have A Friend Legend: The Best Of Mahalia Jackson [Disc 2] Amazon
11Mahalia Jackson & Della Reese Della Reese Interview Amazon
12Della Reece And The Meditations Hard To Get Along Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel, 1945-1958 Amazon
13Cora Martin Didn't It Rain The Great Gospel Women Amazon
14Madam Edna Gallmon Cooke & The Mount Vernon Men's Choir Angels, Angels, Angels Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
15Edna Gallmon Cooke And The Radio Four Somebody Touched Me How Sweet it Was Amazon
16Sister Goldia Haynes This Old World The Great Gospel Women Amazon
17Lucy Smith O What A Time The Great Gospel Women Amazon
18Shirley Caesar I'd Rather Serve Jesus Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
19Mary Deloatch The Lord's Gospel Train Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
20Jessie Mae Renfro I Must Tell Jesus The Great Gospel Women Amazon
21Sister Lucille Barbee Where Could I Go Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
22Sister Emily Bram Each Day Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
23Bessie Griffin And The Caravans Let Us Run Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
24Candi Staton & The Jewel Gospel Trio Jesus Is Listening Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel 1945-1958 Amazon
25Marion Williams – The Stars Of Faith When I Lay This Body Down Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel, 1945-1958 Amazon
26Clara Ward Singers Packing Up Somebody Bigger Than You & I Amazon
27Roberta Martin And The Roberta Martin Singers Rock My Soul Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel, 1945-1958 Amazon
28Clara Ward (With Unidentified Group) Peace In The Valley Golden Gospel Gals 1949-1959 [Disc 2] Amazon
29Evelyn Freeman And The Exciting Voices Chorus Didn't It Rain Nuggets Of The Golden Age Of Gospel, 1945-1958 Amazon
30Dorothy Love Coates No Hiding Place The Best Of Dorothy Love Coates And The Original Gospel Harmonettes Amazon
31Albertina Walker Albertina Walker Interview Interview Amazon
32Albertina Walker Put a Little Love In Your Heart Platinum Gospel-Albertina Walker Amazon
33Albertina Walker & The Caravans How Do You Feel Precious Lord Gospel Gold Amazon
34Marion Williams He's A High Class Physician How Sweet it Was Amazon
35Thomas A. Dorsey with Marion Williams If We Never Needed The Lord Before [Album Version] Precious Lord Recordings Of The Great Gospel Songs Of Thomas A. Dorsey Amazon
36Bunk Johnson/Ernestine Washington Where Could I Go Smithsonian Folkways: Classic African American Gospel Amazon

Dirty Dog – KOWS July 11, 2015

KOWS - July 11, 2015
KOWS – July 11, 2015

West County is the place to be in summer. The inland heat is pulling in the right amount of tempered cool from the coast…and Deeper Roots sounds will ride the wave on a Saturday morning. Join us for music from Arlo Guthrie, Chubby Newsome, Jimmie Revard, Mahalia Jackson, and more. The sounds we’ll hear come from country, country swing, classic gospel, mountain tradition, and just a little bit of the blues so please join us as we fill the airwaves with classic roots music on a Saturday morning, live from the KOWS studios in Occidental.

No.
1Artist Title Album Buy
2Johnny Burnette Let's Think About Living The Train Kept a-Rollin' Memphis to Hollywood – CD 3 Amazon
3Roy Rogers My Chickashay Gal Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys Amazon
4Hank Snow Music Makin' Mama From Memphis The Essential Hank Snow Amazon
5Asleep at the Wheel What's the Matter With the Mill (with Pokey LaFarge) Still the King: A Celebration of the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys Amazon
6Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys Back Home In Indiana (LP Version) Tiffany Transcriptions& Vol. 9 Amazon
7Amos Garrett, Doug Sahm & Gene Taylor Coming Back Home The Return of the Formerly Brothers Amazon
8Jimmie Revard Dirty Dog Western Swing: 40 Bootstompers Amazon
9Jimmie Revard Holdin' The Sack Country & Western, Vol.2 [Disc 9] Amazon
10The Louvin Brothers I'm Ready To Go Home Satan Is Real Amazon
11Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys Little Birdie Ralph Stanley 1971-1973 Amazon
12Doc & Merle Watson Corrina, Corrina Then And Now/Two Days In November Amazon
13Jimmie Driftwood Soldier's Joy Americana, Vol. 1 Amazon
14The Rice Brothers Soldier's Joy The Rice Brothers Amazon
15Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson Don't Think Twice, It's Alright Django and Jimmie Amazon
16Willie Nelson & the Offenders A Moment Isn't Very Long Me and the Drummer Amazon
17Red Simpson Don't Fall Asleep At The Wheel Lonesome Highway Songs Amazon
18Arlo Guthrie with The Dillards So Long It's Been Good to Know You Thirty Two Cents Postage Due Amazon
19Johnny Cash Hey Porter The Mystery Of Life Amazon
20Elvis Presley Memphis Tennessee Artist of the Century Disc 2 Amazon
21Floyd Dixon Oooh Little Girl Marshall Texas Is My Home Amazon
22Bob Dylan It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry (take 9) No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Ser [UK] Disc 2 Amazon
23Chubby Newsome Toodle Luddle Baby Rock 'n' Roll Mamas Vol 3 Amazon
24Anthony Butler Judgement's Coming Soon Mighty Day – 25 Gospel Greats Amazon
25Mahalia Jackson Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho Gospels, Spirituals, & Hymns, Vol.2 [Disc 1] Amazon
26Mahalia Jackson I'm On My Way The Promised Land – Original Soundtrack [Disc 1] Amazon
27Howlin' Wolf Moanin' For My Baby Blues From Hell Amazon
28Tampa Red Crying Won't Help You ABC Of The Blues Vol 38 Amazon
29Hadda Brooks He's Coming Home Jump Back Honey:Complete OKeh Sessions Amazon
30The Four Lads Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (Around the World 1) Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 3 Amazon
31Ivie Anderson I Got It Bad The Collection Amazon
32Memphis Minnie What's The Matter With The Mill Blues Classics: '27_'69 [Disc 1] Amazon
33Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band Chevrolet Greatest Hits Amazon
34John Hiatt Memphis in the Meantime Bring the Family Amazon

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

Deeper Roots on KOWS – January 10, 2015

Deeper Roots on KOWS - January 2015
Deeper Roots on KOWS – January 2015

Another beautiful winter Saturday morning in West Sonoma County and it’s time for a collection of hot blues, country gospel, early rock, early century pop, and swinging country on Deeper Roots… everything from Eddie Cantor’s 1922 song about a trapeze and Blind Willie McTell covering Jimmie Rodgers around mid-century, to a track from 2014 from a new band out of New Orleans called Hurray For The Riff Raff…another reason our tag line reads “A Century of America’s Music”. Join Dave Stroud on a brisk Saturday morning from the KOWS studios in downtown Occidental, California.

Gospel and Guitar

Gospel Guitars
Gospel Guitars

Our show this week will focus on the fire and brimstone of the gospel guitar, including the slide guitar of Blind Willie Johnson, the evangelists like Sister O. M. Terrell, the rhythmic sounds of the Two Gospel Keys, and we’ll also devote a large block of time to the sounds of that splinter genre ‘sacred steel’.  While a number of bluesmen like Blind Willie McTell or Gary Davis would use the guitar for an occasional reminder of their faith or to play guest in tent revivals, many of the performers we’ll hear in our show this coming Friday on KWTF will show the  best example of the use of guitar as an integral part of the church service itself. Join Dave Stroud for another evening of Deeper Roots.

Deeper Thomas Dorsey

Deeper Thomas Dorsey
Deeper Thomas Dorsey

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”.

Great Gospel Tracks

Great Gospel Tracks
Great Gospel Tracks

Join Dave Stroud once more as he digs into those dusty digital gospel bins for a selection of songs that celebrate the celestial sounds of a number of the greatest sacred hymns and gospel tunes from the past century of America’s music.  “Wade In The Water”, “I’m On My Way To Canaan Land”, “I’ll Fly Away”, and many other classic gospel standards will be covered by some of the great gospel performers as well as those from the secular stable. We’ll hear from Bill Monroe, Blind Willie Johnson, Taj Mahal, Mahalia Jackson, and the Reverend Pearly Brown in a special Deeper Roots show called “Great Gospel Tracks”. Tune in for a show that explores the roots of sounds that explore those sounds of both Europeanized black church music as well as those that have their basis in the holiness-Pentecostal (or sanctified) movement.

That Gospel Sound

That Gospel Sound
That Gospel Sound

We’re going to revisit the theme of gospel music in this episode of Deeper Roots, specifically those sounds of the many different groups that set the stage for a time known as The Golden Age of Gospel.  The first half of our show will focus on those performers, performances, and sacred pieces that influenced post-war black America and we’ll follow with a modest selection from the Golden Age that, interestingly enough, seems to parallel that of the Golden Age of Country Music…those two decades covering 1945 to 1965.

We’ll wade into the Baptist and Pentacostal waters that would influence the secular sounds of popular R&B, soul, and rock ‘n roll by shaking the sacred out of the rafters and into the American airwaves of the later years…and make no mistake, the influence of the gospel groups that followed from the 19th century and into the 20th cannot be understated. We’ll hear from the Jubilee Quartets of course, including the Selah Jubilee Singers, the Golden Gates, the Dixie Jubilee Singers…and we’ll also hear some fine contemporary pieces from the Blind Boys of Alabama. You won’t want to miss out.