Nearly fifty years ago one song entered three different charts: Country, R&B, and Pop at the same time, unprecedented for the time. It was a year where the airwaves were filled with Dean Martin, Perry Como, Marty Robbins, The Platters, and the first hints of what was to be the infusion of R&B into popular music. Deeper Roots will take a peek at the year 1956 with an exploration of Elvis’ release of Hound Dog.
Dale Geist, singer-songwriter and passionate student of rock history, joins Dave Stroud in a special two-hour show that explores the impact of songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, blues and rhythm rockers Rufus Thomas, Big Mama Thornton, and Roy Brown, as well as the music of The Coasters, The Robins, Big Joe Turner, and The Drifters.
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.
We take a tour of Chicago’s 2120 South Michigan Avenue, home of Chess Records. The label was formed by two Polish immigrants, Phil and Leonard Chess, and its musical history is rich with soul, R&B, gospel, and rock music. The sounds in this week’s show include performances from Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Chuck Berry and some of the contract recordings out of New Orleans…Bobby Charles, Eddie Bo, and Earl King. Simply divine R&B coming your way, from the very earliest to the later sounds of Sugar Pie DeSanto and Fontella Bass…
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.
Let’s celebrate a popular topic: food! Shall we? It’s a century of America’s music covering potatoes, pork, beans, cornbread, and biscuits…as well as some of your favorite desserts. And we’ll also celebrate the barbecue, another favorite immigrant tradition that had, by the 19th century, become a place of communal congregation in the American South.
We’ll be singing for our supper with Helen Humes, struttin’ with some barbecue with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, stoppin’ in at the donut shop with Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, stomping the blues with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and sitting down to cake that Eileen Barton baked.
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.
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 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.
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!
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.
