A hunka hunka free form sounds this morning on Deeper Roots: some thoughtful pairings and some that just need to be pushed to the surface. We’re coming up on Daylight Savings Time already as we prepare for the days to get longer shedding more light in the attic from the window up above. Songs today explore mojo, some gospel musings, concerns about a fellow named Lou whose got the flu, and some reflections on the 420 favorite. Performers include Julia Lee, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ivie Anderson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and we’ve even got an ‘unknown’ from the mid-century wondering “Who’s Boogeying My Woogie Now”. Imagine that. Well, imagine this: Friday mornings on KOWS Community Radio are made just for the beginning of Spring. Tune in.
Category Archives: Rock
Begin the Beguine
This past January was as much a month to remember as it was to forget. We’ll keep the serenity we need by softening the blow with music while also celebrating the good with swing, country, rhythm and gospel in another eclectic free form show on Sonoma County community radio. Cold weather and rain arrives so we’ll share the soul sounds of William Bell and Johnnie Taylor, some folk rock from Linda Ronstadt, swing vocals from The Mills Brothers and The Four Vagabonds, and gospel with Lou Rawls and the Pilgrim Travelers. We’ll visit Shenandoah, The Red River Valley, and Forty Miles of Bad Road in our Friday morning show, recorded this week in the Deeper Roots Den. I hope you’ll join us.
Songs About Singing
Sing it loud! It’s a whole new year and our country can take heart without letting our guard down. We’ll celebrate a fresh new start knowing that hard work lies ahead with a two hour show featuring the theme of ‘singing’. Join Dave Stroud once more for a mixed bag; an eclectic blend of sounds from the past century featuring the likes of Ukulele Ike, Wingy Manone, The Cats & The Fiddle, John Sebastian, Cat Power, and a couple of dozen more, all belting out songs about the very act of singing. We’ll take you down Memory Lane with old fashioned songs, simple songs of gospel and freedom, swinging low, singing high, and those joyful sing-alongs we’ve shared over the past century. That’s right. It’s theme time on this week’s Deeper Roots show and we’d love to have you. Join in the festivities.
Finger Poppin’ Doo Wop
From Big Sandy to Hank Ballard and The Flamingos…here we go on another Deeper Roots Friday morning. High energy rhythm and blues, doo wop, and foot-tapping sounds to celebrate everything that’s happened…and revel in all that hot rockin’ stuff that erupted in the fifties. This week’s episode focuses on playlists that keep the tempo hot and the rug getting cut with slamming sounds from the high side of vocal harmonies. Wild sounds from The Cadets, The Cadillacs, The Larks, The Crests, The Regals, and The Lollypoppers; and that’s just getting the kettle hot. We got your water boiling and we’re gonna cook your goose…and “we ain’t gonna turn you loose”. Rhythm and blues and doo wop from the late century on this week’s episode of Deeper Roots. Drop on by at 92.5 FM or streaming at freespeechnobull.com/listen. We’d love to have you.
Mama’s Getting Hot
Free Form Friday is considered the calm before two upcoming events, both suspenseful in nature. Halloween and Election Day. Halloween because we’ll be sharing some of the haunted reminders as well as social distancing, whereas Election Day will send the right message and send the ghouls, rats, and seditionists scurrying back to their nests. This morning’s music is the bright reminder that good still can come of our situation, taking a time out for music that keeps us centered. We’ll make the leap from Mama Cass to Geraint Watkins, Ella to Laura Nyro, John Prine to The Beach Boys…all in perfect form. Join Dave Stroud for another celebration of a hundred years of America’s music on KOWS radio, a bastion of free speech and no bull, streaming to your ears on www.freespeechnobull.com. And donate to support community radio.
Shelter In Place
Six months later…’nuff said, right? Deeper Roots finally gets around to the theme of pandemic protection by staying at home until things stabilize. We were all put out when it looked like six weeks and here we are talking months, not weeks. Patience and commitment. Something we have to work on. But we’ve got music to comfort us. Our heritage is rich with an incredible catalog of works; from country classics to the raw country blues, soul from Motor City and the Eastern Seaboard, jazz from New Orleans and KC, and everything in between. Just look (or listen) back. This week’s Deeper Roots features songs about keeping safe in shelter with fresh sounds from the digital bins. Warren Zevon, Jim Reeves, Wynonie Harris, The Alphabetical Four, Kitty Wells, and Buddy Miller will be featured. No need to put on your helmets (or tin foil hats) or to duck and cover. But you might want to get out the vote!
Saucy Rhythm Serenades
Rhythm & Blues is the order of the day. Join Dave Stroud for an entertaining blast of fresh sounds from the well of the past century. What’s old is always new if you haven’t heard it, right? The playlist this morning features songs about the night time from Ray Charles, honeydripper rocking from Big Joe Turner, doo wop serenades from the The Jive Bombers, bluesy torch sounds from Erma Franklin, and so much more. We’ll stretch the boundaries of R&B with Elvis, Lonnie Johnson, and a few more as we take on some saucy serenades and unruly pleas from performers from the thirties to the early sixties. All without malice of forethought, I assure you. Tune into Sonoma County Community Radio every Friday morning at 9 Pacific.
The Original Spins
Deeper Roots this week digs into popular culture in the late 20th century…not so much the deeper aspect, but certainly the roots aspect. The big hits can often be traced back to the originals…sometimes in the same year, sometimes many decades before. We’ll be spinning up ‘the originals’ this week on our community radio show. We’ll take a peek at the hits and share the full blown hits including tracks from Barbie Gaye, Richard Berry, Bessie Banks, and Gloria Jones. You’ll hear the originals of James Brown’s “I Got You”, Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”, Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”, and a couple dozen more.
Holland Dozier Holland
Deeper Roots explores the motor city soul sounds of Motown, paying our respects to the incredible songwriting team who defined the Hitsville, USA sound in the mid-sixties: brothers Eddie and Brian Holland, along with Lamont Dozier. The goods were delivered. The brassy, bass-driven rhythm and targeted stories of the heart stand alongside virtually any songwriting team of the century. Fact: this songwriting team wrote ten of the twelve #1 songs of The Supremes and were an institution alongside the music of The Funk Brothers. We’ll hear from Martha & The Vandellas, The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, and a host of others this Friday morning while we’re tucked into our homes, waiting out the storm. Tune in and add a little bit of soul to your day.
Who We Lost in 2019
Another year passes and with each year we take stock of the legacies that are not ‘left behind’ but live on in their contributions. The past century of America’s music has brought talent, wit and wisdom, and the artists’ take on arrangement, delivery, and rhythm. This was another year of profound loss including contemporaries like Daniel Johnston and Ric Ocasek, studio production legends Hal Blaine and Dave Bartholomew, songwriting greats Robert Hunter and Donnie Fritts, and prolific performers like Fats Domino, Doris Day, and Art Neville. Two hours means we draw the line and that’s never easy. Tune in for a look back at who we lost in 2019. www.kowsfm.com/listen is the stream.