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
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.
Lots of early sounds mixed with the new this weekend. Stay tuned for music from the medicine shows, lost provinces, gospel tents, swamps, bandstands, and digital playgrounds. We’ve got Sam Samudio, Shorty Godwin, The Seldom Scene, Shel Silverstein, and Tom Russell in our bi-weekly show broadcast live from the KOWS studios in downtown Occidental, a hamlet tucked into the redwoods along the Bohemian Highway in west Sonoma County. The drought is being beat down and, while we would welcome more rain, we’re hoping that it’s dispersed so that our neighbors can manage without threat of flooding. So we’ll flood you all with a fine collection of performances from the last century of America’s music.
We’ve got a special Monday episode of Deeper Roots. The show originally broadcast live from the KOWS studios in Occidental, California, opens with some Light Crust Doughboys, fires up some modern country gospel from the Watson Twins and Johnny Cash, then goes for the jugular with a collection of Baptist-flavored gospel from Moses Mason, Mother McCollum, and Madam Edna…and that just scratches the sacred surface. The show also features the secular: jump blues from Jesse Price, jazz from Lincoln Center and Willie “The Lion” Smith. Had enough? You won’t. Be sure to check it out.
Our KOWS weekend show airs live every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month, direct from the KOWS studios in Occidental. In this episode we feature the usual blend of roots music including the country sounds of Joe Maphis, The South Georgia Highballers, Lead Belly, The Levon Helm Band, and we’re going to be entertained by Emmy Oro and her 1950 piece “A Fish House Function (For a Cross Eyed Cat Named Sam)”. And, as usual, it’s so much about the personalities, the stories that the songs tell, as well as the stories behind the music itself. Join Dave Stroud for all of this and more.
Here’s your morning coffee and tea! Join Dave Stroud for a helping of ukulele, blues, gospel, and outlaw meta-modern country sounds. If you haven’t had a chance to find us on a West County Saturday morning, your chance is every second and fourth Saturday morning at 9 PST on TuneIn radio http://tunein.com/radio/KOWS-LP-1073-…. This eclectic blend of music from the past century is also played out on Sundays at 10 PM This week’s show will feature a Langston Hughes reading, some Maria Muldaur, some early century pop from The Boswell Sisters, some cold hard country facts from Sturgill Simpson and Porter Wagoner, and blues from Dave Alvin and Big Bill Broonzy.
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.
Released in 1970, Bob Dylan’s double album “Self Portrait” was lambasted by the critics and by most of his fans. Although it was a seemingly natural progression between “Nashville Skyline” and “New Morning”, it lacked original material and seemed to be propping itself against traditional and popular country covers sung in the affected crooning voice that Dylan had introduced in Nashville Skyline. It has been re-released this past year by Columbia in a package called “Another Self Portrait” and features studio tracks not heard before offering unembellished productions that help to uncover what might have been a wholly different album…in the hands of another producer. Even Greil Marcus, the critic who originally wrote in his review of the album “What is this s***?” entertains another look.
In this installment of Deeper Roots, a special edition dedicated to the music of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, she began her career at age four performing with her evangelical mother in shows that were part sermon, part gospel concert, and energetic events that got the audience moving. She influenced a great number of performers who would go on to take her secular message into a realm that, for all intents and purposes, she had created: rock and roll. Her electrifying guitar work complimented her voice and she left us with a legacy of recordings that has no peer. Join Dave Stroud Friday night at 9PM as he explores her influences, those she influenced, and music from Sister Tharpe herself.
This episode will be posted to Mixcloud in the near future.
He had become a fixture of the Delta juke joints and small clubs of the South so that when Sam Phillips first recorded him for the Chess Brothers, the change from local legend to urban blues star was a very short journey. He was a giant of a performer in both the figurative sense as well as in real life.
We’ll hear Wolf’s reflections in his own voice as well as the songs that, over the years, were honed into American roots classics. Smokestack Lightnin’, Three Hundred Pounds of Joy, Little Red Rooster, and other pieces of Howlin’ Wolf are a part of this week’s show…performed by both Wolf as well as other artists. Join Dave Stroud for an enlightening journey into the sounds of Howlin Wolf…with its twists of evil, penitence, and fiery passion.
