Saturday, November 7 @9am on KOWS
Deeper Soul Roots Pt 1
Soul music didn’t suddenly appear in the 1960s. Its roots were a product of decades in church pews, blues clubs, juke joints and beyond. This week, Deeper Roots begins a special two-part journey excavating the familiar classics to explore the fertile ground from which soul music grew. In this first of two episodes, we’ll hear the gospel quartets, blues shouters, rhythm & blues singers and vocal groups who provided the language: call and response, soaring falsettos, sanctified piano, hard backbeats and a delivery that could turn a song into testimony. From The Soul Stirrers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and the Five Blind Boys to the 5 Royales, Clyde McPhatter, and Little Willie John we’ll help connect the dots. These are the sounds where Saturday night meets Sunday morning—and of gospel fervor, blues feeling and rhythm & blues, all coming together to lay the foundation for something new. Next week, we’ll follow those roots into the first flowering of soul itself.
Thursday, Nov 12 @Midnite on KOWS
Juke Box Blues
Jukeboxes were not only cultural touchstones and vital engines for the music industry in the forties and fifties, but they also contributed to the democratization of music consumption in a way that radio could not: by allowing people to pay a nickel and choose the exact song they wanted to hear. Radio’s best effort was to feed the listener versus allow the listener to make their own choice. Over a half century later, streaming has become juggernaut replacing the jukebox. Like streaming of today, the jukebox once helped with music discovery driving regional hits and elevating lesser-known artists, turning local favorites into national stars. This week’s show will be a thematic one and, yes, we’re picking the music. But it’s a fun and mixed bag of country, early rock and pop all with the jukebox as centerpiece. Drop into Deeper Roots this morning for some classic Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison and Little Richard from the edgy side of the aisle and be ready for upbeat and swinging country from Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens, and Mel Tillis. Tune in for a show that recognizes this cultural phenomenon and proves the old saw “what is old is new again”.
Thursday, Nov 12 @9am on KOWS
Saturday, Nov 14 @3am on KOWS
Blue Moon Americana Episode 586
Another one for the road… Blue Moon host Dave Stroud has been roaming the new releases and digging through dusty digital archives for the best sounds Americana has to offer. This week’s finds include a gem from Reckless Kelly’s 2005 album Wicked Twisted Road, reflections on mortality from Bob Dylan and Billy Joe Shaver, and a little good-time mischief from Cowboy Jack, Commander Cody and BR5-49. And yes, there’s a new Waylon Jennings single in the mix, alongside contemporary favorites Ian Noe, Israel Nash, KELS and Pug Johnson. Settle in for two hours of Thursday morning Americana, country and singer-songwriter treasures. Hope you can drop by.
Friday, Nov 13 @9am on KOWS
Shadows on the Jukebox
Friday the 13th finds Deeper Roots wandering into the shadows, where the streets are wet, the bars are closing, and the jukebox has a few secrets of its own. We’re traveling through nearly a century of American music, from Duke Ellington’s mysterious jazz and Peggy Lee’s after-hours blues to the dark Americana of Neko Case, Mark Lanegan, Morphine, and the Black Heart Procession. There are lonely highways, smoky nightclubs, dangerous encounters, and stories that don’t always have happy endings. No Halloween novelties or predictable scares — just extraordinary recordings with a little darkness in their DNA. Join us from 9 to 11 AM Pacific on KOWS 92.5 FM. Leave a light on.
Saturday, November 14 @9am on KOWS
Deeper Soul Roots Pt 2
Last week on Deeper Roots, we went searching for the ancestry of soul music, following its trail through gospel quartets, blues shouters, rhythm & blues and the vocal traditions that supplied its language and emotional fire. This week, we continue, crossing into the late 1950s and early ’60s when those ingredients began coming together as a music increasingly recognized as soul. These are the performers who grew from that fertile ground—and the records where you can hear the transformation taking place. We’ll dig beneath many of the obvious hits for early sides from Sam Cooke, Bobby Bland, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Jerry Butler, and others while, at the same time, exploring the emerging sounds of Chicago, Detroit, Memphis and beyond. Gospel’s testimony is still there, as are the blues and rhythm & blues, but something new is taking shape. By the time we reach the early ’60s, we’re no longer listening for the roots of soul. We’ll be hearing from the soul itself.