Don’t tell me…it’s theme time but with the negative bent. No, no, no, honey don’t. This week’s show takes on songs of which there is no reduced supply chain: songs that ask us ‘not to’. A somewhat obscure theme, no question, but it’s all about the message after all. We’ll hear a variety of genres this week, all with their warnings prefaced with the contraction “don’t”. We’ll hear from Elvis (a favorite of the idiom), Blue Lu Barker, Julia Lee, Charles Brown, Buddy Emmons, and those representing doo wop, country, early rock, and Americana. All of this coming your way on our first show of May 2021, a rebroadcast of a KOWS show recorded live from the KOWS studios, located in the Cherry Street Historic District of Santa Rosa. Don’t get defensive, it’s all in fun.
Category Archives: Blues
Deeper Soul Tracks
We’re going rare and under-the-radar for the most part this Friday morning, taking time to peek our heads above the surface only a few times. This week we’ve got a collection of mostly unknown soul sounds from some of the classic labels as well as some rare gems from the vaults of labels like Prix and Cash. There will be some vocal powerhouse sounds from Dee Dee Warwick, Jean Wells, Madeline Bell and Darrel Banks. We’ll also share some fun sixties sounds from The Olympics, a special pair of Barbara Lynn and Dee Dee Sharp gems from the Deeper Roots dusty digital bins. Join Dave Stroud on a Friday morning recorded live from the KOWS studios in the heart of downtown Santa Rosa
Rolling Along
We’re going to blend all the favorites into a delicious free form stew this morning, looking to the north, south, east and west for our inspiration. Not only do we have some Otis Redding soul, but we’ve also got some traditional blendings from David Johansen, The Devil Makes Three, and some southern fried sounds from James Lee Stanley and John Hammond. A lot of our playlist makes connections: moonlight drives, Memphis tributes, and a lot about our title track ‘rolling along’. I’ve also got a little splash of Frankie Laine for inspiration along those lines. Tune in on a Sonoma County Friday morning for more from the Cherry Street Historic District and the mighty KOWS, streaming to planet earth on kowsfm.com.
Breakin’ The Law
Another theme time extravaganza for our listeners on this new Spring morning here in Sonoma County. The theme focuses on bad behavior, poor judgement and legal entanglements that find themselves into the American musical lexicon. Rock, country and blues seem to lean on the theme more than any other with the country stories of cheatin’, stealin’, and petulant pistols being the most common. We’ll be hearing from Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, Louis Jordan, Elvis, The Cadillacs, and a number of others, sharing stories of everything from jaywalking to murder. Oh…and let’s not forget the lawyers. No lawyer jokes, though. Just a little bit of David Lindley, Kitty Wells, and Warren Zevon on visiting day behind the bars…which is every Friday morning at 9 on community radio for Sonoma County.
Burnin’ Love
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.
The Great American Songbook
Something different this week. We’ll be reflecting on the Spring Issue of a magazine that cuts through the heart of what we love doing here on both Blue Moon Americana as well as Deeper Roots. There are a handful of publications that make the cut but No Depression magazine is truly special and the Spring 2021 issue is something to revel in. The writing, the artists, and the arc of ‘The Great American Songbook’, from Stephen Foster to Louis Armstrong is given thoughtful and insightful treatment. Our show this week puts a soundtrack with a century of America’s music explored: Dock Boggs’ Pretty Polly, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, The Blue Sky Boys’ cover of Knoxville Girl, and some incredible Latin vocals from one Omara Portuondo. The magazine is worth the read and the music is worth a listen. Tune in on a Saturday among the Sonoma County skies for the best of community radio.
Lead Belly’s Legacy
Deeper Roots goes deeper this Friday morning. We’ll be sharing the songs of tradition and folk blues from an artist who opened up a world to a generation of followers in the 1940s and 1950s. With the witting arm of Alan Lomax as his promoter and benefactor, Huddie Ledbetter’s music would get wings and find its place in America’s traditional music lexicon. This week’s show, like last week’s Bill Monroe special, revisits the music that he was identified with, much of which he is credited with bringing into this world, or at least opening our eyes to. We’ll hear from Doug Sahm, Red Smiley, Odetta, The Weavers, Bob Dylan, and many others on a show that celebrates a giant of America’s songbook. Tune into KOWS radio every Friday morning at 9 Pacific for a new episode of a show that’s heading into it’s ninth year here on KOWS Community Radio.
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.
New Orleans R&B
We just can’t get enough of this sound, a blend of sounds that cannot be pushed away with the urban renewal of auto-tune and electronic pasteurization. It’s long history of inspiration whose roots are driven by centuries of influence, from Congo Square to Rampart Street, and beyond. Our show today returns to the humid southern climes at the mouth of the Mississippi for some of the very best of rhythm, from Cosimo Matassa’s studios to the clubs that pepper the Crescent City on Bourbon Street. Popular rhythm and blues today from Nawlins inclues some Fats, Professor Longhair, Huey “Piano” Smith, Paul Gayen, Frankie Ford, and a couple dozen others giving us that signature percussive backbeat embellished by pounding piano. It’s a Friday evening celebration here on Sonoma County Community radio.
Christmas Joy
Happy Holidays! Proving that there is no war on Christmas and looking forward to the coming year, join Dave Stroud as he shares some of the great holiday chestnuts from years past. He’ll be sharing celebratory sounds from every decade, moving the needle from the 40s to the 10s in a new Deeper Roots Christmas shindig. Tune in for everyone from Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Frank Sinatra to Ella, The Andrews Sisters, Los Straitjackets and Otis Redding’s Merry Christmas Baby. As we barrel out of 2020 as fast as we can, we remind ourselves of the fortunes of the few and the need of the many in this season of desperation. So get out that Georgia vote, folks, and stand steadfast against the anarchy of this dying administration’s push towards fascist principles for power. We have the power to do this. We do.
