Category Archives: Blues

Grapes on the Vine

Percy Mayfield
Percy Mayfield

Raising the roof once more on KOWS in West Sonoma County on a bright Saturday morning. And we make it count with an opening salvo of some country swing from Bob Wills, W. Lee O’Daniel, The Light Crust Doughboys, and Willie Nelson. Not to be outdone, we’ve got bluegrass from The Rice Brothers and our own David Thom, gospel from the Hummingbirds, and a special set celebrating the “Poet of the Blues” Percy Mayfield. We’ll also feature blues from Texas and, if we find the time, early century pop from Frank Crumit and Cliff Edwards. Tune in Saturday morning at 9 on KOWS for a dose of roots sounds from the past century of America’s music with Dave Stroud.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Asleep at the Wheel/Johnny Gimble Big Balls in Cowtown The Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel Since 1970 Amazon
2Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys I Had Someone Else Before I Had You Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 5 Amazon
3The Light Crust Doughboys Blue Guitars Western Swing: Hot Hillbilly Jazz & Blues – 1935-1947 Amazon
4Skeets McDonald Fuss and Fight Skeets McDonald – Heart Breakin' Mama (Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight) Amazon
5W. Lee & His Hillbilly Boys Congratulate Me Western Swing Chronicles Vol. 4 1933-1938 Amazon
6Willie Nelson Cherokee Maiden You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker Amazon
7Warren Smith Got Love If You Want It The Sun Country Box CD4 So Long, I'm Gone Amazon
8Bobby Hicks & Del McCoury We're Steppin' Out Tonight Bluegrass Number 1's: A Collection of Chart-Topping Songs Amazon
9Ralph Stanley Are You Washed In The Blood A Mother's Prayer Amazon
10Ralph Stanley Dad's Old Rocky Field Old Songs & Ballads Amazon
11The Rice Brothers Grapes On the Vine Bluegrass Number 1's: A Collection of Chart-Topping Songs Amazon
12The David Thom Band The Little White Church That Old Familiar Amazon
13Selah Jubilee Singers I Saw the Light Gospel Quartets 1921-1942 Vol. 2 Amazon
14The Selah Singers I'll Be Satisfied Capitol Records' From The Vaults, Volume 5 – Roots Of Rock 'N' Roll – 1944-53 Amazon
15The Dixie Hummingbirds Christian's Automobile 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Dixie Hummingbirds Amazon
16Nina Simone I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free Forever Young, Gifted & Black: Songs Of Freedom And Spirit Amazon
17Aretha Franklin River's Invitation Queen Of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings [Disc 2] Amazon
18Percy Mayfield Strange Things Happening ABC Of The Blues Vol 28 Amazon
19Ray Charles Hit the Road Jack Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection Disc 2 Amazon
20Buddy Miller Please Send Me Someone To Love Midnight And Lonesome Amazon
21Freddie King Look On Yonder Wall Woman Across the River Amazon
22The Mississppi Mud Mashers Bring It On Home To Grandma Flashbacks #3 CopulationBlues 1926-1940 Amazon
23Texas Alexander The Risin' Sun As Good As It Gets: Country Blues [Disc 2] Amazon
24Blind Lemon Jefferson Easy Rider Blues Classic Sides Disc 2 Amazon
25Ishman Bracey Woman Woman Blues (Pm 12970, L-239-2) The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932) Amazon
26Charlie Spand Ain't Gonna Stand For That (Pm 12856, 15454–) The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932) Amazon
27Jean Brady and Big Bill Broonzy Knocking Myself Out Flashbacks #1 Drug Songs 1917-1944 Amazon
28Lightnin' Hopkins Buddy Brown's Blues (98 Degree Blues) The Complete Prestige-Bluesville Recordings [Disc 2] Amazon
29Frank Crumit There's No One With Endurance grimriper2u@yahoo.com FRANK CRUMIT Amazon
30Cliff Edwards K-K-K-Katy & When You Wore A Tulip CLIFF EDWARDS grimriper2u@yahoo.com Amazon
31Herbert Payne Smoke Clouds Flashbacks #1 Drug Songs 1917-1944 Amazon
32Al Jolson Toot, Toot Tootsie (Goo'bye) 50 #1 Hits Of The '20s & '30s Amazon
33Billy Joe Shaver Hill Country Love Song Oxford American Southern Music Texas Amazon
34Marty Robbins The Strawberry Roan Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs Amazon

Folk & Blues Fusion

Folk & Blues Fusion
Folk & Blues Fusion

We blend sounds of the South with those of the Appalachians, sharing the sounds of performers who were known in different locales, passing lyrics and music, making them pliable as they went from town to town. Recordings were made in hotel rooms, front porches, and music stores by record company representatives who traveled from city to city with primitive recording equipment. By the time the recordings were ‘offloaded’ back at the studios, details of the performers and the differences between black and white were blurred. We’ll hear from the great Riley Puckett, Mississippi John Hurt, The Blue Sky Boys, and Pink Anderson in this week’s episode.

Fair and Warmer – KOWS May 23, 2015

Deeper Roots on KOWS
Deeper Roots on KOWS

The show kicks off with some mid-century country fiddlin’ courtesy of Curly Fox but makes a quick left turn with a set about liars, tattlers, and some straight-forward testifying from Sister Rosetta Tharpe. We’ll also be entertained with some classic roots from the Dallas String Band, Lead Belly, E. C. Ball, and a tribute set to Sam Cooke.

Texas Bluesmen

Texas Bluesmen
Texas Bluesmen

When one thinks of the early influences of the blues, they’re taken down to the Mississippi Delta or maybe into East Georgia, where the Piedmont blues style was born. But Texas is not always a player in the discussion primarily because most do not necessarily know the origins of its native sons even though they may know their names. Let’s try Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker, and Lightnin’ Hopkins to start with and we’ll go on from there. In Friday night’s Deeper Roots show we visit the streets of Deep Ellum, Houston, and Galveston, where many of the performers would ply their trade in the Lone Star State. Although we won’t cover Blind Lemon, we’ll have plenty of music to keep us tapping out toes including Texas Alexander, Pee Wee Crayton, Freddie King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan…and all of the greats who made their name in between.

Free Form – May 2015

Free Form
Free Form

Every so often we like to spend time wandering about the last century of jazz, blues, gospel and country, sharing music that’s not lost, only tucked away. In this week’s episode we’ll do just that and share our first ‘free form’ show of the year with you all. We’ll have blues about clothes being ripped off by Lightnin’ Hopkins and the Chicago Black Swans, a gumbo of Louisiana sounds from the likes of Doug Kershaw, beer toasting Tex Mex from Doug Sahm, and pining bluegrass from Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and Ralph Stanley. Tune in for another two hours of the very best of the last century of America’s music with Dave Stroud in a show produced exclusively for KWTF community radio.

Deep Elem Blues

Deep Elem Blues
Deep Elem Blues

Get up sleepy heads! West Sonoma County rolls out of bed on a Saturday morning at 9 with LaVern Baker in another episode of Deeper Roots featuring the music of Don Edwards, Jorma Kaukonen, The Boswell Sisters, and Mahalia Jackson (to name but a few). KOWS radio is also propelling itself in an important campaign to extend its broadcast signal to a larger audience across Sonoma County and is in it’s last month of its Indiegogo campaign where we’re asking our listeners to jump into with both feet. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/pom5kkq to donate. You can tune into KOWS on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month to get your regular dose of roots music. And there’s more to discover by visiting our Deeper Rootsweb site.

Demon Alcohol

Demon Alcohol
Demon Alcohol

We’ve got ‘songs of the sauce’, so to speak. Our show will feature a century of America’s music with stories of moonshine, rye whiskey, bubbles in the beer, bartenders, and hangovers going as far back as 1928. But we’ve also got a Bob Wills tribute piece from a new Asleep at the Wheel release, indie rockabilly from new Austinians Tammy Lynn & Myles High, R&B truckers The Harlem Hamfats, and local favorite David Luning. Join Dave Stroud for another two hours of a century of America’s Music on KWTF, member-supported community radio for Bodega Bay and all of Sonoma County.

A Dime Looks Like a Wagon Wheel

Deeper Roots on KOWS
Deeper Roots on KOWS

“A Dime Looks Like a Wagon Wheel”….a phrase that was used to indicate how fortunate you felt when just a little seemed so big when you had so little to start with. Old timey music, some sweet R&B from Sam Cooke, country styles from Johnny Cash and Hank Thompson, folk and blues from Dave Van Ronk, Woody Guthrie, and Peter Rowan….and newer sounds from The Far West, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Howell Devine. Two hours of Deeper Roots looks like that same wagon wheel…it goes by fast and we’ll have the very best of American roots music from the past century Saturday morning at 9am on KOWS.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Hardrock Gunter Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night Boogie Man Boogie Amazon
2Rosanne Cash Big River Right or Wrong Amazon
3Johnny Cash Big River Get Rhythm [Sun] Amazon
4Bill Monroe Big River Bluegrass 1959-1969 [Disc 1] Amazon
5The Nashville Bluegrass Band The Johnson Boys American Beauty Amazon
6Don Reno/Red Smiley A Dime Looks Loke a Wagon Wheel Together Again Amazon
7Steep Canyon Rangers Good Old Country Baptizing Mr. Taylor's New Home Amazon
8Bobby Hicks & Del McCoury We're Steppin' Out Tonight Bluegrass Number 1's: A Collection of Chart-Topping Songs Amazon
9Willie Nelson Texas on a Saturday Night Revolutions of Time: The Journey 1975-1993 Disc 2 Amazon
10Red Foley Tennessee Saturday Night Hillbilly Fever [Disc 2] Amazon
11Ella Mae Morse Tennessee Saturday Night The Morse Code [Disc 2] Amazon
12Frank Sinatra Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night In The Week) Swing And Dance With Frank Sinatra Amazon
13Sam Cooke Another Saturday Night Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964 Amazon
14Junior Brown Long Walk Back to San Antone Long Walk Back Amazon
15The Green River Boys feat. Glen Campbell Poor Boy Looking for a Home James Burton – The Early Years 1957-1969 Amazon
16Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys New Green Light, The Vintage Collections Amazon
17Roy Rogers I Can't Go on This Way 1942-1947 (Warped 4561) Amazon
18The Far West Maricopa City Lights The Far West Amazon
19Bo Diddley I'm Looking For A Woman His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection Amazon
20Markus James Diddley Bow and Buckets Head For The Hills Amazon
21Howell Devine Devil Got My Woman Delta Grooves Amazon
22Skip James Devil Got My Woman Ghost World Amazon
23Rory Block Devil Got My Man Gone Woman Blues: The Country Blues Collection Amazon
24Bonnie Raitt Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead Bonnie Raitt Amazon
25Peter Rowan Dust Bowl Children Dust Bowl Children Amazon
26Woody Guthrie Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road (Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad) Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder] Amazon
27Ramblin' Jack Elliott Hard Travellin' Dust Bowl Blues Essential American Folk Amazon
28The Reverend Gary Davis You Got to Move At Newport Amazon
29Markus James Goin' Down South Head For The Hills Amazon
30Louis Jordan No Sale Jivin' With Jordan Amazon
31Benny Goodman He Ain't Got Rhythm Sing, Sing, Sing Amazon
32Johnny Hamp Orchestra Ooh! Hoo! Yoo-Hoo! Johnny Hamp at Archive Amazon

Deeper Roots on KOWS – April 11, 2015

Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson

Second Saturday on KOWS…that means a vintage blend of Deeper Roots. Our show opens with some contemporary bluegrass and gets right down to business with some country gospel and blues with an opening admonition from Sister Aimee Semple McPherson punctuated with songs of drinking and old time religion. From there we move on to the jazz sounds of Fats Waller and a run of mid-to-late century country featuring Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, and the sass of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. It’s another beautiful spring morning in the small West Sonoma County hamlet of Occidental…nestled in the woods along the Bohemian Highway and celebrated from the studios of KOWS Community Radio.

Songs About Jail

Songs About Jail
Songs About Jail

It’s theme time once again on Deeper Roots. We’ve got songs that explore the topic of jails, prisons, work farms, and the incarcerated. There we find the overnighters, the vagabonds, the jealous lovers, the desperate thieves, and the stories of ladies and gentlemen on both sides of the bars. There will be old-timey cowboy classics from Vernon Dalhart and Carl T. Sprague, modern covers by David Johansen and The Byrds,  blues from Lightnin’ Hopkins and Blind Boy Fuller, and a whole lot more. Join us for the stories of the songs and performers this week on Deeper Roots.