Category Archives: Mountain Music

No Parking Here – KOWS October 10, 2015

No Parking Here
No Parking Here

Saturday mornings are root-bound…in the very best sense of the phrase. Tune into KOWS for an eclectic blend of gospel from Jimmy Murphy and The Loyal Five, early century pop from Cliff Edwards and Emmett  Miler, R&B from Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and Dr. John, country from Red Foley and Jimmy Littlejohn, and more of the sounds that matters from the past century of American music.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Gene Autry Rhythm Of The Range Country & Western, Vol.2 [Disc 3] Amazon
2Cliff Edwards Hang on to Me The Collection Amazon
3Emmett Miller (I Got A Woman Crazy For Me) She's Funny That Way Minstrel Man From Georgia Amazon
4Sons of the Pioneers Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown Songs of the Prairie – CD3 Amazon
5Arthur Smith Follow Me Boogie (Instrumental) The World's Greatest Bluegrass Bands Amazon
6Johnny Cash Calilou (The Rambler) Come Along And Ride This Train [Disc 4] Amazon
7Dr. John How Come My Dog Don't Bark (When You Come 'Round) Goin' Back To New Orleans Amazon
8Bobby "Blue" Bland I Wouldn't Treat A Dog (The Way You Treated Me) Greatest Hits, Vol. 2: The ABC-Dunhill / MCA Recordings Amazon
9Piano Red Ain't Goin To Be Your Low Down Dog No Blues, Blues, Blues Amazon
10Pee Wee King Dog House Blues Pee Wee King's Country Hoedown (1 of 2) Amazon
11Neko Case John Saw That Number Fox Confessor Brings The Flood Amazon
12The Loyal Five John The Revelator Heaven Bound Train Amazon
13Jimmy Murphy John the Baptist [Live] Electricity Amazon
14Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys Get Up John Bill Monroe: Anthology Amazon
15Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five Private Property (No Tresspassing) One Guy Named Louis: The Complete Aladdin Sessions Amazon
16Jimmy Littlejohn No Parking Here The World Is A Monster Amazon
17Woody Guthrie Riding in My Car (Car Song) Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection Amazon
18Billy Murray The Little Old Ford Novelty Songs 1914-1946: Crazy & Obscure Amazon
19Vince Gill Love Bug Bradley Barn Sessions Amazon
20Little Jimmy Dickens When That Love Bug Bites You Country Boy [Disc 2] Amazon
21Jimmy Edwards Love Bug Crawl Foot Tappin' & Dance At Screamin' Festival Vol. 5 Amazon
22Red Foley & Minnie Pearl Love Bug Itch Hillbilly Fever [Disc 3] Amazon
23The Mills Brothers The Love Bug Will Bite You Mills Brothers – Goldent Greats Amazon
24Vera Lynn The Love Bug Will Bite You A Tribute, Volume II: It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow Amazon
25Doc & Merle Watson Corrina, Corrina Then And Now/Two Days In November Amazon
26Spade Cooley Crazy' Cause I Love You Spadella! The Essential Spade Cooley Amazon
27The Weavers Meet the Johnson Boys The Weavers at Home Amazon
28Clifton Chenier Ride 'Em Cowboy Bogalusa Boogie Amazon
29Huey "Piano" Smith We I'll Be John Brown ABC Of The Blues, Vol. 40 Amazon
30Junior Brown & Red Simpson Nitro Express Rig Rock Deluxe Amazon
31Red Simpson Truck Drivin' Man The Best of Red Simpson: Country Western Truck Drivin' Singer Amazon
32Tex Ritter Dear John Have I Stayed Away Too Long Amazon
33Ray Charles You Don't Know Me Genius – The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection Amazon
34Dr. John The Night Tripper Mama Roux The Atco/Atlantic Singles 19681974 Amazon

High Noon

High Noon - KOWS September 12, 2015
High Noon – KOWS September 12, 2015

It’s a new morning…as it always is…and was when we celebrated another Saturday morning in Occidental with Deeper Roots Radio: A Century of America’s Music with host Dave Stroud. This twice-monthly show opens with a mule kicking in the stall, some barnyard rhythm and then moves swiftly into a blend of 1950s country and big band. Ray Charles, Frankie Laine, Chick Webb, Otis Spann, and Merle Travis are just a sampling of performers we’ll hear from. West County living deserves roots music wafting over the airwaves on a Saturday morning in early autumn. Let’s set the airwaves stage with some Otis Spann.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Nellie Lutcher He's A Real Gone Guy Capitol Records' From The Vaults, Volume 5 – Roots Of Rock 'N' Roll – 1944-53 Amazon
2Nellie Lutcher There's Another Mule In Your Stall Nellie Lutcher & Her Rhythm [Disc 1] Amazon
3Otis Spann Mule Kicking In My Stall Cryin' Time Amazon
4Louis Jordan Barnyard Boogie Jivin' With Jordan Amazon
5Joe Liggins Rhythm In The Barnyard Joe Liggins & The Honeydrippers Amazon
6The Andrews Sisters A Man is a Brother To a Mule Golden Age of the Andrews Sisters [Disc 4] Amazon
7Charlie Poole With Sid Harkreader and Uncle Dave Macon Man that Rode the Mule Around the World You Ain't Talkin' To Me: Charlie Poole And The Roots Of Country Music [Disc 2] Amazon
8Ralph Stanley I've Got A Mule To Ride Old-Time Pickin': A Clawhammer Banjo Collection Amazon
9Tennessee Ernie Ford Mule Train (1996 Digital Remaster) Vintage Collections Amazon
10Frankie Laine That Lucky Old Sun [Album Version] Frankie Laine's Greatest Hits Amazon
11Ray Charles That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection Disc 3 Amazon
12Merle Travis & Joe Maphis High Noon Country Guitar Giants Amazon
13Frankie Laine Rawhide Country Greats #2 Amazon
14Chick Webb and his Orchestra Don't Be That Way from CD; orig. Decca 483 Amazon
15Ella Fitzgerald Melinda the Mousle Chronological Classics: Ella Fitzgerald 1940-41 Amazon
16Annette Hanshaw Who's That Knocking At My Door The Twenties Sweetheart Amazon
17Brother Grady Coffee I'm Working on a Building This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45RPM, 1957-1982 Amazon
18Elvis Presley Working on the Building Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Songs Disc 1 Amazon
19Murry Hammond In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain The Winding StreamThe Carters, The Cashes And The Course Of Country Music Amazon
20John & Jamie Hartford When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland Hartford & Hartford Amazon
21June Carter Cash Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? Wildwood Flower Amazon
22George Jones Worried Man Blues The Winding StreamThe Carters, The Cashes And The Course Of Country Music Amazon
23The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes Will the Circle Be Unbroken [Bonus Tracks] Disc 2 Amazon
24David Lindley and Wally Ingram Coot From Tennessee Twango Bango Deluxe Amazon
25Ole Ramussen Sleepy Eyed John Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys Amazon
26Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys Oozlin' Daddy Blues Legends of Country Music Disc 2 Amazon
27Cliff Hobbs;Bill Cox Oozlin' Daddy Blues [Album Version] White Country Blues (1926-1938) Amazon
28Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen Big Mamou We've Got a Live One Here! Amazon
29Ella Mae Morse w/Big Dave and His Orchestra Big Mamou Barrell House Boogie and the Blues Amazon
30Bonnie Guitar Noon Train Affair Amazon
31Norridge Mayhams And The Blue Chips If I Had My Way Norridge Mayhams and The Blue Chips Amazon

The Dust-to-Digital Label

Dust-to-Digital Label
Dust-to-Digital Label

Our weekly KWTF show is about a label whose chief purpose is the resurrection of that curious mix of ephemera, folklore, ancestry, and musicianship that reveals itself as folk music: whether it be pre-Monroe bluegrass, gospel, blues, or early pop. The label I speak of is Dust-To-Digital and we’ll scratch the surface of some of the great work that they’ve issued since 1999, the year Lance Ledbetter and his wife April open shop in Atlanta, Georgia.Their mission is the same as it was then: to produce high quality cultural artifacts.

Pitchfork magazine put it this way: “Although the folklorists lugging around tape recorders (and the performers carrying on ancient traditions) are worthy of much heralding, it’s equally astounding how essential Lance Ledbetter’s work at Dust-to-Digital has been to the preservation of traditional American folksong. It’s easy to buy and appreciate these sets without realizing that the bulk of the material might have been lost — or, at the very least, tethered to archives, readily accessible only to curious faculty, paper-writing students, and bespectacled researchers — without Ledbetter’s interference.”

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Jimmy Murphy We Live A Long Time To Get Old Desperate Man Blues Amazon
2Tennesee Messarounds Mandolin Blues Desperate Man Blues Amazon
3Lonnie Johnson Death Valley is Just Half Way To My Home Desperate Man Blues Amazon
4Chubby Parker Bib-a-lollie-boo …I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces Amazon
5Ernest Thompson In the Baggage Coach Ahead …I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces Amazon
6Roy Smeck Trio Reaching for the Moon …I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces Amazon
7Lew Childre It Don't Do Nothing but Rain …I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces Amazon
8Sara Martin & Sylvester Weaver I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind …I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces Amazon
9Sister O.M. Terrell The Bible's Right Goodbye, Babylon – Deliverance Will Come [Disc 2] Amazon
10Mahalia Jackson God's Gonna Separate The Wheat From The Tares Goodbye, Babylon – Introduction [Disc 1] Amazon
11The North Carolina Cooper Boys Daniel In The Den Of Lions Goodbye, Babylon – Deliverance Will Come [Disc 2] Amazon
12Moses Williams The Train Drop On Down in Florida [Disc 1] Amazon
13Emmett Murray She's a Fool, She Ain't Got No Sense Drop On Down in Florida [Disc 1] Amazon
14Rev. Johnny L. Jones Huff Construction Company (Radio Commercial) The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta Amazon
15Rev. Johnny L. Jones I Love the Lord The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta Amazon
16Dorothy Lee You Got to Give an Account (feat. Norma Jean, Shirley Marie Johnson & Robert nighthawk Johnson) Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Religious Black Music Amazon
17Babe Stovall When the Circle Be Unbroken Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Religious Black Music Amazon
18Robert nighthawk Johnson Cant No Grave Hold My Body Down Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Religious Black Music Amazon
19Henagar Union Sacred Harp Convention Save, Lord, or We Perish 224 I Belong to This Band: Eight-Five Years of Sacred Harp Recordings Amazon
20Denson's Sacred Harp Singers of Arley, Alabama Ninety-Fifth 36B I Belong to This Band: Eight-Five Years of Sacred Harp Recordings Amazon
21Brother Claude Ely Send Down The Rain Satan Get Back Amazon
22Uncle Eck Dunford and Ernest Stoneman Barney McCoy Lead Kindly Light Amazon
23The Allen Brothers Skipping and Flying Lead Kindly Light Amazon
24Georgia Yellow Hammers Mary Don't You Weep Lead Kindly Light Amazon
25Charlie Parker and Mack Woolbright Man Who Wrote the Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man Lead Kindly Light Amazon
26Loveless Twins Quartet Lead Kindly Light Lead Kindly Light Amazon
27The Morrison Twin Brothers String Band Ozark Waltz Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers Amazon
28Dr. Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers Just Give Me the Leavings Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers Amazon
29Wonder State Harmonists Turnip Greens Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers Amazon
30Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers Jaw Bone Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers Amazon
31Clarence Alexander Disability Boogie Woogie Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 19471959 Amazon
3222 & Group The Prettiest Train I Ever Saw Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 19471959 Amazon
33Henry Ratcliff Look For Me In Louisiana Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 19471959 Amazon
34Willie Washington My Jack Dont Drink No Water Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 19471959 Amazon
35The David Thom Band Windy City That Old Familiar Amazon

Hillbilly Fever

Hillbilly Fever
Hillbilly Fever

The sound was simple, fun, and certainly influential. It evolved from ancestral celebrations…finding its groove by the mid 1930s and playing itself out as a popular voice well through the early days of what was termed the Golden Age of Country Music, the 1950s. The entertainment industry collectively shunned the hillbilly term by the mid-50s, choosing the more sedate “Country and Western” moniker and certainly the even more narcoleptic sound of Nashvile going into the coming decade and beyond. Hillbilly music lives today only as splinter and special edge-case Americana. Listen and find out.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1The Delmore Brothers Hillbilly Boogie 26 All-Time Country Classics Amazon
2Sons of The Ozarks Plantation Blues Hillbilly Blues Amazon
3The Lone Star Cowboys Deep Elm Blues Hillbilly Blues Amazon
4Ernest Tubb & Red Foley Don't Be Ashamed Of Your Age Hillbilly Fever [Disc 2] Amazon
5Bill Carlisle Bell Clappin' Mama Hillbilly Blues Amazon
6Al Dexter Hi-De-Ho Boogie On A Saturday Night Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers ([Disc 4] Saturday Night Rag) Amazon
7Al Dexter Pistol Packin' Mama Pistol Packin' Mama Amazon
8Curly Williams Southern Belle Country & Western, Vol.2 [Disc 5] Amazon
9Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers Bring It On Home To Grandma Theme Time Radio Hour – Season 3 – [Disc 1] Amazon
10Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers I Was A Gambler In Texas Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers ([Disc 4] Saturday Night Rag) Amazon
11Faron Young If You Aint Lovin' (You Aint Livin') Hillbilly Fever – Vol. 3: Legends Of Nashville Amazon
12W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys There'll Be Some Changes Made Okeh Western Swing Amazon
13Clyde Moody 08 – Nobody's Business The Hillbilly Waltz King Amazon
14Little Jimmy Dickens Hillbilly Fever Roughneck Blues 1949 – 1956 Amazon
15Grandpa Jones It's Raining Here This Morning (Remake) Hillbilly Bop 'n' Boogie: King/Federal Roots of Rockabilly 1944 – 56 Amazon
16Ocie Stockard & His Wanderers Bass Man Jive Western Swing: Hot Hillbilly Jazz & Blues – 1935-1947 Amazon
17Joe Maphis & Rose Lee Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) Hillbilly Fever: Vol. 4 – Heroes Of Country Music – Vol. 4: Legends Of The West Coast Amazon
18Hank Penny Hadacillin Boogie King Of Hillbilly Bebop [Disc 2] Amazon
19Hank Penny Hillbilly Jump King Of Hillbilly Bebop [Disc 2] Amazon
20Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band Troubles (Those Lonesome Kind) Hillbilly Fever! Vol. 1: Legends Of Western Swing Amazon
21Redd Stewart Brother Drop Dead (Boogie) Hillbilly Bop 'n' Boogie: King/Federal Roots of Rockabilly 1944 – 56 Amazon
22Charlie Gore I Put My Britches On Just Like Everybody Else Hillbilly Bop 'n' Boogie: King/Federal Roots of Rockabilly 1944 – 56 Amazon
23Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant Bryant's Bounce Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys Amazon
24Red Foley Choc'late Ice Cream Cone Hillbilly Fever [Disc 2] Amazon
25The Light Crust Doughboys Little Hillbilly Heart Throb Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers ([Disc 1] Hot Mama Stomp) Amazon
26Skeets McDonald Scoot Git And Begone Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys Amazon
27Jimmy Bryant Jelly Beans Daddy Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys: The West Coast Indies Amazon
28Luke Wills Four Or Five Times Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys: The West Coast Indies Amazon
29Rose Maddox & Her Brothers Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys: The West Coast Indies Amazon
30Robbie Fulks We Live A Long Time To Get Old 13 Hillbilly Giants Amazon
31The Ranch Girls & Their Ragtime Wranglers Hillbilly Jive With a Boogie Beat Can You Hear It? Amazon
32Larry Nolen & The Bandits Hillbilly Love Affair Bear Family "Perfect for Parties" Highlight Album Amazon
33The Osborne Brothers Hillbilly Fever World's Hottest Bluegrass Amazon
34Bill Kirchen Hillbilly Truck Drivin' Man Tied to the Wheel Amazon
35Junior Brown Hillbilly Hula Gal 12 Shades of Brown Amazon
36BR5-49 Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts) BR5-49 Amazon
37BR5-49 Cherokee Boogie BR5-49 Amazon

Dark Moon

Deeper Roots on KOWS
Deeper Roots on KOWS

We’re going to go pretty deep this coming Saturday morning here in Western Sonoma County. It’s a mix of old time and tradition with a few themed sets including social sciences, the labor blues, calypso rhythm, minstrelsy, and some special sounds from Ira and Charlie Louvin. Performers this week include Darby  & Tarlton, Riley Puckett, Fern Jones, Arizona Dranes, and a pair each from Ry Cooder and Harry Belafonte. It’s a “Great Dream From Heaven” for KOWS listeners on an August morning in Occidental. Broadcast on KOWS 107.3 FM on August 22, 2015.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Little Jimmy Dickens May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose Columbia Country Classics, Vol. 3: Americana Amazon
2Ry Cooder Great Dream From Heaven Into The Purple Valley (Remaster 2013) Amazon
3Del McCoury Fireside Chat, Part 1 (feat. Franklin D. Roosevelt) Moneyland Amazon
4Bob Miller The Rich Man And The Poor Man [Rematered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
5Frank Crumit A Tale of the Ticker [Remastered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
6Uncle Dave Macon All In Down And Out Blues [2003 Remastered] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
7Ry Cooder Denomination Blues Into The Purple Valley Amazon
8Washington Phillips Denomination Blues Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 1 Amazon
9Arizona Dranes God's Got A Crown He Is My Story: The Sanctified Soul Of Arizona Dranes Amazon
10Elvis Presley Swing Down Sweet Chariot His Hand In Mine Amazon
11Fern Jones By And By The Glory Road Amazon
12Dave Van Ronk That'll Never Happen No More Sunday Street Amazon
13Ramblin' Jack Elliott Dark As A Dungeon Best Of The Vanguard Years Amazon
14Emmett Miller That's The Good Old Sunny South Minstrel Man From Georgia Amazon
15Emmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers Lovesick Blues Minstrel Man From Georgia Amazon
16Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard Coal Miner Blues Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways Amazon
17Riley Puckett And Ted Hawkins Hawkins Rag Serenade The Mountains: Early Old Time Music On Record, [Disc 3] Amazon
18Darby & Tarlton Lonesome Frisco Line Lonesome Whistle – An Anthology Of American Railroad Song Amazon
19Lead Belly Black Betty Lead Belly's Last Sessions Amazon
20Odetta Shame And Scandal Sings Ballads And Blues Amazon
21Harry Belafonte Mama, Look at Boo Boo Harry Belafonte: Greatest Hits Amazon
22Harley Allen & Dierks Bentley I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs Of The Louvin Brothers Amazon
23The Louvin Brothers Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar Close Harmony [Disc 5] Amazon
24The Louvin Brothers Keep Watching The Sky Close Harmony [Disc 8] Amazon
25Bonnie Guitar Dark Moon Hard to Find 45s On CD: Pop & Country Classics Amazon
26Skeeter Davis The One You Slip Around With The Essential Skeeter Davis Amazon
27Wanda Jackson Savin' My Love Rockin' With Wanda [US Bonus Tracks] Amazon
28Webb Pierce I Ain't Never 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best Of Webb Pierce Amazon
29The Allen Brothers Skipping and Flying Lead Kindly Light Amazon
30Bascom Lamar Lunsford Kidder Cole The Cornshucker's Frolic Vol. 1: Downhome Music And Entertainment From The American Countryside Amazon
31The Weavers Bring Me Li'l Water Sylvia Dust Bowl Blues: Essential American Folk [Disc 2] Amazon
32Little Jimmy Dickens I'm In Love Up To My Ears Country Boy [Disc 1] Amazon
33Rosie Flores & The Jordanaires I Ain't Never Caught in the Webb Amazon
34Dale Watson & The Jordanaires In The Jailhouse Now Caught In the Webb Amazon
35Los Indios Tabajaras Maria Elena Nipper's Greatest Hits: The 60's, Vol. 1 Amazon

Home on the Range

Home On The Range
Home On The Rang

Generations of youth over the last century grew up with the images of cowpokes, rustlers, bad guys, and ranching through dime novels, radio, television and, of course, the music. In this episode of Deeper Roots, we focus on the legacy of the ‘cowboy crooners’ and country balladeers who sang about life on the trail alongside the grub wagon on the lone prairie where the imagination could take you anywhere it pleased…and often did. We’ll hear the earliest ‘cowboy songs’ by Vernon Dalhart and Carl Sprague; and we’ll also find ourselves being serenaded (quite gently) by Tex Ritter and Gene Autry who reached out for the generic, mass appeal. The music was full of tradition as well and we’ll hear some contemporary reflections from David Wilkie And Cowboy Celtic, Jim Lauderdale, and (of course) Waylon, Willie, Merle, and Johnny.

The Appalachian-Celtic Connection

The Celtic-Appalachian Connection
The Celtic-Appalachian Connection

In this special edition of Deeper Roots, we’ll spend some time with selections of Celtic origin that traveled with the memories of home from over the seas and into the mountains of Appalachia. These mountains were not only home to immigrants beginning in the 17th century, but also a haven for slaves who escaped the South during the Civil war and 19th century Civil War deserters. Out of all of this, some kind of musical serendipity seems to have happened. We’re excited to have three guests who will be talking about two upcoming events in the Bay Area this month. Joining us by phone will be musician, Celtic music evangelist, folklorist, and professor of music and Irish studies Mick Moloney and traditional Irish musician Athena Tergis who will share some of their insights into the migration of the Irish into Appalachia as well as sorting out the jig, the reel, and the hornpipe. Also joining us to discuss the upcoming event A Celtic Appalachian Celebration: Traditional Irish & American Old Time Music will be Margaret McPeake, one of the producers of the Festival whose credentials are overwhelming. She’ll share details about Irish-American Crossroads, an organization that has been producing the event for the past twelve years.

Deeper Roots on KOWS – January 10, 2015

Deeper Roots on KOWS - January 2015
Deeper Roots on KOWS – January 2015

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.

Deep In Tradition

Deep In Tradition
Deep In Tradition

In this episode of Deeper Roots, produced especially for Sonoma County’s newest member-supported community radio station, KWTF, we go Deep In Tradition. The playlist today features just over a dozen songs whose their roots go back beyond the 20th century. Songs in the show include Ida Red, Cotton Eyed Joe, Back Up And Push, River of Jordan, and Arkansas Traveler. Performers include Doc Watson, The Carter Family, Ricky Skaggs, and Jimmie Driftwood. You’ll hear the songs and their stories in this first broadcast of 2015. Please join us for more than just the past century of America’s music from Sonoma County, California.

The Paramount Label

The Paramount Label
The Paramount Label

Paramount Records was born in 1917 and in the mere fifteen years of their existence they would introduce some of the greatest names in the blues. Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, Skip James, and Papa Charlie Jackson are but a few. In 2013, Jack White’s Third Man Records teamed up with Revenant Records to release the first of what would become one of the most ambitious attempts at documenting the story of a record company born from a furniture company that was driven to create product for the record cabinets they sold. Based on the book “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records”, part two of the omnibus will be released later this year (or in early 2015).

This week on Deeper Roots, we share some of the story…and a lot of the music which was not necessarily limited to the blues but also some incredible gospel, mountain, and jazz recordings. When listening through what Dean Blackwell of Revenant Records calls the “gauze of static”, you’ll hear the music of the last century come alive. Tune in Friday night at 9 o’clock for a rare listen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/arts/music/jack-white-explores-history-of-paramount-records.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&