Category Archives: Theme Time

Waltzes, Polkas, and Two-Steps

Waltzes, Polkas and Two-Steps
Waltzes, Polkas & Two-Steps

It’s all about the traditional and popular dance music celebrated in the song of the past century. The show opens with the recognition of folk dance’s lineage, those ancestral elements that inhabit a very large part of our need to communicate and celebrate as a society. Most of the early rhythms we’ll hear to start the show are a blend of ancestral folk but we’ll also share the sound of popular dance. Tune in for country, pop, and folk sounds including cajun sounds from Michael Doucet, old-timey guitar and fiddle sounds of Darby and Tarlton, Tejano polka from Flaco Jimenez, and plenty more waltzes, polkas, and two steps.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1The Morrison Twin Brothers String Band Ozark Waltz Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers Amazon
2Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton Alto Waltz Darby & Tarlton – Disc A (Atlanta 1927-29) Amazon
3Pee Wee King Tennessee Waltz Country & Western Hit Parade 1948 Amazon
4BeauSoleil Cajun Midnight Waltz The Mad Reel Amazon
5Texas Troubadours Gardenia Waltz Almost To Tulsa: The Instrumentals Amazon
6Ernest Tubb Waltz Across Texas Ernest Tubb: The Definitive Collection Amazon
7Junior Brown My Baby Don't Dance To Nothing But Ernest Tubb 12 Shades of Brown Amazon
8Louise Massey & The Westerners Squeeze Box Polka Country & Western, Vol.2 [Disc 5] Amazon
9Flaco Jiminez Tico Taco Polka Buena Suerte, Seqorita Amazon
10Merle Travis & Joe Maphis Beer Barrel Polka Country Guitar Giants Amazon
11Doyle Lawson/Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver Polka on the Banjo School of Bluegrass Disc 1 Amazon
12Spade Cooley & the Western Swing Dance Gang Feat. Tex Williams Cowbell Polka Shame On You Amazon
13Arthur Smith Rock And Rye Polka Here Comes the Boogie Man Amazon
14The Collins Kids Rock And Roll Polka Hop, Skip & Jump [Disc 1] Amazon
15Buck Owens Buck's Polka Buck 'Em: The Music Of Buck Owens (1955-1967) Amazon
16The Hot Frittatas Il Pensiero Polka What's Next ? Amazon
17R. Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders La Gima Polka Singing In The Bathtub Amazon
18Chet Atkins New Spanish Two Step Guitar Legend – RCA Years (Disc 2) Amazon
19Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers Beau's Cajun Two Step Beau Jocque Boogie Amazon
20Doug Kershaw Mamou Two-Step The Best Of Doug Kershaw Amazon
21Byrd Moore Favourite Two Step Gennett Old Time Music 1927-34 Amazon
22Zydeco Force Shaggy Dog Two-Step Alligator Stomp 5: The Next Generation Amazon
23Clifton Chenier Louisiana Two Step Louisiana Blues and Zydeco Amazon
24Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra Charleston [1925] The Charleston Era Amazon
25Aiken County String Band Charleston Rag (1927) Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard: Hard Time, Good Time, And End Time Music, 1923-1936 Amazon
26Sons of the Pioneers Square Dance Songs of the Prairie – CD4 Amazon
27Red Foley Sugarfoot Rag Square Dance Hillbilly Fever [Disc 3] Amazon
28Chet Atkins Cosmic Square Dance Chet Picks On The Grammys Amazon
29Johnnie Lee Wills Square Dance Boogie The Western Swing: Doughboys, Playboys, and Cowboys – Oakie Boogie [Disc 4] Amazon
30Freeny's Barn Dance Band Mississippi Square Dance – Part 2 The Cornshucker's Frolic Vol. 1: Downhome Music And Entertainment From The American Countryside Amazon
31Wanda, Ruth Neal Round Town Girls Flowers In The Wildwood Amazon
32Blue Ridge Highballers Round Town Girls Lead Kindly Light Amazon
33Doc Watson/Merle Watson Guitar Polka Black Mountain Rag Amazon

Guitar Theme

Once considered in its earliest forms a noble instrument, the history of the guitar can be traced back over forty centuries (yes, that’s 4000 years). While we won’t got back quite so far in our exploration, we will explore the popular form of this instrument in song this week. We’re not going after the genius as much as we go after the topic with songs whose theme is that of the guitar. It seems that there has always been a personal connection between the instrument and the player, sometimes as a confidant and others as a foil. Our show will feature yodeling guitars, lonely guitars, Bo’s guitar, long-legged pickers, amigos, and a number of performances about ‘one’s first guitar’. Join Dave Stroud for plenty in a guitar themed journey.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Steve Earle Guitar Town Just an American Boy Disc 1 Amazon
2Walter Hurdt Fiddle And Guitar Running Wild Classic Field Recordings Amazon
3Jimmie Rodgers You And My Old Guitar Recordings 1927 – 1933 [Disc 1] Amazon
4Jorma Kaukonen More Than My Old Guitar River Of Time Amazon
5Jimmy Murphy That First Guitar of Mine 1951-1956 (Warped 5101) Amazon
6The Seldom Scene Grandpa Getcha Guitar Like We Used To Be Amazon
7The Louvin Brothers Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar Long Play Collection Amazon
8Byron Parker & His Mountaineers Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar Byron Parker & His Mountaineers Amazon
9Hardrock Gunter Guitar on the Mountain Gonna Rock 'n' Roll, Gonna Dance All Night Amazon
10Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys Steel Guitar Rag Legends of Country Music Disc 1 Amazon
11Chet Atkins & His Guitar Pickers Telling' My Troubles to My Old Guitar Chet Atkins Guitar Legend:The RCA Years Amazon
12Frank Crumit Plink Plonki Pluck My Guitar Top 100 Classics – The Very Best of Frank Crumit Amazon
13The Brown Bombers of Swing Guitar Swing If You Take Me Back Amazon
14George Morgan Mr Ting-A-Ling (Steel Guitar Man) Room Full of Roses: The George Morgan Collection Amazon
15Jerry Byrd Hilo Steel Guitar Stars Of The Steel Guitar Amazon
16Les Paul Lonely Guitar (feat. Mary Ford) [Remastered] 100 (100 Original Tracks – Remastered) Amazon
17Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant Yodeling Guitar Swingin' On The Strings: The Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant Collection Volume 2 Amazon
18Duane Eddy Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar Dance With The Guitar Man Amazon
19Bo Diddley Bo's Guitar Go Bo Diddley Amazon
20Johnny Powers Me and My Rhythm Guitar The Best of Sun Rockabilly, Vol. 2 Amazon
21Johnny Cash I'm Gonna Sit on the Porch and Pick on My Old Guitar The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 Disc 3 Amazon
22Johnny Cash & June Carter Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man Carryin' on With Johnny Cash & June Carter Amazon
23Kitty Wells Amigo's Guitar Greatest Songs Amazon
24Waylon Jennings Guitars That Won't Stay in Tune Clean Shirt Amazon
25Willie Nelson Guitar In the Corner Band of Brothers Amazon
26George Jones Best Guitar Picker The Complete United Artists Solo Singles Amazon
27Robert Earl Keen, Jr. Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man) Tulare Dust: Tribute to Merle Haggard Amazon
28Merle Haggard Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man) Capitol Collector's Series Amazon
29Freddie King Me And My Guitar Texas Cannonball Amazon
30Tony Rice Me and My Guitar Night Flyer: The Singer Songwriter Collection Amazon
31Lucinda Williams Real Live Bleeding Fingers & Broken Guitar Strings World Without Tears Amazon
32Guy Clark The Guitar Somedays the Song Writes You Amazon
33Neil Young This Old Guitar Rare Songs of a Tribute to Hank Amazon

Songs of the Dust Bowl

Songs of the Dust Bowl
Songs of the Dust Bowl

Our story is one that we’ve covered before, previously focusing on the Great Depression and the music of Woody Guthrie. This episode pulls in the theme of that tragic chapter of a drought that uprooted nearly 60 percent of the population from the affected region of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. With the soil lacking a firm root due to poor farm practices, the plains winds would pick up the loose topsoil and create the dust clouds that ravaged farm and city alike. The music we’ll hear tonight brings us the stories, including those of Woody and Arlo Guthrie, Bob Gibson, Lane Hardin, Vernon Dahlart, and The Morrison Two Brothers String Band.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Ramblin' Jack Elliott Talking Dust Bowl Hard Travelin' Amazon
2Ramblin' Jack Elliott Dust Storm Disaster Hard Travelin' Amazon
3Woody Guthrie Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster) Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder] Amazon
4Woody Guthrie Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road (Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad) Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder] Amazon
5Alison Krauss Dust Bowl Children Paper Airplane Amazon
6Peter Rowan Tumbleweed Dust Bowl Children Amazon
7Bob Gibson Pastures of Plenty Joy Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson Amazon
8Arlo Guthrie with The Dillards Pasture of Plenty Thirty Two Cents Postage Due Amazon
9Arlo Guthrie with The Dillards So Long It's Been Good to Know You Thirty Two Cents Postage Due Amazon
10The Byrds Pretty Boy Floyd Sweetheart of the Rodeo Amazon
11Arlo Guthrie with The Dillards Do Re Mi Thirty Two Cents Postage Due Amazon
12Cisco Houston The Great American Bum Dust Bowl Blues: Essential American Folk [Disc 2] Amazon
13Mac "Harry" McClintock Hallelujah, I'm a Bum [Remastered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
14Billy Bragg I Ain't Got No Home Tooth & Nail Amazon
15Michelle Shocked Woody's Rag Arkansas Traveler Amazon
16Rudy Vallee And His Connecticut Yankees Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries gimriper2u@yahoo.com Amazon
17Leo Reisman And His Orchestra;Milton Douglas Brother, Can You Spare a Dime (From The Musical Review "Americana") [Remastered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
18Woody Guthrie Talking Dust Bowl Blues Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder] Amazon
19Woody Guthrie Dust Pneumonia Blues Dust Bowl Ballads [Rounder] Amazon
20Lane Hardin California Desert Blues [Remastered 2003] Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
21Red Allen Deep Elem Blues The Folkways Years 1964 – 1983 Amazon
22Prairie Ramblers Deep Elem Blues White Country Blues (1926-1938) Amazon
23Joe Stone It's Hard Time Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
24Vernon Dalhart The Farm Relief Song Poor Man's Heaven – Blues And Tales Of The Great Depression – When The Sun Goes Down Series Amazon
25The Morrison Twin Brothers String Band Dry and Dusty Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers Amazon
26Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee Dealing With The Devil Dust Bowl Blues: Essential American Folk [Disc 2] Amazon
27Jack Guthrie Oklahoma Hills Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys Amazon
28Bruce Springsteen I Ain't Got No Home Folkways: A Vision Shared-A Tribute To Woody Guthrie And Leadbelly Amazon
29Ry Cooder Vigilante Man Into The Purple Valley Amazon
30Arlo Guthrie with The Dillards Tom Joad Thirty Two Cents Postage Due Amazon
31Jimmy Lafave Dust Bowl Okies The Night Tribe Amazon

Songs About Doctors

Songs About Doctors
Songs About Doctors

We go to the theme well once more on Deeper Roots, this time with music that explores the tincture of hadacol, the sick bed blues, the boogie woogie flu, measles, whooping cough, and snake oil…all in a show full of the very best of music about being sick in bed and sending for the doctor from the last century of big band, jazz, country, blues, and rock.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Betty Hutton Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief Hoagy Carmichael. Stardust – 51 Original Mono Recordings 1924-1957 Amazon
2Doc Pomus Send for the Doctor (Doctors) Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 3 Amazon
3Huey "Piano" Smith & His Clowns Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu (Part 1) Having A Good Time with Huey 'Piano' Smith & His Clowns – The Very Best Of, Volume 1 Amazon
4Huey "Piano" Smith Would You Believe it, I Have a Cold (Doctors) Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 3 Amazon
5Doctor Ross Call The Doctor (Hi-Q 5033, 1963) Rhythm & Blues Goes Rock & Roll/Volume 2 [Disc 7] Amazon
6Doctor Ross The Boogie Disease Plug It In! Turn It Up! – Teil 1: Die Anfdnge 1939 – 1954 Amazon
7Roy Byrd & His Blues Jumpers Hadacol Bounce 'Fess: The Professor Longhair Anthology [Disc 1] Amazon
8Jerry Lee Lewis Hadacol Boogie A Half Century Of Hits: Rockin' My Life Away [Disc 3] Amazon
9Ray Charles I Don't Need No Doctor BMG Vol. 01 Disc 03 1966-1971 Amazon
10Joan Osborne I Dont Need No Doctor Bring It On Home Amazon
11Artie Shaw Dr. Livingstone, I Presume? The Artie Shaw Story – Disc 3 – Frenesi Amazon
12Benny Goodman Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe Texas Tea Party Amazon
13Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah The Spasm Good For What Ails You: Music Of The Medicine Shows 19261937 Amazon
14Walter Smith The Cat's Got the Measles, the Dog's Got the Whooping Cough Good For What Ails You (2) Music Of The Medicine Shows 1926-1937 Amazon
15Bert Mays Snake Doctor Blues Blues From The Vocalion Vaults Amazon
16Memphis Minnie Doctor, Doctor Blues Memphis Minnie – Queen of Country Blues, 1929 – 1937 [Disc 4] Amazon
17South Memphis Jug Band Doctor Medicine Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow! Amazon
18Bill Nettles & His Dixie Blues Boys Hadacol Boogie (Doctors) Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 3 Amazon
19Shorty Godwin Jimbo Jambo Land Good For What Ails You: Music Of The Medicine Shows 19261937 Amazon
20Rev. Johnny L. Jones I Don't Need A Doctor (Sermon Excerpt) The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta Amazon
21Boyd Rivers You Gonna Take Sick and Die Living Country Blues: An Anthology Disc 1 Amazon
22Skip James Sick Bed Blues [Album Version] Hard Time Killing Floor Blues Amazon
23Casey Bill Weldon Lady Doctor Blues Bottleneck Guitar Trendsetters Of The 1930s Amazon
24Mance Lipscomb Mother Had A Sick Child Ash Grove 12/6/1964 Amazon
25Mississippi Sheiks When You're Sick With The Blues Complete Recorded Works Vol. 3 Amazon
26Warren Zevon Don't Let Us Get Sick Life'll Kill Ya Amazon
27Willie Nelson Too Sick To Pray One Hell Of A Ride Amazon
28Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks I Asked My Doctor Last Train To Hicksville… The Home Of Happy Feet Amazon
29The Rolling Stones Dear Doctor Beggars Banquet Amazon
30J.J. Cale Call The Doctor Naturally Amazon
31Guada La Habrians/Phil Alvin Oh, Doctor County Fair 2000 Amazon
32Boz Scaggs Sick And Tired Come On Home Amazon
33Otis Redding I'm Sick Y'All Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul Amazon
34Irma Thomas Doctor Feelgood The Story of My Life Amazon

Songs About Telephones

Songs About The Telephone
Songs About The Telephone

It’s ‘theme time’ in this episode as we find a muse that songwriters have been looking to since it’s appearance in the 19th century: the telephone. Join us for operators, dial tones, party lines, busy signals, and hang-ups…just a few of the topics in a show featuring gospel from the Selah Jubilee Singers and Sister Wynona Carr, sixties soul from The Marvelettes and The Orlons, tradition from Bill Monroe and Wade Mainer, and more.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1The Manhattan Transfer Operator The Manhattan Transfer Amazon
2The Golden Gate Quartet I Just Telephone Upstairs Vol. 6 (1949-1952) Amazon
3The Spirit Of Memphis Quartet Atomic Telephone The Best Of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Vol 2 Amazon
4Selah Jubilee Singers Royal Telephone Complete Recorded Works – Vol. 1 (1939-1941) Amazon
5Burl Ives Royal Telephone Greatest Hits Amazon
6Sister Wynona Carr Operator, Operator Dragnet For Jesus Amazon
7Bill Monroe When The Phone Rang Bluegrass 1959-1969 [Disc 1] Amazon
8Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver The Phone Call More Behind the Picture Than the Wall Amazon
9Wade Mainer God's Radio Phone I'm Not Looking Backward Amazon
10Doc Watson No Telephone In Heaven My Dear Old Southern Home Amazon
11The Carter Family No Telephone In Heaven The Carter Family 1927 – 1934 [Disc 2] Amazon
12The Carter Family Hello Central! Give Me Heaven The Carter Family: 1927-1934 [Disc 5] Amazon
13Orville Reed The Telephone Girl Lead Kindly Light Amazon
14Bonnie Guitar Hello, Hello, Please Answer The Phone Only The Moon Man Knows: Rare Recordings 1951-1957 Amazon
15George Jones Wrong Number Star Creek Promotions 4 Amazon
16Aaron Neville Wrong Number (I Am Sorry, Goodbye) Treacherous [Disc 1] Amazon
17Irma Thomas Sorry Wrong Number If You Want It, Come and Get It Amazon
18Mickey & Sylvia Can't Get You On The Phone Rock With A Sock Amazon
19The Orlons Don't Hang Up Malt Shop Memories: Jukebox Gems (Disc 2) Amazon
20Marvelettes Beechwood 4-5789 The Soul of Detroit – Disc 1 Amazon
21Tony & Tyrone Please Operator After Hours 3 – More Northern Soul Masters Amazon
22Mary Wells Operator The Soul of Detroit – Disc 2 Amazon
23Jorma Kaukonen Operator River Of Time Amazon
24The Grateful Dead Operator American Beauty Amazon
25Glenn Miller & His Orchestra Pennsylvania 6-5000 The Centennial Collection Disc 1 Amazon
26Hank Penny Hold the Phone King Of Hillbilly Bebop [Disc 2] Amazon
27Stonewall Jackson Can't Hang Up the Phone Original Greatest Hits Amazon
28Ernest Tubb & Loretta Lynn Answer The Phone With Loretta Lynn A Tribute To A Legend Amazon
29Tom T. Hall Jesus On the Radio (Daddy On the Phone) The Definitive Collection: Tom T. Hall Amazon
30Pee Wee Crayton Phone Call From My Baby ABC Of The Blues Vol 7 Amazon
31Pee Wee Crayton The Telephone Is Ringing ABC Of The Blues Vol 7 Amazon
32Floyd Dixon Call Operator 210 The Aladdin Story (Pt. 2) Amazon
33Floyd Dixon Telephone Blues The Cocktail Combos [Disc 3] Amazon
34Eddie Gorman And His Group Telephone Blues Bob Dylan Presents: Radio Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, Vol. 1 Amazon
35Elana James Telephone Man Black Beauty Amazon

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.

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.

Deeper Roots Goes To Mardi Gras

Deeper Roots Goes To Mardi Gras
Deeper Roots Goes To Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday or, translated to French, Mardi Gras, comes but once a year and signals the penitential season of Lent. It also provides us with an outlet for the many things that we do as part of our celebration. One of them involves the backdrop of music. We’ll visit the sounds introduced by the Second Line of “Sugar Boy” Crawford, Fats Domino, and Stop, Inc. We’ll follow with The Meters, Bo Dollis and The Wild Magnolias, Louis Armstrong, and many others in a show that separates our locales by almost 2000 miles. Join Dave Stroud for the big beat coming from the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, and the Mississippi waterfront in our newest episode, another produced exclusively for KWTF, 88.1 FM, member-supported community radio for Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, California.

The Railroad Blues

Railroad Blues
Railroad Blues

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

Songs About Texas

Songs About Texas
Songs About Texas

It’s theme time once more on Deeper Roots Radio: A Century of America’s Music. Join Dave Stroud as he digs up some classic songs about the Lone Star State.

We defer now to John Steinbeck: “I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox. But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing. For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans.”

It’s  country, bluegrass, blues, R&B, jazz, and more from the past century of America’s music.