Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Steel Belted Radio Playlist #142 (October 30, 2007)

Song
Artist
Album

Night of Rain
Two-Minute Miracles
Vol. IV: The Lions of Love

River of Love
T-Bone Burnett
Twenty Twenty: The Essential T-Bone Burnett

Mystic River
Blue Rodeo
Small Miracles

Luke Doucet
Broken One
Broken (and other rogue states)

You Should Tell Me So
Orillia Opry
Lighthouse for Straggler’s Eyes

Resurrection Fern
Iron and Wine
The Shepherd’s Dog

No Earthly Good
Billy Joe Shaver
Everybody’s Brother

St. James Infirmary
Pete Seeger
American Favorite Ballads Vol. 5

Red-Eyed and Blue
Wilco
Being There

I’ve Got You (At the End of the Century)
Wilco
Being There

True Love Will Never Fade
Mark Knopfler
Kill to Get Crimson

Lover’s Waltz
A.A. Bondy
American Hearts

Broken Front Teeth
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir
S/T

If I Live or If I Die
Cuff the Duke
Sidelines of the City

I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail
The Derailers
Under the Influence of Buck

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Blue Rodeo and Friends

Last Sunday night, H and I headed north to Ferndale for the Blue Rodeo show. What better way to start the week than a couple of lovely pints and some dinner at the Woodward Avenue Brewery, followed by getting reacquainted with Jim and Greg and the boys.

Now, I have to admit, Blue Rodeo has never been my favourite band, but they put on a good live show (at least they did when I saw them 15 years ago) and their new cd, Small Miracles, has been getting some good reviews. And, as an added bonus, Oh Susanna, Luke Doucet, and Ron Sexsmith were going to be warming up. At least, that's what I assumed.

It turns out that something very different was happening at the Blue Rodeo and Friends shows. Instead of having an opening act, Blue Rodeo came out and launched right into their set, playing mostly material from the new cd (check out "C'Mon," "It Makes Me Wonder," and "This Town" here). After a few songs, they brought out Oh Susanna (Susie Ungerleider) who played a few of her songs. Some more Blue Rodeo and then out came Luke Doucet for a few of his songs. You get the picture.

Watching the show, I could see that all of the musicians were genuinely having fun with each other on stage and I could hear it in the music they made that night. There was an energy in that collaboration that was special to see and reminded me again of why I love live music so much, especially when the musicians aren't playing the same twenty songs for an entire tour (or career).

The highlight of the evening for me was Luke Doucet's "Broken One" with Blue Rodeo acting as an amazing backing band. As Doucet finished his three songs, I heard a couple of guys behind me say, "Well, there's someone else for us to check out." I couldn't help but smile.

That night I was impressed with Blue Rodeo as musicians, but I think I was more impressed with their generosity in helping to showcase a couple of younger artists like Oh Susanna and Luke Doucet for a new group of listeners. The music sounded great and people were taking notice. Turns out it was a great way to start my week.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Steel Belted Radio Playlist #141 (October 23, 2007): Pledge Drive Show

I didn't play a lot of songs this week, but for a very good reason. It's the annual CJAM Pledge Drive this week. We need the support of you, the listener. We only come to you once a year, but now is the time. Please help us continue to provide you with the music you can't get anywhere else and the programming you've come to count on during your week. Give us a call in Windsor at 519-971-3630 or in Detroit at 313-963-3112 ext. 3630. Or pledge online at www.cjam.ca. We have lots of great incentives and you'll be supporting campus/community radio in Windsor and Detroit.

Here's the abbreviated playlist:

Song
Artist
Album

I Still Want to Be Your Baby
Bettye LaVette
The Scene of the Crime

The Detroit River is Alive!
The Sunparlour Players
Hymns for the Happy

Oxycontin Blues
Steve Earle
Washington Square Serenade

Aeroplane
The Everybodyfields
Nothing is Okay

My Heart Skips a Beat
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Sings Buck

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Steel Belted Radio Playlist #140 (October 16, 2007)

Song
Artist
Album

Laundry in London
Pender
Hey Man Don’t Bring Me Down

Nowhere with You
Joel Plaskett
CBC Radio 3 Sessions Vol. 3

Stand Alone
Bedouin Soundclash
CBC Radio 3 Sessions Vol. 3

Stick with Me Baby
Robert Palmer/Alison Krauss
Raising Sand

Getting Older
Katie Moore
Only Thing Worse

Circumstantial Dues
Kent McAlister and the Iron Choir
The Way It Rolls

Trains I Missed
Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros
Diamonds in the Sun

All Downhill
Lyle Lovett
It’s Not Big, It’s Large

Each Night I Try
Robbie Fulks
Georgia Hard

The Way You’ve Been Treating Me
Ed Burleson
Texas Unplugged Vol. 1

The Man in Love
Nick Lowe
At My Age

Long Way from Georgia
Ryan Bingham
Mescalito

Time’ll Get You Money
Bob Snider
Amaze in Greys

That’s What I’ve Got
Kane/Welch/Kaplin
S/T

Don’t Let Your Deal Down
Spencer Moore
S/T

Sweet Mr. Daniels
Rae Spoon/Rodney DeCroo
Trucker’s Memorial

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Ron Leary Homecoming Show

A quick post to let everyone in the Windsor/Detroit area know about a great show on Friday, October 12, 2007. Ron Leary is back from his Canadian tour and he'll be playing Friday night at Phog Lounge with Dean Drouillard and Royal Wood.

Not only will it be a great show, but if you ask Ron nicely, I bet he'll tell you about his adventures driving some 18,000 kms across this great country of ours. If you're too shy to ask, listen to Ron's interview with CBC Radio 3. With any luck, on Friday night he might even be singing some new songs about his travels.

If you haven't done so yet, check out Ron Leary's The Road in Between. It's a fine, fine folk/roots album that has received a lot of much deserved airplay at CJAM. Or go on Friday and check out the tunes live.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Steel Belted Radio Playlist #139 (October 9, 2007)

Song
Artist
Album

The Detroit River is Alive!
Sunparlour Players
Hymns for the Happy

Dark Black Irish Eyes
Houston Marchman
Texas Unplugged Vol. 1

Darkness Has Fallen
NQ Arbuckle
The Last Supper in a Cheap Town

Clark St.
Emily Weedon and Delta
All Out in the Open

No One Told Me
Kane/Welch/Kaplin
S/T

Late Night Telephone
Ian Shaul
Water Return

My Somewhere Just Got Here
Jim Lauderdale
The Bluegrass Diaries

The Trial
The Sadies
New Seasons

Gun Sale at the Church
The Beat Farmers
Van Go

Whisky, Bob Copper and Me
Linda Thompson
Versatile Heart

Levi Stubbs’ Tears
Billy Bragg
Talking with the Taxman about Poetry

The Path to Your Door
Walt Wilkins
Texas Unplugged Vol. 2

Chicago Promenade
Jason Isbell
Sirens of the Ditch

High Country Blues
Harrison Kennedy
High Country Blues

I Still Want to Be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am)
Bettye LaVette
The Scene of the Crime

Yellow November
Darrek Anderson
Places You Used to Go

Monday, October 8, 2007

Thanksgiving and Music

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and I'm still full from last night's turkey. As I write, the house is quiet, the calm before everyone arises. The Avett Brothers' The Gleam playing softly in the background. I'm tired, but the music makes me smile, makes me relax and ease into the day. Actually, whatever mood I'm in, whatever my day has been, music always makes a space in the seeming chaos around me. I'm thankful for music.

I wish, of course, that I had more time for sustained listening, the kind of listening that I was able to do in high school and in university. It's the kind of listening nicely described in a recent blog post at Heidi's Cafe. She writes,

Last night I was sitting in my living room in the near dark listening intently to one of the 4 CDs in my fabulous new Motown Box set. I put it on repeat for a few times. It's been a long time since I listened to music this way. I remember losing whole afternoons and evenings listening to one side of a LP over and over again or putting a tape on my walkman on a repeat loop until the batteries wore out. Perhaps I listened to music this way because "repeat" was the path of least resistance. Or, perhaps, because I realized then that there is something incredible to be gained by listening carefully to every note, every tiny drop of sound, and every word of an album.


Like her, I don't often have that kind of time. Maybe that's why this morning feels like such a gift (I'm now on to Gomez's How We Operate). I usually have only snatches of time, moments when music can become that brief respite I need during the day. It's usually in my car, but sometimes in my office for five minutes, the door closed and the perfect song cued up. Just enough to get me through the rest of my day, a couple of minutes when I'm thinking about the music and not students and meetings and grading and the hundred other things I have to do.

And that's really why I host Steel Belted Radio. That time in the studio every week is a time when everything else just melts away. All the stress, all the concerns of the day are just gone. For that hour I'm only listening to music, but more than that, I'm programming music that I hope will give the listeners those little moments of respite from their own days, as they sit in their cars in traffic or close the doors to their offices or chop vegetables for supper.

So, as I sit here listening to Gomez doing "Charlie Patton Songs," I'm thinking about how thankful I am for music. The way I listen has, by necessity, changed, but I think music is now as important in my life as it ever was. I hope it is for you, too.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Steel Belted Radio Playlist #138 (October 2, 2007)

Song
Artist
Album

Drunk & 35
Deromantic
S/T

Feel Again
Nick Lowe
At My Age

Down by the Corner of Love
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Sings Buck

You’re Looking at the Man
The Derailers
Soldiers of Love

Step Back and Fade
Darrek Anderson
Places You Used to Go

This is the Last Time (I'm Gonna Hurt)
Jim Lauderdale
The Bluegrass Diaries

Red Light Blinking
Kane/Welch/Kaplin
S/T

Savior
The Everybodyfields
Nothing is Okay

Yours to Discover
The Sadies
New Seasons

Suitcase
Pender
Hey Man Don’t Bring Yourself Down

Soap and Water
Chuck Prophet
Soap and Water

Rollin’ Blues
Deadstring Brothers
Silver Mountain

Way Down in the Hole
Steve Earle
Washington Square Serenade

Old Spur Line
The Legendary Shack Shakers
Swampblood

Dreams Dissolve
Catherine MacLellan
Church Bell Blues

If I Had My Way
Mike Plume
Rock and Roll Recordings V. 1