Playlist for Wednesday September 3, 2008
Goodbye
Hosted by Greg Denton and Geordie Gordon

This is the final broadcast of Sugar In The Gourd. The first broadcast, hosted by Greg Denton and Geordie Gordon, was Wednesday February 2, 2005. The show ran for almost four years!

Greg Denton will now be hosting a new roots music radio show on CFRU, titled "This Un-Godly Hour", which will broadcast from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM on Sunday mornings. The first episode will be on Sunday September 7th.

Playlists for "This Un-Godly Hour" will be posted at www.thisungodlyhour.blogspot.com

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello - Ernest Tubb
3. So Long Baby, Goodbye - Sammy Lewis/Willie Johnson Combo
4. Goodbye's All We've Got Left - Steve Earle
5. I Never Meant To Say Goodbye - Hank Davis
6. Goodbye I'm Gone - Little Tommy Brown

7. Goodbye Eliza Jane - Peerless Quartet
8. Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone - Ernest V. Stoneman
9. Goodbye To The Plains - The Carter Family
10. Goodbye Old Pal - Bill Monroe
11. I've Just Told Mama Goodbye - Hank Williams

12. Goodbye Booze - The Holy Modal Rounders
13. Goodbye Blue Sky - Luther Wright & The Wrongs
14. End Of The Day - Mary Carl
15. End Of The Night - Washboard Hank & His Country Squires

16. The End Of The Road - Michael Hurley

Playlist for Wednesday August 27, 2008
Summer's Last Gasp
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Kyle Fitzsimmons

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Summer Morning - Jonathan Richman
3. On A Bright And Summer's Morning - Bascom Lamar Lunsford
4. Some Summer Day - Charley Patton
5. Some Summer Day No. 2 - Mississippi Swampers

6. Great God A'Mighty (Long Hot Summer Days) - Lightnin' Washington & Group
7. Long Summer Days - Moses 'Clear Rock' Platt
8. Long Hot Summer Days - John Hartford
9. Like A Summer Thursday - Townes Van Zant

10. Summer Dreams, Winter Sleep - Willie P. Bennett
11. South Wind of Summer - The Flatlanders
12. Down Home Summertime Blues - Norman Blake
13. Summer Is Over - Fred Eaglesmith

14. Summertime Is Past And Gone - Bill Monroe

Playlist for Wednesday August 13, 2008
Ukuleles and Hillbilly Hulas
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Ian Reid

This show was planned around the fact that guest musician, Ian Reid, performs sometimes with a ukulele. He will be performing this Sunday evening, August 17th, at the Cornerstone Cafe in downtown Guelph.

The Ukulele is a 19th Century Hawaiin variation of a small Portuguese guitar called a cavaquinho. It should also be noted that Hawaii officially entered the union of The United States of America on August 21, 1959, so this is an anniversary of sorts too.

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Aloha Means I Love You - The Tau Moe Family
3. Hawaii - Jim Kweskin Jug Band
4. Coldest Woman - The Holy Modal Rounders

5. Hula Boogie - Tommy Durden & The Westernaires
6. Her Name Was Hula Lou - Carolina Tar Heels
7. Hillbilly Hula Gal - Junior Brown
8. Boogie Woogie Gal - Jack Padgett The Texas Wrangler

Boogie Woogie Gal has nothing to do with ukuleles or hulas. It was a case of the wrong CD in the wrong case. ARGH, programmer's hell. We played the tune out and then played what we intended:

9. Hillbilly Hula - Jenks "Tex" Carman

The following three songs were recorded live in Scott Merritt's living room on a hand held digital recorder in late February 2006. While waiting for Evan Gordon to show up for a Dry Tickle mixing session, Scott delivered a very casual and impromtu concert of John Lennon songs on the ukulele. I had a terrible cold at the time and coughed during the recording. Just part of the "field recording" ethos.

10. Nothing's Gonna Change My World - Scott Merritt & His Ukulele
11. Gimme Some Truth - Scott Merritt & His Ukulele
12. Working Class Hero - Scott Merritt & His Ukulele

13. Ukulele Lady - Jim Kweskin Jug Band
14. No Wonder She's A Blushing Bride - Art Fowler & His Ukulele

15. Little Wing - James Hill

A gorgeous little bit of Jimmy Hendrix on two Ukuleles!

Playlist for Wednesday August 6, 2008
Rags To Rags
hosted by Greg Denton with guest Christopher Roberts

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Dreamin' Of You - Bob Dylan
3. Rockwoodtown - Ian Reid
4. Blue Rag - Ian Molesworth
5. The "Raggmopp" - Raggmopp
6. Garbage Man - Raggmopp

7. Chinese Rag - Spooney Five
8. Tokio Rag - Ted Hawkins and Riley Puckett
9. Cairo Rag - Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers
10. East Texas Rag - Smith Casey
11. The Hometown Rag - The Hometown Boys

12. Chew Tobacco Rag - Al Trace & His Orchestra
13. Rag Mama - Jim Kweskin and His Jug Band
14. Steel Guitar Rag - Merle Travis and His Cowboy Band
15. Sugarfoot Rag - Red Foley
16. Scattin' Rag - Jolly Joe's Jugband

17. Tiger Rag -Wanderers

Playlist for Wednesday July 30, 2008
Walking Through The Streets Of The City
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Christopher Reaume

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Walking Through The Streets Of The City - Pink Anderson
3. Streets Of Toronto - Stompin' Tom Connors
4. Streets Of Laredo - Brownie Ford

5. Third Street Woman Blues - Blind Willie Reynolds
6. Fourth Street Mess Around - Memphis Jug Band
7. Positively Fourth Street - Bob Dylan

8. Basin Street Blues - Louis Prima
9. Church Street Blues - Norman Blake
10. Hasting Street - Charlie Spand & Blind Blake
11. Madison Street Rag - Gus Cannon
12. Peach Tree Street Boogie - The Delmore Brothers
13. Railroad Street - John Hartford

14. Ninety Miles An Hour (Down A Dead End Street) - Hank Snow
15. My Heart Was Trampled On The Street - The Louvin Brothers

16. Dark End Of The Street - The Flying Burrito Brothers

Playlist for Wednesday July 23, 2008
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Arthur MacInnes

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

All songs about hills, this show was an oblique tip of the hat to The Hillside Festival www.hillsidefestival.ca taking place, not on a hill, but on 'The Island' at The Guelph Lake Conservation Area from July 25 to July 27. This year marks the festival's 25th anniversary.

2. I'm Climbin' On Top Of The Hill - Blind Boy Fuller
3. Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - The Carter Family
4. Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie - John Hartford
5. Hillbilly Hula Gal - Junior Brown

6. Little Cabin Home On The Hill - Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
7. Little Cabin Home On The Hill Waugh Waugh - John Hartford
8. Cabin On The Hill - Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass
9. Little Poplar Log House On The Hill - The Carter Family
10. A Mansion On The Hill - Hank Williams

11. Over The Hills To The Poorhouse - Flatt & Scruggs
12. Wake Up Hill - Old Man Luedecke

Old Man (Chris) Luedecke is the only artist from tonight's playlist actually performing at The Hillside Festival this weekend.

13. Sugar Hill - Homer Walker

14. Hills Of Home - Hazel Dickens
15. The Hills That I Call Home - Front Range

Front Range is a band that "emerged" out of Colorado in the 1990s, here singing a song about Vermont: "In the land of Ethan Allen/Where the sugar maples grow/Where the wild grass fills the meadows/And the rocky rivers flow". Noted for their "smooth" (I'd say edgeless) harmonies, the band sure pulls a lot of 'sap' out of those maples.

In the early 1770s, The Province of New York was selling land claims to prospective settlers in Vermont, ignoring those (Ethan Allen among them) with established title to land grants in the Bennington area. Ethan Allen led a group called The Green Mountain Boys in a guerilla rebellion against New York and was instrumental in the establishment of the "republic" and later the "state" of Vermont.

16. My Home Among The Hills - The Carter Family

17. Bottom Of The Hill - Harry Manx & Kevin Breit

Playlist for Wednesday July 16, 2008
Hollywood Cowboys
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Glacio De Fluvial

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. The Ballad of Jed Clampett - Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys
3. Back In The Saddle Again - Gene Autry
4. Ghost Riders In The Sky - Gene Autry
5. Blue Shadows On The Trail - Roy Rogers
6. I'm Going To Gallop, Gallop, Gallop to Gallup, New Mexico - Roy Rogers
7. Lonely Is The Hunter - Jimmy Wakely

8. Cool Water - The Sons Of The Pioneers
9. Whoopee Ti Yi Yo - The Sons Of The Pioneers
10. Yippi Yi Your Troubles Away - The Sons Of The Pioneers
11. Sagebrush Symphony - The Sons Of The Pioneers
12. Tumbling Tumbleweeds - The Sons Of The Pioneers

13. Lady Killin' Cowboy - Tex Ritter
14. High Noon - Tex Ritter
15. (I've Got Spurs That) Jingle Jangle Jingle - Tex Ritter
16. My Rifle, My Pony And Me - Dean Martin & Ricky Nelson (with John Wayne Intro)

17. Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies - Weird Al Yankovic

Playlist for Wednesday July 9, 2008
Petting Zoo!
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Laura Harrison

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Milk Cow Boogie - The Maddox Brothers & Rose
3. Whoopin' Up Cattle - Mike Seeger
4. Jersey Bull Blues - Three Tobacco Tags
5. Thrown By The Bull - Old Man Luedecke

6. The Horse Named Bill - Carl Sandburg
7. The Horsetrader's Song - Jimmy Driftwood
8. High Horse Momma - Terry Allen
9. Flop-Eared Mule - The Holy Modal Rounders
10. Go Along Mule - Uncle Dave Macon

11. He Said, If You Love Me, Feed My Sheep - The Stancer Quartet
12. Glory To The Lamb - The Carter Family
13. Piggy Wiggy Woo - Danny Marks
14. Marmora Pig - Washboard Hank & The Country Squires
15. I'm Hog Tied Over You - Tennessee Ernie Ford & Ella Mae Morse
16. Hog Of The Forsaken - Michael Hurley

17. Goatburger Boogie - Cousin Deems Sanders & His Goatherders

Playlist For Wednesday July 2, 2008
Building You Up To Let You Down
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Corinne Maloney

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. I'm Working On A Building - Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
3. The Building - Fred Eaglesmith & The Flathead Noodlers
4. What's He Building - Tom Waits
5. Meeting At The Building - Leadbelly
6. In Tall Buildings - John Hartford

7. Little Boxes - Pete Seeger
8. Little Poplar Log House On The Hill - The Carter Family
Whoops, we miscued this one and played A Goodbye To The Plains instead.
9. Bring It On Down To My House - Derwood Brown & His Musical Brownies
10. Hungry Hash House - Charlie Poole & His North Carolina Ramblers
11. The House Of Blue Lights - Merrill Moore

12. A House Without Love - Hank Williams
13. House Of Cards - The Backstabbers
14. There's A Leak In This Old Building - Brother Claude Ely
15. The School House Fire - The Dixon Brothers
16. I Was In The House When The House Burned Down - Warren Zevon

17. Tower Song - Townes Van Zant

Playlist for Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Strung Out, Upside Down, and Stuffed With Cotten
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Amelia Ettinger

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Freight Train - Elizabeth Cotten
3. Going Down The Road Feeling Bad - Elizabeth Cotten

4. Darling Corey - Pete Seeger
5. Poor Ellen Smith - Peggy Seeger
6. Josh Thomas's Roustabout - Mike Seeger

7. Shake Sugaree - Elizabeth Cotten with vocals by her 12 year old grandaughter, Brenda Evans
8. Shake Sugaree & Banjo Story / Rattler - Elizabeth Cotten
9. Guitar Story - Elizabeth Cotten
10. Oh, Babe It Ain't No Lie - Elizabeth Cotten

11. Vastopol - Elizabeth Cotten
12. Spanish Flang Dang - Elizabeth Cotten

13. I'm Going Away - Elizabeth Cotten

Playlist for Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bound To Leave You Wanting
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Josee Germain

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. What Was It You Wanted - Willie Nelson
3. I Want You - Bob Dylan
4. All I Really Want To Do - Bob Dylan

5. I Want To Live & Love - The Maddox Brothers & Rose

The Maddox Brothers & Rose formed in 1933 after parents Charlie & Lula Maddox took their family (Calvin, Fred, Kenneth, Henry & Rose) from Alabama to California, hitchhiking and hopping boxcars, to find work as itinerant field labourers. They were a little ahead of the so-called "great Okie migration" and managed to find work in the San Jaoquin Valley as "fruit tramps". But the second eldest, Fred, hated the work and with his audacious and enterprising spirit convinced The Rice Furniture Company to sponsor the family as a musical act on the local radio station. The Rice Furniture people insisted that the band have a girl singer, so Fred, promising they had the "best girl singer" around enlisted his sister, Rose, to sing their decidedly raucous, rowdy, and sometimes raunchy slap-bass country boogie songs. This was remarkable, in part, since Rose was only 11 years old at the time and knew maybe 3 songs all the way through. Still, despite Rose's age, they managed to use the radio publicity to get jobs playing barrooms and area honky tonks for tips, and eventually won a nationally syndicated radio spot during the California State Centennial Festival in 1939, sponsored by the Anacin Company. Known for their ornately embroidered suits (tailored by the famous Nudie Turk) and outlandishly animated stage antics (dance hall audiences often stopped dancing just to watch), The Maddox Brothers & Rose earned the sobriquet of "Most Colorful Hillbilly Band in America". When the group disbanded in 1956, Rose continued on with an illustrious solo career until she passed away from kidney failure in 1998 at the age of 71.

6. I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart - Patsy Montana & The Prairie Ramblers
7. I Want To Be Good - The Hoofbeats
8. I Want Two Wings - Rev. Utah Smith
9. I Want To Sing That Rock And Roll - Gillian Welch

10. I Want A Tall Skinny Papa - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
11. I Want A Man (Who's Gonna Do It Right) - Annisteen Allen & Her Home Town Boys

From the various artist compilation Eat To The Beat: The Dirtiest of Them Dirty Blues. Annisteen Allen was born Ernestine Allen in Champaign, Illinois in 1920 and started her career of jazz inflected blues singing in 1945. She worked with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, Big John Greer, Wynonie Harris, The Orioles, and Joe Morris' Blues Calvacade, and recorded for Federal, King & Capitol. She had a hit in 1955 being the first to record Earl Burrows' song Fujiyama Mama, before Eileen Barton and Wanda Jackson. Here she wants a man who's gonna do it right and she doesn't care how her man even "looks" as long as he "fooks" nobody but her. Now that's a rhyming couplet!

12. I Wanna Know (What Cha Doin' Down There) - Dolly Cooper
13. I Wanna Waltz - Wanda Jackson

14. I Want You To Want Me - Dwight Yoakam

Yes! Dwight Yoakam sings Cheap Trick! Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I feel like cryin'?

15. When Someone Wants To Leave - The Allen Brothers

The sons of bluegrass legend Red Allen: Harley, Greg & Ronnie. A brother act with actual brothers! Heartbreak and resignation in stupendous vocal harmony. This song was written by Dolly Parton.

Playlist for Wednesday June 11, 2008
Two Little Men In A Flying Saucer
Hosted by Greg Denton with guest Tristan O'Malley

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. Flying Saucer Boogie - Eddie Cletro
3. Mr. Spaceman - The Holy Modal Rounders
4. Holidays In Space - Das Macht Show

Now known as The Dust Poets, Das Macht Show started as a Brandon, Manitoba band in 2001 and changed their name after touring their second album 'Four Legs Good' in 2003. Though the members of the band are scattered across the continent from Manitoba to Toronto and Arizona these days, they still manage to convene, record, tour, and spread their dusty prairie-fed humour and infectiously spirited acoustic music to the winds. Just off a Spring tour of New England, folks in British Columbia can look forward to a few shows in the late Autumn and early Winter. http://www.dustpoets.com/

5. Honeymoon On A Rocketship - Hank Snow
6. Rocket 69 - Todd Rhodes
7. Rocket 88 - Bill Haley & The Saddlemen

Bill Haley called his band The Saddlemen from c.1949 until he changed it to Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952. Rocket 88 was originally recorded by Ike Turner compadre and saxophonist, Jackie Brenston, in Memphis, in March of 1951. Sam Phillips did the recording and sold the rights to Chess Records in Chicago. It was a #1 R&B hit. Sam Phillips asserts Rocket 88 was the first Rock'n'Roll record and used the success of the song to launch the now legendary Sun Records label. Bill Haley & The Saddlemen also recorded the song in 1951 for Dave Miller's Philadelphia based label Holiday Records. Their plan was to leap the race barrier for black music by marketing the song to a broader audience with a white singer. The success of this venture encouraged Miller and Haley to do some further experiments combining R&B with country music. Bill Haley & The Saddlemen's version of Rocket 88, as a result, is also often tagged (along with hundreds of other contenders) as "The First Rock'n'Roll record".

8. Rocket Piano Man - Carolyn Mark & Amy Honey

From Carolyn Mark's 2005 'Just Married: An Album of Duets'. A deliciously witty rewrite of David Bowie's Space Oddity: "Ground Control to Elton John/I hope you've got your platforms on/Ground Control to Billy Joel/Too bad you had to sell your soul..."

9. The Flight Of Astronaut John Glenn - Joe Bussard & Oscar Myers
10. The Voyage Of Apollo 8 - Blind Robert Ward

Two songs written in tribute to the American Space Program. John Glenn was, in 1962, the first American to orbit the earth. Apollo 8 was, in December 1968, the first manned flight to orbit the moon. Both songs were written and recorded for Joe Bussard's Frederick, Maryland 78rpm-only label, Fonotone Records, which he ran out of his basement from 1956 to 1970. Legendary fingerstyle guitarist and eccentric, John Fahey, made and released his first ever recordings there in 1958 under the name Blind Thomas. These and the above tracks can be found on a five CD anthology of Fonotone recordings released in 2005.

11. Two Little Men In A Flying Saucer - Ella Fitzgerald
12. Jet Propelled Papa - Helen Humes

Born in Kentucky in 1913, Helen Humes began her Jazz/Blues recording career in 1927. She was Billie Holiday's replacement as lead female vocalist for The Count Basie Orchestra in 1938, and went on to record as a soloist bridging big band swing music and R&B through the 40s and 50s. After a hiatus through most of the 1960s she returned to the stage at the Newport Jazz Fesitival in 1973, maintaining her career until she passed away from cancer in 1981 at the age of 68. Helen Humes recorded Jet Propelled Papa for the Mercury label in 1949.

13. Walking On The Moon - Lucia Pamela

From Lucia Pamela's 1969 'Into Outer Space' album via Irwin Chusid's anthology 'Songs In the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music'. A former beauty queen (Miss St. Louis 1926), Lucia Pamela claims to have actually recorded her album on the moon because "the air is different up there". She plays all the instruments herself. Sweet!

14. Shoot Me To The Moon - Dan Reeder

15. Happy On The Moon - Willie P. Bennett with Amos Garrett

Playlist for Wednesday June 4, 2008

Pink Floyd
hosted by Greg Denton with guest Kim Logue

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

In 1964 Syd Barrett joined a band in London called The Tea Set. When the band found themselves billed to play a gig with another band of the same name, Syd came up with an alternative name for the band: "The Pink Floyd Sound". They soon dropped "Sound" from the name calling themselves The Pink Floyd, and eventually just Pink Floyd. Syd borrowed the names of 'Pink' and 'Floyd' from the names of two Carolina bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd "Dipper Boy" Council, having plucked them out of Paul Oliver's liner notes for a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller Album which read: "Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen [...] Pink Anderson or Floyd Council -- these were a few amongst the many blues singers that were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys."

Piedmont Blues is characterised by a fingerstlye guitar method common to many folk and blues traditions where steady rythmic bass notes are thumbed on the low strings and the melody and ornamentation are fingered on the high strings. Piedmont blues musicians tended to employ a lot of older ragtime techniques and rhythms which differentiated them from Mississippi Delta area finger pickers. The Piedmont (literally 'foot hill') refers to the plateau region between the Atlantic coast and the Appalachian Mountain range extending from New Jersey down through the Carolinas to Alabama.


2. Big Leg Woman Gets My Pay - Blind Boy Fuller

Blind Boy Fuller was born Fulton Allen in Wadesboro, North Carolina on July 10, 1907, one of a family of 10 children. His mother died while he was young and he moved with his father to Rockingham where he learned field hollers, rags and blues from older singers and started playing guitar. He married as a teen and began working as a labourer but, having lost his sight, turned to playing music full time. There are two stories regarding his blindness: one has a Charlotte doctor offering a diagnosis of ulcers behind his eyes brought on by damage caused by what researcher Bruce Bastin calls "some form of snow-blindness"; the other story is that an ex-girlfriend threw chemicals in his face. In 1935 James Baxter Long, a record store owner scouting for the American Recording Company, took him to New York to record. He was renamed "Blind Boy Fuller" and made over 120 records over the subsequent five years, establishing himself along with Reverand Gary Davis and Blind Blake as a preeminent example of the Piedmont Blues style. He was a heavy drinker with a violent temper and was briefly jailed in 1937 for shooting his wife in the leg with a pistol. He died in 1941 from alcohol related ailments .

3. Runaway Man Blues - Floyd "Dipper Boy" Council

Floyd Council was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on September 2, 1911. He started out as a street singer along with his brothers, Leo and Thomas, in the 1920s. In the 1930s, he frequently accompanied Blind Boy Fuller as second guitar, and was taken to New York City in 1937 by John Baxter Long to record with Blind Boy Fuller, though he also recorded six solo tracks during a second visit to New York in December 1937. These were initially issued under the name "Blind Boy Fuller's Buddy", though the record company also tried to promote him with the names "Dipper Boy Council" and "The Devil's Daddy-in-Law". He likely would have become much better known during the 60's Folk & Blues revival if it wasn't for ill health. He suffered a stroke in the 1960s which impaired his motor skills and partially paralyzed his throat. He died of a heart attack in 1976.

4. Greasy Greens - Pink Anderson

Pink Anderson was born in Laurens, South Carolina on February 12, 1900 and raised in the upstate town of Spartanburg. At the age of 14 he became a medicine show musician, entertaining the crowds while Dr. Kerr of the Indian Remedy Company hawked his "medicines". Dr Kerr sold his elixers until his retirement in 1945, employing Pink Anderson for a good 30 years. Pink learned and played the blues "after hours" and, in 1928, recorded a handful of tracks for Columbia Records. His career as a bluesman was resurrected somewhat during the 1960s Folk and Blues revival. He died of a heart attack in October 1974. All the Pink Anderson recordings on this episode of Sugar In The Gourd date from 1961.

5. I'm Grievin' And I'm Worryin' - Floyd "Dipper Boy" Council

6. Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1 - Luther Wright & The Wrongs
7. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives - Luther Wright & The Wrongs
8. Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2 - Luther Wright & The Wrongs
9. Mother - Luther Wright & The Wrongs
10. Goodbye Blue Sky - Luther Wright & the Wrongs

Luther Wright and The Wrongs conceived their project of a full-on Country & Western cover of Pink Floyd's The Wall as they idly picked along to the radio while passing travel hours in their tour van. It was a crazy idea but the more they explored it the more the themes and structure of the songs from Roger Waters' epic 1979 operatic rock concept album seemed to lend themselves to a country adaptation. The band recorded the album over 6 months in 2001 and initially (and quietly) pressed a CD of the first half as Rebuild the Wall Volume One, planning to release Volume Two when they had full licensed clearance on the project. However, when Roger Waters received the project with enthusiasm and wrote to The Wrongs himself saying he enjoyed the CD and offered his blessings, they opted to release the full Rebuild The Wall project on a single CD instead of the initial Volume One/Volume two arrangement.

11. Chicken - Pink Anderson
12. I Don't Want No Hungry Woman - Floyd "Dipper Boy" Council
13. Betty And Dupree - Pink Anderson

14. Two Of A Kind - Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd in 1968 after mental health problems exacerbated by stress and psychedelic drugs made him a little unreliable. He was replaced by guitarist David Gilmour. Bassist, vocalist and composer Roger Waters eventually moved to the forefront of the band. Syd continued recording on his own, releasing two albums before retreating into a self-imposed seclusion for over 30 years. He kept busy by making art and gardening. He passed away on July 7, 2006. The song Two Of A Kind was recorded for the BBC in February 1970 and was broadcast on the program 'Top Gear' in May of that year.

Playlist for May 28, 2008
Going Down, Down Under, Picking Up
hosted by Greg Denton with Kate Abbott

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders

2. You Got To Go Down - Blind Gary Davis
3. Sit Down - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
4. Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down - The Maddox Brothers & Rose
5. Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues - Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
6. The Last Fair Deal Gone Down - Robert Johnson

7. Best Of Friends - The Homebrew Barrell Band
8. You And Steve McQueen - The Audreys
9. Good Excuse - The John Butler Trio
10. I Was Hoping You'd Say That - Paul Kelly

11. Where Are You Now - The Audreys
12. Get Up, Get Up - Lavern Baker
13. The Pig Got Up And Slowly Walked Away - Ambrose & His Orchestra
14. May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose - Little Jimmy Dickens

15. Bottle Up And Go - Sleepy LaBeef

Playlist for Wednesday May 21, 2008
The Blind Show
hosted by Greg Denton and Jesse Whiteside

1. Sugar In The Gourd - The Holy Modal Rounders (theme)

2. Man Of Gusto - Arthur Renwick
3. Committed - Mo' Kauffey

A nod to Arthur Renwick and Mo' Kauffey who were performing together at the Renaissance Cafe in Toronto that night.

4. Miracle Cure - The Who

From Tommy, we snuck this short 12 second spot in behind a station ID and Public Service announcement.

5. Blind - The Talking Heads
6. The Blind Child - Levon Helm
7. I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James

8.The Ballad Of Donald White - Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan)

Dylan recorded this song for Broadside Magazine. As he was under contract with Columbia at that point, he used the pseudonym 'Blind Boy Grunt' for a number of recordings he did for Broadside. He also used the name as harmonica player on a Richard Farina & Eric Von Schmidt recording. Other pseudonyms Dylan has used? "Bob Landy" on Elektra's The Blues Project (He plays piano on "Downtown Blues"). That's him as "Tedham Porterhouse" in 1964 playing harmonica on Ramblin' Jack Elliott's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." And hilariously, he uses "Robert Milkwood Thomas" as pianist and backup vocalist on Steve Goodman's early 70s song "Somebody Else's Troubles". Janis Ian, it should be mentioned, used the name "Blind Girl Grunt" when she recorded for Broadside. Dylan was 21 years old when he recorded The Ballad of Donald White. This Saturday (May 24, 2008) marks Bob Dylan's 67th birthday.

9. Third Street Woman Blues - Blind Joe (Willie Reynolds)
10. Blind Blues - Blind Thomas (John Fahey)

This was a set that we called the "fake" blind guy set. We acknowledged that Blind Joe (Willie Reynolds) was most likely not faking the blindness, but suggested he was maybe faking the "Joe". It turns out he was faking the "Willie" and the "Reynolds". His real name was actually Joe Sheppard and he was originally a street singer from Louisianna. H.C. Spier, a Memphis record store owner/talent scout (famous for recommending delta blues legend Charlie Patton to Paramount, among others) arranged for him to record in the late 1920s. He recorded for Paramount under the name Blind Joe Reynolds, and then later for Victor as Blind Willie Reynolds. Third Street Woman Blues was recorded for Victor in 1930. Joe's blindness sure wasn't faked. It was granted to him courtesy a shot gun blast to the face during an altercation with another man in the mid 1920s.

11. Blind Love - Tom Waits
12. Mother's Love - Blind Joe Taggart
13. If You Don't Give Me What I Want - Blind Boy Fuller & Floyd Council
14. Honey In The Rock - Blind Mamie Forehand


15. The Great Pumpkin Waltz - Vince Guaraldi Trio

The Great Pumpkin Waltz was played in tribute to Howard Dill (1935 - 2008) "The Pumpkin King" from Windsor, Nova Scotia. He set the record for giant pumpkin growing in 1979 and ruled the international competition for 3 years. Today the pumpkin seeds he developed "Dill's Atlantic Giant" are sold to competitors world wide. He passed away from Liver Cancer this week, at the age of 73.