Deeper Roots Radio

It’s a topical theme…it’s a medicinal thing…it’s a blend of sounds celebrating vipers and jives from the past century.  We will join in the celebration (in spirit anyway) of the date and time that three Marin County teenagers are said to have inaugurated over a half century ago. There is no shortage of material to pull from the well of Americana…whether that be from the 1920s or from the 2010s. We’ll brighten up the playlist with music that will help us kick back. We’ll pour over a selected list of great sounds from the last 100 years that either directly or indirectly find us thinking about (or maybe imbibing in) the herb so many care about. There will be music from John Prine, Willie Nelson, Kacey Musgraves, Ray Charles and some early century jazz nuggets you will find hard to resist. Friday morning sounds from the Cherry Street Historic District of Santa Rosa, California, streaming to West County and the world on KOWS-LP, Occidental 92.5 FM and kowsfm.com/listen.

The history of coffee consumption in 20th century America takes hold in the small cafes, truck stops and coffeehouses which became venues and social spaces for the community. Like music, they helped with the congregation of like minds and served as hubs for intellectual exchange, artistic expression and social activism. And it was all because of the caffeine. Instant and decaf coffees were just an aberration; much like disco. This week’s Deeper Roots drives the theme of coffee home with tracks that span the century including Emmett Miller, the King Cole Trio, The Bobs, Ella Mae Morse and Merle Travis (among others) to tell us a cuppa tale or two. It's one more Friday show ahead of next week’s 420 observation…one more libation to celebrate.

Swing and jazz music of the late 1930s had just enough time to raise a small ruckus before the second World War broke out. After a celebratory wave swept the nation, there was a need for more of the same but with an upbeat but harder drive to it. It didn’t take long for pre-rock R&B to become popular across demographics as it would gain significant traction among urban youth, particularly in the central hubs of New York, Chicago, Detroit, LA, and New Orleans. This week’s show features a roller coaster of great sounds including tracks from Varetta Dillard, The Lollypoppers, The Flairs, and Little Johnny Jones & The Chicago Hound Dogs. You don’t want to miss this wild ride.

Theme time and I’m going to break it to you slow…it’s all about the negative and those that refuse. If there’s something that’s more prevalent in our lives than saying that we ‘want to’…it’s when we don’t want to. The ‘desire not to’ seems to be winning over the ‘desire to’ in our show today. We’ve got a collection of songs that all begin with the phrase “I Don’t Want” in some form or another. We’ll bring you the early sounds of The Blue Sky Boys and some country sounds of Jimmy Wakely from the hayloft, blues and soul from Magic Sam and that firecracker Sugar Pie DeSanto, and plenty of Americana from The Blasters, Wanda Jackson and Doug Sahm in our show today. It’s going to be a romp because there’s a lot of fodder to choose from when stubbornness is the theme. Tune into community radio for Sonoma County to find out. I don’t want to spoil the theme…but not ‘wanting to’ isn’t always a bad thing…

What a time it was. The surprise of Sputnik in the early fifties led to a space race, a technological competition that had a profound impact on popular music (not to mention popular culture), providing musicians (and would-be musicians) a rich source of inspiration and contributed to some of the most iconic, as well as comic and out of this world, songs of the era. Themes of space travel, the moon and Mars, and even flying saucers were rampant on the airwaves. And one can only ascribe the fear of aliens to the number attempted novelty bits that reflected that trepidation.  Laughter is, after all, a natural way for fear to be released in humankind. This week we’ll be sharing some of the classics, as well as the unknowns, including Jesse Belvin & His Space Riders, The Drivers, Merv Griffin, The Big Bopper, Dave & The Detomics and quite a few more that even if we were to share their names, you’d probably scratch your head anyway. Drop in for some head-spinning, foot-tapping sounds from the era of the Space Race. 

There’s going to be a free form mix of sounds this week with some ‘scenes of devastation’ as well as some blues and tradition. We’ll set the tone with a song that inspired the title lines from The Pine Hill Project and then head into some tradition and some covers that speak in the language of the sacred and secular…from Saturday night at the juke to Sunday morning in the pew. A great mix of sounds from some classic female blues gems from the 1940s like Wea Bea Booze and Ethel Waters. We’ll also go down to the crossroads and Deep Elem with the likes of Champion Jack Dupree and T-Bone Walker, some deeper/darker blues from Geeshie Wiley and Blind Lemon Jefferson as well. But we’ll also fill the air with the tops in great interpretations from Van Dyke Parks, Willie Watson and Bob Brozman. Join us for some ‘last kind words’ from the Rocky Road Blues to James Alley on a Friday morning in West County.

Mining the archives we find that bad luck and trouble are not a concern as Spring peeks around the corner. Luck is our watchword on this March morning and we’ll try to keep our superstitions in check. We’ll be taking our chances with a themed show today that blends some vocals from past and present and with this being an election year…we need all the luck we can get. Tune in for some Raul Malo, Charley Crockett, Howlin’ Wolf, Judy Garland and a couple dozen others following the theme of ‘Your Lucky Day’. Let us keep you entertained while the rest of the world goes by. Tune us in on your radio at 92.5 FM or, better yet, listen to us anywhere on planet Earth on kowsfm.com/listen. You can change your luck by adopting a cat, you know. And black cats have, despite longstanding superstitions, the best of personalities.

There was some devastating new this past week…nothing new; and certainly, it seems, not in Mississippi. The Mississippi John Hurt Museum, a small sanctuary of tribute located on the Mississippi Blues Trail, burned down last week. While authorities in Carroll County try to determine the cause, we mourn the loss of John Hurt’s home, a small house that had just been given landmark status on the national historical registry just hours before. Join Dave Stroud this week on Deeper Roots as he combines notes from a 2018 tribute to Mississippi John Hurt with some of the news of the day and keep with the sounds of his contemporaries (of which there are few), Taj Mahal, Ben Harper, Chris Smither and Rory Block. All paying tribute with songs of Avalon, Creole Belle, Spike Driver Blues, and Mermaids.  Tune in on Radio Rethink radio or KOWSFM.COM. 

 We’ve got the family trees for you on Deeper Roots this week; proof positive that music can very well run in the family. Our show will share music from just a few of the families that have made their own way in a host of different genres. We’ll hear from the Nelsons (both of them), the family Marsalis, the Hiatts, the Wainwrights, the brothers Neville and a few others this week, spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries. Tune in to this week’s two hour mixed bag with some of the very best performances from some different lineages, here on KOWS Community Radio. 

The bouffant and the beehive…hairstyles with a tease and some backcombing, were all the rage in the sixties. Like pop music, it had a short life before the British wave. Unlike pop music, whose sound endured, the fashion was washed away at the salon in favor of the next big thing. Girl groups set the tone for the harmonious sounds of the time, and our nostalgia cruise will be tooling the AM radio sounds of the very best of the beehive and flip hairstyles of groups like The Shangri-Las, The Paris Sisters, The Angels, Lesley Gore and a couple dozen others in this week’s show. Join Dave for the hits, the misses, and the near misses along with some of the unheard in this week’s episode of Deeper Roots. He’ll also share a number of tracks from an excellent 2018 release from Chicago’s Numero Group featuring some of ‘the others’. Girl groups emerged as a dominant force in the music industry, characterized by harmonious vocals, catchy melodies, and often choreographed performances.

Where else but the heart of Saturday night? We’ve got an eclectic collection of performances that take you ‘there and back’ this Friday morning on Deeper Roots. No theme. No tribute. No genre sweep. Just a collection of some great sounds from the past (and present). Little themes that reach deep and a few awesome covers that you may not be familiar with. We’re making our way to the outskirts of the bayou with Cookie & The Cupcakes and Jo-el Sonnier, then into some gritty blues from Muddy Waters and RL Burnside, and we’ll also have some rollicking country and soul from Big Mama Thornton, Buck Owens, Mickey Baker, and Calvin Boze. Add a dose of Billie Holiday, LaVern Baker, and Tow Waits…and there you have it. Some surprises and some favorites all rolled up on this Friday morning blue plate special.

Good times, bad times…let’s take a theme trip to schooldays past in music this week. Whether you were a product of the fifties, sixties or beyond, you remember your favorite music. We’ll be zooming in on sounds from that era in the show today as we explore the high school theme with topics like ‘lettered sweaters’…what ever happened to those? Or maybe the reminder of the bell or buzzer in the hallways. Or maybe that favorite after school rendezvous spot. We’ll be sharing music that celebrated school and affairs of the young at heart with tracks from The 5 Royals, Johnny Burnette, Gary US Bonds and some other favorites as well as some unknowns from some dusty 45s buried deep in the archives. Namely Nicky & The Nobles, Johnny & The Jammers, and Herbie Alpert & His Sextet. Quite the fun today so drop by.

Country duets have been a hallmark of the genre and this week we’ll spend a couple of hours sampling some old, some new, some sappy and some without peer. From Rose and Buck to George and Tammy, we’ll be spending time with some real down home pairings singing songs of loose talk, booze, suspicion, holding on to what you’ve got and a whole lot more. There’s a range of topics beyond that and most involve cheatin’, lovin’ and fightin’…just what you’d expect from the base. The pairings are not necessarily all husband and wife as we’ve got a few that go beyond that rail like Dwight and Buck, the Hanks, and Waylon and Willie. Tune in Friday morning for a countrified, if not rarified, journey with some classic country duets.

It’s a brand new year! Turn off the TV and tune into community radio for your best time. This year’s news will be one of politics, war, and overall bad behavior from the middling underbelly and radio will at least bring you a brief respite from what ails us. This week’s Deeper Roots will be another free form romp of genre-bending fun with a mix of soul, blues, country, rock and gospel. Tune in for some Norah Jones, Chris Isaak, Tom Petty, and Donna The Buffalo as we take our first steps into 2024. We’ll have a set that features signs and signifiers alongside the encouragement of Sister Mahalia as we keep our hand on the plow, the story telling of Luther’s picking from Johnny Cash, and we’ll also be ‘watching the signals’ with Bullmoose Jackson and Brenton Wood.  Join Dave Stroud on another Friday morning featuring a century of America’s music on Sonoma County Community Radio, KOWS-LP 92.5 Occidental. Streaming all across the world on kowsfm.com/listen.

We’ll look back to 2023 with the indelible sounds of those we lost this past year. There were some losses that cut deep and we intend to pay tribute to each and every one who contributed their artistry to the past century of America’s music. There is hardly room in the two hours we have to touch on all of those, no matter their contribution but we have a couple from across the pond that deserve mentioning among the musicians, songwriters and producers who made their mark. The past century of America’s music has brought talent, wit and wisdom, and the artists’ take on arrangement, delivery, and rhythm. This was another year of profound loss including the likes of the prolific Tony Bennett and Harry Belafonte, the boomer favorites like David Crosby, Jimmy Buffett and Jeff Beck, and the musical geniuses like Burt Bacharach, David Lindley, and Ahmad Jamal. Join us. 

Fats Waller was a master of stride piano, a style that emerged in the early 20th century and became a cornerstone of jazz. His virtuosity in this style influenced countless pianists who came after him. But he is remembered most for his songwriting and the lively and  humorous quality to his performances, incorporating all of these elements into his music. His ability to infuse joy and playfulness into his compositions and improvisations set him apart and made his music accessible to a wide audience. His contributions to the Great American songbook include jazz standards like “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” and “Black and Blue” which have been covered by countless artists over the years. This morning on Deeper Roots, we drop in to revel in the music, humor, warmth and charisma that was Thomas “Fats” Waller.

We revisit the Numero Groups incredible catalog of rare and obscure soul recordings from the 1960s and 1970s called “Eccentric Soul”. This series is a meticulous curation and exercise in unearthing hidden gems in the soul music landscape from old record collections, master tapes, and archives to discover unreleased or overlooked tracks by artists who may not have gained widespread recognition during their time. What sets the “Eccentric Soul” series apart is its emphasis on bringing attention to regional and independent soul labels that operated on a smaller scale, often producing music reflecting the unique local music cultures of their time. Our show digs into a number of releases that showcase a diverse array of sounds, styles, and voices, offering listeners a glimpse into this rich tapestry of American soul music, honoring the best of the day with all the rough edges you’d expect (and desire) with a sincerity of artistry and bald-face emotion.

Jump blues was the precursor to rock, emerging in post-war America. You can count Chuck Berry and Little Richard among those who were heavily influenced by jump blues. This lively and rhythmically driven music genre is characterized by the fusion of elements from jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues with a nod to big band. Urban migration led to this blending of musical styles and seemed to foster a faster and more electrified sound. Our show today zeroes in on some of the most influential performers in the realm of jump blues including Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, Lucky Millinder, and Jimmy Witherspoon. It’s a Friday morning house party once again on KOWS Community Radio’s Deeper Roots with your host Dave Stroud with some bluesy licks, upbeat tempos and joyful vocals.

Sweatin’ with the oldies…that’s all we can say. This week’s Deeper Roots focuses on both the vintage and the contemporary performances by women who took on the rockabilly mantle. While a male-dominated genre, particularly when the boys (and record companies) were chasing the next Elvis, gave us hundreds (thousands?) of gyrating hips and raw rock in the form of pounding piano, thrashing guitar and duck tails, there was barely enough room for the ladies. But we’ve made some room on this morning’s show where we’ll be featuring the likes of Wanda Jackson, Janis Martin, Laura Lee Perkins and a bevy of brash rocking women from the early days of rock ‘n roll. We’ll do our best to balance the show with late breakers of the rockabilly kind:  Kim Lenz, Linda Gail Lewis, Imelda May and Rosie Flores are some of the contemporary sounds we’ll be hearing from on this September morning. Tune in for a wild two hours…guaranteed. 

From those blue shadows on the trail that were only imagined in black and white to the notion of good guys with tall white hats chasing down the bad guys across the expanse of the Alabama Hills where Hollywood carved out a little piece of the West…we’re going to go riding down some musical canyons with some of the great musical cowboys of the silver screen. Fewer of us are around that once followed the serial antics of Gene and Smiley or Roy and Dale on Saturday morning reruns of flickering cowboy ‘mysteries’ where music played a big part of the story. After all, a clean shaven singing cowboy with a scarf, white hat and a twinkle in his eye was much more appealing than what the reality was…I think that’s a safe assumption. Tune in for music from Gene Autry, The Sons of the Pioneers, Rex Allen, Tex Ritter and over a dozen others as Dave Stroud spins the shellacs from the 30s, 40s and 50s…and we might even track down later covers that tip the cap here on KOWS Community Radio. Hope you can join us.