Dr. Ralph and Modern Technology

From the October 15th New York Times Magazine:

The first person on stage was Ralph Stanley, the 81-year-old legendary bluegrass musician, who was born in nearby Stratton and makes his home in Dickenson County. He unfolded a piece of paper and read, in a shaky voice: “I want to endorse Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Thank you very much!” The gymnasium exploded. (When the candidate met Stanley backstage, Obama told him that he had some of Stanley’s banjo music on his iPod. Stanley nodded appreciatively, but a few minutes later he turned to a friend and asked, “What’s an iPod?”)

(Thanks to Danny Shameer of Little Rock, Arkansas, for bringing this to my attention.)

Playlist: Womenfolk (November 9, 2008)

Today we played music in honor of Veteran's Day, gave away tickets to see Joan Baez and had a nice little chat with Lojo Russo, who will be returning to the Twin Cities this Friday for a CD release concert at the Acadia Cafe. If you missed the show, you can listen here. As you'll see, there are now two ways to hear KFAI's archived shows--via MP3 stream and real audio. Check it out!

Next Sunday, Mary Everest will be my guest, playing live and talking about a special benefit event at the 331 Club...Hope you can tune in for it!

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WOMENFOLK (November 9, 2008)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley.
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


The Lonesome Sisters / Rain and Snow / The Lonesome Sisters with Riley Baugus / Tin Halo Music
*Roma di Luna / The Romance of Wolves / Casting the Bones / Self


*Lucy Kaplansky / Over the Hills / Our Side of Town: A Red House Records 25th Anniversary Collection / Red House
The Wailin' Jennys / Glory Bound / Firecracker / Red House
*Dar Williams / Troubled Times / Promised Land / Razor & Tie


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Emily Kurn / Far Away / I’m Just Like You / Self
Rachel Ries / Chicago / Without a Bird / Self


Cowboy Junkies / Two Soldiers / Early 21st Century Blues / Latent Recordings
Natalie Merchant / Soldier, Soldier / The House Carpenter’s Daughter / Myth America
Nerissa & Katryna Nields / The Soldier at Your Door / Sister Holler / Mercy House
Eliza Gilkyson / Jedidiah 1777 / Paradise Hotel / Red House


[Behind Twin Cities Women’s Calendar]
Rayna Gellert / Ducks of the Millpond / Ways of the World / Self
Rayna Gellert / Old Yeller Dog Come Trottin Through the Meetinghouse / Ways of the World / Self
Rayna Gellert / Cotton-Eyed Joe / Ways of the World / Self


Rayna Gellert / Ways of the World / Ways of the World / Self
Adrienne Young / Soldier’s Joy / Plow to the End of the Row / AddieBelle


*Kate MacKenzie / Past the Point of Rescue / Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective / Red House
Linda & Robin Williams / 50,000 Names / Radio Songs / Red House
Iris DeMent / There’s a Wall in Washington / The Way I Should / Warner Bros.


*Joan Baez / Requiem / Day After Tomorrow / Razor & Tie
*Meg Hutchinson / Song for Jeffrey Lucey / Come Up Full / Red House


Ollabelle / Troubles of the World / Riverside Battle Songs / Verve
*Rachel Kilgour / Cheap Grace / Music to Life: Finalist Showcase 2008/2009 / Public Domain Foundation
*Lojo Russo / 13 / Little White Box / Self

[Live Interview with Lojo Russo]

*Lojo Russo / Full Moon Morning / Little White Box / Self

Playlist: The Moonshine Show - 9 November 2008

On this morning's show, we started off with a set of gospel, and then transitioned into an old-time set through some classic bluegrass. Then I had a great time playing some early 1970s recordings of Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys featuring Roy Lee Centers on the lead vocals (and sometimes John Duffey on the high baritone harmonies!) -- these were classic recordings and made me want to play a bunch more! I also included a set of songs for Veteran's Day, including the distinctly not-bluegrass-or-old-time "Veteran's Day" by Tom Russell.

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The Moonshine Show - 89.9 WKCR-FM, NYC
Sunday 9 November 2008 - 10 a.m. to Noon
Host: Matt Winters

Nashville Bluegrass Band; "Gospel Plow"; _To Be His Child_ (Rounder LP)

Jimmy Murphy; "Electricity"; _Electricity_ (Sugar Hill)

Paul Williams and the Victory Trio; "Stay by the Brook"; _Old Ways & Old Paths_ (Rebel)

Wildwood Valley Boys; "I'm a Believer"; _I'm a Believer_ (Rebel)

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Hylo Brown; "Blue Eyed Darling"; _Hylo Brown_ (LP)

Jimmy Martin; "Steal Away Somewhere and Die"; _The King of Bluegrass_ (Audium)

The Boys from Indiana; "My Night to Howl"; _Good Time Blues_ (Rebel)

Benny Martin (with John Hartford); "Hillman"; _The 'Big Tiger' Roars Again (Part 2)_ (OMS)

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Bob Carlin and John Hartford; "Dry and Dusty"; _The Fun of Open Discussion_ (Rounder)

Matt Brown; "Shady Grove"; _Falls of Richmond_ (5-String)

Ginny Hawker; "You Don't Tell Me That You Love Me Anymore"; _Letters from My Father_ (Rounder)

Molly & Jack Tuttle; "The Old Apple Tree"; _The Old Apple Tree_ (self-released)

Crooked Still; "Orphan Girl"; _Hop High_ (Signature Sounds)

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[Roy Lee Centers - 8 November 1944 - 2 May 1974]

Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "Take Your Shoes Off Moses"; _Cry from the Cross_ (Rebel LP)

Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "All I Ever Loved was You"; _...Play Requests_ (Rebel LP)

Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "Lord I've Been Walking"; _Old Country Church_ (Rebel LP)

Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "Lonesome River"; _A Man and His Music_ (Rebel LP)

Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "The Fields Have Turned Brown"; _I Want to Preach the Gospel_ (Rebel LP)

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James King; "Roy Lee"; _Thirty Years of Farming_ (Rounder)

Jack Cooke; "Gotta Travel On"; _Sittin' on Top of the World_ (Pinecastle)

Red Allen & Frank Wakefield; "Sad and Lonesome Day," "I Don't Believe You'd Do Me Wrong"; _Keep on Goin': The Rebel and Melodeon Recordings_ (Rebel)

Aubrey Haynie; "Buckner's Breakdown"; _The Bluegrass Fiddle Album_ (Sugar Hill)

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Blue Highway; "Homeless Man"; _Through the Window of a Train_ (Rounder)

Bob Paisley and the Southern Grass; "Margie"; _Live in Holland_ (Strictly Country)

Dave Evans and River Bend; "Soldier's Return"; _The Best of the Vetco Years_ (Rebel)

Tom Russell Band; "Veteran's Day"; _Poor Man's Dream_ (Rounder)

Rhonda Vincent; "God Bless the Soldier"; _All American Bluegrass Girl_ (Rounder)

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Jon Sholle; "E B A"; _Catfish for Supper_ (Rounder)

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Northern Lights; "Northern Rail"; _Take You to the Sky_ (Flying Fish)

Sam Bush; "Bananas"; _King of My World_ (Sugar Hill)

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King Wilkie; "President Garfield's Hornpipe"; _True Songs_ (self-released)

Richard Shindell on Election Night

From the latest Richard Shindell newsletter:

I spent election night in Harlem. Here's a cell-phone pic I took (sorry about the quality). I think it pretty much captures the mood on 125th street that night.

Well, if only I had known! He just never calls...

Playlist: Womenfolk (November 2, 2008)

This Sunday we welcomed members of Mila Vocal Ensemble into the studio to talk about their music and give a sneak peak of their fabulous performance that as part KFAI's monthly Womenfolk concert series at Gethsemane Church. Also, we played songs to prep you for Election Day.

Next Sunday tune in for a live interview with Lojo Russo, who returns to the Twin Cities for a CD release show on November 14th!

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WOMENFOLK (November 2, 2008)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley.
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


*Tracy Chapman / Sing for You / Our Bright Future / Atlantic
Joan Baez / Jerusalem / Bowery Songs / Koch


*Kate Campbell / Save the Day / Save the Day / Large River Music
*Eliza Gilkyson / Great Correction / Beautiful World / Red House


Julie Lee / Change Is Gonna Come / Take Me Out to Hear the Band / Self


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Emily Kurn / I’m Just Like You / I’m Just Like You / Self
Anais Mitchell / Before the Eyes of Storytelling Girls / Hymns for the Exiled / Waterbug


Suzzy & Maggie Roche / Who Cares / These Times We’re Living In / Red House
Tracy Grammer / Hey Ho / Flower of Avalon / Signature Sounds
Kate MacDonnell / Mercy / Where the Mangoes Are / Appleseed
Ani Difranco / ‘Tis of Thee / Up Up Up Up Up Up / Righteous Babe


[Behind Twin Cities Women’s Calendar]
Karen Mueller / 30-Year Jig / Still Point / Self


Karen Mueller / Music for a Found Harmonium / Still Point / Self
*Maria Dunn / Tell Her I Was Brave / The Peddler / Self


[Live in the Studio: Mila Vocal Ensemble]
Mila Vocal Ensemble / Zeleneye zhyto / Leb I Sol / Self
Mila Vocal Ensemble / Nyilik az egnek / Leb I Sol / Self
Mila Vocal Ensemble / Lepi Juro / Leb I Sol / Self
Mila Vocal Ensemble / Zamrukhnala e mari hubava Jana / Leb I Sol / Self


*Sara Thomsen / Todo Cambia / Everything Changes / Self
*Nikki and the RueMates / I Can't Be Satisfied / We All Live Together / Self


*Maria Muldaur / Yes We Can, Can / Yes We Can! / Telarc
*Mavis Staples / For What It's Worth / Live: Hope at the Hideout / Anti-

Playlist: Womenfolk (October 26, 2008)

Much delayed, here is my playlist from a few weeks ago...

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WOMENFOLK (October 26, 2008)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley.
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


*Alison Rae / Birds / Road Trip: American Singer Songwriters / Feed Them With Music
*Audrey Auld Mezera / Last Seen in Gainesville / Burnside Distribution Folk Sampler / Burnside Distribution


*Jonatha Brooke / My Sweet and Bitter Bowl / The Works / Bad Dog Records
*Eliza Gilkyson / Pastures of Plenty / Ribbon of Highway Endless Skyway: The Woody Guthrie Tribute Tour / Music Road


*Pieta Brown / In My Mind I Was Talkin’ to Loretta / Remember the Sun / One Little Indian
*Emmylou Harris / Broken Man’s Lament / All I Intended to Be / Nonesuch


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Natalia Zukerman / The Last Few Miles / Brand New Frame / Weasel Records
*Meg Hutchinson / Come Up Full / Come Up Full / Red House
*Ellis / How Would It Be / Break the Spell / Rubberneck Records


*Valerie Smith & Becky Buller / Heart of the House / Here's a Little Song... / BellBuckle Records
Cherryholmes / Cherryholmes II: You Don't Know What Love Is / Black and White / Skaggs Family Records
*Crooked Still / Undone in Sorrow / Still Crooked / Signature Sounds


[Behind Twin Cities Women’s Calendar]
Karen Mueller / Farewell to Whisky / Clarity / Self
Karen Mueller / Sandy River Belle/Cherokee Shuffle / Clarity / Self


*The Belleville Outfit / It’s a Good Day / Wanderin’ / Self
Erin McKeown / Melody / Melody / Sing You Sinners / Nettwerk
Memphis Minnie / Me and My Chauffeur Blues / Folk, Gospel & Blues: Will the Circle Be Unbroken / Columbia
Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem / Limo to Memphis / Cocktail Swing / Signature Sounds


Eva Cassidy / Autumn Leaves / Songbird / Blix Street
*Catherine MacLellan / Stronger / Church Bell Blues / True North
Thea Ennen & The Algorhythms / Poor Doe / Hold Back the Sun / Atomic Theory


*Abbie Gardner & Anthony da Costa / Red Barn / Bad Nights/Better Days / Self
*Lojo Russo / Full Moon Morning / Little White Box / Self
Tracy Grammer / The Verdant Mile / The Verdant Mile / Self


Mila Vocal Ensemble / Polegala trava detela / Leb I Sol / Self
Madrigaia / Um canto de afoxe para o Bloco do Ile - Ile Aye / Pleiades / Self

The Next Hit Musical in Nairobi

See the BBC story.

(From Chris Blattman's blog.)

Dailey & Vincent

Entertainer of the Year. Album of the Year. Vocal Group of the Year. Emerging Artist of the Year. Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year. Male Vocalist of the Year. These were the awards picked up my Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent at the International Bluegrass Music Association's 2008 Awards Ceremony. And Darrin Vincent shared in one other one, as well, such that the two members of the band walked off with an unprecedented seven IBMA awards. Well deserved, I say.

When the Dailey & Vincent CD arrived in my mailbox at WKCR, I couldn't wait to take a listen to it. I consistently had enjoyed Jamie Dailey's work with Doyle Lawson -- he was a member of Quicksilver for nine years -- and I had found Darrin Vincent to be an underused element of Ricky Skagg's Kentucky Thunder -- he played some light archtop rhythm guitar and added harmony vocals in that ensemble for almost 10 years without ever really getting to step out of the shadows (and sometimes quite literally being hidden behind the rest of the band). And now they had united together to record a CD for Rounder.

The album opens with a blast of classic (but largely unknown) bluegrass in the form of Al Wood's song "Sweet Carrie." Originally recorded in 1973, Dailey and Vincent fire this one up with help from Joe Dean on banjo and Andy Leftwich (from Kentucky Thunder) on fiddle. The song just has all of the right elements: a blistering banjo lead-in; a trifecta of thematic lyrical elements (railroads, an inspiring woman and a mean boss); a hot fiddle solo; and beautiful harmony vocals on the chorus. Many of these elements come around again on "Poor Boy Working Blues," a song that Jamie Dailey wrote and first recorded with Doyle Lawson on the Hard Game of Love CD. I loved it there, and I love it again on the Dailey & Vincent disc. The song leads with unaccompanied harmony vocals -- then the blistering banjo kicks right in.

The award for Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year was given for Dailey & Vincent's treatment of the great Gillian Welch and David Rawling's song "By the Mark." When I first listened to the CD, I found the singing on this one to be a bit too nasally -- and I still think that -- but since it won the award, I've given it a few more listens, and I think it's a terrific song, and I'm pleased that it will get some additional attention from their recording of it.

"By the Mark" is sung in a classic brother duet style -- a la the Monroe Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys or the Delmore Brothers -- with a lead part (Jamie Dailey) and a high tenor harmony (Darrin Vincent) and guitar (Jamie Dailey) and mandolin (Darrin Vincent) accompaniment. This style returns on the Jamie Dailey/Doyle Lawson gospel composition "My Savior Walks with Me Today" and then the Ronnie Bowman co-authored "Music of the Mountains." The former is a straight-ahead gospel number where Darrin takes the lead. They maybe take it a hair too fast, but the harmonies are spot on. The latter is a nostalgic and folky little ditty.

The other winner from the disc is "Don't You Call My Name." Recorded before by Del McCoury and the Johnson Mountain Boys, this is a typical bluegrass cheatin' song where the spurned lover now rejects the unfaithful partner:

Don't you call my name
'cause I won't answer.
Don't you call my name
'cause I won't be there.
You cheated on me, dear,
For your last time.
Don't you call my name
'cause I don't care.

Stuart Duncan is the fiddler on this one, and Joe Dean again plays a solid banjo part.

The last great duet supergroup was perhaps the Dudley Connell and Don Rigsby union. Their first disc was excellent, but they they slipped a little bit on the follow-up. Let's hope that Dailey and Vincent can avoid that sophomore slump and keep the great albums coming!

Musica Mexicana en Falls Church, Virginia

I knew it was going to be a good show at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, last night from the second that we walked in the door. I'm used to rock 'n' roll shows in New York where crowd members stand still with slouching postures and slightly cocked heads, acknowledging the presence of a band playing music through the direction of their eyes but rarely with any real movement -- perhaps a tap of the foot at some point. Inside of the State Theatre, people were dancing (some of them rather elaborately) and jumping up and down and throwing their hands in the air and clapping loudly at the end of songs -- and this was only the pre-show house music coming through the PA.

When the main attraction -- and the only attraction, since there was no opening act -- took the stage, the pre-show fun turned into fervor. This crowd -- ranging from those just making the 18-and-over cut-off to a good number of thirtysomethings -- was here to show its love and respect for Mexican rockers Café Tacuba. It was one of those shows where the crowd sings along with more songs than not, screams within the first bar of a song, jumps up-and-down with hands in the air and grooves along as one organic whole.

I knew pretty much zero about this band before going to see them. My first and lasting impressions was how delightfully derivative they are. The Who was clearly a big influence with direct rips from "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," and one song -- "Chilanga Banda," I believe -- that had a Lou Reed "Walk on the Wild Side" kind of thing going on, as lead singer Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega (whose name apparently changes for every new album and new world tour) riffed in Mexican slang over a two-note bass line with a slight rise in the chorus. And then Thomas Dolby kept coming to mind -- "She Blinded Me with Science," remember? -- both because of the way the band looked (bassist Enrique Rangel Arroyo with his Eraserhead hairdo and keyboardist Emmanuel del Real Díaz with his sweater vest and distinguished-looking goatee) and because of their heavy use of the Roland synthesizer and various sequenced rhythms. All of these flashback moments just made the band more fun for me to watch, as I got to soak in the live sounds of the 1980s in a way that I never have before and in a very alive way as well.

The band had a terrific light show -- small light curtains in front of the risers on which the drums and keyboards were located and then a large screen in back. The light screen took some of its visual cues from U2's light shows over the years, it seemed (e.g. a pencil drawing of a boombox rotating on a field of fluorescent green); it was extremely well done -- the lights were well-timed with the songs -- and added a lot to the entertainment.

And in general, this was a band that aimed to entertain. Lead singer Cosme was all over the stage, pointing his finger at people in the audience, inviting a gaggle of young women to join him on stage (which quite possibly was more entertaining for him than for the majority of the crowd), and smiling widely (and honestly, I think) at the crowd's reactions to the performances. Keyboardist Meme would come to the front of the stage -- often with the sequencer running -- pick up a guitar and rock out. During the encore, he led the crowd in a call-and-response vocal pattern. At one point, all four members of the band came to the front of the stage -- with the drummer still pounding on the skins -- and performed a rather endearing and pretty hilarious dance routine, also straight out of the early 1980s.

Seeing this show was not what I expected out of this weekend in D.C., which began with a Hindu wedding in Maryland and also included political canvsassing in Fairfax County, but it will be a lasting memory from it, and I would see these guys again in a heartbeat.

Playlist: The Moonshine Show - 2 November 2008

This week, I listened to the Moonshine Show rather than hosting it. I was down in Virginia, pounding the pavement in advance of the election, and so WKCR's American Director David Seidenberg and our Moonshine show intern Jeff Kandel took the helm. They played a bunch of classic Flatt and Scruggs material for the first half of the show and then opened the doors to some other bluegrass greats in the second half. Whenever David hosts the show, I always get e-mails from listeners, saying, "Great show today, Matt!" and I have to fess up that it wasn't me hosting the show. So kudos and thanks to David and Jeff for a good one in my absence.

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The Moonshine Show - 89.9 WKCR-FM, NYC
Sunday 2 November 2008 - 10 a.m. to Noon
Hosts: David Seidenberg and Jeff Kandel

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs; "Kay Hill," "Dim LIghts Thick Smoke,"
"Preachin', Prayin', Singin'," "I'm Head Over Heels in Love with You,"
"A Purple Heart," "I Heard My Mother Call My Name in Prayer," "Grey
Eagle," "Salty Dog Blues," "I Have Found the Way," "Lover's
Lane";_Martha White Biscuit Time_(Radio Gems No. 1)

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Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs; "Pick Along," "Nothing to it,"
"Evelina," "Jazzing," "Liberty," "Tammy's Song"; _With Doc Watson,
Strictly Instrumental_ (Columbia)

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Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs; "Why Did You Wander?" "Thinking About
You," "I'm Gonna Settle Down," "You're Not a Drop in the Bucket,"
"Foggy Mountain Special," "Reunion in Heaven"; _Don't Get Above Your
Raisin'_ (Rounder)

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Red Allen; "Little Maggie"_ Folkways Years 1964-1983_ (Smithsonian Folkways)

Red Allen; "Froggy Went a Countin'"; "Sad and Lonesome"; _Keep on Going_ (Rebel)

Jim and Jesse; "Maidens Prayer," "Remington Ride," "Fireball Express";
_The All Time Great Country Instrumentals_(Epic)

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Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "Little Glass of WIne,"
"Let Me Be Your Friend"; _The Columbia Sessions 1949-1950_ (Rounder)

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; "Earl's Breakdown," "Orange Blossom
Special"; _Will the Circle Be Unbroken_ (United Artists)

Doc Watson; "Wabash Cannonball," "When the Work's all Done this Fall,"
"Little Sadie"; _On Stage_ (Vanguard)

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Country Gentleman; "Weeping WIllow"; _Country Songs, Old and New_
(Smithsonian Folkways)

Country Gentleman; "Brown Mountain Light," "Matterhorn," "Amelia
Earhart's Last Flight"; _Can't You Hear Me Calling_ (Rebel)

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The Seldom Scene; "The Fields Have Turned Brown," "Hit Parade of
Love"; _Live at the Cellar Door_ (Rebel)