All times listed are Eastern Time
*denotes part of our Roots and Branches series
*American Routes
Ring in the new year with some of our favorite live music. We’ll have a set from New Orleans’ trumpet player, Kermit Ruffins with an all-star Crescent City band featuring vocalist Thais Clark. Lafayette, Louisiana’s Pine Leaf Boys bring rock and roll energy to their own version of traditional Cajun music. Step into a holiday soiree of reels, jigs and waltzes by French fiddlers in Westbrook, Maine. And pull up a set for a club set from singer and banjo player Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders. It’s a festive set of live music that will keep you swinging well into 2009.
Banks of the Ohio – Looking Ahead to 09
George McKnight features artists performing in the upcoming River City Bluegrass Festival as well as Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mtn Boys.
Bluegrass Breakdown – More Reissue Mania
We’ll be starting off the New Year right, by hotly pursuing tunes that have recently resurfaced for the first time in the pristine, snap/crackle/and pop free CD format and/or have been thoughtfully repackaged as part of a larger collection. Dave Evans & River Bend, James King, Jim & Jesse, David Bromberg, Claire Lynch and Bluegrass, Etc. will lead the charge.
NEW PROGRAM: Bluegrass Master Class
Each week on this historical series, one of our expert hosts brings to light the talent, personalities, and music that make up the rich tradition of bluegrass. Learn more about your favorite song or just reminisce. And, don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz!
Bluegrass Review
There’s a lot of great fiddling on today’s show. The Gem of Bluegrass finds a reason why the fiddle is the instrument with the greatest connection to old time music and bluegrass. Later, we talk to Canadian fiddle master, April Verch, and she addresses differences between United States and Canadian traditions. We play some of the fiddlers she suggested from two of Canada’s fiddling sub styles. Plus, we find time for a few more songs from the Tom Paxton bluegrass songbook. Visit the home page of BluegrassReview.com for playlists. To contact host Phil Nusbaum, the email address is pnusbaum@bitstream.net or visit Phil’s blog: Culture11, where bluegrass people discuss bluegrass.
Bluegrass Signal - Across the Tracks (New Releases)
A survey of new releases, including ones featuring banjo players (Earl Scruggs, Kristin Scott Benson, Alan Munde), songwriters (Carol Elizabeth Jones, Chris Stuart, Robin & Linda Williams, Town Mountain), interpreters (Carol Elizabeth Jones [again], David Parmley, Valerie Smith & Becky Buller, Wes Miller), and songs suitable for New Year’s resolutions (Tenbrooks, Ernie Thacker, Ernest V/ Stoneman).
*The Dick Spottswood Show
Jimmy Martin and Cousin Wilbur sing tenor to Bill Monroe,and there’s more great vocal harmony from the Stanleys, Osbornes (with Red Allen), Jimmie (no relation) Osborne, and the great Silver Leaf Quartette. Country meets Cajun with Hank Williams, Buck Owens, Papa Cairo and Dennis McGee. Too many banjos? No such thing! The Osbornes return in the second hour with double banjos, as do a couple of minstrel men from 1897. The Dixieland Jug Blowers and a ragtime banjo band from the Philippines sport even more. It’s mid-winter, and Obsolete Music knows how to turn up the heat.
*etown
This encore airing features two young songwriters and singers. Matt Nathanson, a talented musician and conversational ‘free-spirit’ with a marvelously gregarious stage presence, pays a visit to Etown. He plays some stripped down versions of recent hit songs, accompanied in exceptional style by Nick & Helen Forster and the Etones. We also welcome Ian Ball of the successful British rock trio, Gomez, who offers his own blend of Brit-pop tunes. Plus, we’ll share a moving E-Chievement Award story with you, too, right here in Etown.
The Free for All is moving to Wednesday, 6-9 p.m.
Beginning January 7, Echo hosts the program solo, drops the Friday Night prefix and is LIVE right after The Ray Davis Show. She’ll be playing lots of traditional bluegrass in the first hour, and a mix of Americana and bluegrass in the next two hours.
Foster’s Corner Sunday 3 a.m. (1/4)
The Bill Miller Show Tuesday 12 p.m. , Thursday 12 a.m., Sunday 3 a.m. (1/11)
The Gary Henderson Show Saturday 8-11 a.m. LIVE, Monday 12 p.m., Friday 12 a.m.
The Katy Daley Show Monday-Friday 7-10 a.m. ET LIVE
The Lee Michael Demsey Show Saturday 11a.m.-2p.m., Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-12 p.m. ET LIVE,
Lonesome Pine RFD with Carol Beaugard, Mon. 12 a.m., Wed. 9 p.m.
*Mountain Stage
Featuring Cherryholmes, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Claire Lynch Band, Kane Welch Kaplin and, Bare Bones. Playlist.
Music from Foggy Hollow
This week, Mike Kear responds to a challenge from a listener in Maryland that there aren’t many bluegrass love songs. So he’s devoted the whole week’s show to bluegrass love songs. There are some soggy moments, some soppy moments, some fun moments. Plus the regular segment from Sao Paulo, Brazil and a lot of fun and entertainment. It’s another packed show and you’d be a wombat if you missed it.
Open Mic
Top 40 Bluegrass Countdown – Lee Michael Demsey reviews the top 40 Bluegrass songs of 2008. No hints on what’s the most popular song of the year, but if you follow Bluegrass Unlimited charts, which Lee has been compiling since April 1990, you might have an idea of how the list will shake out.
Old Time Jam
Hubie King introduces two CDs: “Burnin’ it Down” – brand new banjo and fiddle duets by Tim and Dave Bing, and an album by “The Mysterious Redbirds” featuring Tom Paley, a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, on banjo, with guitar by James Reams and fiddle by Bill Christopherson. This solves the “mystery” of “whatever happened to Tom Paley?” A wide variety of other artists flesh out the program, including Riley Baugus, Laura Boosinger, Paul Brown, Reed Martin and many more.
The Ray Davis Show Mon-Fri 3-6p.m., Sunday 10am-1p, LIVE
Special Programming
The Free For All is moving to Wednesdays! Beginning in January, Echo hosts the program solo, drops the Friday Night prefix and is LIVE right after The Ray Davis Show. She’ll be playing lots of traditional bluegrass in the first hour, and a mix of Americana and bluegrass in the next two hours. To give you a taste of the programming Echo has to offer we’ll hear an hour of The Free For All during this week’s Special Programming.
LIVE Stained Glass Bluegrass Hosted by Bob Webster
We’ll kick off the new year with some humor by Wendy Bagwell and his 1969 story of “Here Come the Rattlesnakes” that hasn’t been aired on Stained Glass Bluegrass in over two years. Lots of old traditional favorites are featured as well as a special arrangement of “Near the Cross” to close the old hymns portion of the program that begins our third hour.
*Thistle and Shamrock – Cara Dillon
Her voice has mesmerized audiences in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America and Cara Dillon has won many accolades for her recordings, including two prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Meet this great singer from County Derry and share her infectious passion for the songs of her homeland.
LIVE *Traditions with Mary Cliff, Saturday 2-6 p.m.
