November 24 – December 7: Forty years ago Dick Spottswood first walked in the door at WAMU with an armload of pre-digital-era records to begin a new show called Bluegrass Unlimited. In 1967, Lester and Earl were still a team, and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” accompanied Bonnie and Clyde as they shot up the Mid-West countryside in the Warren Beatty film. The forces of tradition and modernity were at war, and bluegrass was systematically exiled from country radio playlists in favor of a crossover hybrid called “countrypolitan.” When WAMU chose to provide a bluegrass sanctuary, thousands of area fans embraced public radio. Listen during the Open Mic timeslot.
