May 31, 2010

Memorial Day Playlist, Black Diamond Show (5/31/10), WNHU, 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT, www.wnhu.net

Today's show started off with the songs I think the station's computer ate last week, then moved on to a Memorial Day tribute to the soldiers who have fought for the USA. (OK, and for the Confederates, too--this is a bluegrass show, after all.) I think we managed to cover the Revolution, the war of 1812, the Civil War (or War Between the States--depending on your point of view), the Spanish American War, World Wars I & 2. I urge you all to remember the soldiers in your family--Chris Brashear's "Lost Soldier Son" from his 2000 "Wanderlust" CD about summed up the emotions many of us feel on this holiday.

Thanks, as always, for your support.

The Playlist

1 Don Stover -- Black Diamond
2 Kenny Baker -- First Day in Town
3 Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys -- I'll Never Love You Again
4 Reed Island Rounders -- George Booker
5 Blue Sky Boys -- Sunny Side of Life
6 Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys (Featuring Paul Warren, Fiddle) -- Durham's Reel
7 Blue Highway -- Wild Urge to Ramble
8 Earl Scruggs, family & friends -- Soldier's Joy
9 Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers -- Last Day at Gettysburg
10 Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, Del McCoury -- When a Soldier Knocks
11 Lost and Found -- My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
12 Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, & Peter Amidon -- Marching Through Georgia
13 Dry Branch Fire Squad -- Faded Coat of Blue
14 John McCutcheon -- Abraham Lincoln Brigade
15 John Hoffman & Mac Benford -- 8th of January
16 Johnny Horton -- Battle of New Orleans
17 The Country Gentlemen -- Two Little Boys
18 Bob Walters -- Jefferson & Liberty
19 Merle Travis -- Re-Enlistment Blues
20 New Lost City Ramblers -- Goober Peas
21 Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, & Ricky Skaggs -- Soldier's Joy
22 The Monroe Brothers -- Where is my sailor boy?
23 Emmylou Harris w/ the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band -- Mary Danced with Soldiers
24 Lilly Brothers & Don Stover -- Forgotten Soldier Boy
25 Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys -- Searching for a Soldier's Grave
26 Reno & Harrell -- Under the Double Eagle
27 Dave Evans & River Bend -- Soldier's Return
28 Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant -- West of Samoa
29 Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys -- Missing in Action
30 Jay Ungar, Yonatin Malin, Jacqueline Schwab, Molly Mason, & Peter Amidon -- When Johnny Comes Marching Home
31 Chris Brasher -- Lost Soldier Son
32 Grandpa Jones -- Old Camp Meeting Time
33 Hubie King & Diane Jones -- Camp Chase
34 Delia Bell & Bill Grant -- Field of Flowers
35 Dailey & Vincent -- Head Hung Down
36 Del McCoury -- I wonder where you are tonight?
37 Dirk Powell -- Prettiest Little Girl in the County
38 Joe Drumright -- Thunderhead
39 Charley Cushman & Randy Howard -- The Star Spangled Banner
40 Don Stover -- Black Diamond

May 24, 2010

Playlist for 5/24 Black Diamond Show: WNHU, 88.7 FM West Haven CT and www.wnhu.net

I understand that the station's computer "ate" part of the show! Thanks very much to Bryan Lane, WNHU station manager, for filling in the dead air with the Louvin Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, and Patty Loveless. Thanks, Bryan.

Anyway, here's the playlist. I know the show played as planned through the Four Wanderers amazing version of "Animals Coming In."

1 Don Stover -- Black Diamond
2 Steep Canyon Rangers -- Hold On
3 Monroe Brothers -- Little Joe
4 Country Cooking -- Huckling the Berries
5 Claire Lynch -- Crazy Train
6 Frank Luther & Carson Robison -- Birmingham Jail
7 Caroline Mountain Band -- Sara Armstron
8 Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys -- Why not confess?
9 Allen Shelton -- Shelton Special
10 Blue Ridge Mountain Boys -- Darling Nelly Across the Sea
11 Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers -- Brand New Broken Heart
12 Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys -- Just Over the Star
13 Big Medicine -- Lone Pilgrim
14 Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers -- The Strawberry Roan
15 Perfect Strangers -- Roll on John
16 Southern Schoolhouse Rascals -- Little Pink
17 Rhonda Vincent -- World's Biggest Fool
18 Hank Williams -- You Caused It All
19 Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder -- Little Maggie
20 Bluegrass Album Band -- Hey Lonesome
21 Joe Val & The New England Bluegrass Boys -- Lonesome Road Blues
22 Hank Thompson -- I cast a lonesome shadow
23 Stanley Brothers -- The Lonesome River
24 Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys -- Live and Let Live
25 Merle Travis -- Tuck me to sleep in my old 'Tucky home
26 Rayna Gellert and Susie Goehring -- Say Darling Say
27 Green Grass Cloggers dancing to Bruce Molsky et al. -- John Brown's Dream
28 Country Gentlemen -- Darling Alalee
29 Ivan Rosenberg -- Split the Switch
30 David Holt -- Fire on the Mountain
31 Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys -- Baby Blue Eyes
32 Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver -- Lonely Street
33 Hot Mud Family -- Cabri Waltz
34 The Four Wanderers -- Animals Comin' In
35 Kenny Baker -- First Day in Town
36 Jim Eames & the Shenandoah Valley Boys -- I'll Never Love You Any More
37 Reed Island Rounders -- George Booker
38 Blue Sky Boys -- Sunny Side of Life
39 Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys featuring Paul Warren -- Durham's Reel
40 Blue Highway -- Wild Urge to Ramble
41 Don Stover -- Black Diamond

May 17, 2010

Playlist for May 17 Black Diamond Show,WNHU,88.7 FM, West Haven, CT, www.wnhu.net

Busy at work today. Not much time to add commentary. However, I gotta admit I like the music on today's show a lot. You can see that at one point I was searching for something with "Brown" in my computer's music database--and before I knew it, about 5 songs had hopped into the playlist. I love the original 1946 version of "Brown's Ferry Blues" by the Delmore Brothers.

As always, thanks for your support of this show and WNHU!

Herewith the playlist!

1 Don Stover -- Black Diamond
2 Tom Rozum -- Sweet Sally Brown
3 Matt Brown (w/ Paul Brown) -- Cookhouse Joe
4 Hylo Brown & The Timberliners -- Weeping Willow
5 Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys -- Stay a Little Longer
6 Benton Flippen & The Smokey Valley Boys -- Step Back Cindy
7 Bluegrass Cardinals -- Carpenter Made of Wood
8 Warrior River Boys -- Never Again
9 Greg Hooven -- Won't Come Until Morning
10 Cherryholmes -- I Can Only Love You So Much
11 Tut Taylor -- California Port of Entry
12 Delia Bell & Bill Grant -- Dreaming
13 Reed Island Rounders -- Hannah at the Springhouse / Abe's Retreat
14 Delmore Brothers -- Brown's Ferry Blues
15 Joe Val & The New England Bluegrass Boys -- Tiny Broken Heart
16 Brown's Ferry Four (Merle Travis, Grandpa Jones, Alton & Rabon Delmore) -- Will the Circle Be Unbroken
17 Joe Newberry -- Sandy Boys
18 Lonesome River Band -- Don't Go Out Tonight, My Darling
19 Wayne Hancock -- Thunderstorms and Neon Signs
20 Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys -- Doin' My Time
21 Boone Creek -- Walking in Jerusalem
22 Bill Monroe & The Original Bluegrass Boys -- Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong
23 Johnson Mountain Boys -- Walls of Time
24 Willie Nelson -- House of Gold
25 Craig Johnson -- Farewell to West Virginia
26 Longview -- Old Log Cabin
27 Hot Club of Cowtown -- I can't tame wild women
28 Foghorn String Band -- Wink the Other Eye
29 Stanley Brothers -- Pig in a Pen
30 Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers -- You Shall Be Free Monah
31 Claire Lynch -- Great Day in the Morning
32 Bluegrass Album Band -- One Tear
33 Alan O'Bryant (and the rest of the Nashville Bluegrass Band) -- Old Timey Risin'
34 Monroe Brothers -- In My Old Southern Home
35 Osborne Brothers & Red Allen -- She's No Angel
36 New Kentucky Colonels (Eric, Clarence, and Roland White w/ Alan Munde) -- Don't Know What it Means to be Lonesome
37 Fred Carpenter & Mark O'Connor -- Tom and Jerry
38 Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys -- When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold
39 Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys -- Dill Pickle Rag
40 Don Stover -- Black Diamond

May 10, 2010

Black Diamond Show "Day After Mother's Day" Playlist for 5/10/10; WNHU, 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT & www.wnhu.net

A bluegrass and country radio show just cannot let Mother's Day pass unnoticed. So about half of the songs and tunes in today's show are either momma songs or dedications to moms that may be out there in the listening audience--well, perhaps cosmically, in one case!

I had fun putting this show together--it just had to start with Larry Sparks singing "Hey Momma, here's a letter from your son"--the start to "John Deere Tractor." And Dry Branch Fire Squad's "Please Mommy Please" had to sneak in there.

I'm sure there are Mother's Day songs I left out--feel free to add a comment about the momma song you want me to play--there's always next year.

Herewith the playlist:

1 Don Stover -- Black Diamond
2 Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers -- John Deere Tractor
3 Big Medicine -- What does the lonesome dove say?
4 Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers -- Wah Hoo
5 Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys -- Mama Blues
6 Blue Highway -- Some Day
7 Merle Travis -- Kinfolks in Carolina
8 Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys -- Little Georgia Rose
9 Hot Club of Cowtown -- Emily
10 Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys -- Martha White Theme
11 Gibson Brothers -- I know whose tears
12 Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys -- Dear Old Mother
13 Michael Hurwitz & The Aimless Drifters -- The Badger Dance
14 Lefty Frizzell -- Mom and Dad's Waltz
15 Stanley Brothers -- A Vision of Mother
16 Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerard -- The sweetest gift, a mother's smile
17 Matt Brown, Beverly Smith, & Paul Brown -- Big Hoedown
18 Kenny Baker & Joe Greene -- Live and Let Live
19 Pete Kirby, Jimmie Fadden, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, & Junior Huskey -- Wabash Cannonball
20 Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice -- Memories of Mother and Dad
21 Seldom Scene -- Mama Tried
22 Fuzzy Mountain Stringband -- Old Mother Flanagan
23 Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys -- Shake My Mother's Hand for Me
24 Longview -- I heard my mother weeping
25 Bob Walters -- Mother's Reel
26 Johnson Mountain Boys -- Mother's voice is in the wind
27 Willie Nelson -- Pistol Packin' Mama
28 Boone Creek -- Gonna Settle Down
29 Dry Branch Fire Squad -- Please Mommy Please
30 Alison Krauss & Union Station -- Momma Cried
31 Sierra Hull & Highway 111 -- Hullarious
32 Alan Jabbour & Ken Perlman -- Boatman
33 Bill Monroe & Doc Watson -- What would you give in exchange for your soul?
34 Dolly Parton -- I'm gonna sleep with one eye open
35 Art Stamper -- Chinqi Pin Hunting
36 Diane Jones & Hubie King -- Singing Birds
37 Perfect Strangers -- Evening Shade
38 Don Stover -- Black Diamond

May 2, 2010

Black Diamond Show Playlist for 5/3/10; WNHU, 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT & www.wnhu.net

I'm expecting May 3 to be a very busy day at work, so I'm posting the playlist the night before the show.

After I got done making the show, I looked back over the play list and saw that over 70% of the songs this week are what I'd consider "Bluegrass"--I think the usual mix is more like 55-60% bluegrass, and 40-45% old-time and old-time country or western swing. But I realized--hey that's OK. Bryan asked me to do a Bluegrass show, so that's what I'm gonna play most of the time! And I think this show is a strong one with lots of variety. We've got brand-new music (a track from the new Willie Nelson CD on Rounder), new bluegrass (e.g., a track from Alecia Nugent's 2009 CD and a track from Sierra Hull's 2008 CD), old bluegrass (the 1955 version of "Feudin' Banjos" that Arthur Smith and Don Reno recorded), and a cross-section of other fun things.

The highlights for me:

  • Blue Highway's extremely tasty version of the old-time modal fiddle tune "Elzic's Farewell"
  • Clayton McMichen & Riley Puckett's original version of "Old Molly Hare"
  • The crowd's reaction to Earl Scruggs playing "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" at a concert in 2007
  • Country Gazette's "Saro Jane," which brings back memories of playing an old record of folk songs when my sibs and I were rugrats--including Saro Jane, naturally!
  • Norman Blake's 1977 version of "Are you from dixie?" (My favorite "cover" of the old Blue Sky Boys song).

Oh heck, I might as well just get to the playlist!

1 Don Stover -- Black Diamond
2 Cherryholmes -- How Long
3 Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, & Del McCoury -- I'll sail my ship alone
4 Alan Munde -- Leather Britches
5 Steep Canyon Rangers -- I'll be long gone
6 Benton Flippen & The Smokey Valley Boys -- June Apple
7 Willie Nelson -- Freight Train Boogie
8 Blue Highway -- Elzic's Farewell
9 Arthur Smith & Don Reno -- Feudin' Banjos
10 Paul Williams & His Victory Trio -- I'm not afraid to cross the river
11 Buzz Busby & Leon Morris -- Me and the Jukebox
12 Alison Krauss & Union Station -- We Hide and Seek
13 Country Gentlemen -- Cowboys and Indians
14 Alecia Nugent -- Wrecking the Train
15 Reed Island Rounders -- The Rainy Day/Paddy on the Turnpike
16 Norman Blake -- Are you from Dixie?
17 Country Gazette -- Saro Jane
18 Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys -- Highway of Sorrow
19 Steve Martin -- Wally on the Run
20 Don Reno & The Tennessee Cut-Ups -- Riverdale Flash
21 J.D. Crowe & The New South -- Rock Salt and Nails
22 Big Medicine -- The Waves on the Sea
23 Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers -- It ain't gonna rain no mo'
24 Hot Rize -- The Man in the Middle
25 Paul Brown -- Shortenin' Bread
26 Jim & Jesse -- My Darling's in Heaven
27 Carl Smith -- If teardrops were pennies
28 Warrior River Boys -- Never Again
29 Delia Bell & Bill Grant -- Don't Let Me Cross Over
30 Sierra Hull & Highway 101 -- If you can tame my heart
31 David Grisman & Tony Rice -- I am a Pilgrim
32 Matt Brown & friends -- Jenny Get Around
33 Clayton McMichen & Riley Puckett -- Old Molly Hare
34 Peter Rowan & Tony Rice -- Sunny Side of the Mountain
35 Earl Scruggs, family & friends -- The Ballad of Jed Clampett
36 The Stanley Brothers -- Wildwood Flower

A note about the May 10 show. Even though it will air the day after Mother's Day, expect a fair number of Momma songs!

The Reed Island Rounders shared some of their CDs with me recently. Thanks, Diane, for your support! And thanks to all of you listeners for your support!