December 26, 2011

Black Diamond Show Playlist: 12/26/11 - Hank Williams and more

Since Hank Williams passed away in the back seat of a car New Year's Eve 1952/New Year's Day 1953, I'll try to do a Hank Williams show each year on the show prior to New Year's. I freely admit I stole the idea for a Hank Williams show from John Lupton, a DJ at WVUD, Newark DE. John's show happens every year about 9am on New Year's Day morning. Check it out.

It is amazing what an impact Hank has had on American music. Over 125 compositions. Sales that helped bring country music more and more into the mainstream. Today's show feature some of Hank's music in every half-hour--but other music, too!

If the show piques your interest in Hank Williams, here are some links to more information.

This is the last week (Th 12/29) that the Thursday repeat of the Black Diamond Show will air at 10pm EST on the WNHU2 stream at wnhu.net. Starting in January, the repeat broadcast will be 6-8pm on Thursdays. Yup, starting next week: Monday lunch time or Thursday dinner time.

On to the playlist!

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Comment
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Hank Williams / I’ll be a Bachelor ‘Til I Die / The Complete Hank Williams / Mercury Nashville / 1948, 1998
  • Nashville Bluegrass Band / Rockin’ Chair Money / Twenty Year Blues / Sugar Hill / 2004
  • Waylon Jennings / I Won’t Be Home No More / Waylon Sings Hank Williams / YMC / 1985, 2006
  • Dierks Bentley / A House of Gold / How Great Thou Art, Gospel Favorites Live from the Grand Ole Opry / RCA Nashville / 2008
  • The Improbabillies / Yew Piney Mountain / The Improbabillies / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2007
  • Blue Highway / I Ain’t Gonna Lay My Hammer Down / Sounds of Home / Rounder / 2011
  • April Verch / Five Miles from Town / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011
  • Hank Williams / I Can’t Get You Off Of My Mind / Health & Happiness Shows / Mercury Nashville / 1949, 1993
  • The Brown’s Ferry Four / Over in Gloryland / Merle Travis: Hot Pickin’ / Proper / 1946, 2003
  • Mountain Heart / Little Sadie / That Just Happened / MH Music / 2010
  • Hank Williams / On the Banks of the Old Pontchartain / Turn Back the Years / Mercury Nashville / 1947, 2005
  • Katie Wilson / Beacon / Katie Wilson / self / 2009
  • Josh Williams / Blue Railroad Train / Down Home / Rounder / 2008, 2011
  • Paul Williams & His Victory Trio / I’m Longing for Home / Just a Little Closer Home / Rebel / 2010
  • Cahelen Morrison & Eli West / Fleeting Like the Days / The Holy Coming of the Storm / self / 2011
  • Scott Anderson / Minor Swing / Tales from the Swamp / Mato / 2011
  • Hank Williams / The Log Train / The Original Singles Collection. . . Plus / Mercury Nashville / 1952, 1990
  • Travers Chandler & Avery County / Black Dust Fever / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010
  • Hank Williams / Dear John / Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings / Time-Life / 1951, 2008 / A fun alternate take!
  • Randy Morrison & The Flatt River Band / Good Ole Bluegrass for Fun / North to Ontario / Coot Music / 2010
  • The Honey Dewdrops / That Good Old Way / These Old Roots / self / 2010
  • Wayne Hancock / Brother Music, Sister Rhythm / Tulsa / Bloodshot / 2006
  • The Monroe Brothers / My Long Journey Home / Feast Here Tonight / RCA Bluebird / 1936, 1975
  • The Stanley Brothers / It’s Raining Here This Morning / The Best of the Stanley Brothers / Starday / c. 1960, 1975
  • Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / I’m Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open / The Golden Era / Rounder / 1955, 1977
  • Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / She Left Me Standing on the Mountain / Y’all Come, the Essential Jim & Jesse / Sony BMG / 1963, 1998
  • Hank Williams III / I’m a Long Gone Daddy / Hank Williams: Timeless / Lost Highway / 2001
  • Brandon Rickman / Dime Store Rings / Young Man, Old Soul / Rural Rhythm / 2009
  • Kathy Mattea / Love at the Five and Dime / Walk the Way the Wind Blows / Mercury / 1985 / Singing with Don Williams
  • Hank Williams / Move it on Over / 40 Greatest Hits / Polydor / 1947, 1978
  • Charlie Sizemore / I Don’t Remember Loving You / Heartache Looking For a Home / Rebel / 2011
  • Vishten / Reel du Perdu / Vishten Live / Sandbar Music / 2008
  • Bearfoot / Come Get Your Lonesome / American Story / Compass / 2011
  • Jerry Rivers & The Hank Williams Band / Sally Goodin’ / Health & Happiness Shows / Mercury Nashville / 1949, 1993
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

December 18, 2011

Black Diamond Show: Playlist for December 19 & 22

This week's show is, as you'd expect, a holiday-themed show. And I've updated the concert listing (in the right hand column) with info deep into 2012. Email me to have other events added to the list.

Reminder: Starting in January 2012, the repeat time will change to Thursdays at 6pm.

Here's the playlist!

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Comment
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Terry Lawrence / All Wrapped Up in Christmas / All Wrapped Up in Christmas / Lawrence Music Group / 2011
  • Rhonda Vincent / Winter Wonderland / Beautiful Star / Rounder / 2005
  • James King / Call Collect on Christmas / O Christmas Tree, A Bluegrass Collection for the Holidays / Rounder / 2002
  • Frank & Barbara Shaw / Every Day is Christmas / Playing With Friends / Shaw Family / 2012 (upcoming)
  • Earl Scruggs / Jingle Bells / A Very Special Acoustic Christmas / Lost Highway / 2003
  • Lonesome River Band / All I Want is Mary for Christmas / Tinsel Tunes / Sugar Hill / 2007
  • Joe Newberry / On this Christmas Day / Two Hands / 5-String Productions / 2005
  • Sonny Isaacs / Mary, Did You Know? / Christmas Grass Too / Koch / 2007
  • Bryan Sutton / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / Christmas Grass Too / Koch / 2007
  • Jessie Lee Campbell / Frosty the Snowman / Mountain Top Bluegrass Christmas / Madacy Christian / 2006
  • Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum / The Snowy Road / Winter’s Grace / Signature Sounds / 1999
  • John McCutcheon / Christmas in the Trenches / Water from Another Time / Rounder / 1988
  • Matan Ariel & Friends / Maoz Zur / Hanukkah Songs - Songs in Hebrew for Children & Toddlers / self / 2003
  • Critton Hollow String Band / Going Back to Israel / The Dulcimer Collection / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 1983, 2002
  • Bill Clifton /You Go To Your Church / The Early Years 1957-58 / Rounder / 1957, 2011
  • Poppa’s Kitchen / Burning Flame / A Rockin' Hanukkah / self / 2006
  • Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road / Christmas in Carolina / Christmas in Carolina / Blue Circle / 2008
  • Dirk Powell / King Wenceslaus / A Fret-Free Christmas / Valcour / 2010
  • Asleep at the Wheel / Xmas in Jail / Merry Texas Christmas Y' All / High, Windham Hill / 1997
  • Riley Puckett / Santa Fe Folks Festival / Country Music Pioneer / JSP / 1936, 2011
  • Russell Moore / Christmas is Near / Christmas Grass Too / Koch / 2007
  • Tim & Mollie O’Brien / Christ was born in Bethlehem / Sugar Plums / Sugar Hill / 1993
  • Austin Lounge Lizards / Xmas Time for Visa / The Drugs I Need / Blue Corn Music / 2006
  • Fiddlin’ John Carson / Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over / Back Roads to Cold Mountain / Smithsonian Folkways / 1927, 2004
  • Tracy Lawrence / Cold Beer / All Wrapped Up in Christmas / Lawrence Music Group / 2011
  • Steve Spurgin / Song for a Winter’s Night / Past Perfect / Blue Night / 2011
  • Woody Guthrie / Hanukkah Dance / The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1-4 / Smithsonian Flokways / c. 1945 , 1999
  • Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Left Out In The Cold / Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Fiddlemon Music / 2010
  • Patty Loveless / Bluegrass, White Snow / Bluegrass & White Snow, A Mountain Christmas / SBME / 2010
  • Donna Ulisse / You Cannot Stay Here / Holiday Single / Hadley Music Group / 2011
  • Darrin Vincent with Jamie Daley / Beautiful Star of Bethlehem / Christmas Grass Too / Koch / 2007
  • The Brother Boys / I’ll Be Home for Christmas / Tinsel Tunes / Sugar Hill / 2007
  • The Greystone Ramblers / The First Noel / A Winter Night’s Ramble / self / 2008
  • Josh Graves & Kenny Baker / Snowbird / The Puritan Sessions / Rebel / 1972, 1989
  • The Johnson Mountain Boys / The Friendly Beasts / O Christmas Tree - A Bluegrass Collection for the Holidays / Rounder / c. 1990 , 2002
  • Doc Watson / Christmas Lullaby / Sugar Plums / Sugar Hill / 1993
  • Tom Rozum / Sleigh Ride / Winter’s Grace / Signature Sounds / 1999

Top 12 Newer Bluegrass Songs as Reported to Bluegrass Unlimited 12/18/11

Top 12 Newer Bluegrass Songs For the period ending 12/18/11
as reported to Bluegrass Unlimited by
The Black Diamond Show
WNHU, 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT
  1. Charlie Sizemore, I Don’t Remember Loving You
  2. Bearfoot, Come Get Your Lonesome
  3. The Missy Werner Band, I’d Rather Love a Memory
  4. Larry Sparks, Almost Home
  5. Blue Highway, I Ain’t Gonna Lay My Hammer Down
  6. Donna Ulisse, Let it Rain
  7. April Verch, Durang’s Hornpipe
  8. Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Ominous Anonymous
  9. Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar
  10. John Reischman & The Jaybirds, Consider Me Gone
  11. Carolina Road, Cold Carolina Snow
  12. Charlie Sizemore, No Lawyers In Heaven
In addition to submitting reports to Bluegrass Unlimited, we also report the Black Diamond Show playlists to Bluegrass Today and FOLKDJ-L/folkradio.org.

December 12, 2011

Black Diamond Show Playlist: 12/12/11 (and 12/15/11)

On this week's show, we continue what we started last week: Playing a mixture of holiday or winter-themed songs, new material, and some of my favorite songs from the past year. I tried to mix unusual holiday songs with some of many people's favorites.

I sent email out to several listeners about finding a Hanukkah song or two that would be close to the genres you're used to hearing on the Black Diamond Show. Debbie from Maryland (an Internet listener) reminded me that Woody Guthrie had written a lot of Hanukkah songs; and so, the second half hour of this week's show concludes with Woody singing "The Hanukkah Dance." I"m guessing it was recorded in 1945 or 1946. By then Woody had been living across the street from his Jewish in-laws in Coney Island for several years. Apparently he and his mother-in-law got along famously.... The Woody Guthrie Foundation has a nice article about Woody and The Yiddish Connection that you might enjoy.

We also spend some time with Taylor Armerding from The Bluegrass Gospel Project. They'll be appearing in East Hartford on Saturday 12/17. As with most of the BDS interviews, I had fun talking with him and I think you'll enjoy hearing from him, too.

If you miss hearing the show on Monday, remember it will repeat at 10pm EST on Thursday night on the WNHU2 stream at wnhu.net. (The Thursday night repeat will switch to 6pm beginning in 2012. Still 10pm for the rest of 2011.)

Thanks for your support of WNHU, bluegrass music, country music, and my occasional forays into other kinds of music.

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Peter Rowan / Christmas Time’s A-Coming / Sugar Plums, Holiday Treats from Sugar Hill / Sugar Hill / 1993
  • April Verch / Durang’s Hornpipe / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011
  • The Gibson Brothers / Help My Brother / Help My Brother / Compass / 2011
  • Charlie Sizemore / No Lawyers In Heaven / Heartache Looking For A Home / Rebel /2011
  • Rose Maddox & The Vern Williams Band / Philadelphia Lawyer / This is Rose Maddox / Arhoolie / 1981
  • The Bluegrass Cardinals / Way Down Deep In My Soul / Way Down Deep In My Soul, Best of Sugar Hill Gospel, Volume 2 / Sugar Hill / 1986, 1993
  • Tracy Lawrence / White Christmas / All Wrapped Up In Christmas / Lawrence Music Group / 2011
  • Donna Ulisse / You Will Be Delivered / Holiday Single / Hadley Music Group / 2011
  • Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham / Breaking Up Christmas / No One to Bring Home Tonight / County / 1984
  • Bluegrass Gospel Group / Cherokee Shuffle / Wander On / Vital / 2006
  • Taylor Armerding / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
  • Bluegrass Gospel Project / All Prayed Up / The Bluegrass Gospel Project / Vital / 2002
  • Bluegrass Gospel Project / Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven / The Blue Morpho / Vital / 2009
  • Bluebilly Grit / Ready for a Change / Ready for a Change / Rogue / 2011
  • Travers Chandler & Avery County / Mandolin Tango / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010
  • Woody Guthrie / The Hanukkah Dance / The Asch Recordings, Volumes 1-4 / Smithsonian Flokways / c. 1945 , 1999
  • Carolina Road / Cold Carolina Snow / Back to my Roots / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Lonesome River Band / Footprints in the Snow / Live at Bean Blossom / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Ken & Brad Kolodner / Snow Drop / Otter Creek / Fenchurch Music / 2010
  • Townes Van Zandt / Snowin’ On Raton / Sugar Hill 50 / Sugar Hill / 1992, 2009
  • Hank Snow / I’ve Been Everywhere / The Essential Hank Snow / RCA Nashville / c. 1961, 1997
  • The Bluegrass Martins / Happy on the Mississippi Shore / World of our Own / self / 2011
  • The Greystone Ramblers / Christmas Island / A Winter’s Night Ramble / self / 2008
  • Riders in the Sky / Let It Snow, The Last Christmas Medley You’ll Ever Need to Hear / Christmas the Cowboy Way / Rounder / 1999
  • Dirk Powell / Joy to the World / A Fret-Free Christmas / Valcour / 2010
  • Ray Stevens / The Little Drummer Boy Next Door / Through a Different Window / MCA Nashville / 1997
  • Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers / Atheists Don’t Have No Songs / Rare Bird Alert / Rounder / 2011
  • Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers / That White Christmas Song / Sugar Plums, Holiday Treats from Sugar Hill / Sugar Hill / 1993
  • David West & Joe Craven / My Favorite Things / A Spectacular Bluegrass Christmas / CMH / 2001
  • Poppa’s Kitchen / Burning Flame / A Rockin’ Hanukkah / self / 2006
  • Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers / Boston Jail / Rambler’s Call / Rebel / 2009
  • The Missy Werner Band / I’d Rather Love a Memory / Three Kinds of Lonesome / self / 2011
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

December 11, 2011

Black Diamond Show Playlist: 12/5/11

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Goin’ Up Dry Branch / Fired Up / Rounder / 2011
  • Steve Spurgin / The Lights of Reno / Past Perfect / Blue Night / 2011
  • Chris Stuart & Backcountry / Silver Quarter / Saints & Stranger / Backcountry / 2003
  • Poppa’s Kitchen / Hanukkah is Right Around the Bend / A Rockin’ Hanukkah / self / 2006
  • Larry Sparks / Blue Christmas / Christmas in the Mountains / Rebel / 2003
  • Longview / At the First Fall of Snow / Deep in the Mountains / Rounder / 2008
  • April Verch / Five Miles From Town / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011
  • New Coon Creek Girls / My Lord Will Send a Moses / Everything You Do / Pinecastle / 1996
  • Dirk Powell / Deck the Halls / A Fret-Free Christmas / Valcour /2010
  • Sierra Hull / Best Buy / Daybreak / Rounder / 2011
  • Chris Thile & Michael Daves / Billy in the Lowground / Sleep with one eye Open / Nonesuch / 2011
  • Dailey & Vincent / Elizabeth / Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers / Rounder, Cracker Barrel / 2010
  • Bearfoot / Come Get Your Lonesome / American Story / Compass / 2011
  • The Hillbenders / Red Stains / Down to My Last Dollar / self / 2010
  • The Hot Club of Cowtown / Oklahoma Hills / What Makes Bob Holler? / Proper / 2011
  • The New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters / Buckeyed Rabbit / Welcome to Galax / Heritage / 2011
  • Paul Williams / Give Me Just a Little More Time / Satisfied / Rebel / 2011
  • Homer & Jethro / Broadway / It Ain’t Necessarily Square / Miller International / 1967, ND
  • Brand New Strings / Southern Flavor / Live at Bean Blossom / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Cheryl, Sharon, & Buck White / That’s What Texas Was For / I’ll Take Love, Songs from the Pen of Louisa Branscomb / Compass / 2011
  • Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Runaway Ramp / Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Fiddlemon Music / 2010
  • Willie Nelson / Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down / Country Music / Rounder / 2010
  • Spring Creek / Mocking Bird / Hold on Me / self / 2011
  • Bluegrass Gospel Project / Darkness, Darkness / The Blue Morpho / Vital / 2009
  • Bluegrass Gospel Project / Make Up My Dyin’ Bed / The Blue Morpho / Vital / 2009
  • The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers / Dirty Dishes Blues / Bluegrass Early Cuts, 1931-1953 / JSP / 1950, 2004
  • Donna Ulisse / Lonesome Without You / An Easy Climb / Hadley Music Group / 2011
  • Sam Bush / Sleigh Ride / Tinsel Tunes, More Holiday Treats from Sugar Hill / Sugar Hill / 2007
  • ShoreGrass / December Waltz / Going Home / Shaw Family / 2007
  • Brad Leftwich & The Hogwire String Band / Say Darling Say / Rascal Fair / Dark Train / 2011
  • Ray Stevens / Guilt for Christmas / Through a Different Window / MCA Nashville / 1997
  • Travers Chandler & Avery County / Cotton Farm / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

November 29, 2011

Playlist for 11/28/11 Black Diamond Show

This week's show is a repeat of our 10/17 show.
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Dates / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Various Artists / 22nd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards / 22nd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards, Recorded Live at the Ryman / IBMA / September 29, 2011
  • Johnson Mountain Boys / It Don't Bring You Back to Me / Blue Diamond / Rounder / 1992
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Tumbleweed Town / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • Kathy Mattea / Sally in the Garden / Coal / Captain Potato / 2008
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

November 21, 2011

Top New Bluegrass Songs Reported to Bluegrass Unlimited: November 21, 2011

Top 10 Newer Bluegrass Songs for the period ending 11/21/11
As reported to Bluegrass Unlimited
by The Black Diamond Show WNHU 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT

  1. Blue Highway, I Ain’t Gonna Lay My Hammer Down
  2. Bearfoot, Come Get Your Lonesome
  3. John Reischman & The Jaybirds, Consider Me Gone
  4. Grasstowne, Anchor in the Storm
  5. Donna Ulisse, Let it Rain
  6. Alison Krauss & Union Station, On the Outside Looking In
  7. April Verch, Durang’s Hornpipe (if she counts for BU)
  8. Charlie Sizemore, I Don’t Remember Loving You
  9. Larry Sparks, Almost Home
  10. The Missy Werner Band, I’d Rather Love a Memory
  11. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Gone at Last (In case April Verch doesn’t count for BU charting purposes)
We also report actual airplay on the Black Diamond Show to www.folkradio.org and Bluegrass Today.

Black Diamond Show Playlist: 11/21/11 WNHU

Here's this week's playlist. If you missed it today, it's scheduled to be repeated on the WNHU2 stream at www.wnhu.net on Thanksgiving night from 10pm-midnight EST. Thanks, as always, for your support!
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Longview / The Lost Cave / Lessons in Stone / Rebel / 2002
  • Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out / Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar / Prime Tyme / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Chris Stuart & Backcountry / Time Was / Mojave River / Backcountry / 2004
  • Dailey & Vincent / Near the Cross / Singing from the Heart / Rounder / 2009
  • Big Medicine / Ida Red / Too Old to be Controlled / Yodel-Ay-Hee/ 2002
  • Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers / Long Journey Home / Rambling Bluegrass / Starday / 1972
  • The Dixie Bee Liners / The Bugs in the Basement / Ripe / Pinecastle / 2008
  • Johnny Warren & Charlie Cushman / Pretty Polly Ann / A Tribute to Fiddlin’ Paul Warren, Volume 2 / self / 2011
  • Nancy Griffith with Jerry Douglas, Ally Bain, et al. / Simple Life / Celtic Connections, Scotland / YouTube / 2009
  • Steep Canyon Rangers / Cumberland Moon / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Rebel / 2007
  • Doc Watson, David Holt, Richard Watson / Little Log Cabin in the Lane / Philadelphia Folk Festival, Aug. 17, 2007 / Festivalink / 2007
  • Tim O’Brien / Dear Diary / Moody Bluegrass Two. . . Much Love / Bunny Rae / 2011
  • Any Old Time String Band / Falls of Richmond, Camp Chase / I Bid You Good Night / Arhoolie / 1980, 2011
  • Cherryholmes / Tattoo of a Smudge / Cherryholmes IV, Common Threads / Skaggs Family / 2010
  • Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Paul & Silas / Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Fiddlemon Music / 2010
  • Jim and Kim Lansford / Cowboy Sings to his Herd / The American Fogies, Volume 2 / Rounder / 1996
  • Teddy Thompson / Walking the Floor Over You / Up Front and Down Low / Verve / 2007
  • Bela Fleck & Jerry Douglas / Another Morning / Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert / Rounder / 2010
  • Blue Moon Rising / Old Time Preacher Man / On the Rise / Lonesome Day / 2005
  • Donna Ulisse / Flat Broke in Arkansas / An Easy Climb / Hadley Music Group / 2011
  • John Cowan / Nights in White Satin / Moody Bluegrass / Rounder / 2004
  • Lefty Frizzell / It Gets Late So Early / Look What Thoughts Will Do / Sony / 1968, 1997
  • The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover / Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me / The Early Recordings of the Lilly Brothers / County / 1956, 1970
  • Spring Creek / I’ll Bet it All / Hold on Me / self / 2011
  • The Lonesome Strangers / Billy in the Lowground / Classic Bluegrass From Smithsonian Folkways / Smithsonian Folkways / c. 1978, 2002
  • Downtown Ramblers / I’ll Go / On the Other Side of the City / DTR Music Productions / 2011 / Swedish Bluegrass
  • Warrior River Boys / Lovin’ Lies / Sounds Like Home / Rounder / 1993
  • John Reischman & The Jaybirds / Lonesome Dove / Field Guide / Copper Creek / 2002
  • Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / Doin’ My Time / The Complete Mercury Recordings / Mercury / 1958, 2003
  • Mark Graham & Orville Johnson / Oedipus Rex / The Kings of Mongrel Folk / self / 2001, 2005
  • Tasty Licks / (Now and then there’s) A Fool Such as I / Bluegrass Goes to Town, Pop Songs Bluegrass Style / Rounder / 1979, 2002
  • The Charles River Valley Boys / I Feel Fine / Beatle Country / Elektra / 1966
  • The Country Gentlemen / Teach Your Children / Sound Off / Rebel / 1970
  • The Missy Werner Band / Journey to My Savior’s Side / Three Kinds of Lonesome / self / 2011
  • Jerry Rivers & The Hank Williams Band / Cotton-Eyed Joe / Health & Happiness Shows / Mercury Nashville / 1949, 2007
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

November 14, 2011

Black Diamond Show 11/14/11: David Peterson, Nora Jane Struthers (Bearfoot), and lots of good music!

We manage to squeeze in two interviews this week: David Peterson (performing in Hamden, CT, for Guitar Town on Th 11/17) and Nora Jane Struthers of Bearfoot (performing in Madison, CT, for Fire in the Kitchen on Sa 11/19) and a pretty good mix of music, if I do say so myself. As usual, Chris Brashear's "Lost Soldier Son" anchored our Veterans' Day tribute. If you miss the Monday broadcast, remember the show will be repeated on the WNHU2 stream at wnhu.net on Thursday from 10pm-midnight.

Thanks for your support of WNHU and of bluegrass and traditional country music!

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • The Improbabillies / Sandy Boys / The Improbabillies / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2007
  • Joe Val & The New England Bluegrass Boys / Just Wondering Why / Bound to Ride / Rounder / 1979
  • Steve Spurgin / Getting’ Outta Here Alive / Past Perfect / Blue Night / 2011
  • Sonny Osborne / I’m on my way to the old home / Bluegrass Early Cuts: 1931-1953 / JSP / 1950, 2004
  • Ralph Stanley / The Man in the Middle / Mountain Preacher’s Child / Rebel / c. 1980, 2007 / Charlie Sizemore, lead vocal
  • Scott Prouty / Nancy Dalton / Puncheon Floor / self / 2010
  • Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers / We Missed You / Hymns from the Hills / Rebel / 2010
  • Riders in the Sky / Never Go to Church on Sunday / A Pair of Kings / Oh Boy / 2002
  • David Peterson / You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover / Comin’ On Strong / Necktie / 2009
  • David Peterson / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
  • David Peterson / The Crazy Blues / Comin’ On Strong / Necktie / 2009
  • David Peterson / Loving Lies / Comin’ On Strong / Necktie / 2009
  • Joel Mabus / Henhouse Door / Old-Time Music On the Air, Volume 2 / Rounder / 1996
  • Missy Werner Band / Last Goodbye Today / Three Kinds of Lonesome / self / 2011
  • Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys / Blue Moon of Kentucky / Folk Music at Newport, Part 1 / Vanguard / 1965, 1995
  • Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Ominous Anonymous / Frak Solivan & Dirty Kitchen / Fiddlemon Music / 2010
  • Bearfoot / Eyes Cast Down / American Story / Compass / 2011
  • Nora Jane Struthers / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
  • Bearfoot / Come Get Your Lonesome / American Story / Compass / 2011
  • Bearfoot / The Dust / American Story / Compass / 2011
  • Nashville Bluegrass Band / Rock Bottom Blues / Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years / Sugar Hill / 2006, 2007
  • Leon Payne / I Love You Because / Country & Western Classics / Music & Melody / 1949, 2009
  • Red Hen Stringband / Off the Griddle / Birds of a Feather / WePecket Island / 2011
  • Chris Brashear / Lost Soldier Son / Wanderlust / Copper Creek / 2000 / In honor of Veteran’s Day 11-11-11
  • The Blue Sky Boys / Searching for a Soldier’s Grave / The Blue Sky Boys / Rounder / 1975 / In honor of Veteran’s Day 11-11-11
  • Norman Blake & Tony Rice / The Two Soldiers / Blake & Rice 2 / Rounder / 1990 / In honor of Veteran’s Day 11-11-11
  • Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass / Soldier’s Joy / Civil War Memories / Wango / 2005 / In honor of Veteran’s Day 11-11-11
  • Nashville Bluegrass Band / Rockin’ Chair Money / Twenty Year Blues / Sugar Hill / 2004 / In honor of Veteran’s Day 11-11-11
  • Bluegrass Album Band / River of Beath / The Bluegrass Compact Disc, Volume 2 / Rounder / 1981, 1987
  • Kenny Baker / Gold Rush / Master Fiddler / County / 1970, 1993
  • Steep Canyon Rangers / There Ain’t No Easy Street / Deep in the Shade / Rebel / 2009
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

November 12, 2011

Black Diamond Show Playlist: 11/7/11 WNHU

Finally, here's the playlist for the show that aired on 11/7 and that was repeated on 11/10. Again, thanks to Dan Crary for spending so long with us. I was thrilled to be able to digitize and play some tracks from that 1969 Bluegrass Alliance LP.
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / ‘Til the end of the World Rolls Round / The Golden Era / Rounder / 1954, 1977
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Thunderation / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • Dan Crary / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
  • Byron Berline, Dan Crary, & John Hickman / Northern Slope / BCH / Sugar Hill / 1986
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Sail Away Ladies, Sally Ann / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • Byron Berline, Dan Crary, & John Hickman / East Tennessee Blues / BCH / Sugar Hill / 1986
  • The Bluegrass Alliance / Sweet Sunny South / The Bluegrass Alliance / American Heritage Music Corp. / 1969
  • The Bluegrass Alliance / East Virginia Blues / The Bluegrass Alliance / American Heritage Music Corp. / 1969
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Suite 222 / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • The Bluegrass Alliance / Beaumont Rag / The Bluegrass Alliance / American Heritage Music Corp. / 1969
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Long Journey Home, Reuben’s Train / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • The Stanley Brothers / It’s Raining Here This Morning / The Best of the Stanley Brothers / Starday / c. 1960, 1975
  • John Reischman & The Jaybirds / The First Whippoorwill / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
  • Lonesome River Band / Forty Days in the Desert / Still Learning / Rural Rhythm / 2010
  • April Verch / Jim Shank, T-Jacques Jarret / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011
  • Wayne Taylor & Apaloosa / Mash Your Finger / It’s Gonna be a Beautiful Day / Raincoe Music / 2011
  • Bearfoot / Come Get Your Lonesome / American Story / Compass / 2011
  • David Peterson & 1946 / 1946 / In the Mountaintops to Roam / self / 2005
  • Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan, & Tex Logan / Shady Grove / Folk Music at Newport, Part 1 / Vanguard / 1965, 1995
  • Alison Krauss & Union Station / Dust Bowl Children / Paper Airplane / Rounder / 2011
  • Southern Schoolhouse Rascals / Ship in the Clouds / Old School, Mountain Style / 5-String Productions / 2006
  • Leon Mcauliffe / Run ‘ Em Off / Tulsa Straight Ahead / Bear Family / 1953, 2009
  • Larry Sparks / Somebody Touched Me / Almost Home / Rounder / 2011
  • Doc Watson & Junior Husky / Cannonball Rag / Will the Circle Be Unbroken / United Artists / 1972
  • Missy Werner Band / My First Mistake / Three Kinds of Lonesome / self / 2011
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

November 10, 2011

Dan Crary Interview & Black Diamond Show Playlist for 11/7/11

I'll get the playlist for this week's show up as soon as I can. The highlight for me was the hour-long interview we had with Dan Crary. Some great stories from one of my early guitar heroes. If you didn't hear the show on Monday, tune into the WNHU2 stream on wnhu.net on Thursday 11/10 from 10pm-midnight EST. The Crary interview begins right after an opening track from Flatt &Scruggs. Thanks for your support

October 31, 2011

Belated Playlist: 10/24/11 Black Diamond Show WNHU

Sorry to post playlists out of order. Scroll down or follow this link to see the Halloween Playlist. Thanks for your support of WNHU and of all the artists whose music we play on the Black Diamond Show!
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Spring Creek / It’s a Bnajo Playin’ / Hold on Me / Self / 2011
  • Steve Spurgin / Fire on the Kettle / Past Perfect / Blue Night / 2011
  • Paul Williams & The Victory Trio / Let Me Dream On / Satisfied / Rebel / 2011
  • John Hoffman & Mac Benford / Mike in the Wilderness / It’s About Time / 5-String Productions / 2007
  • Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / New San Antonio Rose / Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills / Sony BMG / 1941, 2006
  • Johnny Warren & Charlie Cushman / Fort Smith / A Tribute to Fiddlin’ Paul Warren / self / 2009
  • The Delmore Brothers / Blues Stay Away From Me / single / King / 1949
  • Blue Highway / I Ain’t Gonna Lay My Hammer Down / Sounds of Home / Rounder / 2011
  • Dead Fiddler’s Society / Sandy River Belle / Livin’ It Up / self / 2010
  • Donna Ulisse / I Lied / Walk This Mountain Down / Hadley Music Group / 2008
  • Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / I’ll Just Pretend / The Complete Mercury Recordings / Mercury / 1958, 2003
  • John Reischman & The Jaybirds / Consider Me Gone / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
  • Dale Ann Bradley / Anybody Else’s Heart / Don’t Turn Your Back / Compass / 2009
  • Hank Williams / At the First Fall of Snow / The Original Singles Collection Plus… / Mercury Nashville / c. 1951, 1955, 1990 / Originally recorded in 1951 or 1952, this was released posthumously in 1955.
  • Bill Evans / Cory’s Slide / Bill Evans Plays Banjo / Mighty Fine / 2001
  • The Stairwell Sisters / Little Moses / The Stairwell Sisters / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2003
  • Carolina Road / A Light in the Window, Again / Back to My Roots / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Merle Travis / Saturday Night Shuffle / In Boston / Rounder / 1959, 2003
  • Charlie Sizemore / Turn it on, Turn it on, Turn it on / The Story Is… The Songs of Tom T. Hall / Rebel / 2002
  • Unplugged Demos & Myrna D. Riquier / Too Many Bars / Momma’s Flowers, The Songs of Myrna D. Riquier / self / 2011 / Myrna had her songs recorded mostly by a group of Nashville session players who call themselves “Unplugged Demos” for projects like this one.
  • The Infamous Stringdusters / The Deputy / Things That Fly / Sugar Hill / 2010
  • Laurie Lewis / My Dixie Darlin’ / The Oak and the Laurel / Rounder / 1994 / with Tom Rozum
  • Chris Brashear & Peter McLaughlin / Round Up Time in Heaven / Canyoneers / Dog Boy / 2003
  • The Rhythm Billies / You Ain’t Talkin’ to Me / North of North Carolina / self / 2004
  • Border Radio / Lucky Roll / Golden State / Okie Pie Records / 2005
  • Nate Leath / Cherokee Shuffle / I’ve Always Been a Rambler / Patuxnet Music / 2005
  • Moon Mullican / Cherokee Boogie / Super Hits / Gusto / 1951, 2009
  • Bobby Hicks / Cherokee Swing / Texas Crapshoother / County / 1978
  • Bobby Osborne & Ronnie McCoury (gtr) / Cherokee Lady / Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza / Acoustic Disc / 1999
  • The Missy Werner Band / I’d Rather Love a Memory / Three Kinds of Lonesome / self / 2011
  • Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Moses / Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Crossroads / 2010
  • April Verch / Ducks on the Millpond / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011
  • Steep Canyon Rangers / Ain’t No Way of Knowing / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Rebel / 2006
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

Halloween Playlist: Black Diamond Show WNHU 10/31/11

Here's the Halloween playlist. Lots of fun stuff here! Thanks for your support of the music--and of WNHU!
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • The Country Gentlemen / Bringing Mary Home / Can’t You Hear Me Calling / Rebel / 1964
  • John Hartford / Pumpkin Ridge / The Speed of the Old Long Bow / Rounder / 1998
  • Tommy Gardner & The Uncle Brothers / Halloween Parade / Mooseltoe / Blackwater / 2009
  • Emily Hay / Hank & Patsy’s Ghosts / Outtakes & Demos / WHP / 2010
  • Hank Williams / Let the Spirit Descend / Live at the Grand Ole Opry / Mercury Nashville / 1950, 1999
  • Dale Ann Bradley / Ghost Bound Train / Don’t Turn Your Back / Compass / 2009
  • Frank Sinatra / Ghost Riders in the Sky / Hit Parade Shows / Jazz Hour / 1949, 2006
  • The Halloween Freaks / Someone Gave me Health Food on Halloween / Experience Halloween / Tunecore / 2010
  • Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys / Devil’s Dream / Anthology / MCA / 1963, 2003
  • Cherryholmes / Devil in Disguise / Cherryholmes III, Don’t Believe / Skaggs Family / 2008
  • The Hoover Uprights / Devil Ate the Groundhog / Known for their Reuputarion / 5-String Productions / 2006
  • Hot Club of Cowtown / The Devil Ain’t Lazy / What Makes Bob Holler? / Proper / 2011
  • Buck Owens & His Buckaroos / Satan’s Got to Get Along Without Me / The Devil’s Rejects (Soundtrack) / Hip-O / 1996, 2005
  • Rick Pearl / Halloween / single / self / 2010
  • Bill Emerson / The Grey Ghost / Eclipse / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • The Crowe Brothers / Southern Moon / Bridging the Gap / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Maine Line / Fired Up / Rounder / 2011
  • Mike Stevens / Ghost Riders in the Sky / Blowin’ Up a Storm / Pinecastle / 2011
  • Steve Spurgin / Collar to the Wind / Past Perfect / Blue Night / 2011
  • Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver / Gone Long Gone / Drive Time / Mountain Home / 2011
  • Red Hen Stringband / Walnut Gap / Birds of a Feather / Wepecket Island / 2011
  • Finders & Youngberg / I’ll Never Be Free / FY5 / self / 2011
  • J. Raleigh Jones / Ballad of John Baylis / J. Raleigh Jones / Cashbox / 2010
  • Chris Stuart & Backcountry / From Now On / Saints & Strangers /Backcountry / 2003
  • The Stairwell Sisters / Cinderella / Get Off Your Money / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2008
  • Mac Wiseman / Bringing Mary Home / Bluegrass Then & Now / CMH / 1976, 2000
  • Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys / Long Journey Home / Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys: The Early Days of Bluegrass / Rounder / 1958, 1978
  • The C-Denny Band / Devil’s Train / North to Ontario / Coot Music / 2010
  • The Steep Canyon Rangers / Call the Captain / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Rebel / 2006
  • Clark Kessinger / Red Bird / Classic Old-Time Fiddle for Smithsonian Folkways / Smithsonian Folkways / 1966, 2006
  • Larry Sparks / New Highway / 40 / Rebel / 2005
  • Terry McGill / Dine-E-O / Straight Drive / Cabinwood / 2001
  • Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / Stormy Horizons / Y’all Come: The Essential Jim & Jesse / Epic / 1976, 1998
  • Audie Blaylock & Redline / I Was Left on the Street / I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

October 24, 2011

Top 10 Newer Bluegrass Songs for the period ending 10/23/11

Top 10 Newer Bluegrass Songs
for the period ending 10/23/11
as reported to Bluegrass Unlimited by
The Black Diamond Show
WNHU 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT
1) Blue Highway, I Ain’t Gonna Lay My Hammer Down
2) Alison Krauss & Union Station, On the Outside Looking In
3) The Gibson Brothers, Love Nobody But You
4) John Reischman & The Jaybirds, Consider Me Gone
5) Grasstowne, Anchor in the Storm
6) Donna Ulisse, Let it Rain
7) Charlie Sizemore, I Don’t Remember Loving You
8) Balsam Range, East Virginia Blues
9) April Verch, Durang’s Hornpipe (if she counts for BU)
10) Paul Williams & His Victory Trio, Satisfied
11) Charlie Sizemore, No Lawyers in Heaven (In case April Verch doesn’t count for BU charting purposes)

We also report our actual airplay to FolkRadio.org and Bluegrass Today.

October 17, 2011

Playlist for 10/17/11 Black Diamond Show

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Dates / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Various Artists / 22nd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards / 22nd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards, Recorded Live at the Ryman / IBMA / September 29, 2011
  • Johnson Mountain Boys / It Don't Bring You Back to Me / Blue Diamond / Rounder / 1992
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Tumbleweed Town / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • Kathy Mattea / Sally in the Garden / Coal / Captain Potato / 2008
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

October 10, 2011

Black Diamond Show: Playlist for 10/10/11

Here's the playlist for today's Black Diamond Show that will repeat on the WNHU2 stream on Th 10/13/11 from 10pm - midnight. Don't forget to check out the concert listings on the right hand side of this web page! Thanks for your support of WNHU and of bluegrass and old-time country music.
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Tony Rice / Church Street Blues / Sugar Hill 50 / Sugar Hill / 1983, 2009 / with Wyatt Rice
  • The Rhythm Billies / Raggedy Ann / North of North Carolina / self / 2004
  • Johnny Bond / Birmingham Jail / Country & Western Classics / Music & Melody / 1948, 2009
  • Kenny & Amanda Smith Band / A Great Big Hand (Reaching Down) / Tell Someone / Rebel / 2005
  • The Bluegrass Album Band / Chalk Up Another One / Blue Ribbon Bluegrass / Rounder / 1981, 1993
  • Donna Ulisse / Let It Rain / An Easy Climb / Hadley Music Group / 2011
  • Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / The Legend of the Johnson Mountain Boys / ‘Tis Sweet To Be Remembered / Columbia / 1961, 1997
  • Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers / Charlotte Breakdown / Rambler’s Call / Rebel / 2009
  • Mark Tamsula & Richard Withers / Black-Eyed Susie / Up In the Batten House / Snappin’ Bug / 2011
  • Ivan Rosenberg & The Foggy Hogtown Boys / Up This Hill and Down / The Hogtown Sessions / Vole-o-Tone / 2011
  • Larry Sparks / Smoky Mountain Memories / Classic Bluegrass / Rebel / 1988
  • The Morris Brothers / Salty Dog Blues / Early Bluegrass / RCA / 1945, 1969
  • Ronnie McCoury, David Grisman, & Del McCoury / B Natural / Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza / Acoustic Disc / 1999
  • Red Foley / Tennessee Saturday Night / Country & Western Classics / Music & Melody / 1948, 2009
  • Dirk Powell / Moonshiner / Hand Me Down / Rounder / 1999
  • April Verch / Moonshine Mac / That’s How We Run / Slab Town /2011
  • Mark Graham / Kentucky Whiskey, Give the Fiddler a Dram / Southern Old-Time Harmonica / self / 2000
  • New Southern Ramblers / Moonshine in the North Carolina Hills / Green Grass Cloggers: Through the Ears / Rounder / 1986
  • The SteelDrivers / Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey / The SteelDrivers / Rounder / 2010
  • Charlie Sizemore / I Don’t Remember Loving You / Heartache Looking for a Home / Rounder / 2011
  • Blue Moon Rising / Barely Hangin’ On / Strange New World / Rural Rhythm / 2010
  • Charlie Monroe & His Kentucky Pardners / Down In the Willow Garden / Bluegrass for Collectors / RCA / 1947, 1969
  • Eddie Pennington & Warren Williams / Hey Bartender, There’s a Big Bug in My Beer / Down Home! Saturday Night / Smithsonian Folkways / 2004, 2007
  • Paul Williams & The Victory Trio / Somebody Loves Me / Satisfied / Rebel / 2011
  • Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys with Carl Story / True Life Blues / Bill Monroe & Friends; Bill Monroe & the Stars of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame / Raven / 1985, 2010
  • Jerry K. Green / Naggin’ Women and Braggin’ Men / Now and Then, Volume 1 / JKG / 1952, 2011
  • Randy Morrison & The Flatt River Band / Good Ole Bluegrass For Fun / North to Ontario 2010 / Coot Music / 2010
  • Acoustic Blue / Where the Dim Lights are the Dimmest / This is Now / self / 2009
  • Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys / Whoa, Sailor! / Vintage Collections / Capitol / 1949, 1996
  • The Steep Canyon Rangers / Pick Up the Blues / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Rebel / 2006
  • Clark Kessinger / Dill Pickle Rag / World Champion Fiddler, Live April 1968, Union Grove, North Carolina / Triagle Far / 1968, 2002
  • Johnny Warren & Charlie Cushman / Cattle in the Cane / A Tribute to Fiddlin’ Paul Warren, Volume 2 / self / 2011
  • Carolina Road / I Know What it Means to be Lonesome / Back to My Roots / Rural Rhythm / 2011
  • Joe Wilson & Drew Howard / Where the Streetlights Fade / Steels Heal the World / Earthwork Music / 2008
  • Big Medicine / Sit Down / Too Old to be Controlled / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2002
  • Here Today / Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes / Here Today / Rounder / 1982
  • Kentucky Colonels with Bill Keith / Old Hickory / Long Journey Home / Vanguard / 1964, 2006
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

October 8, 2011

Black Diamond Show: Playlist for 10/3/11

Lots of good tunes this week! Don't forget to check the concert listing on the right hand side of this blog! Thanks for your support of WNHU and of bluegrass & traditional country music.
  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, Del McCoury / More Pretty Girls Than One / Mac, Doc & Del / Sugar Hill / 1998
  • Spring Creek / Mocking Bird / Hold on Me / self / 2011
  • Johnny Warren & Charlie Cushman / Pretty Girl Goin’ To Milk the Cow / A Tribute to Fiddlin’ Paul Warren / self / 2009
  • The Dreadful Snakes / Story of the Pharisees / Snakes Alive / Rounder / 1983
  • The Piro Family / Louisville Breakdown / The Piro’s / self / 2010 / myspace.com/thepiros
  • Border Radio / Oklahoma Waltz / L’il Songbook / self / 2001
  • Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers / Another Day, Another Dollar / Rambler’s Call / Rebel / 2009
  • Dan Crary & Thunderation / Tumbleweed Town / Perfect Storm / Blue Night / 2011
  • The Prairie Acre / Rye Straw / Jaybird and the Sparrow-Hawk / self / 2007
  • John Cowan with Jim Hurst / Stormy Night / I’ll Take Love, Songs from the Pen of Louisa Branscomb / Compass / 2011
  • Steve Spurgin / The Last Armadillo Waltz / Past Perfect / Blue Night / 2011
  • Big Medicine / Dunbar / Pine to Pine / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2009
  • Blackstone Valley Bluegrass / The Farmer / Momma’s Flowers, Songs by Myrna D. Riquier / self / 2011
  • Mark Tamsula & Richard Withers / Daddy Killed the Brown Bull / Up in the Batten House / Snappin’ Bug / 2011
  • Mark Graham / No Democracy in Heaven / Inner Life / self / 1998, 2006
  • Mark Thornton / Thank God I’m a Country Boy / Bluegrass Then and Now / CMH / 2000
  • Dailey & Vincent / By the Mark / Dailey & Vincent / Rounder / 2009
  • Ralph Stanley / Pretty Girls, City Lights / Old-Time Pickin’, A Clawhammer Banjo Collection / Rebel / c. 1999, 2008 / Charlie Sizemore singing lead.
  • Downtown Ramblers / After We’re Gone / On the Other Side of the City / DTR Music Productions / 2011 / Bluegrass from Sweden!
  • Steep Canyon Rangers / The Ghost of Norma Jean / One Dime at a Time / Rebel / 2005
  • The Hot Club of Cowtown / Smith’s Reel / What Makes Bob Holler? / Proper / 2011
  • Clark Kessinger / Turkey in the Straw / World Champion Fiddler, Live April 1968, Union Grove, North Carolina / Triagle Far / 1968, 2002
  • Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out / Big City Blues / Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out / Rural Rhythm / 2009
  • Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys with Flatt & Scruggs / Sweetheart, You Done Me Wrong / The Original Bluegrass Band / Rounder / 1946, 1978
  • Merle Haggard / This Cold War / If We Make It Through December / Capitol / 1974, 2010
  • The Louvin Brothers / The Great Atomic Power / The Louvin Brothers / Rounder / 1952, 1978
  • Katie Wilson / Seashells on the Shore / Katie Wilson / self / 2009
  • Peter Rowan & Tony Rice (with Sharon Gilchrist & Bryn Davies) / Shady Grove / Quartet / Rounder / 2010
  • Pharis & Jason Romero / Hillbilly Blues / A Passing Glimpse / Lula / 2011
  • The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers / You Broke Your Promise / Bluegrass Early Cuts, 1931-1953 / JSP / 1953, 2004
  • The Improbabillies / Cotton-Eyed Joe / The Improbabillies / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2007
  • Robin & Linda Williams & Their Fine Group / Let Us Cross Over the River / Stonewall Country / Red House / 2011
  • April Verch / Five Miles From Town / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011 / Cody Walters on the banjo, April on the Fiddle
  • Ivan Rosenberg & The Foggy Hogtown Boys / Busted / The Hogtown Sessions / Vole-o-Tone / 2011
  • Paul Williams & The Victory Trio / Satisfied / Satisfied / Rebel / 2011
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

September 30, 2011

Two Concert Reminders: Randy Burns 10/7; Jeremy Kittel 10/8


  1. Randy Burns, a singer and guitarist from New Haven--now living in NYC, will be back in the area on Friday, October 7:
    Randy Burns
    Never Ending Books
    810 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut
    7:30pm - 10:00pm, $15.00 Reservations 203-641-5370
    We've played some of his material on The Black Diamond Show in the past. In particular, we're really big fans of his version of Hobo's Lullaby!

  2. And don't forget the concert by multi-genre fiddler Jeremy Kittel for Fire in the Kitchen on Saturday October 8:
    Jeremy Kittel
    Fire in the Kitchen
    North Madison Congregational Church
    1271 Durham Rd., Madison, CT
    7pm, $20 for adults, $5 for kids
    His band includes Josh Pinkham, mandolin; Nathaniel Smith, 'cello; Simon Chrisman, hammered dulcimer. Amazing how he can go from old-time to bluegrass to Scottish to Canadian to Jazz!!

Support all the different kinds of traditional and folk music in southern Connecticut! Bluegrass, folk, Celtic, old-time, western swing--it's all on the same continuum!

September 26, 2011

Black Diamond Show Playlist for 9/26/11

Here's the playlist for today's show on WNHU! It will repeat on the WNHU2 stream at www.wnhu.net on Thursday, Sept. 29, from 10pm-midnight. And don't forget to check out the listing of selected concerts we're now maintaining.

Thanks for your support of WNHU and bluegrass & traditional country music.

  • Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • The Stanley Brothers / Riding That Midnight Train / Freight Trains Ride Again / Wango / c. 1964, 2000
  • Jim Nunally / Big Train From Memphis / Gloria’s Waltz / FGM / 2006
  • Hylo Brown / This Train / Roots Music of Rural America / Rural Rhythm / c. 1965, 2007
  • Hank Williams / The Log Train / The Original Singles Collection. . . Plus / Mercury Nashville / 1952, 1990 / One of the last songs Hank recorded.
  • The Bluegrass Cardinals / Riding on the L&N / Freight Trains Ride Again / Wango / c. 1975, 2000
  • Kathy Mattea / The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore / Coal / Captain Potato / 2008
  • Travers Chandler & Avery County / Black Dust Fever / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010
  • Valerie Smith / In Those Mines / That’s What Love Can Do / Bell Buckle / 2005
  • Doc Watson / The Preacher and the Bicycle (story) / Doc Watson on Stage / Vanguard / 1971
  • Red Hen Stringband / Martin Said to His Man / Birds of a Feather / Wepecket Island / 2011
  • Doc Watson, featuring Merle Watson / I am a Pilgrim / Doc Watson on Stage / Vanguard / 1971
  • Dailey & Vincent / ‘Til I See You Face to Face / Singing from the Heart / Rounder / 2009
  • Adam Hurt / Black Jack Grove / Earth Tones / Ubiquitone / 2010 / Played on a gourd banjo!
  • Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant / This is Southland / Wizards of the Country Guitar / JSP / 1953, 2011
  • Mary Stuart & Del McCoury / Let Us Travel, Travel On / Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers / Universal South / 2003
  • Bob Dunn & His Vagabonds / Little White Lies / Wizards of Country Music / JSP / 1939, 2011
  • Hot Rize / Blue Night / So Long a Journey: Live at the Border Theater / Sugar Hill / 1996, 2002
  • The Stanley Brothers / How Far to Little Rock / The Best of the Stanley Brothers / Starday / c. 1960, 1975
  • The New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters / Nine Pound Hammer / Welcome to Galax / Heritage / 2011
  • Larry Sparks with Andy Griggs / Georgia Peaches / 40 / Rebel / 2005
  • Donna Ulisse / Shady Glen / An Easy Climb / Hadley Music Group / 2011
  • ShoreGrass / Following the Drinking Gourd / Songs of the Civil War Era / Shaw Family / 2005
  • Hedy West / Farther Along / Hedy West, Volume 2 / Vanguard / 1964
  • The Fly By Night String Band / Boys the Buzzards Are Flying / The Fly By Night String Band / Fretless / 1980
  • Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / My Little Honeysuckle Rose / Best of the Early Years / Master Classics / 1952, 2009
  • Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / Ten Years / Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills / Sony BMG / 1942, 2006
  • Mark Graham & Orville Johnson / Oedipus Rex / The Kings of Mongrel Folk / self / 2001, 2005
  • The Warrior River Boys / Never Get to Hold You In My Arms Anymore / Sounds Like Home / Rounder / 1992
  • Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys including Flatt & Scruggs / Molly & Tenbrooks / The Original Bluegrass Band / Rounder / 1946, 1978
  • Blue Highway / Lonesome Hearted Blues / Blue Highway / Skaggs Family / 1999
  • Balsam Range / East Virginia Blues / Trains I Missed / Mountain Home Music / 2011
  • Aubrey Haynie / Cherokee Shuffle / Doin’ My Time / Sugar Hill / 1997, 2006
  • Big Country Bluegrass / You’d Better Get Right Little Darlin’ / Twenty Years of Grass / Hay Holler / 2007
  • Dale Ann Bradley / I Won’t Back Down / Don’t Turn Your Back / Compass / 2009 / Tom Petty hit bluegrass style! It works!
  • The Hoover Uprights / Wild Hog in the Woods / Known for Their Reputation / 5-String Productions / 2006
  • Merle Travis / I Like My Chicken Frying Size / Hot Pickin’ / Proper / 1947, 2003
  • Big Medicine / Pretty Little Shoes / Too Old to be Controlled / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2002
  • The Charlie Sizemore Band / Good News When I Die / Good News / Rebel / 2007
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

September 24, 2011

Black Diamond Show: Playlist for 9/19/11 on WNHU

Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys / Sugar-Coated Love / The High Lonesome Sound / MCA / 1951, 1973
  • Steep Canyon Rangers / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Rebel / 2006
  • Wayne Hancock / Your Love and his Blood / Viper of Melody / Bloodshot / 2009
  • The Freight Hoppers / Hound Chase / Mile Marker / Bake Tone / 2010
  • Country Gazette / Hound Dogs Never Die / Bluegrass Tonight! / Flying Fish / 1986
  • Paul Warren & The Osborne Brothers / Old Joe / A Tribute to Fiddlin’ Paul Warren, Vol. 2 / self / c.1960, 2011 / Self=Johnny Warren & Charlie Cushman
  • Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver / A Lover of the Lord / Once and for Always / Sugar Hill / 1983
  • Homer & Jethro / I’ve Found a New Baby / Playing It Straight / RCA, Miller International / 1962, ND
  • Hank Williams / Kaw-Liga / Alone With His Guitar / Mercury Nashville / 1949, 2000
  • Norman Blake & Tony Rice / Eight More Mile to Louisville / Blake & Rice 2 / Rounder / 1990
  • Josh Graves & Kenny Baker / Carroll County Blues / The Puritan Sessions / Rebel / 1973, 1989
  • Spring Creek / Hold On Me / Hold On Me / self / 2011
  • April Verch / Old Sport / That’s How We Run / Slab Tone / 2011
  • Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers / Fallen Leaves / Hymns from the Hills / Rebel / 2010
  • Leon Mcauliffe / Somebody Else Is Beatin’ My Time / Tulsa Straight Ahead / Bear Family / 1949, 2009
  • Josh Williams / We’ll Burn That Bridge / Down Home / Rounder / 2009, 2011
  • Dolly Parton / I’m Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open / Sugar Hill 50 / Sugar Hill / 2006, 2009
  • Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music) / The Golden Era / Rounder / 1952, 1977
  • The Privy Tippers / Hobart’s Transformation, Shenandoah Falls / Straddling the Muffin-Biscuit Line / self / 2008
  • Pharis & Jason Romero / Hillbilly Blues / A Passing Glimpse / Lula / 2011
  • Alison Krauss & Union Station / On the Outside Looking In / Paper Airplane / Rounder / 2011
  • Charlie Sizemore Band / Alison’s Band / Good News / Rebel / 2007
  • Wade Mainer & The Sons of the Mountaineers / Poor Drunkard’s Dream / Bluegrass Early Cuts: 1931-1953 / JSP / c. 1940, 2004
  • Tim O’Brien / Mother Mary / Chicken & Egg / WOMON / 2010
  • The Morgantown Rounders / Uncle Ned / The Morgantown Rounders / Banjos for Peace / 2006
  • Nadine Landry & Stephen “Sammy” Lind / Tippy Toeing / Granddad’s Favorite / self / 2010
  • Ricky Skaggs / This World Is Not My Home / Songs My Dad Loved / Skaggs Family / 2009
  • Butch Baldassari & David Schnaufer / Tater Patch / Appalachian Mandolin & Dulcimer / Sound Art / 2006
  • Lonesome River Band / Goodbye Wheeling / Still Learning / Rural Rhythm / 2010
  • Chris Jones & The Night Drivers / A Few Words / 10 Years of European World Bluegrass / Strictly Country / 2006, 2008
  • Kenny & Amanda Smith Band / Pacific Time / Always Never Enough / Rebel / 2005
  • Delia Bell & Bill Grant / It’ll Be Me / The Cheer of the Home Fires / Rounder / 1984
  • Jeremy Kittell / Blackberry Blossom; Sing, Sing, Sing / Roaming / Fiddlesticks / 2003
  • Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / Dixie Hoedown / Best of the Best / Gusto / c. 1961, 2005
  • Paul Williams / Living the Right Life Now / Just a Little Closer / Rebel / 2010
  • Dixie Bee Liners / Albion Road / Susanville / Pinecastle / 2009
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

September 22, 2011

Top 10 Newer Bluegrass Songs as reported to Bluegrass Unlimited

Top Ten Bluegrass Songs 
as reported to Bluegrass Unlimited by
The Black Diamond Show
WNHU, 88.7 FM, West Haven, CT
Period Ending 9/20/11

1) Grasstowne, Anchor in the Storm
2) The Gibson Brothers, Love Nobody But You
3) Alison Krauss & Union Station, On the Outside Looking In
4) John Reischman & The Jaybirds, Consider Me Gone
5) The Hillbenders, Red Stains
6) Donna Ulisse, Let it Rain
7) Travis Chandler & Avery County, Black Dust Fever
8) April Verch, Durang's Hornpipe (If I'm allowed to list her!)
9) Scott Anderson, Can't you Hear me Calling
10) Audie Blaylock & Redline, Cry Cry Darlin'
11) 23 String Band, Raleigh & Spencer (in case April Verch doesn't count for BU charting purposes!)



The Black Diamond Show also reports actual airplay to folkradio.org and the new Bluegrass Today chart. (Launching soon. This will be a rebranding of the site known as The Bluegrass Blog.)

September 12, 2011

Black Diamond Show on WNHU: 2nd Anniversary Playlist!

This week's show marks the 2nd anniversary of the Black Diamond Show on WNHU! Thanks to Bryan Lane, station manager, the University of New Haven, and all the student staff for helping make this show possible!

This week's show contains a mixture of old favorites and new favorites. April Verch's new CD is pretty darn good! We play her version of Durang's Hornpipe, a combination of an American and a Canadian version. Great stuff.

Thanks, as always, for your support of bluegrass, old-time, and other traditional country music--and of WNHU!

Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes

• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers / Dark Hollow / Ramblin’ Bluegrass / Starday / 1972
• The Hillbenders / Red Stains / Down to My Last Dollar / self / 2010
• Tater Patch / Indian Ate the Woodchuck / Courthouse Blues Remanded / Community Legal Aid Society, Inc., Dover, DE / 2007
• Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / Saro Jane / ‘Tis Sweet to be Remembered / Columbia Legacy / 1964, 1997
• Fly By Night String Band / Cowboy’s Dream / Fly By Night String Band / Fretless / 1980
• Hot Rize / The Man in the Middle / Radio Boogie / Flying Fish / 1980
• Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / Take Me Back to Tulsa / The Essential Bob Wills 1935-1947 / Bairele / 1935, 2007
• The White Brothers & Alan Munde / Soldier’s Joy, Black Mountain Rag / New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden / Rounder / 1973, 1976
• The Stanley Brothers / Pig in a Pen / Long Journey Home: The Stanley Brothers of Virginia, Volume 2 / County / 1964, 1973 / That LP is my favorite Stanley Brothers recording of all time. Recorded by Ray Davis for his Wango label, then licensed to County.
• Bluegrass Album Band / One Tear / The Bluegrass Compact Disc / Rounder / 1982, 1986
• Robin & Linda Williams / Maybelle’s Guitar and Monroe’s Mandolin / Buena Vista / Red House / 2008
• Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / I’ll Love Nobody But You / Best of the Best / Gusto / c. 1962, 2005
• Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham / No One To Bring Home Tonight / County / 1984
• The Gibson Brothers / I’ll Love Nobody But You / Help My Brother / Compass / 2011
• Wayne Hancock / Brother Music, Sister Rhythm / Tulsa / Bloodshot / 2006
• Bryan Bowers / Zen Gospel Singing / By Heart / Flying Fish / 1981
• The Honey Dewdrops / 1918 / If the Sun Will Shine / self / 2009
• Debbie Durant & Mandorichard / House of Gold / Mandocast 09 / self / 2006
• The Percolators / Kansas City Reel / Alive in Prague! / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2004
• Doc Watson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Vassar Clements, Junior Huskey, et al. / Tennessee Stud / Will the Circle Be Unbroken / United Artists / 1972
• Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robins, Vassar Clements, David Holland, Jethro Burns / Oconee / Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robins, Vassar Clements, David Holland, Jethro Burns / Flying Fish / 1975
• Donna Ulisse / The Trouble With You / Walk This Mountain Down / Hadley Music Group / 2008
• Merle Travis / Sixteen Tons / In Boston / Rounder / 1959, 2003
• The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers / No Curb Service / Early Bluegrass / RCA / 1954, 1969
• Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys / Uncle Pen / American Roots Music / Palin Pictures / 1950, 2001
• Hot Mud Family / No School Bus in Heaven / Buckeyes in the Briar Patch / Vetco / 1975
• David Grisman / Opus 38 / Early Dawg / Sugar Hill / c. 1972, 1980
• Del McCoury Band / Zero to Love / It’s Just the Night / McCoury Music / 2003
• Travers Chandler & Avery County / Let Me Fall / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010
• Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Matt Glaser, Evan Stover, Russ Barenburg / Ashokan Farewell / The Civil War - Traditional American Songs And Instrumental Music Featured In The Film By Ken Burns: Original Soundtrack Recording / Nonesuch / 1990
• Cahalen Morrison & Eli West / Weathervane Waltz / The Holy Coming of the Storm / self / 2011
• Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / ‘Til the End of the World Rolls Round / The Golden Era / Rounder / 1954, 1977
• Chris Brashear & Peter McLaughlin / These Old Prison Bars / Canyoneers / Dog Boy / 2003
• Rose Maddox with the Vern Williams Band / Rusty Old Halo / This is Rose Maddox / Arhoolie / 1981
• April Verch / Durang’s Hornpipe / That’s How We Run / Slab Town / 2011
• Jimmy Martin & The Osborne Brothers / Save It, Save It / Early Bluegrass / RCA / 1954, 1969
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

September 7, 2011

Black Diamond Show: Labor Day Playlist 9/5/11 WNHU

Good to be back on the air.  The 2nd half hour featured a lot of the artists I saw last weekend at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival. But tracks snuck in at other times too..... For example, it was fun to play a track from the Stairwell Sisters right next to a track from an old LP the Green Grass Cloggers put out in 1986--Evie, the banjoist for the Sisters, said that if I look closely at the cover from that old LP, I'd see her as a little girl at that show! I love that old-time dance music!

On another note, effective this week, I'll start reporting our music to a newer bluegrass charting project, one based on actual airplay. It will be launching soon at http://www.bluegrasstoday.com -- I'm excited about this project -- I much prefer a charting project based on airplay than one in which I try to guess what the show's audience likes!

We are still reporting our playlists to the FolkDJ-L email list and its Web site: http://folkradio.org/

But enough chit-chat.  Here's the playlist for the show that aired on M 9/5 and that will restream on the WNHU2 stream at http://www.wnhu.net at 10pm EDT on Th 9/8.

Thanks, as always, for your support of WNHU and of bluegrass & traditional country music.


Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
  • John Reischman & The Jaybirds / Consider Me Gone / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
  • The Johnson Mountain Boys / Roll On Blues / Blue Diamond / Rounder / 1992
  • Travers Chandler & Avery County / Stoned at the Jukebox / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010
  • Nate Grower / Fire on the Mountain / Nate Grower / Patuxnet Music / 2010
  • Mark Graham & Orville Johnson / The Last Words / The Kings of Mongrel Folk / self / 2005
  • Mark Tamsula & Richard Withers / The Horse Called Rover / Up in the Batten House / Snappin' Bug / 2011
  • Donna Ulisse / High in the Sky for Me / Holy Water / Hadley Music Group / 2010
  • Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant / Midnight Ramble / Stratosphere Boogie: The Flaming guitars Of Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant / Razor & Tie / c. 1955, 1995
  • Bill Keith / Pain in My Heart / Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass / Rounder / 1975
  • Lonesome Pine Fiddlers / Lonesome Pine Breakdown / Bluegrass Early Cuts 1931-1953 / JSP / 1951, 2004
  • Ralph Stanley / Clinch Mountain Backstep / Great High Mountain / Rebel / 2004
  • David Peterson & 1946 / I'll Still Write Your Name in the Sand / In the Mountaintops to Roam / self / 2005
  • Foghorn Stringband / Pretty Little Dog / Rattlesnake Tidal Wave / self / 2002
  • Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top Xpress / West Virginia My Home / Try a Little Kindness / Rounder / 2006
  • The Stairwell Sisters / Chased Old Satan / The Stairwell Sisters / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2003 / Song AKA Starry Crown
  • Claire Lynch Band / A Little Further in the Hole / 10 Years of European World Bluegrass / Strictly Country / 2007, 2008 / Recorded in Holland
  • April Verch / Fork Creek River / Steal the Blue / Slab Town / 2008
  • Waylon Jennings / Are you sure Hank Done it this way? / Crazy Heart: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack / New West / 1975, 2010
  • Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys / Country Waltz / Bill Monroe / unlicensed European bootleg / 1951, c. 1974
  • Chris Stuart / Saro / Angels of Mineral Springs / Backcountry / 2002
  • Country Gazette / Saro Jane / Hello Operator / Flying Fish / 1990
  • John Reischman & The Jaybirds / Bitterroot Waltz / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
  • Coty Hogue / A Few Old Memories / To the West / Cello Room Productions / 2009
  • Finders & Youngberg / Tomorrow Night / FY5 / self / 2011
  • Double Decker String Band / Salty Dog / Ther Marimac Anthology: Deep in Old-Time Music / Rounder / c. 1988, 1996
  • Chris Hillman &, Herb Peterson / Sin City / At Edward's Barn / Rounder / 2010
  • Hank Thompson / Wake Up Irene / Vintage Collections: Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys / Capitol Nashville / 1953,1996
  • The Lee Boys & The Travelin' McCourys / Walking in Jerusalem Just Like John / Merlefest 2010 Live for the Bluegrass Trust, Volume 2 / Festivalink / 2010
  • Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, & Matt Glaser / Marching Through Georgia / The Civil War - Traditional American Songs And Instrumental Music Featured In The Film By Ken Burns: Original Soundtrack Recording / Nonesuch / 1990
  • Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys / Goodbye Old Pal / Anthology / MCA / c. 1965, 2003 / Couldn't find the recording date or session information for this recording. 1965 is a guess based on what it sounds like. Monroe first recorded the song in 1946, after he purchased the rights from Cliff Carlisle.
  • Scott Anderson / Can't You Hear Me Calling? / Tales from the Swamp / Mato / 2011 / One of my favorite new versions of this Monroe song!
  • Wayne Hancock / Thunderstorms & Neon Signs / Thunderstorms & Neon Signs / Deja Disc / 1995
  • The New Pilot Mountaineers / Yellow Rose of Texas / Down the Road / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2001
  • The Green Grass Cloggers with Phil Jamison, banjo / Ladies' Routine danced to Rachel's Rent / Through the Ears / Rounder / 1986
  • The Stairwell Sisters / Crockett's Honeymoon & Waldorf Reel / The Stairwell Sisters / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2003
  • Darin & Brooke Aldridge / I Thought I'd Seen It All / Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Mountain Home / 2010
  • Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

August 29, 2011

Irene knocks Black Diamond Show off the air today (8/29)

WNHU and most of the University of New Haven campus are still without electricity today. The Black Diamond Show will not air today. But please do check out our list of Labor Day Festivals. We expect to be back on the air with a new show on Labor Day!
Thanks for your support.

August 28, 2011

Black Diamond Show: Playlist for 8/22/11

Don't forget to consult our list of Labor Day festivals!

Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes

• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• Country Gazette / Right Before My Eyes / Bluegrass Tonight / Flying Fish / 1986
• David Peterson & 1946 / Cold Wind / David Peterson & 1946 / self / 2008
• The Boiled Buzzards / Grey-Haired Dancing Girls / Old-Time Music on the Air / Rounder /1996
• Charlie Sizemore Band / Hey Moon / Good News / Rounder / 2007
• Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys with Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs / I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky / The Original Bluegrass Band / Rounder / 1946, 1978
• Sons of the West / Panhandle Shuffle / Wizards of the Country Guitar / JSP / 1941, 2011
• Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys / So Happy I’ll Be / The Complete Mercury Recordings / Mercury / 1958, 2003
• Guy Clark / Homegrown Tomatoes / Better Days / Warner Brothers / 1983, 2005
• Three Ring Circle / B Funky / Brothership / Reso Revolution / 2011
• Sam Bush, David Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Buck White, Bobby Osborne, & Frank Wakefield with Del McCoury (gtr) / Dusty Miller / Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza / Acoustic Disc / 1999
• The String Fingers Band / Has the Whole Darn World Gone Mad? / Don’t Forget / Railroad Crossing / 2011
• Katie Wilson / Seashells on the Shore / Katie Wilson / self / 2009
• Phil Rosenthal / All the Good Times Are Past & Gone / A Treasury of Bluegrass & Country Songs / American Melody / 2009
• Mark Tamsula & Richard Withers / The Corn-Huskers / Up in the Batten House / Snappin' Bug / 2011
• Lonesome River Band / She’s No Lady / The Road With No End / Mountain Home Music / 2006
• Mark Dvorak / Reuben You Can Play Your Banjo / Time Ain’t Got Nothing on Me / Waterbug / 2011
• Hot Mud Family / Cabri Waltz / Buckeyes in the Brian Patch / Vetco / 1975
• Kathy Mattea / Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia, Wildwood Flower / Coal / Captain Potato / 2008
• Audie Blaylock & Redline / Cry Cry Darlin’ / I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky / Rural Rhythm / 2011
• Chris Jones & The Night Drivers / One Door Man / Cloud of Dust / GSM / 2009
• The Leake County Revelers / Leather Britches / The Cornshcuckers’ Frolic / Yazoo / 1927, 1999
• Brown’s Ferry Four / If We Never Meet Again / Merle Travis: Hot Pickin’ / Proper / 1946 / 2003
• Ken Kolodner & Brad Kolodner / Snow Drop / Otter Creek / Fenchurch Music / 2010
• Rhonda Vincent / Tonight My Baby’s Coming Home / Taken / Upper Management / 2010
• Willie Nelson / Seaman’s Blues / Country Music / Rounder / 2010
• Blue Flam String Band / Crowly Waltz / 25 Years of Strictly Country Magazine / Strictly Country / 1996
• Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / I Like Trains / Y’all Come: The Essential Jim & Jesse / Sony BMG / 1969, 1998
• The Stanley Brothers / Life’s Railway to Heaven / Freight Trains Ride Again / Wango / c. 1965, 2000
• Reed Island Rounders / Jenny on the Railroad / Hand Me Downs / Burning Wolf / 2006
• Red June / Home Is A Railroad / Remember Me Well / self / 2010
• Josh Graves & Kenny Baker / High Country / The Puritan Sessions / Rebel / 1973, 1989
• The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band / Dig a Little Deeper / Always Never Enough / Rebel / 2005
• Johnson Mountain Boys / It Don’t Bring You Back to Me / Blue Diamond / Rounder / 1992
• Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / Blue Bonnet Lane / Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills / Sony BMG / 1973, 2006
• Toby Stroud & The Blue Mountain Boys / Tragic Romance / Early Bluegrass Cuts 1931-1953 / JSP / 1953, 2004
• Sarah Jarosz / Fischer Store Road / Song Up In Her Head / Sugar Hill / 2009
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

August 22, 2011

Selected Labor Day Bluegrass Festivals in the Northeastern United States

To some, Labor Day weekend means "last chance for vacation." For others, it means "another soccer tournament." But it also means "lots of great bluegrass (and other) festivals." Here are links to information about 6 festivals I've mentioned on the Black Diamond Show. OK, strictly speaking, 2 of them are not quite bluegrass festivals, but these are all great places to go for Labor Day! All of these festivals are a day's drive or less from the greater New Haven area. Check out a festival! Support the music live!

  • County Bluegrass Festival, Fort Fairfield, ME. National and regional acts about as far north as you can go and still be in the USofA!

  • Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, Woodstown, NJ. An amazing lineup of national acts to celebrate their 40th Anniversary.

  • Fiddlin' Bear Labor Day Musicians' Gathering, Lake Genero, Hamlin, PA. Old-time musicians love this gathering. Very little is organized--just people playing and playing and playing--and listening to each other and having a great time.

  • North Branch Bluegrass Festival, Bridgewater, VT. This looks like a fun little "regional" festival--spaghetti dinners, jamming, song-writer's contest, and lots of regional bands from New England.

  • Rhythm & Roots Festival, Charlestown, RI. This used to be a cajun AND bluegrass festival. Now cajun, creole, old-time, zydeco--if it's "folk" and it's danceable, you'll hear it there and get to dance to it, too.

  • Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Special, Brunswick, ME. A great line-up of national acts "where the music meets the sea."

August 14, 2011

List of Podunk Bluegrass Contest Winners AND Playlist for 8/15/11 Black Diamond Show (WNHU, West Haven, CT, 88.7 FM & www.wnhu.net)

First off, congrats to the winners in the Band and Songwriter Contests at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival, held the weekend of August 6 and 7 in East Hartford:
Band Contest:
1st - Travers Chandler and Avery County
2nd - Reunion Hill Band
3rd - The Grass Pistols
4th - Grace Adele & the Grand Band
5th - Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys

Songwriter Contest:
1st - Andrea Asprelli for Remington
2nd - Mary Muncey
3rd - Peter Nesbut

This week’s show includes a couple of tracks from Avery County’s latest CD and a couple of tracks from Terry McGill’s 2001 CD—Terry was the banjo player Travers Chandler brought north with him.

Streaming issues were repaired on Monday morning—so online listeners can listen noon-2pm on Monday or catch the repeat Thursday, August 18 on the WNHU2 stream at www.wnhu.net from 10pm to midnight EDT.

Here’s this week’s playlist. Thanks for your support of bluegrass & traditional country music—and for your support of WNHU.

Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• The Downtown Ramblers / I Never Planned / On the Other Side of the City / DTR Music Productions / 2011
• Art Stamper / Jenny Lind / Goodbye Girls I’m Going to Boston / County / 2000
• The 23 String Band / Raleigh & Spencer / Catch 23 / self / 2011
• Toby Stroud & The Blue Mountain Boys / Jesse James / Bluegrass Early Cuts: 1931-1953 / JSP / 1953, 2004
• Katie Wilson / The Weeping Widow / Katie Wilson / self / 2010 / Podunk Bluegrass Band Winner 2010
• Terry McGill / Bright Morning Stars / Straight Drive / Cabinwood / 2001
• Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / The Girl I Left Behind Me / Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills / Sony BMG / 1941, 2006
• The Freight Hoppers / Kentucky Whiskey / Where’d You Come From, Where’d You Go? / Rounder / 1996 / David Bass, fiddle, Frank Lee, Banjo, duet
• Buzz Busby / Me and the Jukebox / 30 Essential Bluegrass Hits / Gusto / 1958, 2003
• Travers Chandler & Avery County / Mandolin Tango / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010 / A Buzz Busby composition from the Podunk Bluegrass Band Winner 2011
• Terry McGill / Honky-Tonk Blues / Straight Drive / Cabinwood / 2001
• Debbie Watson / Big Hair Down in Texas / Big Hair Down in Texas / Big Hair / 2005
• Charlie Sizemore Band / The Less That I Drink / Good News / Rounder / 2007
• Flatt & Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys / Yonder Stands Little Maggie / Flatt & Scruggs at Carnegie Hall / Columbia / 1962, 1963
• Kitty Wells / It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels / The Devil’s Rejects (Soundtrack) / HIP-O / 1952, 2005
• Jimmy Martin & The Osborne Brothers / Chalk Up Another One / Early Bluegrass / RCA / 1954, 1969
• Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Sunday Morning Christian / Leavin’ Town / Rounder / 2008
• Chance McCoy & the Appalachian String Band / Dance All Night / Chance McCoy & The Appalachian String Band / Appalachian Music Group / 2008
• Critton Hollow String Band / April Waltz / The Dulcimer Collection / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 1988, 2005
• Larry Sparks / The Old Coal Mine / The Last Suit You Wear / McCoury Music / 2007
• Travers Chandler & Avery County / Black Dust Fever / State of Depression / Patuxnet Music / 2010 / Winner of the 2011 Podunk Bluegrass Band Contest
• Merle Travis / Dark As A Dungeon / In Boston / Rounder / 1959, 2003
• Valerie Smith / In Those Mines / That’s What Love Can Do / Bell Buckle / 2005
• Big Medicine / Hell Up Coal Holler / Fever In the South / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2004
• Red Molly / Coal Tattoo / Never Been To Vegas / self / 2006
• The Steeldrivers / East Kentucky Home / The Steeldrivers / Rounder / 2009
• Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver / Keep Your Eyes on Jesus / Help is on the Way / Horizon / 2008
• Spring Creek / Blue Sky Blue Water / Hold on Me / self / 2011
• Wolfe Brothers / Grey Eagle / Old Roads, New Journeys / Copper Creek / 2004
• The Gibson Brothers / One Car Funeral / Help My Borther / Compass / 2011
• Spring Creek / Kimono Cowboy / Hold on Me / self / 2011
• Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals / Going to the West / Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals / Rounder / 1999
• Red June / San Juan Hill / Remember Me Well / self / 2010
• Wayne Hancock / Goin’ Home Blues / Tulsa / Bloodshot / 2006
• Newfound Road / I Am the Man Thomas / Same Old Place / Rounder / 2009
• David Holt / Fisherman’s Hornpipe / Doc Watson, David Holt, & Richard Watson at the Philadelphia Folk Festival / Festivalink / 2007
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

August 11, 2011

Playlist for 8/8/11 Black Diamond Show (WNHU, West Haven, CT, 88.7 FM & www.wnhu.net)

It's late, but here's this week's playlist! Thanks for your support.

Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes

• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• The Steeldrivers / Can You Run / Reckless / Rounder / 2010
• The Morgantown Rounders / Going Across the Sea / The Morgantown Rounders / Banjos for Peace / 2006
• Dailey & Vincent / Class of ’57 /Dailey and Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers / Rounder, Cracker Barrel / 2010
• Hot Club of Cowtown / Joe-Bob Rag / Tall Tales / Hightone, Shout! / 1999
• Nashville Bluegrass Band / No Hiding Place / Bluegrass Class of 1990 / Rounder / 1987, 1990
• Jane Rothfield with Jimmy McCowan / Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho / iFiddle, they Banjo / iFiddle / 2008
• The Gibson Brothers / Jericho / Ring the Bell / Compass / 2009
• Lonesome Redwing / Harleys in Heaven / Fly, Fly, Fly / self / 2009
• Lonesome Redwing / Ook-Pik Waltz / Fly, Fly, Fly / self / 2009
• The Hillbenders / Red Stains / Down to My Last Dollar / self / 2011
• Matt Brown & Beverly Smith / Barbara Allen / Lone Prairie / 5-String Productions / 2006
• The Stanley Brothers / Sunny Side of the Mountain / The Best of the Stanley Brothers / Starday / 1960, 1975
• Jim & Jesse & The Virginia Boys / She Left Me Standing on the Mountain / Bluegrass Special / Columbia (Epic) / 1963
• Big Medicine / I Know Whose Tears / Fever In the South / Yodel-Ay-Hee / 2004
• Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers / I’ve Got Those Oklahoma Blues / Wizards of Country Guitar: Selected Sides 1935-1955 / JSP / 1936, 2011
• Jimmy Martin & various artists / Sunny Side of the Mountain / Will the Circle Be Unbroken / United Artists / 1972
• Newfound Road / I Am the Man, Thomas / Same Old Place / Rounder / 2009
• Hot Mud Family / Two Wide Nickels / The Complete Vetco Recordings / self / 1978, 2010
• David Peterson & 1946 / The Butcher Boy / David Peterson & 1946 / self / 2008
• The Georgia Mudcats / Willow Garden / Barefoot In The Hen House And Other Southern Delights / self / 2007
• The Kentucky Colonels / Chicken Reel / Long Journey Home / Vanguard / 1964
• Riley Puckett / Careless Love / Riley Puckett: Country Music Pioneer / JSP / 1934, 2011
• Roland White / Marathon: Love Come Home, 9 Pound Hammer, Shackles & Chains, Live & Let Live, Doin’ My Time, Sittin’ on top of the World / I Wasn't Born to Rock'n'Roll (But I Love to Cook) / Ridgerunner / 1976
• Red State Ramblers / Yellow Barber / Commonwealth / Old 97 / 2009
• Red Clay Ramblers / The Golden Vanity / Stolen Love / Flying Fish / 1975
• Acoustic Blue / I’ll Break Out Again Tonight / This is Now / self / 2009
• Old & In the Way / Kissimee Kid / Breakdown / Acoustic Disc / 1973, 1997
• Bill Emerson / Coast to Coast / Eclipse / Rural Rhythm / 2011
• John Reischman & The Jaybirds / You’ll Find Her Name / The Road West / Corvus / 2005
• David Davis & The Warrior River Boys / I’ve Been All Around This World / Two Dimes and a Nickel / Rebel / 2009
• Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / Red Hot Gal of Mine / Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills / Sony BMG / 1938, 2006
• Merle Travis / Saturday Night Shuffle / In Boston / Rounder / 1959, 2003
• Grasstowne / Anchor in the Storm / Kickin’ Up Dust / Rural Rhythm / 2011
• The Dillards / I’ll Fly Away / Wheatstraw Suite / Collector’s Choice / 1968, 2002
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme



July 31, 2011

Playlist for 8/1/11 Black Diamond Show: Podunk Preview (WNHU, West Haven, CT, 88.7 FM & www.wnhu.net)

This week's show features artists who will be appearing at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival in East Hartford Th 8/4 - Su 8/7. Yours truly is planning to make the trek to the festival on Sunday Aug. 7. I'll be the grey-bearded fellow in a dirty AC Milan baseball hat trying not to spend $300 on CDs and other merchandise. It should be fun all four days!

The show will air on WNHU on Mon Aug 1, noon-2pm EDT (88.7 FM in West Haven, CT and on the WNHU stream on www.wnhu.net), and is scheduled to re-stream Thu Aug 4, 10pm-midnight on the WNHU2 stream at www.wnhu.net.

Thanks for your support of bluegrass & traditional country music -- and of WNHU!


Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie / The Midnight Train / Southern / Rural Rhythm / 2010
• Border Radio / When I Get My Rewards / Americana Brand / Okie Pie / 2002
• Del McCoury Band / Goldbrickin’ / Del and the Boys / McCoury Music / 2001
• The Dixie Bee-Liners / Yellow-Haired Girl / The Dixie Bee-Liners at Merlefest / Festivalink / 2009
• The Double Decker String Band / Cotton-Eyed Joe / The Rest Is Yet to Come / 5-String Productions / 2006
• Mac McHale & The Radio Gang / Remember Me / Joe Val Bluegrass Festival / YouTube / 2011
• The Fitzmaurice Band / California / The Fitzmaurice Band (EP) / Infidel / 2009
• Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass / My Old Kentucky Home / Civil War Memories / Wango / 2005
• The Dixie Bee-Liners / Albion Road / Susanville / Pinecastle / 2009
• Steep Canyon Rangers / Waiting to Hear You Call My Name / One Dime at a Time / Rebel / 2005
• Mountain Heart / Little Sadie / That Just Happened / MH Music / 2010
• Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass / Backstep Sally Ann / The Room Over Mine / Rounder / 2008
• Katie Wilson / More than Love / Katie Wilson / self / 2010
• The Steep Canyon Rangers / Pickin’ on Josh / Lovin’ Pretty Women / Rebel / 2007
• Chris Jones & The Night Drivers / Cowboys Ain’t Supposed to Cry / Cloud of Dust / GSM / 2000, 2009
• Mountain Heart / Ramblin’ Heart / No Other Way / Skaggs Family / 2007
• Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Goin’ Up Dry Branch / Fired Up / Rounder / 2011
• Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys / My Dying Bed / The High Lonesome Sound of Bill Monroe / MCA / 1952, 1973
• Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Wayfaring Stranger / I’ll Go With You / Pinecastle / 2009
• The Kruger Brothers / Jack of the Wood / Merlefest 2010 / Festivalink / 2010
• Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver / Gone at Last / Drive Time / Mountain Home / 2011
• Katie Wilson / Beacon / Katie Wilson / self / 2010
• Michael Cleveland & Jesse Brock / Jerusalem Ridge / Leavin’ Town / Rounder / 2008
• John Cowan & Jim Hurst / Starry Night / I’ll Take Love: Songs from the Pen of Louisa Branscomb / Compass / 2011
• Donna Ulisse / Let it Rain / An Easy Climb / Hadley Music Group / 2011
• Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Corn / Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Mountain Home / 2010
• Chris Jones & The Night Drivers / Draw for 5 / Cloud of Dust / GSM / 2009
• Donna Ulisse / Faith is a Journey / An Easy Climb / Hadley Music Group / 2011
• Louisa Branscomb & Joe Zauner / This Side of Heaven (excerpt) / The Bluegrass Blog / YouTube / 2011
• The Whites / This Side of Heaven / I’ll Take Love: Songs from the Pen of Louisa Branscomb / Compass / 2011
• Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver / One of These Days / Help is on the Way / Horizon / 2008
• Darin & Brooke Aldridge / I Thought I’d Seen it All / Darin & Brooke Aldridge / Mountain Home / 2010
• Hank Williams / Why Don’t You Love Me? / 40 Greatest Hits / Polydor / 1950, 1978
• Jimmy Martin / You Don’t Know My Mind / Don’t Cry to Me / Thrill Jockey / 2000, 2004 / Recorded live at Bean Blossom in 2000.
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

July 25, 2011

Black Diamond Show: 7/25/11 Meet the Quebe Sisters

This week's show features the usual mix of bluegrass--old & new, old-time, western swing, and traditional country music--with a bit more emphasis on the cowboy/cowgirl side of the family than usual.

The second half hour kicks off with a Bob Wills number, then rolls on into an interview with the Quebe Sisters as they get ready to foray deep into New England. This coming weekend: they'll be at the Lowell Folk Festival, Fr 7/29, Sa 7/30, and Su 7/31 (http://www.lowellfolkfestival.org/ for more info)--one of the best free folk festivals in the USofA. If you can make a trip to Lowell, MA, to see them, I'd urge you to do so--and there will be a lot of other great musicians there as well!

Who are the Quebe Sisters? Hulda, Sophia, and Grace play trip fiddle harmonies the ol' Texas way, and sing sweet three-part harmonies as if they were the Andrews Sisters. If you're not familiar with them, tune in today at about 12:33pm EDT (or Thursday at about 10:33pm EDT during the 10pm-midnight replay on the WNHU2 stream on www.wnhu.net) to hear some of their music and to meet them on the air.

Here's this week's playlist. Thanks for your support of bluegrass and traditional country music--and of WNHU!


Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• The Bluegrass Album Band / I’d Rather Be Alone / The Bluegrass CD, col. 2 / Rounder / 1983, 1987
• Merle Travis / Start Even / Hot Pickin’ / Proper / 1949, 2003
• New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters / The Belles of Lexington / Welcome to Galax / Heritage / 2011
• Audie Blaylock & Redline / Out in the Cold World / I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky / Rural Rhythm / 2011
• David Peterson / A Passion for Souls / Jesus Use Me / Zion Mountain Music / 1996
• Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant / Arkansas Traveler / Wizards of Country Guitar / JSP / 1953, 2011
• Charlie Sizemore / Alison’s Band / Good News / Rebel / 2007
• Alison Krauss & Union Station / Miles to Go / Paper Airplane / Rounder / 2011
• The Rice Brothers / Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right / Bluegrass Goes to Town / Rounder / 1992, 2002
• Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys / Stay a Little Longer / Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills / Sony BMG / 1945, 2006
• The Quebe Sisters Band / Shame on You / Timeless / FiddleTone / 2007
• Grace, Sophia, and Hulda Quebe / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
• The Quebe Sisters Band / Every Whichaway / QuebeSistersBand Channel / YouTube / 2009
• The Quebe Sisters Band / Red Wing / Texas Fiddlers / self / 2003
• The Quebe Sisters Band / Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds / Timeless / FiddleTone / 2007
• The Sons of the West / My Prairie Queen / Wizards of Country Guitar / JSP / 1941, 2011
• Perfect Strangers / Canned by the Best / Perfect Strangers / Rebel / 2003
• Kenny Baker / Make a Little Boat / Master Fiddler / County / 1977, 1993
• David Peterson & 1946 / Wall Around Your Heart / The Howling Blue Winds / Zion Mountain Music / 2003
• Hot Mud Family / Blue Night / The Complete Vetco Recordings / self / 1978, 2010
• Mark Tamsula & Richard Withers / Black-Eyed Susie / Up in the Batten House / Snappin’ Bug / 2011
• Dale Ann Bradley / 50 Miles of Elbow Room / Don’t Turn Your Back / Compass / 2009
• Riley Puckett & Clayton McMichen / Paddy, Won’t You Drink Some Cider? / Riley Puckett: Country Music Pioneer / JSP / 1928, 2011
• Seldom Scene / Please Be With Me / Scenechronized / Sugar Hill / 2007
• New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters / Chapel Hill Serenade / Welcome to Galax / Heritage / 2011
• Doc Watson / The Cat Came Back / Doc Watson, David Holt, & Richard Watson at the Philadelphia Folk Festival / Festivalink / 2007
• Karl Shiflett & the Big Country Show / Another Day / In Full Color / Rebel / 2001
• Dailey & Vincent / Don’t You Call My Name / Dailey & Vincent / Rounder / 2008
• Boone Creek / Walkin’ In Jerusalem / Boone Creek / Rounder / 1977
• Rayna Gellert & Susie Goehring / Katie Bar the Door / Starch & Iron / Heard her Squeal / 2005
• Blue Moon Rising / Freight Train / One Lonely Shadow / Lonesome Day / 2008
• The Stanley Brothers / Rabbit in a Log / Long Journey Home / County / 1964, 1973
• Lonesome River Band / Red Bandana / Still Learning / Rural Rhythm / 2010
• Lonesome Pine Fiddlers / No Curb Service / Early Bluegrass / RCA / 1954, 1969
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme

July 17, 2011

Playlist and Notes for July 18 Black Diamond Show on WNHU

Each half hour of the July 18 show has a distinct character. The first half hour is given over to a tribute to Kenny Baker, the bluegrass fiddler who passed away on July 8. For more information see his Wikipedia entry or the obituaries listed in last week’s post.

In the second half hour, we’re joined by John Reischman to talk about the new CD from his band, “John Reischman & the Jaybirds: Vintage & Unique.”

In the third half hour, David Peterson joins us to talk about his visit to Guitar Town up in Hamden, CT, on July 26.

Then in the last half hour, we return to our tribute to Kenny Baker.

When I briefly go over a few concert and festival listings, I mention the 25th annual Lowell Folk Festival. It’s FREE. July 29-31 in Lowell, MA. Of interest to Black Diamond Show fans are scheduled performances by Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper and by the Quebe Sisters Band.

The show is scheduled to re-stream on the WNHU2 stream at www.wnhu.net on Thursday, July 21, from 10pm-midnight EDT.
Hope you get a chance to hear this show! Reischman and Peterson both give fascinating interviews—and you can’t go wrong with Kenny Baker on the fiddle!


Thanks for your support of bluegrass and traditional country music and of WNHU.


Artist / Song / Album / Label / Date / Notes
• Don Stover / Black Diamond / Things in Life / Rounder / 1972 / Theme
• Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys / Uncle Pen / Bean Blossom / Geffen / 1973 / First song in our tribute to Kenny Baker, long-time fiddler with Monroe. Kenny Baker 1926-2011.
• Kenny Baker / Jerusalem Ridge / Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe / County / 1977
• Russell Moore, Dale Ann Bradley, John Miller, Dale Perry, Jesse Brock, Ron Stewart, & Michael Cleveland / Sailing On / Look to the Light: Songs of Faith / Rural Rhythm / 2010
• Kenny Baker & Joe Greene / High Country / High Country / County / 1967, 1968
• Josh Graves & Kenny Baker / Carroll County Blues / The Puritan Sessions / Rebel / 1973, 1989
• Becky Schlegel & Jim Hurst / Extra Blue / I’ll Take Love: Songs from the Pen of Louisa Branscomb / Compass / 2011
• Kenny Baker / Daley’s Reel / Master Fiddler / County / 1970, 1993
• The Nashville Bluegrass Band / When I Get Where I’m Going / Nashville Bluegrass Band: Best of the Sugar Hill Years / Sugar Hill / 1993, 2007
• Josh Graves & Kenny Baker / Snowbird / The Puritan Sessions / Rebel / 1973, 1989
• John Reischman / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
• John Reischman & The Jaybirds / The First Whippoorwill / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
• Butch Baldassari, Robin Bullock, & John Reischman / Little Jacky Wilson / Travellers / Sound Art / 1999
• John Reischman & The Jaybirds / Gabriel’s Call / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
• John Reischman & The Jaybirds / The Cypress Hills / Vintage & Unique / Corvus / 2011
• David Peterson & 1946 / I’ll Still Write Your Name in the Sand / In the Mountaintops to Roam / self / 2005
• David Peterson / Interview / Black Diamond Show / WNHU / 2011
• David Peterson / Brush Arbor Meeting / Jesus Use Me / Zion Mountain Music / 1996
• David Peterson & 1946 / 1946 / In the Mountaintops to Roam / self / 2005
• David Peterson / Comin’ On Strong / Comin’ On Strong / Necktie / 2009
• The Mayfield Brothers / Pardon My Whiskers While I Kiss You Goodnight / Vintage Recordings 1948-1956 / Patuxnet Music / 1956, 2006
• Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys with Jim and Jesse / I Wonder Where You Are Tonight / Bean Blossom / Geffen / 1973
• Kenny Baker / Gold Rush / Master Fiddler / County / 1970, 1993
• Phil Rosenthal / Down The Road / A Treasury of Bluegrass and Country Songs / American Melody / 2009
• Kenny Baker & Bobby Hicks / Panhandle Country / Darkness on the Delta / County / 1980
• Kenny Baker & Joe Green / Callahan / High Country / County / 1967, 1968
• Josh Graves & Kenny Baker / Deep Elem Blues / Puritan Sessions / Rebel / 1973, 1989
• Kenny Baker / On the Road to Columbus / Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe / County / 1977
• Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys / Uncle Pen / Anthology / MCA / 1972, 2003
• Kenny Baker / First Day In Town / Master Fiddler / County / c. 1972, 1993
• Mark O’Connor with Kenny Baker / Jerusalem Ridge / Heroes / Warner Brothers / 1993 / Ended today’s show with this tune that we all associate with Kenny Baker. This version with Mark O’Connor shows that Baker’s fiddle legacy will continue to live on in future generations.