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