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.

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

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