Monday, August 15, 2005

Radio Show at KFAI Tuesday 9 - 11 a.m. "Dig Up the Roots"

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday August 16th as I substitute host for KFAI's Dig Up the Roots!

The focus will be today's generation of musicians inspired by the old stuff, Old-timey, East European folk, gypsy and old country. Just getting back from Old-time and bluegrass festival, I'll be playing some hot new CD's by Uncle Earl, Rayna Gellert, and local Tim Foss!

Having gotten to camp with original Dickel Brothers' fiddler phenomenon Clancy and his family, of course there'll be some Dickel Bros. in there, with yet another of the plethora of Willie tunes. The Dickel's are possibly coming to town in September, so look out! Hopefully the Dickel Bros. (and another band named after whiskey mentioned later, won't run into the same fate as the Hopefuls.)

Also camping with us were an awesome couple from Eli, who are great players. One of them, fantastic fiddler Chad Yost was one of the original students to take over KFAI from the faculty in the mid-90's. He knows three of the Current's founders very well from those days. Chad (who looks strikingly like Jude Law) and I talked radio and forest service work at 5 a.m. between tunes under the falling stars and swigs of Jag, chardonnay, and Maclellan's scotch. In honor of the beauty of Chad's playing in general and particularly the Deadman's tuning (DDAD) so sweetly at 6 in the morning as I drifted to sleep in my tent, I'll play the tunes he learned from off of the Songs from the Mountain CD by Tim O'Brien.

O'Brien was also at the festival with Dirk Powell (who played for the Cold Mountain film). It was very cool meeting Dirk . . . we talked politics for a while before I knew who he was, I was stunned to have gotten to talk with him. Of course I'll feature his "touring band" Foghorn Stringband, as well.

I'll also play some brand new CD's by Fort Wilson Riot who are having a CD release party at the Hexagon this Friday (their live show is not to be missed and their CD is great!), The Knotwells (who had their fantastic "Blood River Melodies" CD release party of the last night), Murzik, and Thunder in the Valley. Arik Knotwell said a friend described music such as theirs, "Carnival Core." At last, a name for this new kind of old carnivalesque stuff.

Other local artists will be Charlie Parr, the Get Up Johns, Crush Collision Trio, and Pert Near Sandstone, as well as great old-time artists from further away such as Old Crow Medicine Show. You'll hear bone-chilling ballads by: The Knitters (members of X, and Dave Alvin), The Handsome Family, and Laura Cantrell (who hosts one of my favorite old-time and old country and Americana shows, Radio Thrift Shop, and I'll sprinkle in some old Ernie Carpenter, Hammons Family, and Tommy Jarrell so you can hear where this stuff came from.

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