Redbud Radio

“Just when you think it can’t get no better then it does.”
-John Hartford

We’re getting ready to celebrate the life and music of one John Cowan Hartford at Bill Monroe Music Park in Bean Blossom, Indiana. This week in Redbud Radio it’s all Hartford and the bands gathering to pay tribute May 31st – June 2nd.

Not enough room here to list all the great music that will be featured, but if you head on over to the festival website you’ll find all the particulars. And Redbuddies, if you intend to go, best get your tickets NOW because the price will go up a little at the gate:
http://www.johnhartfordmemfest.com/

Here are just a few of the acts you’ll hear in the program this week: Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, Mike Compton, Great American Taxi, Larry Perkins, Bawn In The Mash, The Tillers, Hogwire String Band, The Wilders, and The Goldmine Pickers.
And The Atomic Duo and Danny Barnes are both scheduled to perform back-to-back on Saturday night, so an on stage Bad Livers reunion certainly seems to be in the cards.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the current show when it aired, it will be posted on that little player deal on the right later this week. 

Tommy Womack, that’s what!
Or who, rather.
“Now What!” is the name of his latest release and he sat down with us before the Daddy appearance at The Sanctuary the end of last month and spoke a bit about his last two projects, his approach to songwriting, and the balancing act involved in being both a family man and working musician.

As an added treat, and courtesy of the nice folks at Free Range Concerts, we’ll have a couple of live tracks from that night to share. Daddy was ON, buddy. And that really comes through on the recording, as we shall hear.  You’d better know Free Range has more events planned, keep it tuned to Redbud Radio in the weeks and months ahead for updates and announcements.

In addition to new tracks from Tommy Womack, Reed Foehl, Petunia & The Vipers, and Alabama Shakes, we’ll have a number recorded right around the turn of the century from The Bad Livers to get us ready for their BIG reunion slated for the grand finale of The John Hartford Memorial Festival at Bean Blossom on June 2nd.
The festival runs May 31st – June 2nd, and info may be found right cheer:
http://www.johnhartfordmemfest.com/

Tracks from two, count ‘em TWO, artists with upcoming Radio Radio appearances will be part of the deal, too. The Lumineers sold-out their appearance in such a hurry that another was added and now they’ll be there both 5/24 and 5/25. And might as well just set up camp, because Ben Sollee is there the very next night on 5/26.
Radio Radio website:
http://futureshock.net/

Booker T & the MGs

Redbuddies, we lost one of the greats this week. Donald “Duck” Dunn played bass in the Stax Records house band as a member of Booker T & The MGs. That man was on more sessions than we could ever hope to list. Most everybody will recognize him from The Blues Brothers, which introduced literally millions of movie-goers to great soul, blues, and R&B. Recordings from Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and that band in the picture right there will give us at least some sense of the scope of the man’s contribution to the music we love.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the current show when it aired, it will be posted on that little player deal on the right later this week. 

With all the new music in the program this week, you’d think I’d be able to keep my mind on something besides pork chops, ain’t it?

I mean, Otis Gibbs singing about “Detroit Steel” couldn’t even do it. And you know we can’t wait to see Otis doing the full band thing at The Vogue in June.

Danny Barnes, and Larry Keel & Natural Bridge couldn’t drive me to distraction with their righteous recent releases, and BOTH of them fine acts are going to be at Bean Blossom for The John Hartford Memorial Festival at the end of May. We’re sure enough all about attending that puppy, too.
http://www.johnhartfordmemfest.com/

Joe Pug. Alejandro Escovedo. Tommy Womack. Joel Henderson. All new. Even some luscious Leftover Salmon, fresh as can be (ironically) didn’t do the trick.

And buddy, if Elizabeth Cook helping Chuck Mead sing “Wild Mountain Berries” don’t get the job done, I just don’t know what to say. Ain’t never experienced this kind of focus before, truthfully.

Might take The Two Man Gentlemen Band to explain why this is, I’m thinking:

Thanks boys, that helped a bunch. Now I can concentrate on telling you that we’ll be spinnin’ a whole lot more, including some of the artists featured at this year’s River Roots Music & Folk Arts Festival down in Madison, Indiana. Hayes Carll, Band of Heathens, even The Black Lillies doing a favorite of mine from them called “Three In The Mornin’.”
Here’s the lowdown on that hoedown:
http://ohiorivervalleyfolkfestival.com/

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the current show when it aired, it will be posted on that little player deal on the right later this week. 

Alabama’s own Will Kimbrough (2005 Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year) and Kentucky-born Tommy Womack (two-time winner of the Nashville Scene Best Song Award) first collaborated in 1992 in the Bis-Quits, making one impressive guitar-fest of a record for John Prine’s Oh-Boy label. Thankfully, that musical friendship continued to evolve right into present-day DADDY, which has toured as both an acoustic duo and full band.

Recently Will has been handling the lead guitar end of things in Emmy Lou Harris‘ Hot Band and Tommy’s new “Now What!” solo project is currently tearin’ up the Americana charts. We’ll include a track from said album that took me right back to high school days when a certain band was all over the radio, “Play That Cheap Trick, Play.” And I don’t see how we could get away with not including a live one from Daddy as well, seeing as how they’re coming to town and all.

That’s right, Daddy will be bringing it to an incredible room just north of Indianapolis in beautiful downtown Zionsville called The Sanctuary. You need to see this place if you ain’t, Redbuddies. Victorian architecture. Dates back to the 1800s. Intimate room. Atmosphere galore. Cafe on site. And this is part of the Free Range Concert Series. They’ll be bringing more greats acts to town, so keep an eye on this bunch.
Venue website: http://www.nanoel.com/

Now, you’d better know that ain’t all! We have new releases from Alejandro Escovedo, Chelle Rose, Marty Stuart, Chuck Mead & The Grassy Knoll Boys, Leftover Salmon, Paul Thorn, and Justin Townes Earle, among others. And that ain’t even close to being all, I’ll tell you what.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the show when it aired, it will be posted here on the site later this week and remains on our player for 7 days.

Joel Henderson has a new project entitled ”Locked Doors & Pretty Fences” and he’ll stop by our studios to share a few songs and tell us what all he has planned for the CD release celebration at Radio Radio on April 21st. Jon Martin will also join in to provide additional backing on guitar and Dobro.

Heard tell that the band Joel’s bringing along Saturday includes heavyweights such as Ric Hordinski (Over The Rhine, Daniel Martin Moore) on guitar, Byron House (Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, Sam Bush) on bass, Heidi Gluck (Some Girls, The Pieces) on guitar, Bill Mallers (Carrie Newcomer) on keys, and Dan Dorff (Daniel Martin Moore, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket) drumming. Wow.
Don’t miss this one if you can help it, Redbuddies.

Event info on the Radio Radio calendar:
http://futureshock.net/

Artist website:
http://www.joelhenderson.com/

And as if Joel and Jon’s in-studio performance wasn’t enough, we’ll try our level best to work in recent releases from Otis Gibbs, Danny Barnes, Tommy Womack, The Black Lillies, and Leftover Salmon. Lord willin’ and the creeks don’t rise, some good old gravy from David Lindley, George Jones, and Jim Lauderdale might just make it’s way into the mix as well.

Well, just mash that little ‘play’ arrow on the right side of the page here. The bus comes by, you get on, Terry “T-Bone” Mathley and Cary Allen Fields make w/ the rootsy goodness, you sit back and enjoy the ride.

We’re your Americana transit authority.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the show when it aired, it will be posted here on the site later this week and remains on our player for 7 days.

Nope, “Redbud Blues” is not some old Blind Willie McTell number. It’s what you’ll be hearing when you flip it over to Redbud Radio this week.

We’ll get started with Slim Harpo singing a song he recorded way down in Crowley, Louisiana back in 1965 called “Baby Scratch My Back.” And aside from a few tasty electric tracks from Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Junior Wells, and Jimmy Reed, we’re looking at mostly acoustic, country blues fare.

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Skip James, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, and a whole lot more. We’ll even chase one of our all-time favorites from The Reverend Gary Davis with some reminiscences and a fine rendition of one of his songs from someone that knew him well, Roy Book Binder. Book stopped by our studios in 2011 and we’ll include a bit of his visit toward the end of the program.

Well, just mash that little ‘play’ arrow on the right side of the page here. The bus comes by, you get on, Terry “T-Bone” Mathley and Cary Allen Fields make w/ the rootsy goodness, you sit back and enjoy the ride.

We’re your Americana transit authority.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the show when it aired, it will be posted here on the site later this week and remains on our player for 7 days.

This week on The ol’ Redbud Radio we’ll pay tribute to the legendary Earl Scruggs. The man that joined forces with Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Howard Watts, and Chubby Wise to lay the template for the music we hold dear left us on Wednesday at age 88. His was a good, long life; the scope of his career truly amazing.
The plan is to celebrate his life with just as much of his music as we can fit into an hour!

We’ll get started with the first song that a very young Earl recorded as a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. The date was September 16th, 1946 when the band went into Columbia Records studios in Chicago and “Heavy Traffic Ahead” was the first track they laid down in a session that also yielded “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Why Did You Wander,” “Toy Heart,” and “Mansions For Me,” among others.

Earl Scruggs’ approach to the 3-finger style caused quite a stir back in the day, to put it mildly. And all these years later, if you don’t have Scruggs-style banjo in your band, it ain’t really bluegrass, is it? The man transformed the way people worldwide regard the instrument. He inspired countless multitudes to take up the ol’ 5-string, and that’s as big a part of the legacy he leaves behind as anything. Just ask your favorite banjo player out there performing today, be itSammy Shelor, Pete Wernick, or Béla Fleck, and chances are it was the same electricity we all felt the first time Earl’s playing grabbed us that inspired them to take up the instrument. Real safe bet, that!

And, as if that weren’t enough, his mastery of Mother Maybelle Carter-style guitar is another component of Earl’s music too often overlooked…but wait, there’s more! The man was a gospel singer the equal of any in the finest Southern traditional quartet. We’ll be getting a taste of those two facets of Earl’s overwhelming talents in the gospel set that will close the program too, rest assured.

Join us at MIDNIGHT Eastern if you’re in “The Land of Bean Blossom.” You’ll find us at 88.7 on your FM dial.

Not in Indy? Not a problem!
The current show is posted on the player at the right side of this very page and updates once a week.

Otis Gibbs

“Harder Than Hammered Hell” is the new one from Otis Gibbs and we’ll share at least one tune this time around.
The song we’re enjoying at this very moment infuses an element of local lore and legend, is indeed set in Indianapolis or thereabouts, and is about a great fish.
“Big Whiskers” is a catfish, in fact.
We might even work a song in there from Otis’ live in-studio he did for us a while back later on in the program.

Then we’re going to devote the rest of the hour to live music recorded right here in our studio. Exclusive-type content you ain’t going to hear nowhere else. Yeah man.

Elephant Revival, The Hillbenders, The Tillers, Ari Hest, Pierce Pettis w/ Grace Pettis, and Brooks Williams all dropped in when they were passing through the area. Selection or two from each, that’s what we’re looking at here.

And as if that weren’t enough, got the home team representing this week as well, a very good thing. Stockwell Road contributes a couple from a Free Zone appearance they did on a Friday night with Tom May as the host here on WICR FM.
Mr. Stockwell’s myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/willstockwell

Indiana-based singer/songwriter Cari Ray dropped by a little over two years ago and accompanied that remarkable voice of hers on guitar in solo performance.
You’ll find her music and schedule here:
http://cariray.com/

Danny Thompson, exemplary guitarist and singer here in town, dropped by a couple of hollerweens ago and just nailed an old Elvis number. Did a fine job. Danny has a couple of regular roots rock related gigs around town, catch Bigger Than Elvis at Radio Radio when you can:
http://futureshock.net/

Well, just mash that little ‘play’ arrow on the right side of the page here. The bus comes by, you get on, Terry “T-Bone” Mathley and Cary Allen Fields make w/ the rootsy goodness, you sit back and enjoy the ride.

We’re your Americana transit authority.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the show when it aired, it will be posted here on the site later this week and remains on our player for 7 days.

Getting agrarian with it this week, Redbuddies.

That’s right, Paul Knowles of New American Farmers will join us to relate tales of faux divinity, Zen relationships, sobriety and DNA all wrapped up nice and tidy in a 4 song package. In other words, he’ll introduce a few from their “Rotation: Part 1” EP.
Nicole Sorto, Mr. Knowles’ counterpart in this west coast-based cosmic country duo, shares songwriting duties with Paul, and I’m sure you’ll agree they got them a real good thing goin’.
To procure your own (very reasonably priced) copy:
http://newamericanfarmers.bandcamp.com

We got the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie‘s birth coming up this year in July and we’re going to get all celebratory early on by spinning one from that   “New Multitudes: lyrics by Woody Guthrie” project that Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, and Yim Yames just put out on Rounder Records. We might even spin one from ol’ Woody his self.

And there’s MORE!

New Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jim Hurst, and Justin Townes Earle. Old gravy from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Béla Fleck, John Hartford, Buck Owens, and The Byrds. We’ll even spin a live track from Todd Snider that’s so dang timely it’s bound to fan the flames of discontent a bit, no doubt about it. Yup, equal parts poignant and hilarious. That’s The Todd!

Well, just mash that little ‘play’ arrow on the right side of the page here. The bus comes by, you get on, Terry “T-Bone” Mathley and Cary Allen Fields make w/ the rootsy goodness, you sit back and enjoy the ride.

We’re your Americana transit authority.

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern every Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

Not in Indy? Not a problem! If you missed the show when it aired, it will be posted here on the site later this week and remains on our player for 7 days.

Hound Dog Taylor

This week’s show features killer tracks from Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockers, Mike Farris, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Tom Waits, Jerry Reed, Tab Benoit, Jim Hurst, Mavis Staples, Johnny Cash and MORE!

You’d better know you’re not going to hear the same ol’ same ol’ when you listen to Redbud Radio, friends. Niche genres such as rockabilly, Cajun, old-timey, outlaw country, and down home gut bucket country blues regularly make it into the mix right alongside Americana favorites you got a shot at hearing elsewhere.

And you know with Cary Allen Fields & T-Bone Mathley drivin’ the bus you’ll be hearing the very best in American roots music, so just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Redbud Radio airs at Midnight Eastern Saturday night/Sunday morning on WICR 88.7 FM in Indianapolis.

If you miss the show when it airs, it will be posted here on the site later this week and remains on our player for 7 days.