"The Hicks from Coast to Coast" with Mary Tilson
This week we talk to Mary Tilson, who hosts a popular and long-running show on Berkeley, California's powerful and ultra-liberal KPFA, which was the first listener-supported radio station in the United States.
Bill Frater: Where and when did you start in radio? What other stations
Revisiting Dave Alvin's "Romeo's Escape" (1987)
If you know this album (bravo to you) it’s probably as Dave Alvin’s first solo recording after leaving the Blasters (and X) and before he made all those albums people really love. And indeed, it’s a transitional artefact of Alvinology. Everything about it, by context and content,
History, Mystery, and Music in Money, Mississippi
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin’ cotton, and my brother was balin’ hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered out the back door, “Y’all, remember to wipe your feet!
The Cactus Blossoms vs. the Everly Brothers: Same Sound, Different Duo
The Everly Brothers reincarnated? Or merely reinvented? The Cactus Blossoms could easily convince the pundits either way. This sibling duo sound every bit like their famous predecessors in both their delivery and choice of material. They emulate the Everlys so convincingly, a novice would be hard-pressed to tell the
A Songwriter's Uniform
Johnny Cash wrote an entire song about his iconic wardrobe:
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day
And tell the world that everything's okay
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back
Til things are brighter, I'
The Danger of Genius: Bill Monroe and Tony Rice
Genius has within it the seeds of its own destruction. Bill Monroe labored for years to find and develop a musical sound he heard in his head. He experimented throughout his sojourn in the industrial necklace around the Great Lakes with combinations of instruments, tempos, and musical structures, restlessly seeking