Playlist: Episode 184

There are no interviews on this week’s show just lots of great music. We’ve received some great new albums in the early part of this year and it only seemed right to make the music the focus of the show. As usual we found time for a new mystery theme and guilty pleasure.

This week’s mystery theme was all about ‘boots’. Now you might think that is a bit of an odd choice for a mystery theme but as someone who spends pretty much all winter in a well-worn pair of hiking boats I can tell you, I know the value of a good pair of boots. And based on the songs we played its fairly clearly that the choice of boots says a lot about the personality and passions of the wearer.

This week’s guilty pleasure was Nancy Sinatra with the Lee Hazlewood song “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”. These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ reached No 1 in both the US and the UK in 1966, and was not only the biggest hit of Nancy Sinatra’s career, but also became her signature song. These Boots Are Made For Walkin’  was also one of literally hundreds of songs from the 60s to feature the celebrated Los Angeles based studio session musicians, The Wrecking Crew. The Wrecking Crew played on hits by such artists as the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, The Monkees, Mamas and Papas to name just a few – and they were Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. Like their compatriots at Motown, The Funk Brothers, their influence on the music of the era can not be understated. Top learn more about The Wrecking Crew, check out the great documentary by Danny Tedesco.

Thanks to Susan for the suggestion. These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ was her mother Doreen’s favourite song. If you have a guilty pleasure you’d like to share – that song you still love though you think other people would find it unfashionable (believe me, they won’t), get in touch. We’d love to play it for you! And, if you have a good story about why you love that song, so much the better.

Lesley Gore sadly passed away this week. As a tribute we chose to play “You Don’t Own Me”, a fairly straightforward 60s pop song that over time as metamorphosed into an inspirational song for young women everywhere. You Don’t Own Me was written by Philly songwriters John Medara & David White. You Don’t Own Me was released in December 1963 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Singles chart. We considered playing “It’s My Party” today, the song Lesley Gore is probably most known for, but the message of female empowerment in You Don’t Own Me was just too perfect to pass up. You can find that song on a variety of albums and compilations including “20th Century Masters – The Millenium Collection: The Best of Lesley Gore” (2000, Island Def Jam). And after that song by a seventeen year old Lesley Gore, we listened to a song about aging from singer-songwriter Loretta Hagen with the wonderful “When My Years Are Stacked” from her 2012 album “Mud And Stone” (2012, Bearfort) before wrapping the set with a another song from New York City’s Bobtown

I mentioned at the start of this playlist, we received lots of great music in the early part of the year and amongst that we’ve received some new albums from across the pond (you can tell I’ve been living in North America too long). This week we debuted a special set of folk from the UK featuring Pete Davies and Jez Lowe from the North East of England and Ange Hardy from Somerset. Pete Davies is a singer-songwriter based in Middlesbrough who has just released “Long Way Home” (Home Routes Music). I love his clear voice and thoughtful uplifting lyrics. Jez Lowe has been a stalwart of the folk scene for years over there. He seems to be finally getting his due with nominations for two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards including Folk Singer Of The Year. At the same awards, Ange Hardy is up for Horizon Award which I’m assuming is for up and coming artists. Judging by the wonderful songs on her latest album “The Lament Of The Black Sheep” and last album “Bare Foot Folk”, Ange has a strong shout this time around. I should add that she also took home the Fatea Award of the year in 2014 and was named Fatea Magazine’s female vocalist of the year in 2013.

Well, that’s just about all the time we have for today. Check out the full playlist with artist links below. Thanks to all the artists who share their music with us, and thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week!

You can listen to this show again on Mixcloud.

Folk Roots Radio – Episode 184 by Folk Roots Radio on Mixcloud

Mystery Theme: “Boots”

Nicolas & The Iceni (Theme)
Lucy She Rises (Demo)
Roll Right (expected 2015)

Blackie & The Rodeo Kings
Boots Of Leather
Kings Of Love (1999, Maple Music / True North) CDN

The Seldom Scene
Boots Of Spanish Leather
Putamayo Presents – Bluegrass (2012, Putamayo)

Lindi Ortega
Little Red Boots
Little Red Boots (2011, Last Gang Records) CDN

Corb Lund
(Gonna) Shine Up My Boots
Counterfeit Blues (2014, New West) CDN

Thom Swift
Circle Of Boots
The Fortunate Few (2013, Lowdenproud) CDN

Stackridge
Boots & Shoes
A Victory For Common Sense (2009, Helium Records)

Trevor Gordon Hall
Short Story
Mind Heart Fingers (2014, Self)

Ange Hardy
The Lullaby
The Lament Of The Black Sheep (2014, Story Records)

Ange Hardy
The Raising And The Letting Go
The Lament Of The Black Sheep (2014, Story Records)

Jez Lowe
The Pitmen Poets
The Ballad Beyond (2014, Tantobie Records)

Pete Davies
Rusted
Long Way Home (2014, Home Routes Music)

Nancy Sinatra
These Boots Are Made For Walkin’
Boots (2006, Boot Enterprises)

Lesley Gore
You Don’t Own Me
20th Century Masters – The Millenium Collection: The Best of Lesley Gore (2000, Island Def Jam)

Loretta Hagen
When My Years Are Stacked
Mud And Stone (2012, Bearfort)

Bobtown
Girl In Blue
A History Of Ghosts (2014, Self)

Jonathan Byrd
Close Enough To Touch
You Can’t Out Run The Radio (2014, Waterbug Records)

Eliot Bronson
Baltimore
Eliot Bronson (2014, Saturn 5 Records)

Craig Cardiff
Boy Inside The Boat
Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) (2013, Self) CDN

Jesse Parent
One More Song
This Uncertainty (2012, Self) CDN

Moors & McCumber
Pandemonium
Pandemonium (2014, Self)

Kelly Bosworth
Waters
Kelly Bosworth (2014, Self)

Tillamook Burn
Corrina
Tillamook Burn (2014, Self)

Allison Lupton
One More Day
Half My Heart (2014, Self) CDN

The Levins
God’s Spies (King Lear Act V, Scene III)
Trust (2015, Summersongs Unlimited)

Caroline Cotter
Dreaming As I Do
Dreaming As I Do (2015, Bella Blue Records)

The Burns Sisters
Clare To Here
Look Back: Our American Irish Souls (2015, Self)

Jayme Stone
Shenandoah
Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project (2015, Borealis Records) CDN

Ken Whiteley And The Beulah Band
How Fast Time Flies
Ken Whiteley And The Beulah Band (2015, Borealis Records) CDN

Brewer & Shipley
Don’t It Feel Like Home
Heartland (1997, Wilson River Records)