Playlist – Episode 168

DJ MacDee was again keeping my chair warm on September 20 (Episode 168) while I was in Florida for a short vacation. You enjoyed DJ MacDee on Folk Roots Radio. Now enjoy his playlist!

The show featured three main themes: the Franklin Expedition, Autumn and Scotland. We began with Tamarack and James Gordon’s “Frobisher Bay”, a song about whalers frozen in ice in the Arctic. That was followed by Stan Rogers‘ iconic “Northwest Passage” about Franklin’s ill-fated third attempt at the Northwest Passage, also frozen in ice in the Arctic. The short set concluded with “Lady Franklin’s Lament” performed by Michael Mitchell.

This week’s mystery theme was ‘Autumn’, which began with an usually gentle Edgar Winter Group song “1972” and followed with songs by Ed Sheeran, The Great Novel, The Strawbs, Red Fish and The Old Blind Dogs, from Scotland, performing their version of Robbie Burns’ “Song for Autumn”. Spoiler alert: Robbie Burns also turns up in the second half of the show.

While researching for the show I was surprised at the scarcity of folk-based Autumn songs. Interestingly, Autumn seems to be a popular jazz title. Not feeling sated enough by this week’s selection of autumn songs… The Sharecroppers, The The, and The Autumn Defense continued the Fall theme for another go around.

Last week Jan played a live version of “Loch Lomond” by Runrig – a great choice – in advance of the Scottish referendum. I wouldn’t repeat it, although I came close. Donnie Munro, the former lead singer of Runrig, who interestingly left the band to pursue a career in politics before returning to music, put out a live performance CD and DVD together with his friends. From that session I played Holly Tomas with a hauntingly beautiful version of Robbie Burns’ “Ye Banks and Braes”. I followed that with John McDermott‘s version of “Scotland The Brave”.

I closed out the show with another fall song: Bruce Cockburn‘s “What I Did On My Fall Vacation”.

Well, that’s about all we have time for this week. Thanks again to DJ MacDee for sitting in.

You can find the full playlist for the show below. And… 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 in the CFRU 93.3fm archive HERE.

Mystery Theme “Autumn”

Tamarack
Frobisher Bay
Frobisher Bay (1993, Folk Era) CDN

Stan Rogers
Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage (1981, Fogarty’s Cove) CDN

Michael Mitchell
Lady Franklin’s Lament
Canada Is for Kids Vol. 1 (2006, MKM Music)

Edgar Winter Group
Autumn
They Only Come Out At Night (1972, Sony Music)

Ed Sheeran
Autumn Leaves
+ (2011, Warner Music UK)

Old Blind Dogs
Song For Autumn
new tricks (1992, Klub)

The Great Novel
Autumn
Ain’t Too Pretty (2013, Espace Emergence)

The Strawbs
Autumn
Painted Sky (2005, Witchwood)

Red Fish
Fall
4 Seasons 4 Loves (2001, Paris/Sneak Preview)

Harve Bishop
Everyone Keeps Talkin’ ‘Bout The Weather
Everyone Keeps Talkin’ ‘Bout The Weather (Date Unknown, Self) CDN

The Sharecroppers
Newfoundland Autumn
Natural (1993, Self) CDN

The The
August & September
Mind Bomb (1989, Sony Music UK)

The Autumn Defense
Autumn Song
Fifth (2014, Yep Roc Records)

Sam Baker
Angels
Mercy (2004, Self)

Caro Emerald
The Wonderful in You
The Shocking Miss Emerald Acoustic Sessions (2013, Self)

The Valient Thieves
I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
The Valient Thieves (2008, Self) CDN

Holly Tomas
Ye Banks and Braes
Donnie Munro and Friends (2006, River Records)

John McDermott
Scotland the Brave
Songs of the Isles – Scotland (2004, Bunnygee) CDN

Simon Caine
Walked Out The Door
Simon Caine (1970, RCA Victor) CDN

A.Frank Willis
The Ballad of Aunt Beatie
Soiree (1998, Newfoundland Records) CDN

Bruce Cockburn
What I Did On My Fall Vacation
Slice O Life (2009, True North) CDN