Playlist: Episode 178

This week’s episode of Folk Roots Radio featured an interview and impromptu session with Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Jill Zmud recorded at the recent Folk Music Ontario conference alongside a new mystery theme and an extended guilty pleasure segment as a tribute to a couple of great musicians who sadly passed away this week, keyboard player Ian McLagan and saxophonist Bobby Keys.

Our mystery theme was all about “Angels”. I hadn’t realized how many songs about angels there were until I tried to pick the six I was going to play. Evidently they exist in almost all aspects of life… even barrel racing. I finally settled on seven songs rather than six and added in the very beautiful “She’s With The Angels Now” by the late great Oliver Schroer as this week’s instrumental. Some people think that angels are all around us; based on the number of songs written about them I guess they must be right.

It wasn’t just the mystery theme that was super-sized this week. This week’s guilty pleasure became a set. A guilty pleasure, by our, admittedly flexible and self-serving definition (for programming reasons), is the song you still love though you think others would find it unfashionable; which typically they won’t, because guilty pleasures are typically songs that many people still love but may not have heard for a while. This week we fulfilled two requests for a guilty pleasure – “Itchycoo Park” and ‘anything by The Rolling Stones‘ and turned into a set featuring the Small Faces, Faces, The Rolling Stones and solo Ian McLagan. We did that to honour the musical contributions of two fabulous musicians… keyboard player McLagan and saxophonist Bobby Keys, who sadly both passed away this week.

The set started off with “Itchycoo Park” by the Small Faces, written by Steve Marriott with Ronnie Lane and featuring Ian McLagan on keyboards – it reached number three in the UK Singles Chart in 1967. After that came the Faces which, of course, resulted from Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joining the band and Steve Marriott leaving. We chose to play “Glad & Sorry” from their great 1973 album “Ooh La La”, another Ronnie Lane song that features some beautiful piano from McLagan.

After that we are on to The Rolling Stones with “Miss You” from their classic 1978 album “Some Girls”. A fabulous Jagger / Richards song with disco overtones, Miss You went to number 1 in Canada, US and UK in 1978. And… it also featured Ian McLagan on keyboards. Ian McLagan played a lot with the Stones over the years.

And this week, we didn’t just play one Stones song on the show… we played three… because we followed Miss You with “Rip This Joint” from their classic 1972 album “Exile On Main Street”. And then added in “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” from 1971’s “Sticky Fingers”. Both songs featured the great Bobby Keys on saxophone, a long-time Stones sideman who really beefed up the sound. He’s best heard on some of those great 70s albums the Stones put out. And, if you’re not familiar with Can’t You Hear Me Knocking you really should check it out. He absolutely lets rip.

We wrapped up the set with some very recent Ian McLagan… in this case Ian McLagan & The Bump Band, from just this year with his version of Little Walter’s “Temperature”. You can find that on the 2014 release, The Best of the Americana Music Festival on Yep Roc Records. There’s also a great video online here.

So there you are… that was this week’s guilty pleasure set. Thanks to Wendy and Mark for the suggestions. It’s sad to say goodbye to both Ian McLagan and Bobby Keys in the same week. Still, they left a lot of great music behind, and, for that, we need to celebrate.

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.

Later in the show, Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Jill Zmud joined us for a memorable interview and impromptu session at the recent Folk Music Ontario conference. Her second album, “Small Matters of Life & Death” was nominated for Contemporary Album Of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards but lost out to The Strumbellas with their great album “We Still Move On Dancefloors”. For that reason it was only appropriate that we play The Strumbellas on the show too. We’ll dip more into the CFMA winners on next week’s show. We’ll also be announcing our best albums of the year. You won’t want to miss that!

This week in our new music section, we focused on the new Thompson album “Family”. It’s a really interesting project. Thompson, is an extended family super-group headed by divorced parents Richard and Linda but also featuring their incredibly talented children Teddy and Kami, Richard’s son Jack (from his second marriage), Linda’s grandson Zac Hobbs, Kami’s partner in her duo The Rails – James Walbourne and others. (I hope you’re keeping up – I have to be careful not to leave anyone out). Think of them as the British version of the Wainwright – McGarrigles.

Development of the album was overseen by Teddy Thompson, with each family member allowed to provide two songs – which explains why there are so many Thompson themes and styles on offer, and why, at the same time – because each participant was limited to two songs, it feels so refreshing. The album hangs together really, really well. Whether you’re a fan of Richard’s current solo musical output or perhaps a long-time fan of Richard & Linda’s great 70’s albums or perhaps you are coming at the project through Teddy or Kami’s music it’s likely to get you to check out the music of the others. The Teddy Thompson song “Family” put it all in perspective and give you a little glimpse into the family dynamics, such as they are post break-up in what must have been an ‘interesting’ time growing up. All in all, Family is a great album. And, dare I say it, the perfect stocking stuffer for the Thompson fan in your family!

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!

Folk Roots Radio – Episode 178 by Folk Roots Radio on Mixcloud

Mystery Theme: “Angels”

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

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

Ian Tyson
Barrel Racing Angel
All The Good ‘Uns (1996, Vanguard Records) CDN

Lucinda Williams
Drunken Angel
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (1998, Mercury Records)

Samantha Martin
Dark Angel
Mississippi Sun (2014, Dollartone Records) CDN

Andrea Menard
Angel Wings
The Velvet Devil (2007, Velvet & Hawk) CDN

Darden Smith
Angel Flight
Love Calling (2013, Compass Records)

Relative Harmony
Angels Hovering ‘Round
Rolling Home (2012, Self) CDN

Oliver Schroer
She’s With The Angels Now
Hymns & Hers (2007, Borealis Records) CDN

Thompson
Family (feat. Teddy Thompson)
Family (2014, Fantasy / Concord Record Group)

Thompson
Careful (feat. Kami Thompson)
Family (2014, Fantasy / Concord Record Group)

Thompson
One Life At A Time (feat. Richard Thompson)
Family (2014, Fantasy / Concord Record Group)

Thompson
Perhaps We Can Sleep (feat. Linda Thompson)
Family (2014, Fantasy / Concord Record Group)

Small Faces
Itchycoo Park (1967)
Absolutely The Best (2000, Immediate / True North)

Faces
Glad & Sorry
Ooh La La (1973, Warner Bros)

The Rolling Stones
Miss You
Some Girls (1978, Virgin Music Canada)

The Rolling Stones
Rip This Joint
Exile On Main Street (1972, Virgin Music Canada)

The Rolling Stones
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Sticky Fingers (1971, Virgin Music Canada)

Ian McLagan & The Bump Band
Temperature
The Best Of The Americana Music Festival (2014, Yep Roc)

Interview: Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Jill Zmud has just released her second album, “Small Matters of Life & Death”. Jill came in for an interview and impromptu session at the recent Folk Music Ontario conference.

Jill Zmud
Victoria Tucker
Small Matters Of Life & Death (2014, Self) CDN

Jill Zmud
Wishing Well (Live)

Jill Zmud
Carry Me Home (Live)

Jill Zmud
Water In The Wine (Live)

The Strumbellas
End Of An Era
We still Move On Dancefloors (2013, The Orchard Records / Underneath A Mountain Records) CDN

Shawna Caspi
Anchor
Apartments For Lovers (2014, Self) CDN

Sharlene Olson
Too Much Here & There
Misfits & Moonbeams (2014, Green Suitcase Productions) CDN