Playlist: Episode 179

This week’s Folk Roots Radio (Episode 179) featured our favourite albums of 2014. As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy to narrow down all the great albums we’ve played over the past year to just ten, but that’s what we’ve done. If you check out the post about The Best Albums of 2014 we’ve also included the next five as honourable mentions. As usual, there was lots of new music on offer including some original holiday tunes, as well as a new mystery theme and guilty pleasure.

This week’s mystery theme was all about “moods”. I have to thank Rob for suggesting “My Ever Changing Moods” by The Style Council as this week’s guilty pleasure as he gave me the idea to use it for the mystery theme too. The run up to Christmas or ‘the holidays’ – whichever you prefer is always a very emotional time of year. There’s always lots of excitement… gifts to buy, people to see, parties to attend, lots to do… and that’s all very exciting but it can also put a lot of pressure on people. And, at least in our part of the world, we experience shorter days and darker mornings as part of our early winter which can make people a little, shall we say, moody.

At this time of year some people are very ‘up’ – giddy with the spirit of the holidays, while others can be very ‘down’, toughing out the dark days of winter. I tend to fall somewhere in between… some days I’m up and sometimes a little down. It really depends whether I get out for my morning constitutional with my farm dog friend, “Abby” so that I grab a little of the daylight that’s available. So there you are this week’s mystery theme was “moods” and I’m hoping that where ever you are you are enjoying or coping with this time of year as best you can!

I should mention, for those with an acute sense of hearing, that this week’s mystery theme had only five songs while I mentioned there would be six. ‘Mellow Mood’ by Bob Marley inexplicably dropped out of the mix. I’ll try to make sure I add it into a future show.

This week’s guilty pleasure was, as previously mentioned, white soul from 1984 with Paul Weller and Mick Talbot as The Style Council and “My Ever-Changing Moods”, a song that reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 29 in the US. It’s interesting that this song remains Paul Weller’s greatest success in the US (including his efforts in The Jam and as a solo artist).

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.

We’re not adverse to playing a few Christmas tunes on this show so long as they are original or if not original are more interesting than just a stylized version of a traditional or standard repertoire Christmas song. On this week’s show we played Ondine Chorus with their acapella version of traditional spiritual “Children Go Where I Send Thee”, a new sad Corb Lund song “Just Me And These Ponies (For Christmas This Year)” from An Americana Christmas (New West Records), a new single from Glen MacNeil, “My Christmas Song”, that was produced by and also features John & Michelle Law, and… for banjo lovers everywhere… David Myles with the wonderful “Santa Never Brings Me A Banjo” from his new holiday album “It’s Christmas”. Check out David’s website for some fun and interactive holiday features including a very special ‘Advent Calendar’, and a great animated video for that song. We also found time to play Ed Koenig with an original tune “Nashwaak Winter” from his new holiday album “Peace On Earth: Christmas Tunes For Solo Guitar” and you can find that on Chanter Records. Check out chanterecords.com for all the details.

Keeping with the holidays theme we found time to plug three gifts that would make the music lover in your family very happy… the great Jean Ritchie tribute album Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie (Compass Records) and the fabulous Ronnie Lane compilation “Ooh La La: An Island Harvest”, as well as the excellent Thompson family super-group album “Family” (Fantasy Records) that we previewed last week.

This week’s Folk Roots Radio also featured our favourite albums of 2014. For anyone who has listened to this show throughout the year, most of the albums on this list aren’t a surprise as I’ve raved about them and played tracks from them throughout the year. And the good news is that it looks like 2015 will be a great year for music too!

We’ll continue to bring fine music to you each week on Folk Roots Radio. Thanks again to all the artists who share their music with us. Without you there would be no show. And thank you for tuning in each week. Without you, there’d be no reason to do a show. I’d just be sitting at home with my headphones on!

Well, that’s just about all the time we have for today. You can find the full playlist for the show 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 the show again on Mixcloud.

Folk Roots Radio – Episode 179 by Folk Roots Radio on Mixcloud

Mystery Theme: “Moods”

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

Tony Bennett
Mood Indigo
The Essential Tony Bennett (1999, RPM/Columbia/Legacy)

The Heartbroken
Same Mood Today
Tonight Tonight (2010, Self) CDN

Nick Lowe
Time I Took A Holiday
Dig My Mood (1998, Yep Roc)

Steve Strongman
The Mood
A Natural Fact (2012, Self) CDN

Robert Plant
In The Mood
The Principle Of Moments (1983, Rhino Records)

Chet Atkins
In The Mood
Classics (2007, HHO Licensing)

Ondine Chorus
Children Go Where I Send Thee
Towards A Little Light (2014, Self) CDN

Corb Lund
Just Me And These Ponies (For Christmas This Year)
An Americana Christmas (2014, New West) CDN

Glen MacNeil
My Christmas Song
(Single) (2014, Self) CDN

David Myles
Santa Never Brings Me A Banjo
It’s Christmas (2014, Little Tiny Records) CDN

Ed Koenig
Nashwaak Winter
Peace On Earth: Christmas Tunes For Solo Guitar (2014, Chanter Records) CDN

The Style Council
My Ever Changing Moods
The Style Council Collection (1984, Polydor)

Dale Ann Bradley & Alison Brown
Go Dig My Grave
Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie (2014, Compass Records)

Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance
Don’t Try & Change My Mind
Ooh La La: An Island Harvest (2014, Island Records)

Thompson
That’s Enough (feat. Richard Thompson)
Family (104, Fantasy Records / Concord Music Group)

Nicolas & The Iceni
Caroline’s Song (Demo)
Roll Right (expected 2015)

Clela Errington
Home On High
More Songs About Love & Happiness (2014, Clela Music) CDN

Jesse Winchester
Just So Much
A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble (2014, Appleseed Recordings)

Shari Ulrich
Freefall
Everywhere I Go (2014, Borealis Records) CDN

Dennis Johnson
She Looks Good
Slide Avenue (2014, Self)

Kerri Powers
A Little Light
Kerri Powers (2014, Self)

Rodney Crowell
The Long Journey Home
Tarpaper Sky (2014, New West Records)

Peggy Seeger
We Watch You Slip Away
Everything Changes (2014, Red Grape Music)

Jane Lewis
Stay With Me
Stay with Me (2014, Self) CDN

Ernest Troost
Old Screen Door
O Love (2014, Travelling Shoes)

The Hello Strangers
What It Takes To Break A Heart
The Hello Strangers (2014, IMI)