Episode 157

I was away at the Mariposa Folk Festival on the weekend of July 5 2014 (Episode 157). Fortunately DJ MacDee kindly agreed to bring his own wealth of radio experience and musical knowledge to Folk Roots Radio. I hope you enjoyed the show. Now enjoy his playlist.

One of the tough parts about sitting in for Jan Hall on Folk Roots Radio is sounding awake, cheerful, and coherent at 8 a.m. on a Saturday. If I fall out of bed at 8 a.m. on a Saturday, it is unusually early. I can easily relate to Little Miss Higgins “Early Morning Thief”. Then there’s the song selection and conversation …

James Gordon led off the show with “Too Canadian These Days”, for Canada Day, of course. Now, I’m an old school campus broadcaster – back when I started (too many years ago), it was all about themes or continuity. The musical selections should link together in sound or theme. So it is quite easy for me to go off on a tangent when a theme presents itself. I hadn’t planned on a Canada set, it wasn’t to be this week’s mystery theme, but off I went with Nikki Gregoroff and Stompin Tom. I probably could have spent the better part of the show on Canada themes, but I reined myself in.

The real mystery theme for the show was cowboys, cowgirls and rodeos in recognition of the Calgary Stampede. Kathy (my wife) and I were there for the 2002 Stampede which is where I picked up Tim Tamashiro‘s “Big Ball’s in Cowtown”.

Lots of people turn into cowboys at Stampede time. Ian Tyson‘s “Saddle Bronc Girl” is about a real bronc rider, Kaila Mussell from Chilliwac BC. I’ve grown to like his new gravelly voice. Probably the most covered Ian Tyson tune, “Some Day Soon”, was performed by the Travellers – Canada’s original folk group (formed in 1953). Although Farmer’s Daughter are based in Vancover, they are really prairie girls, who like to dance apparently – Saskatchewan’s Jake Leiske, Alberta’s Shauna Rae Samograd and Manitoba’s Angela Kelman. I thought about playing “Come Hell or High Water (the show will go on)”, the theme song from the flooded 2013 Stampede, but its probably a little too “rock” for this show.

Wanting to get more acoustic, I started off the next set with the Shocking Miss Caro Emerald from the Netherlands. That eventually led to Maria Muldaur‘s suggestive “Me and My Chauffer Blues” and another tangent with The Swallows and Billy Ward and the Dominoes. There is a lot of suggestive material in the early blues, from whence came the phrase “Rock and Roll (all night)”, but I’ll leave that for a late night blues show.

With the steamy weather we’ve been having, my thoughts turned to cooling ocean breezes (oh oh, another theme). Leading off the next set is from a live recording I made of David Archibald and friends performing in War Memorial Hall sometime around 1973. We followed that with some appropriate songs from The Stills/Young Band (1976) and Serena Ryder.

I find Finbar Furey‘s “Rivers of Steel” a very powerful song. No one wants to be a disappointment to their mother. I don’t think I was, but if I was, this song would express my deep regret. It grabs me.

The show featured new music from Jasmine Netsena, Raoul and the Big Time, The Black Keys, and You Me & Apollo

Concluding the show was “I See Fire”, by Ed Sheeran, which was the song over the closing credits in The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug.

Well, that’s about all we have time for this week. Thanks again to DJ MacDee for sitting in while I was at Mariposa. Thanks MacDee!

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 the show again in the CFRU 93.3fm archive HERE.

Mystery Theme: Cowboys & Cowgirls (or the Calgary Stampede)

James Gordon
Too Canadian These Days
pipe street dreams (1999, self) CDN

Stompin Tom
Canada Day Up Canada Way
Fiddle & Song (1988 EMI) CDN

Nikki Gregoroff
Canada
Spark & Glimmer (2014, self) CDN

Evan Kennedy
Rodeo
Vol. 2 (2012, self) CDN

The Travellers
Some Day Soon
Applaud (1968 Unidisc Music) CDN

Gary Allen
Cowboy Blues
Smoke Rings in the Dark (1999, MCA Nashville)

Jimmy LaFave
Bohemian Cowboy Blues
Blue Nightfall (2005, Red House Records)

Ian Tyson
Saddle Bronc Girl
Single (2011, Slick Fork Music) CDN

Farmer’s Daughter (Vancouver)
Calling All You Cowboys
Girls Will Be Girls (2009, Big Ride Entertainment) CDN

Tim Tamashiro and his Bonanza Little Big Band
I Turn Into a Cowboy (At Stampede Time)
Big Ball’s in Cowtown (2002, MUSINC) CDN

Caro Emerald
Completely
The Shocking Miss Emerald Acoustic Sessions (2013, Grandmono Records) Dutch

Little Miss Higgins & The Winnipeg Five
Early Morning Thief
Bison Ranch Recording Sessions (2013, self) CDN

J.J. Cale
Don’t Cry Sister
The Definitive Collection (1997, Polygram)

Maria Muldaur
Me and My Chauffer Blues
Richland Woman Blues (2001 Stony Plain)

The Swallows
It Ain’t the Meat (1951)
Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon (2003, Great Voices of The Century, Highnote)

Billy Ward and the Dominoes
If I Never Get to Heaven
Sixty Minute Man (1990, King Records)

David Archibald & Friends
Mediterranean Jive
Live in War Memorial Hall University of Guelph (1973, Live Recording) CDN

Steven Stills and Neil Young
Midnight on the Bay
Long May You Run (1976 Reprise Records) CDN

Serena Ryder
Coconut Grove
If Your Memory Serves You Well (2006, EMI) CDN

Jasmine Netsena
Nothing in Rambling
Take Me With You (2014, self, NWT Arts Council) CDN

Raoul and the Big Time
Why Am I Treated So Bad
Hollywood Blvd (2014, Big Time Records) CDN

Finbar Furey
Rivers of Steel (feat. Shayne Ward)
Colours (2011, Valley Entertainment)

The Black Keys
Turn Blue
Turn Blue (2014, Nonesuch)

You Me & Apollo
I Don’t Want To Be Loved
Sweet Honey (2014, AA Dual Monopoly)

One Foot In Heaven
Turn the Page
Live @ the Riv (2006, self)

Ed Sheeran
I See Fire
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2013 Decca/Universal)