Friday, December 16th, 2008 ... 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Covering for Sarah Bellum's "That's Not Bluegrass" show again. Last time was here, if you care.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.

* Bobby Atkins -- "Mandolin Strut" -- Promises and Lies (Thunderbolt, 2008)

Stan Ridgway -- "The Roadblock" -- Partyball (Geffen, 1991)

Catchy, twangy song about patriotic paranoia/pride gripping a small rural town. Not that that would ever happen here.

* Lynne Hanson -- "Movie Queen" -- Eleven Months (self-released, 2008)

East Virginia -- "Rappahannock" -- Back Home in East Virginia (Copper Creek, 1999)

Between the band name, the album name, and that Indian-derivative-sounding track name, I'd guess these guys are from the east coast, possibly Virginia. Just a hunch. Nice bluegrass stuff. This was apparently a comeback album; they'd gotten some acclaim in the '70s/'80s but had to break up and get day jobs.

Tish Hinojosa -- "Midnight Moonlight" -- Taos to Tennessee (Watermelon, 1992)

! Chumbawamba -- "Charlie" -- The Boy Bands Have Won (PM/Trade Root, 2008)

Previously noted here. This one's honestly bluegrass, albeit with British accents. Lyrically, it's meant to champion Darwin and pooh-pooh intelligent design. Worthy cause.

* Charlie Haden -- "20/20 Vision" [Bruce Hornsby, vocals] -- Rambling Boy (Decca, 2008)

Yes, it's Haden, the revolutionary bassist from Ornette Coleman times and countless jazz albums. He's done a roots album here with family members participating. Very nice stuff. This track features lots of Haden's bass, front and center in the mix (figuratively) -- and I may be mistaken here, but it sounds like Hornsby's got a bit of roughness his voice, more appropriate here than the sheen that AAA-hit producers put on him.

Adam Levy -- "To Kill a Mockingbird" -- Get Your Glow On (Lost Wax, 2003)

Former Bay Area guitarist who took his career to New York. He's got lots of keyboards on this full-band album, courtesy of former Tin Hat accordionist Rob Burger, and on this track they go for a fat, funky groove.

M Shanghai String Band -- "Devil, You and Me" -- Up from the Ground Below (Red Parlor, 2006)

I don't know much about this Brooklyn band, but I love the attitude on this track, a kind of rocking dirge. "Devil, you and me on a bicycle built for three," goes the refrain.

? Purdymouth -- "The Spirit of Radio" -- IIth (self-released, 2003)

Previously noted here.

* Rob McNurlin -- "Rhinestoned" -- Rhinestoned (Buffalo Skinner, 2008)

Old, old-school country, with the full fancy rhinestoned jacket on McNurlin on the cover. Includes a long track that's a re-creation of an old-time radio show.

* Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain -- "I Can Go Back Anytime" -- CHHR 2 (Rural Rhythm, 2008)

Modest Mouse -- "Satin in a Coffin" -- Good News for People Who Love (Epic, 2004)

Yeah, Modest Mouse. This one's got an honest-to-goodness bluegrass feel to it, albeit with evil rockabilly attitude (not the sound, just the attitude).

? Cooper-Moore -- "Crow Shit on the Window" -- The Cedar Box Recordings (AUM Fidelity, 2008)

-- 10:00 a.m. --

Devo -- "Jocko Homo" [surprisingly country/mostly acoustic edition!] -- Now It Can Be Told (Enigma, 1989)

Yes, Devo! From a woefully underappreciated live album, where they opened their set with this: "Jocko Homo" sung with acoustic guitars and country twant. The straight roots-rocker "It Doesn't Matter To Me" (a new song) followed. Gutsy stuff! After a few songs, the live set shifts into the expected Devo-ness, including some nice takes on then-new tracks like "Happy Guy." If you enjoy Devo at all, you owe it to yourself to at least hear the first three tracks on here.

* The Daughters of Bluegrass [Michelle Nixon] -- "Will You Ever Be Satisfied" -- Bluegrass Bouquet (Blue Circle, 2008)

A compilation album of all-women bluegrass groups doing a variety of standards. The 17 songs feature different permutations of 53 different female musicians and singers.

Jolie Holland -- "Ghost Waltz" -- Catalpa (Anti, 2003)

? The Photons -- "The Highway Song" -- Live in Alaska (Hukab Nu, 2000)

Typical jam band stuff, done up quite well, in live recordings that have better than decent sound quality. The five band members hail from five different states, none of them Alaska -- but that's where they met up and started playing together. The CD was recorded in multiple venues in Alaska, and the cover art suggests you can get quite a crowd of people for an Alaska show. Go figure. This one's a well executed bluegrass tune that opens the album; later, they get into longer, jam-oriented stuff reminiscent of the obvious sources. Sorta-ironic side note: I picked up this CD in Hawaii.

* Kenny and Amanda Smith -- "Rambler's Blues" -- Live and Learn (Rebel, 2003)

* Kristin Scott Benson -- "Imagine That" -- Second Season (Pinecastle, 2008)

Cathy Fink -- "Sara McCutcheon" -- Doggone My Time (Sugar Hill, 1990)

Uplifting folk song, the true story of an 80-year-old widow who rejects life in a rest home, instead returning to her house so she can continue to fix it up. Fink sings "nice" folk music, lacking the modern cynicism and world-weariness that, to be honest, I prefer. She's now doing children's music.

* The Daughters of Bluegrass [Jeantte Williams] -- "Keep on Walking" -- Bluegrass Bouquet (Blue Circle, 2008)

See above.

* Yarn -- "Can't Slow Down" -- Empty Pockets (Ardsley, 2008)

I like these guys, kind of an alt-country sound that's heavy on the "country." Straight-up indie rock with some twang, is probably a more accurate description. They're New Yorkers, so you can't call it straight country, can you? There's a nice review at Wildy's World.

Phish -- "Scent of a Mule" -- Hoist (Elektra, 1994)

Hippie jam-band music is considered anathema by most of the KZSU staffers, and I can understand why. I enjoy it only in small doses, but I really enjoy those small doses.

This track is one of Mike Gordon's bluegrass/country songs, so it's got a different aesthetic: Banjos, twang, crazy-fast crazy-toned jazz phrases jumping out from the corners, and lyrics about UFO guys who shoot laser beams but are won over by simple Southern hospitality. The fact that "They really liked it" is in the lyrics just adds to the humor.

* Waylon Jennings and the 357s -- "Jack of Diamonds" -- Waylon Forever (Vagrant, 2008)

Posthumous release of recordings dating from 1995 to 2007.

* Kate Campbell -- "Fordlandia" -- Save the Day (Large River, 2008)

Surprisingly sympathetic song about Henry Ford's failed rubber plantation in the Amazon. Overall, Campbell sings modern folk music with a very nice voice, both literally and figuratively.

-- 11:00 a.m. --

* Amy Ray -- "Bus Bus" -- Didn't It Feel Kinder (Daemon, 2008)

The tougher half of the Indigo Girls, but you already knew that. "Bus Bus" is kind of the hit single here, at least by KZSU DJs' preferences. It opens with an abrasive, screeching feedback tone and rocks out nicely from there.

* Lonesome River Band -- "Them Blues" -- No Turning Back (Rural Rhythm, 2008)

? Al Stewart with Laurence Juber -- "Lindy Comes to Town" -- Between the Wars (Mesa, 1995)

Old-time jazzy song reflecting the Western world's mood after Charles Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight. Anything was possible, and everything was good. The world was flush with money, and the mechanics of the stock market had been perfected into a perpetual machine of prosperity. That was 1927. Good thing we learned from that.

More snippiness here.

* Annbjorg Lien -- "The Traveler" -- Waltz with Me (Compass, 2008)

Previously noted here.

* Susan Levine -- "Letter Home" -- Atlas (River Wide, 2007)

Previously noted here.

Graham Parker -- "I Discovered America" -- Don't Tell Columbus (Bloodshot, 2007)

Previously noted here.

Eugene Chadbourne -- "The Sky Got Flatter" -- Texas Sessions: Chapter Two (Boxholder, 2002)

For all his avant-garde fame, Chadbourne has honest-to-goodness country/blues roots and a love for those musics. This is a tribute album and cover album of Doug Sahm, of Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornadoes fame, and it shows Chadbourne's country side clearly. This track, though, is an 11-minute jam with repeating verses, creating an expansive feel meant to parallel the lyrics about the sky changing upon crossing the border into Utah. It was a nice break for me and didn't stray too far from the show's not-quite-country aesthetic, I thought.

Darol Anger, David Balakrishnan, Mark Glaser -- "Selena/Hell's Bells" -- Jazz Violin Celebration (Kaleidoscope, )

* Bob Cheevers -- "Pictures of Strangers" -- Fiona's World Berkalin, 2008)

Interesting country tune about an English woman who's sketching people in bars and turns her attention to the musician on stage. Apparently it's partly true; the artist (and the actual spoken woman's voice on the track) is Fiona Long, and she did the album art, too.

Kukuruza -- "Beyond the Rocky Mountain" -- V/A: The Rough Guide to the Music of Russia (World Music Network, 2002)

One of dozens of "Rough Guide" CDs we've received. It's packed with bona fide Russian music -- folk stuff, classical -- and this bluegrass band. No, seriously, bluegrass! with Russian vocals. Quite good.

Misha Feigen -- "A Meter Violation" -- Both Kinds of Music (Leo Records, 1999)

Some avant-garde improvising on guitars, balalaika, and banjo (the latter being Eugene Chadbourne). What the heck. I wanted a long track to leave the next DJ, and bluegrass just doesn't have that many of those in arm's reach. I did pick one that features some rough strumming patterns, for the illusion of a "regular" song developing.

* = Item in KZSU rotation
? = Item not in KZSU library

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.