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Backbeat Radio Broadcast on radio stations across Canada and the U.S.A. See below for a list. |
Here is a summary of the previous ten Backbeat shows that can be streamed on-demand for free. Streaming service is provided by Mixcloud, clicking on the link will take you to their site.
Lots of New Orleans magic on this week's show (as usual). Professor Longhair gets us goin' - to the Mardi Gras, we pay tribute to the late Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Ronnie Douglas' new one lets it roll, Annisteen Allen keeps it rollin, David Vest takes the steamer and Ray Charles is inviting us to a private party.
Wynonie Harris leads the parade, The Louvin Brothers preach, we'll hear a popular Mexican trio, a groundbreaking bluegrass instrumental featuring a future member of The Byrds, new music from Big Fancy and the Shiddy Cowboys that combines classic 50s honky tonk with great songwriting, Cab Calloway kicking gongs, and an early rock & roll classic by Johnny Burnett (pictured) that nobody heard until 13 years after it was recorded
Another nice pile of old records on Backbeat this week, we've got alley cats, cats with a fiddle, the original version of a song that put Robert Palmer on the musical map, Tiny Bradshaw shows us his soft side, Danny Marks shows us his country side, with a bluegrass pantyhose commercial thrown in for fun.
On Backbeat we don't stick to any one genre, and this week's show provides lots of reasons. Singers like Ray Charles make pop hits from gospel songs, gospel singers make pop hits, or gospel hits from pop songs. Sometimes you can't tell which came first, and the stakes aren't worth fighting about in court. Just ask Paula Watson (in the picture) who had her hit record copied exactly by a bigger star. All this is filled out by music from Africa, Jamaica, Alberta and the Louisiana Bayou.
There a lot of mixture of country and blues and soul this week, jazzy musicians doing country, country singers tackling blues, it happened a lot.We've also got La Lupe (pictured) the Queen of Latin Soul, some cocktail music and an early success by Mac Rebennac before he was Dr. John.
Listen to Backbeat this week to hear a singer/sax player who almost got famous, and Laura Lee Perkins (pictured), a female rockabilly singer who found some fame about 30 years after she made records. Leroy Van Dyke walks right by his true love on the street while Shakura S'aida walks the city streets looking for her love.
Backbeat keeps chuggin' along this week with some records by bad guys - Junior Wells making a record while he was AWOL, Ronnie Self being, well, Ronnie Self and Pearl Taylor tells those Dixie women what she thinks of them. Pat Johnson and Jake Vaadeland give us two very different takes on how modern musicians honour vintage music and we'll hear a Tahitian group that became a sensation in Paris in the `1930s.
We unearth a couple of original versions of songs made more famous later - (one by the same singer), we'll hear The Queen of Detroit Blues who never found fame but ended up with a good career. We've got a tortured soul ballad about teenage love that brought world fame, briefly, to a couple of teenagers, and a beautiful record by Columbian singer Toto La Mompasina..
Another nice pile of records to go through this week, including the flip sides of some great Atlantic records by Ruth Brown and LaVerne Baker, Clyde McPhatter shows he can rock with the best (actually better than most), David Vest gives us some rolling boogie woogie, we'll hear a Cajun record that may have a connection to Beyonce, Diana Ross's favourite gospel group, The Meditation Singers (pictured) and a hidden gem from Danny Cobb.
This week features what may be the first so-called Do-Wopp record, an early Bakersfield recording from Wynn Stewart (pictured). a lovely "folk song" from Big Bill Broonzy, Li'l Andy presents a fictitious troubadour from the 1920s, and Lori Yates gives us a haunting cowboy song.