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The music of Memphissippi Sounds, legendary steel guitarist Bobby Black and newly released live recordings of Johnny Cash were featured on the Dec. 18 edition of Greasy Tracks.
The program included interviews with drummer Cameron Kimbrough of Memphissippi Sounds as well as Black, Hawk Semins of the Owsley Stanley Foundation and John Carter Cash, the only son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.
Check out the archive by clicking here for an archive, while a playlist is here.
The Memphissippi Sounds are drummer Cameron Kimbrough — the grandson of the iconic Junior Kimbrough — and harp player Damion “Yella P” Pearson — incidentally each sings and plays guitar.
Kimbrough’s namesake developed his own style of Mississippi hill country blues which flirts with droaning bolstered by a mid-tempo rhythm based on using his thumb on the bass strings.
Hailing from North Mississippi, Cameron Kimbrough and Memphis native Pearson have branched off on that theme and by injecting Memphis blues with flourishes of soul, hip-hop and rock, have essentially created their own unique sound which is captured on their debut release, Welcome To The Land (Little Village). Fittingly, it was recorded at the famed Sun Studio in Memphis.
Consider the just-released Johnny Cash At The Carousel Ballroom April 24, 1968, as the middle part of an aural triptych bracketed by the legendary At Folsom Prison album — which was recorded four months earlier — and the equally epic At San Quentin which was put on tape about 10 months later. At Folsom Prison was released less than two weeks after Cash’s San Francisco appearance.
Recorded by The Grateful Dead’s innovative master of sound, Augustus Owsley “Bear” Stanley III, the performance by Cash at The Carousel Ballroom — the same building which less than three months later would become Bill Graham’s second and final Fillmore West location — has recently been released by the Owsley Stanley Foundation and marks the eighth edition of Bear’s Sonic Journals.
Stanley regularly recorded bands at the venue where was the sound engineer. At this time, it was in the midst of being operated by a collective formed by The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service. This concert, a bill Cash headlined with Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks in support, would mark the only time he ever played the famed venue.
This proved to be a pivotal period for Cash who a month earlier had married June Carter. She is part of his line-up along with veteran sidemen “The Tennessee Three” — guitarist Luther Perkins, bassist Marshall Grant and drummer W.S. Holland who are outstanding on this 28-song collection.
In an effort to preserve Stanley’s “sonic journals” — 1,300 reels of live soundboard recordings of 80 artists — the Owsley Stanley Foundation was funded to finance the incredible undertaking of digitizing the massive trove of music. Thus far, they’ve gone through nearly 900 reels.
Veteran steel guitarist Black may be best known for his work with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen during their most prolific period (1971-74), but the recent release of Bobby Black: 70 Years of Swinging Steel (Little Village) captures an interesting array of primarily live concert or radio broadcast recordings made between 1954 and 1992.
Black also did time with New Riders of the Purple Sage and Asleep At The Wheel.
Earlier this year, a release by the foundation, Tim Buckley Merry-Go-Round at The Carousel, was spotlighted on Greasy Tracks.
The early lineage of the modern rock concert can be traced to The Barrelhouse Club — a venue co-owned by Johnny Otis in the Watts section of Los Angeles — which started featuring rhythm and blues reviews in the late 1940s, but by the time Alan Freed presented the Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland in 1952, there was no looking back.
The Dec. 11 edition of Greasy Tracks spotlighted the history of what started as a social phenomenon and ultimately became a multibillion-dollar industry.
Check out the archive by clicking here for an archive, while a playlist is here.
Author Marc Myers will discuss his just-published Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There (Grove Press) and selections from some of the best live concert albums from the 1950s through 1980s will be included.
A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Myers is one of the most highly regarded jazz writers in the country. He posts six days a week to based JazzWax.com, a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association’s award for Jazz Blog of the Year. His previous books include the critically acclaimed Why Jazz Happened (University of California Press) and Anatomy of a Song (Grove Press).
The Dec. 10 edition of Duck, You Sucker! featured compositions by the American minimalist composer and sound artist Alvin Lucie who died Dec. 1 at the age of 90.
Lucier’s sound installations and compositions tended to focus on the physical properties of sound itself, such as the resonance of spaces, phase interference between closely tuned pitches and the transmission of sound through physical media, as well as the sound of the human body.
His 1965 “Music for a Solo Performer – for enormously amplified brainwaves and percussion” was the first work in history to use brain waves to generate sound. Lucier accomplished this via a series of electrodes attached to his scalp that detected bursts of alpha waves created when the performer reached a meditative non-visual brain state. These alpha waves were then amplified, the resulting electrical signals vibrating percussions instruments dispersed around the performance space. Imagine seeing this performed live!
His most famous piece, “I am Sitting in a Room”, was composed and first record 1969 when Lucier was the University Chamber Chorus director at Brandies University. A native of New Hampshire, Lucier would ultimately move to Middletown where he took a position at Wesleyan University. Middletown remained his home until his passing.
Due to the room’s particular size and geometry, certain frequencies of the recording are emphasized while others are attenuated. Around the 15-minute mark of the piece and about nine repetitions of the recording, the words become unintelligible, replaced by the characteristic resonant frequencies of the room itself. By 23 minutes in, it’s nothing but a drone.
In 1970, he made a second recording of “I am Sitting in a Room” at his apartment in Middletown. It’s an attempt to record the unique resonant harmonics of a given room and features Lucier recording himself narrating a text and then playing the tape recording back into the room. He then re-recorded it and the new recording is then played back and re-recorded. The process was repeated numerous times.
The ground-breaking status of the piece has lost little allure over the years. To celebrate Lucier’ 90th birthday in May, the Brooklyn-based ISSUE Project Room streamed a 26-hour undertaking of it with 90 performers contributing.
An immensely influential artist who collaborated with John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman and many others celebrated experimental musicians of his generation, Lucier taught several contemporary avant-gardists such as Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Arnold Dreyblat and Judy Dunaway, among others.
Call it a collision of rock and jazz as the Dec. 4 edition of Greasy Tracks featured the San Francisco collective Mushroom as well as an array of Krautrock-meets-Canterbury Scene-type music, genres usually linked to Mushroom, a band that cannot be labeled.
Check out this adventuresome and exploratory aural escape by clicking here for an archive, while a playlist is here.
Formed in 1996 by drummer Pat Thomas — who remains the band’s music director — Mushroom, which has boasted more than 30 different members over the years and countless artists have sat in with the band, eschews comparisons to Krautrock, free jazz, progressive rock, ambient, space rock (think Hawkwind) or electronic. Quite simply, they’re a hybrid.
Thomas, interviewed as part of the feature, credit’s Ginger Baker’s Air Force has an influence and inspiration to him personally.
The band recently released a live offering, Songs of Dissent – Live At The Make Out Room 8/9/19 (Alchemikal Artz), its first album in a decade.
Mushroom hasn’t gone unnoticed by musicians linked to the exciting birth of Krautrock and some prog stalwarts, while remaining relevant to bands active today. Faust had Mushroom as openers in San Francisco. Their paths crossed with Kevin Ayers — guitarist and founding member of Soft Machine — and Gong’s founding guitarist Daevid Allen, and would soon collaborate with the duo. They have shared the stage with Porcupine Tree.
[…] band parted ways in 1974 but reunited a number of times over roughly 50 years. Edge and Thomas died…
[…] band parted ways in 1974 but reunited a number of times over roughly 50 years. Edge and Thomas died…
[…] band parted ways in 1974 but reunited a number of times over roughly 50 years. Edge and Thomas died…
[…] this year, a release by the foundation, Tim Buckley Merry-Go-Round at The Carousel, was spotlighted on Greasy […]
The experimental/improvisational-meets-avant-garde approach Mushroom takes to a recording session or a more-favored live concert setting, has obvious links to Krautrock, a highly experimental music, fueled by late-1960s radicalism in West Germany. The unique style — which emerged in the late 1960s and enjoyed an exciting decade, but would largely fade out by the early 1980s – was also known as Kosmische Musik (Cosmic Music).
Nov. 20 marked the 75th anniversary of the birth of legendary guitarist Duane Allman and Greasy Tracks celebrated it with a three-hour spotlight.
Click here to check out an archive of the program, while a playlist is here.
This proved to be a deep dive into the archives as the program featured music from across Allman’s career, especially session work.
There will also be interviews from past programs with Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., as well as bassist David Hood and guitarist Jimmy Johnson of the Swampers, who played numerous studio sessions with Allman and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock who played with “Skydog” with Delaney & Bonnie and Derek and the Dominos. Studio session insight was provided by Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay.
Duane Allman played with the Allman Brothers Band from its founding in 1969 until his untimely death at the age of 24 in 1971. While he recorded only two proper studio albums with the band, he had already gained great acclaim for his studio work and was in demand as a session player before he and his younger brother, Gregg, put the band together.
After the Allman Joys and Hour Glass — two bands he formed with his brother — failed to garner any success, Duane turned to session work and was hired by Hall in the fall of 1968, following how impressed he was with the Florida-born guitarist when the Hour Glass recorded at FAME earlier that year.
Allman — working primarily with FAME’s house band, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, best known as the Swampers — would go on to record landmark sessions backing the likes of Wilson Picket, Clarence Carter, Aretha Franklin Arthur Conley, King Curtis and Otis Rush.
In 1969, the Swampers opened their own facility — Muscle Shoals Sound Studio — and Allman would go on to play sessions there with Boz Scaggs, John Hammond and Ronnie Hawkins among others.
One of Duane Allman’s most-famous recordings was the title track to Derek and the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in 1970 where Allman’s slide guitar meshes magnificently with Eric Clapton and effectively takes the recording to another level. The guitarists were mutual admirers.
The Allman Brothers released their self-titled debut in late 1969 and would follow with Idlewild South nearly a year later — neither proved to be commercial successes, but did provide a taste of what made the band tick as it combined blues standards, with jazz-, blues and even country-inspired originals.
The Allman’s were more comfortable on stage and it was the double-live offering, At Fillmore East, which proved to be the band’s breakthrough release in the summer of 1971. Long considered one of the greatest live albums of all time.
It only had seven tracks, but At Fillmore East packed a potent punch. From the opener, a rollicking version of Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues” to an extended take of T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday” and nearly 20-minute take on Willie Cobb’s “You Don’t Love Me,” the band is nothing short of mesmerizing in their approach, especially on “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and the 23-plus minute “Whipping Post.”
In 2004, the Library of Congress added At Fillmore East to its National Recording Registry.
The music of and an interview with Carolyn Wonderland highlighted a special on Texan guitarists on the Nov. 13 edition of Greasy Tracks.
Click here to check out an archive of the program, while a playlist is here.
Following a three-year stint as John Mayall’s lead guitarist, Wonderland has returned to solo work, recently releasing Tempting Fate, her 10th studio album and first for Alligator Records. The album features guest appearances by Alvin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Red Young, Marcia Ball, Shelly King, Cindy Cashdollar and Jan Flemming.
She is currently touring to support the release which was produced by Dave Alvin. Wonderland plays the The Narrows Center For The Arts in Fall River, Mass., on Nov. 18 and of StageOne in Fairfield on Nov. 19.
A native of Houston, Wonderland made the move to Austin in 1999 at the urging of Doug Sahm who said “it (Austin) was the land of free guitar lessons.”
The annual WRTC fundraising marathon concluded Oct. 31.
On behalf of the staff and management, we thank all of our generous listeners who pledged to support the station.
As the non-commercial radio station of Trinity College, we offer a diverse schedule of 60-plus programs on a weekly basis. Aside from two very-part-time employees, we’re an all-volunteer organization.
Much of our financial assistance comes from our loyal listeners and we rely on your backing to keep us on the air doing what we do best.
Those who pledged will receive a payment form in the mail. Just follow the simple instructions and return it to: WRTC Marathon, 300 Summit St., Hartford, CT 06106.
You can also still donate securely online, just click DONATE!.
“Thank You” premiums are expected to be mailed out in the near future – though supply-chain issues are rampant this year. Please be patient.
For more information, or to make a pledge by phone, contact the station at 860-297-2450.
Thank you again for supporting WRTC!
Alex and Maura featured an interview with and the music of Nick Bosse on the Nov. 8 edition of Bantam Backroads.
Hailing from North Stonington, Conn., Bosse regularly plays venues along the Rhode Island/Connecticut shoreline with his band, The Northern Roots.
Bosse discussed his roots in classic country, southern rock and bluegrass, as well as how he approaches the songwriting process. His newest single, “What Happened to Country” was featured along with other material.
A few years ago, renowned guitarist Danny Kortchmar was approached by a Japanese label to go into the studio and record some nuggets — old and new — in his catalog.
The timing couldn’t have been any better. A number of Kortchmar’s old colleagues from The Section, the legendary studio band, were available along with some other crack players. When it came to reaching out to drummer on Russ Kunkel, bassist Leland Sklar, guitarist Waddy Wachtel and guitarist Steve Postell about doing some recording, there was no surprise that everyone was on board.
Following the album sessions, the band, known as Danny Kortchmar and Immediate Family, played a series of shows in Japan. They would soon shorten their name to The Immediate Family after the members decided the studio work and playing out live had gone so well it only made sense to continue working together.
The Nov. 6 edition of Greasy Tracks featured interviews with Kunkel, Sklar and Wachtel as well as tracks from the band’s recently-released self-titled album.
Click here to check out an archive of the program, while a playlist is here.
The Immediate Family plays TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik in South Windsor on Nov. 14 and The Wall Street Theater in Norwalk on Nov. 16.
Kortchmar, Kunkel, Sklar and keyboardist Craig Doerge comprised The Section which was effectively the house band of Asylum Records and would end up backing the likes of Carol King, James Taylor, Jackson Brown and Warren Zevon, amongst others. The group released a handful of their own albums and by the early 1980s had ceased working as a studio unit, but members would continue to collaborate on assorted projects in the ensuing years.
Wachtel was one of the guitarists members of The Section would regularly cross paths with in the booming Southern California studio scene, another was David Lindley. Each would work from time to time with players from the band.
Hired by Zevon to work on an Everly Brothers album and supporting tour, Wachtel became known for his session chops and was soon doing everything from playing for and producing other artists and doing soundtrack work. Over the years, he would play an important role in the studio or on the road with everyone from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to Zevon and Linda Ronstadt and even Keith Richards and The X-Pensive Winos. It was Wachtel’s guitar work — in part, on Zevon’s Excitable Boy which was co-produced by Wachtel and Jackson Browne — that caught the attention of Richards as the Stones were huge fans of the album.
Following their debut in 2018, Honey Don’t Leave LA (Vivid Sound Corp), the band put out a second full-length release, Turn It Up To 10 (Vivid) and an EP, Slipin’ & Sliding, each in 2020.
[…] led to a longer-term endeavor keeping the music of the Allmans live on stage. Paul recently was on WRTC…