Episode #387 Sunday, April 17, 2011

It’s Record Store Day/Damnwells weekend, so we’re out of town and lovin’ it, but not to worry, we’ve got your usual Sunday goodness pre-recorded for your listening pleasure. We got off to a start with some Tom Waits songs, for no real reason, before settling in for a good long set of rockin’ good tunes. We also preview a few great upcoming shows including the Japan benefit featuring Keri Latimer, Greg Macpherson, and Ridley Bent, as well as the CD release for the new album by Matt Epp, and next week’s return of an old friend.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

2:00pm – 2:30pm

Romi Mayes and The Temporarily Employed – Ordinary Sunday – The Living Room Sessions – CDN – WPG

Tom Waits – 9th & Hennepin – Rain Dogs

Tom Waits – Come on up to the House – Mule Variations

Neko Case – Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis – New Coat of Paint — Waits Tribute

Sarah Borges And The Broken Singles – Blind Love – Female Tribute To Tom Waits – Vol.2

Shawn Colvin – Get Out Of This House – A Few Small Repairs

Lucinda Williams – Right in Time – Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

 

2:30 – 3:00 pm

 

Rodney Crowell – Earthbound – Fate’s Right Hand

Blackie & The Rodeo Kings – Sometimes It Comes Easy – Let’s Frolic Again – CDN

Ron Sexsmith – Hard Bargain – Retriever – CDN

Ron Sexsmith – Wishing Wells – Retriever – CDN

Nick Lowe – Cruel to Be Kind – Labour of Lust

Patrick Park – Here We Are – Everyone’s in Everyone

 

3:00 – 3:30 pm

 

Keri Latimer – Mountain Road – CBC Radio 2’s Song Quest: Road Songs – CDN – WPG

Greg Macpherson – Wide Turn – Maintenance – CDN – WPG

RIdley Bent – Arlington – Buckles & Boots – CDN – WPG

Nathan – Gasoline – Jimson Weed – CDN – WPG

Ridley Bent – Suicidewinder – Blam – CDN – WPG

Greg Macpherson – First Class – Mr. Invitation – CDN – WPG

 

3:30 – 4:00 pm

 

Matt Epp – Cover Me – Safe or Free – CDN – WPG

Matt Epp – She’s High Water – Orphan Horse – CDN – WPG

Matt Epp – You’ll Find Me Alone – You’ll Find Me Alone – CDN – WPG

Dan Walsh – Smokomotive – Virtuoso – CDN

Brock Zeman – Greasy Skillet Boys – Live @ The Acoustic Grill – CDN

Abigail Lapell – Beautiful – Great Survivor – CDN

John Bottomley – Winter Gone – The Healing Dream – CDN

The Damnwells & Harper Blynn

After several long years of superfandom, I finally got the opportunity to see The Damnwells live. The band, these days, consists primarily of singer/songwriter/guitarist/god Alex Dezen, and rather than assembling a band himself, he went out and hired himself a great live band, Harper Blynn, to open the shows and back him up as the Damnwells. We made the trek to see the show at The Hub in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and then at the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis.

download Harper Blynn’s set – April 16, 2011 – Cedar Falls (started a bit late, because it took a few songs to realize how awesome they were)

download The Damnwells set – April 16, 2011 – Cedar Falls

download Harper Blynn’s set – April 17, 2011 – Minneapolis

download The Damnwells set – April 17, 2011 – Minneapolis

 

Cedar Falls videos:

She Goes Around:

Golden Days:

Minneapolis videos:

I Am a Leaver:

hilarious intro to the last song of the show and the tour:

I Will Keep the Bad Things from You:

Steel Belted Radio – April 21, 2011

This past weekend’s trip down south to see the Damnwells and take in Record Store Day was pretty amazing, and we can’t help but relive it by listening to some live recordings and pulling out the new vinyl we bought on Record Store Day. Lots of good stuff to behold. Also, we’ve got a whole whack of great new music.

playlist
part 1
part 2

April 10, 2011

This one felt like such a busy show, yet we only managed to play 4 artists in 2 hours – I don’t think we’ve ever done that before! We had to pay tribute to the late, great John Bottomley, who left us this week, but left behind a lot of great music. RIP. We look forward to my trip to finally see the Damnwells live, and we were joined in-studio by Taylor Ashton of hot up-and-coming roots band Fish & Bird to chat about their great new record and upcoming shows.

playlist
part 1 (John Bottomley tribute)
part 2 (Damnwells preview)
part 3 (Taylor Ashton – Fish & Bird)

Steel Belted Radio – April 7, 2011

Fresh back from a road trip down south, I’m in the mood to rock out a bit, and that’s what this episode is pretty much all about.

playlist
part 1
part 2

April 17, 2011

It’s Record Store Day/Damnwells weekend, so we’re out of town and lovin’ it, but not to worry, we’ve got your usual Sunday goodness pre-recorded for your listening pleasure. We got off to a start with some Tom Waits songs, for no real reason, before settling in for a good long set of rockin’ good tunes. We also preview a few great upcoming shows including the Japan benefit featuring Keri Latimer, Greg Macpherson, and Ridley Bent, as well as the CD release for the new album by Matt Epp, and next week’s return of an old friend.

playlist
part 1
part 2
part 3

Let’s bring Depression out of the shadows

After reading some emails in response to John Bottomley’s untimely death by suicide, as well as the brilliant piece on Roots Music Canada I’m even more moved and inspired. Bottomley’s death had that sad, silent feeling to it that he’d been claimed by the awful disease that is depression, and I was sorry to find out that my fears were true.

I’ve spent a lot of time down that long, lonely road that eventually took John. I’ve never talked publicly about that. The nature of depression is that you feel totally alone, but the reality is that those of us afflicted, clearly, are not.

The RMC post says that for artists “depression is almost an occupational hazard,” and that is probably true. It certainly feeds into much of the great art that is created. I talk to a lot of great musicians who kind of dance around the subject, but don’t often get into how they’ve been affected and how it comes out in their art.

Personally, I’d like to have John Bottomley’s death lead to something productive, something meaningful, and something that has the potential to do a lot of good. His last CD contains the inscription, “Music has a healing power.” Let’s have some musicians and music lovers channel that power. John doesn’t have to be the poster boy, by any means, but the impetus for something good.

Perhaps if John knew that he wasn’t alone and many of us knew EXACTLY what he was going through, things would have been different.
Perhaps if he had a forum to discuss his struggles and put a voice to it, he would feel better
Perhaps if he knew that telling his story might help someone else who was struggling, he would have felt that he was doing something important (which, of course, he already was, but in the thankless job of a brilliant, under-appreciated Canadian songwriter, he obviously lost track of that.)

Sharing these stories helps remove the stigma, gets this HUGELY widespread problem out in the open, and has the great potential to greatly impact the person telling it and to reach someone who might feel all alone.

I’d really like to be part of something that gets talented and creative people (and at least one non-talented, non-creative, but very passionate campus radio dj) talking about this. I think that knowing that some of us have some public visibility and have managed to “succeed” (survive) with depression might help someone, somewhere.

Can I (we?) do something? A website? Videos? Write something?

If you want to steal that idea and run with it, please do. I’m glad to help. If you have ideas or assistance to offer, let’s talk.  I’ll keep thinking on it and try to get something going if nobody beats me to it.

Hopefully, if there is any good that can come out of a loss like this, it is that maybe we can give a little bit more visibility to this deadly , all-too-common condition which claims so many, yet is so rarely spoken about.

Episode #386 Sunday, April 10, 2011

This one felt like such a busy show, yet we only managed to play 4 artists in 2 hours – I don’t think we’ve ever done that before! We had to pay tribute to the late, great John Bottomley, who left us this week, but left behind a lot of great music. RIP. We look forward to my trip to finally see the Damnwells live, and we were joined in-studio by Taylor Ashton of hot up-and-coming roots band Fish & Bird to chat about their great new record and upcoming shows.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

2:00pm – 2:30pm

Christina Martin – Subject to Change – I Can Too – CDN

John Bottomley – You Lose and You Gain – Blackberry – CDN

John Bottomley – With a Little Help from Heaven – The Healing Dream – CDN

John Bottomley – Lion Is the Child – Raggle Taggle – CDN

John Bottomley – The Way I Feel – Songs with the Ornamental Hermits – CDN

John Bottomley – Klee Wyck – Blackberry – CDN

2:30 – 3:00 pm

 

John Bottomley – She Is Mine – Blackberry – CDN

John Bottomley – Sarah Whitehead (The Bank Nun) – Songs with the Ornamental Hermits – CDN

John Bottomley – The Fire of Love – The Healing Dream – CDN

Angela & Alex Dezen – Coming Home Tonight – Sweet Water Child ~ Lullabies For Getty

The Damnwells – I Will Keep the bad Things from You – Bastards of the Beat

The Damnwells – She’s The New York City Skyline – demo

3:00 – 3:30 pm

 

The Damnwells – Everything – One Last Century

The Damnwells – She Goes Around – No One Listens to the Band Anymore

The Damnwells – The Sound – Bastards of the Beat

The Damnwells – Golden Days – Air Stereo

Fish & Bird – Well Run Dry – Every Whisper Is a Shout across the Void – CDN

3:30 – 4:00 pm

Taylor Ashton (Fish & Bird) interview

Fish & Bird – Winnipeg – Every Whisper Is a Shout across the Void – CDN

Fish & Bird – Circle Tune – Every Whisper Is a Shout across the Void – CDN

April 3, 2011

What an action-packed show today, featuring live performances by Catherine MacLellan and a chat with her and her chauffeur, Del Barber! We also heard some great new music, as well as some tales from the road.

playlist
part 1 (Catherine Maclellan & Del Barber)
part 2

Episode #385 Sunday, April 3, 2011

What an action-packed show today, featuring live performances by Catherine MacLellan and a chat with her and her chauffeur, Del Barber! We also heard some great new music, as well as some tales from the road.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

 

2:00pm – 2:30pm

 

Fearing & White – Heart o’ the Morning – recorded live on UMFM – CDN

Catherine MacLellan – Isabel’s Song – Water in the Ground – CDN

Catherine MacLellan – Too Easy – Church Bell Blues – CDN

Catherine MacLellan – Take a Break – Water in the Ground – CDN

Del Barber – Home to Manitoba – Love Songs for the Last 20 – CDN – WPG

Catherine MacLellan – Water in the Ground – Water in the Ground – CDN

 

2:30 – 3:00 pm

 

Catherine MacLellan and Del Barber interview

 

Catherine MacLellan – Not Much to Do (Not Much to Say) – Water in the Ground – CDN

Catherine MacLellan – Trickle Down Rain – live performance – CDN

Catherine MacLellan – What Is True Love – live performance – CDN

 

3:00 – 3:30 pm

 

Catherine MacLellan – The Same Way Again – live performance – CDN

Del Barber – Songwriter’s Lament – Love Songs for the Last 20 – CDN – WPG

Steve Earle – Waitin’ on the Sky – I’ll Never Get out of This World Alive

Lucinda Williams – Blessed – Blessed

 

3:30 – 4:00 pm

 

Kirsten Jones – There’s a Right Way to Break my Heart – The Mad Mile – CDN

The Decemberists – Rox in the Box – The King Is Dead

Tim O’Reagan – These Things – Tim O’Regan

The Band – It Makes No Difference – A Musical History – CDN

Martyn Joseph – Call It Democracy – Run to Cover