800th Episode Statistics

On the monumental occasion of our 800th episode of Tell the Band to Go Home on UMFM, I decided to look back and see which artists, albums, and songs we’ve played the most. Below you can see the leaders in each category.

These statistics always come with a big disclaimer: A lot of episodes from the early days are missing. I make a lot of mistakes. The calculations are sometimes a little wonky. All of this is to say that these numbers are purely for fun and don’t accurately represent reality, but they’re a pretty accurate representation of what our first 800 episodes looked like.

Overall, I’ve kept track of 20293 songs

56.5% of those are Canadian artists

21.9% are local

Our most played songs:

Rank Artist Plays Song title
1 Willie P. Bennett 39 Willie’s Diamond Joe
2 Paul Kelly 29 How to Make Gravy
3 Oh Susanna 24 Home soon (the cherry song)
4 Geoff Berner 23 Light Enough to Travel
5 Townes Van Zandt 21 If I needed you
6 Blaze Foley 20 Clay Pigeons
6 NQ Arbuckle 20 Huntsville Affair
7 Lyle Lovett 19 Step inside this house
7 Nathan 19 Stone
7 Townes Van Zandt 19 Waitin’ Around to Die
8 Robert Earl Keen 18 Merry Christmas from the Family
9 JP Hoe 17 Fine
9 Guy Clark 17 Let Him Roll
9 The Warped 45s 17 Live Bait
9 Scott Nolan Band 17 Rosie
9 Guy Clark 17 The Cape
10 Jim Bryson 16 Feel much better
10 Willie P Bennett 16 Lace And Pretty Flowers
10 Greg Brown 16 Spring wind
10 Nathan 16 Sunset chaser
10 Willie P Bennett 16 The lucky ones
10 David Francey 16 The waking hour
10 Christina Martin 16 You Come Home
11 Julie Miller 15 All My Tears
11 Scott Nolan 15 Bad Liver / Broken Heart
11 Scott Nolan 15 Drive Day
11 Jim Bryson 15 Fleetwood
11 Townes Van Zandt 15 Pancho and Lefty
11 Jim Bryson 15 Somewhere else
12 James McMurtry 14 Choctaw Bingo
12 John Prine 14 Christmas in Prison
12 Blue Shadows 14 Deliver Me
12 Paul MacLeod 14 Giants
12 Neil Young 14 Old Man
12 The Weakerthans 14 Reconstruction Site
12 Townes Van Zandt 14 Tecumseh Valley
12 Greg Macpherson 14 Wide Turn
12 Jim Bryson 14 Without Piano
13 Lynn Miles 13 Black Flowers
13 Tom Waits 13 Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis
13 Willie P. Bennett 13 Country Squall
13 Paul Macleod 13 Cruelty
13 Blaze Foley 13 Election Day
13 Jill Barber 13 In perfect time
13 NQ Arbuckle 13 Mixkin Dancehall Blues
13 Brothers Cosmoline 13 Motel 6
13 Carolyn Mark 13 Not a doll
13 Matt Epp 13 She’s High Water
13 Tom T. Hall 13 That’s How I Got to Memphis
13 Corin Raymond 13 Under the Belly of the Night
13 David Francey 13 Wind in the Wires
14 Willie P. Bennett 12 Blackie & the Rodeo King
14 David Francey 12 Border Line
14 Fred Eaglesmith 12 Codeine
14 Willie P Bennett 12 Come on Train
14 Dustin Bentall 12 Crash Hard
14 Skydiggers 12 Even when you fall
14 Sunparlour Players 12 If the Creeks Don’t Rise
14 John Prine 12 In Spite of Ourselves (w/ Iris DeMent)
14 Michael Johnston 12 Katie
14 Jon Dee Graham 12 Laredo ( Small Dark Something )
14 The Weakerthans 12 My Favourite Chords
14 Ridley Bent 12 Nine Inch Nails
14 The Wailin’ Jennys 12 One Voice
14 Bruce Springsteen 12 Pay Me My Money Down
14 The Weakerthans 12 Plea from a cat named Virtute
14 Greg Brown 12 Sleeper
14 Michael Johnston 12 The country north of Peterborough
14 Fred Eaglesmith 12 Water in the fuel
15 Kathleen Edwards 11 12 Bellevue
15 Blackie & The Rodeo Kings 11 49 Tons
15 Darren Day 11 Anne
15 Jason Collett 11 Bitter beauty
15 Mary Gauthier 11 Christmas in paradise
15 Blackie & the Rodeo Kings 11 Driftin’ snow
15 Mary Gauthier 11 Good-Bye
15 Del Barber 11 If I Told You that I Loved You
15 Carolyn Mark 11 It’s All Just a Matter of (Where You Draw the Line)
15 Luke Doucet 11 It’s not the Liquor I Miss
15 Harry Manx 11 Long Black Veil
15 Stan Rogers 11 Northwest passage
15 Robert Earl Keen 11 Not a drop of rain
15 Melissa McClelland 11 O Holy Night
15 Dave Lang 11 She’s leaving town
15 The Handsome Family 11 So Much Wine
15 NQ Arbuckle 11 Sun’s Hangin’ Low
15 Geoff Berner 11 That’s What Keeps the Rent Down, Baby
15 Mike Plume 11 The Best Job I Ever Had
15 Kris Demeanor 11 This old house
15 Justin Rutledge and the Junction Forty 11 Too Sober to Sleep
15 D. Rangers 11 Trois Riveres
15 Kathleen Edwards 11 Westby
15 Kathleen Edwards 11 What Are You Waiting For?
15 Willie P Bennett 11 White Line

Note that some songs have the added benefit of being covered by a number of people, so the plays are not necessarily all the original artist or writer. In fact, coming in at #12 is “Old Man” by Neil Young, but we’ve never ever played his version on the show! Those plays are almost all a cover by The Wailin’ Jennys, who came in to the studio and performed that song early on.

Our most played albums:

Rank Artist Plays Album name
1 Jim Bryson 59 The North Side Benches
2 Del Barber 58 Love Songs For The Last 20
3 Nathan 51 Jimson Weed
3 David Francey 51 Torn Screen Door
4 Michael Johnston 47 Curious Heart
5 Willie P Bennett 46 Tryin’ to Start Out Clean
6 The Wailin’ Jennys 44 40 Days
6 Del Barber 44 Headwaters
7 Matt Mays 42 Matt Mays
7 The Lowest of the Low 42 Shakespeare My Butt
8 Jim Bryson 41 The Occasionals
9 Kathleen Edwards 39 Failer
9 Christina Martin 39 Two Hearts
10 NQ Arbuckle 38 Hanging the Battle Scarred Pinata
10 Blackie & the Rodeo Kings 38 High or Hurtin’
11 Lyle Lovett 37 Step Inside this House
11 NQ Arbuckle 37 XOK
12 Nathan 36 Key Principles
12 The Warped 45s 36 Matador Sunset
12 The Weakerthans 36 Reconstruction Site
12 Paul MacLeod 36 Tell the Band to Go Home
12 JP Hoe 36 The Here in Review
13 Reid Jamieson 35 The Unavoidable Truth
13 David Francey 35 The Waking Hour
14 Blackie & The Rodeo Kings 34 Kings of Love
14 The Weakerthans 34 Left & Leaving
14 Del Barber 34 Prairieography
15 Eliza Gilkyson 33 Land of Milk & Honey
15 Blue Shadows 33 On the Floor of Heaven

And… our top artists of all time!

Rank Plays Artist
1 224 Keri Latimer/Nathan/Leaf Rapids/Special Fancy
2 220 Fred Eaglesmith
3 202 Scott Nolan
4 190 Leeroy Stagger
5 189 Del Barber
6 187 David Francey
7 186 Jim Bryson
8 181 Willie P Bennet
9 171 Skydiggers
10 164 Mike Plume
11 163 Nathan
12 160 Steve Earle
13 156 Paul Kelly
14 155 Blackie & the Rodeo Kings
14 155 Shannon Lyon
15 150 NQ Arbuckle
16 147 JP Hoe
17 135 The Wailin Jennys
18 123 Guy Clark
19 118 Townes Van Zandt
20 117 Lyle Lovett
21 116 Kathleen Edwards
22 110 Oh Susanna
23 107 Stephen Fearing
24 105 Mary Gauther
25 102 Brock Zeman
25 102 Geoff Berner
26 102 John Prine
27 100 Martyn Joseph

 

 


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