Video Wednesday

Since Christmas is coming we have "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by a young Amanda Shaw.

Video Wednesday

Mojo Mancini

Spotlight: Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys

Absorb, conquer, and rock. Louisiana’s Francophone communities have faced down exile and persecution, natural and manmade disaster, by remaining resolutely creative. Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys know this creativity intimately; what fiddler and co-leader David Greely eloquently calls “survivor joy.” It has echoed for centuries in everything from aching solo ballads to swamp pop blasts and funkified two-steps.  

Their latest album, Grand Isle (self-release; February 22, 2011) calls on this joy and shows its defiant, resilient forms in all their glory, with help from producer, friend, and swamp-n-roll legend CC Adcock. They toss aside roots-music formulas to channel the energy of an entire community of multi-ethnic, hard-hitting eccentrics and activists, from a mad musical inventor of New Orleans to a pensive professor-lyricist, from a vintage recording guru to a bold local staging an oil spill photo exhibit in her dining room.

“Cajuns possess the magic ingredient that is only produced by genuine suffering,” Greely explains. “Survivor joy can be found around the world, in the world's best music.”

This magic element has been in full force since the BP oil spill struckLouisiana’s coastal communities, which were still recovering from the double blows of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The outrage and the loss of a way of life loomed large in the Playboys’ minds as they worked on their first studio album in five years. 

Accordionist and singer Steve Riley recalled walking through the dining room of a local woman determined to share the true nature of the disaster with the world by exhibiting devastating photos of local wildlife slick with deadly oil. He captured the spirit of these community efforts in a call for transformation on “C’est l’heure pour changer (This is the time for change).” 

After the disaster, Greely shared a stage with local Creole singers, whose poignant call and response evoked the depth of his rage and sorrow. Songs like “C’est trop (It’s too much)” or “Grand Isle” seethe and mourn, portraying the beautiful spot on the coast where jumping dolphins and picnic tables piled high with seafood were replaced by clean-up crews and TV news cameras.

Yet at the heart of what the Playboys do lies joy; it's music for dancing, even when it's political, historical, or intellectual. It’s music that has kept a people together through thick and thin, from French village to Canadian settlement to American exile. “You can go to cemetery in Poitou, France where it all started and see the same names you find in the phone book here inLouisiana,” Greely remarks. “We started in the same village together, and despite all that effort, or maybe because of it, we’re still together.”

Though a constant unifying element for Cajuns, the sound of survivor joy is diverse and varied. With help from Adcock, who’s played with everyone from Bo Diddley to Buckwheat Zydeco, the Mamou Playboys pushed the sonic possibilities hard. Still inspired lyrically and melodically by Louisiana roots music—neglected gems on old 78s or old collections of Creole proverbs (“Pierre”)—the group found Cajun music in the most unexpected places: in Edith Piaf songs, in ska rockers, even in ’80s pop.

Adcock laughs when he describes how ’80s tunes fit beautifully withLouisiana beats. Adcock and childhood friend Riley would use the two-step skills they learned dancing to Cajun bands with their parents and woo girls at high school dances, to new wave hits. This connection inspired the band’s take on “Danser sans comprendre (Dancing Without Understanding).”

Other connections also yielded gold in the studio. “We were trying to find the right groove for ‘C’est l’heure,’” Riley remembers. “CC and I messed around in the studio a bit and got a really cool groove. It came out with this ska feel,” aptly reflecting Louisiana’s peculiar position on the northern fringe of theCaribbean. “It’s like some of our Cajun beats, but way more relaxed.”

Inspiration for one of the album’s striking covers, Edith Piaf’s “Je ne regrette rien,” came from music industry guru Seymour Stein, who signed Madonna, The Talking Heads, and the Ramones to Sire back in the day. After hearing the Playboys one night, he suggested they try a Piaf tune, a comment greeted skeptically by the band. That is, until they tried it out and discovered “It’s really just a great swamp pop tune,” Greely grins.

Then there’s "Chatterbox," a song penned by Mr. Quintron, a musician whose eccentricity stands out even in New Orleans: He’s invented wacky drum machines, a quirky stage persona, and launched clubs in the 9^th Ward. But his earthy, grungy, funky musical sensibilities resonate with the Playboys on the track, about a wake for a Cajun gal who was a fixture on theNew Orleans punk scene. Named for a cafe in Eunice, Louisiana, a town important to both Riley and Adcock’s families, it captures the meeting of hipster weird and old-school bayou that shapes the region’s music. All to a double-kick zydeco beat harkening back to the heyday of Clifton Chenier.

The frenetic diversity—what Adcock calls “a Cajun iPod on shuffle”—evokes a musical journey through the decades, using vintage equipment in studios across several states to get just the right sound. “Lyons Point,” a tribute to the self-reliant spirit of Riley’s wife’s hometown, uses period reverb equipment to create a sound reminiscent of the Cajun records of the 1930s. “It’s not pristine, I’ll tell you that,” Greely exclaims. “We’re talking about using tape, playing through tube equipment, singing into mics shaped like silver footballs, just the strangest thing you’ve ever seen.”

Along with unmistakable and unique sonic qualities, vintage recording approaches pushed the Playboys musically. “When you're using this kind of equipment, you're committed; you can't fix it later,” explains Greely. 

“The Mamou Playboys don’t put out an album unless we have something to say,” Riley reflects, “unless we’re setting the bar higher. This record is designed to make people scratch their head and wonder, and to push the music forward.”

Unexpected Trends, Emerging Hybrids, and Edgy Roots: globalFEST Returns to NYC with 13 Artists on Three Stages, January 9, 2011

http://www.worldmusicwire.com

Unexpected trends are the new cutting edge: the hard-hitting Afro-Cuban percussionist quietly attracting rock icons to his shows; the expressive young vocalist invoking ancient sacred traditions with surprising immediacy; the cultural communities rich with unheralded, powerful sounds.

globalFEST (www.globalfest-ny.org), the preeminent springboard for global music in North America, has been exploring and presenting a deeply rooted, sonically diverse world to influential  North American arts professionals and avid music fans for eight years. Keen to find global performers—both veterans and newcomers—perfectly poised for wider notoriety, globalFEST throws one of the year’s best international music parties while expanding the horizons of musicians and audiences alike.

This year’s globalFEST comes to New York City’s Webster Hall (125 E. 11th St.) on January 9, 2011 at 7pm. The one-night festival includes three U.S. debuts and one New York debut. Tickets are $35 if purchased by November 30, $40 thereafter, including at the door. ($35 for members of World Music Institute) (www.ticketmaster.com or by phone through World Music Institute box office: 212-545-7536).

globalFEST 2011 Lineup:

     -Chamber Music: Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal (U.S. debut)
     -Creole Choir of Cuba
     -Diblo Dibala
     -Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole (NY solo debut)
     -La-33
     -Mustafa Özarslan (U.S. debut)
     -Novalima
     -Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda
     -Pedrito Martinez Group
     -RAM
     -Red Baraat
     -Rhythm of Rajastan
     -Yoro Ndiaye (U.S. debut)

Though globalFEST often highlights hip and vibrant hybrids emerging from music hotspots—represented this year by Novalima’s Afro-Peruvian electronica, RAM’s interweaving of Haitian vodou spiritual song with rock sensibilities, and Red Baraat’s funky brass band-does-Bollywood extravaganza—this year, organizers Isabel Soffer of World Music Institute, Bill Bragin of Acidophilus: Live and Active Cultures, and Shanta Thake of Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, noticed something new in the air: a passion for tradition.

“I recently met a presenter who specializes in experimental music,” recounts Bragin. “And even he was more and more interested in traditional music. He said that he was finding a freshness in tradition that felt less homogenized than many of the so-called musical ‘experiments’ he encountered. We’ve seen a similar response to previous globalFEST performers who represented lesser-known musical traditions from global ethnic minorities.”

This freshness pops out of performances by the Creole Choir of Cuba (who have toured previously in the U.S. as Desandann), who for generations have passed down songs in Cuba’s Haitian community with roots going back to the turn of the 19th century. Or in the stunning songs of youthful native Hawaiian artist Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole (NY solo debut), whose family has carefully tended the spiritual and sonic heritage of the islands for more than a century.

Many interpreters of deep and edgy roots have gained the respect of audiences and aficionados, yet still managed to fly below the radar. Pedrito Martinez, the Thelonious Monk International Jazz competition-winning percussionist and former Yerba Buena member, has been quietly playing a Manhattan restaurant gig three times a week. It’s attracted the likes of Eric Clapton and Roger Waters, while honing his Pedrito Martinez Group’s telepathic communication with music that ranges from traditional batá-rumba to Cuban jazz, son and timba.

Though hot on the salsa scene thanks to clever originals and quirky covers like the “Pantera Mambo” (based on Mancini’s Pink Panther Theme), Colombia’s La-33 made their first limited U.S. tour this past summer, selling out Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing in the process. Likewise, Turkey’s Mustafa Özarslan, a singer from the Alevi Sufi community, has a passionate following back home thanks to his wide-ranging and effortlessly executed Turkish and even Kurdish musical styles, but has yet to be heard live in North America.

Senegal’s Yoro Ndiaye, making his U.S. debut, finds the more introspective sweet spot of dance-oriented mbalax, the glittering Afropop style made famous by Youssou N’dour, enjoying a renewed, ballad-driven popularity in Dakar. And guitar master Diblo Dibala, the eminence gris of Congolese soukous, will reveal why he earned the nickname “Machine Gun,” as his band and dancers offer a fast-paced invitation to boogie.

Other groups reframe tradition in striking ways, including Rhythm of Rajasthan, which takes the diverse music and dance from the birthplace of Gypsy culture (Rajasthan) and transforms it into an engaging and energetic burst on stage. Making their first U.S. appearance, Chamber Music (U.S. debut) entwines the cello of Bumcello’s Vincent Segal and the masterful kora of Ballaké Sissoko (who has previously collaborated with Toumani Diabate and Taj Mahal), into an elegant, organic dialogue of string virtuosi.

In only their second trip to the U.S., Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda includes an all-star collaboration from Northeast Brazil’s red-hot mangue beat scene and offers a dialogue of a different sort, between the brassy horns of Pernambuco’s carnival frevo music and funk and rock.

“Because globalFEST’s primary mission is to present cutting edge music to presenters in town for the annual Arts Presenters conference whose performance spaces range from cabarets and clubs to major performing arts centers and outdoor festivals, we program globalFEST to fit this range of venues, while creating a great experience for the general public too” explains Soffer. “That’s why Webster Hall is an ideal place to see these musicians,” adds Thake. “Its three diverse stages allow audiences to experience artists in spaces best suited to their sound and energy.”

And that’s also why globalFEST, along with launching dozens of careers, has become the most influential world music showcase festival in North America, year after year, as well as an engine for cultural change and international connections.

“Global citizenry is a priority for France, and we continue to support globalFEST even in lean times, in hopes of sharing the multicultural musical heritages of francophone artists and beyond," says Emmanuel Morlet, Director of the Music Office at the French Embassy, the festival’s founding sponsor. “From increasing understanding to the real economic role the festival plays for emerging performers, now more than ever globalFEST plays a great role in connecting people across political boundaries.”

globalFEST, Inc. is a not-for-profit production presented in association with World Music Institute, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, Acidophilus: Live & Active Cultures and The Bowery Presents. Support for all eight editions has been provided by The Cultural Services of the French Embassy with additional support from the French Music Export Office, recognizing France’s pre-eminent role as a hotbed of global music activity. The globalFEST media sponsors are WNYC Radio, NPR.org and Flavorpill. Artist visa services are provided courtesy of Tamizdat. Publicity services are provided by rock paper scissors, inc.

Music On The Couch This Monday

MUSIC ON THE COUCH 

MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2010
10pm Eastern; 9pm Central; 8pm Mountain; 7pm Pacific
Archived on Tuesday morning and forever HERE

Subscribe Via

iTunes 

This week:
PAUL THORN
and
KELLY RICHEY
sit on
THE COUCH

A bluesman from Tupelo, Mississippi, a hotbed of talent and a hard-driving rocker, who is exploring her other side in a recent life change.
 

Paul Thorn was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and raised among the same spirits (and some of the actual people) who nurtured a young Elvis generations before.

Thorn has rambled down back roads and jumped out of airplanes. He worked for years in a furniture factory and battled four-time world champion boxer Roberto Durán on national television.

He signed with and has been dropped by a major label. He has opened for Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, and John Prine among many other headliners, and makes some incredible music along the way.  He tackles all subjects and normally gives then a wink of the eye.

I saw Paul at The Biscuit this year, as he opened for B.B. King, and immediately knew I wanted him to sit on The Couch and he will be doing so Monday. We will hear some of the fantastic music off of his newest album Pimps & Preachers – which Paul described as a history of his family!

 

Then Kelly Richey will join me. Kelly has been described as “Stevie Ray Vaughan trapped in a woman’s body with Janis Joplin screaming to get out.” The Kentucky native has based herself in Cincinnati with her band.

They released Carry The Light in 2008. Back then, I reviewed it on my blog in this post and at that time wrote “This woman knows her way around an ax. She has fingers that, at times, must burst into flames , while at other times they sensually trace along the fretboard of her guitar.”

She has taken the time and become a True Purpose Coach, Dream Coach and Health & Wellness Coach; assisting people in finding their way in this world.

Add to that, her involvement in a program called Music For Change.  In their information it reads;  mission is to 'The mission of the organization’s programs is to bring today’s curriculum standards to life through music, while recognizing the importance of music education in the development and growth of the whole child.'

We will talk with Kelly about how her music, the record label she started and her newest passions all exist in her world.

We will take your calls and questions for both guests at 1.347.633.9400. 

The live interactive chat room opens 20 minutes before show time. Follow this link HERE and click on the Chat Now icon. Come hang with the fans and musicians who visit each week.

Remember, unless you take the two minutes to register, you will not be able to participate in the chat room or send me questions to ask Paul or Kelly, but you will still hear the show.

So tune in on Monday evening or remember, you can always listen anytime after the show ends from the player HERE or check out Music On The Couch for additional artist information, and show recaps. 

You can download to your iTunes and even subscribe to the show for weekly automatic downloads, from my iTunes page. 

Spotlight: Blind Willy

Music Promotion via MusicSubmit.com

Webpage: http://www.blindwilly.com/
Location: Nashville, TN, USA
Description:
Biography: On their new release, called "Willing to Crawl," Blind Willy combines the blues, soul, and rock elements with a little swampiness that makes you want to get up and do your groove thang.... Influenced by the classics of yesteryear- Credence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Joe White, Otis Redding, and some of those great New Orleans bands, Blind Willy covers all the bases. This project was put together by Doug Jones of Nashville who co-wrote and covers the vocals, guitars, and harmonica chores on this 5-song EP. He was assisted by one of his "PIC" (partners in crime) that notorious keyboardist from the Allman Brothers, Johnny Neel. Some of the other co-writers on this EP were guitarist Chris Anderson of The Outlaws, Joanna Cotten, Tommy Polk, and Daryl Burgess. The title track "Willing to Crawl" was used in the HBO series "True Blood" and the last track "SWEAT" was used in the film "The Dukes of Hazard: The Beginnings".

Spotlight: Hindi Zahracan

Moroccan-born, Paris-based Hindi Zahracan speak to mountains or whisper in your ear. She can turn rustling plastic bags into Berber beats and Parisian kitchens into soul incubators. Playfully savoring East and West, she writes infectious and hip songs, plays any instrument she can get her hands on, and records her own voice in the middle of the night to capture that perfect spark of intimacy.

Hindi’s spontaneous yet long-honed debut, Handmade (Blue Note; February 22, 2011), bursts with maturity and vigor, rich in jazz, soul, and Arabic sounds but with a gritty, bluesy Berber pulse. “I wanted a space where I could break all the barriers, where I could put all the music I knew and loved together. Where I could mix it all,” Hindi explains.

Hindi grew up in southwest Morocco improvising melodies at her relatives’ urging; singing along with Egyptian hits on the radio; and drawing inspiration from her hardworking father and the rugged ranges and verdant valleys surrounding her village. For the young Hindi, natural beauty was about more than aesthetics. The places around her were filled with spirits, and the mountains reminded her of “plump and generous old ladies,” she recalls fondly. They became her first audience, as she sang to them.

With a singer and actress for a mother and uncles who loved to jam on guitars and percussion, Hindi found her own voice early. “I had to go to my room, close the door, and practice making up melodies on my own,” Hindi explains. “I had to be alone, with only my voice.”

Surrounded by English-language music, she savored the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Marley, whose revolutionary spirit had a powerful impact on young Moroccans. Rock and reggae intertwined with the bluesy Berber and swirling Arabic melodies that made up her heritage—her paternal grandfather was a respected musician and dancer.

Yet a major music revelation struck when Hindi heard nimble jazz divas like Ella Fitzgerald and talented but neglected Peruvian singer, Yma Sumac. “I was really shocked by this music. The melodies felt like something from the East,” Hindi remembers. “How could that happen, I asked myself. When I heard jazz, I started to sing in English, but mix in Arabic and Berber melodies. It was a game at first, to associate things that didn’t fit. But jazz revealed to me that theycan go together.”

Hindi’s experience mixing East and West deepened when she moved to France as a young teenager, at her father’s insistence, to pursue her education. By age 17, she had dropped out, taking a job as a guard at the Louvre. When she wasn’t studying the paintings (Hindi is also an painter whose exuberant work appears in the CD booklet), she sang. “I was singing in the big rooms in the Louvre,” she recounts. “Some days there wasn’t anybody around but we still had to guard the objects. I would practice with that big reverb, that big sound, and art all around.”

Other sounds—particularly American funk and hip hop—also began to seep into Hindi’s voice, which can move easily between soul-inflected purrs and growls, and a gentle, clear resonance. For a decade, Hindi worked with French R&B and hip-hop artists, studied operatic and jazz voice, and played with Parisian Middle Eastern groups. But none of it felt quite right.

“I was frustrated. I was playing in jazz clubs and I think it was a bit odd for them. I didn’t want to do covers; I wanted to improvise and use my Arabic influences. But I started to lose friends,” she reflects. “So I went to meet people doing hip hop. It was the same. I wasn’t into the samples. I went to the Arabic scene. But it was the same again. Those boxes didn’t interest me. I wanted to do my music.”

Hindi began to fantasize about recording not in the sterile studio environments she saw as a back-up singer, but in a place “where I could make food and really live.” Her moment came after a few intense sessions with long-time collaborator Romain Vaugeois at his home studio, which resulted in “Beautiful Tango,” a sweet, folksy ballad that sways between darkened club and sunny shore. It became an unexpected hit that earned her both critical praise and the resources to make a debut album her way.

“One of the biggest challenges for me has been as a producer,” she muses. “Most producers in France are men, and they have ideas they want you to conform to. I had my own vision.” This vision involved renting a two-story apartment/studio, where Hindi ate, slept, and recorded late into the night. “I took three weeks just getting used to the space,” she recalls. “I wanted to feel the spirit of the place.” The spirit wove itself into tracks like “Trying,” which uses passing police sirens, and in the sighing of a water heater in the kitchen.

The improvised, handcrafted feel reverberates throughout Handmade, giving the album an open, organic, up-close quality. It shines through on tracks like “Set Me Free,” which sounds like Erykah Badu and early Tina Turner shimmying their way over the Atlas Mountains. The layered percussion includes a performance by Hindi’s inventive mom, who suggested they use plastic bags to get just the right sound.

Hindi shifts merrily between Berber and English, between an American vibe and Moroccan soul.  “For ‘Oursoul’ (Bygones) and ‘Imik si mik’ (Little by Little), Romain, who’s a big fan of Neil Young, came up with a melody. I didn’t know Young’s music at all, but I thought if I sang in English, the song wouldn’t be a game for me. Music has to be a game when you can discover something new,” Hindi notes. “I started to think how would Berber would sound with American folk music. And I started to improvise.”

Though playfulness and sweetness abound in Hindi’s songs, she still keeps a strong sense of the spirits she felt as a young child, of the power of music itself (she even dedicates a driving, hypnotic track to it, simply titled “Music”). “Maybe it sounds a little romantic or naïve, but music has guided my life,” Hindi smiles. “It gave me energy, reflections, and meditations. It made life easier. Singing brought me peace.”

The Warmth and Mirth of an Irish Christmas: Fiddler Eileen Ivers, Tricky Wrens, and Troublesome Cakes on U.S. Tour

http://www.worldmusicwire.com

Recalling the roaring hearths and roars of laughter that are part and parcel of Christmas in Irish families, virtuoso fiddler Eileen Ivers interweaves age-old Wren Day songs, beloved American carols, and even a jigging Bach in An Nollaig: An Irish Christmas. With her signature warmth, Ivers invites listeners in for a tuneful, soulful celebration that’s as comforting as a favorite carol and a slice of Christmas cake.

Ivers and her ensemble will take the festivities across the U.S. this December, with a final gala performance at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. Whether teaming up with local orchestras or with community dancers and singers, Ivers presents a vision of Christmastide that embraces the friendliness of a family gathering and the supreme musicality of a seasoned, skilled master.

“There is so much joy in the season, and I wanted to bring that out to welcome listerners in,” explains Ivers with a smile.  “Just like ornaments on a Christmas tree, the tunes in An Nollaig have been lovingly passed down through the generations as well. Some are hundreds of years old—some are new.”

In Ivers’s capable hands, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” becomes a playful jig, and the 20th-century classic “Do You Hear What I Hear?” becomes a rousing reel. Even Bach takes on an Irish lilt, as Ivers transforms “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” giving the 9/8 piece a striking feel of an Irish three making dancing irresistible, much to the delight of conductors and classical musicians when performed with orchestra.

This clever rethinking of Christmas chestnuts comes naturally to Ivers, who is equally adept at bringing ancient Irish traditions to life.  She explores the curious traditional celebration on December 26, the feast of St. Stephen, which is also known as Wren Day in Ireland. Ivers draws on songs sung by young village boys who would decorate a wren and go from door to door, as well as on the Irish legends surrounding the wren, as betrayer of St. Stephen’s hiding place to the Romans, or as the sly winner of a contest among birds.

Ivers also touches on a sensitive Yuletide topic: the dreaded fruitcake. Though Ivers recalls her family’s luscious porter-and-whiskey-soaked version, she recounts the quirky adventure of the hapless Miss Fogarty, whose Christmas cake leads not to merriment, but to food poisoning (“Miss Fogarty’s Christmas Cake”).

Ivers has performed with a myriad of pop icons and world-class orchestras, yet for An Nollaig, she invites local Celtic dancers and choirs to join her ensemble in sharing the stage and the fun. Presenters get into the act, too, bringing in Christmas trees, fireplaces, rocking chairs—anything to make the stage merry and bright. “We’re involving the community as we go around to theaters. It’s always a delight and creates this special connection to the show,” Ivers says.

The spirit of sharing has led Ivers to donate some of the proceeds of CD sales on tour to the Salvation Army. “It’s a full circle,” she notes. “We give back to people who don’t have the same blessings. That’s what Christmas means to us, and that makes this one of my favorite times of the year to perform.”

Music On The Couch This Monday

MUSIC ON THE COUCH 

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010
10pm Eastern; 9pm Central; 8pm Mountain; 7pm Pacific

Archived on Tuesday morning and forever HERE

Subscribe Via

iTunes 

This week:
”PAPA” DON McMINN
and
ANDY COATS
sit on
THE COUCH

Back after a two week break, I am joined by a true Memphis icon, mentor and gentleman and an up and coming Piedmont area native with a gift for the blues.

Join me as I get to sit with a local legend "Papa" Don McMinn. Papa Don has played around the globe and with some of the biggest names in the music business.

”Papa” Don gives you the Delta Blues to Southern Rock with a good-natured attitude and a sly sense of humor. His guitar playing is solid, he has a great voice and his songwriting stacks up with some of the all time greats.

We will spend time discussing Don's history, listen to his music and talk to him about his mentoring so many Memphis musicians, including his two sons. Of course we will hear some tunes from Don and his band Night Train (which includes sons Doug and Rome).

 

Nancy and I were transfixed when we came across Andy Coats on the 2nd stage, day two of The Biscuit this year. Andy is a talent to be heard.

His work on acoustic and steel guitar is solid as can be and he wraps you into the stories he tells in his songs. How did Andy get the bug for the blues? Where is this road leading him? We will get to talk to Andy about all that and listen to music from his latest release Folk The Blues.

We will take your calls and questions for both guests at 1.347.633.9400. 

The live interactive chat room opens 20 minutes before show time. Follow this link HERE and click on the Chat Now icon. Come hang with the fans and musicians who visit each week.

Remember, unless you take the two minutes to register, you will not be able to participate in the chat room or send me questions to ask “Papa” Don or Andy, but you will still hear the show.

So tune in on Monday evening or remember, you can always listen anytime after the show ends from the player HERE or check out Music On The Couch for additional artist information, and show recaps. 

You can download to your iTunes and even subscribe to the show for weekly automatic downloads, from my iTunes page.