The Sound

What is The Sound? Our ten-words-or-less description is "Five hours of Americana, roots rock and contemporary folk," but it's more than that... a host of styles, from acoustic blues to rockabilly to bluegrass to, well, whatever catches our fancy that day. It's artists you've known for decades like Bruce Cochburn, Shawn Colvin, Marshall Crenshaw and the Bodeans plus artists you'll hear for the first time who you'll listen to for decades to come, including the Greencards, Arlington Priest and Crooked Still.  AND its musicians homegrown here in North Carolina whose work stands up to all the performers just mentioned...  bluegrass from Clayton's the Wells Family, singer/songwriters from an area thick with them ... Asheville, including Christine Kane, Chris Rosser and David Lamotte, and blues from Chatham County's Dmitri Resnick ... just to name a few. So, again, what is The Sound? Here's another ten-words-or-less description - great music that needs a place to be heard.  Hear it Monday thru Friday from 7-12 midnight on the Public Radio East News & Ideas Network.

The Best of The Sound 2008 (so far...)

The Top 40 CDs heard on The Sound (thru August 22, 2008) CD Name – Artist (Label)    1)Still -- The Bodeans 2)Miss Understood – Carolyn Wonderland (Bismeaux) 3)Come Up Full -- Meg Hutchinson (Red House) 4)Bucket – Mando Saenz (Carnival) 5)Good Summer Rain – Erica Wheeler (Signature) 6)Get on Board – Eric Bibb (Telarc) 7)Jomo Swamp Root Boogie – WSNB 8)The Reckoning – Kasey Anderson (TerraSoul) 9)Live Cactus – Joe Ely (Rack ‘Em) 10)Just Us Kids – James McMurtry (Lightning Rod) 11)Loaded -- The Wood Brothers (Blue Note) 12)Vagabonds – Gary Louris (Ryko) 13)Today – Mike Zito (Eclecto Groove) 14)Keep it Simple -- Van Morrison (Lost Highway) 15)Honeydew – Shawn Mullins (Vanguard) 16)Nelo (Justice) 17)Hand Built by Robots – Newton Faulkner (Columbia) 18)Man Descending – Justin Rutledge (Six Shooter) 19)Another Country – Tift Merritt (Fantasy) 20)Sleep through the Static -- Jack Johnson (Brushfire) 21)Watch the Sky – Patty Larkin (Vanguard) 22)Momofuku – Elvis Costello & the Imposters (Lost Highway) 23)Beautiful World – Eliza Gilkyson (Red House) 24)Airstream – David Wilcox (What Are Records) 25)What Love Will Do – Janiva Magness (Alligator) 26)Same Old Man – John Hiatt (New West) 27)City that Care Forgot – Dr. John (429) 28)Beautiful Graffiti – Brandy Robinson 29)Truth – Robben Ford (Concord) 30)The Hard Way – James Hunter (Hear) 31)My Blueberry Nights -- OST (Blue Note) 32)Born to be Wilder – Webb Wilder & the Beatnecks (Blind Pig) 33)Secret Heart -- Lauren Adams 34)Mockingbird – Allison Moorer (New Line) 35)Forgiven – Los Lonely Boys (Epic) 36)The Heavy Circles (Dynamite Child) 37)Night Train to Nashville -- Tab Benoit (Telarc) 38)Join the Parade – Marc Cohn (Decca) 39)From the Reach -- Sonny Landreth (Landfall) 40)Switchblade Waterpistol – Lifters (Pawn Shop)

What's New on The Sound

The Works – Jonatha Brooke (Bad Dog) – Pop music performer provides music for lyrics written by folk music icon accompanied by jazz trio with various guest performances including 1980’s rocker & new millennium bluesman… what could possibly go wrong? Oddly, nothing, judging from The Works by Jonatha Brooke, which features Woody Guthrie lyrics set to music by Jonatha… much like the Mermaid Avenue discs by Billy Bragg and Wilco. It’s actually not as odd a pairing as seen at first glance… Jonatha would probably fall under the neo-or-contemporary folk category if you’ve absolutely positively got to label her. Even the jazz trio accompanying her makes somewhat odd sense… it’s led by Joe Sample who has been more active in the pop/jazz field in recent decades than the straight-ahead jazz he originally mined with the Jazz Crusaders. It all comes together remarkably nicely especially considering Jonatha’s confession she entered the Woody Guthrie archives not knowing much more about him than “This Land is Your Land.” Not surprisingly this sounds more like a Jonatha Brooke CD than anything involving Woody Guthrie, but it still might point to the man’s genius… it’s more than forty years after his death and his words don’t sound out-of-time. Join the Band – Little Feat and Friends (429) – The members of Little Feat must be the most ego-less set of musicians working. That’s my opinion after listening to Join the Band, which is primarily a tribute disc comprised of new versions of their past catalog with a few new tunes thrown in. While Little Feat is prominently featured, on many of the tracks the guests overpower the Little Feat sound, so Bob Seger’s take on “Something in the Water” sounds suspiciously like his “Nutbush City Limits,” “Oh Atlanta” featuring Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes is reminiscent of their hit “Hard to Handle,” and “Sailin’ Shoes” with Bela Fleck and Sam Bush becomes a new grass jam. There are other revelations here as well, such as Vince Gill would be a natural leading this band (check him out on “Dixie Chicken”) and there’s a version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is your Land” that would win my vote if we ever discussed changing our national anthem. If Little Feat had any objections to essentially being the backing band to a variety of “… and Friends” who passed through the studio, it’s not at all apparent. This is a very lively and engaging disc and the musicianship is top-notch. How to Walk Away – Juliana Hatfield (Ye Olde Records) – Let’s call this music for about-a-month-or-so after the break-up. You’re pretty much over the pain and now the angst is just kind of annoying and no longer debilitating. There’s no real bitterness in these post-break-up songs …”She’s such a beautiful girl but she lives in an ugly world,” “I’m heading your way into your burning flame,” “It’s just lust, that doesn’t mean I love you”… well, o-k, maybe some… but it’s definitely in check and performed with enough lightness of spirit that you’re not dragged down into the abyss. Two Sets – Chuck Brodsky (Waterbug) – It’s often said of a performer “they’re so much better live than on CD” which I’ve always found an odd statement… I’ve never heard a singer who was Don Knotts in the studio and Enrico Caruso in front of an audience. I think what people are saying is “they’re so much more engaging in front of an audience than on CD”… that I’ll buy… and that describes Asheville’s Chuck Brodsky. I’ve always enjoyed his studio recordings, but they didn’t prepare me for his live performance skills which are arresting. Two Sets is just that… Chuck recorded live, just him and his guitar for the most part… and I’d have to say if I was going to direct someone to buy a Chuck Brodsky recording, this would be the one. The fact it’s essentially a “greatest hits” collection for someone who’s never had a hit probably helps as well. There are baseball ballads, a ping-pong ballad, a few politically pointed numbers, some sentimental tunes, a Christmas tale for those of the Jewish faith… all with some fun stories mixed in between. It’s as engaging as a CD can be. Broken Lands – Indigenous (Vanguard) – If you like your blues sweat drenched and emotionally raw… this ain’t it. But if you like your blues… o-k, blues-rock… along the lines of Los Lonely Boys, this is the ticket. It’s actually unfair to compare Indigenous to the Garza Brothers being Indigenous has been at it for much longer, but, hey, sometimes fame adjusts the equation. Still, this is very good stuff. The band is essentially guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Mato Nanji and some other people… at one time Indigenous was a family band similar to Los Lonely Boys (there’s that comparison again) but the musical family split up a few years back. My remembrance of those early releases is the split might be a good thing… Indigenous’ early releases were worth retail price but Mato was certainly the highlight. Broken Lands confirms and focuses that.   Found a Reason – Mad Tea Party (Nine Mile) – I’ve only heard ukulele and electric guitar on three recordings… “The Who By Numbers,” a Pearl Jam CD whose name I can’t recall, and, of course, “Don Ho versus the Beatles.” I bring this up because Mad Tea Party out of Asheville brings those disparate instruments together on their new release Found a Reason… and often on the same track, unlike The Who, Pearl Jam, the Beatles and Don Ho. Found a Reason is wildly all over the road… a little surf music followed by a country weepie followed by a retro-rocker vaguely reminiscent of “Leader of the Pack.” If your Ipod lives on shuffle play, you’re going to love Mad Tea Party. Nobody Left to Crown – Richie Havens (Verve Forecast) – One of the nice things about hosting The Sound is the chance to hear from voices I haven’t heard in a while… they’ve fallen off the charts, too old & gray for video, but still every bit the musician when they filled arenas and had hit records. So welcome back Woodstock veteran Richie Havens, who after all these years lacks a little of the vocal power he brought forth back-in-the-day but is still unmistakably Richie Havens... and he still has something to say. Self-penned tunes and selections by (amongst others) Peter Yarrow and Jackson Browne put this in the protest tune category (spoiler alert -- he doesn’t like the direction our country is taking), and while protest tunes can get tiring sometimes in their over-righteousness, I like Richie’s take on things. He lists his grievances, but not in such a way you feel there’s no hope for those on this path. Yes, the sky is falling, but isn’t it a remarkable shade of blue! Promised Land – Dar Williams (Razor & Tie) – If you must buy one album of singer/songwriter material this year, let it be this one. Promised Land is about as intelligently crafted as I’ve seen in ages… Dar’s as-usual smart songwriting with a few carefully chosen covers (she wins points for covering “Troubled Times” by one of my favorite slightly-below-the-radar bands Fountains of Wayne) combined with one of the better production jobs I’ve heard in quite a while. Her producer Brad Wood adds a variety of oddball touches… from a Farfisa-ish organ rhythm to a mournful brass ensemble… that add emphasis points to what Dar is singing.   Skin Deep – Buddy Guy (Silvertone) – If someone’s still searching for the Fountain of Youth, find out where Buddy Guy lives. While the rock heroes of my college years are scaling back and writing for Broadway (“I’ll write it, but let the kids sing it”), Buddy Guy at the age of 72 still rocks the blues as effectively as ever. In fact, about the only complaint I have with Skin Deep is that on a few occasions he attacks material TOO frenetically. But otherwise, Buddy spans the gamut on Skin Deep… from the peace-and-brotherhood title track to a sexually boastful “I Found Happiness,” Buddy is as authentic as they come.

What keeps The Sound on the air?

The one word answer is “you.” If you’ve been listening to The Sound for any length of time, you may have noticed the lack of commercials. That’s what keeps the typical radio station running… they sell advertisers air time, then you pay for your usage of that station by, in essence, donating your time to listen to those commercials, and then (they hope) rushing out and buying that product... which has the cost of the advertising tucked into the price. We don’t have that option. We’re licensed as a non-commercial station, meaning if we air commercials, we’re in violation of our FCC license, which isn’t a good thing. So how do we pay for the 1001 incidentals that are involved in getting The Sound into your home, office or car? We’re back to the one word answer… “you.” The Federal Communications Commission won’t let us sell commercial time BUT they will allow us to ask for donations from those folks with the good taste to listen to this station. The majority of the funds we use to present The Sound are listener dollars. Without those listener dollars, no Sound… literally. We believe what you hear on Public Radio East on its own is enough to pledge your financial support… but a little incentive never hurt, so make a $40-or-more pledge and we'll send you  your choice of CDs... Donna the Buffalo's Silverlined, Same Old Man by John Hiatt, Lay It Down by Al Green., or Life Death Love and Freedom by John Mellencamp .. all currently featured on The Sound. When you go to our pledge form by clicking here, just type in the comments box the name of the CD you’d like and we’ll get it out to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your pledge. You’re making The Sound possible. George Olsen Host/producer "The Sound"

Because Great Music Needs a Place to Be Heard
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