Django Reinhardt’s Birthday
Django Reinhardt’s Birthday
Yesterday’s show was inspired by the life and music of Django Reinhardt who was born on January 23rd, 1910. Reinhardt was a jazz guitarist and founder of the Hot Club of France. He was born in Belgium to a Romani family. I played a few covers of his compositions, music from Belgian and Roma traditions, and a few Django-inspired surprises. As always, the full playlist is posted. Below are a couple of videos of songs featured on today’s show.
The North Idaho Hat Band: “Minor Swing”
Aurélia: “Boléro pour Aline”
Utah Statehood Day
Utah Statehood Day
The state of Utah was admitted into the union on January 4th, 1896, and today’s Ramblers’ Retreat featured songs about Utah as well as musicians from the Beehive State. And I celebrated a birthday a few days ago, so I indulged myself with a few birthday songs. As always, the full playlist is posted. Below are a few videos of songs featured on today’s show.
Black Irish Band: “Train To Utah”
Otter Creek: “Iron Horse”
Laurie Lewis: “Going Away”
Nordic Choro: “Happy Birthday To Me”
Grace Dayton & Alina Geslison: “Josefin’s Waltz / Nicaraguan”
Ramblers’ Retreat 2011 Favorites
Today’s Ramblers’ Retreat looked back at the show’s favorite music of 2011. (Here’s a list of my personal Favorites of 2011.) As always, the full playlist is posted.
Below are a few videos of songs featured on today’s show.
Downtown Ramblers: ”Singing With The Birds”
Hal Cannon: “Alone Town”
Utah Slim: “Sigurd”
John McCutcheon: “Pretty Boy Floyd”
Ramblers’ Retreat Retrospective
Today’s Ramblers’ Retreat was a retrospective, looking back at some of the music featured since the show started last May. The full playlist is posted.
Below are a few videos of songs featured on today’s show.
Ian Tyson: “Roll On Owyhee”
Shaney McCoy: “Headed Home”
High Desert Band: “Sarah Jane”
Coty Hogue: “Going To The West”
“Singing Through The Hard Times”
Finland Independence Day
Finland Independence Day
Finland celebrates Independence Day on December 6th, so this week’s Ramblers’ Retreat featured two sets of Finnish music. We also celebrated St Andrew’s Day, which is today, November 30th, with a set of Scottish music including tracks from two Boise-based bands. We topped things off with some classic music from the American West and music from some of the artists I met at the Folk Alliance Region West conference last month. As always, the full playlist is posted.
Here are the Finland sets from today’s show:
- Johanna Juhola: “Happihumppa”
- Frigg: “Norrsken”
- Gjallarhorn: “Minuet from Jeppo-Polska”
- Karuna: “Niemelä”
- Maria Kalaniemi: “Jeppo (Granas Bastun)”
- Värttinä: “Laiska”
- Ruthie Dornfeld: “Mazurka”
- Nordic Choro: “Safe and Warm”
Here’s a video of Frigg:
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Today’s episode of Ramblers’ Retreat focused on Thanksgiving. I had some fun putting together a set of songs about pilgrims, another about being thankful, and one about the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. As always, the full playlist is posted. Here are the Thanksgiving songs from today’s show:
- Scott Cook: “Song For A Pilgrim”
- Don Edwards: “I Am A Pilgrim”
- Kyle Alden: “The Pilgrim”
- Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band: “Pilgrim”
- Darrell Scott: “The Day Before Thanksgiving”
- Ruthie Foster: “Thanks For The Joy”
- Kate Mann: “Thank You Note”
- Jay Ungar & Molly Mason: “Thanksgiving Waltz”
- Will Williams: “Turkey Knob”
- Betty & Ozark Mountain Music: “Turkey In The Straw”
- Yonder Mountain String Band: “Hog Potato”
- Muzzie Braun: “The Kitchen”
Robert James
Robert James
My guest on Ramblers’ Retreat today was Boise-based singer-songwriter Robert James. He played a few originals and belted out a great cover of “Norwegian Wood” which listeners really enjoyed. I also played quite a bit of music from artists I heard at the Folk Alliance Region West (FAR-West) conference last month. As always, the full playlist is posted.
Here are some of the FAR-West artists I played on today’s show:
- The Blackberry Bushes Stringband: “I’m On Fire”
- Sourdough Slim & Robert Armstrong: “Hesitation Blues”
- Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga: “Foggy Dew”
- Sabrina & Craig: “Same Old Song And Dance”
- Utah Slim: “Charley And Evadine”
- John McCutcheon: “I Ain’t Got No Home”
- Jaime Michaels: “China Dog”
- Lee Penn Sky: “Michigan”
Here’s Robert James singing “Money or Gold”:
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
This week’s Ramblers’ Retreat focused on the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, who was born 100 years ago on November 5th, 1911. I played some of his songs from the 1930s and 40s, and I find that music stands up well seven decades later. Roy Rogers recorded a number of songs that have become part of our popular culture, almost a part of our DNA, and I played a few covers of those songs too. Many of these songs were written by Rogers’s partner in The Sons of the Pioneers, Bob Nolan, an impressive songwriter who deserves more attention than he normally gets.
There was also a set of songs about Montana to celebrate statehood day in The Big Sky Country. Montana was admitted to the union on November 8th, 1889, about eight months before Idaho became a state. As always, the full playlist is posted.
Here are the Roy Rogers songs I played:
- Roy Rogers: “I’m An Old Cowhand”
- Roy Rogers: “The Hills Of Wyomin’”
- Roy Rogers: “Cowboy Night Herd Song”
- Roy Rogers: “That Palomino Pal O’ Mine”
- The Sons Of The San Joaquin: “Cool Water”
- The Quebe Sisters: “Tumbling Tumbleweeds”
- Dave Stamey: “Don’t Fence Me In”
- Johnny Cash: “One More Ride”
And here’s a video of Roy Rogers singing “Get Along Little Doggies” from the film West of the Badlands.
Folk Classics
Folk Classics
This week’s Ramblers’ Retreat was again focused on the Radio Boise Radiothon. Thank you so much to everyone who called in to support community radio in Boise; with your help we exceeded our goals for funds raised and for new supporters. Thank you so much.
I played quite a few folk classics this week. A few are listed below; as always, the full playlist is also posted.
- Hillfolk Noir: “Coo Coo”
- Sweeney’s Men: “Tom Dooley”
- Otter Creek: “Shady Grove”
- Arlo Guthrie: “City of New Orleans”
- Woody Guthrie: “Pastures of Plenty”
- Pete Seeger: “We Shall Overcome”
American West
American West
The Radio Boise Radiothon continues, and again today I did a special show at a time when there is normally no live DJ. I focused on music from the American West. The full playlist is posted; here are the songs that got the most listener comments:
- Ian Tyson: “Fiddler Must Be Paid”
- Juni Fisher: “Bonnie McCarroll”
- Mike Beck: “Don’t Tell Me”
- Sourdough Slim & Robert Armstrong: “Take My Boots Off When I Die”
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