Opening the "Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia," Part 4 -- Winding up our four-part miniseries in conversation with Rick Pender, author of "The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia," and featuring selections from such classic musicals as "Follies," "Gypsy," "Into the Woods" and "Company."

The Sundilla Radio Hour for the week of 04/15/2024.

ALICE PEACOCK is a national level, Cincinnati-based songwriter and folksinger who brings something back to the realm of popular music that has been missing for a while; flawless songwriting with a near confessional quality. It is truly rare the audience can get to know an artist through the music. Her latest album, “Minnesota,” is packed with great songs and strong. clear vocals. Think Sheryl Crowe 2.0

CHARLSEY ETHERIDGE hails from the foothills of the North Georgia Appalachian Mountains, her roots in Americana Music run deep. There she learned to sing harmony around her grandmother’s piano after church on Sundays and taught herself guitar chords from her mother’s old EmmyLou Harris songbook. She wrote her first song at the young age of 7 while riding through the woods in her step-father’s old army jeep.

WoodSongs Kid: Derek Stone is a 13 year old banjo player from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

This week we're listening to a medieval musical drama for the Easter season: the Play of the Pilgrims to Emmaus. Ensemble Organum performs this 12th-century work from a Sicilian manuscript that was created during the reign of Roger II.

This week on Beale Street Caravan we have a star-studded lineup, joined together for an important cause: to defend the integrity of Memphis’ drinking water. Grammy nominated artists Shemekia Copeland and Jim Lauderdale, along with Nashville singer-songwriter Will Kimbrough, iconic singer-songwriter and folk musician, Livingston Taylor, as well as Reba Russell, Joe Restivo and John Nemeth, and others, all got together for one night to sing, play, and raise money to make sure that our water remains a fresh, suitable source of life in our community.

British guitarist Robin Trower celebrates the half century anniversary of his landmark album Bridge of Sighs this year with a deluxe reissue of that recording. On this episode of Strange Currency we’ll hear selections from Trower’s 1976 album Live!, which features songs that appeared on Bridge of Sighs and other favorites from the early part of his career. Listen for that as well as music from Arbuckle & Long, and Chris Smither from his upcoming recording, All About the Bones.

Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas.  In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region.

This week, a special road trip episode.  OHR visits Rogers, Arkansas’ Railyard Live Concert Series featuring Eureka Springs hard-driving folk quartet, Front Porch, recorded live at Butterfield Stage in Railyard Park in historic downtown Rogers.  Also, commentary from Rogers Arts & Culture Coordinator Kinya Christian on the exciting things happening in the Rogers Entertainment District.

Rogers, Arkansas’ Railyard Live Concert Series began in 2021.  Held on the city’s Butterfield Stage next to Railyard Park in historic downtown Rogers, it features live concerts every weekend throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall.  All of the Railyard Live events are either free to the public or at very low cost of admission.  The concert series features a wide array of musical styles and interests designed to appeal to the diverse population of Rogers and invite them to experience the newly revitalized Railyard Entertainment District.  The Ozark Folk Center State Park and the City of Rogers, Arkansas partnered to bring Ozark Highlands Radio to capture a little slice of this modern Ozark culture.

Front Porch is a hard driving four piece folk ensemble.  Self described as “contemporary bluegrass, old time and mayhem from Northwest Arkansas,” the band is based in Eureka Springs.  Front Porch is Petey Wesley on banjo & fiddle, John Henry Holthus on guitar, Alex Hawf on mandolin, and Cameron Keeling rounding out the low end with upright bass.  In true bluegrass fashion, all the guys in the band sing, but that’s where the traditional ends.  Front Porch performs with all the usual ingredients of bluegrass and folk but bakes them up into a post-punk old-time acid jazz barn-burning bluegrass fusion that will have you jumping.

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, OHR producer Jeff Glover offers a 1981 archival recording of Ozark original Uncle Floyd Holland performing the tune “Nellie Gray,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

In this week’s guest host segment, renowned traditional folk musician, writer, and step dancer Aubrey Atwater explores variations of the traditional folk song “Polly Put the Kettle On.”

Originally from Mexico City Rodrigo y Gabriela, the acoustic guitar duo of Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero, met as teenagers while playing in a thrash metal band called Tierra Acida. By 2000 the formally became a duo act and moved to Dublin Ireland, where with the support of musician Damian Rice, the talented pair participated in the renowned Oxegen music festival in Ireland, where they attracted significant attention. From the beginning, their reputation as killer musicians - Rodrigo with the faster-than-lightning lead guitar and Gabriela with her unique, rhythmic, strumming-and-drumming style - started to spread across the country.

The high-energy international duo's music harnesses the flash, power, and speed of death metal filtered through the passion, soul, technique, and discipline of nuevo flamenco. Their showy, emotional sound is marked by Quintero's syncopated, hooky, percussive rhythms and rapid-fire strummed vamps framing Sanchez's incendiary, melodic, single-and dual-string leads. Following a successful live album in 2004, their debut self-titled studio album, produced by John Leckie of Radiohead and Stone Roses fame, was released by Rubyworks in February 2006 and charted at Number One on the Irish national charts, keeping the Arctic Monkeys off the top spot. Having established themselves in their adopted home, the duo started to spread their magic across the rest of the world. They headlined the Jazz World stage at Glastonbury in 2007, which was broadcast live on BBC TV. The Rodrigo y Gabriela album went on to sell over 100,000 records in the UK. This episode features recordings from the acclaimed duo's 2019 performance at Big Top Chautauqua.

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2023 TENT SHOW RADIO SPONSORS
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SPECIAL THANKS
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Groove Records

In late 1953, RCA Victor launched a new subsidiary to focus on the Rhythm & Blues market, called Groove Records.  They intended for Groove to compete with the independent labels like Chess, Atlantic and Vee-Jay that were dominating the genre.  RCA treated Groove as an indie by setting up its own record distribution network, like an indie, ignoring the mighty distribution arm of RCA Victor.  That might have been the label's downfall.  Groove ended up scoring only one major hit in its 3 year stint, but along the way, Groove issued some fantastic R&B recordings from the superstars of the day.  It's hard to imagine, but Piano Red, King Curtis, Mickey "Guitar" Baker, Sonny Terry, Sam Butera, Big John Greer AND Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup were all on the same label for a time.  This week, Matt The Cat digs up the grooviest sides from Groove Label and gives them the spins they deserve on the "Juke In The Back." 

And this is it. To quote Commander Cody, this is the “bendin’ end.” The last episode of Geezer Rock. To close out the series, I’ve got a new single from Yes, other goodies from Rundgren’s Utopia and Kansas, and a few different incarnations of Journey’s Neil Schon, who has a new live album out, looking at the early days of Journey, with help from original Journey organist Greg Rolie. Thanks for listening over the years. Peace and love.

This week on the Mixtape I turn the clock back to explore the songs of 1983. You've got new wave, hard rock, and disco.  What more could you want?