And this year, as you’ve got to know, the Dat nation has been gifted the perfect storm of a Super Bowl ring during Mardi Gras thanks to The Saints! The excitement is palpable, even up here after watching the post-game bedlam and the Black & Gold Super Bowl parade last night. It’s like pouring gasoline on a flambeaux! Throw Me Sumthin’ Mister!

The regular Mardi Gras parades will continue rollin’ down St Charles in the next 6 days before Fat Tuesday — about 25 Krewes will parade on huge floats as people line up to catch beads, doubloons, or if you’re lucky, gilded coconuts from Zulu.

It’s a deep, 150-year tradition that even Katrina couldn’t stop. The “season” which begins on the 12th Night of Christmas (Jan 6th) and culminates on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent (Ash Wednesday), includes more than two weeks of parades and unpublicized street parading by Mardi Gras Indians who roam New Orleans’ neighborhoods in full, hand-stitched “suits” of feathers. It’s krazy.
Kingcake house parties are the norm and you can get one for yourself here in Seattle at Borracchinis (call first) or at Marcela’s Cookery in Pioneer Square during their Wednesday kingcake lunches (if you get the baby, lunch is free!).

Since we can’t be down South this year, we’ll bring ya the classic sounds of New Orleans and get you as close to Rampart & Dumaine, at least in spirit. And you’ll definitely hear funky folks like these on Greg Vandy’s 10th annual Mardi Gras show tonight! Who Dat?!

Professor Longhair, Rebirth Brass Band, Wild Magnolias, Earl King, Dr John, Kermit Ruffins, Huey Piano Smith, Eddie Bo, Wild Tchoupitoulas, The Meters, Champion Jack Dupree, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Danny Barker, Jesse Hill, The Neville’s, Pin Stripe Brass Band, Al Carnival Johnson and much, much more.

It’s a sound only New Orleans can make! Check this super old-timey footage of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

photo courtesy of Rodriguez

Tune in during the 7 o’clock hour tonight for an original 45-minute piece on the Detroit cult-icon who is playing his first ever show in Seattle, Tuesday 6/23 @ The Triple Door before touring the remainder of the West Coast. The feature includes an exclusive interview with Rodriguez and the man who tracked him down in the late 90s, Stephen ‘Sugar’ Seegerman.

I’ve been calling this The Story Of The Year ever since local Seattle label Light In The Attic re-issued Cold Fact, Rodriguez’s debut record from 1969. You’ve heard songs from this album on KEXP for some time now, and it’s one of those lost records you can’t believe you’ve never heard. It’s a solid collection of songs.

But it’s the story that continues to blow my mind!

Imagine you made a couple of records that went nowhere, the label goes belly-up, and you forget the whole thing and go back to working construction in inner Detroit (well, try to imagine). Then 28 years later, you find out that in South Africa (and Australia) you’ve been huge ever since Cold Fact came out. Like HUGE. And that everyone there thought you were dead. And you’re nearly cult status everywhere else, including the American underground. Then, when some good-hearted souls fly you from your construction site in Detroit to South Africa, instead of playing for a handful of “third-world disgruntles,” you find yourself in front of 5,000 screaming fans, freakin’ out (cuz they thought you were dead) AND they’re singing your songs back to you!

If you can imagine, that’s the story of Rodriguez.

Now, thanks to the good work of Matt Sullivan and Light In The Attic, American audiences are hip to the music of Rodriguez, who at age 69, is not saying “I Told Ya So,” but he’s feeling it.

A cross between Donovan, Jose Feliciano, and Dylan, Rodriguez is a product of the 60s. His timeless vocal style has a sense of immediacy and familiarity. His lyrics are noted for their audacity and modern-day relevance. Proud to be a family man, a working man, and an educated man, Rodriguez’s point of view and points of fact, haven’t changed much since he wrote songs like “This Is Not A Song, It’s An Outburst,” “Inner City Blues,” and “Sugarman.”

The dude is still a trip!

photo by Zohar Lindenbaum

Listen to the whole story tonight and hear the songs in this special Roadhouse feature. It should go live around 7:15pm. Then it’s available through the KEXP web-site for 2 weeks after (June 30th). Go to our Streaming Archive, then select the date & time.

Today, Wednesday, October 22, KEXP 90.3 presents a special program in The Roadhouse: “Psycho! 1960s Northwest Garage Rock” is specially devoted to the history-quaking, moneymaker-shaking distorted sounds that came out of Pacific NW garages, basements, greasy clubs, and teen dances of the 1960s.

The entire three hour program will delve deeply into regional one-hit wonder and subterranean rock history with long blasts of local music, cool and mind-expanding sound bites, rare vintage audio — and an exclusive interview with Tacoma’s punk pioneers, The Sonics! Listeners will also hear from Seattle’s musical archeologist Peter C. Blecha and the man who engineered “The Seattle Sound,” Kearney Barton (known for snarling on The Frantics’ “Werewolf,” among many other more technical studio recording credits).

Formed in Tacoma in 1963, The Sonics named themselves after the loud pops they heard near the McChord Air Force base where they grew up. Inspired by local pop luminaries the Wailers and recording for their fellow band’s independent Etiquette label, they can be considered the area’s first full on rock band. Torquing the traditional guitar, bass, drums, and sax line-up, they pushed the feedback to the top and kicked the rhythms harder than audiences here had heard before. The Sonics were led by Gerry Rosalie, who sang torso-punching anthems like “Strychnine” and “The Witch” with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins or Jerry Lee Lewis-style manic aggression. Drummer Bob Bennett scared parents with the underground rhythms the establishment feared, while Parypa siblings Andy and Larry made the loud roars and rumbles on respective guitar and bass that inspired local music from psychedelia to grunge and beyond — from Seattle to the Soviet Union. HERE ARE THE SONICS!!! was one of real rock’s first full Long-Players and is still considered a true classic, and along with a mere few other sides, is the driven document of music claimed as an inspiration for many generations of the Big Beat.

Other music included in The Roadhouse this Wednesday night:

• Don & The Goodtimes, featuring Viceroys’ guitarist Jim Valley, who wrote their regional smash “Little Sally Tease,” which was later covered more famously by immortal international garage band The Standells.

• Instrumental gods The Ventures, who dominate rock history with their #2 hit in 1960, “Walk Don’t Run,” as well as the theme from “Hawaii 5-0″ later in that decade. The Ventures were known for adding jazz-inspired intricate guitar riffs to gritty rock and roll, and the guttural crunch of their roiling sound contributed to the origins of what people would later think of as our area’s hard rock aesthetics.

• Boise’s Paul Revere & The Raiders, featuring Mark Lindsey on vocals though the band was named after its guitar player, that thrived in the original garage rock era of the early 60s, and was resurrected for tracks like “Indian Reservation” further on in the 60s.

• The Monks, who began as a group of hard-partying American G.I.’s stationed in Germany — including late and beloved guitarist/electrified banjo player Dave Day who was born in Renton, and passed away recently after months of hanging out at shows featuring such new regional bands as The Saturday Knights and The Cops. The Monks originally started as beat group The 5 Torquays and ended up eventually changing the world with their ranting anti-pop in shave heads and monks’ robes.

• The Kingsmen, known best for “Louie Louie,” which catapulted the Portland band to national prominence, solidified the Latin influence on mainstream rock and roll, and got played black radio stations across the country.

• Also featuring The Raymarks, The Artesians, and many more!

Listen closely for your chance to win a pair of tickets for The Sonics’ Halloween show at the Paramount on Oct 31. This will be the band’s first local appearance since 1972.

Join Greg Vandy for this seminal raunch-rock radio special, early Wednesday evening from 6-9 PM — or later on on KEXP’s Streaming Archive!

Ron Henry

by Greg Vandy, host of The Roadhouse

What’s a Summer BBQ without some jug band music? The Dexter Street Stompers obliged like that crazy drunk uncle who shows up early and leaves late at family functions. Ya wanna like ‘em, but who exactly are these guys? They show up in rope belts, overalls, and straw hats while the kazoo man’s gotta a bow tie. Ol’ timey, indeed! To call ‘em “old school” is an understatement. Any schooling at all seems questionable. But thanks to them, some levity was added to this year’s KEXP BBQ .

I was especially proud watching these guys as they are my house band. About six weeks back, in The Roadhouse (Weds 6-9pm), we staged a low-budget American Idol over the radio. We searched hi & lo, not for Idols, but for train ridin’ hobos and jug blowin’ fools. We held live auditions, judged their skillz and style, and voted along with the you listeners to pick five players to join bandleader Levi Fuller. And a jug band was formed.

After a few rehearsals and a live set in The Roadhouse last Wednesday, The Stompers were hardly ready for prime time, yet with the help of corn liquor and cheap energy drinks, the new band braved the elements and a crowd of discerning indie rockers. And they killed it! Even when Levi broke a string on the second song (and no roadies came to fix it), they carried on with Southern (Georgetown) pride. New fans include John Richards, Don Slack, and The Saturday Knights who talked of getting jug blower Cambajamba on their next record.

After the show, flash bubs flashed, scribes jotted down details, and booking agents were in a flurry (the band is already booked at The Tractor). And for me, it was like seeing my baby take his first steps.

Ron Henry

Ron Henry

Ron Henry

Ron Henry

Dan Muller

Ron Henry

A revival in KEXP’s Roadhouse. Sign up for a chance to be a Jug Band star!

KEXP’s Greg Vandy is searching for folks to audition for a new Roadhouse Jug Band in the month of June! Selected applicants will audition live on The Roadhouse on KEXP (Wednesdays from 6PM to 9PM) on the instrument of their choice. Selected contestants will form a KEXP Jug Band who will perform live on The Roadhouse at a future date.

This is your chance to show your musicianship and old-time spirit by participating in this contest. Irreverence and style (original 1930s old-time or ’60s folk revival) will go a long way in the selection of band members. Homemade instruments not necessary. Rules & regulations apply.

^{photo by Steve Shaffer/KET}

To apply send an e-mail by May 31st to jugband@kexp.org with your name, phone number, preferred jug band instrument(s) (jug, string bass, mouth harp, washboard, tissue paper & comb, etc.), and why you think you would be a good addition to the Roadhouse Jug Band. Please attach or link to an audio sample of your handiwork.

May the best jug win!

photo by Mike Sax

I know, I know. You all think Mardi Gras is not cool and there’s no way you’re going out with beads and all that stupid shit you see on TV (or those really bad ads in the Weekly this week). I know. But let me be the one to tell ya that Mardi Gras is much, much more than girls going wild on Bourbon Street and lifting shirts for beads.

It’s more. It’s a deep, 150-year local tradition that even Katrina couldn’t stop. The parades continue to roll down St Charles Ave, second lines still follow brass bands, and families still celebrate with king cakes and house parties. It’s all part of a Carnival season, which begins on the 12th Night of Christmas (Jan 6th) and culminates on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent (Ash Wednesday). It’s a culturally rich, historic tradition that also features my favorite part about Carnival; un-publicized street parading by Mardi Gras Indians who roam New Orleans’ neighborhoods in full, hand-stitched “suits” of feathers.

In the bayou, southwest of New Orleans, there’s a different, more country-styled Mardi Gras. Masquerading, music, and a community gumbo pot rule the day. And the chase of the chicken is a timeless tradition remembered by Doug Kershaw, our guest in The Roadhouse on 1/16 and interviewed by Jon Kertzer. It’s part of last week’s Mardi Gras show, still available on our Streaming Archive:

The Cajun-style Mardi Gras is captured beautifully by maverick film-maker Les Blank, who made many documentaries about Mardi Gras.

Go further with your Mardi Gras interest with this stuff:

• History

• King cake
• Parade Routes and schedules (web-cams)
• WWOZ radio
• … and check this video from 2007 Mardi Gras.

Enjoy the KEXP 2008 Mardi Gras Show! Three hours of Mardi Gras mambos, street parades, carnival songs, Mardi Gras Indians, king cake, brass bands, New Orleans music legends, and chasin’ chickens in the Bayou. It’s my all New Orleans music show accessible here on Fat Tuesday. It’s like a gilded coconut of web-cast radio pleasure!

Laissez les Bonnes Temps Roulet!

Tune in July 4th, 6-9pm, for my annual Independence Day Special Program, Soul Freedom.

This year it’s on the 4th of July holiday, so turn it on and I’ll provide the perfect summer soundtrack for your BBQ/party. It’s gonna be HOT! 80 degrees too! Three solid hours of vintage music from the mid-60s to the mid-70s featuring soul & funk icons like Al Green, Sly Stone, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, War, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic, Fred Wesley, the O’Jays, Donnie Hathaway, Billy Preston and many of your soul favs. Also, I’ll play a set of Stax artists to celebrate the Memphis label’s 50th anniversary. It’s gonna be good. You know how we do it!

And there’s some great 4th of July shows/events this year too. Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic @ The Gorge (listen to this show for a preview AND music from the artists who played the first-ever Picnic back in 1973) and Portland’s 20th BluesFest at Waterfront Park, July 4th-8th. It’s an incredible lineup (see calendar below), it’s only $8 dollars with 2 cans of food, and it continues to help feed the hungry.

If you’re stayin’ near Seattle there’s always the Family 4th on Lake Union, Tacoma’s Freedom Fair, and always my favorite American activity, the Demolition Derby in Monroe.

And like in year’s past, we can’t forget about the food and drink on this holiday. I usually prep you before the big day, but since the show is ON the 4th this year, here’s your only recipe from the friendly folks in The Roadhouse:

Super Dynamite Watermelon (vodka infused)

Let The Soul Freedom Ring! Tune in Wed at 6pm!

Here’s a taste of what you’ll hear, a couple videos from Sly Stone and Booker T and the MG’s plus a trailer for the 50th anniversary of Stax. First up, a killer early Sly & The Family Stone vid:

A bit later, in 1968, Sly & the Family Stone performed “Dance To The Music” and “I Wanna Take You Higher” on the Ed Sullivan show:

And then there’s the infamous Dick Cavett interview with Out of His Head Sly Stone, who apparently arrived within seconds of the live TV performance. He also apparently couldn’t turn on his keyboard. Wow.

Here’s Booker T & The MG’s performing the classic “Green Onions” on the Stax 1967 Volt Tour:

If you’re unfamiliar with Stax Records label or just want to know more, here’s the trailer for the 50th Anniversary set that came out this year:

Hey Freak!

Have you wondered about like-minded and sometimes bearded young men and women (CocoRosie) who sing acoustic songs of surreal nature and pastoral settings? Have you ever seen your favorite artists dance in their underwear? Have you read in your favorite music mags the misguided term “freak folk”, and wondered aloud, “What the f@#*k?”

Well, now available from trusty KEXP, is my latest podcast, Music That Matters Podcast Vol. 51, which addresses the above said issues. This new podcast, which I’m calling it “Freak Too: The New Folk Underground,” features incredible artists like Bonnie Prince Billy (aka Will Oldam), Devendra Banhart, Beth Orton, White Magic, and Jack Rose (of Pelt) to name a few.

It’s a follow-up to my first Podcast “Don’t Call Me Freak” (MTM Vol. 37) launched a few months ago (and still available). But in this one, we go beyond to include artists and influences of a previous generation. Underground artists of the late 60’s and early 70’s like Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, and Vashti Bunyan.

I’m pretty excited about this one and I think it’ll blow your mind. Not only are the influences here, but lots of new songs from future near-famous youngsters like Alela Diane (just a pup!), Horse Feathers (mid-twenties), Madeline (she’s like, 23!), Marissa Nadler (former art student!), Anais Mitchell (on Ani DiFranco’s label), and Barton Carroll (of Crooked Fingers), and a song from the great new record of guitar genius/60’s British folk legend Bert Jansch (Google him now, thank me later).

And did I say it’s free? It’s perfect for a freak like you. Put it in your music library, load it on your player, pack a bag, lay under fruit tree, and grow a curly beard to this one. A lazy summer day soundtrack, if you will.

Subscribe to the Music That Matters Podcasts now, if you haven’t already.

And while you’re at it, you can LISTEN NOW from the Steaming Archive for my expanded 3-hour radio program of this podcast. In The Roadhouse, Wednesday, June 13th, from 6-9 pm. (The audio link is good until June 27th.)

Check these vids too! One, a fan-created montage of Nick Drake photos set to “River Man” and the other, well, you’ll see… (Warning: artist dancing in underwear)

Born in 1904, McDowell never got the opportunity to recorded like many of his peers during the pre-Depression “Golden-Age” of American recordings (late 20’s and early 30’s) and instead was discovered late in life by folklorist Alan Lomax in his hometown of Como, MS.

Quickly recognized as a purveyor of original Delta style blues, Fred got busy on the 60’s folk revival circuit and recorded a succession of albums. Though open to younger musicians and occasionally “pluggin’ in”, Fred is famous for the statement “I don’t play no rock n roll….just the straight natural blues”. It’s this commitment to keepin’ things real and not updating his sound or style that makes Fred appealing then, and now. Proteges include Bonnie Rait,who credits McDowell as a teacher of bottleneck blues, and the Rolling Stones, whose rendition of “You Gotta Move” is a straight-up imitation of Fred McDowell’s version a few years earlier. Hear for yourself tonight, 6-9 pm, as Greg Vandy continues to feature the Greats of Early Blues.

That’s right! My first-ever podcast is Music That Matters #37 - “Don’t Call Me Freak: The New Folk” (MP3)

It’s mostly all new music featuring songwriters of a new folk underground. The press have labeled it Freak Folk. Which pisses off all the artists described as such. And, being of the mind that once you label a scene, you kill a scene, (remember when they called all non-rock music World Music!) I therefore am NOT calling this podcast Freak Folk. Or New Weird Americana, or even the most generic of labels, New Indie Folk. I won’t even say Psyche Folk. And although the music is not traditional or revival, there is a folk-like character with the guitar strumming and acoustic arrangements. But one common element to my mix is that none of these artists want to be confined or pigeon-holed into categories of genre. True, there are beards, surrealism, and lyrics about nature, but please Don’t Call Me Freak.

Check out these artists:

Like Tom Brosseau, beardless yet on this podcast. A gentle savant-like character living in San Diego from an album about his home state of North Dakota, called Grand Forks. I picked a song “Here Comes the Water” about the great floods of 1997.

Also you’ll hear sisters in their early 20’s, who have been know to sometimes wear fake beards - Cocorosie. They lived apart for many years, but reunited in Paris and starting singing and writing together. I selected something from their second album Noah’s Ark – the song “South 2nd St.”

Alela Diane, who currently resides in Portland but originally from Joanna Newsome’s hometown of Nevada City, California. I picked one from her debut, a song called “Clickty Clack.”

James Yorkston, who really doesn’t fit this scene we are not calling Freak Folk, is in the mix with “the Summer Song” from his latest release called The Year Of The Leopard.

A favorite singer of Bob Dylan back in the day, and Devendra Banhart nowadays is Karen Dalton who does a version of “Katie Cruel” from a 1971 lost classic, In My Time.

Also on my podcast, the bearded William Elliott Whitmore who does “One Man’s Shame,” a Seattle band called Pufferfish doing “Decoder Ring,” Iron & Wine, bearded, does “Free Until They Cut me Down,” Wooden Wand and the Sky High Band aka JAMES TOTH does “The Crucifixion Pt 2.”

The Places, a vagabond of sorts named Amy Annelle who recorded an album Songs For Creeps in producer Brain Beattie’s (Okkervil River) garage in Austin Texas - I picked the song “Such As The Earth”.

There are many others too, included a kindred-spirit of this scene, Brightblack Morning Light. From their self-titled CD which has not left my stereo in months. Word has it, they live in tents and one has a huge beard!

You can listen to the KEXP Streaming Archive and listen now to an expanded 3-hour radio version of this podcast, which aired on Feb 7th. The link is good until the 21st. This broadcast captures the entire Folk underground past and present, including obvious influences like Vashti Bunyan, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, The Incredible String Band, Donovan, and early T Rex.

Learn more about all our podcasts and subscribe now.