December 14, 2022
Apologies for a second newsletter this month, but I want to make sure you’re aware of KALW Holiday Membership Campaign — which begins today. Please visit the Bluegrass Signal web site for the latest updates, as well as playlists and articles of interest to bluegrass and old time music fans.
From 5-6 pm on Saturday — that’s Dec. 17th — I’m featuring three albums on Bluegrass Signal, which you can hear at 91.7 FM in the Bay Area or streaming on KALW. The program is also available ON DEMAND for one week after Saturday’s broadcast.
These three albums (on 4 CDs) are available to you for a $120 donation to KALW.
- LAURIE LEWIS & KATHY KALLICK: Laurie & Kathy Sing the Songs Of Vern & Ray(Spruce and Maple)
- KATHY KALLICK & FRIENDS plus DODI KALLICK: What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? (Live Oak 2-CD set)
- LAURIE LEWIS: Freight 98 (Spruce and Maple)
NOTE: sorry, but single albums are not available as thank-you gifts.
Listener-supported radio is based on a simple system: the station provides you with programming you love, presented in interesting ways by knowledgeable enthusiasts, and you provide the station with the money needed to cover the expenses involved in operating such a station. Because KALW receives no income from advertising, we can exist only because of donations from listeners — and that means YOU are crucial.
You can make your secure online tax-deductible donation
HERE, and choose either a
$10 MONTHLY or $120 ONE-TIME donation in order to receive the “Laurie Lewis & Kathy Kallick 3-album bluegrass bundle.”
Thanks in advance for your support –
Peter
P.S. Bluegrass Signal is also broadcast four times each week on
Bluegrass Country — another listener-supported station that’s also having a Holiday Membership Campaign!
The same offer of Kathy and Laurie albums is also being made to Bluegrass Country listeners who donate to the station, and, between Dec. 26th and 31st, you can hear the Bluegrass Signal Membership Campaign Special on (Pacific Standard Times) Monday (8 pm), Tuesday (9 pm), Friday (3 pm), and Saturday (9 pm). Bluegrass Country has an
ARCHIVE PLAYER, where, for two weeks following, you can pick the date and (Eastern) time of the initial broadcast to hear Bluegrass Signal at your convenience.
P.P.S. Please note that the 5 pm start time (and one-hour length) for Bluegrass Signal is will change in January — when Bluegrass Signal will begin an hour earlier, but last 30 minutes longer. The complete Saturday noon-midnight schedule:
- 12:00 pm: 25th Street Music with Marcus Rosario
- 2:00 pm: Folk Music & Beyond with JoAnn Mar & Robert Campbell
- 4:00 pm: Bluegrass Signal
- 5:30 pm: A Patchwork Quilt with Kevin Vance
- 7:00 pm: Africa Mix with Emmanuel Nado & Edwin Okong’o
- 9:00 pm: Tangents with Dore Stein
On Jan. 7th, I’m planning to celebrate the restoration of the program’s 90-minute length with a survey of Bay Area bluegrass and old time music released in the ’90s — and there was A LOT of great music happening hereabouts at that time! In addition, there will again be time to include a weekly on-air calendar of upcoming area events, and I appreciate bands, presenters, jam leaders, and teachers sending me all relevant info.
Now … here’s what’s in the “Laurie Lewis & Kathy Kallick 3-album bluegrass bundle” …
LAURIE LEWIS & KATHY KALLICK: Laurie & Kathy Sing the Songs Of Vern & Ray (Spruce and Maple)
“I’m a longtime fan of both of these bluegrass super-heroines and I’d been waiting for this album since I first heard about it: an 18 song primer of Californian-associated bluegrass standards that is a joy to listen to and a full-on foot-tapper to boot. … some all time favorite bluegrass tunes that owe their popularity to the short careers of Vern and Ray, lovingly reprised here by two of bluegrass’s most respected daughters. One of the best tribute albums I have heard in many a day.” – Ronnie Norton, Lonesome Highway
Basis of all songs: performance/recording by Vern & Ray; songwriters/sources also noted
1. Oh Susannah (Stephen Foster)
2. Cabin On a Mountain (Clyde Williamson & Cal Veale)
3. Cowboy Jack (Carter Family)
4. Little Birdie (traditional)
5. If I Had My Life To Live Over (Chester Smith)
6. Happy I’ll Be (Ray Park)
7. Black Eyed Susie (trad., add’l lyrics, Kathy Kallick)
8. To Hell With the Land (Ray Park)
9. Flying Cloud (traditional)
10. Montana Cowboy (Ray Park)
11. Down Among the Budded Roses (traditional)
12. Thinkin’ Of Home (Ray Park & Vern Williams)
13. Field Of Flowers (Paul Evans & Paul Parnes)
14. How Many Times (Ray Park)
15. My Clinch Mountain Home (Carter Family)
16. My Old Kentucky Home (Stephen Foster)
17. Blue Grass Style (Luther Riley)
18. The Touch Of God’s Hand (Bill Monroe)
Laurie Lewis: fiddle, acoustic bass, guitar, vocals
Kathy Kallick: guitar, vocals
Tom Rozum: mandolin, vocals
Patrick Sauber: banjo
Keith Little: banjo, guitar, vocals
Annie Staninec: fiddle
Sally Van Meter: resophonic guitar
KATHY KALLICK & FRIENDS plus DODI KALLICK: What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? (Live Oak 2-CD set)
“Kathy grew up with the folk music scene in Chicago with a talented mother who passed on a love of song and an ability to inspire others to make their own music. Kathy has been a part of this sharing process, and this collection of songs performed with friends and family showcase some of the traditional songs that need to be remembered, revised, and passed on to the next generation of musicians. She has given us the bridge between past, present, and future with a nod to her mother, her friends and fellow musicians, and the younger performers that will be our future.” – Brenda Hough, Bluegrass Breakdown
CD 1: KATHY KALLICK (guitar, vocal)
with
1. MOLLY TUTTLE (guitar, vocal): Put My Little Shoes Away
2. TRISTAN SCROGGINS (mandolin): Sittin’ On Top of the World
3. CLIFF PERRY (guitar, vocal) & LAUREL BLISS (dobro, vocal): Little Moses
4. JIM HURST (guitar, vocal): Jimmy Brown the Newsboy
5. *THE KATHY KALLICK BAND: Footprints In the Snow
6. **THE KATHY KALLICK BIG BAND: The Wild Side Of Life > It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
7. ANNIE STANINEC (fiddle): Handsome Molly
8. MIKE COMPTON (mandolin, vocal) & JOE NEWBERRY (banjo, vocal): Farther Along
9. LAURIE LEWIS (fiddle, vocal) & SUZY THOMPSON (guitar, vocal): What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
*Annie Staninec: fiddle; Tom Bekeny: mandolin; Greg Booth: banjo & dobro; Cary Black: acoustic bass
**Annie Staninec: fiddle; Tom Bekeny: mandolin; Greg Booth: dobro; Cary Black: acoustic bass plus Juniper Waller and Riley Thompson: vocals; Paul Shelasky: fiddle
CD 2: DODI KALLICK
1. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
2. I’m A Long Time Traveling
3. Cotton-Eyed Joe
4. One Hundred Miles
5. Row Us Over the Tide
6. Red Clay Country
7. Down In the Willow Garden
8. My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
9. The Parting Glass
All tracks (except as noted):
Dodi Kallick (vocal, dulcimer) on “The Midnight Special,” WFMT, 1966/1969
4: Dodi Kallick – vocal, guitar * 9: Dodi Kallick – vocal only * 7: with Hobart Smith (fiddle), 1963 * 8: Frank Proffitt Memorial – Old Town School Of Folk Music, 1966
LAURIE LEWIS: Freight 98 (Spruce and Maple)
“In June of 1998, I assembled this band — Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Tom Rozum, Nina Gerber, Todd Phillips, Mary Gibbons, and Kathy Kallick — to celebrate the release of my then-new album, Seeing Things. The nights were electric, magical, and sometimes pretty darned loose, as we had had only one rehearsal. All these years later, stumbling on this recording, I am so pleased with the freshness of the music that I just had to share it with you.” – Laurie Lewis
All songs written by Laurie Lewis, except as noted
1. Visualize
2. The Refugee
3. Girlfriend, Guard Your Heart
4. Bane and Balm
5. Fine Line
6. Tattoo (LL and Mike Marshall)
7. I’ll Take Back My Heart (LL and Jerry Logan)
8. Love is a Lonely Street (Louvin Brothers; Tom Rozum, lead vocal)
9. Angel on His Shoulder
10 Kiss Me Before I Die
11. Knocking on Your Door Again
12. Let the Bird Go Free (Mark Simos)
13. Blue Days, Sleepless Nights
14. Manzanar (Tom Russell)
15. The Blackest Crow (traditional)
What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? is the only one of these three albums released in 2022, and it made the “Top Ten” list for several KALW DJs — including myownself, Bluegrass Signal colleague Sully Roddy, and A Patchwork Quilt’s Kevin Vance.