3 Chords & the Truth

This election is tight. That's the problem.Donald Trump is a demonstrated "fascist to the core." His rhetoric sounds exactly like Adolf Hitler's. About half of Americans tell pollsters they'll vote for the fascist. For the Hitler impersonator. That's the problem.Does -- can -- the program, 3 Chords & the Truth, go forward in a fascist country? I don't think so. There will be other priorities, namely, either fight or flight. Trying to ignore evil -- killing one's conscience with the excuse "I'm not political" is not an option that allows you to look in the mirror every morning.So, we have come to what just might be the Big Show's not-very-long goodbye. Going on as normal -- even by the loose definition of normal we've had this past decade -- will be impossible, as least for me. Your mileage may vary, but be warned that the risks to your soul in the face of a Trumpian "normal" are unacceptable.I SPENT much of my young life in Louisiana observing and living a version of that reality during Jim Crow and in the wake of Jim Crow. The America of Trump 2.0 would be even worse, and it would have the weight of the entire federal government and military behind it.And that is our choice. It's either "a new way forward" under Kamala Harris . . . or the abyss.That it's entirely possible Americans will choose the abyss points to the real problem, of which Donald Trump's rise is merely a symptom. The last decade has pointed out the terrifying likelihood that the United States' real problem is more akin to societal -- civilizational -- collapse.Every institution is amid a full collapse, and the void has been filled with distrust -- which is not irrational by any means -- alienation and boiling anger. And demagogic psychotics like Trump know exactly how to exploit what ails us.Feed your demons, feed Trump. Feed Trump, feed our demons.The end result is the grave. It would not be a peaceful death.Boy, this doesn't sound like a pitch for this week's edition of a show that's supposed to entertain. No, it doesn't. On the other hand, 3 Chords & the Truth never has been just about entertaining you. It's also been about something bigger. It's been about trying to make you think, too.Well, we stand at the corner of THINK and DON'T THINK -- or at least, if you do think, don't let anybody know what you're thinking.I can't live that way. The Founding Fathers didn't think anyone could live that way. You shouldn't accept living that way.And if you think electing the fascist won't crush your freedom and come after your very soul, you're a damn fool.Don't be a damn fool. Do listen to the Big Show; it's as good as ever this week.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all -- for now. Be there. Aloha.

This could be the end of the world as we know it. I don't feel fine.I am old enough to know what American fascism is like, having grown up in the deepest of the Deep South in the 1960s and '70s. I am old enough to have been threatened, by my parents, with being sent to "the n***er school" when I acted up -- as if that legally were possible then.Having grown up that way informs who I am. Having spent a lifetime trying to dig myself out of that fascistic black hole -- and if you don't think Jim Crow was fascism, open up a history book, why don't you -- informs who I am even more. It also informs what 3 Chords & the Truth is . . . every damn week.That doesn't mean the Big Show isn't fun. It is. But, trust me, it's a damn high-wire act.And here we are, a week and a half out from the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime. And fascism is on the ballot. That's because, as it turns out, a lot of Americans are. . . .That does not surprise me. I'm a Southerner, after all.There's not much more I can say about that, so I won't. I'll let the music do the talking from here on.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

What good is sitting alone in your room?Come hear the music playThe Big Show's a cabaret, old chumCome to the cabaret (Boots clicking on the pavement en masse. . . .)Put down the knitting, the book and the broomIt's time for a holidayLife is a cabaret, old chumCome to the cabaretCome taste the wineCome hear the bandCome blow your horn, start celebratingRight this way, 3 Chords & the Truth's waitingWhat good's permitting some prophet of doomTo wipe every smile away?(Voice on the PA speaker at the political rally down the streetrails against scum, vermin, the enemy within. . . . )The Big Show's a cabaret, old chumSo come to the cabaret. . . .It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. While you can. Aloha.

Dear, there's never anything on the television, just Donald Trump saying crazy things and doing his best Adolf Hitler impersonation.Let's listen to 3 Chords & the Truth instead. I am so old, I remember Godwin's Law -- if you resort to calling someone a Nazi on the Internet, you lose the argument. I miss those days. I miss the days when not only weren't there that many Nazis on the Internet, but there wasn't one of the two major candidates for president holding Nuremberg for Dummies rallies from sea to shining sea.How in the hell did we get here?Why in the hell do I feel compelled to bring this up on a show -- on 3 Chords & the Truth, where the focus ought to be fun and great music, both without limit or limitations? It's because regardless of how the hell we got here, we got here nevertheless.In other words, if you like the Big Show, listen while you can. I wish I were kidding. I am not.The Big Show always and everywhere is greater than the Big Lie, but it is not assured that the Big Lie won't prevail, with all that it portends for the future of this country. How this all turns out is entirely up to you. Vote.In the meantime, enjoy the music -- it's fabulous -- and the much needed distraction.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

If you're anything like me, this damn country -- or what passes for this damn country anymore -- may have finally broken you.I feel tired. Sick. Sick and tired.The best I can manage this week is to get by. How am I doing? Doing.How is 3 Chords & the Truth going this week? It's going. Fortunately for us all, it's high functioning even when it's just going and just doing.YEAH. That.You know what? If you're not disturbed, down in the dumps, sick and tired and just managing to hold it all together when one of America's two major political parties is talking like actual Nazis, demonizing like actual Nazis, tweeting like actual Nazis, holding Nuremberg for Dummies rallies like actual Nazis and vowing to govern like actual Nazis, I'd like you to answer one question.What the hell is wrong with you? Have you been paying attention?Get a grip and get disturbed. Then vote to make it stop.Meantime, we have a stunningly diverse program put together for this week's Big Show. It's amazingly good for just getting by.The marketing, obviously, not so much. I've always been too much of an open book for my own self-promotional good, alas.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Listen, we're in a little blue dot in a redneck state -- one that used to not be all that bad, actually.But now it is. And especially this year, that can get, how do we say, depressing AF.Still, you have to do 3 Chords & the Truth. Every damn week. Your keel has to be even.So, sometimes you need a little somethin' somethin'. I forget what the directions on the label said, but I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10.I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10.I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10.Good, I am if take, I do, more than one and fewer than . . . I forget. Better take another one.It's a good Big Show; it's a laid back show. Show. Mellow. Cool!Good is the music. Mellow is the host. Copacetic is the vibe.I figure I'm good if I take more than one and fewer than 10. Ten. An interesting number, that.Because one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do. The 0 makes it unlonely. Yes, it does.It's  3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Well, at least we don't have little messages before the late news saying "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your cats and dogs are?"Yet.Every damn week for the last nine years or so, whenever I'm confronted with writing another little missive for another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, I have to think of something to say amid the crazy. And You Know Who has prompted the fruitiest of the Fruit Loops in America today.Now, it's "They're eating the cats. They're eating the dogs." You Know Who floated that bit of crazy during the presidential debate, no less.What in the Wide World of Sports is your average, marginally sane person supposed to do with that level of bat shit?To maintain my marginal level of sanity, I make merciless fun of it. So we're breaking a bubbling-under the Top 40 future smash hit on the Big Show this week. It, unsurprisingly, is from that unfathomably popular group, The DJT Music Explosion.They're exploding something, all right.Let's just hope it doesn't end up being the United States of America.That said, insert the usual description of the awesomeness of this week's show, because that generally doesn't change a whit.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

It's good to be here in Sioux City; my best fans are here in the city of the Siouxes.What? Oh.As I was saying, I love Omaha. Omaha is, they tell me, an Indian word for the land of the Omahs. And apparently they laughed a lot . . . they laughed a lot. But not like Comrade Kamabala Biden, who should not laugh ever again. So annoying. So annoying.And how about that 3 Chords & the Truth on the computer machine . . . or on your smartphone? Great music on the show, but a very poor host -- very biased. And what is a Mighty Foovog?Mighty Foovog. It sounds like something I caught when I was going through my own personal Vietnam in the '70s; it took two or three Shots in the Ass -- I had a very good doctor then, very quick to give you an Ass Shot. His Ass Shots didn't hurt as much as they could have . . . Ass Shots can be so painful, so painful.BUT THE Shots in the Ass got me back in the battle. I prefer the battles where if things go bad -- but things don't go bad for me, only if people are being very unfair. Things can go so bad when the fake news and all the haters are being so unfair. I preferred the Vietnam where you sometimes had to get a Shot in the Ass instead of getting shot in the face. Or getting shot in the chest.Both very bad. I don't understand why you'd want to volunteer to get shot in the face. Faces are very important. I saw a guy once try to eat a hamburder without a face -- he didn't have the face . . . can hamburders have a face? That's a question for some of the great minds in this country to work on. Very big Question.He couldn't eat the Mickey D's because if you don't have a face, you don't have a mouth.Now that thing they call the Big Show would be a lot better if that very unfair host didn't have a mouth. Just play the music and keep quiet -- shut up and spin the tunes, I say. But he has some great music on there if you can get past his Being a Communist. Very biased, very unfair.I LIKE music. Music is good to play when you're doing battle in your own personal Vietnam.Did you ever notice that they generally play very poor music in the doctor's office when you're in there for a Shot in the Ass? Very poor music. But what can you expect from all the Commie Musicians out there?You've been a very wonderful crowd. They're telling me I have to wrap this up because we're running behind schedule, and I have to be in Omaha in a couple of hours. But you just stick around, listen to the tunes. Some very excellent tunes today, so I am told.One more thing, and then I'm ditching this burg. . . .It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Did you have a friend who, in a roundabout way, is why you do what you do today?Was that friend, by chance . . . a radio station?As it happens, I am among that geeky subset of folks who can answer yes to that. My radio friend's name was WLCS, also sometimes known during various eras as the Big Win 910 or the Big 91. It made up a big part of the soundtrack of my youth and, sometimes, it was the bright spot during some dark days.If you appreciate 3 Chords & the Truth, there are a small number of the radio stations of my youth in Baton Rouge, La., that you can thank. WLCS is at the front of that list.FORTY YEARS ago today, the Big 91 faded into the mists of history. Now it lives only in the memories of those of us who are, as they say, "of a certain age" . . . and as part of the Big Show.WLCS was, I'd argue, a higher form of social media than what we call "social media" today. Oftentimes, today's social media is downright antisocial. The radio of my youth actually brought people together. The media of today often drives people apart.I REALIZE this might come off as the whining of an old man, a geezer complaining that things absolutely were better back in the day. I am from the Deep South; that tends, if one is honest with oneself, to immunize against silly nostalgia.But some things were better. The Big 91 was one of those things. I have it to thank for this thing we call 3 Chords & the Truth.And, like a friend who has slipped this mortal coil, it lives on. It lives in our memories and in our hearts, and -- in a way -- it lives on right here.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

I don't do verbatim transcripts of what I say during 3 Chords & the Truth in this space, where I'm enticing you to actually listen to 3 Chords & the Truth.And you know what? F*** that. This week, I will, because I had a revelation about what the hell I'm doing here on the Big Show. . . after nearly 17 years.Here goes.BEING THE politics nerd that I am, I've been watching the Democratic National Convention — and note there's an -ic on the end of Democrat. Calling a political party the “Democrat Party,” is like calling a Jewish barber a “Jew barber.” It's a slur; it's dehumanizing, and we don't do that in this country.Or, at least, we used to not do it most places. During Jim Crow, it was the strategy of all the wrong people in the South. I hope I don't need to elucidate, here.Anyway, something occurred to me as I watched. Something occurred to me about this show as I reflected on this convention and that other one last month. As I reflected on folks who get their knickers in a twist if, at some social event or another, they think there's not enough “White” music being played.And as segregated and as nasty as the Deep South could be when I was growing up, there's one thing that was great about it — “Black” music was “White” music, too. It was a bunch of what all-white Favog listened to back in the day. And “White” music was a bunch of what my Black high-school classmates listened to. There was one thing ol' Jim Crow failed miserably at, and that was in trying to segregate music and make our ears as separate and unequal as everything else.If you want to know what 3 Chords & the Truth is all about, it's about America. It's all “E pluribus unum” all the time — “Out of many, one.”In brief, there's only two kinds of music, good and bad. And the bad, we don't mess with.If you like this program, there's one thing I do not need to tell you: Music, like America, cannot be segregated. It does not recognize bigoted hierarchies of worth or authenticity.And it all belongs. Period. End of sentence . . . and of the argument. If you disagree, you probably have figured out this isn't the place for you. And, perhaps, neither is this country.WELL, that's all I have to say about that.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

To be honest with you, I couldn't tell you what really happened the night the lights went out in Georgia. I wasn't there.I can tell you, though, what happened the night the lights went out in Omaha, just as I was getting ready to pick music for what would have been the Aug. 2 edition of the Big Show. It wasn't good.There's a big pile of limbs and branches sitting in front of the 3 Chords & the Truth culture war bunker, waiting for the city to haul it away. That's one of the smaller piles on the street.THE STORM that turned out the lights in Omaha also dropped trees and huge limbs on houses all over town -- and on more than a few power lines. One of those houses was next door.Oh . . . and we had no power for a week. No Internet, either. Obviously.So, no electricity, no show for two weeks. After sweating profusely for a few days, then bugging out to our friends' downtown condo after the temperature inside got within spitting distance of the 99-degree heat outside -- this with all the windows open -- the lights finally came back on late on Aug. 7.And now we're back in business, in brightly lit, Internet enabled, air-conditioned comfort. I gotta tell you, I was getting a little stir crazy only as an old radio/media guy can.And this week, we're trying to make up for the unplanned absence. Boy, are we. Trust me, this edition of the show is a good one. As usual.Thus, without any further ado. . . .It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Click.You're in tune with 3 Chords & the Truth, Omaha.(THEME MUSIC SWELLS.)Join us for the next 90 minutes for As the Nut Cracks, the story of a country just a bit off its nut, sponsored by Planters, where every can is full of nuts, just like American politics. Planters, where nuttery is our business.(DISSOLVE TO OPENING SCENE.)"Bing bong, bing bing bing! Sharks! Electric boats! Shocking! Jaws! Mass deportation now! Commies! Commies!"We will return to the Big Show after these messages.Buy Planters. Our nuts are the good kind. Really.Now back to . . . As the Nut Cracks!"Doctor, is there anything that can be done? I'm afraid, Doctor, I'm afraid! That's some weird shit.""It's a difficult case, Jane. One of the worst I've ever seen . . . but we'll do our best. But for you, dear, I recommend you start drinking heavily. After all, I'm a doctor."Also, you might want to listen to some good music. It will be very calming. I'll give you a prescription.""Thank you, Doctor. Thanks for everything."(MUSIC SWELLS.)Can the doctor restore sanity? Or will the nut crack? Find out tomorrow on the next episode of As the Nut Cracks, the story of a country that's just around the bend.Now a final word from our sponsor -- Planters. Our nuts won't hurt you, just so long as you're not allergic.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

We find ourselves living in the Age of Disunity. Now, more than ever, the mother's milk of politics is bullshit.This applies much more to some political parties than others. Boy, does it.Listen, I watched all of Donald Trump's historically weird acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, otherwise known as Nuremberg for Dummies. That über über gathering in Milwaukee was notable among American political conventions for the placard handouts that got right to the point -- "MASS DEPORTATION NOW."Sieg heil, y'all.This is the American milieu from which 3 Chords & the Truth emerges every week. You sometimes wonder whether doing this thing, amid this level of ugly every week, amounts to whistling past a national graveyard.Oh, yeah. Some 20-year-old nutter attempted to assassinate Trump last week. So there's that.I absolutely cannot wait for what lies ahead . . . said no one ever the past few years.Then we have the Democrats trying to force a diminished and doddering Joe Biden off the ballot. The niceties disappear when the stakes are existential, and losing may be death.Ready for some music yet?Ready or not, here it is, and it's damn good. As usual. In times like these, you have to keep on keepin' on -- until you can't. We'll keep the eclectic wonderfulness of the Big Show coming . . . until we can't.It's that kind of America right now.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

If you know, you know.First, I ain't young. I started in radio -- long before the Internet and 3 Chords & the Truth -- during the age of cartridge machines, big studio consoles with round knobs, turntables and reel-to-reel tape decks. Editing was done with a grease pencil and razor blade. The computer was the Heathkit they built in electronics class, which was where it stayed.And the thing about being Not Young is that I've seen some things. And I remember most of them.Second, I ain't never seen what I'm seeing now. Enter the 2024 presidential race -- 81-year-old Joe Biden, who's had a pretty damn good run as president vs. 78-year-old Donald Trump, an adjudicated rapist, convicted felon, federal defendant, Georgia defendant, word-salad aficionado and all-around reprobate.And the felonious reprobate, running on a flat-out authoritarian platform, is winning. I was born in the Deep South in 1961. What we'll get under a second Trump Administration, I've seen. It was called Jim Crow. It was horrific.No wonder that I felt the need to bang my head on this week's edition of the Big Show.I am old enough to have seen a lot of good music. This is it. Trust me.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

If you can't laugh, you'll end up sticking your head in the oven.Yeah, I watched the presidential debate pitting a bad debater who's lost a step . . . and a pathological liar who aspires to be Short-Bus Hitler. Couple that with a thoroughly broken journalistic infrastructure (I'm looking at you, CNN), and if cannabis were legal in this state, I'd be snarfing pot gummies like Raisinettes in a freakin' movie theater.Thus, the importance of good music on 3 Chords & the Truth . . . and the ability to laugh at this s***.I'm hoping I achieved the good-music and humor goals on this week's edition of the Big Show. I am betting heavily that you are, too.Well, I guess you'll just have to see, now, won't you?This has to work. I have an electric oven. Ouch.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Here's to you.After all, without you, we at 3 Chords & the Truth are talking to ourselves and playing records for the wind.So, musically, that's where we're starting on the show this week. But that's not where we're going to end. There is lots to love -- as usual -- about yet another episode of the Big Show. I mean, we're talking some seriously good music, intelligently presented.Thank a seriously massive music library.And that's about all I have to say about that. If you know, you know. If you don't -- yet -- this is as good a time as any to find out. You can thank me later.With that said. . . .It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

By the time I got to Memphis, I was sinking.You'll find the note I left hangin' on your phone. You'll laugh when you read the part that says I'm flailin.' 'Cause I've flailed on here so many times before.By the time I hit record, I was low energy. You'll probably think the Big Show is nothin' at all. But you'll just have to go on thinkin' . . . mighty small. That's all. By the time you figure it out, show'll be over. You'll turn and say "That's 3 Chords & the Truth!" And you'll cry just to think I'd really done it -- tho' time and time again I've pulled it off. You just didn't know . . . it's the Big Show. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Life is a mixed bag, and not everything was better when we were young.Actually, lots of things were awful, even cruel, when we were young. To deny that, it seems to me, is to fall into what I like to call malignant nostalgia. Rose-colored glasses tend to make your hindsight blurry.Perhaps even offensive.That's what is on my mind as another edition of 3 Chords & the Truth goes into the can and onto the Internets. For instance, I think the music from my time back in the day was, overall, pretty damned good. That doesn't mean it all was . . . God, no! A lot of it was crap.Same goes for today. There's a lot of crap on the radio -- and on Spotify or whatever, There's also a lot of amazingly good stuff which, as was true to a lesser degree when I was young, can be less in your face and might take a little effort to connect with.But the thing about the Big Show is that we celebrate the good. The bad, we don't mess with.That, methinks, is all that needs to be said here. Really, it's time to get to the music now.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

This is where I'm supposed to be clever or funny -- or something -- as I say something that's vaguely about this week's episode of the Big Show.And perhaps you've noticed that I'm rather late posting this week's 3 Chords & the Truth.Truth is . . . clever, funny or saying much about this week's show isn't really in the cards this early Saturday morning. I'm posting the show because it's been in the can since early Friday morning, but hyping it would be, in my reckoning right now, kind of vulgar.Maybe you've heard on the news that Omaha (a.k.a., Omaha, by God, Nebraska) was hit hard by tornadoes Friday afternoon. The biggest one, out in far western Omaha, was massive and powerful -- perhaps an EF-4 or EF-5. That has yet to be officially determined, but it was really big, really powerful . . . and there are many homes and a few neighborhoods that no longer exist.ON THE OTHER side of town, just north of downtown Omaha, a tornado tore through our airport, heavily damaging the general aviation section. My wife and I saw that happen on live TV.The monster tornado missed our house (a.k.a., the Culture War bunker) by about 9 miles or so. The other one missed us by about 7 miles and change. We were lucky.Not so for folks in a ruined path through western Douglas County, the western suburbs of Omaha and up through Bennington and well into Washington County. Also down toward Lincoln, Neb. And across the river in Iowa, tornadoes leveled huge parts of a few small towns, as well as some areas in Council Bluffs.This area hasn't seen anything like that since the Tornado of 1975, an EF-4 monster that ripped through the middle of Omaha and was the United States' first billion-dollar twister.Yes, this week's Big Show is as fine as ever. It's just that that seems rather unimportant now. As is the self-serving social-media hype one is expected to do these days.I mean, "Too bad about the devastation across town, but now let's get back to the bitchin' tunes!" just doesn't cut it.The show's done, and I didn't want to junk it, and that's about all I feel like saying about it. So I suck at modern marketing. Whoopee.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Listen. Or don't.In the grand scheme of things, it's not that important, actually.

Sooner or later, the Big Show's gonna get ya.Sooner or later, friend, you got to give in.Sooner or later, the tunes are gonna let 'cha.Sooner or later, the music's gonna win. Music's gonna win.IT'S JUST a matter of time before you make up your mind.To give all those grooves that you've been hiding.Its just a question of when, I've told you time and again. You'll get all the tunes you've been denying.Sooner or later, 3C&T is gonna get ya.Sooner or later, friend, you got to give in.Sooner or later, the tunes are gonna let 'cha.Sooner or later, the music's gonna win. Music's gonna win!So . . . here comes the Big Show. You betcha.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Ever had one of those weeks when all you could manage was to go off on a tangent?This has been one of those weeks, following a couple of weeks off. Which led to this week on 3 Chords & the Truth, with what I could manage.But -- oh! -- what a tangent. Actually, make that two legitimate tangents. Sometimes, all you can manage after a couple of challenging weeks turns out to be pretty glorious.And this week, that is your Big Show.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

When does "old people's music" become your music, too?I think that happens in a couple of ways -- when you start playing it yourself, then something happens in your head and in your heart . . . and when you encounter magic in the night. Let's just call it "moonglow."Or, more properly, "Moonglow."That is what this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is all about. Let's go deeper, and I'll use my own experience to do that.Big band was my parents' music, kind of like country, Lawrence Welk and Guy Lombardo. As a kid in the pre-digital age, I was force-fed three things on TV in the days of one or two TV sets in the house and just two channels in Baton Rouge. First, it was The Porter Wagoner Show. Second, The Lawrence Welk Show. Third, every Dec. 31, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians counting down to the new year . . . also pre-digital.OF COURSE, I was lucky to have grown up playing, and loving, the records bought by the younger version of my parents. We're talking jump blues, gut-bucket jump blues, Western swing, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers and Thin Elvis.The "race music" thing and my racist parents? One of the many contradictions of the segregated South. If you try to make sense of it, you'll fail.But then came high school, and high-school radio.Two of the shows I had to do as a student DJ at Baton Rouge High's FM station, WBRH, were the big-band show and the jazz show. I not only learned a lot (sometimes painfully), but I also learned to love the music -- "old folks'" music. Go figure.And then, when I was in college at Louisiana State, I discovered Moonglow With Martin on WRKF public radio, which then was a brand-new thing in Baton Rouge -- broadcasting from a house trailer on Frenchtown Road. The late-night show was a continuation of something legendary disc jockey Dick Martin had been doing, on various stations around the country, since the early 1950s on clear-channel, 50,000-watt WWL in New Orleans.Martin was a big-band and jazz DJ. He only played the good stuff -- the really good stuff. His show was, not to put too fine a point on it, magic. I missed out on his WWL show, and I was just a little kid when, after a stint in Kansas City, he brought it for a time to Baton Rouge's WJBO-FM in 1965. (Besides, who listened to FM in 1965? Apart from the folks in dentists' offices?)BUT I DIDN'T miss Moonglow With Martin on public radio after 'RKF came to my cultural-wasteland of a hometown in 1980. Seriously, people, we didn't have public TV until 1975; WBRH was the city's first noncommercial radio station since WLSU-FM went under in 1957. And we had only Channel 2 and Channel 9 until 1971, when we got an ABC affiliate, Channel 33.And in the white, working-class world of my childhood, subversiveness was called SOOOUL Train! But what about my parents' old race records? Do not try to square that circle; you'll hurt yourself.So, like my parents' old country and blues discs, and the Top-40 and progressive FM rock of my growing-up years, Dick Martin's Moonglow With Martin is in the Big Show. It's a marvelous mix of my youthful force-feedings, rebellion and . . . musical discovery.If you want to know what 3 Chords & the Truth is, exactly, it's me. And maybe it's you, too. Thank you, Mr. Martin.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Right now, my mind has drifted back 45 years, to the strictly analog age of radio.I'm picturing the old control room at WBRH, the FM voice of Baton Rouge High School. When we'd do the rock show after school let out, student announcers like myself liked to turn off all the lights in the studio, save for one lamp right over the audio board -- just enough to see what we were doing and read what we had to read.Then we'd crank it up. The music, that is.We were "setting the mood."  If I knew then what I know now, this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth would have been perfect.I would have been sitting there at 2825 Government St., and my target listener would have been sitting in a bedroom, stereo cranked and the lights off . . . except for the dial light and one of those flickering bulbs mounted in an old 7-Up can.If you're under 60-ish, you had to be there.Man, it'd just be you, the music and your thoughts. Yeah, this week's Big Show would have been perfect for that. It would be the next best thing to hopping on a cross-country train to Somewhere Else.I bet you might know the feeling. This show just might bring it back . . . even if the only escape lies in your thoughts and in your dreams. All aboard.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

In the past few decades, radio has become a real sh*thole medium.It's real programming and Music Carnage out there, people. And I alone can fix it. The fix is 3 Chords & the Truth. Bigly."Sir, I turn on the radio, and all I hear is crap. Where is this fixing you talk about?"I am glad you asked that question. And I will answer it while my Enthusiastic Supporters beat the crap out of you for your insulating . . . insurance? Impotence?I will tell you the suppressed truth while my Enthusiastic Supporters beat the crap out of you for being a Smart Ass.THE TRUTH is that Deep Radio wants this program to fail. The big men at Big Companies are censoring the programming genius -- a very great genius -- that is the Big Show. They won't put it on the air . . . something about "formatics." And that shows you what kind of Bird Brains make up Deep Radio; the show has nothing to do with countertops.They don't have a clue. They don't have a clue.And I have very wonderful countertops. The best countertops. I also have the best Music Show on the Internets, but it's not a countertop. I guess you can put your computer or smartphone on the countertop -- maybe put some speakers up there, too.It would look wonderful. It would, I think, work out very nicely. But 3 Chords & the Truth is not a countertop, but who knows? We have some Very Great Scientists . . . and I could have been a scientist, a Very Great Scientist, very much like Fat Albert Einstein . . . now that's a guy who could make the show also be a countertop, and we're working on that now . . . we're trying to get Einstein in on the project as I speak.And we'll get there. We'll get there. Because I alone can fix it, and the fix is in; we're Fixing right now.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Covfefe.

If you put together a lovely fruit salad -- say with apples, peaches and cherries -- and you sit it on your front porch today in Omaha, by God, Nebraska . . . how long before it freezes solid?My guess is around five minutes.That where we are, right here, right now. Baby, it's cold outside. Damn, I should have worked that song into 3 Chords & the Truth this week. Ah, the things one thinks of when it's too late to do anything about it.ANYWAY, we've been in the deep freeze for more than a week at the culture-war bunker, which lies in an urban enclave somewhere between Hooterville and Pixley. If only Arnold Ziffel were governor. . . . We'd all be sleeping better; I'll tell you that right now.Ice see you! You're wondering what this has to do with this week's edition of the Big Show.Why does it have to, and why are you being such a pedant about it? Just go with the flow, why don't you?C'mon, man. Life is just a bowl of cherries. Very, very frozen cherries.And what was I going to say? Very, very frozen brain.Just know that this week's program is a gosh darned good one -- as usual. Well worth an hour and a half of your time . . . well worth it.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

The older I get, the more the lyrics to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" speak to me -- get to me.And, in a not-always-visible-from space manner, they guide your Mighty Favog in putting together A 3 Chords & the Truth Christmas each year. Don't make me count up how many Christmases that's been now.Given all this country's recent travails, the line "Next year all our troubles will be out of sight" seems, to me, grossly overly optimistic. On the other hand, they could be. But still . . . you never know.So, at this time of the year, one holds onto hope. It's a terrible thing to live without hope.I won't belabor the point. It's time to listen to the music and give in to the hope that "Next year all our troubles, will be out of sight." Merry Christmas from the Big Show.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.Have yourself a merry little ChristmasLet your heart be lightNext year all our troubles will be out of sight Have yourself a merry little ChristmasMake the Yuletide gayNext year all our troubles will be miles away Once again, as in olden daysHappy golden days of yoreFaithful friends who are dear to usWill be near to us once more Someday soon we all will be togetherIf the fates allowUntil then, we'll have to muddle through somehowSo have yourself a merry little Christmas now

In my mind's eye, I've always seen 3 Chords & the Truth as something best listened to in the dead of night, in a room dimly lit by the dial of an old radio.Just as good, I think, would be listening to the Big Show with your smartphone (or whatever) playing through a classic piece of audio gear, the room lit just by the glowing face of a 1960s or '70s stereo receiver. I am a hi-fi nerd, so I'm funny that way.Still, I think that concept resonates with Baby Boomers like myself, who spent many a night listening to the radio in our rooms -- or attached to the earphone of a transistor radio hidden under the covers -- instead of sleeping like our parents demanded.Who needs dream time when you have far-away voices and all your favorite music drifting through the sky and into your head?THAT'S THE VISION in my aging mind's eye, the vision I've always had for 3 Chords & the Truth. Your mileage may vary. After all, it's your head, your room and your particular Internet appliance.That said, we're winding our way toward Christmas here in the culture-war bunker in Omaha, by God, Nebraska, and the music just keeps on a-comin'. And, boy, is it good. If you happen to be celebrating Hanukkah instead, it's just as good as a plate of warm latkes.I do love me some latkes, so that should tell you something about this week's program. The show, in my humble opinion, is even as good as a nice brisket.Perhaps I was born the wrong religion, come to think of it.Let's just say this week's musical selections are nice -- holiday nice.So let's get on with the show, shall we?It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

When I was a young'un, if there was stuff in the world that damn well needed a good dose of ridicule, MAD magazine was there to do what needed to be done.And at 60 cents -- cheap -- we angsty adolescents well could afford a crucial element of our education.This week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth testifies to the impact MAD has had on me half a century later. And I regret MAD is no longer on the periodical stands in drugstores and supermarkets everywhere in a country so, so ripe for a good satirical roasting.Really, it's gonna be good on the Big Show this week. I'd give it a listen if I were you.Never, ever completely let go of the 12-year-old inside you. The kid will come through exactly when you need him. Or her.And so will MAD, even though it's disappeared from drugstores and supermarkets. Now -- where you can find it -- it overwhelmingly consists of reprinted classic material. Pity. More than ever, this country is, as they say, a target-rich environment.The best thing I can say about this here podcast, probably, is it's produced by a child of MAD. And that's pretty damn good.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

I favor playing music just the way it was supposed to sound when it came out.I also have a soft spot for the high-fidelity miracle devices of my youth, like 1950s and '60s record changers. No, a mid-1960s LP is not going to sound as good as a well-recorded and mastered CD, but it's (first) going to sound the way it did when it was made, and (second) is going to be a hell of a lot more fun.This is the kind of thing that makes music such an enjoyable obsession, especially for geeks like me who do shows like 3 Chords & the Truth.And then comes somebody like Jason Aldean to f*** everything up. Bad bro-country music (as if there were a good kind) with a deeply stupid, deeply bigoted, deeply deplorable message. The boy has both kinds of music -- shitty and hateful.The music video for "Try That in a Small Town," by the way, is even worse. It manages to feature a Tennessee courthouse noted for a lynching that took place there. We won't be linking to any of it.On the bright side, your Mighty Favog has a solution for shitty music by hateful people. We don't play it on the Big Show. At all. The farthest we'll "go there" is to warn you of its existence.Consider yourself warned. And here's some more sound advice that has nothing to do with sound: Don't be a peckerwood who thinks it's some sort of a virtue to parade your hatefulness and ignorance for the whole world to see.That is all. That is enough.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. 

The ground is whiteThe chill is upWe've got some iceFell on my duffSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeBig Show's still onThe music's hereThat only comesThis time of yearSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeThe stack of records do their thingDing dong, ding dong, ding dong, dingB-brrr brrr brrr brrr brrrrrrrrrrC . . . c . . . c . . . c . . . c . . . coldSh-shiv-shiv-shiv-shiv-erSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeWe're simply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeThe wool hat's outInside the houseLayers won't letMy arms go downSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeBut the stack of records do their thingI've been waiting all year longDing dong, doo wopDing dong, doo wopDing dong, doo wopDing dong, doo wopThe ground is whiteThe chill is upWe've got some iceFell on my duffWe're simply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeSimply having a frostbitten ChristmastimeHo-ho, ho-hoHo-ho-ho wonderful ChristmastimeIT'S 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. The extra-large, family-size Christmas edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Be there. Alo-ho-ho-ho-ha.

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the BZZZZZZZZAP!Note to self: The headphones do not connect to the electrical outlet. They plug into the mixing console.No, not the mixer in the kitchen, the thing in the studio with the knobs and faders.I'll bet the above has cleared up a lot of things for you about 3 Chords & the Truth. Unsurprisingly, they're not much clearer for me. But I'll keep on . . . BZZZZZZZZAP! . . . trying.I don't really know where I'm going with this. All I know is it's the week before Christmas, and there's so much to do and so little sleep. I also know there's another fresh episode of the Big Show this week -- right here, in fact -- and it's a real gas.Because I don't trust myself with the electric.What? No, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, either. Perhaps listening to the show will clear things up. Perhaps not.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Alo-ho-ho-ho-ha.

It's Christmas season once again, and another year that has slipped through our grasping fingers.Because it's the holidays, we do the festive thing. Because it's another year that has passed by, leaving us -- yet again -- wondering where time has gone while our attention was elsewhere, we also think of all that was, yet is no more.On 3 Chords & the Truth this week, we're doing a bit of the ho-ho-holidays. Behind the musical scenes, I'm wondering how six-plus decades could pass so quickly. So much I thought would be forever when I was young isn't anymore.TAKE THE Dalton Theater in North Baton Rouge. It was a little neighborhood movie house we'd always drive by whenever we went to see my Uncle August. A middling landmark of my Louisiana youth, it was, standing there at Dalton Street and North Acadian Thruway.First it closed sometime in the 1970s, then it decayed. Then the city condemned it. Then, in 2000, the city tore it down. The progression of Uncle August -- who died, age 65, of cancer in 1982 -- was not dissimilar.I think of that stuff at Christmastime. My parents' generation of the family is all gone. So are a lot of the things and places I grew up with. We shall not go there this week on the Big Show. I suspect you, if you're of a certain age, don't need my help in that regard this time of year. It's there, lurking, in the corners of our minds. It stares back at you in the bathroom mirror every morning. C'est la vie.No, this week, 3 Chords & the Truth, as always, is about the music -- pop, rock, big band, jazz, soul, standards, easy listening, country and all the rest. It's all mashed up in the food-for-the-soul processor of the mind and spit back out onto the Internet in sets that make musical sense. Well, I think they make musical sense; such is freeform radio, even when it's in cyberspace.If my thoughts turn melancholy when the bitter wind sweeps across the Plains and the mercury digs a hole for itself, the Big Show does what it always does. It entertains and, one hopes, enlightens a bit. That doesn't change, even though everything else does.Even though everybody else does . . . and you, too.That's where we are as Christmas 2022 draws nigh after two previous, warped COVID Christmases removed so many things -- and people -- from the here and now and tossed them unceremoniously into the once was. There's so much that, in Louisiana-speak, ain't dere no more. But the thing is this; the music always will be. Dance while you can, because the tempus is fugiting, and its run at the Dalton has been extended indefinitely. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. 

The name of this episode is MAGA Goddam, and I mean every word of it. Tuberville's gotten me so upset, Don Bacon made me lose my rest,And everybody knows about that MAGA Goddam. Nebraska's gotten me so upset, Pete Ricketts made me lose my rest, And everybody knows about that MAGA Goddam. Can't you see it? Can't you feel it? It's all in the air. I can't stand the pressure much longer. Somebody say a prayer.The GOP's gotten me so upset, Traitor Trump made me lose my rest, And everybody knows about that MAGA Goddam.That's it! With apologies to the late, great Nina Simone.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

When you can't find a friend You've still got the radio When you can't find a friend You've still got the radio Radio, listen to the radio Radio, listen to the radio                         -- Nanci Griffith   True dat.Well, the radio is totally a hit-or-miss proposition these days, but in these times of war, political strife and catastrophic hurricanes, we still have the Internet. Such as it is. AND IN A NICE, non-fouled corner of the Internet, we have 3 Chords & the Truth. Amid everything, there's still this. That's not nothing. Think of the Big Show as your personal pick-me-up, one that will bring a smile to your face and a tap to your toes. Really, that's not nothin'. That's one of the things that will get you through. And we're doing our best to help you do that. Us, too, to tell you the truth. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Here's the thing about 3 Chords & the Truth: It takes time to put together. You've got to pick the music. You've got to prepare the music -- clean up the clicks and pops on the vinyl, equalize the audio levels, yadda yadda yadda. Then you have to order the music so it all fits together in a pleasant manner. It's got to flow, you know? Then you have to talk about the music . . . and whatever else strikes one's fancy. Then it all has to be turned into a computer file to be uploaded to this spot right here. That's a lot of work to put on the Big Show. And there has to be an easier way. And that's what I've been searching for here in the 3 Chords & the Truth apocalypse bunker in Omaha, by God, Nebraska. Well, I think I've come up with something. This week, let's see how that works out, shall we? It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Ever feel the need to dial it back? To tone it down some? To mellow out, man?To just chill?Yeah, me, too. So the Big Show will this week. Yes, it will.That's not to say it'll be moribund (stick that in your Funk and Wagnall's, pally). It's just going to be outstanding in a non-frenetic manner.I guess I could say more, but how chill would that be? It wouldn't. It would be stretching . . . straining . . . trying too hard.Nope. This week, we just let the show come to us. I'd recommend you do the same.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

The queen is dead. Long live the king.The vast majority of her subjects have never known another monarch -- another head of state -- than Queen Elizabeth II. For that matter, neither has this American small-R republican.It seems to me, even as someone steeped in our particular Yank brand of civic egalitarianism (such as it is at present), that there are advantages today to having a head of state removed from the realm of electoral politics.Think of it -- a head of state who is a true symbol of national unity, not fated to be loathed by a significant chunk of the population from the get-go. Because politics. A head of state whose entire job description is service to her -- now his -- subjects seems to be something of a miracle today.I envy the British people, and the people of the Commonwealth, that. Especially during these fractious times.So, today's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth is different from our usual fare. This program is a memorial to the departed queen, who for 70 years conducted herself not as just a light and an example for her nation, but for all nations.Godspeed, ma'am. And thank you.It's the Big Show. And it's all about the queen we all were blessed to have for so long . . . and who now belongs to the ages.Be there. Aloha.

I remember skinny ties, legal beer at 18, doing the Pogo . . . and college radio. I remember when college radio was a force of nature. Driving the musical narrative. Making commercial radio look ever so lame. I remember a time before commercial radio started making itself look lame. I remember college radio with real DJs behind real microphones, all through the night. Playing real records, before CDs -- much less computer automation -- was a thing. I remember. And so does this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. This week, we're going back to the 1980s . . . and the 1970s, with a couple of side trips to the '60s and '50s. College radio was a little freewheeling back then. What we do on the Big Show owes almost everything to the glory days of college radio . . . and what we learned in high-school radio, too. We just kick it up a notch for the online age. So join your Mighty Favog as he relives a bit of those days when he was young . . . and pogoing. It's gonna be quite the journey. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

You'll be over the moon about this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Whether you want to be or not.By George, you will.NASA is sending up the first, unmanned, Artemis mission to the moon this coming week, but you're going to get there first. Your space-age Mighty Favog is going to make sure of that, and the Big Show is your rocket ship.Bang! Zoom! You're goin' to the moon!And all you have to do is sit back and listen.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Listen. Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? Closer. Let me whisper in your ear . . . about the show you want to hear. The Big Show.It's all you need to know. That's a plain and natural fact. Telling you that, at least, is no violation of the Espionage Act. And no search warrants are needed to hear that for yourself. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Alrighty then, I'm going to tell you how to make the magic that is 3 Chords & the Truth. First, you gather up a bunch of records, CDs and tapes. Then you mix in some digital files. Place the preceding into the 3 Chords & the Truth machine.  Put the power switch in the "on" position, then depress the "engage" button. In a few hours, you will see the finished product in the output bin. A copy automatically will be uploaded to the Internet. Then, sit back and enjoy the Big Show. These are the basics, but if I went into granular detail about how the audio magic is performed . . . well, I'd have to kill you. That would be bad. So don't ask too many questions, OK? It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.  Be there.  Aloha.

Well, this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth certainly lives up to its name. We have a minimum of three chords, and we also have some cold, hard truth . . . from Your Radio Friend. It should be quite a ride. The truth covers what has been going on in these Disunited States of America and where that's likely to lead us. That will not be a good place -- at all. Can you say fascist hellhole? I knew that you could. And we also have a lot of great music, some of which might touch your heart and make you think. Some of it will be good fun. Some of it will be all of the above. That said . . . that's about all that's to be said about this go-round of the Big Show. So, sit back, turn on your favorite streaming device -- one preferably hooked up to a nice stereo system -- and get in touch with all kinds of stuff on 3 Chords & the Truth. It's hip, it's happening, and it's now, y'all. Be there. Aloha. 

'Twas the night before omicron, and all through the house, Not a body was sleeping, not even the mouse. . . . That's because who's sleeping these days? On this, our second pandemic Christmas. SUCH IS WHERE we find ourselves these days, and we're making do as best as we can . . . without ending up sick and quarantined, or sick and in the hospital, or sick and. . . . Well, you know. Still, the show must go on, and for your listening enjoyment, your Mighty Favog presents the big 3 Chords & the Truth Christmas-music extravaganza -- 2 hours and 42 minutes of as much yuletide cheer as we can muster. Alas. I would say more, but this year's sponsor for the Big Show blowout doesn't want me to step on the corporate message. And that, I must respect. So I will take my literary leave -- allowing you to start your holiday listening -- with a simple message: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. See you in '22. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Alo-ho-ho-ho-ha. 

Are you unpoopular? Do you pop out at parties, Poindexter? Well, fret not -- 3 Chords & the Truth is here! It will cure what ails you, because what ails you isn't an ailment. The ailment is all the Alpha Betas out there, who must be put in their place. Because Alpha Betas suck. And while we're doing that on the Big Show this week, we'll also have the merriest, the wildest and the most happenin' holiday selections as part of the winning musical mix. It's another great program, and you're cordially invited to attend. But not the Alpha Betas. Or the Omegas, for that matter. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. 

The world doesn't stop, and neither does the Big Show. The latter is a good thing. As to the former . . . well, at least you have 3 Chords & the Truth. And that's all I have to say about that. Honestly, y'all. What the hell is there to say anymore? Just this: Listen to the Big Show. It's good. Apart from that, I got nothin' these days. I will enter random characters here to full out the post:  Wo;ijf;od oaifj;oiaefgj lmcklksfmo;wjf .ksvlnk,bfkjdf ';akf;ln lksrgfjhlkewfes;l. Urjo;jfij kfejhfkh ks oisejfeoii jfoijf pgkper qwihwo mlkjg ;osiefj ldldj oe aoiuoijc ldodnm kju d,dkd jdmdjdudb dhdiw ofod. Ejiehgieyn ieiufn q oefu wrejt fiur wihewojwpo -- iluherg kdfsisudh ayfd wkchs ruitivdij uaugd qwertyuiop. -- 30 -- It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. 

You want a great musical deal? We'll give you a great musical deal. What would you think of 23 great songs -- all quality songs selected for your listening pleasure -- absolutely free! Well, your fondest desire is our stone-cold command here at 3 Chords & the Truth. This week, you'll get an insane number of songs for the low, low price of . . . absolutely nothing. And most every week, you'll get 90 minutes for the best listening your money can't buy for that same low, low non-price, downloaded to your digital device or conveniently streamed over the Interwebs. We here at Favog House call it the Big Show, and it's absolutely yours, absolutely all the time. HERE'S ALL you have to do, and the biggest thing you have to do, you've already done. You came here! Now all you have to do is to click on any link, then download a carefully curated sonic cornucopia, or you can stream effortlessly by using the handy player right here at your fingertips. That's all! Really, how can you say no to the best bargain in music today? Forget the radio; we have radio done right, right here at 3 Chords & the Truth. And it costs you squat. That, my friend, is a deal that cannot be beaten. Ever. Are you ready for some entertainment? Some real mind-expanding stuff? We knew that you were. And you have to send in absolutely nothing to get what's yours. It's yours for a simple click. Right here, right now. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there.Aloha. 

The Big Show is 100 percent fun, once you get used to it. And, if you ask me, it's nice to get used to not hearing the same 100 songs -- if you're lucky -- over and over and over again on the radio. Then again, some folks just can't handle expanding one's mind . . . or one's horizons. Thanks for not being one of those people. Because you're here at 3 Chords & the Truth and not there. And, boy, are you gonna get some variety today. There's not really anything more to say, is there? So let's get on with the Big Show.  It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. 

If you listen to the music this week on the 3 Chords & the Truth, I'll be your Dixie chicken. S'wonderful. We can go hear the Sultans of Swing, and we'll do the Tripe Face Boogie. I'll speak easy, and you'll be utterly bewitched. That's how it goes on the Big Show today. Heck, yesterday, too. I mean, life is just a bowl of cherries -- except when it's not. Does that sound good to you? C'mon, talk to me. I'll be around, at least until the real thing comes along. Or until I head to Woodstock . . . or somewhere. Well, I hear the trumpets blow, so it's time for me to fly. So listen. You'll love it. You may even get a bad case of the love-itis. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there.  Aloha.

Listen, I'm trying to just phone in the program this week, but Ernestine kept wanting me to feed the pay phone with quarters. Wait. What's this "cell" thing you keep talking about? Smart what? I phone? No, I not a telephone. I am Mighty Favog. What the hell is wrong with y'all? Anyway, you have Ernestine the Telephone Operator to thank for having a reasonably engaging and well curated edition of 3 Chords & the Truth this week. Otherwise. . . . So. There's a pretty good show. 'Nuff said. Hey, just because I couldn't phone in the Big Show this week, it doesn't mean I can't just phone in the description of it. Peace . . . out. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

This week's edition of the Big Show is indeed a BIG show. You might think you know where the music is going this week, but you'd be wrong. Surprise is a way of life on 3 Chords & the Truth. Now, I could tell you some of the twists and turns of this particular episode, but then I'd have to kill you. It is far safer for all involved to just find out when you find out. That, of course, is achieved by listening. So get to it, OK? It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

We're at the end of another season of Lent smack in the middle of a seeming everlasting season of Lent -- and the 'rona. That, at least, is how it seems here at the Big Show. I'm guessing it feels pretty much the same way at your place. Understandably, and also given that it's late on Good Friday as we post this episode of the program, it's pretty much a Lenten kind of 3 Chords & the Truth this week. That doesn't mean it's not an excellent edition of the show . . . just kinda dialed back and thoughtful. As is fitting on the most solemn day of the Christian calendar. Did I mention that dialed back absolutely, positively can be great? I wouldn't want to underemphasize that. Besides, reflection is good for the soul. That's probably what I should be doing right now instead of giving you the hard sell. For a podcast that, frankly, should be able to sell itself. So I'll shut up . . . for Lent. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.  Be there. Aloha.