Mary of the Heartland's Heartland Hootenanny

The world lost an amazing songwriter with the death of Mark Hollis, one of founding members of Talk Talk. We play a song in memory of him on this episode. There's more about Mipso along with a couple of their tunes and we also veer off the Alt-country path with some Soccer Mommy. 

Did you SEE what Gillian Welch and David Rawlings wore to the Oscars when they played their song from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs? I heart them. And the song, which I'll be playing. Mipso is a band that gets extra focus today and we go Back In The Day to talk about the evolution of a band that's been active for over 30 years now. 

It's a slacker episode but the music is fantastic. I look back at the music history calendar and feature 4 different events with multiple bands. Squeeze, REM, The Strokes, Stevie Ray Vaughn. 

SAVED! By the American Embassy and the wisdom of a dual German/American citizen who saw my mistake. Well, that and money.  This episode is all about being saved. The Swans chime in as well as The Alarm, XTC, and even some Queen! 

Hour Two brings recent Death Cab for Cutie, timeless beauty from Calexico, and some crunching attitude from The Jam. I might tell about how a couple other songs were inspired by the time I spent with my daughter in Europe too. 

This is my first episode after 2 weeks in Germany and Ireland. I check out the new Bob Mould, get into some parenting love with Bare Jr and we go Back In The Day to explore a little history about the loudest band I've ever heard live. 

Along with the usual twang-infused tunes from the likes of James McMurtry and Jason Isbell, we’re going to get funky with Leftie’s Soul Connection and sneer and the patriarchy with the X-Ray Specs. My Back-In-The Day segment will focus on a bit more history from Husker Du and and I’ll try not to be too chatty so I can fit in a birthday song for one of my all-time favorites at the end of the hour. My daughter, Kathleen  

It’s been fun putting together the next two hours of music but let’s start with this first one. I’ve got new music that includes The Jayhawks and J. Mascic, I’ve got a classic in the line up from Peter Gabriel, we’ll go Back In The Day to learn a little more about an early 80’s group from the upper midwest who really left a mark and we’ll start things with some Canadian twang from Lowest of the Low.

What an hour this one is! We'll revisit the New York Dolls in my Back-In-The-Day segment, there’s some new music from both J. Mascis and Ryan Adams, we’ll make this an official hootenanny with the Replacements and the foot stomping twang to get it underway is from The Men They Couldn't Hang.

We do a bit of traveling around this hour. We’re hitting Motown with some Marvin Gaye, there's a stop in New York City with my Back-In-The-Day feature and we're even going to Ireland for the Pogues. We’ll get started with our usual twang though and head straight for the frozen lakes of Minnesota for some Cold Man Winter.  Bundle up but leave the ear muffs behind because you don't want to muffle these sounds!  

This time around we dip our toes into the latest from Matthew Sweet and enjoy some strumming from Parker Milsap. There’s a classic from Tom Petty, we revisit The Church with my segment called Back-In-The-Day and the rest of the hour, I’ll fill with my performance art sketch based on the poetry of Cardi B. You’ll love it. We’ll start, as always, with some twang and this hour, that's from The Jayhawks.  

I'm not sure how I packed this much great music into this hour but it includes some of the latest Death Cab for Cutie, we hear some strumming from Ryan Adams, my Back-In-The-Day segment takes us down under and we’ll start straight off with some hip-swinging fun from the Old 97's

Hour two of this week's Heartland Hootenanny includes some funkiness from Turquaz, a classic from Queen and I'll make the hootenanny official with some Replacements. There's also that sweet, sweet twang with Nikki Lane, the Rainmakers and Avett Brothers. New music includes J. Mascis and Jeff Tweedy and I'll tell you more about our featured artist on Back-In-The-Day who is more than just a musician.

This hour, I've a great song from Two Cow Garage who I just found out about and some actual new music from Billy Sedlmay.  Along with those, I'm playing a couple of Jasons and a classic from the Clash. Mostly, it'll be that twang I like so much including Lucinda Williams.  Plus I take us Back-In-The-Day with a former member of The Teardrop Explodes. Download and enjoy!   

This episode is all about Elvis. Original run-date for this Happy Fun Time Hour is January 13, 2019. On this day in 2005, there was a report published that said more songs had been written about Elvis Presely than any other artists. The list is over 220 (at the time). I'm picking some of my favorites from R.E.M, Thin Lizzy, Counting Crows and even Mark Knopfler. Enjoy!

This is the hour where the Brandi Carlile I play is a new cut, we’re going to jam a bit with Sturgill Simpson and get a little brotherly at the end of it all (Brothers Comatose and Gibson Brothers). Starting it off, though, a great tune I discovered from Amos Lee  last week.  Artwork credit: jschmetz https://www.etsy.com/listing/119541611/squirrel-banjo-art-print-jschmetz-pop

Nothing too fancy to wrap up the year but I’ll sneak in a reference here and there. This hour includes a new tune from Billy Sedlymayr, an older tune from Brandi Carlile (we’ll save her new stuff for the second hour) and we’ll get a classic in from Bob Dylan. We start with Jay Farrar and the hope the coming year is better than this past year when it comes to promise.  

Hour Two of my episode where I suspend the usual formatting for some holiday-themese twang, sneer and hip-swinging joy (when we're not being morose because our hearts are broken). This hour does have a more mellow skew to it, so chill out and kick back. We have Paul Kelly, Josh Rouse and Neko Case covering Tom Waits. We’ll start with Amos Lee doing a John Prine Christmas classic. Of sorts.  

It’s the Holiday Hootenanny so we’re suspending the usual format which is twang mixed with funky grooves and some punk rock throw in with a little bit of pop and whatever I want. Instead, we’re doing all of that but songs that are made for the holiday. So plan on hearing some db’s this hour along with The Band and Southern Culture on the Skids. And there's no better way to open a show like this than with The Pogues, feat. Kirsty MacColl  

I’m back with a couple hours full of twang from the likes of Joy Mills, maybe some bluegrass from Greensky Bluegrass, whatever I want in the form of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. I’ve decided not to tell you who I’m featuring on my segment called “Back In The Day” until we get there but I will tell you I got the new Billy Sedlmayr album, so that’s getting checked out. We’ll started with some sneering twang from the Old 97's 

This hour we revisit a bit of history with the del Fuegos when we go "Back in the Day",  I’ve got that great replacements cover from Justin Townes Earle for us and since I warm up for tonight's Echo & The Bunnymen concert with a favorite from them.  

Quite an hour here. It includes new music from Jeff Tweedy, new music from Billy Sedlmayr, attitude with Slobberbone and we'll go “Back in the Day” to revisit the almost famous del Fuegos.  All this and I have a follow up on last week's  story about the Great Bird Blood Bath Incident of 2018

I'm heading out to the garage and back in time on today's show. Garage bands from the '70s plus some early punk rock and power pop. The Cigarettes, The Nerves, New York Dolls and Death. Greasers welcome but we're pre-dating the mullet so don't even try wearing that in here.

This is the Thanksgiving weekend show, so last hour was all favorites—I went back for seconds and played songs I’ve played before. This hour, we’re in Black Friday mode and grabbing music that's new to the Hootenanny. I’ll play  R.E.M. from their new Live at BBC release,John Hiatt, garage rock from Jet Bronx, plus I have a story to tell about a bunch of bird feathers in my house. Drama and intrigue...

It’s the Thanksgiving weekend show and I’m setting the table this hour with some of my favorites dishes. Musical dishes, that is. Son Volt is ready to go, Jason Isbell, Billy Sedlmayr (including some exciting news about a new release from him) and we’re going Back In The Day with Matthew Sweet. Next hour: we acknowledge Black Friday with music that's new to the program.

Old Crow Medicine Show gets the twang started this hour and then we kick it up with Slobberbone and the latest from Trampled By Turtles. Turquaz is in here to help us get our groove on and we explore the history of The db's a little more on Back In The Day. I've picked out some favorites and hope you enjoy listening along!

On today's show, we check out a new band from Salem, Oregon. 7 Mile Lane wraps up an hour that starts with Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard and then flows into more Ben but in the form of the latest from Death Cab for Cutie. We get our twang going with Good Old War and Ryan Adams and go Back In The Day to check out The db's. Click Play!