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#1,068 - Jim Kweskin Jim Kweskin joins The Paul Leslie Hour and performs an unplugged song! Are you here? Or are you just a hologram that came here to watch The Paul Leslie Hour? Either way, it's our great pleasure to present an interview with Jim Kweskin of the legendary Jim Kweskin Jug Band. It's a fascinating interview, but Jim is also going to treat us all to an unplugged song. A prolific recording artist, Jim Kweskin just released his latest album entitled "Doing Things Right" on Jalopy Records. The album features such esteemed artists as Samoa Wilson, Cindy Cashdollar, Annie Linders, Racky Thomas, and Matt Leavenworth. In addition to discussing the new album, Jim Kweskin talks about who he'd most like to play with and his history with Bob Dylan. You'll also be treated to an unplugged acoustic tune. So, what do you say we get this started - it's episode #1,068! Here's Jim! Here's Paul! The Paul Leslie Hour is a talk show dedicated to “Helping People Tell Their Stories.” Some of the most iconic people of all time drop in to chat. Frequent topics include Arts, Entertainment and Culture.
What an amazing year 1966 was in music. Dylan's Blonde on Blonde hit the racks. So did The Beatles' Revolver, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, The Stones' Aftermath and so many more.Into this stellar crowd quietly strolled Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, the third studio album by Greenwich Village's own folk-rock mavens. Today the disc just barely makes it onto a list of the top 50 albums of that lush, flush year, but in its own way, it made wonderful waves.Hums — which would ultimately be the last full project by the Spoonful's original lineup — was the band's concerted effort to record in a wide variety of styles on a single disc. For it, they composed and played pop-, country-, jugband-, folk- and blues-fused tunes.The album spawned four charting singles, including “Summer in the City,” “Rain on the Roof,” “Nashville Cats” and "Full Measure.”Of “Nashville Cats,” principal songwriter John Sebastian said, "We thought our version would cross over to the country market. It never did. So we're always kinda, gee, well, I guess that tells us what we are — and what we aren't."Incidentally, Flatt & Scruggs did take "Nashville Cats" to the country charts, hitting No. 54 with it as a single.And elsewhere in the country crowd, Johnny Cash and June Carter covered Hums' “Darlin' Companion” on 1969's Johnny Cash at San Quentin album.About This Song“Loving You,” Hums' opening track, was never a hit single for the Spoonful, but a month after the disc's release in November 1966, Bobby Darin made the Top 40 with a cover version of the tune. Subsequently, the song also became a good vehicle for four different female vocalists, including Anne Murray (1969), Helen Reddy (1973) and Dolly Parton (1977) and Mary Black (1983).Meanwhile, the song came into the Floodisphere before The Flood was even The Flood.In 1975, after a year of regularly jamming together, Charlie and David started looking for new material to work on beyond their main interests in folk music, and for a brief time they landed on The Lovin' Spoonful's catalog.Here — like the audio version of a crinkled old baby picture — is a sound clip fished from The Flood archives. Click the button below to hear Charlie and Dave sampling the song exactly 50 years ago this week at a jam session at the Peyton House:The Spoonful's Jug Band RootsOnly later did Bowen and Peyton realize that The Lovin' Spoonful had been heavily influenced by some of the same 1920s-'30s jug band tunes that The Flood loves. Before he founded the Spoonful, John Sebastian with his partner Zal Yanovsky, long active in Greenwich Village's folk scene, set out to create an "electric jug band.”"Yanovsky and I were both aware of the fact that this commercial folk music model was about to change again,” Sebastian recalled, “that the four-man band that actually played their own instruments and wrote their own songs was the thing.”In early 1965, as they prepared for their first public performances, Sebastian and Yanovsky along with their new band mates Joe Butler and Steve Boone, searched for a name.It was Fritz Richmond, the washtub bass player for the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, who suggested “The Lovin' Spoonful,” referring to the lyrics of the song "Coffee Blues" by the country blues musician Mississippi John Hurt. It worked and it stuck.Our 2025 Take on the TuneAt last week's rehearsal, The Flood channeled those rich jug band roots of the Spoonful. For this tune, Jack switched from his usual drum kit to those funky wooden spoons and Charlie reached for the five-string. Then Danny, Sam and Randy just did what they always do to make it all work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com
Singer, guitarist, jug-band pioneer and songster Jim Kweskin joins me on the show today. I can't tell you how many times I heard Jim's name before I ever heard his music. To the generation before me, he was a total legend, and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band was very influential to many musicians who grew up in the 60's and 70's. Jim came up in the Boston/Cambridge area and The Jug Band was legendary around those parts and eventually across America. Old blues, jug and string band music was considered old fashioned at that point in time, and Jim spearheaded its return and kicked off a musical revolution that inspried bands like the Lovon' Spoonful and The Grateful Dead (don't forget they started off as a jug band too). With bandmates like Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Bill Keith, Mel Lyman and Fritz Richmond, the Jug Band was signed to a major label, sold thousands of records and toured across the country tirelessly between 1963-1970. They turned countless young musicians on to the music of artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Boy Fuller and the Mississippi Sheiks.Jim has continued making records and performing under his own name and has just put out a rerally cool album called “Never Too Late”, which is mostly duets with some of his friends on vocals like Maria Muldaur, Meredith Axelrod and many more.I won't go too in depth on his bio here because in the interview, he actually had a bio preopared and read it to me, which you'll hear on the show. It's a first “written statement” for the podcast! I think you'll dig that part of the conversation. You can get all the latest info on Jim at jimkweskin.com - Enjoy my conversation with Jim Kweskin!This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman AmplificationYou can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodesThe show's website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Eighty-nine years ago this week, a young North Carolinian walked into a New York recording studio as Fulton Allen and, after recording a few tunes, walked out again as “Blind Boy Fuller.” On the recording of his composition “Rag Mama” and two other songs pressed that day, the young man was accompanied by his mentor and blues tutor, the legendary Rev. Gary Davis. “When I first run across him,” Davis said years later, “he didn't know how to play but one piece and that was with a knife.”But with Davis' guidance, Allen's playing had improved dramatically by the time he came to the attention of James Baxter Long, a record store manager and talent scout in Burlington, NC.“I saw this blind fellow, colored man. He had on a blanket-lined overall jumper,” Long later recounted, “but I heard him sing. He could sing. Anyway, I told him, 'I'm down here at the United Dollar Store. Come by and see me.'”Well, Fulton did, and a short time later, in July 1935, Long, Allen and Davis set off for New York City, bound for American Recording Co. (ARC), which manufactured disks for many companies, including Columbia. Over the next five years Fulton Allen — as Blind Boy Fuller — recorded 120 sides, which were released by several different labels.Oh, and about the name on the label. Earlier when Allen started to sing on the street corners of Durham, NC, outside factories and tobacco warehouses, people called him “Blind Boy Fulton.” Eventually it was corrupted to “Blind Boy Fuller,” which was to be the name Allen provided to folks at the New York recording studio.How the Tune Came Down to UsThirty years later, “Rag Mama” came down to the 1960s folk music crowd as a signature sound for the era's jug band music revival. It was first picked up by Stefan Grossman and Peter Siegel's Even Dozen Jug Band, then by the even better-known Jim Kweskin Jug Band.In their seminal 1979 book Baby, Let Me Follow You Down, Eric Von Schmidt and Jim Rooney quoted Kweskin as relating how he traveled across the country in the early 1960s developing his musical chops by performing with an array of musicians in local music stores, coffeehouses and bars.“In Berkeley, California,” Kweskin told them, “I met a guy named Steve Talbott, who adapted an old Blind Boy Fuller tune, and I learned it from him. The song was ‘Rag Mama' and it became my theme song.”Enter The FloodIt was Kweskin's rendition on his 1965 Jug Band Music album that inspired The Flood a decade later as the guys were expanding their repertoire into hokum music. “Rag Mama” even played an important role in the early 1980s when Joe Dobbs pitched his idea to West Virginia Public Radio for a new weekly music show. When Joe asked his band mates to help him create a demo of his dream for “Music from the Mountains,” he wanted to illustrate the diversity of musical styles the show could celebrate.Click the button below for a rather manic 1983 version of the tune offered up by Joe and his fellow Floodsters Dave Peyton, Charlie Bowen, Roger Samples and Bill Hoke:Gimme Dat DingFew things stand still in the Floodisphere. That includes songs in the band's repertoire. “Rag Mama” was still with the guys when they rolled into the 21st century, but by then the song had picked up new ornamentation.It's unclear just who first suggested it — might have been Peyton, might have been Bowen — but by the time the tune made it onto the band's second studio album in 2002, “Rag Mama” had been been further fortified with a bit of 1970s folkie foolishness.Britain's novelty group The Pipkins hit the charts in 1970 with a little earworm that was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. The Family Flood found "Gimme Dat Ding” to be a perfect ending for its ever-evolving version of “Rag Mama.”Today's Take on the TuneSo, this song has been floating around in the Floodisphere for nearly 50 years. Nowadays, it is not often on the set list at the band's shows, but it almost always comes back at Flood reunion, and we had a wonderful reunion last week. Michelle Hoge, “the chick singer,” drove in from Cincinnati. Bub — Dave Ball — was up from Florida. Old friends like Jim Rumbaugh, Karen Combs and Doug Imbrogno came by. Everybody was singing and playing along with this one from last week's rehearsal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com
We want your advice, friends. We're in the early — EARLY! — stages of planning The Flood's next album, which we hope to record later this year.Right now we're just starting to figure out what tunes we might want to record in the project, and we would really appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.For instance, here's a tune we like from last week's rehearsal that our manager, Pamela Bowen, captured on video. What do you think? Is this one we should take to the studio? About the SongThis great old Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller composition, which The Coasters recorded in 1957, was featured in an earlier Flood Watch article. Click here if you want to read its backstory.A minor hit for The Coasters, the tune was resurrected nine years later when a little-known group called The Chicago Loop took it to No. 37 on the Billboard charts. But in the Floodisphere, we were much more impressed with a different pressing of the song a year earlier. Flood favorite folkie Tom Rush's 1965 self-titled debut Elektra album included a rocking rendition accompanied by Bill Lee, John Sebastian (of The Lovin' Spoonful) and Fritz Richmond (of The Jim Kweskin Jug Band.)Anyway, Give Us Your Thoughts!But back to The Flood's studio project, this will be our first new album since Paul Martin put together Speechless in 2021, and it will be the first to feature our newest Floodsters, Danny Cox and Jack Nuckols.We'd love to have your help to planning it. Send us your suggestions — just drop an email to Charlie at designbybowen@gmail.com — and we'll keep you posted as the work continues. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com
This week we'll hear some wonderful music from the ragtime and jug band traditions. The inspiration for the program was the CD from Eden & John's East River String Band, “Goodbye Cruel World”. We'll hear a selection from that CD and one from one of their previous releases. We'll also enjoy music from The Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Cannon's Jug Stompers, Dan Hicks, The Todalo Shakers and lots of others. Dream a little dream with us … this week on the Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysThe Skirtlifters / “Creole Belles” / A Ragtime Episode / Self-producedJim Kweskin Jug Band / “Mobile Line” / Greatest Hits / VanguardCannon's Jug Stompers / “Bring It With You When You Come” / The Best of Cannon'a Jug Stompers YazooDan Hicks / “How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away” / Early Muses / Big BeatThe Youngbloods / “Grizzly Bear” / The Youngbloods / RCAEden & John's East River String Band / “You May Leave But This Will Bring You Back” / Goodbye Cruel World / East RiverEden & John's East River String Band / “Possum Rag” / Coney Island Baby / East RiverGuy Davis w/ Fabrizio Poggi / “Lost Again” / Juba Dance / MC RecordsRed Stick Ramblers / “It Ain't Right” / Right Key, Wrong Keyhole / Memphis InternationalThe Skirtlifters / “Palladium Rag” / A Ragtime Episode / Self -producedLovin' Spoonful / “Wild About My Lovin'” / Do You Believe in Magic / Kama SutraLast Chance Jug Band / “Who Pumped the Wind In my Doughnut” / Shake That Thing / Inside MemphisThe Todalo Shakers / “On the Road Again” / 4th Street Messaround / Self-producedThe Jake Leg Jug Band / “Shake It and Break It” / Cotton Mouth / Opra SoundsDavid Grisman, John Hartford, Mike Seeger / “When I'm Sixty-Four” / Retrograss / Acoustic DiscBumper Jacksons / “Darlin' Corey” / Sweet Mama, Sweet Daddy, Come In / Self-producedPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways
When a friend recently asked us what song has the longest association with The Flood, we had to stop and think. Several old-timers are still in the band's repertoire. The Carter Family-inspired “Solid Gone,” for instance, has been in our collective consciousness all along, going way back to when David Peyton and Charlie Bowen were just a modest little duo in 1973. Uncle Dave Macon's “Way Downtown” has legs too; we have tapes from 1975 on which Charlie and Dave are doing that one with Roger Samples and Joe Dobbs the first time the new configuration began calling itself “The 1937 Flood.”Regularly Reborn SongBut the longest-lived Floodified tune that we have the most fun with — the one that has a rebirth with every new incarnation of the band — is the hokum classic “Jug Band Music,” which, as reported here earlier, we started doing in 1976.We learned the tune from a 1960s recording by our heroes, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. And they learned it from a 1934 recording by everybody's heroes, The Memphis Jug Band, headed up by the legendary Will Shade. Not unlike The Flood itself, the Memphis Jug Band didn't like to easily categorize its music, recording a wild mixture of ballads, dance tunes, knock-about novelty numbers, blues and even their own special take on pop tunes of their day.This particular tune Kweskin called simply "Jug Band Music," but when it was originally recorded on Nov. 8, 1934, and released on Vocalion and Okeh, Shade called his composition “Jug Band Quartette.” Jug Band CrazeAmong hokum performers to spring up in Memphis in the 1920s, the Memphis Jug Band was the most recorded, releasing more than 100 sides between 1927 and 1934 (rivaled only by another long-time Flood favorite, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, incidenally). The jug band craze started in Louisville around 1905. By 1910 there were a number of bands active in that area, including string bands and jazz groups that added a jug player just to cash in on the craze. In 1925, Will Shade first heard the records of a Louisville jug band called the Dixieland Jug Blowers. He quickly convinced a local Memphis musician called "Lionhouse" to switch from blowing an empty whiskey bottle to a gallon jug, added Tee Wee Blackman on guitar and Ben Ramey and the Memphis Jug Band was born. Shade played guitar, harmonica and "bullfiddle" (a stand up bass made from a garbage can, a broom handle and a string). It was a loose-knit outfit with a constantly changing membership.Sounds So Sweet…They have a good five or six years, but by the mid 1930s, Memphis was in decline. Known as the "murder capital of the world," it was rife with corruption. Local politicians tried to combat the problems by closing down the gambling houses and brothels. That crackdown also signaled the end of the jug band era, because it removed many of the venues where that rowdy music had thrived. For that reason, when Shade and the guys trouped to Chicago in November 1934, they probably knew it was to be their last recording session. It was at that moment that this beloved jug band anthem was recorded, their celebratory lyrics a elegiac tribute to themselves, to their fellow musicians, and, most of all, to the music that even now sounds “so sweet … hard to beat.”Our Take on the TuneEvery configuration of The Flood, from 1976 to the present, has done its own variation of this happy song, each one, in its way, a loving tribute to our heroes. (As reported here earlier, the song was even central to our video debut on YouTube back in 2008.)This latest rendition, recorded at a recent gig, offers wonderful solos and fills by everyone in the band. Even the grins and winks seem to come through in the audio. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com
Many of us grew up listening to The Coasters, the iconic 1950s band that bridged the gap between doo-wop and R&B, that brought humor and sass to the birth of rock 'n' roll. Remember “Yakety Yak” and “Charlie Brown,” “Along Came Jones” and “Poison Ivy,” “Wake Me, Shake Me” and “Little Egypt”? But before any of those tunes topped the charts, it was a lesser known Coasters cut that grabbed us. Picture it: Hot summer, 1957, and into our shiny new transistor radios The Coasters came sashaying into our ears with a sexy little song that said, yeah, she may go to the baker for cake and to the butcher for steak, but when she wants good lovin'? …well! It was a winking and nodding Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller composition called “(When She Wants Good Lovin') My Baby Comes to Me.”The song, a minor hit for The Coasters, was resurrected nine years later when a little known group called The Chicago Loop took a rendition of it to No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Rock trivia-lovers like to point out this disc because it features a young Michael Bloomfield on the guitar and Barry Goldberg on keyboards.But in the Floodisphere, we were much more impressed with a different pressing of the song released one year earlier. Favorite folksinger Tom Rush's 1965 self-titled debut Elektra album included a version of the tune, accompanied by bassist Bill Lee along with John Sebastian (of The Lovin' Spoonful) and Fritz Richmond (of The Jim Kweskin Jug Band.) Choosing the song was a rather bold move for Rush at a time when some music purists were trying — in vain — to keep the gap between rock and folk as wide as possible. In his liner notes, Tom pointed out that the song was released on the flip side of “Great Big Idol with the Golden Head,” adding, “I am a great admirer of The Coasters.”It was back in the 1970s that Dave Peyton, Rog Samples and Charlie Bowen started playing around with the song because it definitely had jug band vibe going on. Want to hear a fast and furious take from an August night in 1979 (with our buddy Jack Nuckols just killing it on the spoons)? Click the button below:After that, the song went back to sleep in our consciousness for, oh, a half century or so.Then last winter, Randy Hamilton started singing harmony with Charlie on the chorus and suddenly the song was back, evolving into a fine vehicle for cool solos by Danny Cox, Veezy Coffman and Sam St. Clair. Click here to hear the 2022 version of this early rock classic. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com
The singer, composer and guitarist has had a lifelong passion for the jazz and blues of the '20s and '30s. In the '60s and '70s, he made a series of influential recordings with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and Maria Muldaur. His new double CD, titled His Last Letter, traces the musical influences of his life, and is arranged for, and performed with, Dutch chamber musicians. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2009. Justin Chang reviews the new thriller The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling.
The singer, composer and guitarist has had a lifelong passion for the jazz and blues of the '20s and '30s. In the '60s and '70s, he made a series of influential recordings with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and Maria Muldaur. His new double CD, titled His Last Letter, traces the musical influences of his life, and is arranged for, and performed with, Dutch chamber musicians. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2009. Justin Chang reviews the new thriller The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling.
Maria Muldaur is best known world-wide for her 1974 mega-hit “Midnight at the Oasis,” which received several Grammy nominations, and enshrined her forever in the hearts of Baby Boomers everywhere; but despite her considerable pop music success, her 56-plus year career could best be described as a long and adventurous odyssey through the various forms of American Roots Music. During the Folk Revival of the early '60s, she began exploring and singing early Blues, Bluegrass and Appalachian “Old Timey” Music, beginning her recording career in 1963 with the Even Dozen Jug Band and shortly thereafter, joining the very popular Jim Kweskin Jug Band, touring and recording with them throughout the '60s. In the 47 years since “Midnight at the Oasis,” Maria has toured extensively worldwide and has recorded 43 solo albums covering all kinds of American Roots Music, including Gospel, R&B, Jazz and Big Band (not to mention several award-winning children's albums). She has now settled comfortably into her favorite idiom, the Blues. Often joining forces with some of the top names in the business, Maria has recorded and produced on-average an album per year, several of which have been nominated for Grammys and other awards.
This week on the program we'll hear some wonderful music from the ragtime and jug band traditions. The inspiration for the program was the arrival of the new CD from Eden & John's East River String Band, “Goodbye Cruel World.” We'll hear a selection from that CD and another from one of their previous releases. We'll also enjoy music from The Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Cannon's Jug Stompers, Dan Hicks, The Todalo Shakers and many more. Ragtime Dreams and jug band tunes … on the next Sing Out! Radio Magazine.Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysThe Skirtlifters / “Creole Belles” / A Ragtime Episode / Self ProducedJim Kweskin Jug Band / “Mobile Line” / Greatest Hits / VanguardCannon's Jug Stompers / “Bring It With You When You Come” / The Best of Cannon's Jug Stompers / YazooDan Hicks / “How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away” / Early Muses / Big BeatThe Youngbloods / “Grizzly Bear” / The Youngbloods / RCAEden & John's East River String Band / “You May Leave But This Will Bring You Back” / Goodbye Cruel World / East RiverEden & John's East River String Band / “Possum Rag” / Coney Island Baby / East RiverGuy Davis w/ Fabrizio Poggi / “Lost Again” / Juba Dance / MC RecordsRed Stick Ramblers / “It Ain't Right” / Right Key, Wrong Keyhole / Memphis InternationalThe Skirtlifters / “Palladium Rag” / A Ragtime Episode / Self ProducedLovin' Spoonful / “Wild About My Lovin'” / Do You Believe in Magic / Kama SutraLast Chance Jug Band / “Who Pumped the Wind in My Doughnut” / Shake That Thing / Inside MemphisThe Todalo Shakers / “On the Road Again” / 4th Street Messaround / Self ProducedThe Jake Leg Jug Band / “Shake It and Break It” / Cotton Mouth / Opra SoundsDavid Grisman, John Hartford, Mike Seeger / “When I'm Sixty-Four” / Retrograss / Acoustic DiscBumper Jacksons / “Darlin' Corey” / Sweet Mama, Sweet Daddy, Come In / Self ProducedPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways
Jonathan Taplin, former road manager for The Band, has done it all. He set up the equipment for Dylan's electric set at Newport in ‘65 (“the soundcheck lasted ten minutes”) and was production manager for Dylan and The Band at the Guthrie Tribute in '68. He organised the groundbreaking Concert For Bangladesh and produced the concert and film of The Last Waltz. Oh, and he was responsible for Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets getting made.Jon “was brought into the circle” by Albert Grossman (“after Bob left and Janis died, Albert got his heart broken”). He saw “all the junkie signs” when he met Keith Richards in the South of France and left Rock behind when he saw what drugs were doing to his friends and the music he loved. He passionately blames illegal Napster downloads for Levon Helm's financial problems (“the record world dropped off a cliff”). With a cast list including Scorsese, Clapton, Robertson and Dylan (“Bob was a really good teacher”), Jonathan Taplin tells us definitively where it was at.Jonathan Taplin is a writer, film producer and scholar. He began his entertainment career as tour manager for the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and organised Bob Dylan and The Band's appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival. Between 1973 and 1996, Taplin produced many television documentaries and feature films including Under Fire and To Die For. His films were nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes and chosen for The Cannes Film Festival five times. His book “Move Fast And Break Things” (2017) is subtitled “How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy”. His latest book “The Magic Years” (2021) is about the rock ‘n' roll side of his life. Jon is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California.WebsiteTrailerTwitterSpotify playlistListeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating.Twitter @isitrollingpodRecorded 7th June 2021This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts
Jonathan Taplin, former road manager for The Band, has done it all. He set up the equipment for Dylan's electric set at Newport in ‘65 (“the soundcheck lasted ten minutes”) and was production manager for Dylan and The Band at the Guthrie Tribute in '68. He organised the groundbreaking Concert For Bangladesh and produced the concert and film of The Last Waltz. Oh, and he was responsible for Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets getting made. Jon “was brought into the circle” by Albert Grossman (“after Bob left and Janis died, Albert got his heart broken”). He saw “all the junkie signs” when he met Keith Richards in the South of France and left Rock behind when he saw what drugs were doing to his friends and the music he loved. He passionately blames illegal Napster downloads for Levon Helm's financial problems (“the record world dropped off a cliff”). With a cast list including Scorsese, Clapton, Robertson and Dylan (“Bob was a really good teacher”), Jonathan Taplin tells us definitively where it was at. Jonathan Taplin is a writer, film producer and scholar. He began his entertainment career as tour manager for the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and organised Bob Dylan and The Band's appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival. Between 1973 and 1996, Taplin produced many television documentaries and feature films including Under Fire and To Die For. His films were nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes and chosen for The Cannes Film Festival five times. His book “Move Fast And Break Things” (2017) is subtitled “How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy”. His latest book “The Magic Years” (2021) is about the rock ‘n' roll side of his life. Jon is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California. Website Trailer Twitter Spotify playlist Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Recorded 7th June 2021 This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jonathan Taplin, former road manager for The Band, has done it all. He set up the equipment for Dylan's electric set at Newport in ‘65 (“the soundcheck lasted ten minutes”) and was production manager for Dylan and The Band at the Guthrie Tribute in '68. He organised the groundbreaking Concert For Bangladesh and produced the concert and film of The Last Waltz. Oh, and he was responsible for Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets getting made.Jon “was brought into the circle” by Albert Grossman (“after Bob left and Janis died, Albert got his heart broken”). He saw “all the junkie signs” when he met Keith Richards in the South of France and left Rock behind when he saw what drugs were doing to his friends and the music he loved. He passionately blames illegal Napster downloads for Levon Helm's financial problems (“the record world dropped off a cliff”). With a cast list including Scorsese, Clapton, Robertson and Dylan (“Bob was a really good teacher”), Jonathan Taplin tells us definitively where it was at.Jonathan Taplin is a writer, film producer and scholar. He began his entertainment career as tour manager for the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and organised Bob Dylan and The Band's appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival. Between 1973 and 1996, Taplin produced many television documentaries and feature films including Under Fire and To Die For. His films were nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes and chosen for The Cannes Film Festival five times. His book “Move Fast And Break Things” (2017) is subtitled “How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy”. His latest book “The Magic Years” (2021) is about the rock ‘n' roll side of his life. Jon is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California.WebsiteTrailerTwitterEpisode playlist on AppleEpisode playlist on SpotifyListeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating.Twitter @isitrollingpodRecorded 7th June 2021This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts
Jonathan Taplin started out as the road manager for the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and Judy Collins and then he became the tour manager for the Band. Along the way he worked with Bob Dylan and the Band at the Isle of Wight and helped produce the Concert for Bangladesh. Subsequently, Taplin produced Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" and brokered the sale of Disney and... Tune in to hear what was really happening in Woodstock with Bob Dylan and the Band and so much more! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Vinyl curiosities from: Charlotte Leslie, Rufus Lumley,David Ackles, Thumper, Albert King, Keystone Four,Floyd Robinson, Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Rhinoceros,Mother Earth, Kevin Coyne, and more!as broadcast live via 6160kc sw 4-3-21
Making a Scene Presents an interview with Andy Cohen!Andy Cohen grew up in a house with a piano and a lot of Dixieland Jazz records, amplified after a while by a cornet that his dad got him. At about fifteen, he got bitten by the Folk Music bug, and soon got to hear records by Big Bill Broonzy and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, both of which reminded him of the music he grew up to. At sixteen, he saw Reverend Gary Davis, and his course was set. He knew he had it in him to follow, study, perform and promote the music of the southeast quadrant, America’s great musical fountainhead. Although he’s done other things, a certain amount of writing and physical labor from dishwashing and railroading to archeology, playing the old tunes is what he does best. Andy Cohen,Talkin' Casey,Tryin' To Get HomeAndy Cohen,Death Don't Have No Mercy,Tryin' To Get Homemakingascene,andy cohen,Andy Cohen & Moira Meltzer-Cohen,Talkin' Casey,Small But MightyAndy Cohen & Moira Meltzer-Cohen,Boob-I-Lak,Small But Mighty
One of the youngest violin professors at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Anick is considered “a rising star in the world of jazz violin and mandolin” (Downbeat Magazine). In addition to leading various groups under his own name and performing with the Rhythm Future Quartet, Anick has been touring and recording with Grammy award-winning Nashville guitar virtuoso John Jorgenson since 2008 when he was recruited while still a senior at the Hartt Conservatory. Over the past few years, Jason has been focusing on arranging and composing for the Rhythm Future Quartet, Jason Anick Acoustic Trio, and the Anick/Yeager Quartet. The Rhythm Future Quartet, which Jason started with Finish guitar virtuoso Olli Soikkeli, is rapidly becoming one of the preeminent Gypsy jazz groups in the country. The group just released its third album, "RFQ and Friends" which was praised by JazzTimes as "packed to the gills with feeling... dynamic, full of virtuosity and swing".The Jason Anick Acoustic Trio, which formed in 2017, applies Jason's formidable improvisational and compositional chops to the roots/fiddle music of his youth. The Jason Anick/Jason Yeager Quartet draws on the wide swath of musical interests of its co-leaders, blending straight-ahead and post-bop jazz, world music, funk and pop, eagerly embracing what Anick and Yeager have defined as “jazz without borders.” Their debut album, United, garnered rave reviews including 4.5 stars from Downbeat Magazine. A versatile musician and sought after side-man, Anick has also shared the stage with an array of artist like Stevie Wonder, Tommy Emmanuel, Hamilton de Holanda, The Jim Kweskin Jug Band, John Sebastian, Delta Rae, and Ward Hayden and the Outliers. With performances all over the world from China, Europe, and Japan and renowned venues like the Montreal Jazz Festival, Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Scullers Jazz Club, Yoshi's, Iridium, TD Garden, Regattabar, NPR, and The Late Night Show, Jason has proven himself to be a leader in the ever-growing contemporary string world.Jason is also a sought-after educator, and has taught jazz violin and mandolin to students of all ages at string camps, workshops, and clinics around the world. Jason regularly contributes educational columns to Fiddler Magazine and instructional videos to DC Music and Christian Howes' Creative Strings Academy.
Jim Kweskin has been an iconic figure on the music scene for decades! He grew up listening to the music of his time, Swing and Jazz and Folk, and went on to found the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Kweskin has … More ... The post Jim Kweskin & Samoa Wilson – New Album “I Just Want To Be Horizontal” and a Surprise from Abi Rooley-Towle! appeared first on Paradigms Podcast.
Jug bands got their name from using instruments that were either homemade or household items such as a jug. Beginnings in the South in the 19th century, with origins in Louisville, KY, they were made up predominately of African-American musicians and were in their heyday from the 1890s to the Great Depression. Playing a mixture of blues, ragtime, and jazz, jug bands were some of the first musicians to record and a key contributor to the evolution of blues and early rock and roll. The folk revival in the 60's launched a second wave of jug-band music and it continues to exist and evolve today. On this WoodSongs broadcast, we'll be celebrating the music and history of jug bands with musicians from across the country. JIM KWESKIN is a folk music legend and founder of the legendary 1960s Jim Kweskin Jug Band which successfully transformed the sounds of pre-World War II rural music into a springboard for their good-humored performances. Their imitators were legion, including The Grateful Dead, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Lovin’ Spoonful and more. These days Jim is best known as a singer and bandleader, but he also created one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival. JERRON “BLIND BOY” PAXTON transforms traditional jazz, blues, folk, and country into the here and now. Hailing from NYC, his sound is influenced by the likes of Fats Waller and "Blind" Lemon Jefferson. According to The Wall Street Journal, Paxton is "virtually the only music-maker of his generation—playing guitar, banjo, piano and violin, among other implements—to fully assimilate the blues idiom of the 1920s and ‘30s." THE STEEL CITY JUG SLAMMERS made a name for themselves in Birmingham, AL with a new album, extensive touring and the band's recent induction into the Jug Band Hall of Fame. WoodSongs Kids: The Wallace Sisters are three harmozing siblings from Lexington, Kentucky.
Jug bands got their name from using instruments that were either homemade or household items such as a jug. Beginnings in the South in the 19th century, with origins in Louisville, KY, they were made up predominately of African-American musicians and were in their heyday from the 1890s to the Great Depression. Playing a mixture of blues, ragtime, and jazz, jug bands were some of the first musicians to record and a key contributor to the evolution of blues and early rock and roll. The folk revival in the 60's launched a second wave of jug-band music and it continues to exist and evolve today. On this WoodSongs broadcast, we'll be celebrating the music and history of jug bands with musicians from across the country. JIM KWESKIN is a folk music legend and founder of the legendary 1960s Jim Kweskin Jug Band which successfully transformed the sounds of pre-World War II rural music into a springboard for their good-humored performances. Their imitators were legion, including The Grateful Dead, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Lovin' Spoonful and more. These days Jim is best known as a singer and bandleader, but he also created one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival. JERRON “BLIND BOY” PAXTON transforms traditional jazz, blues, folk, and country into the here and now. Hailing from NYC, his sound is influenced by the likes of Fats Waller and "Blind" Lemon Jefferson. According to The Wall Street Journal, Paxton is "virtually the only music-maker of his generation—playing guitar, banjo, piano and violin, among other implements—to fully assimilate the blues idiom of the 1920s and ‘30s." THE STEEL CITY JUG SLAMMERS made a name for themselves in Birmingham, AL with a new album, extensive touring and the band's recent induction into the Jug Band Hall of Fame. WoodSongs Kids: The Wallace Sisters are three harmozing siblings from Lexington, Kentucky.
Jim Kweskin is the founder of the legendary 1960s Jim Kweskin Jug Band with Fritz Richmond, Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Mel Lyman and Bruno Wolfehttps://www.jimkweskin.com
featuring: a slice of the Conservative Party leadership race in the UK, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, the art of Paul Chadeisson, and more. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/evan-fleischer/support
The Rock N Roll Archaeologist sits down with the impishly sweet Maria Muldaur! With a new album of traditional blues and a recent Grammy nomination, Christian and the Greenwich Village born Ms. Muldaur discuss her upbringing, THAT song, her forty one solo albums to date and all the great musicians she has had the pleasure to work with in her career. Maria Muldaur is best known world-wide for her 1974 mega-hit “Midnight at the Oasis,”which received several Grammy nominations, and enshrined her forever in the hearts of Baby Boomers everywhere; but despite her considerable pop music success, her 50+ year career could best be described as a long and adventurous odyssey through the various forms of American Roots Music. During the folk revival of the early '60s, she began exploring and singing early Blues, Bluegrass and Appalachian “Old Timey” Music, beginning her recording career in 1963 with the Even Dozen Jug Band and shortly thereafter, joining the very popular Jim Kweskin Jug Band, touring and recording with them throughout the '60s. In the 40 years since “Midnight at the Oasis,” Maria has toured extensively worldwide and has recorded 41 solo albums covering all kinds of American Roots Music, including Gospel, R&B, Jazz and Big Band (not to mention several award-winning children’s albums). She also did a stint in the Jerry Garcia Band and is on the only studio album, “Cats Under the Stars”, released in 1978 She has now settled comfortably into her favorite idiom, the Blues. Often joining forces with some of the top names in the business, Maria has recorded and produced on-average an album per year, several of which have been nominated for Grammys and other awards. In 2018 she released her latest, “Don’t Ya Feel My Leg: The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Barker” an album paying tribute to a heroine of Maria’s Blue Lu Barker. It was nominated for a 2019 Grammy, making that the sixth for Maria. http://www.mariamuldaur.com You can support the show by wearing cool rock n roll gear from TeePublic: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/rocknroll Call us at 650-822-ROCK or email at: info@rocknrollarchaeology.com
Ryan H. Walsh is the author of Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968, an adventurous book chronicling the development of Van Morrison’s 1968 masterpiece Astral Weeks in Boston and many other interrelated Boston stories from the same year. Ryan joins Free Association to talk about some of the stories from 1968, including The Velvet Underground’s popularity in Boston, the so-called Boston Sound bands, and Jim Kweskin and Mel Lyman of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Van Morrison, “Sweet Thing”Astral Weeks (Rhino/Warner Bros. 1968 Rock) Jim Kweskin, “Stealin’”America (Collectible Records 1971) The Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat”White Light/White Heat (Verve 1968) The Velvet Underground “Sister Ray (Live)”Live at the Boston Tea Party, May 1969 (ODL 2014) The Velvet Underground “Femme Fatale”Sunday Morning/Femme Fatale (Verve 1966) The Modern Lovers “Astral Plane”The Modern Lovers (Beserkley 1976) Earth Opera “The Red Sox are Winning”Earth Opera (Elektra 1968) Beacon Street Union “Mystic Morning”The Eyes of The Beacon Street Union (MGM 1968) Van Morrison “Astral Weeks”Astral Weeks (Rhino/Warner Bros. 1968 Rock) Hallelujah the Hills “Theme From Astral Weeks 1968”Against Electricity (Discrete Pageantry Records 2018)
Ryan H. Walsh is the author of Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968, an adventurous book chronicling the development of Van Morrison's 1968 masterpiece Astral Weeks in Boston and many other interrelated Boston stories from the same year. Ryan joins Free Association to talk about some of the stories from 1968, including The Velvet Underground's popularity in Boston, the so-called Boston Sound bands, and Jim Kweskin and Mel Lyman of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Van Morrison, “Sweet Thing”Astral Weeks (Rhino/Warner Bros. 1968 Rock) Jim Kweskin, “Stealin'”America (Collectible Records 1971) The Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat”White Light/White Heat (Verve 1968) The Velvet Underground “Sister Ray (Live)”Live at the Boston Tea Party, May 1969 (ODL 2014) The Velvet Underground “Femme Fatale”Sunday Morning/Femme Fatale (Verve 1966) The Modern Lovers “Astral Plane”The Modern Lovers (Beserkley 1976) Earth Opera “The Red Sox are Winning”Earth Opera (Elektra 1968) Beacon Street Union “Mystic Morning”The Eyes of The Beacon Street Union (MGM 1968) Van Morrison “Astral Weeks”Astral Weeks (Rhino/Warner Bros. 1968 Rock) Hallelujah the Hills “Theme From Astral Weeks 1968”Against Electricity (Discrete Pageantry Records 2018)
Skinny dippin' in the oil o' joy.....Set 1 opening up the card game with a royal flush in my books! NRBQ from their very first self titled LP just re-released for the first time ever on vinyl by Omnivore Records and baby they nailed it! Covering Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody". Country Music Hall of Famer sweetens the pot with "Baby, I Just Want You". Helping out Floyd is Cajun God Link Davis! Davis is a triple-threat cat....fiddle, sax, harmonica and he can sing! We'll hear more from Mr. Davis in the next round....Horace Andy stokes the pot with his version of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine"...someone get me a spliff, mon! Mark Oliver Everett AKA The Eels is "Kinda Fuzzy" from all the action..... Set 2: Link Davis gets to sit at the "big pot table" and immediately bluffs with "Don't You Big Shot Me"...The Replacements won't fold and raise with "I Will Dare"....you know when your playin' poker with the big boys it pays to blend in like a "Chamelion" like Herbie Hancock from his genre breaking LP HEADHUNTERS. The Onion Radio News chimes in with a timely report on North Korea....Country Joe can't stand the tension and declares..."Hold On It's Comin"...Jessie White takes a break from his gig as a Maytag repairman and with his Jungle Drums declares...."We got the tenor sax, guitar and drums...we're all set to make a R&R record....all right now let's hear it" Set 3: After the game everyone sits back and partakes in their stimulous of choice...I'm guessin' that The Pretty Things' "Walking Through My Dreams" is hinting at Dr. Albert Hoffman's chemical compound LSD...remember that the good Dr. was the first. We all know how Willie Nelson relaxes so we played his NORMAL radio ad. Rosetta Howard best known for the first version of "If Your A Viper" plays a different song with The Harlem Hamfats.."Candy Man". And nodding out with The Jim Kweskin Jug Band from a soundtrack of my childhood..."If Your A Viper" offa their 1967 LP GARDEN OF JOY. Well that's it for this week my friends....I'm leaving you in the good hands of Canada's Mother Earth and "Soul Sacrifice"
This edition of Jazz Beat is devoted to Tom Reney’s interview with Geoff Muldaur, the singer/guitarist/banjo player whose associations include the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and Maria Muldaur in the 1960s, and Paul Butterfield’s Better Days in the early ‘70s.
We sit down in Kingston, N y with Geoff and have a far ranging conversation on all things musical. We get into his early fascination Blues and Jazz recordings accompanied by his friend Joe Boyd and Joe's brother Warwick. Geoff's involvement with the Cambridge scene including his time with the famed Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Geoff and his wife of the time Maria's 2 L Ps followed by his time in Woodstock as vocalist for Paul Butterfield's band Better Days. Just too much to list here plus there will be a part 2 podcast #17.