Good Morning, Musicologists! We begin the day just a bit early as it is Truck Day in ACE Hardware retail land. But we will have control of the music we have to listen to, and it’ll be right here.

Here’s your midweek line-up:

10:00 a.m. Are You Ready for The Country: Various Artists

We’re back with our tribute to real country music (not bad pop bands with fiddles, as Tom Petty calls the pretenders), and the Laurel Canyon crowd who were instrumental in the development of country-rock. You’ll hear Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, The Byrds, Gram Parsons, Pure Prairie League, Asleep at The Wheel, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, The Marshall Tucker Band, Jerry Jeff Walker, Mudcrutch, The Band, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Bonnie Raitt, Glen Campbell, Rosanne Cash, Dan Fogelberg, New Riders of The Purple Sage, John Prine and more!

7:00 p.m. The Band Live at The Casino Arena, Asbury Park, New Jersey, July 20, 1976

As Robbie Robertson explains, they wound up with their name because that’s what everyone referred to them as when they were recording in the early years. From their beginnings as Dylan’s back-up band, The Band became one of the most revered and influential bands in music history. We here in The Mermaid Lounge love The Band. They are in our top three. Guess who the other two are.

One more day on the front lines of retail hell coming up. We had a totally unhinged woman with a paintbrush up her ass come in yesterday. It was a thing of beauty. We’re going to see if we caught her tirade on camera. But hey, it’s a new day and we’ve got great music on tap.