We’re at Midweek With the ‘Are You Ready for The Country’ EP, Garcia/Hunter, and Songs About Shoes, Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Good morning, music lovers! We’re at midweek and we’re loaded with good music today with two multi-artist playlists, one extended, one not. Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter are back as our singer-songwriters for the week.

Here’s your midweek musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. Are You Ready For The Country: Various Artists

We don’t play bad pop bands with fiddles. We play real country along with the musicians who helped to establish the country-rock genre. 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, Marshall Tucker Band, Jerry Jeff Walker, Mudcrutch, The Band, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Glen Campbell, Rosanne Cash, Dan Fogelberg, New Riders of The Purple Sage, John Prine, The Desert Rose Band, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and more!

4:00 p.m. Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter

The duo is back for their second spin as this week’s featured singer-songwriters.

8:00 p.m. Those Shoes: Various Artists

Shoes. Essential to our existence, unless we are lucky enough to live on a deserted island where we can walk barefoot without worry. You’ll hear Elvis Presley, Paul Simon, Steve Winwood, John Lee Hooker, The Everly Brothers, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Traffic, Gram Parsons, Betty Everett, Leon Russell, The Beatles, Elmore James, Little Feat, The Eagles and more!

We’re over the hump today and on the downslide to the weekend once again. No better way to get through this day and closer to the dream than with some great music. And that’s what we’ve got. See for yourself. And we won’t cost you a penny. Ever.

It’s Tuesday Bluesday With Our ‘Best of Louisiana Blues’ EP, Our AOW, and B.B. King and Band Live in The Netherlands, September 19, 2023

Good morning, bluesologists. It’s another Tuesday Bluesday here in The Mermaid Lounge and we kick things off with some Bayou Blues today.

Here’s your Tuesday Bluesday lineup:

9:00 a.m. The Best of Louisiana Blues: Various Artists

You’ll hear Ray Charles, Lillian Glinn, Slim Harpo, Roy Brown, Fats Domino, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Rodney Harris, Roosevelt Sykes, Shirley & Lee, Papa Lightfoot, Guitar Slim, Annie Laurie, Fats Matthews, Big Joe Turner, Big Boy Myles, Little Walter, Mary Butler, Erline Harris, Dave Bartholomew, Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Professor Longhair, The Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas and more!

4:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Cahoots by The Band

The Band’s Cahoots takes its second spin as our featured Album of The Week.

7:00 p.m. The B. B. King Blues Band Live at The North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, October 7, 1987

B. B. King and his Blues Band was a regular at The North Sea Jazz Festival and we’ve got a couple of these live performances. Tonight we give you the October 1987 show.

Come on in! The Lounge is just fine and the music is amazing. Non-stop at no charge and with no commercial interruption on a 24-hour schedule. See for yourself.

Monday’s Back, But We’ve Got the Best of Reggae & Ska, America In the Spotlight, and New ‘Live’ George Harrison, September 18, 2023

Good morning, musicologists! We’re back to help ease you into Monday with our ‘Best of Reggae & Ska’ playlist, a Spotlight featuring America and George Harrison in Maryland on The Dark Horse Tour.

Here’s your Monday lineup:

10:00 a.m. The Best of Reggae, Ska and Rocksteady: Various Artists

We’ve got all the greats with Prince Buster, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Judy Mowatt, Jimmy Cliff, Basil Gabbidon, The Rhythm Aces, Derrick Morgan, Laurel Aitken, Count Lasher, The Jiving Juniors, Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley, Desmond Dekker, The I-Threes, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Toots & The Maytals and more!

4:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of America

America is most remembered for their string of folk hits, like Sister Golden Hair, Tin Man, Sandman (a really great tune), and Don’t Cross the River. But America made some of the most alluring and creative music that was not released as singles. Albums like Hat Trick, Hideaway and Holiday had some incredible unreleased tunes on them. Give this playlist a listen and you can hear them.

George Harrison on the Dark Horse Tour, which was somehow billed as a disaster. There was a lot of that going around after The Beatles broke up. Nevertheless, George Harrison went on to have a great solo career, proving himself an amazing songwriter and musician, and the founding genius behind The Traveling Wilburys.

We’re Back to Simple Sunday Here With Our AOW by The Band and the ‘Under The Influence’ EP, September 17, 2023

Good morning, weekenders! We’re back to our keep-it-simple Sunday mode here with our Album of The Week and our ‘Under The Influence’ EP.

Here’s you musical landscape:

A Mermaid Lounge favorite is back today. We’re of the opinion that The Band never made a bad album. This one is no exception, although it didn’t get the attention it deserved after their incredible run of Music From Big Pink, The Band (the amazing brown album) and Stage Fright. It’s our Album of The Week starting today.

3:00 p.m. Under The Influence: Various Artists

Likewise, we believe there’s nothing like being under the influence on the weekend. You’ll hear from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Arlo Guthrie, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Donovan, Glen Frey, John Lee Hooker, Jonathan Edwards, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, The Traveling Wilburys, The Temptations, Small Faces, Steely Dan, The Beatles, Talking Heads, Neil Young, New Riders of The Purple Sage, Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, Dave Van Ronk, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Jackson Browne, Steve Winwood, Led Zeppelin, Harry Chapin, The Band, The Fraternity of Man and more!

It’s Crazy in The Lounge Today! We Say Farewell to Our AOW and Jagger/Richards, and Welcome the Ladies of Music and Garcia/Hunter, Saturday, September 16, 2023

Good morning, weekenders! It’s an unusually busy day here on a Saturday because we dedicated Friday to The Beatles, our big-ass House Band. We’ve got some cramming to do today!

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Red Rose Speedway by Paul McCartney & Wings FINAL AIRING!

We bid a fond farewell to this week’s album. Tomorrow, we’ll have a brand new selection for you.

11:00 a.m. Ladies Day Out: Various Artists

We’ll have an update coming soon but, in the meantime, you can hear Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Emmylou Harris, Petula Clark, Laura Nyro, Cilla Black, Irma Thomas, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Etta James, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Maria Muldaur, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Eva Cassidy, Wendy Waldman, Shawn Colvin, The Ronettes, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Norah Jones, Phoebe Snow, Nicolette Larson, Sheryl Crowe, Susan Tedeschi, Valerie Carter, Dusty Springfield, Dolly Parton and more!

6:00 p.m. Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Mick Jagger & Keith Richards FINAL AIRING!

We say our goodbyes to this week’s featured singer-songwriting duo of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

And we ring in our featured singer-songwriters for the coming week! While it’s true that Robert Hunter didn’t “sing” we like to bend the rules here. They started out as a folk duo during the sixties and wound up writing some classic Grateful Dead tunes, like Dark Star, Shakedown Street, Casey Jones, Fire On The Mountain and many others.

We’ve Got One Event at the Week’s End: The Beatles 1962-1970, Chronologically Speaking, Friday, September 15, 2023

Good morning, Beatle fans! We’ve put some work into this one, giving you a total Beatles experience for just over nine hours. No commercial. No chatter. Just Beatles.

You’ve got one job today:

Today we give you all the Beatle songs released between 1962 and 1970 in the order in which they were recorded, from Love Me Do to Get Back, with no chat and no commercial interruption. It’s just a hair over nine hours of music.

For those who would like to hear some background about some of the songs (and some of the information is totally fascinating), we’re seriously considering bringing back our series of a few years ago called Brunch With The Beatles. We’ll keep you posted!

We’re Weekend Bound With the ‘A Little Bit O’ Soul’ EP, Our AOW and an Ann Peebles Spotlight on Thursday, September 14, 2023

We’re on the downslide to the weekend with our big, bad soul and R & B extended playlist, our AOW from McCartney & Wings and Ann Peebles In the Spotlight this evening.

Here’s today’s musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. A Little Bit O’ Soul: Various Artists

We collect all the great artists from Motown, Muscle Shoals, Soulsville U.S.A. and beyond for this one with Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Ronettes, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Jimmy Ruffin, The Drifters, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Carla Thomas, James Brown, The Shirelles, Etta James, Curtis Mayfield, Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers, Nina Simone, LaVern Baker, The Supremes, Sam Cooke, Edwin Starr, Fontella Bass, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Irma Thomas, The Box Tops, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, Eddie Floyd, Percy Sledge, Wanda Jackson, The Ad Libs, Joe Tex, Ann Peebles, Al Green and more.

4:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Red Rose Speedway by Paul McCartney & Wings

We’re winding down on this gem. The final airing will be sometime on Saturday, so get in on this while you can!

7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Ann Peebles

With all the great souls stars out there, sometimes Ann Peebles gets lost in the crowd, but that should never be the case. A fine soul singer, she is best known for her Memphis R & B albums of the seventies. Tune her in.

We’ve got soul on both ends of the programming day here today, with a little bit of McCartney genius in between. A fine day to be in The Mermaid Lounge with the rest of us. Be there or be square, as they used to say.

We’re at Midweek With the ‘Ode To Morning’ EP, Jagger & Richards, and a Trip to Soulsville, U.S.A., Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Good morning, music lovers. We’re at the mid point of the week and we’ve got our ‘Ode To Morning’ EP to start off, followed by our singer-songwriters and a tribute to Stax Records!

Here’s the midweek lineup:

9:00 a.m. Ode To Morning: Various Artists

We’ve already had our ode to the night time, now it’s time for morning with Cat Stevens, Hoyt Axton, The Beatles, Neil Young, The Rascals, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Gram Parsons, Simon & Garfunkel, Taj Mahal, Dan Fogelberg, Linda Ronstadt, Harry Chapin, Three Dog Night, Ry Cooder, Tim Buckley, Muddy Waters, Jonathan Edwards, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Pure Prairie League, Badfinger, Chris Hillman and more!

4:00 p.m. Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Mick Jagger & Keith Richards

Rumor has it these two guys can’t really stand each other. Who knew? And who knows if that’s true in the Land of Misinformation? Here’s what I do know: They’ve made a hell of a lot of great music together. Let’s leave it at that.

We pay homage to Stax Records, home of Booker T. & The MG’s, who actually started out as the official Stax House Band playing behind all those great R & B artists before becoming legends in their own right. You’ll also hear Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, The Delfonics, The Dramatics, Albert King and Rufus Thomas.

Tuesday Bluesday Brings ‘The Best of Chicago Blues’ EP, Koko Taylor In the Spotlight, and Our AOW, September 12, 2023

Good morning, bluesologists! We are back with another Tuesday Bluesday and we’ve got our ‘Best of Chicago Blues’ EP kicking things off this morning.

Here’s your Tuesday Bluesday lineup:

9:00 a.m. The Best of Chicago Blues: Various Artists

Today we kick it off with the masters of the Chicago blues scene like Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor, Lowell Fulson, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson, Son Seals, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Otis Spann and more!

4:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Red Rose Speedway by Paul McCartney & Wings

Coming in for a second spin this week, we give you the reissued version with all the bonus tracks. The critics didn’t like it much, but the fans put it at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and My Love at number one on the Hot 100. This only bolsters my belief that music critics are an acquired taste.

7:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Koko Taylor

The Queen of Chicago Blues herself steps into the spotlight to close out our Tuesday Bluesday programming this evening.

It’s Tuesday Bluesday in The Mermaid Lounge and that’s our busiest day. Drop by. There’s plenty of room for everyone, and it won’t cost you a cent to listen in. We’re on 24/7 and we’re totally free. Best of all, there are no commercial interruptions.

It’s a Blue Monday Here in The Mermaid Lounge, and We’ve Got Booker T. & The MG’s In the Spotlight, September 11, 2023

Fats Domino sang about hating Blue Mondays, but here in The Mermaid Lounge, we love them. Today we’ve got our ‘All About Blue’ playlists and the Stax House Band, Booker T. & The MG’s In the Spotlight later!

Here’s your Blue Monday lineup:

11:00 a.m. All About Blue, Volume One: Various Artists

Songs about my personal favorite color in the title, lyrics or both. You’d be amazed at how many there are. You’ll hear Linda Ronstadt, The Allman Brothers Band, Mudcrutch, The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Badfinger, Jonathan Edwards and more!

3:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Booker T. & The MG’s

Booker T. & the MG’s were an American instrumental R&B/funk band that was not only the Stax Records House Band, but was also influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg, and Al Jackson Jr. Today we put them In the Spotlight.

7:00 p.m. All About Blue Too: Various Artists

We continue on the blue theme this evening with a whole new set of characters including Laura Nyro, Robert Johnson, Steve Earle & The Dukes, The Doors, Van Morrison, Cream, Guy Clark, Canned Heat, The Smithereens, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, Little Feat, B. B. King, Buddy Guy and more!

We’re on the way to another music extravaganza here on Monday as we head into the fall season. We’ve got some new ideas up our sleeve. Stay in touch.