Month: April 2024

We End the Month On Tuesday Bluesday with EC & Friends, Paul Butterfield and Koko Taylor, April 30, 2024

Morning, bluesologists! We’re closing out April and heading toward May on a Tuesday Bluesday. The house is already filling up.

Here’s your Tuesday Bluesday lineup:

9:00 a.m. Eric Clapton & Friends: The Crossroads Festival Revisited

Guitar festival for sure, but also a blues festival with a lineup that includes Gary Clark, Jr., B. B. King, J. J. Cale, Doyle Bramhall III, Jeff Beck, the Robert Cray Band, Susan Tedeschi and more!

4:00 p.m. FILLMORE WEEK! The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Live at The Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, October 14, 1966

An iconic blues band in an iconic venue, and vintage 1966, worthy of a trip in the Wayback Machine.

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

The woman known as The Queen of The Blues closes out our programming this evening. Her potent style encompasses the Chicago blues, electric blues, soul blues and a touch of R & B for good measure.

Always a good day to drop by The Mermaid Lounge. There’s no cover charge and we don’t want any of your personal information either. See for yourself.

Tuesday Bluesday!

The Work Week Begins With The Supergroups, Live Warren Zevon, and Fillmore Week With Hot Tuna on Monday, April 29, 2024

Good morning, music lovers. We start off the day today with music from the Supergroups, then we have two live shows coming up, and one that kicks off Fillmore Week here!

Here’s your Monday musical lineup:

10:00 a.m. Sounds of The Supergroups: Various Artists UPDATED!

We start the day paying respect to the Supergroups who have given us so much great music, like CSNY, The Traveling Wilburys, Supertramp, Manassas, Cream, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Trio (nobody ever talks about Ronstadt-Harris-Parton as a Supergroup but that’s exactly what they were), The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings & Kris Kristofferson), Derek & The Dominos, Blind Faith, and The Super, Super Blues Group (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley).

4:00 p.m. Warren Zevon Live at The Barrymore Theater, New York, NY, November 22, 1999 NEW!

We’ve got some new-to-the-station live Warren Zevon today. I saw Mr. Bad Example live at the Berklee College of Music back in the day and everyone was pissed off that he was two hours late and we had to listen to 52 versions of Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart while waiting for him. But once he started singing, all was forgiven. It was a great show.

7:00 p.m. FILLMORE WEEK: Hot Tuna Live at The Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, March 4, 1988

We kick off Fillmore Week with a great blues-rock band in Hot Tuna, built out of the ashes of The Jefferson Airplane by Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen. Over the years, members have come and gone, but Casady and Kaukonen have always been the anchors.

Join us today, folks. It’s a great day for a test drive. We’re on 24/7 at no cost to you. And that’s not an “introductory” offer or a bait-and-switch. No surprises. We’re free with no commercial advertising to boot. Just use the button below!

It’s Fillmore Week!

It’s Sunday and The Ladies Own the Morning, Followed by The I-Threes and Some ‘Live’ ELO, April 28, 2024

Good morning, musicologists and welcome to another Sunday in The Mermaid Lounge where the music is free and the living is easy. The ladies rule the morning and early afternoon.

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. Ladies Day Out: Various Artists

The ladies are back to rule The Lounge this morning with 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 Crow, Susan Tedeschi, Dusty Springfield, Valerie Carter, Dolly Parton and more!

4:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of The I-Threes

Without a doubt the most influential all-woman Reggae band is In The Spotlight this afternoon. The I-Threes are Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, and Judy Mowatt.

8:00 p.m. The Electric Light Orchestra Live at The Paris Theatre, London, UK, April 19, 1973

Jeff Lynne’s ELO (not what they were called back in the day; but it is now) is here to close out the programming for today with a great live show at The Paris Theatre. They are on the road now for their farewell tour, and blow through Boston in September.

Join us on this fine, sunny Sunday (at least it is here for the moment) as we play the best music on the planet 24/7, free of charge and free from commercial advertising.

Sunday Funday!

Saturday Brings a J.J. Cale Spotlight, ‘Folk Music From A-To-Z’ and Linda Ronstadt at The Record Plant, April 27, 2024

Good morning, music lovers and weekenders alike! We have made it intact, and we are celebrating with some great music today.

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of J. J. Cale

Has there been a musician in history so revered who missed out on what we now call ‘the big time’? J.J. Cale invented the Oklahoma sound and his songs have propelled many an artist, but ‘fame’ eluded him. And perhaps that was by choice. Bobbie Gentry deliberately shunned the limelight. All we know is that artists like Tom Petty and Eric Clapton revered his handiwork, and we love him at the radio station, so we are putting him In the Spotlight.

12:00 p.m. Folk Music From A-To-Z: Various Artists

We’ve got five hours of folk music uninterrupted this afternoon with John Prine, Dave Van Ronk, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, Odetta, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Beatles, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, The Band, Eric Andersen, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith, Jesse Winchester, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lead Belly, Tim Hardin, The Kingston Trio, Simon & Garfunkel, Richie Havens, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Phil Ochs, Townes Van Zandt, The Carter Family, Neil Young and more!

8:00 p.m. Linda Ronstadt Live at The Record Plant, Sausalito, CA, November 18, 1973

We’ve got some early Linda Ronstadt for you here this evening with a lot of Don’t Cry Now and just a hint of Heart Like A Wheel and the greatness to come.

You have absolutely nothing to lose by tuning us in. We don’t ask for a credit card or personal information. That’s because we’re totally free 24/7 playing the best music on radio, Internet or otherwise. See for yourself.

Just Push Play.

It’s a Wide Open Stream Day With a Twist, and the Heartbreakers Live at Winterland on Friday, April 26, 2024

Good morning, music lovers! We’ve got an open stream day today until we hit the 8:00 p.m. hour this evening, when Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers pay a visit.

Here’s today’s music scene:

9:00 a.m. Wide Open Stream with The Music Mermaid

We are wide open right now as I type, but we’ll be riding the open stream current until about 8:00 p.m. tonight. But there’s a twist; we have a Trifecta at the top of each hour featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan, Little Feat, Linda Ronstadt, Norah Jones, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Talking Heads, The Supremes, Valerie Carter, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles!

8:00 p.m. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, December 30, 1978

Vintage early Heartbreakers here just before Damn The Torpedoes would propel them into outer space.

We’re here 24/7 and we’re totally free. Today we are also totally free of programmed music as well. Nothing like a good Open Stream day. Just hit the button below.

Wide Open Stream!

We Motor Along With ‘The Psychedelic Express,’ Marvin Gaye and The Beatles on Thursday, April 25, 2024

We are careening toward the weekend again, and we’re taking ‘The Psychedelic Express’ today. Then it’s a Marvin Gaye ‘Spotlight’ feature and psychedelia from The Fab Four.

Here’s your psychedelic lineup:

9:00 a.m. The Psychedelic Express: Various Artists

You don’t need no stinkin’ tickets to ride on the psychedelic express with Vanilla Fudge, The Chambers Brothers, The Beatles, Electric Prunes, The Animals, The Jefferson Airplane, Blues Image, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Donovan, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Cream, Dr. John, Procol Harum, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Canned Heat, Yes, Electric Light Orchestra, Tommy James & The Shondells, Mudcrutch, Blind Faith, The Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, Big Brother & The Holding Company and more! It’s five hours of mind-bending music!

4:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye isn’t called The Prince of Soul for nothing. This brilliant singer-songwriter helped shape the Motown sound in the sixties, first as an in-house session player and later as a successful solo artist. He’s In The Spotlight this afternoon.

8:00 p.m. The Beatles: Tripping The Light Fantastic

We close this psychedelic adventure with The Fab Four. It should be no surprise to anyone that The Beatles pioneered the psychedelic sound and embraced it before anyone else. We close the day with their contributions to the genre.

I’ll be laboring in hardware hell while The Music Mermaid joins you on your psychedelic journey this fine day. If you are a fan of the genre like me, you will not be disappointed. Best of all, we’re totally free and devoid of commercial interruption all day long.

The Psychedelic Express!

We’re at Midweek With More Sixties Rotation, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix, Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Good morning, sixties music lovers, we’re back at midweek with volume two of our ‘Sixties Rotation’ EP, and live performances from both Jefferson Airplane and Hendrix.

Here’s your midweek musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. The Sixties Rotation, Volume Two: Various Artists

We’re back with the second half of our Sixties Rotation, this time focusing on the mid-to-late part of the decade with The Mamas & The Papas, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Sly & The Family Stone, The Temptations, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roy Orbison, The Yardbirds, The Animals, Linda Ronstadt, Wilson Pickett, The Band, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, The Ronettes, The Kinks, Jimmy Cliff, Velvet Underground, The Byrds, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Blind Faith, The Spencer Davis Group, The Four Tops, CSNY, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King, The Doors, Marvin Gaye and more!

4:00 p.m. The Jefferson Airplane Live at Falconer Salen, Copenhagen, Denmark, January 8, 1968

We’re in the Wayback Machine as we head for Copenhagen to hear the Airplane this afternoon.

8:00 p.m. Jimi Hendrix Live at The Cafe Au Go Go, New York, NY, March 17, 1968

Then, we’re back in the Wayback Machine for a bit of a jam at the iconic Cafe Au Go Go with Jimi Hendrix joined by Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop and Harvey Brooks.

It’s an all-Sixties programming kind of day here in The Mermaid Lounge. We’re on 24/7, so we’ll have all that great wide Open Stream before, in between and after.

It’s a Sixties Thing!

Tuesday Bluesday Brings Our Big, Bad Blues EP, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and Marcia Ball, April 23, 2024

Good morning, bluesologists and welcome to another Tuesday Bluesday with our biggest, baddest blues EP, Fleetwood Mac when it was a blues band, and the great Marcia Ball.

Here’s your Tuesday Bluesday lineup:

9:00 a.m. Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blues: Various Artists

We’ve got the biggest blues EP of them all today with Delbert McClinton, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Little Walter, Slim Harpo, Ry Cooder, Canned Heat, John Lee Hooker, The Animals, Albert King, Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, The Yardbirds, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, Bobby “Blue” Bland, The Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Elmore James, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, the Robert Cray Band, J.J. Cale, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, James Cotton, Koko Taylor, Marcia Ball, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Susan Tedeschi, Roomful of Blues, Howlin’ Wolf and more!

4:00 p.m. Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac Live at The Warehouse, New Orleans, LA, January 30, 1970

Did you know that Fleetwood Mac used to be a blues band? Well, it’s true! They moved into mainstream pop/rock with the addition of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and the departure of one Peter Green. See for yourself.

7:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Marcia Ball

We conclude the blues programming tonight with Marcia Ball, a fine blues singer and pianist whose style has been described as Texas stomp rock meets Louisiana swamp blues. Not to be missed.

We’re here on Tuesday Bluesday and every other day of the week on a 24/7 basis. Best of all, there’s no fee to listen and no advertising to interrupt the flow. Just hit the button below.

It’s Tuesday Bluesday!

Welcome to Monday With Ray Charles and Our ‘A Little Bit O’ Soul’ EP, April 22, 2024

Welcome to Monday, Monday. In between Ray Charles and our ‘A Little Bit O’ Soul’ EP, we’ve got a bunch of great wide Open Stream to kick off the week.

Here’s Monday’s lineup:

10:00 a.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Ray Charles NEW!

This one has been a long time coming and it’s finally here. We kick off the program with a long-awaited Ray Charles spotlight. We have been remiss and we repent.

3:00 p.m. A Little Bit O’ Soul: Various Artists

We move from Ray Charles into our big, bad soul and R&B EP, where you’ll hear more Ray Charles in addition to Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Ronettes, Marvin Gaye, 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, Ann Peebles, Al Green and more!

We are here 24/7 for your listening pleasure every single day of the year at no charge to you and with no commercial interruptions. We’re all about the music.

A Little Bit O’Soul

‘Ode To Morning,’ an Allman Brothers Spotlight, and a Band Too Big To Fail Are All On Tap, Sunday, April 21, 2024

Good morning musicologists and welcome to The Mermaid Lounge where music is Queen. We have a great lineup on tap, so read on for details.

Here’s your Sunday Funday lineup:

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

Fittingly, we begin the morning with songs about the morning. You’ll hear Yusuf/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 and more!

4:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of The Allman Brothers Band

This afternoon we put the spotlight on the band that introduced and anchored the Southern Rock sound, started in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane and Greg Allman. Another founding member was Dicky Betts, one of the finest guitarists on the planet, who left this planet just a few days ago. This one’s for him.

8:00 p.m. Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, Bruce Hornsby, David Lindley & Wally Ingram Live at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, September 12, 1999

This is the band that was too big to fail. I was lucky enough to see this tour at what was then called The Tweeter Center in Mansfield, MA, under the stars. It was fantastic.

We’re in a hurry here. We begin at nine, so no time to banter. Yes, I overslept. Enjoy the musical journey!

Ode To Morning!