Category: ROCK

Monday Brings Us Janis Joplin, Our ’27 And Gone’ Playlist and The Byrds Live at Royal Albert Hall, December 18, 2023

Good morning, and welcome back to the work week. But hey, for those traveling to Christmas celebrations, it’ll be a short one. As we head toward another year, we’re busy little elves planning some changes here.

Here’s your Monday, Monday lineup:

11:00 a.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Janis Joplin

We start off the day with Janis In the Spotlight giving us her special brand of blues-rock.

3:00 p.m.  27 And Gone: Various Artists

The members of the ’27 Club’ pay us a visit mid-afternoon. Hey, this is the stuff of conspiracy theories, almost like the ‘Paul is Dead’ stuff. Is it coincidence that all of these people died at the age of 27? Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin. Jim Morrison. Pete Ham (Badfinger). Blind Al Wilson (Canned Heat). Amy Winehouse. Brian Jones. Robert Johnson. Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (The Dead). They’re all here singing to you from the grave this afternoon.

8:00 p.m.  The Byrds Live at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK, May 13, 1971

We’ve got some ‘live’ Byrds closing out the programming tonight. This one’s from Royal Albert Hall in London.

Drop by when you get a chance. We’re on 24/7 (not just during programmed hours), uninterrupted by commercial advertising. And we don’t ask you for a thing. Your money’s truly no good here.

Monday, Monday. Again.

It’s Simply Sunday With Carlene Carter’s AOW and Our ‘A Little Bit O’Soul’ Multi-Artist EP, December 17, 2023

Good morning, music lovers! We’re here on another lighter-than-usual programming day with plenty of our great wide Open Stream. We kick things off with June Carter’s daughter and Johnny Cash’s stepdaughter, Carlene Carter.

Here’s your musical lineup:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Two Sides To Every Woman by Carlene Carter NEW!

Carlene Carter boasts the lineage of The Carter Family. She’s the daughter of June Carter and her first husband, the stepdaughter of Johnny Cash, and the stepsister of country great Rosanne Cash. She’s had a rough-and-tumble life with multiple failed relationships (including a marriage to Nick Lowe, and a long-standing relationship with late, great Heartbreaker Howie Epstein), and plenty of drug offenses, but she has made some supremely good music over the years. Much of her early stuff, like this album, has been overlooked and we hope to change that here.

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

We’re back with our big, bad soul and rhythm & blues EP with music from Motown to Muscle Shoals to Atlantic and beyond. You’ll hear 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, Percy Sledge and more!

We’re preparing to go out with a bang here in 2023 and open up a brand new year with some new music and some new ideas. Stick around. We’ll remain free of charge and free of advertising. We’re all about the music.

It’s Simply Sunday.

The Boogaloo Swamis, Our ‘Ode to Morning EP’ and Henley/Frey Are Our Singer-Songwriters, Saturday, December 16, 2023

Good morning, weekenders! We are here in The Lounge preparing for a great day of music courtesy of The Music Mermaid, including the debut of Don Henley and Glen Frey as our featured singer-songwriters.

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m.  Album of The Week: Down At The Roadhouse by The Boogaloo Swamis FINAL AIRING!

Today is the final airing of this fine Cajun-Zydeco album by a little band out of Boston that certainly added to my musical appreciation of the genre.

12:00 p.m. Ode to Morning: Various Artists

We pay homage to the sunrise and the start to the day 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!

8:00 p.m.  Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Don Henley & Glen Frey NEW!

This week’s singer-songwriters were part of the Laurel Canyon crew that helped fuse country and rock into a genre that spread like wildfire and was heard around the world. 

Remember, before, in between and after our programming it’s our big, wide Open Stream 24/7, 365 days a year with no commercial interruption. Give us a listen.

Welcome, Weekenders!

Friday Brings The Magnolia Sisters, Jesse Winchester and a Christine McVie Spotlight, December 15, 2023

We’ve got some great music for you today, including The Magnolia Sisters whom you probably won’t hear anywhere else unless you’re in New Orleans. But we have all their music here in The Mermaid Lounge. Today’s other two artists you, of course, should know.

Here’s today’s musical mayhem:

11:00 a.m. The Magnolia Sisters Live at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Fair Grounds Race Course, New Orleans, LA, July 27, 2021 NEW!

I love New Orleans; it’s a hotbed of musical styles and innovation and you can hear all of it right on the streets every day. What we have here is an all-woman Cajun/Zydeco band from Lafayette, Louisiana, populated by Ann Savoy, Jane Vidrine, Anya Burgess, and Lisa Trahan. They play the full gamut of the musical style from dancehall Cajun to primitive Creole to a cappella. The first time I ever heard them, they knocked me out and I was hooked. Maybe you will be too.

3:00 p.m.  Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Jesse Winchester FINAL AIRING!

We bid farewell to Jesse Winchester’s singer-songwriter focus today, although I promise that all of his music is in our general rotation every day.

8:00 p.m.  In The Spotlight: The Music of Christine McVie

We close our programming tonight with the heart and soul of Fleetwood Mac (sorry, Stevie), the late, great Christine McVie. We include not only her Fleetwood Mac songs, but her early blues work with Chicken Shack and her solo work.

It’s officially Friday, the end of the work week (for some lucky people who don’t work retail). Tomorrow, you’re officially ‘weekenders’ here in The Mermaid Lounge! We’re on 24/7, we’re totally free, and we do not air commercial advertising. What could be better?

Just Push Play.

Thursday It’s Our ‘Here Comes The Night’ EP, Then Our AOW and ‘Live’ Dylan & The Heartbreakers, December 14, 2023

Today brings the downslide to the weekend and we start the morning with songs about the night time, then it’s on to The Boogaloo Swamis and Dylan’s True Confessions tour with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers!

Here’s your Thursday lineup:

9:00 a.m.  Here Comes The Night: Various Artists

We start the morning with songs about the night from Warren Zevon, J. Geils Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Them, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, Electric Prunes, The Ronettes, John Cougar Mellencamp, The Doors, Emmylou Harris, Poco, Neil Diamond, The Animals, The Band, The Rolling Stones, Steve Winwood, Don McLean, Cat Stevens, The Traveling Wilburys, Sam Cooke, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt and more!

4:00 p.m.  Album of The Week: Down At The Roadhouse by The Boogaloo Swamis

The Swamis are back with their great brand of Cajun-Zydeco music. This band is a serendipitous find from the days of my youth.

7:00 p.m.  Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live at The Cal Expo Amphitheater, Sacramento, CA, June 12, 1986

Perhaps this was a little bit of a foreshadowing of things to come with The Traveling Wilburys here. Two brilliant musical entities on the road together on Dylan’s True Confessions Tour. Tonight we’re airing the Sacramento show.

Here we are again in The Mermaid Lounge as I prepare to turn the reigns over to The Music Mermaid. She will keep the boat afloat!

Here Comes The Night

At Midweek It’s the ‘Music From Laurel Canyon’ EP, Jesse Winchester and Tim Hardin, Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Good morning, music lovers! Today we give you five uninterrupted hours of music from Laurel Canyon, Jesse Winchester is our singer-songwriter, and we spotlight folk legend Tim Hardin later.

Here’s your midweek music:

9:00 a.m.  Music From Laurel Canyon: Various Artists

Back in the day, the British musicians were taken by our Laurel Canyon artists, and vice versa. It’s called cross-fertilization. And Laurel Canyon was the home for two generations of American musicians like The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Beach Boys, The Doors, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, The Monkees, CSNY, Manassas, John Mayall, J.D. Souther, Linda Ronstadt, Harry Nilsson, The Eagles, Canned Heat, Carole King, James Taylor, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Jimi Hendrix and more!

4:00 p.m.  Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Jesse Winchester

Jesse Winchester returns for his second turn as our featured singer-songwriter.

8:00 p.m.  In The Spotlight: The Music of Tim Hardin NEW!

Tim Hardin’s heroin addiction kept him from superstar status, but his songs found their way into the hands of many musicians during the sixties and seventies. Sadly, Hardin died in 1980 of a heron overdose at the young age of 39. Tonight, we put Tim Hardin in the spotlight where he belongs.

It’s midweek; also known as Hump Day. This is the perfect midweek break. Tune us in. All you need is a computer and a free tab. No credit card required.

Music From Laurel Canyon!

It’s Tuesday Bluesday With Our Chicago Blues EP, The Boogaloo Swamis, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, December 12, 2023

Good morning, bluesologists, and welcome to Tuesday Bluesday. Today we enjoy the blues from the Windy City to start off, then it’s our AOW and a Stevie Ray Vaughan spotlight.

Here’s your Tuesday Bluesday lineup:

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

We’ve got the bluesy sounds of Chicago with 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 p.m. Album of The Week: Down At The Roadhouse by The Boogaloo Swamis

Some of the best Cajun-Zydeco music on the planet was delivered by this unknown, Boston-based band back in the days of the great music clubs that were all around the city and its suburbs. Today we share it with you.

7:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan, with and without Double Trouble, is in our Spotlight to close out the Tuesday Bluesday programming.

Here we are again on one of the busiest days her in The Mermaid Lounge. Plenty of room for everyone here. No need to worry about the charges. We’re on 24/7 and we’re free 24/7.

Tuesday Bluesday!

Welcome to Monday, Monday With The Beatles, David Crosby and Our ‘Out In The Cold’ Playlist, December 11, 2023

Good morning, workers! We’ve got a great day lined up for you musically starting with one of our House Bands known as The Beatles.

Here’s your musical lineup:

10:00 a.m. The Beatles: Songs With John Lennon on Keyboards NEW!

A listener suggested we expand our Beatles horizon with some new playlists, so we’re doing just that. Today we kick one off with Beatle songs with Mr. Lennon playing all kinds of keys, like piano, electric piano, harpsichord, Hammond organ and any other kind of keyboard instrument you might find.

3:00 p.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of David Crosby

Haven’t cued this one up in a bit, so we’ve got it lined up for mid-afternoon. Personality conflicts abound in musical groups, and CSNY was no exception. Yet they managed to leave us an incredible body of music, and David Crosby was an influence for more than half a century as a solo artist, with CSNY and as a founding member of The Byrds.

7:00 p.m. Out In The Cold: Various Artists

Not an EP, but a great playlist about the weather with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Marshall Tucker Band, Bill Withers, The Beatles, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, Martha & The Vandellas and more!

Monday’s always better with good music, and we’ve got plenty of that here. We’re on 24/7; not just when we have scheduled programming. And we’re totally free to the public with no commercial interruption. Get on it! Don’t be left out in the cold (he, he, he).

Monday, Monday. (Sigh.)

Our Simple Sunday Fare Includes The Boogaloo Swamis With Our AOW and the ‘Color My World’ EP, December 10, 2023

Good morning, weekenders! We are here in the Boston area with temps of about 55 degrees slated for today, absurd for December in New England. People just seem to love the effects of global warming. That’s all I hear. Just wait. That’s all I can say.

Here’s your Sunday Funday lineup:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Down At The Roadhouse by The Boogaloo Swamis NEW!

More than likely, you’ve never heard of this Boston-based band unless you have sought out Cajun and Zydeco music, but I learned about them at Johnny D’s Uptown, a favorite haunt of my youth. They are a fantastic band playing some of the best New Orleans sounds on the planet. These days, you can only get their music on Ebay or Discogs. We have been on a search for more, and we’ve finally found some. It’s on the way. Get ready by listening to this great album.

3:00 p.m. Color My World: Various Artists

Primary colors are a popular topic in the music world. We’ve got an entire EP about color from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Donovan, Booker T & The MG’s, Electric Light Orchestra, Procol Harum, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Amy Winehouse, Sam & Dave, Badfinger, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Elvis Costello, Neil Young, Jefferson Airplane, The Hollies, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Cream, Marvin Gaye, Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, J.D. Souther, Linda Ronstadt and more!

Sunday’s here. A day of rest. If you believe in The Big Guy, he even took the day off. So, do it. And while you’re doing it, listen to some great music. This is the place to be. There’s absolutely no charge; there are no commercials; and there is no red tape. Just push the button below.

Just Push Play.

Saturday Brings Maria Muldaur’s AOW, Our ‘M is For Motown’ EP and Jesse Winchester as Our Singer-Songwriter, December 9, 2023

Good morning, weekenders! We have arrived at the weekend. Today we bid farewell to Maria Muldaur’s AOW, give you five hours of Motown and Jesse Winchester as our featured singer-songwriter.

Here’s your musical lineup:

9:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Richland Woman Blues by Maria Muldaur FINAL AIRING!

Today we bid farewell to this great blues album by Maria Muldaur and her friends (Bonnie Raitt, John Sebastian, Tracy Nelson and so many more).

11:00 a.m. M Is For Motown: Various Artists

We’ve got all the artists that put Motown on the map, including Barrett Strong, Eddie Kendricks, Eddie Holland, Edwin Starr, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Jackson Five, Kim Weston, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, The Temptations, The Contours, Rare Earth, Mary Wells, Tammi Terrell, Diana Ross & The Supremes and more!

8:00 p.m. Singer-Songwriter Series: The Music of Jesse Winchester NEW!

The first time I saw Jesse Winchester he opened for Emmylou Harris at the Music Hall in Boston. The next time I saw him, he was the headliner at the same venue. I loved him both times. Jesse Winchester was a quiet star in the music business, an exceptional songwriter respected by his peers who found their own voice through Winchester’s songs, like Patti Page, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia and so many more.

It’s the weekend, peeps! I’ve got one more day, then I’ve got Sunday and Monday for my weekend. The Music Mermaid will keep the ship on course while I’m away.

M Is For Motown!