Category: soft rock

Today We’ve Got Visitors From Across the Pond with ‘The British Are Coming’ and Our New Album From Shawn Colvin, Sunday, July 24, 2022

Good Morning, Weekenders! Today is going to be a hot one, as they say, particularly in the weather sense as we anticipate tickling the 100 degree mark. Trust me. I’m a total Lounge Lizard today.

Here’s your musical programming today:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Steady On by Shawn Colvin NEW!

Today we give you Shawn Colvin’s debut album, released on October 17, 1989. Not only did it help establish Colvin as a folk force to be reckoned with, but it brought her the Grammy for the Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1991. She either wrote or co-wrote every song on the album, and had help from folks like Bruce Hornsby, Suzanne Vega, and Rick Marotta, who also took a turn as Linda Ronstadt’s drummer. It’s a keeper and it makes its Mermaid Lounge debut today at 11:00 a.m.

3:00 p.m. The British Are Coming! Various Artists

Our friends from Across the Pond are back with some great music from The British Invasion and beyond. You’ll hear The Beatles (of course), The Who, The Zombies, Dave Mason, Electric Light Orchestra, The Hollies, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Cream, Queen, the Dave Clark Five, The Bee Gees, The Moody Blues, Rod Stewart, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Them, Herman’s Hermits, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Badfinger, The Yardbirds, Traffic, Elton John, Lulu, Pink Floyd, The Animals, Yes, the Spencer Davis Group, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and more!

As with every Sunday, we’re mostly on Open Stream, and that’s a good thing as we’ve been adding new music over the last couple of weeks. This is a great day to find out what we’re all about, and it won’t cost you a thing to become a fan. Frankly, your money is no good here.

The British Are Coming!

We Start Off the Day Fittingly With Our ‘Ode to Morning’ EP Then Pay Tribute to Ringo Later on Friday, July 8, 2022

Happy 82nd Birthday, Ringo! Still filling stadiums around the world with his All Starr band!

Here’s your Friday lineup:

11:00 a.m. Ode To Morning: Various Artists

We opened the month with our playlist about the night time, so it’s only fitting that we begin the day with our flip-side EP. You will hear Joni Mitchell, The Move, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Nina Simone, Cat Stevens, Hoyt Axton, The Beatles, Neil Young, The Rascals, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Gram Parsons, Simon & Garfunkel, Taj Mahal, Dan Fogelberg, Harry Chapin, Three Dog Night, Ry Cooder, Tim Buckley, Muddy Waters, Linda Ronstadt, Jonathan Edwards, Townes Van Zandt, Pure Prairie League, Bob Dylan, Chris Hillman, Badfinger and more!

7:00 p.m. The Best of Ringo Starr UPDATED AND EXPANDED!

You know, there’s urban legend, and then there’s sheer musical ignorance. The notion that Ringo isn’t a “good” drummer is patently absurd. In fact, his peers will tell you otherwise. Perhaps you should watch this video featuring Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Jim Keltner, Stewart Copeland, Tre Cool, Chad Smith and others. Remember, The Beatles wanted Ringo and stole him from Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, dumping Pete Best in the process. He’s a drummer’s drummer, and most of the criticism is because he isn’t John Bonham with his 40-minute drum solos. But that shit? That shit breaks up the continuity of a song, in my humble opinion. And Ringo was and still is all about giving the song what it needs. His attitude about drum solos is all that it proves is that you took lessons. But best of all is that Ringo is just a good guy who has fun on stage with his All Starr band, and at 82, he’s still filling stadiums to spread his feel-good sounds. Today, we celebrate Ringo’s 82nd birthday (yesterday) with some of our favorites where he was only the drummer, every song he sang solo on as a member of The Beatles, and his own solo stuff.

Get on board the weekend train because we are almost there, people. It’s all downhill from here, as they say. I will, of course, have one day left after today since I toil in the very real world of retail hell in a nation where buying is equated with freedom. So are guns. But we won’t go there. Instead, we’ll focus on the music, so join us. We promise no chatty DJs, and no news here. Just music 24/7. And did I mention we’re totally FREE (in all caps and with NO strings)?

Happy Birthday, Ringo!

We Are at Midweek With Our ‘In Your Dreams’ EP and Our New ‘Long Live the Queens’ Playlist, Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Good Morning, Music Lovers! We are already at midweek and we’ve got great stuff for you today, including our brand new ‘Long Live The Queens’ playlist. Read on for details!

The Queens make their debut at 7:00 p.m. this evening

Here is your midweek lineup:

10:00 a.m. In Your Dreams: Various Artists

Dreams are funny things. Some people have them. Some don’t. But plenty have sung songs about them or we wouldn’t have nearly five hours of uninterrupted music from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Aerosmith, Crowded House, the Moody Blues, Van Morrison, The Eurythmics, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Nanci Griffith, The Electric Prunes, Fleetwood Mac, Roy Orbison, The Mamas & The Papas, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Jimmy Buffett, The Allman Brothers Band, Supertramp, Randy Newman, Aretha Franklin, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Widespread Panic, The Youngbloods, Jimmy Ruffin, Jackson Browne, Mudcrutch, Patsy Cline, Joe Walsh, Dusty Springfield, k.d. lang, and more!

7:00 p.m. Long Live The Queens: Various Artists NEW!

We feature four queens here for you: Linda Ronstadt, the undisputed Queen of Rock; Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul; Irma Thomas, The Soul Queen of New Orleans; and Koko Taylor, Queen of The Blues. Tune in for something really special here.

We’re here every day uninterrupted 24/7 at absofuckinglutely no charge to you. Your money is no good here in The Mermaid Lounge. This is all about the music. Get on board, people. You won’t be disturbed by advertising or overly-chatty DJ’s either.

Long Live The Queens!

We’re at Midweek With Our Second Volume of ‘The Sixties Rotation’ EP and New Live Little Feat Later, Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Good Morning, Music Lovers! Every day after today is one day closer to the weekend! We’ve got volume two of our sixties music EP for you today along with some brand new live Little Feat later.

Here’s your midweek lineup:

11:00 a.m. The Sixties Rotation, Volume Two

This is the second half of our sixties rotation and is, for the most part, focused on the mid-to-late sixties, although I’m sure some earlier stuff has found its way in. You’ll hear music from The Mamas & The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Sly & The Family Stone, The Temptations, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Roy Orbison, The Yardbirds, The Animals, Linda Ronstadt, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Blind Faith, The Spencer Davis Group, Elvis Presley, The Box Tops, The Doors, Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett, The Band, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, The Ronettes, The Kinks, Jimmy Cliff, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Zombies, Donovan, The Velvet Underground, B.B. King, Led Zeppelin, and more!

7:00 p.m. Little Feat Live at Ultrasonic Studios, Hempstead, New York, April 10, 1973 NEW!

Tonight we’ve got Little Feat “live” in a studio setting, broadcast live on WLIR-fm. We realize that Little Feat carried on after Lowell George, but we here in The Mermaid Lounge feel the same way we feel about The Dead. Lowell George was the heart and soul of this band just as Jerry Garcia was the heart and soul of The Grateful Dead. Enjoy.

We’re at midweek and every day beyond this is a day closer to the weekend. We’re here every day 24/7 to help make getting there easier. Know what I mean? Good music goes a long way, and life is too damned short to listen to bad music. It’s even worse when you pay for it and have to listen to commercial advertising. There’s none of that shit here.

The Sixties Rule!

Today We’ve Got Bob Dylan Live at Royal Albert Hall, Songs Banned From the Airwaves, and Our New Seasons Playlist, Monday, June 20, 2022

Good Morning, Music Aficionados! How goes the battle on this fine Monday? We’ve got some great stuff here for you today, including a brand new playlist to close out our programming later.

We start the day off with Dylan live at Royal Albert Hall, vintage 1966

Here’s your Monday lineup:

11:00 a.m. Bob Dylan Live at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK, May 17, 1966

It’s a mystery. Is it May 17 or May 26. Is it the real Royal Albert Hall concert, or the Manchester concert mislabeled as Royal Albert Hall? As far as we can tell, this is the real Royal Albert Hall concert. Either way, it’s vintage early Dylan and it is a milestone in the development of popular music as he moved folk into the electric era. We here in The Mermaid Lounge love a good musical mystery. One thing we’re absolutely sure of is that this is part of what is known as The Bootleg Collection.

3:00 p.m. Banned From the Airwaves: Various Artists

This is a fun one. There are songs that have been banned from all over the spectrum, although you can pretty much catch them on all radio stations in this day and age. Petty’s You Don’t Know How It Feels was initially banned for its reference to weed; both Lola by the Kinks and Arnold Layne by Pink Floyd were banned because of their references to transgender and/or LGBTQ characters; My Generation by The Who was initially banned because it insulted people who stuttered; and McCartney’s Hi Hi Hi, The Everly Brothers’ Wake Up Little Susie, The Doors’ Love Me Two Times and The Stones’ Let’s Spend the Night Together were all initially banned because of references to sex. Listen to the rest and see if you can figure it out.

7:00 p.m. Seasons: Various Artists NEW!

Tonight we close out the programming portion with a brand new playlist about the seasons. Either the word ‘seasons’ appears in the song somewhere or the song references a specific season in some fashion. You’ll hear Bobbie Gentry, Janis Ian, Donovan, Simon & Garfunkel, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Byrds, Johnny Rivers, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Hoyt Axton, Don Henley, Wendy Waldman, The Stone Poneys, Jefferson Airplane, The Kinks, Nina Simone, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Murphy, James Taylor, The Beatles, Eva Cassidy, Eddie Cochran, The Band, Sly & The Family Stone and more!

We’ve got a full house this morning with Germany, Chile, The Netherlands, Russian Federation, our friends from the Faroe Islands, Italy, Greece, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Portugal, Poland, Australia, the UK, along with Texas, Montana, Massachusetts, and New York. When are you logging on?

Put That Cursor Here!

We’re Sliding Toward The Weekend With Bobbie Gentry & Some Friends at BBC Studios, Our ‘Rock, Blues & Ballads’ Playlist, and our AOW, Thursday, June 16, 2022

Good Morning, Musicologists. We’ve got some great new stuff to start off the day today as we’ve discovered a Bobbie Gentry BBC Studios performance with a couple of friends along for support.

A couple of friends dropped by to help Bobbie Gentry out with her BBC Studios show

Here’s Thursday’s lineup:

11:00 a.m. Bobbie Gentry Live at The BBC Studios, London, 1968-1969 NEW!

This was a great find, given the fact that Bobbie Gentry was always a bit reclusive and shunned the limelight. She just wanted to write songs for other people. But she did perform live music, and she did so at BBC Studios in 1968 and 1969. Maybe she brought Donovan and James Taylor along for moral support! We’re glad she did!

3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: American Tune by Eva Cassidy

We’re winding down on this week’s album selection as we’ve reached our next-to-last airing here. The final will be sometime on Saturday. Don’t wait too long!

7:00 p.m. Rock, Blues and Ballads, Volume One: Various Artists

I know. It’s about time I got volume two together. And I totally agree, so it’s on my weekend list. But this one’s pretty damned good and we haven’t heard it in a while. You’ll hear Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Van Morrison, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Tom Petty, Delbert McClinton, Bonnie Raitt, J.J. Cale, Dusty Springfield, Neil Young, Paul McCartney & Wings, Long John Baldry, Randy Newman, Maria Muldaur, Ry Cooder, Gregg Allman, Linda Ronstadt, and more!

We’re sliding steadily toward the weekend here in The Mermaid Lounge, although I’ll grant you it’s not getting here fast enough this week. But good music goes a long way toward making the work week easier, so give us a shot. Because we play some seriously good shit with absolutely no commercial interruption, no chatty disc jockeys who’d rather talk than play music, or cost to you. Not one penny. And we’re open 24/7. What more do you want?

Open 24/7!

Happy Sunday From the Mermaid Lounge Where the Women of Music Own Today’s Programming, June 12, 2022

Good Morning, Folks! It’s Sunday and that’s an official day of rest. If you’re a believer in The Big Guy in the Sky, remember that even he (or she) took today off. The women of music will not be taking today off here. They are fully in charge.

Ladies Day Out starts at 3:00 p.m. EST!

Here’s your Sunday lineup:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: American Tune by Eva Cassidy NEW!

Eva Cassidy was a woman of extraordinary talent with a beautiful voice, and she died far too soon for most people to even know about her. ‘we here learned about her posthumously from a friend. This album is a really interesting album for its time. This kind of album is commonplace now, but it wasn’t so common at the time of its release. It’s a collection of her rehearsal tapes and some live performances that was released seven years after her death. But it’s not just a mere collection of songs thrown together. Give it a listen.

3:00 p.m. Ladies Day Out: Various Artists

The women of music are in control starting at 3:00 p.m. and continuing for several hours as we listen to Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Carly Simon, Chrissie Hynde, Petula Clark, Laura Nyro, Cilla Black, Irma Thomas, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Etta James, Carole King, Maria Muldaur, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Eva Cassidy, Wendy Waldman, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Norah Jones, Phoebe Snow, Nicolette Larson, Valerie Carter, Sheryl Crowe, and more!

Before, in between, and after you’ll hear our great wide Open Stream with The Music Mermaid fully in control. We’re open all day and night, we’re totally free, and we don’t ask for your personal information. We don’t need it because we don’t try to sell you a damned thing.

Ladies Day Out!

Welcome to Saturday in The Mermaid Lounge With Our House Playlist EP, The Final Airing of Our AOW, and LIVE DEAD! Later, April 23, 2022

Good Morning, Musicologists and Audiophiles! It’s another Saturday. Thankfully. And we’ve got a great playlist here with a lot of shit to say about the state of the nation sprinkled in…from the last time we were this pissed off. Call it a musical history lesson.

Here’s your Saturday line-up:

11:00 a.m. The #BecomeUngovernable House Playlist: Various Artists

Today we start the fun with our House EP, just over five hours of music with Barry McGuire, The Temptations, Edwin Starr, Peter Tosh, The Beatles, Genesis, T. Rex, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Country Joe & The Fish, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, CSNY, Pink Floyd, The Animals, Ten Years After, The Plastic Ono Band, Billy Joel, George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Three Dog Night, Jimmy Cliff, Richie Havens, Marvin Gaye, The Association, Phil Ochs, Tom Rush, Pete Seeger, The Band, Nina Simone, and more!

7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Common Sense by John Prine

We bid a fond farewell to this great Priney album today. There’s a reason why this guy is one of the most respected songwriters on the planet. Tomorrow when you roll out of bed, we’ll have a brand new selection for you! And we’re sure you’ll love it.

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, May 11, 1991 NEW!

The Dead at Shoreline again. We’ve aired a couple of others from this venue. This particular show was a benefit for the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and was at a time when a guy named Bruce Hornsby was on keys for the band. Enjoy.

Tune us in, people. I don’t know what else we can say to convince you. We have listeners from around the world and our U.S. listeners are definitely picking up. We have no money for advertising because we do not have any income from advertising. You’ll never hear that on this station. Get with the program, people.

Saturday In The Lounge

It’s A ‘Repeat After Me’ Monday With The Flying Burrito Brothers ‘Live’ and Guy Clark In The Spotlight Later, April 18, 2022

The beginning of another work week is here. We’ve got volume one of our ‘Repeat After Me’ series, The Flying Burrito Brothers ‘live’ at My Father’s Place and Guy Clark bringing up the rear!

Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, and their Flying Burrito Brothers

Here’s your Monday, Monday line-up:

11:00 a.m. Repeat After Me, Volume 1: Various Artists

They say imitation if the sincerest form of flattery, and that is certainly true in the music world. We prove it today with a really fun playlist. We give you the original song, then the reboot as Linda Ronstadt sings Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (not to mention Little Feat and Randy Newman), Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers sing The Animals, Tracy Nelson sings Bob Dylan, Gregg Allman sings Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris covers Simon & Garfunkel, Three Dog Night covers Laura Nyro, Aretha Franklin covers Carole King, The Beatles sing Barrett Strong, and I think you get the message here. Tune this one in. We’ll have volume two on Wedesday!

3:00 p.m. The Flying Burrito Brothers Live at My Father’s Place, Roslyn, New York, November 28,1976

We’ve got a band here that helped pioneer the marriage between country and rock playing at a legendary venue. My Father’s Place at The Roslyn Hotel opened in 1971 and “created a scene that would influence music for decades to come,” according to the New York Times. They were spot on.

7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Guy Clark

I remember seeing this guy one very cold, snowy night as my friends and I were freezing our asses off running round Harvard Square in Cambridge getting stoned. We were freezing and one of the greatest music venues, Passim’s Coffee House, was open and serving stuff that was warm. We went in. The cover wasn’t expensive, so we took a table. And when Guy Clark came out, someone we’d never heard before, we had our minds completely blown. He’s been a favorite ever since, and is certainly one of the greatest singer-songwriters I’ve ever experienced.

Tune us in, folks. We’re here 24/7 at absofuckinglutely no charge to you. Ever. We’re also commercial-free and run more open stream than programming. We make it count.

Monday, Monday

A Little Bunny Told Me This Is a Folk Music Day, So We’ve Got John Prine With Our AOW and Our ‘Folk Music From A-To-Z’ EP, Sunday, April 17, 2022

Good Morning, Music Lovers! We’ve got a great music day today, particularly if you like folk music…so, I’m all in. We’ve got our great multi-artist playlist to kick it all off!

Here’s your Easter Sunday line-up:

11:00 a.m. Folk Music From A-To-Z: Various Artists

We switch gears a bit here and open with an EP today from some of the greatest folk artists of all time and some whose music has been inspired by them, including Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, The Stone Poneys, John Prine, Dave Van Ronk, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, Odetta, Cat Stevens, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Beatles, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, The Band, Eric Andersen, Harry Chapin, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith, Joan Baez, Jesse Winchester, and more!

7:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Common Sense by John Prine NEW!

Released in 1975, Common Sense is John Prine’s fourth studio album. It was produced by Steve Cropper and recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis and Larabee Stuios in Los Angeles. The album features help from old friends Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey, and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn who played in Booker T. & The MG’s with Cropper. John Prine was a master at his craft, a master storyteller with a wry sense of humor who always had something to say. His masterpiece, Angel From Montgomery, helped put Bonnie Raitt on the map.

Come on. The Bunny commands you to tune in today. Pull up a hard-boiled egg and a Mimosa and get in on all the fun here from The Mermaid Lounge. You won’t regret it.

It’s Prine Time!