Tag: Linda Ronstadt

It’s Sunday and Linda Ronstadt Owns Our Album of The Week, We Have Chosen Petty’s Top 50 Songs, and Truffle Brings Up The Rear With a Great Live Performance, January 10, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists! We have a great line-up for you today, including our new Album of The Week and our first attempt to list Tom Petty’s Top 50 songs.

Tom Petty’s music will stand the test of time.

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: We Ran by Linda Ronstadt NEW!

By 1998, when this album was released, Linda Ronstadt was an accomplished veteran of the music scene, and certainly a pioneer for all women in the male-oriented rock world who had more than made her mark. As such, she was at the stage of her career where she could make anything she wanted. And she did. This was effectively her final rock n’ roll album, interpreting songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Bruce Springsteen, and Naomi Neville. Neville’s Ruler of My Heart and Hiatt’s We Ran were the hooks for me.

As for the musicians who contributed to this album? They were the best of the best: Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers, Bernie Leadon (formerly of The Eagles), drummer Russ Kunkel, and guitarists Andy Fairweather Low, Waddy Wachtel, and Bob Glaub.

This is probably her most eclectic album ever, and one of my favorites.

2:00 p.m. Deb’s Stream: Tom Petty’s Top 50 Songs NEW!

Someone sent me an email about two months ago challenging me to do this, so I finally found some time to make it happen. This includes Petty’s solo work, and his work with The Heartbreakers, Mudcrutch, and The Traveling Wilburys. It’s my Top 50. For now. This is subject to change without notice, by the way.

The playlist will be up under the Playlist tab prior to the airing.

7:00 p.m. Truffle Live at The House of Haze, Farmington, New Hampshire, October 18, 2020

We are giving some airtime here to a great local band whose music embodies everything we play here on #BecomeUngovernable Radio. In case you missed this airing the first time around, we are rerunning it this evening, and we will be adding their collection to our standard rotation over the next few weeks.

Who the hell knows what it takes to get people to tune in. At least here in America, where they appear to be a bit slow on the uptake on many issues. Perhaps they prefer endless talk, commercials or paying for what they used to get for free (shades of Tom Petty’s The Last DJ. Hey, Hey, Hey).

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

It’s Sunday Funday in The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 1/10/2021

We almost never sleep here in The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge. We have your trivia lesson for this fine Sunday morning. The Beatles continue to dominate and Linda Ronstadt’s career takes off.

Linda Ronstadt’s “Heart Like A Wheel” entered the Top 10 on the Album charts on this day.

Here’s today’s lesson:

January 10, 1956: Elvis Presley recorded music for his new record label, RCA, including Heartbreak Hotel, I Was The One, I’m Counting On You, I Got A Woman, and Money Honey.

January 10, 1963: The Beatles released their second single in the UK called Please Please Me.

January 10, 1964: The Beatles release their first US album, Introducing The Beatles.

Also on this fine day, The Whiskey A Go Go opens its doors on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. It will play host to the likes of The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Rivers and many others.

January 10, 1967: Jimi Hendrix started a recording contract with Track Records and recorded Purple Haze on this day.

Also, The Hollies, one of the greatest British Invasion bands, began recording On A Carousel.

January 10, 1969: The Beatles (aka, The White Album) was unstoppable. After just five weeks of release total, it notched week number three at #1.

Also on this day, Marvin Gaye celebrated five weeks at #1 on the R & B charts with his remake of I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

January 10, 1971: Chicago released Chicago III. They were still innovative and hot at this stage of the game. This was before they went Christian elevator music and dropped off our radar. (Hint: Terry Kath was still alive and Peter Cetera was not in charge.)

January 10 1975: Linda Ronstadt’s brilliant album, Heart Like A Wheel, entered the Top 10 on this day. In spite of the fact that most music outlets treat women as though they were second-class music citizens, we do not. Heart Like A Wheel was Ronstadt’s first #1 album on The Billboard Top 200, and it spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart in 1975. It spent 51 weeks on the charts, produced two #1 hit songs, sold more than a million copies, and won her a Grammy award. Anything else required here?

And, oh yeah, I forgot that Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir was performed for the first time at The Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. I guess this was more newsworthy than Linda Ronstadt’s news (a great deal of snark here).

Born On This Day

January 10, 1917: Jerry Wexler was born on this day in New York City. He will be responsible for the success of greats Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin and Wicked Wilson Pickett.

January 10, 1935: Ronnie Hawkins, whose band The Hawks is a precursor to one of my favorites, The Band, was born in Huntsville, Alabama.

January 10, 1939: Scott McKenzie, who performed one of the greatest sixties anthems of all time, San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers in Your Hair), was born in Jacksonville, Florida.

January 10, 1948: Donald Fagan of the great Steely Dan was born in Passaic, New Jersey.

January 10, 1956: Folk singer Shawn Colvin was born in South Dakota. Her song Sunny Came Home, pretty much about a woman who burns her house down, will win the Grammy for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1998.

And that’s about it from The College because we don’t give a shit about Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga. Have a great day.

The Women Own It: We Have Young Linda Ronstadt and The All-Girl Revue 4 Sandwiched Around The Final Airing of The Shadow, Friday, January 8, 2021

Good Morning, Music Lovers! The ladies own the day today, and rightfully so. And by the way, there is no other radio station shining a light on women in rock music.

We’re all in on The women of rock n’ roll today. Get with the damned program.

Here’s your line-up for this fine day:

11:00 a.m. Linda Ronstadt: The Stone Poneys & The Early Years

A pretty concise retrospective here of Linda Ronstadt’s beginnings, before she stole that show on that Neil Young arena tour and before Heart Like A Wheel launched her incredible career. The groundwork was laid with The Stone Poneys and her early contributions.

3:00 p.m. The Shadow: 06 House of Horror FINAL AIRING!

Our final airing of this week’s episode of The Shadow. On Monday, we will have episode seven.

7:00 p.m. The All-Girl Revue, Volume 4: Various Artists

It’s funny how women continue to be a footnote in rock n’ roll history. There is so much evidence of their contribution that it cannot legitimately be denied. Here in The Mermaid Lounge, we don’t view rock n’ roll as strictly a man’s world. The evidence is quite to the contrary.

In this volume of The All-Girl Revue you’ll hear Linda Ronstadt, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Valerie Carter, Petula Clark, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Carly Simon, and many more!

Tune us in. We’re free. I mean, really free: No credit card or personal information required. All you need is a computer ad a free tab. No shit. No lie.

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Greetings and Salutations From The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 1/4/2021

Good Morning, Students! It’s another happy Monday here in The College, and we’re delivering all the musical news that’s fit to print:

One year before her explosion on the music world, Linda Ronstadt opened for Neil Young on tour and stole the shows. Literally.

Here’s today’s lesson:

January 4, 1936: The first pop music chart based on national sales was introduced by Billboard.

January 4, 1950: RCA Victor announces that they will manufacture long playing (LP) records.

January 4, 1954: (Just about one month before I was born.) A young truck driver named Elvis Presley pays to record two songs at the Memphis Recording Service (MRS). It’s his second visit, and this time MRS head Sam Phillips gets his name and number. Later, he phones Elvis and asks him to record for his Sun label.

January 4, 1957: Solomon Burke makes his debut on The Steve Allen Show.

January 4, 1967: The Doors release their self-titled debut album.

Also on this day, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of what would be over 240 gigs when they appeared at the Bromel Club in Bromley.

January 4, 1969: Marvin Gaye extended his stay at #1 to four weeks with I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Again, I reiterate, Marvin Gaye remade the song, not Gladys Knight & The Pips. She released it a year earlier than Marvin Gaye did, and it went to #1 then as well. They don’t mention that. They call hers the remake.

January 4, 1970: George Harrison recorded the second guitar solo and McCartney, Harrison and Starr re-recorded vocals for Let It Be. This is the final recording session for The Beatles. John Lennon isn’t even present for the session. The last time all four Beatles were together in a studio was August of 1969.

January 4, 1973: Lamar Williams joined The Allman Brothers Band, replacing the late Berry Oakley.

Also on this day, Neil Young kicked off his Time Fades Away tour in Madison, Wisconsin, with Linda Ronstadt as the opening act. Ronstadt is used to playing the club scene and has never performed in an arena setting. Nevertheless, she wows the audiences througout the tour with that fucking amazing voice, literally stealing the show along the way. The following year, she releases Heart Like A Wheel and begins her meteoric rock n’ roll rise.

January 4, 1974: Bruce Springsteen played the first of three nights at Joe’s Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Born On This Day

January 4, 1942: John McLaughlin (The Mahavishnu Orchestra) was born in Doncaster, England. In 2010, Jeff Beck called him ‘the best guitarist alive.’

January 4, 1946: R & B singer Arthur Conley, best known for his 1967 hit Sweet Soul Music, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

And that is the end of today’s lesson! Back with the line-up soon.

By The Way, Did I Mention Our Recent General Rotation Upgrade? I Think Not.

I’m pretty sure I did not mention this, but we did do a recent music upgrade. In several cases, we added to artist libraries, but in a few cases, we added brand new artists.

Truffle. A new old local New England band. We’ve added some. We’ll be adding more.

Here’s the rundown:

Brand New Additions

Truffle, Peter & Gordon (it has been a long time coming), Hot Tuna, Jim Croce, and B. J. Thomas

Expanded Libraries

Buddy Guy, LaVern Baker, Chicago, Jackie Wilson, Wendy Waldman, Linda Ronstadt (Winter Light and We Ran), Joan Baez, The Neville Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Roy Orbison, The Highwaymen, Tim Hardin, Jackie DeShannon, The Grateful Dead (live shows literally weekly), and Guy Clark

This was a first pass. We have more to add and will be doing so soon. I have a couple more days off coming up this week and will be working on this. Feverishly, I might add. Because The Music Mermaid is bitching that her download bucket is full.

Good Morning From the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/24/2020

Greetings and Salutations from The College this morning. Yes, here we are in New England, where it will go to 50 degrees today, and where we will have a massive rain storm with thunder and winds tomorrow. Where the actual fuck am I?

The Beatles. They changed everything.

Here’s today’s pre-Christmas lesson:

December 24, 1965: Once again, The Beatles own the #1 album at Christmas with Rubber Soul. This is their third year in a row. In 1964, it was Beatles For Sale, and in 1963, it was With The Beatles. They would repeat this feat again in 1968 with The Beatles (read: The White Album), and in 1969 with Abbey Road.

December 24, 1966: On Christmas eve 1966, Tommy James & The Shondells record I Think We’re Alone Now. It will become the band’s fourth #1 song in the US, selling over a million copies.

Also on this day, (I Know) I’m Losing You by the Temptations take over the #1 spot on the R & B charts, replacing You Keep Me Hanging On by The Supremes.

December 24, 1972: Meanwhile, in Miama, the police shut down a concert by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band because of a noise complaint, resulting in a full-fledged riot. During this shitshow, the band hid in a dressing room. The riot went on for two hours. So much for all that noise.

December 24, 1974: James Taylor, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell are spotted on the streets of Los Angeles singing Christmas carols. Can you imagine having the four of them stop in front of your house?

December 24, 1976: The Eagles‘ Hotel California, their sixth album, goes Platinum and begins the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at #1. It was their first album with Joe Walsh on lead guitar and their last with Randy Meisner on bass guitar.

December 24, 1977: Simple Dreams was the biggest album of Linda Ronstadt’s brilliant career. On this day it remained at #1 for a fourth week.

Born On This Day

December 24, 1920: Dave Bartholomew, co-writer and producer of Fats Domino’s Ain’t It A Shame and Blue Monday was born in Edgard, Louisiana.

December 24, 1924: Lee Dorsey, famous for his 1961 song Ya Ya, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

December 24, 1968: Doyle Bramhall II, guitarist and songwriter who worked with Freddie King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, was born in Dallas, Texas.

And that’s today’s lesson from the College of Rock N’ Roll Knowledge! We’ll be back with today’s line up shortly!

Here’s Your Tuesday (Bluesday) Lesson From The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/22/2020!

Yes, it’s Tuesday Bluesday in The Mermaid Lounge, and the lesson is lighter than usual today. Seems it’s not a very eventful day in music history, unless you’re talking about shit we don’t play.

The Beatles Live at The Empire Theatre, Liverpool, December 22, 1963.

Here’s today’s musical lesson:

December 22, 1956: Elvis Presley finished the year with 17 hit songs, a record that would stand until the year 1964 — when The Beatles had 30. (Yes, I said 30.)

December 22, 1962: Bob Dylan played at the Singer’s Club Christmas Party in London.

Also on this day, one of the greatest instrumental songs ever recorded, Telstar by the Tornadoes, went to #1. And yes it was a tribute to the satellite.

December 22, 1963: The Beatles performed at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.

December 22, 1972: Led Zeppelin performed at Alexandra Palace in London.

December 22, 1973: Elton John moved to #1 on the UK Album chart with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

December 22, 1978: Kenney Jones, formerly of Faces, was chosen as the new drummer for The Who. He replaced Keith Moon, who had passed away a couple of months earlier.

December 22, 1979: The Pretenders performed at the Marquee Club in London.

December 22, 1980: Linda Ronstadt debuted on Broadway in the Gilbert & Sullivan production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Uris Theatre.

Also on this date, Pat Benatar’s first hit — Heartbreaker — debuted on the charts.

Born On This Day

December 22, 1939: James Gurley, guitarist for Big Brother & The Holding Company, was born in Detroit.

December 22, 1944: Barry Jenkins, drummer for The Animals, was born in Leicester, England.

And that signals the end of today’s lesson. We’ll be back with the Tuesday Bluesday line-up in just a bit.

Our Rock, Blues and Ballads Playlist, The Final Airing of The Shadow, and The Doors Live From Vancouver…With A Special Sit-in Guest on Friday, December 18, 2020

Today’s entry from The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge might have been sparse, but the music from The Mermaid Lounge certainly isn’t. You don’t want to miss The Doors tonight. They have a special guest sitting in.

Albert King will be sitting in with The Doors tonight at 7:00 here from The Mermaid Lounge.

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. Rock, Blues and Ballads: Various Artists

We haven’t heard this one in a while, and it’s a great smorgasbord of artists, including Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder, James Taylor, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon, Neil Young, J.J. Cale, Long John Baldry, Harry Nilsson, Emmylou Harris and more!

The Playlist for this can be found on the blog under the Playlist tab. Just scroll and you’ll find it!

3:00 p.m. The Shadow 03: Death From The Deep FINAL AIRING!

This is the third and final airing of this week’s episode of The Shadow. On Monday, we’ll have a new one!

7:00 p.m. The Doors Live at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia, June 6, 1970 NEW!

The official Roadhouse Blues Tour, and the Doors have a special guest named Albert King sitting in with them on four songs tonight…all Blues classics. So tune us in.

The Playlist for this performance is under the Playlist tab of this blog. Just scroll to the bottom!

We’re free. Nobody has to “subscribe” to our radio station. Nobody has to provide us with a credit card or personal information. There is no advertising. And our DJ doesn’t have diarrhea of the mouth either.

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It’s Snowing Like a Mother Outside The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/17/2020

Here we are on a snowy day bringing you all the news you need to know to impress friends and family alike!

Carroll James, the first DJ to play a Beatles record on the airwaves in the U.S. You will get all the details below!

December 17, 1954: Bill Haley & The Comets’ Rock Around The Clock becomes the first rock n’ roll song to enter the UK singles charts. I was ten months old.

December 17, 1955: With their hit Only You still at #2, the Platters’ The Great Pretender enters the charts at #13.

December 17, 1963: Carroll James a disc jockey at WWDC in Washington, D.C., becomes the first DJ to play a Beatles’ song on American airwaves. The song is I Want To Hold Your Hand, which he got from his airline stewardess girlfriend who bought a copy when she was in the UK. Because of high listener demand, James helps out the Beatles by playing the song every day, every hour. Because it had not yet been released in the US, Capitol Records initially considered legal action against the station but, instead, thought better of it and simply released the song in the US earlier than they planned. The rest, as they say, is history, my friends. Thank you, Carroll James. Forever.

December 17, 1966: Standing In The Shadows of Love by the Four Tops enters the Billboard Hot 100. On it’s ten-week stay on the charts, it will peak at #6. It reaches #2 on the R & B charts.

December 17, 1967: John Lennon and George Harrison throw a party in London for the area secretaries of their official fan club. The film Magical Mystery Tour is screened for the very first time for them.

December 17, 1971: John Lennon appears at a benefit at the Apollo Theater in Harlem for the families of the victims of the Attica State Prison riots.

December 17, 1977: Linda Ronstadt’s career continues to roll along through the seventies as her album, Simple Dreams, remains #1 on the Album charts for a third week.

December 17, 1979: Paul McCartney & Wings play the Glasgow Appollo and record a live version of the great song Coming Up. The song would reach #2 in the UK and will top the charts in the US, selling 4 million copies.

Born On This Day

December 17, 1937: Art Neville, keyboardist for the Neville Brothers (you can hear them here, people), was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

December 17, 1939: Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations was born in Union Springs, Alabama. His falsetto voice is heard on the great Temptations hits The Way You Do The Things You Do and Just My Imagination.

December 17, 1942: Paul Butterfield (the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) was born in Chicago.

December 17, 1949: Paul Rogers, lead singer and lyricist for both Free and Bad Company, was born in Middlesbrough, England.

December 17, 1950: Carlton “Carlie” Barrett, drummer for The Wailers, was born in Kingston, Jamaica.

And there you have it for today because we don’t give a shit about Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus. You’ll never hear them here.

Here’s Wednesday’s Lesson From The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge: 12/16/2020

It’s another fairly active day at the College. We’ve got all sorts of information of a musical historical nature for you, including some amazing CCR history!

The extraordinary Creedence Clearwater Revival, led by John Fogerty.

Here’s your mid-week lesson!

December 16, 1957: Sam Cooke remained at #1 on the R & B charts for a fourth week with the great song, You Send Me.

December 16, 1965: The Beatles’ We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper, released as a Double-A side 45, both hit #1 in the UK on this date.

December 16, 1966: The Jimi Hendrix Experience released Hey Joe (their first single release) in the UK.

December 16, 1967: The Rolling Stones announced that Marianne Faithful was the first artist signed to their new Mother Earth Records.

Also on this day, the Lemon Pipers release the single Green Tambourine. (There are just those sixties songs that stick with you. This is one of them. You know, like Incense & Peppermints.)

And also on December 16, 1967: Gladys Knight & The Pips remained at #1 on the R & B chart for a third week with I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

December 16, 1968: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band released their first career single, Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.

December 16, 1970: Creedence Clearwater Revival was as good as any band of its time. They made some amazing music. On this day they were rewarded with five gold records for: Down On The Corner, Lookin’ Out My Back Door, Travelin’ Band, Bad Moon Rising and Up Around The Bend. They were also awarded 5 gold albums for the following LPs: Cosmo’s Factory, Willy & The Poor Boys, Green River, Bayou Country, and the self-titled, Creedence Clearwater Revival.

December 16, 1974: John Lennon released the single #9 Dream.

Also on this day, America released the single Lonely People.

December 16, 1986: Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram released the single Somewhere Out There.

December 16, 1995: The Beatles’ Free As A Bird peaks at #2 on the UK charts and #6 in the US. It was written and recorded as a demo by John Lennon shortly before his murder. The rest of the Beatles complete the single in Paul’s home studio.

December 16, 1997: Nicolette Larson, who had a hit with Neil Young’s Lotta’ Love, and who worked with Linda Ronstadt, The Doobie Brothers, The Beach Boys, and Jimmy Buffett, died in LA at the age of 45.

December 16, 2007: Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg died at his home in Deer Island, Maine, at the age of 56, after a three-year battle with prostate cancer.

Born On This Day

December 16, 1945: Tony Hicks, guitarist for The Hollies, was born in Nelson, Lancashire, England.

December 16, 1949: Billy Gibbons, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for ZZ Top, was born in Houston, Texas.

And thus ends today’s lesson from The College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge!