Key to the Highway                 

2018-01-10      2-5pm                    

Recap of the last 15 months, part 2

*************************

As we begin a new year, we air the second part of our listen back to the music from recent months while this written portion takes a look ahead, including some changes that are happening already.  There are no new biographies, but all the past essays are still available at key2highway.blogspot, and the included roster of dates and artists for the last fifteen months can direct you to easily find whomever you might have missed or just wish to look at again.

This past year, our format evolved to where I include three artists (sometimes more, seldom less) in each show and I wish for each of them to be different from but complementary to each other.  My first love has always been the guitar-centric, urban, electric, full band Blues and that will almost always be included, but you have surely noticed that I have been including a good amount of Jazz as well.  This would fall into a second category, that of horn-based musics with at least a tinge of Blues in the content, not only Jazz but also good Soul (we heard Sam and Dave in 2017) and earlier R&B styles such as Jump Blues (Louis Jordan, Roy Milton, Ruth Brown, etc.).  The third artist is determined by the others, but probably most often will be a piano player / group or we might go way back to the earliest commercial recordings (such as when we aired some Cannon’s Jug Stompers, the only time we went that far back last year) including one show I have in mind which will be half-consumed by some tracks ranging from 1893 to 1924.  Not sure yet who I will add to that lineup, but I am leaning towards using it on my annual pre-Oldies marathon show.  1950s?  Oldies, you say?  Ya gotta hear this!

It seems the first part of the year is filled with annuals, like the St’ Patty’s Day and Mardi Gras specials and the end of each March I like to do a show which kinda has my mother in mind, then specials before the Jazz, Oldies and, of course, Blues marathons. Johnnie Cozmik (J.C. Smith) should be coming out with a new CD soon and I have had the honor of the first airings for his last few releases and am looking forward to it once again.  These are the only shows where I anticipate any variation from the norm.

Regarding my increased listening to Jazz, as I said earlier, the Blues will always be #1, but I do need to breathe a little life into my library every now and then and, after about fifty years of Blues collecting (Oh crap!  Am I really getting that old?!?), if there was something I truly wanted I would probably already have it, hence the opening for Jazz.  Plus, I often like to fall asleep to music and find vocals distracting (to me, many vocals belong in an elevator or a dumpster), leaving instrumental Jazz the solution.  Still, any music I present you will hold up to my basic guidelines of an active rhythm section and mostly up tempo.  A long time ago, I mentioned to someone that I wanted my listeners to be robustly tapping their pencils to the music until the boss comes up and asks to tone it down a bit; that image remains strong in my mind.

Lots of good things coming up, but in the meantime enjoy today’s show.

*************************

2016-09-14
Freddie King
Electric Flag
Joe Houston
Andy Mazzilli
Clarence “Pinetop” Smith

2016-09-28

Louis Jordan
Frankie Lee Sims
Big Maybelle
John Littlejohn

2016-10-12

Jimmy Dawkins
Blind Willie Johnson
Nappy Brown   (music not available)

2016-12-28   No American (Trump protest)

Wailin’ Walker
Boppin’ Blues Band
Carlos del Junco

2017-01-25

Deanna Bogart  
Luther “Snake” Johnson
Louis Jordan

2017-02-08

Billy Boy Arnold
Lou Donaldson
Johnny Shines

2017-02-22   Mardi Gras
Buckwheat Zydeco  (music not available)
John Mooney
Huey “Piano” Smith

2017-03-08   (disc malfunction, unavailable)

2017-03-22   post-St. Patty’s

Phil Seamen
Various Brit

2017-03-29  

Big Maceo Merriweather
Lionel Hampton
Luther Allison

2017-04-26   Jazz marathon edition

Chick Webb
Mose Allison   (Jazz side)
Octobop

2017-05-10                

Jimmy Yancey        
Sam and Dave       
Shakey Jake Harris

2017-05-24

Magic Sam
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Luther Allison
Michael Bloomfield

2017-06-18 Monterey Pop 50^th Anniversary

2017-08-09   Chuck Berry   (Oldies ‘thon edition)

2017-08-23

Hound Dog Taylor
Earl Hooker
Sunnyland Slim

2017-08-30

Jimmy Witherspoon
Freddie King
ZZ Top
Johnny Winter

2017-09-13

Roy Milton & his Solid Senders
Cannon’s Jug Stompers
Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson

2017-09-27

Tiny Bradshaw
Siegel-Schwall Blues Band
Henry Butler  
(Walter Barnes story)

2017-10-25

Ruth Brown
Buddy Guy

2017-11-08

Canned Heat
Memphis Slim
Cannonball Adderly

2017-11-22   with Gil

Memphis Blues
Chicago Blues Band (including John Lee Hooker)

2017-11-29   Canada vacation edition

Nigel Mack and the Blues Attack
Harpdog Brown
Powder Blues

2017-12-13

Luther Allison
John Handy
Mose Allison (Blues side)

*************************

Since it is still relatively new, I thought I’d mention that KKUP is now streaming on the internet and, while it is still in a developing stage, we have been putting out the word.  I’m not all of that good with high-tech stuff, but it seems pretty easy to access.  If you go to our website at KKUP.org you will see on the home page a strip of options immediately above the pictures of the musicians the next to the last option being LISTEN ONLINE.  By clicking this, it brings up a choice of desktop or mobile.  I can only speak for the desktop but after maybe a minute I was receiving a crystal clear feed.  As already mentioned, this is still a work in progress and we are currently limited to a finite number of listeners at any one time.  I mention this so you will be aware to turn off the application when you are not actually listening.  (I put the player in my favorites bar for the easiest of access.)  Now we can reach our listeners in Los Gatos and Palo Alto, even my family in Canada.  Let your friends elsewhere know they can now listen to your favorite station, and while they have the home page open they can check out our schedule.

*************************

Death Has No Mercy
   Henry Butler
Darktown Strutters’ Ball
   Tiny Bradshaw
Goin’ to New York
   The Siegel-Schwall Blues Band
Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean
   Ruth Brown
Messin’ with the Kid
   Junior Wells (Buddy Guy guitar)
A Liitle Taste
   Cannonball Adderly
Four O’Clock Boogie
   Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon
Whole Lotta Lovin’
   The Powder Blues Band
Moose on the Loose
   Harpdog Brown
Hard Work
   John Handy
V-8 Ford Blues
   Mose Allison   42mins

      LIVE PORTION of the SHOW

2 unidentified tunes from JJ’s 2002
   Andy Mazzilli
You Don’t Love Me
   Nigel Mack and the Blues Attack
Highway 61 Revisited
   Johnny Winter
Forty-Four
   Carlos del Junco
Jailhouse Rock
   ZZ Top   37mins

Wake Me, Shake Me

   The Blues Project
‘Fore Day Train
   Sunny Blake
Early in the Morning
   Booker T. Laury
Going Down
   Freddie King
My Generation
   The Who   26mins

Foxey Lady

   The Jimi Hendrix Experience      *
Bullfrog Blues
   Canned Heat
Respect
   Otis Redding
Carmelita Skiffle
   Michael Bloomfield
Dimples
   John Lee Hooker   17mins

I Got My Eyes on You

   Buddy Guy
Ain’t Nobody’s Business
   Jimmy Witherspoon
Dancing in the Streets
   The Mams and the Papas
Chicago Boogie Style
   The Chicago Blues Band
Soul Fixin’ Man
   Luther Allison   24mins

Unidentified tune from JJ’s 2002

   Andy Mazzilli
Key to the Highway
   Carlos del Junco   10mins