Threads and Tangents Music Hour

We'll hear: Maddy Prior, 10cc, Eels, Frightened Rabbits, Martha & the Muffins, Breathe Owl Breathe, Morphine, The Ramones, Paul deLay, Meat Puppets, Sleater-Kinney, R.E.M., Wire, and Peter Gabriel.
Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

This week we’ll hear music that was added to the National Recording Registry in 2026.We'll hear: Spike Jones & His City Slickers, Pérez Prado y Su Orquesta, Ruth Brown, Oliver Nelson, Ray Charles, The Byrds, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Go-Go’s, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, and Weezer.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

This week I'm celebrating the 120-year anniversary of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Act fundamentally reshaped the American whiskey industry by mandating truth in labeling - it required producers to declare exactly what was inside their bottles.We'll hear: Hozier, The Jeremiahs, Watchhouse, Dropkick Murphys, Louis Jordan, Niamh Parsons, Amos Milburn, John B Keane, Punch Brothers, Sleepy John Estes, Gillian Welch, Homer & Jethro, Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson, The Pogues & The Dubliners, Stillhouse Junkies, and Sarah McQuaid.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

It's summertime and we'll hear: Robert Gordon, Jonathan Richman, Martha & The Muffins, It's A Beautiful Day, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Bill Morrissey & Greg Brown, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Lovin’ Spoonful, Eva Cassidy, R.E.M., Norman Blake, Lonesome Ace Stringband, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and NRBQ.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

As summer festival season approaches, I'm gonna celebrate the wonderfulness of multi-day festivals by featuring musicians playing at one of my favorites - Grey Fox.  We'll hear: AJ Lee & Blue Summit, The Infamous Stringdusters, Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter w/Del McCoury, Rhiannon Giddens, Della Mae, The Pine Leaf Boys, Le Vent du Nord, The Revelers, The Brothers Comatose & AJ Lee, Tray Wellington & Kaia Kater, Amy Helm, John Doyle, Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra, John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, and The Faux Paws.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

This week we’ll hang out on the corner of Jazz and Jam. The intersection where the two styles come together and influence each other.   We'll hear: College of San Mateo Big Band, David Murray Octet, Muriel Grossmann, Phish, Dead/Jazz, Sex Mob, Derek Trucks, and Grateful Dead featuring Branford Marsalis.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

Welcome to the 200th episode of Threads and Tangents. This week is all about "Mary." Regular listeners know Mary as the Threads and Tangents in-house bluegrass maven, and weekly graphic designer, but she’s more than that.  Mary’s played a big part in the creation, and continuation, of this show.  So this week is a big thank you to Mary for all of her help over the past four years.We'll hear: Jonathan Richman, The Beatles, Country Gentlemen, Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, John Coltrane, Etta James, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Buddy Guy, The Association, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Big Brother And The Holding Company, Jethro Tull, Faces, Morphine, and Billy Strings.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org 

New Acoustic isn’t a genre but a branching family tree that grew out of folk and then cross-pollinated with other styles. Here’s a useful way to think about New Acoustic, as an equation: New Acoustic = traditional instruments + modern creativity + genre-blurring.We'll hear: David Grisman Quintet, Turtle Island String Quartet, Tray Wellington, Alison Brown Quartet, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, Hawktail, Ned Luberecki, Béla Fleck, Grant Gordy, Chris Thile, Mr. Sun, and Vassar Clements.Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

Pedal Steel isn't just for country anymore.
We'll hear: Alvino Rey & his Orchestra, Jerry Garcia, Robert Randolph, Bruce Kaphan, Heather Leigh, Luke Schneider, Susan Alcorn, Field Works, The Campbell Brothers, and Pedal Steel Noah.
Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org

This week is all about the number 5. Five shows up in music in a lot of meaningful, and practical ways – some are mathematical, some cultural, and some purely aesthetic.  
We'll hear: Jerry Steinhilber Trio, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk Quartet, Paul Motian Quintet, Red Garland, Alfi, Lamb, Claudia Schmidt, The Doors, Hound Dog Taylor, The Vogues, and Junior Wells.
Anything on your mind? Contact me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org