Threads and Tangents Music Hour

Threads and Tangents 11/8/22 - Spooky Music

It's good to be back after missing a couple of weeks to recover from a little biking mishap.  Before my time away, I’d put together a great playlist for Halloween, and while I know I missed the actual holiday, these songs are too good to put away until next year.  So, in a belated celebration of Halloween, tonight’s musical thread is spooky music.We'll hear songs from: Bauhaus, Dr. John & the Blues Brothers Band, Fleetwood Mac, Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, Ramones, Jonathan Richman, Nina Simone, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Talking Heads, and Warren Zevon.  

Threads and Tangents 10/18/22 - Loose Threads #2

This week's episode will be a little different, I’ll tie up some Loose Threads.  Each week, I come across way more songs than I can fit in a one-hour program.  So, this is my chance to go back to a few of the episodes to play some songs that I wished I’d been able to play the first time around, and to include some songs that listeners suggested. The songs come from the Taking the Bus, Coffee, One-Hit Wonders, Authors, and Dogs episodes.
We'll hear from: Harry Chapin, Death Cab for Cutie, Lefty Frizzell, Gilberto Gil, Grateful Dead, David Grisman Quintet, Jimi Hendrix, Indigo Girls, Jorma Kaukonen, John Prine, White Stripes, and Neil Young.

Threads and Tangents 10/11/22 - Chicago Folk Scene

This week, in celebration of John Prine's birthday, the musical thread that we’ll follow is Folk Music from Chicago. Although John left Chicago for Nashville in 1990, the city and its music was very much a part of his songwriting throughout his life.  
Playing a whole show of John’s music sounds like a fine idea, except for the FCC rules that prohibit it.  So, instead I’m going to bookend the show with John’s songs and fill the middle with songs from musicians that were, along with John, part of Chicago’s 1970’s folk scene.  
This week's songs come from John and: Jethro Burns, Ginni Clemens, Tom Dundee, Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc, Utah Phillips, Jim Post (who died on 9/14, hashalom alav), Claudia Schmidt, Michael Smith, Corky Siegel, The Special Consensus, and Art Thieme. 

Threads and Tangents 10/4/22 - Beer

This week the musical thread is Beer. Along with playing a batch of great beer songs, I’ll take a brief look back on the history of craft brewing in the US.  This week's songs about beer come from: Asleep at the Wheel, Bad Manners, Dave Bartholomew, Devil in a Woodpile, Floyd Dixon, Grateful Dead, Indigo Girls, Flaco Jiménez, Memphis Slim, Eddie Noack, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Todd Snider, Traffic, Travelin' McCourys, Tom Waits, and Jimmy Witherspoon.

Threads and Tangents 9/27/22 - Train songs

This week the musical thread is Train Songs. I’ve been wanting to play a batch of train songs for a while and Amtrak has given me a good reason for doing it tonight.  The Amtrak Cascades has returned to Bellingham, and we can once again take the train up to Vancouver or south to Seattle and beyond.This week's Train Songs come from: Etta Baker, Norman Blake, Paul Butterfield, Elizabeth Cotten, Gangstagrass, Steve Goodman, Grateful Dead, John Hammond, Albert King, Furry Lewis, Gordon Lightfoot, Utah Phillips, R.E.M., and Pete Seeger. 

Threads and Tangents 9/20/22 - Fall season

This week the musical thread is the Fall season.  It makes sense since the autumnal equinox is 9/22. The fall equinox is that time when the sun crosses the celestial equator in a southerly direction.  I don’t know about you, but it’s also the time when I start worrying about Bellingham’s short winter days.  For those of us up here in the NW corner, it might be time to go out and get a light therapy lamp.
This week's songs for Fall come from: Eva Cassidy, Death Cab for Cutie, The Flaming Lips, Sierra Hull, Iron & Wine, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, Van Morrison, Cheryl Wheeler, The White Stripes, Yo La Tengo, and Neil Young. 

Threads and Tangents 9/13 - Coffee

This week, the musical thread is COFFEE. Coffee has an interesting social and musical history, some of it funny, some grim, and occasionally just weird. That's a lot of ground to cover and I'll do that by playing songs by: Guy Clark, Ani Difranco, Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald, Steve Goodman, Juan Luis Guerra, The Ink Spots, The Jayhawks, Bill Morrissey, Ella Mae Morse, Osibisa, Otis Redding, Squeeze, and Abigail Washburn.

Threads and Tangents 9/6/22 - More live music in Bellingham

This week, I’m sticking with the musical thread that I started last week, and that’s bands and artists that I’ve heard live in and near Bellingham since moving here a year ago.  There was so much good music that I couldn’t fit it all in one show. This week we'll hear: Robert Sarazin Blake, The Brothers Comatose w/AJ Lee, Zakir Hussain, Steve James, Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, Julian Macdonough in the Mike Allen Quartet, Tony McManus, NRBQ, Nuages, Jacob Seyer, Nick Vigarino, Wilco, and Young Fresh Fellows.If you can't listen live, after the broadcast, you can find the show at https://mcgaw73.podbean.comThe show has a new email account and I love to hear from listeners, so if you've got anything on your mind - ideas, comments, whatever - you can reach me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org 

Threads and Tangents 8/30/22 - Live music in Bellingham

This week, the musical thread is live music I've heard since moving to the PNW. A year ago, we drove into Bellingham for the first time and it’s been a great first year here. Over the past 12 months, I've heard plenty of excellent live music, so I'll play songs from some of the local, and touring, musicians that I’ve heard in, and around, Bellingham.We'll hear: Jake Blount, Bryan Bowers, Michael Cleveland and Tommy Emmanuel, Della Mae, Matt Eakle in the David Grisman Quintet, Sean Hall, Thomas Harris and Miles Black, Stacy Jones, The Mavericks, Mr. Sun, Pearl Django, Del Ray, The Special Consensus, and Richard Thompson.

Threads and Tangents 8/23/22 - Taking the Bus

This week, the musical thread is Taking the Bus.  I'll play songs about waiting for a bus, riding on the bus, and falling in love on the bus.  Even about important historical and cultural events on the bus.  
We'll hear: Chuck Berry, Buffalo Tom, Eraserheads, Grateful Dead, Hollies, Husker Du, The Move, Neville Brothers, The Replacements, Jonathan Richman, Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters, The Who, Wilco, and ZZ Top.