Threads and Tangents Music Hour

Threads and Tangents 4/4/23 - Songs From A Friend

This week’s thread is Songs from a Friend - giving credit to those friends, or siblings, who introduced us to great music. That person who was always showing up with an LP, tape, disk, or digital file that they insisted we needed to hear.  For me, my buddy Bruce was one of those people.  He did it for almost 50 years. I’m gonna share with you some of the great musicians that I learned about, thanks to Bruce.
We'll hear music from: Paul deLay, Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenberg, Edgar Meyer, Tom Dundee, Tony Furtado, Goat Rodeo Sessions, Steve Goodman, Nanci Griffith, Jorma Kaukonen, Bonnie Koloc, Leo Kottke, Little Feat, John Prine, Claudia Schmidt, Jake Shimabukuro, and Michael Smith.

Threads and Tangents 3/28/23 - Baseball

This week's musical thread is a celebration of the start of the 2023 baseball season. The first baseball records were pressed in 1907 and everyone from Chuck Berry to Warren Zevon, from Doc Watson to Sam Bush, has made them since.
We'll hear music from: Dan Bern, Chuck Brodsky, Greg Brown, Peter Cooper, Dizzy Gillespie Sextet, Steve Goodman & Jethro Burns, Claire Hamill, Christine Lavin, John McCutcheon, Sam & Dave, Watermelon Slim, and Jimmy Yancey. Plus, a poem from Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Threads and Tangents 3/21/23 - Spring

In celebration of the spring equinox and the return of the sun to the northwest corner, the musical thread is Spring.  I'll be playing songs about the season, the sun, change, and the return of warm weather. 
We'll hear music from: The Beatles, Greg Brown, Karen Dalton, John Fahey, the Grateful Dead, k.d. Lang, Tom Lehrer, the Memphis Jug Band, Thelonious Monk, Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, the Persuasions, Molly Tuttle, and Laura Veirs.

Threads and Tangents 3/7/23 - Music from Coen Brothers Movies

The Coen Brothers are masters of using tunes and songs that we know and love to heighten, or mystify, what’s happening onscreen - like The Same Old Song in Blood Simple and Somebody to Love in A Serious Man.  This is even more apparent in their actual musicals, like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Inside Llewyn Davis, that are curated down to the last note, integrating decades-old deep cuts into their story lines.We'll hear music from: The Four Tops (Blood Simple), Carter Burwell (Raising Arizona and Burn After Reading), Jeff Tweedy (Fargo TV), Gipsy Kings (The Big Lebowski), Nina Simone (The Big Lebowski), Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Dan Tyminski (O’ Brother Where Art Thou), Alison Krauss (O’ Brother Where Art Thou), Édith Piaf (Intolerable Cruelty), Rose Stone and the Venice Four (The Ladykillers), Nappy Roots (The Ladykillers), Jefferson Airplane (A Serious Man), Marcus Mumford & Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, & Stark Sands (Inside Llewyn Davis), and Willie Watson & Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs).

Threads and Tangents 2/28/23 - Your Roots Are Showing

This week's musical thread is the Your Roots Are Showing music conference, Ireland's annual folk, roots, and traditional music conference.  Mary – who regular listeners know as the Threads and Tangents in-house bluegrass maven – was invited to speak at the conference and I got to tag along.  There were over 50 showcase artists performing during the conference and I'm going to get to as many as I can. If you want information about the Your Roots Are Showing conference, their link is https://www.showingroots.com/  
We'll hear music from: Alfi, Fragment, Shane Hennessy, I Draw Slow, The Jeremiahs, Maija Kauhanen, Kila, The Lasses, Les Tireux d'Roches, Chloe Matharu, Finbar Magee & Breige Quinn, Sarah McQuaid, Damien O’Kaine & Ron Block, Olas Trio, and Brad Reid. 
You can find links for most of these artists on the Threads and Tangents FB (https://www.facebook.com/groups/639812998144723) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/threads_and_tangents/) pages.  

Threads and Tangents 2/21/23 - Mardi Gras

Today is Fat Tuesday, so this week's musical thread is Mardi Gras. The spirit of Mardi Gras is alive and well: the love of life, the enjoyment of music, food (even king cake), and a great drink. So, Laissez Les Bon Temp Rouler.
We'll hear songs from: Balfa Brothers, Marcia Ball/Irma Thomas/Tracy Nelson, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dr John, Bo Dollis and The Wild Magnolias, Galactic, The Hawketts, Earl King & Professor Longhair, Neville Brothers, The Radiators, Rebirth Brass Band, and the subdudes.

Threads and Tangents 2/14/23 - Break-Up Songs

I know it’s Valentine’s Day, but this week's musical thread is Break-Up Songs. The idea came up when my friend Laurie suggested the Richard Shindell song for last year's Halloween show. It’s a fine Halloween song, but it’s an even better break-up song. So, that got me thinking about how to best to celebrate this Hallmark Holiday, and playing break-up songs seemed like a brilliant idea … at least to me. Laurie claims no responsibility for this thread.We'll hear songs from: Beyoncé, Billy Bragg, The Deftones, Bob Dylan, John Eddie, Marvin Gaye, Joy Division, Carole King, Julie London, Roxy Music, Richard Shindell, Wilco, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Threads and Tangents 2/7/23 - The Night

This week's musical thread is The Night. In literature, the Night is used as a metaphor for emptiness, or used to symbolize death, darkness of the soul, and loss of faith.  In song lyrics, the night is so much more and not nearly as grim.  Sure there’s some heartbreak, but also plenty of hope and fun as we’ll hear.We'll hear songs from: Michael Cleveland, Samantha Crain, Donna the Buffalo, The Doors, Electric Prunes, Holly Golightly, Buddy Guy, Etta James, Morphine, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, and Sammy Walker.

Threads and Tangents 1/31/23 - For the Birds

This week's musical thread is For the Birds.  One of the many cool things about living up here in the northwest corner is the variety of birds we see, and the birdsongs we hear. We can see eagles nesting and soaring overhead year-round.  We have snow geese and trumpeter swans wintering nearby.  And out at Fir Island reserve, we see the shape-shifting flock of thousands of dunlin.  It’s called a murmuration, when clouds of dunlin flash between brilliant white and darker colors as they swirl in the sky.
We'll hear songs about birds from: Laurie Anderson, Andrew Bird, Steve Goodman, Haden Triplets, Howlin’ Wolf, BB King, Lil Ed & Willie Kent, Bob Marley, Mr. Sun, Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Charlie Parker Quartet, Stephen Wade, and Keller Williams (Grateful Grass).

Threads and Tangents 1/24/23 - Loose Threads

This week's show will be a little different because I’ll be tying 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 and play  songs that I wished I’d been able to play the first time around, and also to include songs suggested by listeners.
This week's loose threads are:TRAINS: Muddy Waters, Amanda Shires, and Utah Phillips.SPOOKY SONGS: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Rory Block, and Grateful Dead.DAYS OF THE WEEK: Greg Brown, Hayes McMullan, and Billy Bragg.WINTER: DeDe Wyland, The Head And The Heart, Winter Song, and Emmylou Harris.MUSICIANS THAT DIED IN 2022: Freddie Roulette, Terry Hall (The Specials), and Kim Simmonds.