Records & Rockstars

After 800 weekly radio show episodes it seems like high time we do a 2 parter on day and night songs. Here comes part 1 and it features Bob Seger recounting how in Toronto, he laid down a song he believed in despite his management wanting him to do three other songs, and it became a career maker!

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Can you think of any bands that share their names with songs? Here comes nineteen now.

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Not only the Billys of ROCK, because we've adopted the adage, "untethered by genre or era", happily colouring outside the lines this time again, with Williams turned Billys and with Billies too, from rock and jazz and blues and more, and a few Billy Joes to boot.

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There's something about the sound of the instrument, smallish in size, that adds something special to select rock songs. It's Italian. It has strings. It's part of the lute family of stringed instruments with long necks and and rounded bodies. Most often played with a pick, it typically has four courses or sets of 2 strings, tuned in unison and making it an 8 string instrument, and when you put two strings close together like this, you get more volume, just like with a 12 string guitar has that shimmer of strings vibrating against one another. Mandolin after the Italian mandolino, and it's in the spotlight this time in nothing but the songs of Led Zeppelin.

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Songs that start not with the verse but with the chorus, with lots of Beatle angles, plus Bowie, Blur, and a funky interlude or two.

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Jeff packs another ton of bands from the 1950s to now, into the 2nd of two parts celebrating bands with brothers and bands with sisters. This time, brother and sister bands from the letters I through V. Q: recognize the brothers in the photo? The cradle will rock is right! That and more right here.

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Jeff packs a ton of bands from the 1950s to now, into the first of two parts celebrating bands with brothers and bands with sisters. This time, brother and sister bands from the letters A through H. Q: recognize the brothers in the photo? Think Macon Georgia, The Fillmore East, and some of the finest southern blues rock ever made. That and more right here.

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Taking you back to another time, another place, if you're up for the downstroke, with a rock 'n' roll doctor, and a trip to 461 Ocean Blvd, where we're sneakin' Sally through the Alley, but Sally can't dance, but we can ride the tiger. Hints as to the array of classic albums we're pullin' out this time, from July/Aug/Sept 1974.

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Another special session in the recurring “Performances” series featuring past guests, and a condensed versions of the original sessions, with song set-ups and stories, and live acoustic performances from Wild Woods Blue. This time not only a musician's musician, but a total people's choice player. Ottawa raised, Toronto based, Steve Marriner has been a blues harmonica player since the age of 11, and was just 13 and playing clubs, and only 14 when he won the Ottawa Blues Harp Blow-Off! In short, he's a monster player, but not just blues harp, but also guitar, bass, organ, and and he's a helluva singer and songwriter, and record producer/mixer too. We get into that a bit, in this performance focused cut of Steve's original album special session with Jeff, celebrating the release of his 2021 album Hope Dies Last. Steve delivers 3 live performances and talks about his evolving tastes and growth through listening and learning. Enjoy this 29 minute version of the original session.

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Another special session in the recurring “Performances” series featuring past guests, and a condensed version of the original episode, with song set-ups and stories, and live acoustic performances from Wild Woods Blue. This time, from Toronto, powerful performances and conversation with the principle members of Joan Smith & The Jane Does, Joan Smith and Tom Juhas, including a scorching cover of In the Pines (Where Did You Sleep Last Night). Runs: 24 minutes.

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