Blogs

Adele's 25 is a bit of a phenomenon. You can't stream it in it's entirety and you may never be able to... we shall see. Released on November 20, Rolling Stone named the album #2 on its top 50 albums of 2015. It is the fastest selling record in the history of the world with 3.38 million copies sold in its first week. There are eleven tracks on this album and a mind-blowing ten different producers, including Danger Mouse and the Smeezingtons. Critics seem to like it, even though they also throw in great turns of phrase such as Pitchfork's Amanda Petrusich who gives the album an impressive 7.3/10 yet says "Still: the cumulative effect is sometimes as treacly as the heavily frosted sheet cake being slid onto the buffet table in the carpeted banquet hall where this song will be blasting, on a loop, for all of eternity. Even your most adorable aunt—the one who loves a Yankee Candle—will eventually drain her flute of sparkling wine, lean forward, and be like, 'Dog, this s**t is corny.'"

And I hate this album.

Featuring the music of Miss Peggy Lee tonight. Songs composed by her, performed by others, and some of her classic performances as well. The Mills Brothers * Ella Fitzgerald * Gerry Mulligan * Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass * Stan Getz * Diana Krall & Stanley Turrentine * Count Basie & Joe Williams * Dianne Reeves * Kim Hoorweg & The Houdinis * Peggy Lee * Keith Jarrett

A new band in town is not especially newsworthy, but then this is no ordinary band. QuidZin out of Woodland, CA, has created a unique sound, and that does make it newsworthy. Just for that reason I have the pleasure of hosting them on Listening Lyrics this Friday 1/22. Members are Jim Hillard (brass), Randy Berka (bass), and Naomi Rogers-Hefley (fiddle). Their genre is a mix of jazz, Irish folk, and rock. Listen in as we explore their sound.

Dug Deep hosts singer-songwriter Bob Woodruff for KDRT's Live in the Loam on Friday, January 22nd, at 2:30 pm PT. Originally a member of the country-rock band The Fields, Bob has since released four studio albums as a solo artist: 1994's Dreams & Saturday Nights, 1997's Desire Road, 2011's The Lost Kerosene Tapes 1999, and the upcoming The Year We Tried to Kill the Pain.  His songs are anachronistic yet accessible, melodic yet gritty, intimate yet universal.

 Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop. My favorite album by one of the first bands I loved as a young teenager. Scott Weiland's death last month resonated with me the way Bowie and Glen Frey did my parents this past week. (Although those ones matter to me as well). Tiny Music is 41 minutes long, so I'll probably break tradition and play a little Bowie, Motörhead and Eagles to fill our the hour. Justin Cox your host this week

Hurricane, released in 2013, is the third album by independent Mississippi duo R. Dyer and R. Thomas. The experimental-rock team dabbles in many sub-enres on this LP, even bordering on psychedelia, but they manage to stay grounded with a classic blues-rock guitar sound. On their more traditional tracks, they create a passionate atmosphere, with earthy vocals singing vague but thought-provoking lyrics. The best examples of this on the record are lead track "Butterfly" and title track "Hurricane," which provide six minutes of fun and inventive rock and roll. On the experimental side, the multilingual "Durare" and the wonderfully wonky "Delivery Pizza" bring new, unique sounds to the album. Overall, R. Dyer and R. Thomas manage to pack quite a few sounds and ideas into Hurricane, making the LP quite a fun and interesting listen for fans of many music genres.

Civilization Phaze IV will be celebrating the life and work of the late great David Bowie.  A master melder of the avant-garde and popular, Bowie was a musical tour de force who had an immense impact on people from all walks of life--he's one of the few artists who was respected in equal measure by people in both classical and popular musical spheres. 

"Knowledge comes with death's release." -David Bowie

DEAD WAX. Tune in for our weekly vinyl-centric exploration of Americana. Each Episode features a current artist and digs into the roots of their music as we dig through our record stack. Everything from classic country to roots rock and blues. All from the KDRT-LP 95.7 FM community radio station in Davis, California.

A week of rainy days in Northern California is something to celebrate. Sooo LISTENING LYRICS has an hour of songs about rain across a wide spectrum of genres. Listen in but bring your umbrella.

KDRT's Dug Deep hosts the Reverend Shawn Amos and his band for a special Live in the Loam on Wednesday, January 13, at 3pm PT. A blues singer/songwriter of the highest order, Amos is on a mission to spread the blues with unsurpassed fervor beyond his base in Los Angeles. The Reverend stops at KDRT in advance of his evening gig at the Torch Club in Sacramento. His latest record is The Reverend Shawn Amos Loves You. Visit the Reverend on the web at shawnamos.com.