The Folk Brothers for Nov. 17, 2021: When country met the counterculture

In April 1968, just a few days before the release of his iconic Live At Folsom Prison album, Johnny Cash appeared at the Carousel Ballroom -- precursor to The Fillmore -- at Market and Van Ness. At a time when the San Francisco counterculture was not yet very cool with country music, Cash faced an audience potentially much more hostile than those he had performed before at nearby maximum security prisons. High-quality audio recordings of the Carousel Ballroom show have now appeared under the auspices of the Owsley Stanley Foundation, and we share them today.

(Aside from his well-known laboratory work, Stanley was an ardent taper and sound engineer -- much like KDRT's own Jim Buchanan, but without the chemistry.)

Also on today's show: new music from The Spell Songs Project, George Jackson, Watchhouse, Seth Lakeman, Billy Bragg, Magpie Arc, and lots more Johnny Cash.

Davisville, Nov. 15, 2021: A terrific year for movies, says Davis critic Derrick Bang

The New York Times recently posted a list of 115 new movies scheduled for release between now and the end of the year—way too many to track! Enter Derrick Bang, film critic for the Davis Enterprise and his blog Derrick Bang on Film, for our yearly talk about movies to see and avoid during this high season for movie-viewing.

The pandemic pummeled ticket sales in theaters this year, and movies are no longer the center of popular culture. Even so, Derrick says 2021 has been a terrific year for movies.

Trains and train songs recorded on Amtrak's Coast Starlight, on Listening Lyrics

Everybody loves a good train song -- so that's what's happening this week (Nov. 12) on Listening Lyrics, as recorded on Amtrak train No. 11, the Coast Starlight.

Trains are used in so many metaphors in music and art -- listen to the sampling collected here. Check out the playlist and enjoy the train ride -- ALL ABOARD!

The Folk Brothers for Nov. 10, 2021: Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine

This week we devote a big hunk of our show to airing tracks from Declan O'Rourke's 2017 concept album about the Great Hunger (1845-1852). After reading John O'Connor's "The Work Houses Of Ireland" in 2002, O'Rourke spent 15 years slowly turning O'Connor's and other's harrowing accounts of personal adversity into a song cycle. And just this past week, O'Rourke published his first novel: "The Pawnbroker's Reward," the story of a poor family in County Cork struggling through The Great Hunger.

Also on today's show: new music from ISHILA, Fialla, The McDades, Josh O'Keefe, Chatham County Line, and more.

KDRT's Don Shor to be honored at Yolo Community Fund's 2021 National Philanthropy Day celebration

Longtime KDRT programmer Don Shor is Davis Media Access' 2021 pick for Volunteer of the Year. He'll be honored as part of the National Philanthropy Day celebration, hosted by Yolo Community Foundation, at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 16, 2021 at the Davis Central Park Pavilion. For more information, see https://yolocf.org

Shor is probably best known in our community as the owner of Redwood Barn Nursery, and he modestly describes himself as “a guy who likes plants and jazz.” He produces two extremely popular weekly shows on KDRT, each with listeners across the country and globe. The Davis Garden Show, with co-host Lois Richter, is one of the longest-running shows on KDRT, and Jazz After Dark averages 6,000 downloads per week.