Sometimes Folk

Bill Wagman explores an eclectic range of music, including traditional folk of the British Isles and the U.S, contemporary singer/songwriters on both sides of the Atlantic, and American roots music and some of its lesser-known offshoots. Tune in for a great music mix!

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Replays Monday 3-4pm, Thursday 3-4pm
Live Wednesday 10-11am
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Music programs are only online for two weeks after they are broadcast.

The Folk Brothers for Feb. 16, 2022: Rita Hosking's 'California' ...

... has now been included in The New York Times' list of the best 101 songs about California. "California" joins such folk icons as Dave Alvin's "King of California" and Kate Wolf's "Here In California." Congratulations to Rita! And you can see her live at The Side Door in Sacramento on March 19.

Also on today's show, we highlighted some other artists on tour and coming to our area: Scottish trio Talisk (Sophia Center on Feb. 26) and Tre Burt and Watchhouse (Grass Valley Center For The Arts, Feb. 20).

The Folk Brothers for Feb. 9, 2022: Celebrating Black History Month ...

... with Guy Davis (pictured here) singing about Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee's last train ride; with Mary Knight and Mary Lou Williams' tributes to Martin Luther King; with Corey Harris, Odetta, and more.

And tune in to find out about Lauren MacColl and Rachel Newton's new project Heal & Harrow , which honors the some 2,500 Scottish women executed under the 1563 Witchcraft Act. Also, what's the connection between the Miramichi River and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring?

The Folk Brothers for Feb. 2, 2022: Remembering Norma Waterson (1939-2012)

The Watersons -- Norma, her sister Lal, brother Mike, cousin John Harrison, and (later) Norma's husband Martin Carthy -- defined the English trad-folk revival of the 1960s. In the '90s, Norma Martin and their daughter Eliza Carthy, morphed into Waterson:Carthy. Even in ill health, Norma was recording until a few years ago. Her contributions to -- and influence on -- English folk music cannot be overstated.

The Folk Brothers for Jan. 26, 2022: Transatlantic crossings

The Folk Brothers love ballads, especially ones which have crossed the "pond" more than once. "The Golden Willow Tree," on Jake Xerxes Fussell's new album Good and Green Away, is a prime example. Originally penned in the early 1600s as "Walter Raleigh In The Lowlands,"  the warship and the title have been variously called "The Golden Vanity," "The Sweet Trinity," and "The Turkish Revelry."

This morning we also played Hannah Sander and Ben Savages' version of "(Rovin' On) A Winter's Night." They  learned their version from Doc Watson, but the ballad undoubtedy originated in England before travelling to Appalachia (and then back again to the UK!).

The Folk Brothers for Jan. 19, 2022: Who connects the musical dots from The Detectorists to Worzel Gummidge?

It's Mackenzie Crook. After The Office, Crook wrote, directed and starred in The Detectorists, the hit BBC4 series featuring a theme song by Johnny Flynn. Most recently, Crook (pictured) has revived "Worzel Gummidge" -- the scarecrow from Barbara Euphian Todd's children's books -- with music from The Unthanks.

Also on today's show, find out how Iona Fyfe rewrote Richard Thompson's "Poor Ditching Boy" in Scots Dorian, and why Jason Isbell made an album of covers by Georgian songwriters. And much more!

The Folk Brothers for Jan. 12, 2022: Live from Glasgow

That is, Kris Drever will be live from Glasgow, Scotland, joined by a band including Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow) who has been busy rehearsing for the livestream on Monday, Jan. 17. This morning we played the title track from Drever's 2014 release Mark the Hard Earth. We followed that with The Pogues' version of "Greenland Whale Fisheries," one of the songs Kris is working up for his online concert.

Also on today's show: old timey music from Molsky's Mountain Drifters, trans-European trad Celtic from Fourth Moon, the theme music by The East Pointers from New Zealand's Under The Vines TV mini-series, and much more!

The Folk Brothers for Jan. 5, 2022: Source To Sea

Julie Fowlis' new digital EP "Source To Sea" comprises three songs she wrote for a new podcast of the same name. The cohosts -- Lee Cragie and Jenny Graham -- travelled the length of the rivers Dee, Tay, and Clyde by foot, mountain bike, and pack raft, recording their interactions with the natural world they encountered on their journies. For her tracks, Fowlis used prose from Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain, a memoir of time spent in the wilds of the Scottish highlands.

On today's show, we played "Silver In Blue," Fowlis' ode to the River Clyde, plus new tracks from TRU, Talisk, Matt Stevens, Robert Plant, and Allison Krauss. And much more!

The Folk Brothers for Dec. 29, 2021: Live DiRT with I See Hawks In LA

With The Folk Brothers enjoying a week off from the toils of producing live radio, we offer you another chance to hear their in-studio session with that alt-folk-country-psychedelic rock band from down south, recorded on Dec. 10, 2021. Enjoy, and Happy New Year from Bill and Peter!

The Folk Brothers for Dec. 22, 2021: Brother Bill's schmaltzy holiday show

It's that time again when Brother Bill drags out (just a small fraction of) his collection of cheezy holiday tracks, including ones by The Three Weissmen, The Yid Kids, Jimmy Sabata, as well as Percy Dovetonsils (who was one of Ernie Kovacs' alter egos). We are off next week and back live on Jan. 5. Happy holidays!

The Folk Brothers for Dec. 15, 2021: Go Your Way

After nearly 15 years, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have reunited for their second duo album -- Raise The Roof -- on which they cover Anne Brigg's "Go Your Way." Briggs, a key figure in the 1960s British folk revival, recorded only three albums and an EP before calling it a day in 1973. But she had an outsized influence on singers like June Tabor, Maddy Prior, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson -- who penned "Beeswing" with Briggs in mind.

Also on today's show: new tracks from Jake Xerxes Fussell, Christy Moore, The Spell Song Project, Paul Kelly and Grant Peoples.

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Comments

Davis resident, Dave Nachmanoff is an award-winning singer-songwriter and renowned guitarist.  He tours nationally and internationally as a solo act, as well as valued accompanist to Al Stewart.  Over the many years he has resided in Davis, Dave has been a generous supporter of this community.  In a rare local appearance, Dave will be doing a benefit concert on December 12th for Yolo Food Trucks who are raising the funds to purchase a new refrigerated truck.   Dave will be joining the Folk Brothers live in the KDRT studio between 10 and 11 AM on Wednesday, Dec. 9th.   He’ll bring his guitar, play some songs, talk about his storied musical career, and tell us why we heard him singing in Starbucks across North America last month. Please join us!

 

 

Submitted by Peter Schiffman on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 11:13am

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