Today we say goodbye to the rock’n’roll pioneer Bobby Charles who died on January 14. Bobby Charles is one of those authors that kick-started the entire rock’n’roll, the way we know it today. After Bill Haley with his Comets recorded Bobby’s See You Later Alligator rock’n’roll ghost was out of the bottle forever. In 1972, Bobby Charles resurfaced and recorded a masterpiece record with Rick Danko and The Band. Songs that Bobby wrote will stay forever. This show is dedicated to him. We also presented some new records here at The Little Lighthouse. Miro Kusacic of Messerschmitt is back with a new band Junkers 5, fronted by the new name on the scene – Elizabeta Petric. Sarah Borges covered Clive Gregson’s Yesterday’s Love and Javier Escovedo had a really great new record in 2008, but for some reason, it fell through the cracks and I only got a chance to hear it now. It’s called City Lights and it’s truly exceptional.
John Hiatt – Have a Little Faith In Me;
Koja and Djura – Crveno;
Junkers5 – New Orleans;
Messerschmitt – Have A Little Faith In Me;
The Zeros – Wimp;
Javier Escovedo – See You Around;
True Believers – Tell Her;
Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles – Yesterday’s Love;
Any Trouble – Yesterday’s Love;
Goree Carter & His Hepcats – Rock Awhile;
Bill Haley & The Comets – See You Later, Alligator;
Fats Domino – Walking to New Orleans;
Clarence “Frogman” Henry – (I Don’t Know Why) But I Do;
The Band – Down South In New Orleans;
Bobby Charles – Street People;
Bobby Charles – Grow Too Old;
Bobby Charles – Small Town Talk;
Bobby Charles – Take It Easy Greasy;
Bobby Charles – I Ain’t Gonna Do It No More;
Bobby Charles – See You Later Alligator.
Today’s show is dedicated to Jay Reatard and Vic Chesnutt. These two important characters on the modern rock’n’roll scene died recently. Jay Reatard died in his sleep on January 13 this year and Vic Chesnutt died from a muscle relaxant overdose on December 25. Jay was 29 and Vic was 45. We lost much more than just two rock’n’roll musicians. We lost leaders of the scene, relevant guys who moved and shook things around with every record they put out. On the other hand, the two are diametrically opposite. Jay wrote short, loud songs, did great singles and recently injecting some healthy dose of reformation of the rock album format. On the other hand Vic was a leader of the loose pack of new folk authors and singer songwriters, finding a new way to tell the old stories of despair and pain. They left shoes that will be impossible to fill in.
We begin today’s show by listening to Kurt Vile from Philadelphia who had a very good album called Childish Prodigy last year. The rest of the show is filled with our favorite short forms of 2009 (eps, singles, single downloads…) and compilations.