 Today’s show is dedicated to Mark Linkous, a guy that contributed a lot to the 90s rock’n’roll with his band Sparklehorse and who committed sucide last Saturday. We pay a very special tribute in this show to Mark Linkous with an unexpected song selection. Hear Mark foot stomping with Bryan Harvey, playing with Susanna Hoffs and rocking out with his 80s band Dancing Hoods. We also have the new Roky Erickson and a new Jason and The Scorchers tune. We have a Cleveland band Whiskey Daredevils who have their debut album out these days. They have a song on it dedicated to Johnny Cash. Which reminds me, there’s the sixth volume of his American recordings out.
Grant Hart – My Regrets;
Roky Erickson – Stand For The Fire Demon;
Roky Erickson w/ Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams;
Pierced Arrows – Tripped Out;
House of Freaks – This Old Town;
Dancing Hoods – Not The Only One;
Dancing Hoods – Falling Down;
Sparklehorse – Rainmaker;
Susanna Hoffs – Enormous Wings;
Kris Kristofferson – For The Good Times;
Johnny Cash – For The Good Times;
The Godfathers – Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues;
Whiskey Daredevils – Never Saw Johnny Cash;
Jason & The Scorchers – Mona Lee;
Jack Oblivian – Make Your Mind Up Part II;
Glossary – Trembling Boy;
Outrageous Cherry – Anymore;
Uzi – Pale Light.
Today we feature Fred Cole, legendary Oregon rocker who’s been around since the Nuggets days. Of course, his best known band is Dead Moon, but he was also in The Lollipop Shoppe, Zipper and The Rats. His newest band is the great Pierced Arrows, which I was lucky enough to see live on a stormy winter night last weekend here in Cleveland. Pierced Arrows have a brand new second album out called Descending Shadows. We also introduce the German band Locas In Love obviously named after the Love and Rockets comic book episodes involving Maggie and Hopey. They appeared on the new Walkabouts tribute called Got No Chains. The Hotrats are the two dudes from Supergrass, one of the most annoying nineties English bands. Still, Hotrats are not that bad at all and we hear their interesting treatment of Beastie Boys original You Gotta Fight…. Things turn around! Home Sweet Home is another project by Luther Dickinson and it again, it’s done in the spirit of Luther’s father Jim. Also, we hear a new mp3 by Abby Travis recorded specially for the new Dave Markey’s movie The Reinactors.
We dedicate this show to Dale Hawkins – a guy who wrote a rock’n’roll anthem Suzie Q. Hawkins died at the age of 73 on February 13th this year. We also have one new band here at The Little Lighthouse. Their name is The Len Price 3, they come from Medway UK and there is a lot of talk about them in the garage rock world these days. Eddie Current Suppression Ring is back with the new album entitled Rush To Relax.
Today we have two new names at The Little Lighthouse. Pissed Jeans – a neo-grunge band from Pauline, SC. They’ve been a Sub Pop attraction for a few years now, but we have them here for the first time with their new album King of Jeans. We also have Glossary, a new band in and around the Memphis rock’n’roll scene. Beck and Wilco united last summer for a session where they re-recorded the entire Alexander Skip Spence album called Oar. This album is weekly uploaded track by track on 
Today’s editions brings you the newest album for The Kropotkins, band fronted by Lorette Velvette and Dave Soldier. This is their third album, and listeners of this show their two first albums very well if they followed our past episodes. We also have A. A. Bondy with his new album Daytrotter Session volume 2, Suzanne Vega with her new album Close-Up Vol. 1 Love Songs. Jon Dee Graham is also here with his brand new album It’s Not As Bad As It Looks. We know him previously as the member of The Skunks, True Believers and The Resentments. He recently had an accident that nearly took his life, and we’re glad to see him back raging full on. John Wesley Coleman III is the new name at the Little Lighthouse. In this show you can hear a tune from his new album called Steal My Mind, Coleman’s version of Warren Zevon’s Lawyers, Guns And Money.
Today’s highlight is definitely the new very special tribute to Jim Dickinson, created by his sons, friends and sons of his friends entitled Luther Dickinson & The Sons of Mudboy. Listeners of The Little Lighthouse are very well familiar with Jim Dickinson’s ad-hoc supergroup called Mudboy and the Neutrons – one of the best bands that ever came out of Memphis, well known for their chaotic covers of standards and traditionals. Now, using the same idea but with a layer of sorrow surrounding the passing of Jim, Luther Dickinson and the Sons of Mudboy put out an excellent album called Onward and Upward. This record is a magnificent farewell to the imposing figure that Jim Dickinson used to be on the Memphis rock’n’roll scene. We also check out the newest album for the Swiss zydeco band Mama Rosin (Black Robert) and the new album for the singersongwriter Freedy Johnston (Rain On The City). Also, please check out our new bonus podcast below that we will receive weekly from Igor Mitic in Pancevo. Look for the panther logo and title Sympathy for Rock’n’roll!
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.
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.
Our award for the best musical Internet project in 2009 goes to the Australian singer songwriter Paul Kelly. Throughout 2008 and 2009 he ran a continuous Internet project in which for each month of the year he posted several songs re-recorded in the “unplugged” variants. Each month, one letter of the alphabet was covered (except V and X). This was a wonderful project in which Paul Kelly recorded over 100 hundred songs and posted them for free download at http://www.paulkelly.com.au/. In todays show, we cover at least one song for each letter of the alphabet, and for the other 80 plus songs, visit Paul Kelly’s website. Happy New Year by the way!