Today’s show is dedicated to Ronnie Spector and Rachel Nagy, two incredible singers that we lost recently. But before we get into our tributes to Ronnie and Rachel, we check out some new releases. Annie Keating from New York has a new album. Le Butcherettes and Death Valley Girls have a split single and we hear both sides. Gyasi from Nashville has a new single and Aoife O’Donovan from New York is a new name for us, and she released a new album and added an extra cover album consisting of songs from Springsteen’s Nebraska.
Mattiel – Freedom Feels;
Annie Keating – Boxes;
GYASI – Godhead;
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – Bloodsucking Whore;
Sweet Knives – No More Reasons;
Patsy’s Rats – Burnin’ Honey;
Gabriella Cohen – Frangelico Dreams;
Aoife O’Donovan – Lucky Star;
Aoife O’Donovan – State Trooper;
Bruce Springsteen – State Trooper;
Le Butcherettes – The Universe;
Death Valley Girls – When I’m Free;
The Exbats – Hey New Zealand;
The Courettes – I Can Hardly Wait;
Detrot Cobras – He DId It;
Detroit Cobras – Bad Girl;
Detroit Cobras – Ain’t it a Shame;
Ronnie Spector And The E Street Band – Say Goodbye To Hollywood;
The Ronettes – Baby, I Love You;
The Ronettes – Be My Baby.
Pretty much all new bands in the show today. We introduce Ancient Shapes from Canada, Big Hogg from Glashow, Scotland, Selwyn Birchwood from Florida and Telestons from Greece. Eyelids are kind of a supergroup from Portland with members from Guided By Voices, Decembrists and some other less known bands. Famed E-Streeter who is keeping garage rock alive in his radio show, Little Steven is back with a solo record and Chuck Berry songs which were recorded in the past decade are finally coming out posthumously.
Sonny Vincent is back with no less than two new records. One is with his new band called Spite – it features also Glen Matlock, Steve Mackay and Rat Scabies – all star line up, and that’s how it sounds too. He also has a solo record called Cyanide Consomme. Great work indeed. Eamon McGrath finally gathered his three-song downloads into a full blown LP called Exile. We play a new rocking version of the title track. He also has an updated bandcamp website with a TON of great rare demos. We pick some in our show today. There’s a tribute out there to Bruce Springsteen’s album Born in the USA. We feature Trampled By Turtles from Duluth, MN. Another new band today is Zig Zags from LA. We say goodbye to Joe Cocker and Jimmy Ruffin.
Today we have a relatively random playlist consisting of some of the most interesting cover songs in the past year or so. The only truly new record this time is Under The Covers Vol 3 by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. This time they covered the 80s and we hear their version of the XTC song Towers of London. We also check out Replacements and Arbouretum, each with a Gordon Lightfoot tune, Dan Sarka covers The Records and Steve Wynn covers Townes Van Zandt. We recorded Dax Riggs in Kent with a cover of a Billie Holiday tune and we also check out Carla Olson and Juice Newton belt out a Foster and Lloyd tune and The Walkabouts in Boss’ shoes.
Eamon McGrath comes from Canada. He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canadian Western province, North of the US state of Montana, with lots of prairies. This is where he started to come up with his first songs, recording them in his house and distributing them around on cd-rs to friends and fans. There is about 15 to 20 of those proto albums that he made in very small amount of copies and it is unclear what exactly is contained in those releases. Perhaps some songs repeated in multiple versions, but what we can tell for sure, they were all recorded relatively cheaply in lo-fi technology.
Today’s show is dedicated to Michael Davis, the original bass player of the loudest band on earth MC5. He died on February 17 this year after liver failure at the age of 68. We also catch up with another legend Andre Williams who has a new record out. Bruce Springsteen also has a new one out. English new wave legends Wire have a live record out and John Wesley Coleman teamed up with Morgan Coy for a strange little extended play which features new songs in full studio arrangement and also in more stripped down acoustic style.
Today’s show is dedicated to Clarence Clemons, the original saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. We start with three E Street songs in which I think Clarence particularly shined. We also have new albums for the Serbian band Eva Braun and college rock legends The Silos. Their new album is an unusually shiny summer deal and it’s call Florizona – obviously a name that connects Florida and Arizona. Talking about Arizona, Howe Gelb also has a new album called Snarl Some Piano. It’s mostly a piano record, and we check it out today as well. We hear, Tommy Stinson is about to finish up recording the new record and some of the songs that will appear on this album were beautifully showcased on Minnesota Public Radio. The one that I picked for today has a part co-written with Paul Westerberg. And finally, we introduce a new name at the Little Lighthouse, his name is Frederick Squire and he has a new single with Kate Maki. The last song on the playlist is an old underground hit for the Cleveland band Death of Samantha. They had a brief reunion last weekend when Doug Gillard, their original guitarist, returned to town.
More bad news this week… Steve Popovich, rock maverick from Cleveland who indebted the world with many great records died last week in Tennessee at the age of 68. Steve was a musical promoter and record label owner in the golden age of ’70s when he helped manage careers of Bruce Springsteen, Cheap Trick, Boz Scaggs, Joe Grushecky, Southside Johnny, Ronnie Spector, Meat Loaf, Johnny Cash – just to name a few. He was a rare breed, a promoter who truly cared for the music he was promoting, someone who believed in what he liked, even if there was no conventional logic for pushing what he pushed. In that way, he is a true inspiration. We also say goodbye to Benny Spellman, a New Orleans singer who also died last week in his hometown at the age of 79. He left behind exciting early rock songs such as Fortune Teller and Lipstick Traces On A Cigarette, both written by Allen Toussaint. We also throw in a few new records. We introduce Dead Rock West from LA, a band clearly influenced by X. Also, we have new albums for Kate Maki and John Paul Keith. Mama Rosin, zydeco band from Switzerland is also back with a collaboration with Hipbone Slim.
This is one of the heaviest shows with new materials if you consider what rockers we have with new records this time: Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Mike Watt, Steve Wynn and Greg Cartwright. What a line up, huh? So, let’s see – the Boss dug out old sessions for the Darkness at The Edge of The Town album and has them out now as a double disc called The Promise. Costello recorded an album called National Ransom with T. Bone Burnett in LA and Nashville. Mike Watt has a new conceptual record called Hyphenated-Man and it’s about his life as a middle aged punk. Steve Wynn gathered his Miracle Three over in Richmond to record a new album which they call Northern Aggression. That one’s somewhat of a loose concept too – Yanks belting out in the Southern man’s land. Greg is here with a new band called The Parting Gifts, apparently an one time gig for him and Coco Hames of The Ettes.