KCSB-FM 91.9

Community Service and Educational Broadcasting

Alternative, non-commercial community & college radio located on the UC Santa Barbara campus. The University of California's first station. Since 1962.

KCSB-FM 91.9
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Views of the Blues

Nov 23, 2020 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Blues

With Sunnyland Steve

Great blues music in its historical & cultural context.

A posthumous birthday tribute to R.L. Burnside, Mississippi hill country bluesman born on this date, Nov. 23, in 1926; by request, 1920s women blues singers; and a variety of other blues.

Views of the Blues
2:01 PM
R.L. Burnside - Miss Maybelle
R.L. Burnside Miss Maybelle
Burnside On Burnside Fat Possum 2001 CD USFP70400285
Mississippi hill country bluesman was born on this date, Nov. 23, in 1926; he died in 2005; he sang and played harmonica and guitar, the latter which he learned from a neighbor, the great Mississippi Fred McDowell
2:04 PM
Trevor B. Power - Pandemic 2020
Trevor B. Power Pandemic 2020 N
Pandemic 2020 - Single Farm 189 Records 2020 MP3 USHM92060689
Power fronts a band based in northern New Jersey
2:08 PM
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Natural Facts
Sister Rosetta Tharpe The Natural Facts
The Gospel of the Blues V/A MCA USA 2003 CD
Recorded in 1947 by Tharpe, who was a fine singer and guitarist and a precursor of rock-and-roll; she was born in 1915 and died in 1973; on a tour of England in 1964 she was seen by and influenced Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Keith Richards; Tharpe was a gospel star in the 1930s and 1940s
2:11 PM
Kim Wilson - Fine Little Woman
Kim Wilson Fine Little Woman N
Take Me Back M.C. Records 2020 CD QMPCY2000019
Kim Wilson grew up near Santa Barbara, and was known as Goleta Slim, before moving to Austin, TX, and forming The Fabulous Thunderbirds with Jimmie Vaughan (SRV's older brother); that band still exists; Wilson is one of today's best harmonica players; Muddy Waters called him "the best harp player since Little Walter"
2:15 PM
Bessie Smith - Mama's Got the Blues
Bessie Smith Mama's Got the Blues R
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1 Legacy/Columbia 1991 CD USSM10027299
A 1923 recording by "the Queen of the Blues"; born in TN in 1894, she died in a car accident in 1937, bleeding to death after being refused treatment at an all-white hospital
2:20 PM
John Mayall - I'm as Good as Gone (feat. Buddy Miller)
John Mayall I'm as Good as Gone (feat. Buddy Miller)
I'm as Good as Gone (feat. Buddy Miller) - Single 2020 MP3
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mayall will turn 86 on Nov. 29; he has released innumerable albums; he has lived in the Los Angeles area for at least 4 decades; his bands have included many terrific musicians, including guitarists Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Coco Montoya, and Walter Trout
2:25 PM
Muddy Waters - You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone (No. 2)
Muddy Waters You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone (No. 2)
The Complete Plantation Recordings MCA 1993 CD USUG10500092
One of the 1942 field recordings made by musicologist Alan Lomax before McKinley Morganfield moved to Chicago and became famous
2:29 PM
Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
Muddy Waters Mannish Boy
Muddy "Mississippi" Waters: Live CBS USA 1979 CD USSM10027619
Waters was born in the delta in MS in 1915 (or possibly 1913) and died in 1983; he is considered on of the greatest blues artists ever; he was a very good slide guitarist and an outstanding and charismatic singer
2:33 PM
Dawn Tyler Watson - It Ain't Elvis
Dawn Tyler Watson It Ain't Elvis
Jawbreaker! Self-produced USA 2016 CD CA0861600012
Watson is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is an award-winning vocalist who has appeared in TV and theater productions and who teaches singing
2:40 PM
R.L. Burnside - Nothin' Man
R.L. Burnside Nothin' Man
Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down Fat Possum 2000 CD USFP70400258
Around 1980 Burnside formed a musical partnership with Junior Kimbrough, but he achieved no commercial success until the early 1990s; his descendant Cedric Burnside is one of today's best blues drummers and other relatives also play the blues
2:43 PM
The Knickerbocker All-Stars - Turn on Your Love Light
The Knickerbocker All-Stars Turn on Your Love Light
Open Mic at the Knick JP Cadillac 2014 CD USHM21439562
A horn-driven band composed of excellent musicians from the Rhode Island area, including former members of Roomful of Blues and Sugar Ray and the Bluetones
2:48 PM
Ma Rainey - Yonder Comes the Blues
Ma Rainey Yonder Comes the Blues R
The Very Best of Ma Rainey Shout! Factory 2003 CD USA560903730
Recorded in 1925 by Gertrude Pridgett, born in 1886, who was one of the best and most popular jazz and blues singers of the 1920s and reportedly a mentor of Bessie Smith; she died in 1939
2:50 PM
Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers - Feel the Heat
Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers Feel the Heat
As Live As It Gets White River 2012 CD
Thackery was lead guitarist for the long-lived Washington, DC, band The Nighthawks before forming his own band
3:00 PM
Pinetop Perkins & Hubert Sumlin - Shame, Shame, Shame
Pinetop Perkins & Hubert Sumlin Shame, Shame, Shame
Legends Telarc USA 1998 CD USTE10444608
Joe Willie Perkins played piano in Muddy Waters's band after Otis Spann left, and Hubert Sumlin was Howlin' Wolf's main guitarist for almost two decades
3:04 PM
Morganfield Burnett - Shame, Shame, Shame
Morganfield Burnett Shame, Shame, Shame
Compilation V/A Self-produced 2016 CD
Morganfield Burnett is the performing name of Santa Barbara's own skilled singer and harmonica player; currently he plays every other Monday evening with guitarist John Marx at the Red Piano in downtown Santa Barbara from 7 to 10 PM and it's available live online
3:08 PM
Paul Geremia - Shuckin' Sugar Blues
Paul Geremia Shuckin' Sugar Blues
Love My Stuff Red House Records USA, www.redhouserecords.com 2011 CD USRHR1123902
Originally from Rhode Island, acoustic bluesman is now 76 and hasn't released music since 2011
3:10 PM
Van Morrison - Gloria
Van Morrison Gloria
Too Long in Exile Legacy Recordings USA 1993 CD USQX91501368
With the inimitable John Lee Hooker; what a combination!
3:16 PM
Memphis Minnie - Keep On Eatin'
Memphis Minnie Keep On Eatin' R
Hoodoo Lady (1933-1937) Legacy/Columbia 1991 CD USSM10023561
Recorded in 1938 by Lizzie Douglas, who was a fine singer and excellent guitarist who allegedly won a "cutting contest" (for guitar prowess) against Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy
3:21 PM
Markey Blue/Ric Latina Project - Corrina Shine
Markey Blue/Ric Latina Project Corrina Shine
Raised in Muddy Water Ellersoul Records 2018 CD USWJ41800026
Markey is the singer and Ric the very good guitarist
3:25 PM
Marquise Knox - It's Not Right (Live)
Marquise Knox It's Not Right (Live)
Black and Blue (Live) Marquise Knox Entertainment 2017 CD QZ8GN1700002
From St. Louis and still not even 30, Knox was mentored by legendary Henry Townsend and released his first album when he was only 19
3:32 PM
Bessie Smith - Beale Street Mama
Bessie Smith Beale Street Mama R
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1 Legacy/Columbia 1991 CD USSM12300014
Recorded in 1923
3:36 PM
Leonard Cohen - Almost Like the Blues
Leonard Cohen Almost Like the Blues
Popular Problems Columbia Japan 2014 CD CAC221400043
Cohen was a poet and novelist before he became a singer; he released his first album at age 33, and died in 2016 at age 82
3:41 PM
Ry Cooder - John Lee Hooker for President
Ry Cooder John Lee Hooker for President
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down Nonesuch USA, www.nonesuch.com 2011 CD USNO11100198
Ry Cooder, who can play many string instruments and has immersed himself in and promoted international music (African, Cuban, Indian), also has been steeped in the blues for his entire career; he is on almost every list of the greatest 50 guitarists ever; he was born in and lives in the Los Angeles area and is now 73 years old
3:48 PM
John Lee Hooker - Shake It Baby
John Lee Hooker Shake It Baby
The Best of John Lee Hooker V/A MCA USA 1991 CD USMC16653804
One of the greatest bluesmen, with an idiosyncratic style; born in 1917 (or 1912) in MS, he lived for many years in Detroit and then in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he died in 2001; many of his songs are classics; he collaborated with many premier artists, including Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Elvin Bishop, Van Morrison, and Canned Heat; this song was recorded in 1965
3:52 PM
Watermelon Slim - Oklahoma Blues (Live)
Watermelon Slim Oklahoma Blues (Live)
Traveling Man (Live) NorthernBlues Music 2019 CD CAN212006616
William Homans has an academic degree and has been a truck driver and watermelon farmer; he is a skilled slide guitarist and harmonica player with leads his own band, The Workers; he has been nominated for 20 Blues Music Awards and won two (for Band of the Year and Album of the Year)
3:55 PM
R.L. Burnside - Skinny Woman
R.L. Burnside Skinny Woman
Burnside On Burnside Fat Possum 2001 CD USFP70400284
MS hill country blues is characterized by little melody but by mesmerizing repetition and insistent rhythm; other practitioners included Fred McDowell, Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford, and Jessie Mae Hemphil