sweartotellthetruth

March 31, 2014

Blues and Rhythm Show 125 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 2:19 pm

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, April 1, 2014 (1:00-2:30 pm)

This week’s show is a full 90-minute survey of African-American vernacular music from the Library of Congress Archive of American Folk Music. Others should share in the credit for the Archive’s achievement but it was John and Alan Lomax who brought a vision to the Archive that made its holdings an essential repository of vernacular music culture. Lacking a proper budget and a clear mandate, the Archive needed direction and purpose and, from 1933 to 1942, the Lomaxes turned the Archive into an indispensable source for understanding the hidden musical culture of that age and of the past.  Although John Lomax’ original intention to exclude blues from his field collecting seems wrongheaded and dogmatic, the Library did succeed in capturing a lot of non-blues music that would never have appeared on commercial records. And, when they met up with blues and gospel in the field, John, and, particularly, Alan seem to have quickly revised their assessment of blues as manufactured pop and recognized its folk content and folkloric significance. our special includes blues, gospel, work songs and hollers recorded for the Archive between 1933 and 1942

On the Show:

Pete Harris – Ernest Williams & James “Iron Head” Baker – Rochelle French – Leadbelly – Dock Reed & Vera Hall – Blind Willie McTell – Washington  White – Paramount Singers – Thomas “Jaybird” Jones – and others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until April 28th.

Contact Us

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week (April 8th)

We don’t know right now. Come back and check closer to the show date.

cmc

March 29, 2014

Blues and Rhythm Show 124 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 4:57 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, March 25, 2014 (1:00-2:30 pm)

Our March 25th show will be available to stream or downward until April 21st. We didn’t post in advance of the program. Show ended with a selection of soul connected to either New Orleans or Houston. Opening the show, some R&B, all but one of the tracks with backing vocals provided by vocal groups or band ensemble. We also spotlight two Medicine Show men and there’s a taste of Cajun music.

On the Show:

James Booker – Manhattan Paul – Dakota Staton – Jimmy Liggins – Papa Lemon Nash – Magnolia Sisters – Ronnie Hawkins – King Floyd – Rockie Charles – Al “TNT” Braggs – and others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until April 21st.

Contact Us

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week (April 1st)

We announced something quite different but we’re trying to put together a special on the Library of Congress recordings of the 1934-1942 period. 

cmc

Blues and Rhythm Show 123 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 3:54 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, March 18, 2014 (1:00-2:30 pm)

We didn’t post about BRS 123 before the show but we’re trying to make up for that now. We followed several loose threads on that program but the heart of the program was a followup to our show from February 25th, when we presented a special on the blues of St. Louis from 1927 to 1936. On March 18th, we played a couple of tracks from “rediscovered” St. Louis blues artists of the twenties and thirties, a couple of commercial sides from around 1950 and some modern St. Louis blues recorded in the eighties

On the Show:

Jimmy “Preacher” Ellis – Cab Calloway – Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley – Edith Johnson – Clifford “Grandpappy” Gibson – David Dee – Clayton Love – Shirley Caesar (as Baby Shirley) – Swan Silvertones – Etta James – and others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until April 14th.

Contact Us

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week (March 25th)

Our March 25th program didn’t follow any particular plan but included a selection of R&B records, most with backing vocal choruses, either vocal groups or ensemble band vocals. Also a couple of Medicine Show Men and a selection of Gulf Coast soul.

cmc

Blues and Rhythm Show 122 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 3:17 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, March 11, 2014 (1:00-2:30 pm)

We failed to post for several weeks but we’re trying to catch up. Our program from March 11th will still be available to stream or download until April 7th. That program was our International Women’s Day special, delayed by several days because all CFMU programming was dedicated to fundraising the previous week. We did not organize the show around particular themes in our IWD program but we presented a selection of women’s blues, rhythm & blues and gospel. 

On the Show:

Viviane Greene – Helen Humes – Bessie Smith – Sweet Pease Spivey – Mattie Delaney – Lil Green – Mary Deloatch – Original Gospel Harmonettes – Shakura S’Aida – and others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until April 7th.

Contact Us

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week (March 18th)

Our March 18th program included a selection of St. Louis blues recordings following up on our 1930s St. Louis blues special  of February 25th. 

cmc

March 5, 2014

Blues and Rhythm Show 121 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 2:35 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, March 4, 2014 (1:00-2:30 pm)

BRS 121 is already in the books. We did not find time to preview the show on this site before going to air. Of course, this week is CFMU’s fundraising week–just one week in the year. So this week’s program is devoted to CFMU’s Raise Your Voice 2014 campaign. On the program for our fundraising special, blues, R&B, gospel and soul in 90 minutes. Some big records and some rare  and obscure tracks.

If you happen to be outside of the Hamilton area and listen to the program online, you’re part of our listening audience and we would welcome your pledge. The same technology that makes this program available across the web, makes your contribution to CFMU, 93.3’s fundraising campaign simple and convenient. Just go to cfmu.mcmaster.ca, look for the Promotions bar on the station’s webpage and make your contribution via Paypal. 

On the Show:

Sam Price Sextet – Sonny Boy Williamson II – Henry Thomas – Magic Sam – Blenders – Tiny Bradshaw – Georgia Peach – Antioch Female Singers – Bertha Robinson – Dee and Don – Otis Clay – and others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until March 31st

Contact Us

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week (March11th)

March 8th is International Women’s Day. IWD is our excuse for programming a show entirely devoted to women’s blues, R&B, gospel and soul. The first African-American singers to record blues were women but male singers dominated the record label catalogues by the turn of the decade. Opportunities for women in blues, R&B and soul were limited from the thirties on, even through the soul era in the sixties and seventies. The imbalance is reflected in our playlists on Swear to Tell the Truth each week. We like to present an all-women show at least once in the year. Unfortunately, International Women’s Day clashes with CFMU fundraising each March, so we’re presenting this year’s IWD special three days after March 8th.

 cmc

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