sweartotellthetruth

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, April 22, 2014 (1:00-2:30 pm)

This week we have a feature devoted to classic-vaudeville blues singers on record between 1922 and 1927. Perhaps 200 singers performing in this genre made records. Some of these were not really blues singers  but vaudeville singers marketed as blues singers singing material for which they had little feeling. At the same time,  of course, many legitimate and skilled blues singers did make records. Our feature presented eight singers well known in their time. Some of these are better known today than others but all of them left a significant mark through their live performances and recordings  We didn’t pick out the songs especially for their lyrics but a number of the songs contain lyrics that were picked up by male singers later on. and will be recognizable to anyone who has listened to blues of the thirties and later

Most of the rerords we selected fo the feature were made in New York with the New York studio musicians of the period. We also included some Rhythm & Blues recordings from the Jubilee and Atlantic labels on the program, featuring New York sidemen of a different era, the early fifties.

We failed to have this blog entry ready in time for the show. In our defence, we’d just like to add that we also did a fill-in on the Cracked Vinyl: Bebop and Beyond program, (Tuesday, 10:00-12:00 pm , CFMU, 93.3) where we offered up a selection of jazz recordings made between 1929 and 1995. That took a bit of time to put together. If you are interested, the program can be streamed or downloaded from the CFMU website.

On the Show:

Rene Hall – Frank “Floorshow” Culley – Odele Turner – Van “Piano Man” Walls – Lucille Hegamin – Sara Martin – Rosa Henderson – Ida Cox – Bobby Patterson –  Michael Pickett

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 May 26th.

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 29th)

Don’t yet have a plan but we’ll update when we do.  Check the blogsite closer to the date.

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