sweartotellthetruth

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 (1:00-2:30 pm)

R&B vocal groups are mostly to be found in the Soul Discography rather than the Blues Discography (both available from Eyeball Productions of Vancouver) but they’re probably better understood in relation to the blues tradition than soul, which is really a phenomenon of the sixties. African-American vocal group music covered a wide spectrum of styles from the forties onward. There were groups who sang mostly popular songs, groups that straddled the worlds of gospel and R&B and groups rooted in the blues. In the 1940s, a number of groups brought the excitement and fervour of the church to secular material even before Roy Brown or Ray Charles. We’re not going to try to closely document the evolution of R&B vocal groups this week but we’ll present a brief survey of the blues side of vocal group sounds. The great blues writer Paul Oliver once wrote that blues were not suited to vocal group treatments. We think that he came to this conclusion because his definition of blues was too narrow.

Also on the program a very brief look at the early days of Modern Records of Los Angeles. It will be a prelude to a special feature on the Modern label we plan to bring to air some time in the next few months. From Hadda Brooks to Roy Hawkins to B.B. King to Etta James, Modern was among the handful of great and enduring labels in blues and R&B.  

On the Show:

Hadda Brooks Trio – Gene Phillips –  Amos Garrett – Mississippi John Hurt – Big Three Trio – Ravens – Midnighters – Richard Berry – John Ellison – Ike & Tina Turner

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 October 29th.