sweartotellthetruth

June 9, 2015

Blues and Rhythm Show 183 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 11:52 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, June 9th, (1:00-2:30 pm)

This week, the promised followup special covering Chicago Soul. We cover a period extending from 1961 to 1975 but most of the recordings are from the sixties. Soul music combined elements of gospel, R&B, blues and, especially in the south, country music. In Chicago, the blues element was more pronounced and singers like Tyrone Davis, Syl Johnson and Lee “Shot” Williams were performing blues before they became known as soul artists. If you doubt that the transition was meaningful, think about Syl Johnson’s initial response when he was asked to perform and record blues again. He thought that he and his music were being dissed by the new blues community. Of course, “soul”, like “blues”, was a marketing concept as much as it effectively defined a genre of music.”Soul” describes music whose characteristics are at least as diffuse as blues.

We’re short of time. Let’s conclude by saying there was a lot of blues in Chicago soul music.

On the Show:

Young Holt Trio – Syl Johnson – Jerry Butler – Ricky Allen – Gerri Taylor – Harold Burrage – Lee “Shot” Williams – Mamie Galore – Otis Clay – Tyrone Davis

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.msu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until July 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 (June 16th)

Juneteenth

cmc

April 22, 2015

Blues and Rhythm Show 177 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario) – REPEAT

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 2:01 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, April 21st, (1:00-2:30 pm)

Chicago Soul special: Long story. We had in mind to take this week off but last week’s show went off the rails because we left some material for the show at home. We also had a malfunctioning audio pot on our on-air board although it was repaired during the program. Anyway, we decided to repeat last week’s program but as it was planned, so this week’s program is a repeat of last week’s, albeit with the complete playlist and a working audio board.

Today the terms “Blues” and “Soul” are often combined in a phrase and no one blinks. Blues and Soul shows. Soul and Blues festivals. There was a time when soul music was the enemy for come-lately fans of blues. Blues were authentic and organic; Soul was the inauthentic progeny of commerce. Even B.B. King and Bobby Bland were condemned in some quarters as betrayers of the real blues tradition. How far away that all seems. Meanwhile, performers like James Cotton and Junior Wells were adapting their repertoires and songlists, and others, like Little Milton and Syl Johnson became known as soul artists even though they’d begun singing and playing blues.

Besides electric versions of down-home blues, Chicago was also home to R&B combos and vocal groups. And it was the base for important gospel acts although many of the labels that recorded gospel were located in New York or on the Coast.

All of the strands of Chicago’s African American music were reflected somewhere in the development of soul music in Chicago. The music was quite diverse. Those who grew up in the south, like Otis Clay, Lee Williams, and Syl Johnson, tended to draw more upon on the blues or hard gospel. Vocal groups that formed in the Chicago high schools, like the Impressions, favoured cooler sounds.

Chicago had its own soul labels, artists, songwriters, producers and arrangers. Soul music from Chicago could be identified by its distinct vocal harmonies, brass arrangements, and rhythm, distinct from Stax or Muscle Shoals, or from Motown.

We were working on a new playlist for this week’s show but we got busy and when we looked back at an earlier playlist from 30 months ago we decided we’d rework and repeat that particular show. We’ll present the new program in the coming weeks.

On the Show:

Willie Henderson – Moonglows – Impressions – Bobby Miller – Etta James – Knight Brothers – Gene Chandler – Laura Lee – Lee “Shot” Williams – Barbara Acklin – Otis Clay – and many others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.msu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until May 18th.

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 28th)

TBA.

cmc

April 13, 2015

Blues and Rhythm Show 176 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 11:10 pm

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, April 14th, (1:00-2:30 pm)

Today the terms “Blues” and “Soul” are often combined in a phrase and no one blinks. Blues and Soul shows. Soul and Blues festivals. There was a time when soul music was the enemy for come-lately fans of blues. Blues were authentic and organic; Soul was the inauthentic progeny of commerce. Even B.B. King and Bobby Bland were condemned in some quarters as betrayers of the real blues tradition. How far away that all seems. Meanwhile, performers like James Cotton and Junior Wells were adapting their repertoires and songlists, and others, like Little Milton and Syl Johnson became known as soul artists even though they’d begun singing and playing blues.

Besides electric versions of down-home blues, Chicago was also home to R&B combos and vocal groups. And it was the base for important gospel acts although many of the labels that recorded gospel were located in New York or on the Coast.

All of the strands of Chicago’s African American music were reflected somewhere in the development of soul music in Chicago. The music was quite diverse. Those who grew up in the south, like Otis Clay, Lee Williams, and Syl Johnson, tended to draw more upon on the blues or hard gospel. Vocal groups that formed in the Chicago high schools, like the Impressions, favoured cooler sounds.

Chicago had its own soul labels, artists, songwriters, producers and arrangers. Soul music from Chicago could be identified by its distinct vocal harmonies, brass arrangements, and rhythm, distinct from Stax or Muscle Shoals, or from Motown.

We were working on a new playlist for this week’s show but we got busy and when we looked back at an earlier playlist from 30 months ago we decided we’d rework and repeat that particular show. We’ll present the new program in the coming weeks.

On the Show:

Willie Henderson – Moonglows – Impressions – Bobby Miller – Etta James – Knight Brothers – Gene Chandler – Laura Lee – Lee “Shot” Williams – Barbara Acklin – Otis Clay – and many others

Listen to the program at FM 93.3 in Hamilton or on CFMU online at cfmu.msu.mcmaster.ca. The program will be available to stream or as a podcast until May 11th.

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 21st)

TBA. Watch this space.

cmc

September 23, 2013

Blues and Rhythm Show 98 on 93.3 CFMU (Hamilton, Ontario)

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — cmcompton @ 4:18 am

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, September 24th, 2013 (1:00-2:30 pm)

Most of this program will feature music emanating from –. Not that we planned a special on Chicago. It just worked out that way.

Chicago was home to a distinctive style of blues in the fifties and beyond. Mention Chicago blues and people have an idea of what you are talking about. After World War 2, independent record companies sprang up in Chicago to exploit local talent and markets. Miracle, Aristocrat-Chess, Parkway, Chance, VeeJay, United/States, USA were among the labels recording blues and gospel in the city. This evolution of local labels and studios supporting local music continued through the sixties with the rise of soul music and Chicago represented its distinctive soul styles on both locally based and on national labels. OKeh and Brunswick each operated from Chicago offices for a period of time. In the end, both blues and soul were eclipsed by disco and, later, hip-hop but not before the labels that recorded and marketed the music disappeared one by one or were the object of corporate takeovers, like GRT Corporation’s purchase of Chess and the move of Chess company headquarters to Los Angeles. 

All of the above is background to the music which was created by waves of African-American migrants to Chicago as well as and in combination with native born Chicagoans like Billy Boy Arnold. And even after the labels folded or were bought out, artists like Syl johnson and Tyrone Davis continued to perform for local audiences while new generations of performers have emerged to carry on and renew the blues and soul traditions of the city in a changing demographic. As national trends shifted away from blues and soul, Chicago still had the critical mass of support to sustain some kind of local scene.

Included on the program, once more, will be three of the headliners of the Blues Explosion show, scheduled for this coming Friday, September 27th, at Hamilton Place.

On the Show:

L.C. McKinley – Howlin’ Wolf –  Mighty Joe Young – Johnny B. Moore – Ricky Allen – Erma Franklin – Lucy Smith – Staple Singers – Norfleet Brothers – 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 October 22nd.

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 (October 1st)

We don’t have a plan yet for next week’s show. We might include some R&B vocal groups.

Upcoming programs

It’s a new season and we’re working on some rough ideas for programming themes for The Blues & Rhythm Show in the coming months. We’ll list some of them on this blogsite soon.

cmc

 

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