Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, March 10th, (1:00-2:30 pm)
Women’s music is underrepresented in the blues, R&B and soul catalogues of the record companies except for the decade of the 1920s, which was devoted almost exclusively to female classic-vaudeville blues artists for five years while that style remained well-represented by the record companies until 1930 and a bit after. We try to present women’s music in every show although we very occasionally fail, as on our Mardi Gras special of two weeks ago, but we also make sure to present an International Women’s Day special each year. Some years our IWD show has been issue-oriented. This year’s is not issue-oriented for the most part. We have done a number of features on women’s blues and gospel but we think it’s important to devote one show a year entirely to women’s expression, especially when the weight of the commercial labels’ catalogues are so heavily weighted to music by men, who also have dominated in label ownership, production and A&R, as well as in record distribution and radio. Even in the sixties, one encounters stories to the effect that a certain female artist’s records failed to get effective promotion and distribution because records by Aretha Franklin had been given precedence. Based upon prejudice or real experience, the distributors and radio programmers appear to have imposed a quota on female artists, even if the record labels had not.
On the Show:
Cleo Brown – Ida Cox – Lucille Bogan – Precious Bryant – Marilyn Scott – Eunice Davis – Famous Davis Sisters – The Georgia Peach – Irma Thomas – Betty Harris – and 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 April 6th.
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 17th)
We don’t have a plan yet for the show. We do promise nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day.
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