sweartotellthetruth

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, September 3rd (10:00 to 12:00 noon)

After four out of five weeks absence from the studio we’re back with a new show. 

We have a program devoted mostly to music from Chicago or influenced by Chicago blues. Main feature is a segment devoted to Chicago Blues from the years 1947 to 1960, with recordings made for small Chicago indie labels but also for Columbia and Chess. We can draw from recent box sets devoted to Chicago blues from Boulevard Varese and Wienerworld. 

Commentators have always wrestled with how to describe post-war blues style as distinguished from rhythm & blues since writers for Billboard and Cashbox developed their own shorthand in the 1940s for capsule reviews of new releases. Reissuers today appear to have settled upon the term “Down Home”. We don’t think it’s an exact fit but it emphasizes the continuity in style and themes between pre- and post-war blues as opposed to R&B. Blues in the large and mid-size cities of the midwest and west coast reflected an experience that was different from what performers and their migrant audience had lived in the south but singers didn’t abandon the older themes and their songs were still partly addressed to a southern audience. Singers in Chicago sang about life in Chicago but were still singing about Mississippi and Arkansas to former and present southerners.

On the show, we also have some later performances of Chicago blues standards on the bill and a few gospel sides from Chicago. Along the way, we also have a couple of sides from the country corner and a brief look at the music the Ace/Kent Record labels of England are selling as New Breed R&B and blues.

On the Show:

Hound Dog Taylor – Howell/Devine – Dirty Red – Memphis Minnie – Homesick James – Chuck Berry – Eddie Boyd  – Earl Wright – Stephen Berry Band – Harpdog Brown – Bobby Radcliff – Cool Papa Jarvis – Mary Love – Staple Singers – Norfleet Brothers – and others

Listen to the program each week at FM 93.3 in Hamilton, live on Cogeco Cable 288 or on CFMU online at the CFMU website. The program will be available to stream or download until October 29th. CFMU podcasts now available for 8 weeks. Just go the website, bring up the playlist and stream or download the show.

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

Detroit Special

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