Nov. 17 – Sit. Stay. Speak!

I took my dog for a walk … all the way from New York to Florida … I said to him, “There. Now you’re done.”

– Steven Wright

Fetch, Finn! Now sit, Sunny! Stay. Good pups!

That’s right, in a deliberate attempt to boost our Arbitron ratings Great River Radio has turned the show over to our dogs. Well, not the entire show. Our “Confluence” segment this week has a canine theme. We’ll have dog-related songs from Big Mama Thornton, Page France, Josh Ritter, Uncle Tupelo and Louis Armstrong. And as always we’ll mix in a few listener requests, including selections from Patty Griffin and John Hiatt. But despite their best efforts, Finn and Sunny won’t run the entire show.

There’s a Great River Radio tradition of digging through mountains of MP3s to bring you some of the best new music around. We’ve been working extra hard this week to unearth new tracks from Richmond Faintaine, The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Dirty Projectors, Tom Waits, Sharon Jones, Har Mar Superstar, Martha Wainwright, Girls, Echo & The Bunnymen and the Raveonettes. Haven’t heard of some of these artists? That’s OK. Give us a listen, and you might discover a new musician to add to your own heavy rotation.

Great River Radio will be “live” today from 4-6 p.m. (CST).

Brian/Dan

P.S. Great River Radio will be off next week for Thanksgiving. Give thanks and have a great holiday with family and friends!

Playlist

Maybe-Ingrid Michaelson
Crown of Ages-The Ettes
Ten Thousand Words-The Avett Brothers
Green Grass-Tom Waits
Stranded In Your Love-Sharon Jones and Lee Fields
So Hard-Martha Wainwrights
Lust For Life-Girls
8th Wonder-The Gossip
Tall Boy-Har Mar Superstore
Take It In-Hot Chip
Hound Dog-Big Mama Thornton
My Dog & Me-John Hiatt
I Wanna Be Your Dog-Uncle Tupelo
Dogs-Page France
Feed The Dog-Honey Is Cool
To The Dogs Or Whoever-Josh Ritter
Yellow Dog Blues-Louis Armstrong
Heavenly Day-Patty Griffin
I Will-Brandi Carlile
The Underdog-Spoon
The Preacher-Brother Ali
The Chosen One-The Raveonettes
I Think I Need It Too-Echo & The Bunnymen
Wild Girl-Rickie Lee Jones
Island, IS-Volcano Choir
Stillness Is The Move-Dirty Projectors

 

 

Oct. 20 – Teachers

“The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves.” – Joseph Campbell

It’s time once again for Great River Radio. Our “Confluence” theme this week is “Teachers.” We’ve dug up some interesting teacher-learning related songs, and many of you have offered us a suggestion or two as well. You’ll hear from likely classroom pests Rufus Wainwright, Paul Westerberg, Matt and Kim, Lyle Lovett, Indigo Girls and Rockpile.

As always, we have some exciting new music to share with you. You might recall Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová from the movie “Once.” Well, the impossibly perfect romance between the two musician/actors may have fizzled, but the two continue to make music together under the name The Swell Season. They have a new, deeply personal album out, and we will be playing a track from that release. We also have new tunes from the Avett Brothers, Heartless bastards, Rickie Lee Jones and Grizzly Bear. Echo & the Bunnymen, giants of late 80s alternative music scene, have released their 11^th studio album, “The Fountain.” Well play the first single, “I Think I Need It Too.”

One of the great advantages of connecting with so many music lovers around the country is that we get to hear about your “must-listen-to” music discoveries. We owe Aaron from Boston a tip-of-the-hat for turning us on to Mumford & Sons. They are part of the London folk rock scene that includes Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling. The group’s first release, “Sigh No More,” was released on Oct. 6 in the UK. Well spin a tune from the album and see what you think. Thanks for the rec, Aaron.

All this and so much more today on Great River Radio!

NEXT WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT – With upcoming film releases of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” and a new documentary on Jack Kerouac, “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur,” we thought an interesting theme for next week’s “Confluence” segment might be ROAD SONGS. We’ve done “best road music” theme shows before, so let’s get creative with this topic. Email us your requests or post them below.

Playlist
Peace Like a River-Spoon
I Think I Need It Too-Echo and the Bunnymen
Blank White Page-Mumford and Sons
Slow Life-Grizzly Bear
Hell-Teigan and Sara
Jesus, Etc-Wilco
The Art Teacher-Rufus Wainwright
Baby Learn To Crawl-Paul Westerberg
Lessons Learned-Matt and Kim
Closer-Indigo Girls
Teach Me Tonight-Etta James
Teach Me About Love-Lyle Lovett
Gloomy Monday Morning-Black Hollies
Use Somebody-Bat For Lashes
One Fast Move Or I’m Gone-Jay Farrar/Ben Gibbard
Feeling The Pull-Swell Season
Angel’s Share-Doveman
Lissie Maurus-Little Lovin’
The Mountain-Heartless Bastards
Suspicious Minds-Rusted Root
Never Ending Love-Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
Laundry Room-Avett Brothers
Old Enough-Rickie Lee Jones
Angels on the Banks-Katie Herzig