Bob mourned the retirement of Brian Hennemann (and presumably The Bottle Rockets) as well as the passing of Bunny Wailer, one of the true giants of reggae and the sole surviving original Wailer. Even with those tributes, there was plenty of airtime left over to acknowledge the 46th anniversary of the formation of Buffalo Springfield with lots of tracks from Stills, Young, Furay and Messina, and for birthday tributes to Doc Watson, Junior Parker, and Jance Garfat. (You can look up that last one. Hint: he was never on the cover of the Rolling Stone).
Bill returned to the show for the first time in a month with a preview of The Newbees’ “A Band & A Van” video series and accompanying album, a project that Jeff and Misty Perholtz took on during the pandemic. And to salute Black History Month, he featured the music of Our Native Daughters, the group that includes Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell.
Courting sacrilege, Bob turned Ash Wednesday into Ashgrove Wednesday, playing cuts from Ry Cooder, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Dave Alvin in honor of the club’s roots and blues heritage, and cuts from Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, the Byrds and others to acknowledge the club’s legendary role in the birth of “country rocki.” Oh, and Ernie called in to talk about his visits to the club, too.
Here in Cincinnati, we take our polar vortexes seriously, and last week there was some serious vortex stuff going on. Which is why you were treated to an encore broadcast of a past show. No one wanted to be out in that mess. Even though Bill couldn’t be live on the air last week, he put his playlist on Spotify for you to listen at your leisure. Get a fire going, grab your hot toddy, and enjoy.
Inspired by a great piece on Justin Townes Earle in Rolling Stone, Bob played a bunch of cuts from both JTE and his dad, Steve. Bob also noted Kris Kristofferson’s retirement announcement and played new and old Marty Stuart. Enjoy!
Jane Thompson joined Bill to celebrate Part 2 of BS&B’s seventh anniversary, plus each of their birthdays (Jan. 26 and Jan. 29), and her return to living in Cincinnati for the first time in 15 years. The event featured tunes from the first show on Jan. 22, 2014 (Jayhawks, Rolling Stones), Jane’s picks (Barenaked Ladies, Taylor Swift) and much more.
Bob went back in time to kick off the first segment of Bill and Bob’s two-part Seventh Anniversary Snake-a-palooza. Due to Covid restrictions, the studio was uncharacteristically empty of fans, suits, hangers-on and the like who are usually on hand to help celebrate. So, to combat the loneliness Bob dug deep in the alt-country roots catalogue with John Hartford, the Byrds, PPL, Stones, Lightnin’, Dylan, Duane Jarvis, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Uncle Tupelo, Old 97s and many, many others. He also paid tribute to Leadbelly’s birthday and to Bill’s upcoming 70th. Bill will swoop in next week with Part B of the anniversary celebration.
Bill welcomed the new year with best wishes to local singer-songwriter Kim Taylor, who is moving to California, a preview of Janinne Thompson’s round-number birthday next week, and a mini-salute to the sweet sound of Dusty Springfield.
When your show has “Banjos” in its name, you better believe birthdays don’t get bigger than that of the late, beyond-great Earl Scruggs. Bob played several sets featuring the Jesus of the banjo in honor of the man who revolutionized picking and turned the banjo from a tagalong rhythm instrument to the lead. Along with Jimi Hendrix and Dick Dale, Earl Scruggs is one of the few to bring a truly transformative style to their instrument. And it helped take one’s mind off the attempted coup.
Bill played his Top 20 albums of 2020, with American Aquarium’s combustible “Lamentations” sitting at No. 1. After the countdown, he paid tribute to guitar masters Leslie West or Mountain and bluegrass legend Tony Rice, noted the unexpectedly wonderful Bee Gees documentary on HBO, and said goodbye one final time to his Piqua pal Jimmy Elliott.
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