Birthdays are a big deal at BS&B and May is full of them. Bill celebrated Bob Dylan’s monumental 80th (May 24) and Pete Townshend’s 76th (May 19). Also, shoutouts to friends of the show Barbara Kelley (May 24), and Barbara Schmidlapp, John Tarvardian and Stepfanie Romine (May 27).
In Week 2 of the studio reunion with Bob, Bill salutes his friend Jim Elliott one year after his death, and is thrilled his legacy lives on in daughter Carrie. Meanwhile, the Gasoline Lollipops make their BS&B debut and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” turns 50.
The Reunion the world awaited took place when Bob and Bill hosted the show together for the first time since Feb. 26, 2020. Despite the constant yammering, they managed to play plenty of music after the only possible opening song, “Reunited,” by Peaches & Herb.
Bill couldn’t choose his favorite song from “John Prine,” the 1971 debut from the legendary singer-songwriter for this week’s Anniversary Music segment. So, he went with three and could have picked at least five others.
Bill paid tribute to Poco’s Rusty Young and the Kingsmen’s Mike Mitchell, who passed away recently, plus Prince and Lonnie Mack, who died on April 21, 2016.
Bill paid tribute to “Blood,” the harrowing memoir by Allison Moorer, whose father shot her mother and then himself when she was 13 and her sister, Shelby Lynne, was 17. The story is tragic, but has helped the sisters produce heartfelt, compelling music for more than 25 years.
Bill marked the first anniversary of John Prine’s death with duets with Amanda Shires and Miranda Lambert, paid tribute to Harlan County, Kentucky, and tried to honor author Larry McMurtry, who died March 25, before the CD started skipping on its own during James McMurtry’s “Levelland,” his dad’s favorite tune.
Bob rang in Opening Day with Walt Whitman, Trampled by Turtles, Carly Simon, Jacqueline Schwab, and Chuck Berry. Speaking of Chuck, Happy 63rd birthday to Johnny B. Goode and Happy 66th to Angus Young. The highlight had to be the 100th Birthday Celebration for Martha Spitzmueller, the last surviving grandchild of Henry Holtgrewe, the Cincinnati Strongman of the late 19th/early 20th centuries. (Check out the Strongman’s big mural on Vine Street sometime). And there were heavy doses of blue snakes with Ronnie Baker Brooks, Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray, and banjos with Dave Rawlings, PPL, Gillian Welch, and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood.
Bill paid tribute to Sara (left) and Tegan’s “High School” memoir, introduced listeners to Shepherdstown, West Virginia’s Olivia Ellen Lloyd, and played Anniversary Music, a salute to albums from 1971 and 1996.
The St. Paddy’s Grammy Day show focused its unfocused gaze on the wearin’ o’ the Green — really just 3 songs with “Green” in the title — and lots of Grammy-winning cuts from the genres and artists we love: Bobby Rush, Sarag Jarosz, Billy Strings, John Prine, Toots & the Maytals, Brittany Howard, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. With all of that there was still time for Habibi, Apple and Three Oranges, and Mata Hari, birthday wishes for John Sebastian and Paul Kantner, and a nod to the passing of Sally Grossman (the woman in red on the cover of Bringing It All Back Home). And the show was still only two hours long!
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