Woodsongs Radio Hour

JOHN LEE HOOKER JR. is the son of the great John Lee Hooker. He was exposed to the life of the blues by touring alongside his dad throughout his teens. Unfortunately, while living the "life of a bluesman" he succumbed to the demons that surround it, derailing his musical career for many, many years. With the support of his family and friends, and a crew of talented musicians who never ceased to believe in him, Jr. Hooker finally found his own inner muse, making music that expresses the depth of emotion he has experienced in his personal life. Has received 2 Grammy nominations and several major blues awards. His latest CD is "Live in Istanbul Turkey."

TIERRA NEGRA & MURIEL ANDERSON are three brilliant guitarists that met in a castle in Germany. In the world of modern Flamenco, few artists have attained the heights of the two German guitarists known in Europe as "Tierra Negra." The duo are often cited as the protagonists of Flamenco Nuevo. A WoodSongs favorite, Muriel is widely respected as one of the world’s foremost fingerstyle guitarists and harp-guitarists and is the first woman to have won the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship. This trio has come together in an exciting CD titled "New World Flamenco."

KACEY JONES is a sassy, sexy trio of performing songwriters will make you laugh, scream, cry, and ... did we say laugh? ... her songs include "Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay, or Dead" and her new CD is called "Donald Trumps Hair" ... how can you possibly miss this appearance by the "Shameless Hussy" Kacey Jones, former lead singer of Ethel and The Shameless Hussies.

HUDOST are singer/songwriters Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines offering a rich, eclectic blending of traditional Sufi music, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian ... plus Balkan folk, Farsi, Turkish, and Arabic. Adding to the group’s international feel is the unexpected instrumentation that includes harmonium, bouzouki, and bendir among others. Most recently, HuDost produced their latest release "Trapeze" that is almost unclassifiable and put them at the forefront of the folk rock world.

CHERRYHOLMES return to bluegrass as the reigning "First family of Bluegrass." They have stormed to the top of the music world since winning the 2005 IBMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. As little as 10 years ago, the band itself didn’t exist, and half of its youthful members hadn’t even picked up instruments yet. With four GRAMMY nominations to date, the fourth album, "Cherryholmes IV Common Threads" on Skaggs Family Records, brings this talented family back to the WoodSongs stage.

KENNY WHITE is an explosive piano player, a soulful singer-songwriting and a Grammy nominated producer. He worked with artists like Gladys Knight, Linda Ronstadt, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, Kim Carnes Felix Cavaliere, Dobie Gray and Aaron Neville among many others. His relationships with Marc Cohn and Shawn Colvin led to his producing Colvin’s Grammy-nominated, "I Don’t Know Why" and to his involvement in Cohn’s eponymous platinum debut record. Kenny signed to Judy Collins Wildflower Records and has just released "Comfort in the Static," his long-awaited newest release.

THE FAREWELL DRIFTERS are one of the most powerful, striking new bands in Bluegrass, a young quintet that plays with the intensity of Mountain Heart and the fire of the New Grass Revival and, in the words of one gushing reviewer, they are "making folk music hip again."

JP PENNINGTON is one of the founding members of the country and rock supergroup Exile. In a rare, solo acoustic performance, JP discusses the art of songwriting.

MORGAN O’KANE is a raw, roots, aggresive banjo and old-time musician with something powerful to say. An intensely talented musician from Charlottesville, Virginia, his distinct sound is an evolution of his work with "scum billy" band and time spent playing in the New York Subway system. From the Mountaintop removal protests of West Virginia to the pubs of Belfast and through Holland and back again, these days O’Kane’s soulful war cry can be heard for miles.

BECKY SCHLEGEL’s music is a gentle mix of folk, bluegrass and country. Becky has come a long way from the Kimball, South Dakota farm of her youth. She began her musical career at the age of five, and began performing in her mother’s band when she was in the 8th grade. She moved to Minnesota in 1993 and jumped headfirst into the vibrant Twin Cities music scene, where she won numerous awards and appeared several times on A Prairie Home Companion. She is celebrating the release of her new CD called "Dandelion."

JANIVA MAGNESS returns to the WoodSongs stage as the reigning 2009 Blues Music Entertainer of the Year, only the second woman ever to win this award. Although Magness is now a bona fide blues star, her rise to the top was far from easy. She has been performing for almost three decades, logging thousands of miles on the road and appearing 150 nights a year at clubs, theaters and festivals all over the world. Janiva and her full band will be supporting her latest CD on Alligator Records called "The Devil Is An Angel Too."

CROOKED STILL has established themselves as "the most important folk group to emerge from Boston since the early ‘60s" (The Boston Globe). Since their last WoodSongs appearance, the group became five with the addition of fiddler Brittany Haas and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle and opened up a new musical chapter for the band. The band’s new CD is "Some Strange Country" available on Signature Sounds.

JIM BYRNES and STEVE DAWSON are Canadian Juno award winning musicians performing material from the Mississippi Sheiks tribute CD called "Things About Comin’ My Way". Jim is an American-born actor and musician based in Canada, playing blues since he was 13 and acting wise, is best known for his roles in Wiseguy and Highlander. Steve is an accomplished Canadian guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has risen to prominence in the Canadian music scene. Between 1930 and 1935, brothers Sam, Lonnie and Armenter Chatmon, who along with Walter Vinson formed The Mississippi Sheiks, recorded nearly 100 singles that would define this band as one of the most popular string bands of all time. The project is nominated for a Blues Music Award.

CAROLYN MARTIN is a Texas born, Nashville based swing and country singer and was a member of Nashville’s Time Jumpers, a western swing band comprised of Nashville’s finest session musicians. For 11 years the band garnered two Grammy nominations and two Emmy awards. Besides performing across the country with her own group, Carolyn is gearing up to perform in the new show, "Country Royalty: Jason Petty and Carolyn Martin pay tribute to Hank Williams and Patsy Cline" Carolyn was the 2008 recipient of the Academy of Western Artists’ Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Western Swing Female Vocalist of the Year. Her latest CD is "Cookin’ With Carolyn."

LAURA McGHEE is a brilliant Scottish singer/songwriter/fiddler/guitarist. She first hit the American roots scene while performing with Pete Seeger in New York. Since that time, she has performed with the great Odetta, and with the Pogues & Shane McGowan, Ricky Skaggs, Jim Lauderdale, Oscar Brand, Josh White, Jr., David Amram and with Moby and the Proclaimers. Her two albums, "Green Eyes" and "Celticana" have garnered rave reviews; while her traditional concerto piece "Commemoration" was performed as part of New York City's 9/11 Ceremonies in 2007.

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV was born is Johannesburg, South Africa. Isakov’s family immigrated to the US in opposition to the apartheid. In 1999, he moved to Colorado to study horticulture and simultaneously embark on a career as an acoustic singer-songwriter after being inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s "The Ghost of Tom Joad." His song-craft hints of his influences, Leonard Cohen and Kelly Joe Phelps. He has been described as "strong, subtle, a lyrical genius" and has shared the stage with touring artists such as Calexico, Ani Difranco, Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls, Richie Havens, and Fiona Apple. His latest CD is This Empty Northern Hemisphere.

GEORGE WINSTON burst onto the music scene in the early 1980’s with his iconic impressionist style and a collection of seasonal-themed recordings. Since 1980, he has released nine other solo albums: “Autumn,” “Winter Into Spring,” “December,” “Summer,” “Forest,” and many others. His next album will be “Love Will Come – The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Vol. 2,” scheduled to be released in February 2010. Winston spends much of his time touring, often playing solo piano, guitar and harmonica. He also studies the techniques of the great New Orleans pianists. In addition, Winston is working on several solo projects, including recording the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key guitar for an extensive series of albums for Dancing Cat Records; and recording music by his major inspirations for harmonica playing: Sam Hinton, Rick Epping and Curt Bouterse. WoodSongs is honored to have this brilliant master musician on our stage for this special event broadcast!

The CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO (CGT) is Bert Lams from Belgium, Hideyo Moriya from Japan, and Paul Richards from Utah. Together, their technical wizardry is breathtaking, as is the wide range of instrumental music the group renders... everything from unique originals to dazzling, cleverly-arranged interpretations of jazz, classical music, and surf rock. The members of CGT met while studying under Robert Fripp and performing with Fripp's "League of Crafty Guitarists." In 1995, CGT toured worldwide with King Crimson. CGT’s new CD is called Andromeda.

PATTY LARKIN has been redefining the boundaries of folk-urban pop music for 25 years with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics. Her songs run from impressionistic poetry to witty wordplay. In 2010, Patty Larkin releases a collectible collection of 25 love songs in celebration of 25 years in the recording industry. Here Patty has reworked 25 of her favorite songs in an acoustic, “unplugged” release, joined by friends along the way.

JAKOB DYLAN returns to the WoodSongs Stage with his NEW solo album “Women and Country” on Columbia Records. Soulful yet striking and ripe with sublime beauty, it is the follow up to the artist’s 2008 critically acclaimed debut, “Seeing Things.” This new collection finds him reuniting with acclaimed Grammy and Golden Globe winning producer T Bone Burnett (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Crazy Heart), who produced the Wallflowers' 1996 breakthrough album Bringing Down the Horse which featured the massive hits “One Headlight” and "6th Avenue Heartache." Jakob will be performing on the show with 3 Legs featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan.

JAYME STONE & YACOUBA SISSOKO will be performing material from Jayme’s award winning project for “Africa to Appalachia.” Jayme is a banjo virtuoso from Canada who traced the origins of the banjo to Mali, Africa. He will be onstage with Malian kora master and singer Yacouba Sissoko as well as fiddle phenom Mike Barnett, innovative bassist Brandi Disterheft and percussionist extraordinaire Nick Fraser.

EXILE is Kentucky’s own supergroup made up of J.P. Pennington, Sonny LeMaire, Les Taylor, Steve Goetzman and Marlon Hargis. The band's hits include "Give Me One More Chance," as well as the 1978 pop hit, "Kiss You All Over" which was recently named by Billboard Magazine as the number 9 on its 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time. This band that got their start in the small town of Richmond, KY, will be performing on WoodSongs in an intimate “unplugged” performance.

CARLA GOVER plays clawhammer banjo, guitar and piano, writes songs, clogs, and is an aspiring Appalachian Diva. She is from the Eastern Kentucky coal town of Whitesburg, Kentucky, where she grew up idolizing her grandmother as well as Emmylou Harris and Loretta Lynn. Her music is full someone full of spirit and heart, someone who has the mountain sounds right in her blood. Her new CD is called Gypsy Ways.

THE SOUTH MEMPHIS STRING BAND is a trio composed of Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Alvin Youngblood Hart (Grammy-winning bluesman) and Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers). Although they’d known each other for years, the South Memphis String Band was greatly influenced by the Mississippi Sheiks, Gus Cannon & the Memphis Jug Band and other string bands and jug bands of their ilk, as well as Mississippi Delta and Hill Country blues. They will arrive with a passel of guitars, mandolins, banjos, lap steel guitars and harmonicas.

QUEBE SISTERS BAND is an American fiddle western swing group from Fort Worth, Texas. The band began their musical journey in 1998 when the three sisters started taking fiddle lessons. Shortly thereafter, the girls began entering fiddle contests and had success early on; winning several State, regional and National fiddle championships. Add the swinging rhythm guitar of World Champion fiddler Joey McKenzie and the upright bass of Drew Phelps, and the Quebe Sisters Band becomes a force of nature. Recently named Group of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists and recipient of the Crescendo Award by the Western Music Association, as well as nominations for Country group of the year by both the Dallas Observer and Ft. Worth Weekly, the QSB is performing coast to coast in support of their latest cd, “Timeless.”

THE DUST BUSTERS are an old-time string band based out of Brooklyn, New York. They strive to integrate a wide range of old-time songs, ballads, fiddle tunes and jug band blues into every performance, infused with the old-time feeling and freewheelin’ high energy that characterized early string bands. They are influenced and inspired by the direct fusion of Scots-Irish and African music that took place in Appalachia, the Western states and the Deep South from the earliest colonial times through the Second World War. The Dust Busters have recorded their first album, currently available on CDBaby and iTunes.

MORELAND & ARBUCKLE have spent nearly a decade exploring American roots music. Guitarist Aaron Moreland and harpist/vocalist Dustin Arbuckle with help from the driving beat of drummer Brad Horner have forged a relentless and haunting sound that merges Delta blues, folk, rock, traditional country, and soul. In addition to the more typical Telecaster and Les Paul guitars, Moreland arsenal also includes a hand-crafted instrument consisting of four strings stretched across a cigar box. Moreland & Arbuckle make their debut on Telarc International with the release of “Flood.”

ELLIS PAUL is one of the leading voices in American songwriting. He was a principle leader in the wave of singer/songwriters that emerged from the Boston folk scene in the 1990's. In recent years, he has also departed from his solo career to tour and record with longtime compadre Vance Gilbert, and to indulge his deep respect for American folk icon Woody Guthrie. Between 1993 and 2004, he won an unprecedented 13 Boston Music Awards. His latest CD “The Day After Everything Changed” is his first new studio CD in 5 years and is a fan-financed effort.

ANTJE DUVEKOT (Pronounced: Aunt-ya Doo-va-kot) is a German-born, American-raised singer-songwriter who has risen to the top of the competitive Boston singer-songwriter scene. Antje has won some of the top songwriting awards including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition. Her latest CD is The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer on Black Wolf Records. It was produced by songwriter Richard Shindell and was voted WUMB's #1 album of the year in Boston.