High Octane Americana!

Aretha Franklin

Aretha, Keb’ Mo’, even Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, all getting down and dirty on this week’s Big Fat Wide Americana Hour
.

Plus others, too. John Hiatt! Flatt and Scruggs! We’re going to rock your socks off. Even – gadzooks! – Leo Sayer?

Mitch Ryder

Yep, and many others. We’ve got it all on this week’s show, and we’re gonna rock your socks off.

Tune in! Enjoy! And remember – turn it up. I mean, crank it!

Your friend,

M.D.

Keb' Mo'

Perfect Harmony

What makes a great duet?

On the one hand, the question is easy to answer. “It takes two,” Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston harmonize on the opening track of the new edition of The Big Fat Wide Americana Hour, to be posted Saturday.  And that’s certainly true.

But on a deeper level, there is a magic that cannot be easily defined. 

James Taylor and Linda Rondstadt

Is it that, in music as in marriage, opposites attract – as when the sweet-voiced Jennifer Warnes teams up with the gravelly growl of Joe Cocker on “Up Where We Belong?”

Or is it when two smoothed-voiced singers, like Linda Rondstadt and James Taylor, complement each other on “I Think It’s Going To Work Out Fine?”

Or is it perhaps a shared vision, as when the blues singers Bonnie Raitt and Delbert McClinton create a mood on “Good Man, Good Woman?”

It may be indefinable. But when it works, it’s magic – and more fun to listen to than to analyze.

Join me the week for an hour of the best of American duets. 

And don’t forget – turn it up. I mean, crank it!

Your friend,

M.D. Spenser

Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker

Wowza, what a show!

Marvin Gaye

What a show we have for your this week on The Big Fat WideAmericana Hour!

Steve Forbert, Maria Muldaur, ZZ Top, the Del McCoury Band, Samantha Fish, and so much more.

Soul? Check. A crooner? Check. Doo-Wop? Check. Killer cover of a Graham Parsons song? Definitely.

A former full-figured porn star turned blues singer? Why, of course!

Steve Forbert

The best ending song we’ve ever chosen? Probably – but you be the judge.

And we lead it all off with an icon you probably love but haven’t heard in ages.  

The Big Fat Wide Americana Hour – the best variety of American music you’ll hear anywhere. New edition now on-line.

And remember, turn it up. I mean, crank it!

Your friend,

M.D.

Candye Kane

Variety -- the spice of life!

Wilson Pickett

Where are you going to find Wilson Pickett, John Prine and Dolly Parton all on the same show? How about a James Taylor-Alison Krauss duet? 

Along with songs from Albert Collins, Tony Joe White and … Louis Armstrong?

Dolly Parton

Only one place, that’s for sure – The Big Fat Wide Americana Hour!

All that, and so much more is on tap on the show that begins this Saturday, June 11.

You like variety in, um, other areas of life, right? Well, variety in music will get you off, as well. 

Give it a try. Join music-lovers in 29 countries who already listen to the show. It’s a sensation!

Here it here: http://mdspenser.wix.com/mdspenser

And remember … turn it up. I mean, crank it!

Louis Armstrong

Your friend,

M.D. Spenser

Variety Squared!

Betty Lavette

Variety’s our watchword on The Big Fat Wide Americana Hour, and with our next show we’ve outdone ourselves. And a great collection of music it is.

Want some super soul? Betty Lavette qualifies, and how. What about some country? Johnny Cash would seem to fit the bill. Not to mention Dwight Yoakam singing about Hank Williams’ last ride.

Doo-wop? The 5 Royales hold up that end of the spectrum admirably. 

Just plain cute? How about “Ain’t She Sweet,” done by Nat King Cole and his two back-up singers, both of them later famous – Carole Cole, who was 9, and Natalie Cole, who hadn’t yet turned 4. We’re talking exponential cuteness here.

And we’ve got not one, but two singers who would rather be blind. Different songs, but the same wish. I’d just as soon skip it, myself, but what can you say about these darn musicians?

Or perhaps a bit of wisdom? We know you've been waiting to hear Chris Smither’s take on the origin of species. And lyrics don’t get much more profound than “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” – done here by Taj Mahal.

And that ain’t all. But the amazing thing is how it all fits together. That – and how much fun it all is to listen to.

So, enjoy! It all starts Saturday. And don’t forget … turn it up! I mean, crank it!

Your friend, 

M.D.

The 5 Royales

Guy Clark, 1941-2016, an appreciation

Guy Clark was gruff but tender, homespun but poetic. And he was one of the finest American songwriters of the past several decades.

He sang of life’s truths, simple yet eternal. He knew, as well, how to have a rip-roaring good time. Music ain’t nothing if you can’t tap your feet to it.

He influenced a host of others songwriters, including Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell , and he learned from – and traded songs with – his best friend, Townes Van Zandt.

Clark died May 17 in Nashville, at the age of 74, having left an indelible mark on the American songscape.  His hallmarks were honesty and truth, and an avoidance of both artifice and artiness.

The Big Fat Wide Americana Hour, in the show to be posted Saturday, May 28, celebrates the life and legacy of Guy Clark, revelling in his songs – sung by him and by so many others, as well.

He wrote hits –“ L.A. Freeway” and “Heartbroke,” for example. But what is most impressive his his entire body of work. That, and the way his spirit lives on.

Because of his devotion to truth and his lifelong dedication to mercy and music, our country is a better place.

Tune in.  Turn it up. And get those feet tapping. Here it here: http://mdspenser.wix.com/mdspenser. 

See you there.

Your friend,

M.D. 

Dylan at 75 -- an appreciation

It is virtually impossible to overstate the influence Bob Dylan has had on American music over the last 50 years.  He holds the copyrights to more than 500 songs – including some of the most famous songs of the modern era.

He started, some thought, as a Woodie Guthrie wannabe, a protest singer. And he was both of those things. When he sang “The Times They Are A-Changing” in the early 1960s, he wasn’t kidding. Huge social upheaval was on the way, in terms of the battle for civil rights, the protests against the Vietnam War, and the rejection of materialism as an end in itself.

But he became so much more. He helped bring blues to modern audicences. He wrote love songs, both bitter and sweet.  And he could be funny as hell.

Bob Dylan turns 75 on Tuesday, May 24. And The Big Fat WideAmericana Hour is taking the occasion to offer a tasty sampling of Dylan’s long career – a whole bunch of of Dylan songs, some sung by the man himself, some sung by those who took inspiration from him.

Join us, beginning Saturday, May 21, for some of the best American music you can hear. And – I hope – for a whole big heck of a lot of fun.

As always, just one piece of advice – turn it up. I mean, crank it!