American Song

It seems like every ten years or so, society experiences a great reset. The end of the ‘60s was like that. The idealism and teen-culture of the ‘60’s was ten years older and moving into adult life. Just like everything else in life that was questioned and re-invented. Some musicians began pushing the boundaries of what rock music could become. Across the Atlantic, and as Ian Anderson, of Jethro Tull put it, English rockers “were trying to be originators and not ...

It seems like every ten years or so, society experiences a great reset. The end of the ‘60s was like that. The idealism and teen-culture of the ‘60’s was ten years older and moving into adult life. Just like everything else in life that was questioned and re-invented, some musicians began pushing the boundaries of what rock music could become. Across the Atlantic, and as Ian Anderson, of Jethro Tull put it, English rockers "were trying to be originato...

Punk may have been born in America, but it had many homes around the world. In every place it went, punk became part of the struggle for social change.Punk's roots are in the blues, music made for expressing struggles and refusing to accept things the way they are. With heritage like this, it should be no surprise that it moved people and shook things up in the powerful ways it did!Join us, as we see how punk expressed the real lives of the people making and listening to the music...

America's Punk movement was started on both coasts. Early proto-punks like the MC5 and the New York Dolls were followed by a number of other early iconic acts who played at several New York clubs, including CBGB's (Country Blue Grass and Blues), such as the The Ramones, the Talking Heads, Blondie, and Patti Smith. Meanwhile, LA and San Francisco had a decidedly more political movement propelled by bands like X, The Dead Kennedy's, and Black Flag. These bands had more in comm...

When the dreams and promises you’ve placed your hopes in end up being a mirage, its only human to feel angry. In the mid 1970’s, a lot of teens and young adults found themselves in this camp. The nation’s shift toward a decidedly more cynical era could be heard in anti-war statements such as "War is not healthy for children and other living things" On the equal rights agenda, the demand for black civil rights encouraged a louder beating of the drum as seen in the rise of fem...

This is the second half of a two-part episodeIn the late 1960's and early 1970's, Southern rock, a rebellious fusion of blues, rock and roll, and country music, emerged as the defiant cry from the heart of the South. Lynyrd Skynyrd's guitars wailed like banshees, their lyrics echoing the region's resistance to outside finger-pointing and strengthened a determination to preserve their own cultural identity. Never mind the warts and blemishes. The Allman Brothers Band played with im...

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Southern rock, a rebellious fusion of blues, rock and roll, and country music, emerged as the defiant cry from the heart of the South. Lynyrd Skynyrd's guitars wailed like banshees, their lyrics echoing the region's resistance to outside fingerpointing and strengthened a determination to preserve their own cultural identity. Never mind the warts and blemishes. The Allman Brothers Band played with improvisations like soaring eagles. Their ...

This is part two of a two-part focus on Reggae music.The heart of Reggae music has always been politics and spirituality. In this two part episode, you'll learn about some of the musical and political forces in Jamaica's colorful past that all contributed to the music that we celebrate as reggae today. From Marcus Garvey, the modern-day prophet who had a vision for the black people living in the new world, and Ethiopia's Emperor Hailie Salassie, whose formal title included "Lord ...

This is part one of a two-part focus on Reggae music.The heart of Reggae music has always been politics and spirituality. In this two part episode, you'll learn about some of the musical and political forces in Jamaica's colorful past that all contributed to the music that we celebrate as reggae today. From Marcus Garvey, the modern-day prophet who had a vision for the black people living in the new world, and Ethiopia's Emperor Hailie Salassie, whose formal title included ...

In today's episode, we’re going further up the musical family tree – into the funk. Funk grew in the shade of jazz, soul, R&B, gospel and rock. In time it’s going to give rise to other branches – for instance, disco, and hip-hop. It will influence branches that have been growing for a while already, like rock, jazz, even classical music believe it or not. Funk is growing in some difficult environments, like urban ghettoes. It’s impacted by some heavy weather...

In this second episode of our third season, we pick up the trail and continue our exploration of jazz rock - a journey we started in episode one. In this episode, we'll take a close look at the amazing work done by three great bands in that genre; Steely Dan, Traffic, and Supertramp. Great songs, and interesting artist interviews abound! Here's what you can look forward to:INTERVIEWS WITHDonald FagenDave MatthewsJim CapaldiDave MasonSteve WinwoodRoger HodgsonJohn HelliwellFE...

The first generation of jazz rock musicians had been heavily influenced by some of the pioneering jazz musicians who forged jazz fusion, beginning with Miles Davis. Miles was the first of the great jazz artists to venture into the new, amplified and electronic sounds of 1960’s rock music, and in doing it he recruited a number of very young, incredibly talented, and mostly unknown musicians who became giants in their own right, As a number of jazz musicians embraced elements of rock musi...

In today's podcast episode, we pick up our exploration of jazz fusion by looking at the amazing careers and music produced by a number of genius musicians who came out of Miles Davis' bands. We'll visit with Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin and his band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorious and the band Weather Report, Chick Corea and his bands Return to Forever and the Elektrik Band. The forces that Miles pioneered and set in motion continued to evolve in multipl...

As jazz musicians started realizing that rock and electric bands were stealing their audiences, Miles Davis, who’s alternately been called most important musician in the history of jazz, the man who transformed jazz, and even the man who changed music itself, took the music in a new direction when he invented jazz fusion. In fact, during his lifetime, Miles didn’t change music just once, he did it five times. Fusion started happening in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like ...

First of all, Happy Independence Day everybody! I'm so pleased to publish another episode of American Song on America's birthday!Back in America, ever since the plane crash in the winter of 1959 that ended the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, American rock and roll had been sort of losing steam. By 1964, it very easily could have just petered out. Certainly, the likes of Frankie Avalon, and post-army Elvis were not going anywhere exciting. It was a...

With the big English interest in blues music, suddenly, America’s original bluesmen started hearing about the chance to reignite their careers with English, French and German audiences. Unbelievably, they found themselves welcomed, even celebrated. American Bluesmen like Big Bill Broonzy, after living years in poverty, discovered they could actually have careers in Europe. The Cunard Yanks, and the American Folk Blues Festival were the catalysts behind cultural and musical change...

England was caught between two cultures: the old order and whatever came after it. The rigid class distinctions between upper and middle classes were disappearing, and government reforms had a lot to do with it. The Conservative Party with their slogan, “Set the People Free,” won the 1951 election, and popular culture began to replace stuffy, upper crust stuff like classical music, opera, theatre, and fine art with mass-market media like radio, movies, and television. The BBC beli...

Before the arrival of Colombus and the Spanish, Puerto Rico was peopled by the Taino tribe. They’d called it home – and paradise – for over 1,000 years, having come either from the Amazon river basin, or maybe from the Colombian Andes before they arrived on the island. In our March episode, we talked about the Jones Act – a law made during the Wilson presidency. The chief goal of that act was to help the U.S. shipping industry recover after World War I. It also annexed...

In a country based on freedom, equal opportunity, and democracy, you’d think that lessons related to social justice would not need to be re-hashed so often. But that does seem to be our fate. And so, in every generation, we’ve witnessed one group after another struggle to claim their own share of the American dream.Music has had a huge role in raising awareness, unifying people, inspiring empathy, and challenging the status quo in every major social wave of change. Today, we...

Latin music and 'American' music were once considered to be separate and unique. They had distinctly different properties and music labels managed them differently. But not anymore.Danny Ocean is a singer-songwriter and native of Caracas, Venezuela, and has said “Music is something that transcends beyond any language or nationality…it’s all about being a global artist.” Latin music has become mainstream - it's no longer a 'crossover' genre. Today, Latin culture is American cultur...

In this episode, we shift focus to consider another important cultural vein, brought here by the Spanish, and rising out of the American west and Southwest as well as New York City – and obviously all of Central and South America, Cuba and Puerto Rico. A few things have struck me as I’ve been putting my thoughts together for these next few episodes. Of course, the first thing is that – just like in earlier genres that we’ve talked about – the music we hear today has gon...

In our July, 2021 episode on the first generation of folk music, “Folk Music Stood for America”, we talked about how the music was swept up in the major social movements of the day, especially the socialist/ American Communist party movements which gathered speed because of events like the Great Depression and the Dustbowl. The second revival of the 1960’s also had its own causes; the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights, and the Women’s movement primarily. The ‘60s was the era when...

The 1960’s were a period of massive social change and tension all over the country – all over North America in fact - because we have to include Canada, too. The conditions were just right for a whole group of passionate, inspired, and gifted young singers and songwriters to lift their voices. They came from many different American communities; Jewish immigrants, First Nations people, Americans, Canadians, African Americans, Hispanics, Caucasians, from the cities and ...

Happy New Year and welcome to season two in the American Song podcast series! It's been a bit since we last got together. I hope you all are doing well. In both the first and second folks waves, many of the musicians were heavily influenced by the times and events that lived in. During the first folk revival, the most important social issues included the Great Depression, and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. In different ways, both of these catastrophes laid waste to the ...

If there’s an over-riding theme across the last several episodes, it is that music can be whatever we say it is. In this third and last episode on this theme, we’re talking about Musique Concrete. It’s the name applied to a one of the most radical descriptions of music ever imagined. Think of this music like you do when you think of abstract, visual art. For instance, Picasso’s Guernica. There aren’t too many people that think of that painting as traditionally beautifu...

In the world of American art music, Minimalism is another push away from traditional music. It’s earliest beginnings are found in the 1950’s again, with two American composers; Steve Reich (b.1936) and Philip Glass (b.1937). Reich, Glass, and another minimalist, John Adams, were all heavily influenced by mid-century popular music. Together, they’re known as the ‘big three’ in minimalist music. The founders of minimalist music absorbed a wide range of sonic influe...

The 20th century scientific explosion had been in the works since the Enlightenment, but the rate of change, which had been slow, and adaptable, now came in flashes – like a supernova - and repeatedly, one major wave after another and in ways that dramatically changed our society; instead of having time to gradually adapt and fold these changes into our ordered lives, our lives were forced to conform instead.I hope you’re ready for an adventure, because this episode, and actually the ne...

Newton’s Third Law of Motion; For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. I mentioned that rock and music was equal parts music and social movement. This was a totally new event for music. In earlier episodes, we’ve seen how jazz was borrowed by the US Government for global PR purposes, and of course, music has always given a voice to the hopes, dreams, hurts, and fears of people everywhere. But this was something totally different. Ever sinc...

By the 1950’s, American Music had been on a fascinating journey. Rolling out of the Appalachian Mountains and into southern cities; drifting out of the cotton plantations of the south, winding its way up from New Orleans, along the Mississippi Delta, carried along many musical creeks, tributaries, and rivers, rolling its way along mysterious trails past the crossroads, and chugging its way across railroad lines. American Music had evolved, and grown, and changed, just like the cu...

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts,. Charlie passed away while I was preparing this episode. In a career that spanned more than sixty years, he left us all a massive library of songs and memories that we all will treasure forever. Thanks for everything, Charlie. It was only Rock and Roll, but I liked it!Episode DescriptionIt was a new day in America. The middle class was big and growing. Businesses w...

Today’s episode is all about the first of the two 20th century waves in the folk music movement and how that movement rallied people behind some big themes to help them fight for social justice. As a people, Americans are inclined towards optimism and a belief that if things aren’t working, they can be fixed. How improvement is defined, which issues get the focus, and how those improvements are managed comes down to party philosophy. Practically speaking, America has been a t...

America’s music, at least through 1955, was jazz. In this episode, we’ll take a deep dive into the predominant forms jazz took on from 1930 through the 1950’s and into the 1960’s, including swing, bebop, hard bop and cool jazz. In many ways during these years, Jazz gave voice to the difficult tensions and struggles confronting Americans in those years, and which tested our belief in our own convictions. Welcome to American Song, episode ten; Jazz In Defense of Equality and ...

Imagine a people, passing through the crucible of slavery, for hundreds of years, until the first people in your new lineage are often lost in time – because slaves have no more families or histories any more than cattle or sheep do – and coming out the other side, proud, shining, and triumphant. Imagine using that experience to lay the foundations of music that became the soundtrack within the lives of billions of people around the world. In the wake of so much devastation, the s...

During the first half of the 1900’s, Country music grew from a small group of naïve country musicians who shared their love of the old songs and the old ways with a country that was coming of age. As even now, the players that created the music Americans loved came from colorful backgrounds, and gave all they had to the music. Along the way, some of them gave too much – guys like Hank Williams who died so young and lived such a hard life – come to mind. The stories they told...

The Blues deals with very personal types of pain. But it doesn’t wallow in self-pity. The blues is about overcoming – like Martin Luther King Jr. used in his marches – “We Shall Overcome”. Great blues is all about a catharsis – a purging – of the things that hurt us so that we can go on living better lives! Nothing captures the Christian sense of death and redemption like the blues; When you think of the blues, you think about misfortune, betrayal and regret. Y...

By the 1920's, jazz had grown too large for its humble origins in New Orleans and was impacting the musical world, including the greatest classical European musicians and composers, as well as American listeners and fellow jazz musicians.What came next was an explosion of creativity among the musical who's who of the day.The world's stage was filled to capacity with Europe's heavy-weights, like Toscanini, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky and American classicists, like Leonard Bernstein, George Ger...

Welcome to episode five in the American Song podcast.The early days of jazz were full of exploration, invention, and creativity. It was a time of fluid exchanges in the music world between blacks and whites, even if it was only seldom happening anywhere else.Jazz rose up from Congo Square in New Orleans, which was a culturally rich gumbo of sounds, rhythms and movement produced by people whose origins were from far away places. Spanish, French, English, African and Native American...

A fusion of blues and mountain music, a reminder of better times for many people, and a host of memorable and gifted musicians. In this episode, we'll discover the following musicians and their music:Jimmie Rogers & Louis Armstrong - Blue Yodel Number NineDeFord Bailey - Pan American BluesCotton Eyed Joe - Fiddlin' John CarsonShow Intro for the Grand Ol' Opry - November 11, 1939Jimmie Rogers - The Carter Family - Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow(Medley):The Carter Family - Whe...

America's original art contribution to the world - jazz.So deep. So rich. But where did it come from?There were at least four different sources; and yet one of these - the blues - is also much more than a contributing art form. The blues is almost mythology itself. Sprung from the earth, like the plantation soil where so many slaves lived and died, the blues at once describes and also gives life to everything in its path.I hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, ...

Hi All,Episode two of “American Song” is an exploration of some of the early regional music from before the 20th century. Like some of the things we listened to in episode one, many of these forms survive and continue to be popular today!In this half-hour episode, we’ll listen to Appalachian and Mountain music, then travel down to Louisiana for a sampling of Cajun music! No trip to Louisiana is complete without at least a short stop in New Orleans – we’ll be back to New Orleans ag...

Welcome to American Song.There are few things I love more than music, and America.Both of these worlds have been my home since my earliest days.I've been thinking about producing this podcast for many years now. And now, this is episode one; With this podcast, I want to tell a story about how many cultures have contributed to the music we listen to today, and how the people of the United States have a common and proud heritage. We are a great people because of our diversit...