Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

Between getting ready for fall fundraising and his Friday-night show, Against the Grain, Dave Ritchie's been a busy man, continuing his search for the best new (and old) Americana sounds on WICN (90.5 FM).

"The most impressive group of CDs recently have come out on the Hightone label, especially the absolutely essential reissue of the Blasters' first album, American Music. These are the raw, original 1980 garage recordings of the band as a four piece, remastered with six unreleased tracks. Slash Records put out a lot of great material with sax and piano added, but after hearing these stripped-down versions, I don't need the Slash stuff. I called Hightone and got a couple of these for giveaways during the pledge drive, along with Bill Kirchen's Hot Rod Lincoln Live! and Buddy Miller's Poison Love." Ritchie's excited about both.

"Kirchen put on a blazing show recently at the Plantation Club, and hopefully we can get him back [to Worcester]. Hot Rod Lincoln could only have been recorded live, with all of the mimicked solos of guitar gods over the years. And Miller's album is, I think, the best yet from him. He's been on the road for over a year as Emmylou Harris's guitar player, and now she and her band really fill out these great country songs with help from Steve Earle and Jim Lauderdale. Earle has a new CD out too [El Korazon on E-Squared], so I'm sure that'll be in heavy rotation."

Other great recent CDs from Hightone were Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys' Feelin' Kinda Lucky, Julie Miller's Blue Pony, Dale Watson's I Hate These Songs, plus Tom Russell's Song of the West, a collection of his Western material with a great live version of "The Sky Above, the Mud Below."

Rounder Records is consistently releasing great roots CDs, including "tons of great stuff like the Del McCoury Band (Cold Hard Facts) and Rice, Rice, Hillman and Pedersen (Out of the Wordwork)" and the many volumes from the Alan Lomax Collection and Smithsonian Folkways' Asch Recordings of Woody Guthrie."

Ritchie's recently received a whole slew of unexpected musical treats. "One that really surprised me is from a band called Royal Fingerbowl, who sound a little like a Tin Pan Alley version of Tom Waits on their debut album, Happy Birthday, Sabo! (TVT Records). It's great stuff. Also, Industry from Richard Thompson and Danny Thompson (Hannibal), Nashville by Bill Frisell (Nonesuch), the soundtrack to The End of Violence (Outpost), and a fabulous CD from the Volebeats called The Sky and the Ocean (Safehouse)."

Ritchie hosts Against the Grain every Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight. Call in your pledge to 752-0700 or just drop a check in the mail to WICN, 6 Chatham Street, Worcester 01610.

WOOO HOOO! BLUR'S BOMBASTIC "SONG 2" refuses to die. The song is currently at number one on WSCW's Top 10 List, and has just been selected as the theme song for the upcoming hockey season on the Fox Network. Other songs rocking the Worcester State College Campus include Reel Big Fish's "Sellout" from Turn the Radio Off, Korn's "Nowhere to Hide" from Life is Peachy, the Sneaker Pimps' "Six Underground" from Becoming X (Virgin), Our Lady Peace's "Superman's Dead" from Clumsy, Green Day's "Hitchin' a Ride" 45, Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" from OK Computer (Capitol), Cellophane's "Down," Tanya Donelly's "Pretty Deep" from Lovesongs for Underdogs (Reprise), and Worcester émigrés Popgun Picnic's "Stinks Like Truth." WSCW broadcasts on 94.9 FM Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on weekends from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.