Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

Sometimes, being a DJ at a non-commercial radio station can be downright depressing, especially if you're in the middle of a music drought. That's not the case with Dave Ritchie, host of Against the Grain every Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight on WICN (90.5 FM). Although many of the recordings he airs fall under the "No Depression" category, which was applied to New Country in recent years, he's quite happy with new releases and classic recordings.

"The most exciting thing I've gotten recently is the six-CD Anthology of American Folk Music that Smithsonian-Folkways reissued. The blues, country, and gospel recordings cover just the years 1926-'32, but the influence of this material has been mind-boggling," he says. "It inspired the American folk revival after its [original] release in 1952, but there are testimonials in the liner notes by [modern-day] artists like John Fahey, Peter Stampfel, and Elvis Costello. This thing floors me, and it's bound to change my show for the better for the coming months."

Babies in the Mill (Hightone) is a collection of classic, 1962 folk recordings of Dorsey Dixon coupled with earlier Dixon Brothers material. "He wrote `Wreck on the Highway' and a lot of really sad and beautiful songs about his childhood in the textile mills of South Carolina, where he went to work in 1905 at the age of eight." Slim & Slam: The Groove Juice Special (Columbia) is another newly uncovered collection of American classics. "Guitarist `Slim' Gaillard and bassist `Slam' Stewart met in Harlem in 1937, and on top of being amazing musicians, they recorded some of the hippest records ever made."

Last weekend, Ritchie saw Steve Earle along with Buddy and Julie Miller. "He put on a great show, and his new CD [El Corazon] proves he's still got it -- that makes three great CDs in a row since he got out of prison. This one runs the gamut from hard-rockin' to a great acoustic song with Del McCoury and the boys." Earle's record label is also putting out some wild vibes. "E-Squared is really taking off with CDs from the V-Roys, 6 String Drag, and a new one from former Blood Oranges member Cheri Knight [Northeast Kingdom]."

You could call the Ray Campi Quartet's new release, Train Rhythm Blue (Mouthpiece), a reunion of the LA punk scene. It features X's D.J. Bonebrake on drums along with ex-Blaster Dave Alvin and former Wall of Voodoo frontman Stan Ridgway. Equally wonderful is Fred Eaglesmith's Lipstick Lies & Gasoline (Razor & Tie), Ray Wylie Hubbard's Dangerous Spirits (Philo), and a great lo-fi band from Austin called the American Analog Set, who recently released From Our Living Room to Yours (Trance Syndicate). "They've got a great organ sound, like a melancholy Stereolab or Galaxie 500."

Against the Grain's playlist doesn't stop at the US border. "From central Mexico there's a great traditional album from Dinastia Hidalguense called Sones Huastecos [Corason], which features a fiddle and falsetto singing. And then there's Susana Baca's Del Fuego y Del Agua CD [Tonga]. She was the highlight of the Afro-Peruvian Classics compilation on Luaka Bop awhile back."

Ritchie recently received a special recognition award from WICN for his devotion to presenting diversified programming. That devotion extends to the World Wide Web, where you can visit his web site at www.ultranet.com\~dritchie\. It contains recent Against the Grain playlists and portions of a discussion on the future of Americana from the South-by-Southwest Music Festival.