Andy Kershaw R.I.P.

 

I was all set to draft the next Saturday Shuffle when I received a text from my pal Pete advising that the DJ Andy Kershaw had died at the age of 66 from cancer. Not that much older than me FFS.

I know that he had his issues particularly when his relationship broke down and he was jailed for three months for violating a restraining order which significantly impacted on his broadcasting career.

I was far more influenced by him than I was by Peel. Indeed, he even had me tuning in to Radio 3 for the first time ever when his show was moved there in 2001.

He made a considerable impact on my musical tastes and indeed on my budget.

His documentary on Bob Dylan's 1966 "Royal Albert Hall" concert  when he went electric had a huge influence on me and pretty much turned me onto his music.

He introduced the world to Jim Ford and Harlan County and as George has noted he also pointed us in the direction of Carl and Pearl Butler.

Then there was the African music and his championing of James Carr.

A significant part of my musical education and collection is down to him.

Rest easy Andy and thank you for the music.

Bob Dylan - Leopard - Skin Pill-Box Hat

Jim Ford - Harlan County

Carl & Pearl Butler - Don't Let Me Cross Over

Four Brothers - Uchandifunga

James Carr - Forgeting You

The Shuffle will return next Saturday

Alphabet Soup - A Random ABC

 

Totally devoid of ideas for today's post I resorted to shutting my eyes and hovering the mouse over and randomly stopping at artists beginning with A,B or C

For the letter A the cursor stopped on the folder for the Northern Irish band Ash. I decided to go for the song Kung Fu hence the picture of Kung Fu Panda.

For B the cursor alighted on Barry Adamson. If you are wondering why he is filed under B rather than A that's the way the folder works. If I  had a Barry Adamson album, which I don't it would be filed under A on the shelves 

Similarly Cat Stevens would come under S as opposed to C

Apologies again for the lack of inspiration. Hopefully I'll get my mojo back soon. Suggestions, or even contributions, welcome.

Failing that there are only another 14634 songs/folders to go!

Ash - Kung Fu

Barry Adamson - The Last Words of Sam Cooke

Cat Stevens - Hard Headed Woman

Blog Country 140 - Aruba

 

Confession time - I don't think I'd ever heard of Aruba and certainly would not have been able to point to it on a map.

It turns out that it is an island in the Caribbean and about north of Venezuela. It was part of the Dutch Antilles and it became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in1986. Its popultion is equivalent to Greater Glasgow.

It was a bit of a struggle but I managed to find five acts (of varying quality) to feature today. I have not included the most famous singer from the country namely the recently sadly departed Bobby Farrell of Boney M fame

Lets kick off with Padu del Caribe who it seems is a legand and the father of Aruban culture. For those of you interested here is a fairly detaild Bio..His offering today is the song Arubanita.

Next up are the band Tsunami who apparently had a Euro Tour in 2024. Their song Blessings features reggae artist Blaka Dan.

It seems that Jeon is more than an artist - he is one of Aruba's strongest musical exports .Today's offering is the Spanish version of Caya Ta Papia

Vince Irie is a singer-songwriter born and raised on Aruba.He gained notoriety in The Netherlands when he appeared on the 4th season of The Voice of Holland in 2014. Here he is with the song Unfaithful featuring Ashwin Jaydee.

Finally , the one you have all been waiting for Wally Warning. Ewald "Wally" Warning was an Aruban roots reggae, ragga, gospel and Latin singer who lived in Munich, He sadly passed away in September 2025.

That's your lot. We are back in Africa next time round.

Padu Del Caribe - Arubanita

Tsunami (ft Blaka Ban) - Blessings

Jeon - Caya Ta Papia

Vince Irie (ft. Ashwin Jaydee) - Unfaithful

Wally Warning- E Ta Guia Mi

Oh go on then

Boney M - Nightflight To Venus

Talk About Country

 

A few days ago I was typing up a couple of posts for the blog. As background music I had an MP3 stick playing as background music

Something called Talk About Country popped up and it threw me completely. I had absolutely no recollection as to how ,where or when it came into my orbit. Old Age doesn't come itself.

Some detective work was clearly required. Hiting the search function on the laptop quickly did the trick and I was directed to Bandcamp where said album appeared and was attributed to an act called Legends of Country.

Thank you whoever was responsible for forwarding this in my direction.

Legends of Country -Talk About Country

Legends of Country - As Country As They Come

I-Pod Playlist - Jail

 

Unfortunately the Playlist has sent us to Jail this week - do not pass go, do not collect £200.

When it comes to Jail songs I suspect that for most of you the name Johnny Cash is one of the first names that springs to mind .

No Folsom Prison or San Quentin for you today but rather the less well known Starkville City Jail.

If he's unfortunate, like the Robins, he may end up spending Ten Days in Jail.

Next we have the words that surely every parent dreads - "Dad, I'm in Jail" Second only to "Dad, I like Bono"

If that's the case a quick phone call to Thin Lizzy to organise a Jailbreak might be in order.

We go from Jail to Jesus for next week's playlist

Johnny Cash - Starkville City Jail

The Robins - Ten Days In Jail

Was (Not Was) - Dad, I'm in Jail

Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak

Lips, Inc.

 

Welcome to Lippy Monday with a few lip related songs.

For no reason whatsoever other than it popped into my head over the weekend

I've resisted the temptation to include Funky Town by Lipps,Inc as the lip bit features in the act's name as opposed to the song and to include it would blow my chances of a follow up post.

Let's start with the Fun Boy Three and their song Our Lips Are Sealed. I'll spare you from the Urdu version.

Next up are Pulp with Lipgloss a song from their 1994 album His'n'Hers. 32 years ago, bloody hell

Even older is Lipstick by the Buzzcocks which was the b-side to the single Promises in 1978 and is also included on 1979's epic compilation Singles Going Steady.

We conclude with Louisville Lip by Freakwater:

Louisville Lip focuses on one alleged  incident  from the  life of Louisville's most famous citizen Muhammad Ali.  In 1960, Ali returned home to Louisville, Kentucky from winning the light heavyweight gold medal in the Summer Olympics in Rome.  Yet, the 18-year-old faced discrimination in his hometown. Reportedly, after being refused service at a restaurant, Ali threw his gold medal into the Ohio River.

Stay tuned to CCM for more lip smaking tunes and the occassional cultural history reference

Fun Boy Three -Our Lips Are Sealed

Pulp - Lip Gloss

Buzzcocks - Lipstick

Freakwater - Louisville Lip

Loose -New Sounds Of The Old West Volume Two

 

Welcome to the 30th in this series of Americana Compilations.I'm in two minds whether to stop here or to carry on as there are still a good few in the tank. Comments welcome.

From the year 2000 this is the second Volume of Loose Records - New Sounds of the Old West. They were very much the UK leaders when it came to Americana

If you look at the tracklist and you are following this series or indeed this Blog over the years you will recognise many of the artists. 2000 to 2002 were probably the peak years for Americana for me.

A dozen of the 17 tracks were in contention to feature but that would be somewhat presumptuous. Three it is then and 3 acts who are no strangers to these pages.

Let's go for the order they appear on the CD.First up we have Jim White with 10 Miles To Go on a 9 Mile Road which is a track on 2001's No Such Place on the Luaka Bop label his second and probably best album.

Another CC favourite next in the form of Peter Bruntnell .Again a song from his second album namely Darling I Suppose from Normal For Bridgwater.

I'm not sure whether I've seen Giant Sand or not but I have definitely seen front man Howie Gelb.The song Astonished (In Memphis) from their album Core of Enchantment.

We may or may not catch up again next Sunday.

Jim White - 10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road

Peter Bruntnell - Darling I Suppose

Giant Sand - Astonished (In Memphis)