Any ideas for songs I could play on the radio?

Howsabout Neko Case? She’s alt-country, and depending on the album you pick, it’s almost pure country. The newer stuff (Fox Confessor, Middle Cyclone) is more well-known, but things like The Virginian and Furnace Room Lullaby are more country-ish.

Some Camera Obscura could fall into this category as well.

Howsabout a sampling of the new decemberists album, too?

btw, does this show stream online?

Some Johnny Cash, classics like Walk the line and Ring of Fire, but also funny ones like Boy Named Sue. I also love Timber! by Patty Loveless.

International hits? I’d play The Dixie Chicks, then, but only outside of the US. I don’t think they’ve quite made up for Natalie Maines’ public remarks about George Bush to their (former) primary audience.

There’s also Alison Krauss, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Shania Twain and Blue Rodeo, but I’m not sure how international they are.

Keith Urban, I think, is also popular outside the US, if only because he married Nicole Kidman.

And you can never go wrong with Dolly. She’s got new music out as I type. Look for Backwoods Barbie.

What @aprilsimnel said.

cover Neil Young’s Down by the River

Rock ‘n Roll by Eric Hutchinson It’s a nice crossover.

If you wanna rock, you rock. If you wanna roll, you roll….

Wilco is considered Alt Country… especially their earlier stuff.

xpn.org is the site for my favorite radio station that has a fairly eclectic mix… I’m just offering it as a resource for future reference, since I know you’re not in the US

I’m completely jealous that you have two hours for a slot DJing the radio. That being said, country-rock isn’t really my genre, so I’m afraid I can’t help except to say “Good luck!”

I already have some Johnny Cash lined up (the ones Zen said actually), and Willie Nelson and so on. Any ideas for Shania Twain or Garth Brookes hits I could play that people will know but are also sort of rocky and upbeat?

Neil Young is a good choice I hadn’t considered. I have tonnes of stuff but most of it is old recordings that were big hits in the 60s but nobody will remember anymore. And then I also have the winy nasal type of country that I’m actually trying to avoid. But you guys have given me some good ideas to work on. Thanks :)

ps I don’t think it streams online yet, but it might next weekend. The station just opened last week, and has a twin station that is already online, so the infrastructure is there once the licence is cleared. Looking forward to it actually, as I don’t think locals are into my music that much.

Anything by jimi Hendrix, led Zeppelin, David bowie or the velvet underground

@allen_o – Jack79’s looking to play some modern, country-rockin’ kind of music. Unless you were being facetious! :D

I just went to billboard.com, and they had Darius Rucker, aka “Hootie”, on the Country Singles chart. He’s #1. He’d be good; who doesn’t know Hootie (which he hates being called)? George Strait is still making hit records, too, I saw. Country artists, if nothing else, have a loooooooong shelf life, don’t they?

And as for Mr Young. If you get to play any slow songs at all, just put on Harvest Moon. EVERYONE knows that song. And it’s so pretty. Because I’m still in love with you, I want to see you dance again…

Mmm, i know nothing about country or southern rock, but, for a future program you can make a retrospective of 90’s U.K. britpop invation right after the grunge died with Kurt Kobain, it started with Bush, a more grungy bnd, then moved to the cranberries, oasis, blur, stereophoncis, bridges to babylon by the rolling stones, wild mood swings by the cure, and some others, gosh that was an amazing time for music!

PLAY SKYNYRD!!!!!

Hank Williams. You can play a song by each of the three Hanks.

ok specific songs that everyone would know and are not too slow?

by Hank, Hootie, Shania, Urban etc? These are all names I’ve heard, but I don’t know all of their songs.

And yes, of course there’s some Skynyrd in there dalepetrie, no worries ;)

Also Long Ryders, anyone remember them?

Sugarland is ok. You could do some bluegrass- like Alison Krauss and anyone from the O’ Brother, Whereart Thou? soundtrack. In fact you could just play the whole soundtrack- it’s awesome. I love the Marshall Tucker Band for some southern rock- they’re not new, but I think they’re sort of timeless. Songs- “Can’t you see?” “Fire on the Mountain.” Those are my 2 favorites. The kiddies seem to like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, though I can’t name a single song except “Jesus take the Wheel,” which I just find one of the funniest songs/lyrics ever. Some artists have songs that could be considered country-ish or southern rock. Ex: Grateful Dead- Truckin’. Ooooh, and C.W. McCall is a strange brand of country, based on his career as a trucker. If you’re unfamiliar, you can listen to “Wolf Creek Pass” to get an accurate core sample.

FREEBIRD!

I have internet in the studio, so I think I’ll just open this thread when I’m on air and try to find all of your suggestions. I probably have enough for the first 2 hours by now. There’s some talking too, so it should be fine :)

Well, if you ever do anything Alternative, definitely play some of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Now for the Southern Rock/Country stuff, I’d recommend the Dave Matthews Band as well as Jimmy Buffet.

Keep the ideas coming guys. I have two more shows this weekend and need more songs. Remember they have to be fairly well-known, I’m not looking to discover your local band, no matter how brilliant they may be. My audience is musically illiterate, and I’m teaching them the basics (this week it will be a band called the Beatles and some guy called Elvis).

Well-known? Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young), Joni Mitchell, but not past 1975 unless you’re playing jazz, Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Alabama, The Eagles, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, 1970s Ricky Nelson, Roy Clark, Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, Charlie Pride, ooh, and Glen Campbell. Glen Campbell sure could pick. I suppose he still can when he ain’t being arrested for drink-drivin’! Some late 60’s “Nashville Skyline”-era Dylan (there’s some duets he did with Johnny Cash available somewhere, I’m sure), and…

absolutely not kidding…

Mike Nesmith. So much more than a Monkee and a Liquid Paper heir and the godfather of MTV, but also one of the godfathers of Alt-Country. Yes, Ol’ Wool Hat himself. Dammit, YouTube removed all my proof! Anything from him and the First and Second National Band. Or, even from the Monkees canon: Sweet Young Thing, Papa Gene’s Blues, What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round, all good stuff.

how ‘bout some Béla Fleck ???

Orange Juice

Here’s an idea for a show if you’re trying to educate…play sets of two songs….one original blues classic, and either a remake or a song clearly inspired by that song from a more contemporary artist. For example, you could play Robert Johnson’s “Travelling Riverside Blues”, (or Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor”), followed by Led Zeppelin’s Lemon Song, which is almost an amalgamation of the two. And or Crossroads by Robert Johnson and Eric Claptions’ “cover” of the song. Robert Johnson was “borrowed” from by many rock and roll artists, as were Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (you could play “I Put A Spell On You” by Hawkins w/ CCR’s cover), John Lee Hooker, Son House, Willie Dixon, and don’t forget Leadbelly. You could even extend the influence to more modern music, much of Nirvana’s music was based on Leadbelly, for example…most famously they covered “In the Pines” on the Unplugged album (though their version was called “Where DId You Sleep Last Night?”, or even more interesting, some of the session work which appeared on their box set, like “Ain’t It A Shame” or “They Hung Him on a Cross.” You could in fact do a whole show just about people inspired by Leadbelly, as his songs have been covered by The Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, Tom Waits, Rob Stewart, The White Stripes, The Doors, Abba, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, CCR….just to name a few.

The White Stripes are another modern band worth mentioning whose music is steeped in the music of these blues legends…they close every show with Leadbelly’s “Boll Weevil”, and one of their most powerful songs, which is one set I would choose to play back to back w/ the Original is Son House’s “Death Letter”.

Like I said though, pick any name from that list, and you’ll find modern artists who were influenced by, covered, or outright stole from these people.

Robert Johnson – Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton.

Willie Dixon – The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley

Muddy Waters – Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Bob Dylan

Howlin’ Wolf – ZZ Top, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Who, Tom Waits, George Thorogood.

Just pick a bluesman, or two, or five, and follow their influences through rock history…the show will program itself.

thanks guys, keep them coming :)

Vaselines, Television, Teenage Fanclub, Trash Can Sinatras.

do a classic Scottish indie night. and, preferably, do it when you’re streaming so i can listen! :)

Got some great Scottish records from my spell in Edinburgh (had friends at an indie company there). Unfortunately they’re all in vinyl and the station doesn’t have any 20th c technology available. I even had to persuade them to put CD players.

@Jack79 wow, not even CD players? that’s cool and sad all at once. well, if it happens, let me know, even if it’s just a podcast afterwards. i’m a big fan of that music. The last time i was in Glasgow, I went to Volcano Records and bought a bunch of stuff.

btw, did you hear the Vaselines are touring, and Stevie and Bob from B&S are in the touring band?

@Jack79 As per Shania Twain, she has so many hits. But one that is upbeat and funny thatsticks in my mind is “Man, I feel like a woman.” Check out the clip on youtube – it’s funny – if you remember the old Robert Palmer hits from the 80’s.

update: I’ve ended up playing from a sub stick. I have all my songs (40GB of mp3s) in the computer in the main office, and I just run back and forth copy-pasting songs on a stick and playing them through WMP. Which is so unreal when I think about it. I always have a few CDs in case the computer gets stuck or something.

And we’re still not online, though local people have found out about the station and more listeners have started tuning in. People in the street who know me start asking whether it was really my voice they heard a couple of days ago and so on.

Try playing some “Skillet” I think they are HOT and so might your listeners. They don’t get played too much on the radio so you would be breaking ground here. If you like Rock you’ll really like them. Check out their “Comatose” album and their new “Awake” album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t48aDxnzKgw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6obINPvZtg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZNCrLV8W_M&feature=related