3/15/09 Playlist: 1961/1971

Opening theme—Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - So What's New

I have from time to time mentioned on here and on my websites who my radio heroes are. One of those is Keith Bilbrey who was unceremoniously dumped from WSM and the Opry announcing staff this past week. I met Keith Bilbrey a few months ago at an industry luncheon and it was a thrill for me. He was a lovely and gracious person to talk to. We talked a little about radio; I told him I was on Radio Free Nashville and he was familiar with that. Keith, we fans love you, and I hope you're back on radio where you belong real soon.

Sign the petition to support Keith: http://www.petitiononline.com/weeeds22/petition.html

Segment 1: '61/'71
Today it was a look at a couple of years in music, 10 years apart. I played music from 1961 and 1971. I just happened to have a couple of compilation CDs from those years (Time/Life 1961 and Entertainment Weekly 1971), so that's why I picked those two years to do this 10 year spread overview. It's always interesting to listen and realize just how much music can evolve over that kind of time span. These collections also have some facts to go with the songs, and since sharing music trivia is one of my favorite things to do, I'll pass along some of those to you. I don't really have a lot of trivia about this first song except to say it was one of my favorites going back when I was a kid in grade school and it just stayed with me through the years.

Dick and DeeDee -The Mountain's High
Ocean - Put Your Hand In the Hand
Gary US Bonds - Quarter To Three (Originally an instrumental called A Night With Daddy G)
Raiders - Indian Reservation (This was actually intended as a Mark Lindsay solo single. Columbia put it out under the "Raiders" name and it became their most successful single. The group's name was shortened to "Raiders" from Paul Revere and the Raiders by this time.)
Jive Five - My True Story (This group had a hit later on in 1965 with one of my favorite oldies, called "I'm A Happy Man")
Joey Dee and the Starlighters - Peppermint Twist (Three members of the Rascals were part of the group and in 1965 Jimi Hendrix had a short stint in the band as a guitarist. In 1963, Joey Dee went over to England for a tour, met Brian Epstein, heard a group he was managing and told him that he didn't think the Beatles would go over well in America!)

Segment 2: Record Box
Tony Orlando, after having some hits as a teen, like Halfway to Paradise and Bless You (both of which came out in 1961), went on to work for a record label by the mid 60s early 70s. He wasn't doing much recording, but was persuaded to go into the studio and be the voice for a studio act called Dawn. Well, he ended up having a hit with Candida in 1970 and this song, which was the first #1 single of 1971...and it was when doing this song that he finally met the other members of what would become Tony Orlando and Dawn (Joyce Vincent and Telma Hopkins being the other studio singers).

Dawn – Knock Three Times
Shep and the Limelights – Daddy's Home (What's interesting about 1961 is there were a few songs out during this period that sound like they belonged in the 50's, with the doo wop sound. There was a bit of a revival of that sound during that year. Other such hits were Blue Moon by the Marcels, Those Oldies But Goodies by Little Caesar and the Romans.)
Brewer and Shipley - One Toke Over The Line (Jerry Garcia plays steel guitar on the track)
Dee Clark - Raindrops
Honey Cone – Want Ads (They met as background singers for a Burt Bacharach TV special.)

Segment 3: Soul Stew:
Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman (First #1 song for Berry Gordy's Motown related label Tamla. Marvin Gaye played drums on the session)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Miracles - Shop Around (First hit on the Tamla label)
Al Green - Tired of Being Alone (This was, I believe his first major hit, after Back Up Train)
Ernie K Doe -Mother In Law (This song was rescued from Allen Toussaint's trash can!)

Segment 4 – Non-oldie/new/current
I thought we'd get at least one cover of a song from one of the two years in here. For that we turn to the main man himself, Michael McDonald, with another 1971 Marvin Gaye hit.
Michael McDonald – Mercy Mercy Me

Encouragement:
For many years now I've been teaching people about encouragement and how important it is. Is encouragement a gift? You bet it is! It is a gift in a couple of ways. It is a gift to the person who receives it. And, if you have the ability to share an encouraging word in a way which is so natural to you that it's like breathing, it is a gift that you have. Encouragement is so important because it is a life-altering gift. Not only for the person who gets it…but also for the one who gives it. The person who is getting it..or giving it…might be you. There are three ways that you can embrace encouragement in your life: giving encouragement, accepting/receiving encouragement and owning encouragement. I'll be sharing more about each of the three ways in upcoming shows but if you want to know more about them, you can visit my Embrace Encouragement website in the meantime.

Closer – King Curtis – Soul Serenade

If you tune into my show, do also stay tuned for the show that follows me at 9 am, Samurai Songs, with Kerry Miller. Kerry is someone who understands encouragement. He always comes into the studio every Sunday morning with a kind, supportive word for me and my show and was incredibly welcoming to me when I arrived in the Sunday morning slot. He is one of the nicest people you could ever have on either side of doing a show. And if you need something calming and tranquil for going on the way to church or some Sunday morning quiet time, this is the show for you.

I was very happy with this morning's show. Since I worked mostly off of two CDs, didn't use the online playout catalog, there was very little opportunity for glitches. Heh heh.