There's nothing like a little technical adversity throughout the week to bring out a full appreciation of the musical part of The Roadhouse. After a hosting change, we're back on track to deliver another hour of the finest blues you've never heard. This week's headliners include Phantom Blues Band, Billy Boy Arnold, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Curly Bridges, and Lowell Fulson. Tap your foot, snap your fingers, nod your head, or chair-dance wherever you might be - it's the 94th edition of The Roadhouse ...
Dec 03, 2006•1 hr
The 93rd Roadhouse Podcast is full of blues of all shapes and sizes. But the cuts are tied together by one common color: electric blue. If they're not full electric blues cuts, they're definitely electrifying. Michael Burks, The Teague Stefan Band, Duke Robillard, Walter Trout, and Boo Boo Davis put a drain on the local power company and leave your mp3 player gasping for juice. It's the Electric Blue edition of The Roadhouse Podcast - the finest blues you've never heard.
Nov 25, 2006•1 hr 1 min
A boogie mood sweeps over the 92nd Roadhouse Podcast, punctuated by the occasional approving squeals of my daughter. Gary Primich, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley, and Ronnie Earl set the tone. We also welcome a new label to The Roadhouse family - Stony Plain Records. Be prepared to boogie in the 92nd Roadhouse Podcast - the finest blues you've never heard.
Nov 18, 2006•1 hr
With the cold weather of an Iowa winter starting to set in, Saturday afternoons mean a hot pot of coffee and some of the hottest blues around. This week’s heat: Shane Pruitt, Dave MacKenzie, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Shemekia Copeland, James Solberg, and other great blues artists. Whether or not you live in a cold-weather area, this edition will keep you warm and dancing in your chair. It’s another hour of the finest blues you’ve never heard – the 91st Roadhouse Podcast.
Nov 12, 2006•1 hr 1 min
It's time to just tune out the world for an hour, and the 90th Roadhouse Podcast provides the perfect opportunity. Toni Lynn Washington, Bernard Allison, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, North Mississippi Allstars, and the Billy Gibson Band provide a perfect escape from politics, strife - even the boss. It's a little more than an hour of the finest blues you've never heard - the 90th Roadhouse Podcast.
Nov 05, 2006•1 hr 2 min
The Roadhouse Studios are infused with joy this week at the World Series win of the St. Louis Cardinals. That joy makes for an upbeat show, with little room for slow blues. New music from Inside Sounds leads the way with Charlie Wood, The Billy Gibson Band and The Daddy Mack Blues Band. Professor Longhair & Jimmy Thackery with The Cate Brothers also take the bandstand with loads of great music to follow. It's a home run in the 89th Roadhouse Podcast - the finest blues you've never heard.
Oct 29, 2006•59 min
Boosted by a prime placement on the front page of the iTunes podcast directory, The Roadhouse listenership is taking off like a rocket. Fueled by great artists like Eric Burdon, Katie Webster, Creighton Lindsay, Arthur Adams, and Plainfield Slim, we'll just call this "The Rocket 88 Edition." To the thousand-plus new Roadhouse listeners, welcome. It's the 88th hour of The Roadhouse Podcast - yet another hour of the finest blues you've never heard.
Oct 21, 2006•1 hr 1 min
There's been a cold snap in beautiful Iowa City, Iowa this week. But that only marks the passage of the calendar and the start of the baseball playoffs. With my beloved St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series, I stack The Roadhouse lineup card with Lonnie Brooks, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, The Teague Stefan Band, Erskine Oglesby, and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. It's a lineup that makes for another hour of the finest blues you've never heard - the 87th Roadhouse Podcast.
Oct 14, 2006•57 min
The home of The Roadhouse Studios, beautiful Iowa City, Iowa, really is beautiful this time of year. The temperatures are perfect and the foliage is alive in reds and greens and golds. The foliage in this edition of The Roadhouse is great, as well, with Guitar Shorty, Teresa James, Hubert Sumlin, Jimi "Prime Time" Smith, and Mem Shannon.The seasons are changing but, as always, The Roadhouse delivers another hour of the finest blues you've never heard.
Oct 07, 2006•58 min
No theme shows, here, but this one could be. It's loose and light - built to roll and tumble right on through an hour of the finest blues you've never heard. Ronnie Baker Brooks, Rory Block, Steve Arvey, Mean Gene Kelton, and Lonnie Mack will keep you dancin' in your chair. It's the 85th Roadhouse Podcast - the 85th consecutive week of the finest blues you've never heard.
Oct 01, 2006•58 min
It's a good time to be a blues fan. With 84 editions of The Roadhouse, satellite radio channels dedicated to the blues, and new blues podcasts coming online every month, you're likely to hear more blues in a week than in any time in the past 40 years. But this is the week that will make you crank up the iPod, crack open a brew and chair-dance to your heart's content. The Teague Stefan Band, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Doug MacLeod, Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women, and Larry Garner will make you glad t...
Sep 23, 2006•58 min
With fall on the way in the midwestern US, the landscape is about to reveal its amazing diversity of foliage and colors. Likewise, I roll out a colorful diveristy of blues styles in the 83rd Roadhouse Podcast including Roy Rogers, Tommy Castro, Cephas and Wiggins, Janiva Magness, and Mike Andersen Band. It's electric and acoustic, traditional and contemporary, male and female, smooth and rough. All in all, it's a full hour of a converging diversity of styles and sound, but it's all blue - the fi...
Sep 16, 2006•57 min
It's a monumental edition of The Roadhouse - the official unveiling of The Roadhouse Premium. In celebration, we climb into the unofficial '57 Cadillac convertible of the blues and make a coast-to-coast road trip. Leading the way: Oscar Jordan, Boo Boo Davis, Rita Chiarelli, Marcia Ball, and the JW-Jones Blues Band. The scope of styles is breathtaking, but it's all part of the fabric of the blues. It certainly makes for another hour of the finest blues you've never heard.
Sep 10, 2006•1 hr 6 min
It's the Labor Day Weekend in the US. In The Roadhouse, we're celebrating the labor of love of some top-notch blues musicians. Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, Shemekia Copeland, Sleepy John Estes, The Smokehouse Ramblers, and Larry Garner take the stage for the benefit of your mental health. There's new sawdust on the dance floor and cold beverages for your enjoyment. It's the 81st Roadhouse Podcast - the 81st hour of the finest blues you've never heard.
Sep 03, 2006•1 hr 2 min
I've taken a long weekend to sail Lake Michigan off Racine, Wisconsin. But, you know I'd never leave you without The Roadhouse. I'm the blues pusher-man who fixes your weekly jones. And, this week, it's the high-grade stuff. Jimi "Prime Time" Smith, Charlie Musselwhite, Lightnin' Hopkins, Luther Allison, Elvin Bishop and nine other artists fill out the hour. Fourteen cuts, one full hour of the finest blues you've never heard.
Aug 26, 2006•59 min
The 79th edition of The Roadhouse Podcast is tough and loose. Let's just say we're chair-dancing on the ragged edge in this edition. Alvin Youngblood Hart, Stephen Dale Petit, Big Bill Broonzy, John Long, and The Love Dogs step out front and center. I've also got some news about The Roadhouse for you. Tough and loose, old and new, show news - it really is another week in The Roadhouse. Another week of the finest blues you've never heard.
Aug 19, 2006•1 hr 1 min
The 78th edition of The Roadhouse Podcast provides a little shelter from the storm - the storm of a tough old world that seemed to get even tougher and colder in the past week. Though The Roadhouse might be a little rundown shack at the end of the street, the roof doesn't leak and the wind doesn't race through the windows. That's because it's built on a foundation of great blues, including Ronnie Baker Brooks, Son Seals, Ian Siegel, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Stephen Dale Petit. We re-glaze the ...
Aug 12, 2006•59 min
This edition of The Roadhouse Podcast is like a solid wooden floor: every tongue fits perfectly into the groove next to it, and it all provides a solid foundation to keep your weekly blues jones satisfied. Quite a few artists who provided the solid foundation for blues into the 21st century participate this week, including Hubert Sumlin, Dave MacKenzie, Luther Allison, Mavis Staples, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. While you've heard of the artists, you might not have heard the cuts include...
Aug 05, 2006•1 hr
For the fourth week in a row, the temperatures outside The Roadhouse Studios are well into the 90s, with no less than 80% humidity. In fact, the entire US is gripped in a heat wave that just won't stop. But, the 76th Roadhouse Podcast is like the ice cubes in your sweet sun tea. Bo Ramsey, Boogie Woogie Red, W.C. Clark, Coco Montoya, and Glamour Puss are the cool oases in the heat. With opressive and unchanging weather around The Little Blue House on the Wetlands this week, the summer plan remai...
Jul 29, 2006•59 min
It's the 75th edition of The Roadhouse Podcast - the diamond edition. And, diamonds are a fitting analogy. The world outside The Roadhouse creates great pressure, pushing out all but the purest blues carbon. The result is music that's as tough and beautiful as the world's hardest mineral. This week, the carbon is comprised of Debbie Davies, Bo Ramsey, Steve Arvey, Henry Gray, and Gonstermachers. The Roadhouse Rewound segment will definitely have your toes tapping. And, for the second week in a r...
Jul 22, 2006•1 hr
After a 60-hour work week, it's great to be back in The Roadhouse Studios. Though life can be a tough road, The Roadhouse offers a bit of shelter from the world and a way to relax after your own trying week. I did manage to bring a bit of that tough edge into the show, though. Hard urban blues by folks like Pete Cornelius, Roy Buchanan and Walter Trout are counterbalanced by Watermelon Slim and Archie Edwards. A listener comment, another Roadhouse Rewound and a little useful information round ou...
Jul 16, 2006•59 min
The 73rd Roadhouse Podcast is as hot as the July summer weather in The Little Blue House on the Wetlands. The sun is beating down and the blues are just cooking. From the brassy pipes of Candye Kane and Janiva Magness, to the hard-edged grit of Bob Kirkpatrick, to the fat wall of sound of Chris Cain's horns, this edition is squarely under the sun-drenched skies of blues heaven. It's the 73rd Roadhouse Podcast - the finest blues you've never heard.
Jul 08, 2006•1 hr
The 72nd Roadhouse Podcast is another hour of the finest blues you've never heard. But, what does that really mean? The Beat Daddys, Dave Gross, The Gonstermachers, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, and Rich DelGrasso for starters. But they're just five of the thirteen artists in this edition, nearly half of whom are truly independent. We'll roll those right in with great artists from blues labels that have provided permissions to The Roadhouse. Your mission in this edition? Crack open a brew, crank...
Jul 02, 2006•1 hr 1 min
We're running the rainbow in this edition with a full view of all the hues of the blues. Blues Rock, jazzy blues and, of course, the traditional sound of this amazing musical form. If you're new to The Roadhouse, you might be a bit surprised by the range of styles. But it's all blues - the finest blues you've never heard. You'll hear great cuts from The Beat Daddys, Tommy Castro, Fat Vinnie and the Wiseguys, Larry McCray, and Clarence Gatemouth Brown. We'll flash back on a couple of cuts played ...
Jun 24, 2006•1 hr
Let's just call this the cool blues edition of The Roadhouse. It's a little slower with a few less horns and a few more harps and acoustic guitars. Maybe it's just my way of pulling in and slowing down a bit in the sweltering heat of June at the little blue house on the wetlands. In any case, it's the perfect mix of blues to settle in with a cool drink and let the world roll by. This week, we invite in West of Memphis, Gianfranco Segatto, Chris Beard, Ryan Reardon and the Levee Breakers, and Cep...
Jun 17, 2006•58 min
At 69 hours of the finest blues you've never heard, it sounds like a marathon. That's 2.875 continuous days of the blues. Or a work-week and a three-quarters. Or, about the number of hours it would take to drive straight through from New York to Los Angeles and back to Chicago, averaging 69 mph. Larry McCray, Kenny Neal and Billy Branch, Tony Deziel, Luther Allison, and Rod Piazza are just some of the 13 artists ahead. As promised, I'll also announce the winner of the Chris Juergensen CD. There'...
Jun 11, 2006•1 hr 2 min
Blue skies, brilliant sunshine, brand new artists, outstanding new labels - all converge right here, in a little dotpoint on the blues-time continuum that I like to call an hour of the finest blues you've never heard. Like a theoretical physicist searching for the beginning of time, you've managed to stumble across the singularity known as the 68th Roadhouse Podcast. It's a refreshing summer breeze in the form of the Backalley Blues Band, Blues Caravan, the Siegel-Schwall Band, Eric Lindell, and...
Jun 03, 2006•1 hr 1 min
It’s a holiday weekend in the US - the Memorial Day weekend. Marking the unofficial start of summer, The Roadhouse 067 definitely has the summertime blues – with no desire whatsoever to cure them. If you mashed up your images of summer with a great batch of blues, you might come up with Michael Burks, Memphis Gold, Chumslick Nick and The Sharks, Chris Juergensen, and Sam Cox and Doug Hurrie. It’s a little BBQ, a little travel, and another hour of the finest blues you’ve never heard – the 67th Ro...
May 27, 2006•1 hr 1 min
Like a sweatin' Southern Baptist preacher, this edition comes at you full throttle. If you've never visited The Roadhouse, you'll quickly find that it's about more than crying in your beer and bemoaning the sad state of your life. With artists like Mel Brown and the Homewreckers, Clifford Bivens, Shy Guy Douglas, The Holmes Brothers, and Tab Benoit, this edition is really about getting up off the barstool, dancing up a sweat, socializing, and celebrating the fact that we've all made it through a...
May 21, 2006•1 hr 2 min
This edition is a tip of The Roadhouse snap-brim to the 2006 Blues Music Awards and the friends of the podcast who won them. Where we features the indies last week, this week we look to the big time in the bright lights of Memphis. And, that's not to say that these award-winning artists are the only great blues artists around. The entire hour is a solid selection of blues. Throw in a Roadhouse Rewound segment and a new Roadhouse contest, and you're standing at the front edge of another hour of t...
May 13, 2006•1 hr
