Still Goin' Strong

Wow! It's been well over a year since I have blogged anywhere... I'm wondering if I can still do this? Yes, I'm still goin' strong, but this blog post is not about me. It's about a couple of "old friends." As I was listening to the Today show this morning, I heard them say James Taylor and Carole King were going to be singing later. So I hit "record" on my way out the door, and when I got home this evening, I settled in to weed through all the other stuff, looking forward to seeing these two great musicians... and I wasn't disappointed.

I've been listening to King and Taylor as long as I can remember. My mom had Carole King's "Tapestry" album (yes, vinyl, and I probably still have it), and I listened to it over and over again as an adolescent. I could sing all the songs by heart, well, at least on one side. As often happened with albums, I listened primarily to one side. But enough about that. James Taylor and Carole King are about to embark on tour together. The tour will start in Australia in March, and they'll be back in the US in May. The tour is called "The Troubadour Tour" after a club in Los Angeles where they first played together in 1970. For tour info, check out http://www.james-taylor.com/tour/ . You can find ticket info at http://www.jamestaylorcaroleking.com/ .

James and Carole were great on the Today show. They did two numbers, Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" (my favorite James Taylor song) with King singing back up, and later they sang King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with Taylor doing the backing. They sound amazing, at 61 and 67. They are slated to do Letterman tonight.

I rather like the fact that artists that I've listened to for years are still touring... or touring again. I had the opportunity to see Cheap Trick, Poison, and Def Leppard last August, and they were all awesome. I guess it's true what they say... 70 is the new 50. Rock on, dudes!

38th Annual JUNO Awards

Hi there, this is my first post on the Radio Blog.

So you ask, JUNO Awards? Well it's Canada's idea of the Grammy's. Hosted once again by Comedian Russell Peters, from Vancouver, BC.
This years big winners were Nickelback, taking home 3 awards for Group Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Juno Fan Choice. Other award winners were....
Artist Of The Year - Sam Roberts
New Group Of The Year - The Stills
New Artist Of The Year - Lights
Songwriter Of The Year - City and Colour
International Album Of The Year - Coldplay
Country Recording Of The Year - Beautiful Life, Doc Walker
Adult Alternative Album Of The Year - is it o.k., Serena Ryder
Alternative Album Of The Year - Oceans Will Rise, The Stills
Pop Album Of The Year - Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette
Rock Album Of The Year - Love At The End Of The World, Sam Roberts

And yes I just bet most of you haven't heard of a lot of these Artists. I was disappointed to see that Theory of a Deadman didn't win anything as I think there latest CD, Scars & Souvenirs just totally rocks!!!!!!!!!
Well theres a good taste of Canadian Artists, if you want to check out the full list of winners go to
www.junoawards.ca or www.junos.CTV.ca
Hmmm 4am guess its bedtime...nah gotta listen to more Deadman...till next time

The joy of Bluegrass

One of the delights of being a DJ on this wonderful station, quite apart from the great guys I work with, is the opportunity to sometimes pick up a stream at times when the schedule is a little lightly loaded with DJs and just do your own thing..within genre reason of course.

Living in England, such opportunities are easier for me as the schedules, reasonably, tend to fit round an American day and evening, so in my afternoon there are a few opportunities to grab a stream and broadcast.

And this has given me the chance to indulge my love of American country music over the last few weeks..and particularly bluegrass. I do try to mix my material even in my impromptu shows as I realise not all country listeners have the same enthusiasm for bluegrass music that I do.(despite DJ Jazzy joking yesterday that I should have called the show 'DJ Alex's Bluegrass Wednesday')

But I just wanted to plug it - and a few of the bands I currently like within the genre. There are so many good bluegrass outfits around now and I'll do a brief list of my current favourites:- (cites are from 'Wikipedia')

The Cherryholmes

Cherryholmes is a bluegrass music group consisting of members of the Cherryholmes family, including father Jere Cherryholmes and wife Sandy Lee and their kids, Cia Leigh, BJ, Skip, and Molly Kate. They are all self taught and amazingly have been nominated for Bluegrass album of the year three times in a brief six years. They come from Nashville...surprise surprise :)






The Infamous Stringdusters

The Infamous Stringdusters are a bluegrass band. The band emerged in 2007 with the acclaimed album, Fork in the Road on Sugar Hill Records. The various members of the band all have résumés that include numerous notables that they've worked with in the past. The band's current line-up features: Andy Hall (Dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), Jesse Cobb (mandolin), and Travis Book (upright bass).[1] Falco is the newest member, filling the role vacated by guitarist Chris Eldridge (son of Ben Eldridge and later a touring partner with Chris Thile).

The Infamous Stringdusters won three awards at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards Ceremony in October 2007. They came away with the award for Emerging Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Fork in the Road (in a tie with J.D. Crowe & the New South's album Lefty's Old Guitar), and Song of the Year for the album's title cut.[2]





Del McCoury

Del is hardly a newcomer but still one of my favourite outfits. Delano Floyd McCoury (born February 1, 1939 in Bakersville, North Carolina) is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respectively






Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys

Compared to Ralph Stanley, however, Del McCoury at 70 is a kid in short pants. Ralph Stanley (born February 25, 1927), also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley, is a legendary American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. He formed the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946 and his music formed part of the score of the wonderful Coen Brothers 'O Brother, where art thou?'





Ricky Skaggs

Has played bluegrass since he was a kid and at the age of six played mandolin on stage with the legendary Bill Monroe. Ricky's list of Grammy awards and awards from the International Bluegrass Association are impressive. He currently has a band called Kentucky Thunder.




Nashville Bluegrass Band

The Nashville Bluegrass Band is an American bluegrass music ensemble founded in 1984.

The group's members first played together in 1984 as a backing band for Vernon Oxford and Minnie Pearl; each of the members were established musicians from the Nashville bluegrass community. They signed to Rounder Records and recorded their Béla Fleck-produced debut, My Native Home, in 1985. Incorporating elements of black gospel and spirituals, then a rarity in bluegrass, they became critical and popular successes both in America and abroad. The group toured in some 20 countries and were the first bluegrass band to ever play in China.[1]





So if you like country music in ALL its shades..and particularly Bluegrass...I try and grab the stream either on Wednesday or Thursdays at around 10.30 am Hot Trax Time. If you'd like to listen in I always drop an IM round to everyone on the HotTrax Country buddy list...so please keep an eye open and I'll try and play you some great music.

HotTrax Radio Toolbar: Uber Cool!

Okay now... let me see if I remember how to blog. LOL Seriously, I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. I want EVERYONE to know about the HotTrax Uber Cool Toolbar! The HotTrax Toolbar is not only Uber Cool, it's the ONLY toolbar you really need! Unlike other toolbars, such as Google and Yahoo, the HotTrax Radio Toolbar uses fewer of your system's resources. And while other toolbars track where you go on the web, the HotTrax toolbar does not.

The HotTrax Radio Toolbar has been around for a while now, but it keeps getting better all the time! If you don't have it... why not? Hmmm... where do I begin? Let's start with Applets. Well, first off, once you have the toolbar, you need to create an account. This will let you sign onto the toolbar. Why would you want to do this? Well, two reasons, actually. First of all, if you are time challenged, as I am, it allows you to choose your time zone. Then when you go to the Applets and look at the schedule, it will give you the times in YOUR time zone! The other reason is so that you can use the Tune Minder. What's a Tune Minder, you ask? It's another nifty Applet. It allows you to remember a tune that is playing that you like and would like to add to your library. You can even use it to go directly to purchase the tune. Another cool feature of the HotTrax Radio Toolbar is the Playlist Search Applet. This allows you to search a DJ's playlist for a certain song. It also allows you to check ALL the DJ's lists at one time. I use it when I'm looking for a tune during my show. I can look to see if a DJ has a song, then contact them if they are online to send it to me. It's handy during a show, when a DJ gets a request. Sure, I could probably go online and find a tune, but if a DJ has it, then it's probably already been checked out and tagged! Other handy Applets are the Song History and the Listeners Map. Oh, and I mustn't forget... you can even come directly into our Chat room from the HotTrax Chat applet.

Then there are the Links you can get to from the toolbar! All the HotTrax Channels, all the DJ's playlists, and DJ Bios. The only way to get to the Bios is from the HotTrax Radio Toolbar! There are more channel links, plus from the ToolBar you can get to a couple of lyrics sites, the station's Facebook and MySpace pages, NASCAR.com, AND there's even a link for the WildWest Festival in Hayes, Kansas, where the HotTrax Gang will be meeting up again this year for the 4th of July Celebration! Oh, and don't forget the Blogs! You can reach those directly from the Toolbar, too!

Then there are the Gadgets. You gotta love gadgets! There are plenty of cool ones there, including the Countdown one, under "Tools/Utilities." It allows you to count down to special events in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. And there are some fun games under Gadgets, too. There is more than one DJ around HotTrax who can be found playing Bubbles... occasionally even during their show! TSK TSK!

Recently, our beloved Lizard Boss, who is responsible for constructing our fantastic toolbar, added a Games drop down menu from the toolbar. There are even more games to become addicted to there! How much better can it get? You can listen to HotTrax and play games all at the same time.

There is also a Newsfeed drop down menu, a place to set the weather so you have the temperature at your finger tips, and you can even set the Toolbar to check your email, and inform you when "you have mail!"

Of course, I've left out the obvious... you can tune in directly from the Toolbar and listen to your favorite HotTrax stream... or your favorite DJ! Also, the HotTrax Radio Toolbar uses Google as it's default search engine. And when you use the search engine on the HotTrax Radio Toolbar, it benefits HotTrax Radio. So download the Uber Cool HotTrax Radio Toolbar, lose the others, and start searching! And let your friends in on it... it truly IS Uber Cool!

The Grammys 2009

It's always rewarding when the station you work for has shown that it's consistently up with, and often ahead of, the game when it comes to choosing the music which will eventually be saluted as the best in its field.

Look at this year's Grammy awards, held 2 days ago and which, of course, is the supreme arbiter of the year's best music. There were some well-deserved winners and I suppose the run-away 'superstars' were Robert Plant and Alison Krauss who won all five awards for which they were nominated - and that's some achievement - including 'Record of the Year' for 'Please Read the Letter', Album of the Year for 'Raising Sand' , Best Pop Collaboration for 'Rich Woman', Best Country Collaboration with vocals for 'Killing the Blues' and finally 'Raising Sand' won the best Folk/Americana album of the year too. And Hot Trax Radio has been playing 'Raising Sand' - and all the above songs - throughout 2008 even when the album's success was not a sure fire guarantee. After all raucous Zep front man and gentle Bluegrass queen hardly sounds like a marriage made in heaven, but the results were wonderful.

It was great to see Adele win Best New Artist and Best New Female Performer for 'Chasing Pavements' another song HotTrax has played almost from the date of its release.

Coldplay won best song for 'Viva La Vida' and Duffy won Best Pop Vocal Album for 'Rockferry' - another album which Hot Trax Radio has plugged almost from the date of its release.

There are way, way too many awards to list but I was pleased to see prizes for Ne-Yo, John Mayer, the Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys and Bruce Springsteen among so many - and again all their songs have been well featured on the HotTrax playlists over recent months.

I suppose the one unfortunate note in the proceedings was the non-appearence of Chris Brown and Rihanna who, it appears had had a domestic spat before the awards ceremony resulting in injuries to Rihanna followed by Brown turning himself in to the LA Police.

One puzzle was the award of the best country song to Jennifer Nettles 'Stay'. It is a great song but it must be at least 2 years old and not even on the latest 'Sugarland' album so I'm not sure how it qualified.

Finally, on a very sentimental note, I was delighted to see the Best Traditional Folk Album award go to Pete Seeger, for the appropriately titled 'At 89'. One of the great mainstays of traditional American music, now in his 90th year, there can't be many albums left and he deserved all the plaudits he got.



So if you agreed with the verdict of the judges - and even if you didn't - listen to Hot Trax Radio through 2009 and we will prove to be a pretty accurate barometer of what is the best in popular music in time for the Grammys of 2010. Just you wait and see!

John Martyn : 1948 - 2009

On Friday 29th January, the music world lost an amazing talent when John Martyn died at his home in Ireland aged 60. He began playing a blend of blues and folk music on guitar in 1965 when he was 17 and became a rage in Britain's folk scene of the 1960s, making his first album in 1967.

He was continually developing his musical style and by 1970 was creating original sounds by playing acoustic guitar through a fuzz box, phase shifter and echoplex, resulting in a haunting fading echo effect.

He made one of the great albums of the 70s in 1973 when Solid Air was released and which contained a number of great songs including 'May you never' which I have played on my Monday show and which was covered by Eric Clapton on his Slowhand album. Martyn continued to release innovative albums throughout the 1970s.

In 1979, John's marriage to his wife Beverley broke up and , in his own words 'I hit the self-destruct button'. He took to drink and drugs and severely damaged his health but produced a cathartic album called Grace and Danger on which Phil Collins played drums. At first his record company, Island, would not release it saying it was deeply and painfully personal but eventually he got his way and said it was the greatest album he had ever made.

By the 1990s, Martyn had picked up on hip-hop and had blended the phrasing into this own unique style on an album called And.

By now he was struggling with serious health problems including a burst pancreas, and later, in 2003 his right leg was amputated. Seriously overweight now and not well he continued to play and tour and was awarded the BBC 's Lifetime Achievement award for his services to music in 2008.

Though his death can hardly be called a shock, it is very sad for those who love music and innovative musicians. The last word should be left to Eric Clapton who said 'John was just so far ahead of everything, it's almost inconceivable'.

The 'Total Turkeys' List

OK we had a post the other day about a 'Must Have' list - and I think I just about kept my job with 5 1/2 out of 8 (Well I'm giving myself the half anyway just to be on the safe side) But what about a 'Total Turkeys' list (say top 10) - perfect for Thanksgiving - carrying the severe penalty that if you play any of them, the Lizard Boss will come after sensitive parts of your anatomy with an electrified cattle prod. Now I'm not talking hate music or anything that serious nor even some of the current crop to which I have a personal aversion, but just songs that stand the test of time of being so insufferably dire that they should be played endlessly to terrorists to force confessions.

The list of course is off the top of my head and could easily change when I next hear something excruciating:-

In no particular order:-

1. Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine

- the grandfather of British pop at his most syrupy. Guaranteed to have you running for the bathroom after the starter and before you even get to the Christmas turkey.


2. Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover from Liverpool

- Americans may have been mercifully spared this contribution from the one Osmond who certainly should have been throttled at birth. This falls into the excruciating on just about every level

3. Joe Dolce - Shaddapa ya face

- A bounce along novelty number that sounds mildly sing-alongy ONCE, but when you have heard it twice, let alone 2000 times you have a sudden urge to end it all.

4. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder - Ebony and Ivory

- The ultimate twee racially together song which takes saccharine sweet nausea to new heights (or is it depths?)

5. Band Aid - Do they know it's Christmas?

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH (should suffice)

6. Chris de Burgh - The Lady in Red

- They still play this before the start of every Liverpool soccer match (Liverpool play in red you see) and its one sound reason for missing the kick-off. Dreadful sentimental drivel.

7. Donny Osmond - Puppy Love

- The Osmonds are doing well in this list. Donny is a marginal improvement on younger brother Jimmy, but this song of dewy eyed teenage angst is definitely a thumbs down.

8. Middle of the Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

- Another of those mindless pop mantras that make you want to dash your brains out on the nearest wall.

9. Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart

- I'm almost certain (can't be sure) that when this came out I cried. Damn it, this was the man who was capable of 'My Baby left me', 'Mystery Train', 'That's Alright, Mama'...the finest white R and B man of his age ...singing Eurotrash. Ugggghhhhhhhhhh.


10. Rod Stewart - Do ya think I'm sexy?

- Now I don't know whether my aversion to this is a 'British' thing because I love some of Rod the Mod's early stuff but to have a male artist capering round the stage like a big girl's blouse singing up his sex appeal was just too awful for words. Hate it.


Well that's my ten for which Bill should dish out lethal doses of rat poison to anyone who plays any of them. I have omitted parochial ones which Americans wouldn't know, like seedy fat drunken British footballers who stagger to the mic at Xmas and re-record some famous hit. Legions of British flowers must be growing in thousands of such records converted into flower pots.

So Ive set you a challenge - not too serious - what are the total turkeys which make YOU curl up and want to die...or at least kill the artists. The floor is yours, guys!