Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

New & MidCoastal Releases + Michelle Bacon & The Band That Fell to Earth + Music from Friends playing Folk Alliance International

1. “It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979 [
   WMM’s theme]

2. David Bowie – “Rebel Rebel”
   from: Diamond Dogs / RCA Records / May 24, 1974
   [“Rebel Rebel” is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released in the UK on 15 February 1974 by RCA Records as the lead single from the album Diamond Dogs. Written and produced by Bowie, the song is based around a distinctive guitar riff reminiscent of the Rolling Stones. Cited as his most-covered track, “Rebel Rebel” has been described as Bowie’s farewell to the glam rock movement that he had helped initiate, as well as being a proto-punk track. Two versions of the song were recorded: the well-known UK single release and the shorter US single release, which featured added background vocals, extra percussion and a new arrangement. // Upon its release, the song was a commercial success, peaking at number five on the UK Singles Chart and number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song received critical acclaim for its central guitar riff and strength as a glam anthem. Several publications consider it to be one of Bowie’s greatest songs. It was performed live by Bowie during many of his concert tours and since appeared on many compilation albums. It was remastered in 2016 as part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set. // Background: Originally planned in late 1973 as part of an aborted Ziggy Stardust musical, “Rebel Rebel” was Bowie’s last single in his signature glam rock style. It was also his first hit since 1969 not to feature lead guitarist Mick Ronson; Bowie played guitar himself on this and almost all the other tracks on Diamond Dogs, producing what NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called “a rocking dirty noise that owed as much to Keith Richards as it did to the departed Ronno”. Singer-songwriter Jayne County, who was a cast member of Pork and among Bowie’s entourage for two years, maintains that her 1973 song “Queenage Baby”, which included the lyric “can’t tell whether she’s a boy or a girl”, was an influence for “Rebel Rebel”. // Recording and composition: Recording for “Rebel Rebel” began at a solo session at Trident Studios in London in the week after Christmas 1973. It was Bowie’s last known visit to Trident, his principal recording studio since 1968. The recording was completed in January 1974 at Ludolph Studios in Nederhorst den Berg, Netherlands. In the studio, Bowie informed bassist Herbie Flowers and guest guitarist Alan Parker that he wanted it to “sound like the Stones”, before he picked up Parker’s black Les Paul and played it to them. Parker then completed it, before the rest of the backing track was recorded. // According to biographer Marc Spitz, the lyrics of “Rebel Rebel” revisit familiar Bowie territory, featuring “a ‘hot’ young ‘tramp’ worrying his or her parents with his or her sexy nihilism”, are reflected by the line “You got a few lines and a handful of ‘ludes’.” Even though the world is ending, the “Rebel” doesn’t care, suggesting “we like dancing and we look divine.” It also features gender-bending lyrics (“You got your mother in a whirl / She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl”). According to author Peter Doggett, in the context of Diamond Dogs, the song serves as a “musical continuation” between the “Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)” medley: it begins with a D to E chord change that was prefigured with a bass guitar slide that constructed the medley’s final “chaotic” moments. // The song’s distinctive guitar riff is described by rock journalist Kris Needs as “a classic stick-in-the-head like the Stones’ ‘Satisfaction'”.The riff’s chords are D, E, and A and were created by Bowie and enhanced by Parker, who, according to Doggett, added the “downward trail” at the end of each line. Paul Trynka writes that Parker added “a particular chord shape rather than the original single note just before the chord change and a distinctive ‘beeeoonng’ in the last line of the chorus just as [Bowie] sings ‘I love you so’.” Bowie later said, “It’s a fabulous riff! Just fabulous! When Parker later said Bowie came up with the Stones-like riff to “piss off” Mick Jagger. Parker was upset upon learning he was uncredited on the final version. He stated: “I can tell my own playing, and my own sound, and I know it’s me.” Flowers further recalled: “David played the riff to Alan, Alan made sure it was good enough to record, then [Alan] played it.” Although O’Leary compliments the riff, he notes that with Ronson’s absence, it gets “run into the ground”; throughout the song’s over four-minute runtime, the riff is solely absent in the two bridges and the “hot tramp” lines.// Release: “Rebel Rebel” was released on 15 February 1974 in the UK by RCA Records (as LPB05009) as the lead single of Diamond Dogs with the Hunky Dory song “Queen Bitch” as the B-side. The B-side, according to Spitz, was selected by RCA to provide the label with some “much needed fiscal plasma”.[21] The single quickly became a glam anthem, the female equivalent of Bowie’s earlier hit for Mott the Hoople, “All the Young Dudes”. It reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100. // The original UK single version had a slightly different mix than the album version; the album mix was the only mix to appear on compilation albums, until the single mix appeared on Re:Call 2, as part of the 2016 box set Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976). The UK single mix was again remastered in 2019 and released on digital media streaming services.]

[The Band That Fell To Earth KC have two more shows for their 10 Anniversary Performances Friday & Saturday, January 23 and 24, 2026 at 8:00pm at recordBar 1520 Grand BLVD, KCMO.]

3. Nation of Language – “I’m Not Ready for the Change – Radio edit”
   from: Dance Called Memory / Sub Pop / September 19, 2025
   [Synthpop, minimal wave, post-punk, goth, new romantic — fans and critics alike have dug deeply into their vintage thesauruses to describe the beguiling work of Nation of Language. And if you can’t precisely define the band, that’s the point. Frontman Ian Richard Devaney has become prodigious in expanding what synthesizer-driven music can evoke, such that his output is as much an extrasensory journey as it is an all-too-human destination. With that experience in mind, he wrote the band’s fourth album — the spectral, spacious Dance Called Memory — in the most humble of ways: chipping away at melancholia by sitting around and strumming his guitar. “It’s a great way to distract yourself,” he says, “when you are depressed.” // Nation of Language’s first two albums, Introduction, Presence (2020), and A Way Forward (2021), came as pandemic godsends: gorgeous, relatable soundtracks to our collective doldrums. But it was their last LP, Strange Disciple (2023), that catapulted the group from cultural standouts to critical darlings, with the album being named Rough Trade’s Album of the Year. With that release, Pitchfork wrote that the band “are learning what it means to get bigger and better.” // This is Devaney’s calling: soulfully translating individual despair into a comforting, collective mourning. This uncannily pervades the album. The single “Now That You’re Gone,” which radiates and reverberates with a devastating wistfulness, was inspired by witnessing his godfather’s tragic death from ALS, and his parents’ role as caretakers for this ailing friend. “To be a caretaker — transforming your home into a kind of hospital wing and structuring your life around the dire needs of another — is such a difficult, powerful act of love and friendship,” Devaney says. “It’s made more difficult by our economic system that doesn’t seem to value this in any way commensurate with how hard it is.” At its heart, the song is a reflection of how friends can be there for each other, and also highlights a theme throughout the record: the pain and lost promise of friendships that fall apart. // This concept is echoed in the track “I’m Not Ready for the Change,” referencing the psychic dyspepsia that repeatedly reincarnates throughout our lives. Says Devaney: “I came across a photo from a party — it was filled with couples that were no longer together, friends who had gone their separate ways. It wasn’t from very long ago, but the sheer impossibility of such a gathering struck me in the heaviest way. Sometimes it feels like the pages of life’s book are turning faster than you can comprehend them.” // In approaching the recording of Dance Called Memory, the band once again collaborated with friend and Strange Disciple producer Nick Millhiser (LCD Soundsystem, Holy Ghost!). “What’s so great about working with Nick is his ability to make us feel like we don’t need to do what might be expected of us, or to chase any particular sound,” says synth player Aidan Noell, who, along with bass player Alex MacKay, rounds out the Nation of Language lineup. As a result, they imbued Dance Called Memory with a shifted palette — sampling chopped-up drum breaks on “I’m Not Ready for the Change” for a touch of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine, or smashing all of the percussion of “In Another Life” through a synthesizer to cast a shade of early-2000s electronic music. // Ultimately, the hope was to weave raw vulnerability and humanity into a synth-heavy album. “There is a dichotomy between the Kraftwerk school of thought and the Brian Eno school of thought, each of which I’ve been drawn to at different points. I’ve read about how Kraftwerk wanted to remove all of the humanity from their music, but Eno often spoke about wanting to make synthesized music that felt distinctly human,” Devaney says. “As much as Kraftwerk is a sonically foundational influence, with this record I leaned much more towards the Eno school of thought. That this thing should be as unvarnished and warm as possible. In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators I’m focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that.” // Despite the heavy themes at its core, Devaney insists, “Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy.”]

4. Queen Esther – “Hold Steady”
   from: “Hold Steady” – Single / EL Recordings / October 3, 2025
   [The first single from Queen Esther’s forthcoming album Blackbirding is more than a song — it’s a spiritual stance. // Hold Steady is an anthem of endurance for those who are left to fight alone. Rooted in the blood-soaked soil of Gettysburg and echoing through Black modern resistance movements, this track is a rallying cry for the forgotten, the overlooked, and the unwavering. // It’s a story of resilience when the cavalry never comes — a reminder that our ancestors didn’t just survive: They held steady. /⚔️ Driven by a heavy groove with a 60s backbeat, Queen Esther channels generations of strength, grief, and triumph through her Black Southern feminist lens. // Raised in the unapologetically Black bastion of Atlanta, Georgia – ensconced in the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement and the sonic undertow of the traditional Black church – while rooted in Charleston, South Carolina’s culturally rich and enigmatic Lowcountry, a region with African traditions and Black folkways that span centuries and deeply inform her work, Queen Esther embraces lost American history and wide-ranging and ever changing aural influences, while leaning heavily on the bluing of the note, creating reclamation-driven Black Americana. Her Southern penchant for storytelling entwines historical truths with personal anecdotes, blurring the past and present, embracing the connectedness of the human spirit. // A member of SAG/AFTRA, Actors Equity, Dramatists Guild and the Recording Academy with a BA in Screenwriting from The New School, her work in New York City as a vocalist, lyricist, songwriter, producer, actor, solo performer, playwright and librettist has led to creative collaborations in neo-vaudeville, alt-theater, various alt-rock configurations, (neo) swing bands, trip-hop DJs, spoken word performances, jazz combos, jam bands, various blues configurations, original Off-Broadway plays and musicals, experimental music, art noise and performance art. Thanks to an admin publishing deal with Bug Music (now BMG Rights Management) instigated by the esteemed guitarist/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo, Queen Esther started her imprint EL Recordings. She has written, produced four and self-released six critically acclaimed jazz and Black Americana albums – Talkin’ Fishbowl Blues (2005), What Is Love (2010), The Other Side (2014), Gild The Black Lily (2021), Rona (2023) and Things Are Looking Up (2024). // Music fellowships and residencies include: 2023 – 2024 Joe’s Pub Working Group; the 2023 inaugural class of Keychange US Talent Development Program; PostHoc Salon, hosted by Susan McTavish Best; and an artist fellowship at the National Arts Club. Noteworthy highlights include: a grant from the 2024 New Music USA Creator Fund for All Cats Are Beautiful – alt-country soul performed by hard bop jazz musicians Wayne Tucker and The Bad Muthas, with each song celebrating the life of an innocent Black victim of police violence; and a 2022 grant from the New York City Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater to create Blackbirding, an alt-country soul album written during a 2020 All Media Artist Residency at Gettysburg National Military Park, scheduled for a fall 2025 release. // Recent work includes: An Off-Broadway staged reading for her solo show Blackbirding as well as her full length play The Tears of a Megyn as playwright-in-residence in the 2022 – 2024 WP Theater Pipeline PlayLAB; performances at Lincoln Center to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Voices of a People’s History of the United States; showcases in New York City at Symphony Space, Uncharted Music Series and Joe’s Pub (NYC), Americanafest (Nashville TN), Folk Alliance Int’l (Kansas City, MO) and Woody Guthrie Museum (Tulsa OK), amongst others. In 2022, she brought her western swing collective The Black Rose of Texas (featuring vocalists Queen Esther, Kat Edmonson and Synead Cidney Nichols and the legendary pedal steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar) to Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, with a sold out weekend at Dizzy’s/Lincoln Center in the fall. Queen Esther’s music continues to garner airplay worldwide as her 2018 TED Talk about the true origins of country and bluegrass steadily reverberates throughout the Americana community. ]

5. Fullbloods – “Magic Machine”
   from: Magic Machine – Single / High Dive Records / January 9, 2026
   [Released as a double single with “Who’s Left.” Both songs written by Ross Brown (Bargain Hunt Music / ASCAP). Recorded (mostly) live at BRC Audio Productions. Engineered by Zack Hames with assistant engineers Tremain Hunter, Karlton Kinley, Ian McCaslin, and Nathan Gonzales. // Artwork by Sam Hrabko. http://www.instagram.com/hrabkos/ // Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering eurekamastering.com Players: Adam Schlozman (https://www.adamschlozman.com): electric guitar, solos / Fritz Hutchison (https://fritzhutchison.bandcamp.com): drums. // Joel Stratton bass / Konnor Ervin (https://koneymusic.bandcamp.com): electric guitar. // Wills Van Doorn on electric and acoustic guitars. // Kyle Little (www.instagram.com/spy_world_forever/): synth and Rhodes electric piano. // Alec Nicholas (https://alecnicholas.com): percussion. // Fullbloods is the recording project of Ross Brown (Shy Boys, Koney, Snacky). Live he is joined by his friends and the music is probably better that way.// Fullbloods released their most recent album PLAYING IT SAFE on March 7, 2025. It was #3 on WMM’s 120 Best Recoprdings of 2025. // Fullbloods is a studio project of songwriter and producer Ross Brown (Shy Boys, Koney, Snacky). Live he is joined by his friends and the music is probably better that way. Thanks for listening! // Fullbloods released their 3rd full-length album Soft and Virtual Touch on High Dive Records on April 3, 2020. All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed by Ross Brown (℗© 2019 Bargain Hunt Music / ASCAP) in Kansas City, MO. Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Artwork by Nika Winn. Kyle Rausch played drums on 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9, sang on 9. Bill Pollock Played drums on 3 and 5. David Seume played bass on 5. Jerad Tomasino played synth on 9 and 10, sang on 9. Jenni Kornfeld played cello on 4. Leslie Butsch played sax on 10. // Fullbloods is a studio project of songwriter and producer Ross Brown who is also in the bands: Shy Boys, Koney, and Snacky. When Fullbloods play live, Ross is joined on stage by his friends. N writing about Ross Browms previous Fullbloods album, Soft and Virtual Touch , Lionell Williams aka “Vinyl Williams” of PRIVATE PLAYLIST on KCRW calls “Ross Brown a frickin’ genius. He’s the modern day Brian Wilson of America. His whole album, the entire way through, is one of those albums [where] every microsecond, every quantum moment, is wow. He’s just a straight-up genius.” Info: http://www.fullbloods.com.][Fullbloods played The Ship on February 21, at 9:00 pm with Fake Italian for Daniel Gum’s The Great Conjunction Album Release Show. ][Fullbloods played Hillsiders in KCK on March 7 at 8:00 PM for their own PLAYING IT SAFE Album Release Show with Schemada, and 2w33dy.]

6. Anjimile – “Like You Really Mean it”
   from: You’re Free To Go / 4AD / March 13, 2026
   [Today North Carolina based singer-songwriter Anjimile announces plans to release the full-length album You’re Free to Go, due out March 13, 2026 on 4AD. The announcement comes with the luminous lead single “Like You Really Mean It” which overflows with tenderness and vulnerability, accompanied by a beautiful video directed by Caity Arthur. // Anjimile shares: “I wrote this to make my girlfriend want to give me a kiss. We live about an hour apart, and I was just by myself thinking about her. Thinking about wanting a kiss. What could I do to get a kiss from my sweetheart? Write a song about it! Anyway, it worked.” // “Like You Really Mean It” comes after the November single “Auld Lang Syne II,” a tender note-to-self on resilience and hard-fought freedom, characterized by delicate finger-plucked strings, charming horn passages, and intimate vocal delivery, which Stereogum called “stunning” upon its release; a song Anjimile says was: “originally intended as something of a wedding present for my best friend, who got married a few years back.” // Contrasting the intricacy and complexity of The King, You’re Free to Go unfolds organically under the intuitive direction of producer Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Mavis Staples). The album’s songs bloom naturally, grounded in warm acoustic guitars, subtle synth textures, lush string arrangements, and delicate rhythmic layers. Collaborative efforts with musicians Nathan Stocker (Hippo Campus), Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver), and guest vocalist Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) – a personal hero of Anjimile whose music deeply influenced the album even before his involvement – cultivate an exploratory yet intimate atmosphere, perfectly aligned with Anjimile’s nuanced storytelling. // Anjimile (ann-JIM-uh-lee) Chithambo has forged a distinctive musical path characterised by unflinching introspection and deep honesty. Emerging from Boston’s vibrant indie scene while studying at Northeastern University, Anjimile captivated audiences with earnest songwriting, delicate sonic textures, and performances that felt like prayer and celebration. // Critical acclaim quickly followed; 2020’s Giver Taker, hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the year’s best albums, positioned him as a compelling voice exploring enduring themes of spirituality, identity, and liberation. With The King(2023), Anjimile intensified his examination of Black and trans existence amid personal and societal turbulence, reaffirming his courageous commitment to navigating discomfort as a means of liberation. // You’re Free to Go picks up where The King left off, but with its hands open wide – a central question being: what happens when you let go and let love in? // Crafted over years marked by transformation, the album traces vividly the profound complexities of change – from breakups to new love; deep grief and loss to renewal and rediscovery. “The past two years have been a deeply transitional point in my life,” Anjimile explains. On You’re Free to Go, he learns to trust life again. The album’s title symbolises Anjimile’s expansive perspective on love and personal freedom, influenced profoundly by his relationship with his partner and their joyful embrace of non-monogamy. He describes this dynamic playfully: “I view non-monogamy as setting out milk every night on your porch for the cats; they can come if they want,” – a reminder that connection thrives when it’s truly chosen and not confined and restricted by normativity. This same playfulness runs through “Rust & Wire” which captures the exhilaration of falling in love again and again (“ripen in the heat like wine”). // Elsewhere, You’re Free to Go explores heavier, darker truths; ‘Exquisite Skeleton’ hauntingly portrays the ache of familial estrangement and ‘Ready or Not’ the exhaustion of facing transphobia. “When I was a little girl, I wanted to be free… When I was a little boy, I wanted to be real.”, he disarmingly reflects on “Waits For Me,” a powerful reckoning on childhood identity. But even in its most searching moments, the record radiates light. // Each song holds space for healing – for turning pain into something tender, communal, and free. // Spirituality remains the heartbeat of Anjmile’s work. “Songwriting feels like a prayer, a plea, or a question,” he says. Across You’re Free to Go, sacredness feels alive and imperfect — a practice of breathing, wondering, forgiving. The album hums with that same sacred energy: messy and full of grace. // Throughout You’re Free to Go, Anjimile skilfully integrates a variety of musical inspirations to heighten the album’s emotional impact. Tracks such as “Turning Away” and “The Store” channel the raw and unadorned authenticity reminiscent of early Modest Mouse. The collaboration with Sam Beam on “Destroying You” adds a gentle warmth that beautifully complements Anjimile’s refined vocal expression. Melodically, the album evokes a subtle nostalgia for late-’90s alternative pop, seamlessly blending folk sensibilities into inviting, memorable hooks. Anjimile has notably evolved, adopting a more relaxed and expressive approach to his singing, partly due to his ongoing hormonal therapy – a transformative journey he embraces gladly. This newfound vocal depth amplifies the album’s emotional resonance, allowing him to express himself with greater authenticity. // As Anjimile prepares to share You’re Free to Go live, he envisions intimate performances that reinterpret rather than replicate the album’s recordings. He aims for the authenticity and vulnerability embedded in these songs to resonate deeply, emphasising, “This record feels very authentic to my life experiences. It’s about as close to getting to know me as you could ever get with a record.” // You’re Free to Go is a portrait of transformation — not as a wound, but as an opening. Richly textured, this collection of songs is an honest reflection of life’s fluctuations. It holds space for contradiction and finds liberation in tenderness. As Anjimile beautifully articulates, the album embodies “breathing into the question,” acknowledging that life’s most profound moments often come without clear answers, but rather exist in the gentle tension of uncertainty and discovery. In every note, Anjimile provides space for each listener to reflect and uncover their own truths, while gently reminding us that freedom isn’t the absence of pain, but the courage to love, to ask, to keep beginning again.]

7. Xiu Xiu – “Cherry Bomb”
   from: Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 / Polyvinyl Record Co. / January 16, 2026
   [The most exciting and terrifying parts of dreams (or nightmares) are the ones we recognize. Familiar fragments collide and reassemble into something strange. Things we thought we knew are turned upside down or ripped apart and sewn together backwards. That unnerving thrill — the shiver of recognition followed by disorientation — is at the core of Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, the latest collection of covers from prolific music provocateurs Xiu Xiu. Jamie Stewart, Angela Seo and David Kendrick warp and distort classics spanning decades and genres — from 1950s rock n’ roll to new wave, Robyn to Throbbing Gristle. // Xiu Xiu are no strangers to interpretation. Since the group’s inception in 2002, they’ve regularly paid homage to artists they revere — from New Order’s “Ceremony” (featured on Chapel Of Chimes EP) to David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure” (for 2008’s Women As Lovers). // They’ve done tribute albums — 2013’s Nina, honoring Nina Simone, and 2016’s Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks — cementing their reputation for considered reimaginings. Across twelve tracks, Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 compiles a heady selection of monthly covers the band began releasing in 2020 through their subscription series via Bandcamp, expanding their bewildering universe to commune with artists throughout time. // For Xiu Xiu, covers aren’t about improvement, but reverence. “We never approach them thinking ‘how can we improve these’ but really ‘what can we learn from these,’” Stewart says of the process. Xiu Xiu explores the music that’s moved them, as if each artist were a singular creative deity. The result is “a small honorific offering to the muse that created us.” // Some covers are a shadowed vision of the original, zooming in on the song’s pronounced aura. The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” bratty defiance funneled through industrial pulses and slithering percussion — a ticking time bomb of acidic distortion and rebellion. Their version of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” is reborn with howling ‘60s organs, flute spirals, and swirls of reverbed vocals. It feels older than the original, as if Question Mark & The Mysterians or 13th Floor Elevators have been drawn into the conversation. Other reworkings with Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” or GloRilla’s “Lick Or Sum” unearth new understandings of contemporary hits.  // ain songs provided unexpected obstacles. “In Dreams” tested the limits of Stewart’s vocal prowess; Coil’s “Triple Sun” allowed them the opportunity to study a band that listeners are constantly linking them to; Stewart was moved to tears while recording Daniel Johnston’s “Some Things Last a Long Time”— “If there ever were a sincere and wounded voice in the world it is his.” On XMFX, Xiu Xiu reshapes echoes of pop history into séances, lucid dreams, and sonic rituals — breathing new life into music’s past through a years-long, sustainable practice.// Music played by: Tm Berne – alto saxophone; Mary Halverson – guitar; David Kendrick – drum set; Tony Malaby – tenor saxophone; Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo – viola, vox; Angela Seo – vox, backing vox, synths, percussion; Ches Smith – drum set; Jamie Stewart – vox, guitar, drum machine, synths, organ, bass, piano; Houda Zakeri – backing vox. // Recorded in Los Angeles at Nurse and Berlin at Krankenschwester. Mastered by Alan Douches in Hudson Valley at West Westside. Design by Janelle Abad. This record would not be possible without the past & present mind bogglingly generous XMFX subscribers.]

8. Arlo Parks – “2SIDED”
   from: “2SIDED” – Single / Transgressive Records / January 13, 2026
   [From the upcoming AMBIGUOUS DESIRE to be released in April 3, 2026. Twice Grammy nominated, MercuryPrize and BRIT award winning Arlo Parks shares new single “2SIDED,” which premiered as a BBC Radio 1 Hottest Record. The track offers the first glimpse into the album’s world—a tender hope that a new lover feels as intensely as you do—carried by thick, humming synths and skittering drum machines. The song comes alongside a Molly Burdett-directed music video-a film about connection through movement, emotion and rhythm. Speaking about the single Arlo shares, “At its core ‘2SIDED’ is about yearning and tension. It’s about being struck by a bolt of desire and building up the courage to put language to that feeling, to make it real.” // Also today, Arlo Parks announces her new album Ambiguous Desire, due April 3rd via Transgressive Records. Over the past two years, Arlo dove head first into nocturnal spaces where she could be whoever she wanted. Arlo drew inspiration from the queer hedonism of NYC’s Paradise Garage to the moody nocturnal British beats of The Streets and Burial, the glittering synth catharsis of LCD Soundsystem, and rooted house grooves of Theo Parrish, losing herself on the dancefloor. Ambiguous Desire is Parks at her most confident and experimental, supplanting live band sessions for modular synths, ableton plugins and samplers that channel the frenetic, vibrant spaces she was immersed in, all while spotlighting the acclaimed poetry and lyricism she’s beloved for..]

10:30 – Underwriting

9. The Whips – “Tired of Pretending”
   from: “Tired of Pretending”- Single / Midtopia Records / January 9, 2026
   [The Whips’ last single “Together in Agony” released November 14, 2025 was #7 in WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2025. // From Music-News.com: Kansas City-based rock band The Whips – featuring singer-keyboardist Max Cooper (fresh from a four-chair turn on NBC’s The Voice and a spot on Team Michael Bublé), guitarist and co-vocalist Max Indiveri, bassist Quinn Cosgrove, and drummer Miles Patterson – return with “Together in Agony,” out now. The single previews a new slate of material the band will roll out with Wichita’s independent label Midtopia early next year. // Written by Indiveri and recorded in the band’s 10×10 bedroom studio, “Together in Agony” lives in the tension between comfort and self-respect – “the kind of relationship you know is breaking,” he says, “but you’re still in it because you’re scared to start over.” The track builds from quiet reflection to a cathartic climax, mirroring that internal tug-of-war. It’s an early glimpse of a band coming into its voice, unafraid to sit in the feeling and let the lyric breathe.If you know The Whips from the internet, that tracks. Early on, they were the kids ripping through call-and-response solo battles and left-turn funk covers that exploded on TikTok and Instagram. One clip meant for friends woke up to a million views; another hit five million. What started as a handful of posts between college classes turned into a full-blown community of fans who connected with the band’s mix of humor, skill, and heart. The growth was real, but so was the risk of being seen as “the TikTok band.” They leaned into what felt authentic instead – community, curiosity, and the joy of playing without pretense. Those same fans now show up in person, singing along and hanging after shows like it’s a reunion with old friends. // The group’s story goes back to a Kansas City school bus, where Cosgrove and Patterson decided to start a band. Indiveri joined with a songwriter’s ear and a sharp melodic sensibility, and an Instagram search led to Cooper, whose recent Voice run (four chairs, Team Michael Bublé) has given the band an extra spotlight without shifting its center of gravity. Through it all, The Whips have remained what they were from the start – four friends figuring life out in real time and writing songs that capture the process. // “Together in Agony” marks the start of a new chapter for The Whips – one defined by honesty, self-production, and a growing sense of creative independence. The band plans to release more music with Midtopia early next year as part of a slate of projects highlighting emerging Midwestern artists under the label’s Buy Before You Stream initiative, which gives fans a physical connection to new music before it hits streaming platforms.// The Whips released their 12 track debut album HOW TO HOLD A GRUDGE on Lotuspool Records on September 1, 2023, Recorded with Audio Engineer Chris Cosgrove. the album features an array of their favorite local musicians guest in various tracks including: Malek Azrael, Anna Duntz, Atomic Blonde, Die Jane, Tre’ Mutava, Lymerrick & Lucy Brock. // The Whips released their EP STARDUST & MOTOR OIL on Midtopia Records on August 2, 2024. It was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2024. The Whips released their single, “Begin Again”on February 2, 2024. The Whips released their single, “As Long As You Want Me” on March 8, 2024. The Whips released their 6-track Debut EP, NEVER CHANGE, OR DO on August 20, 2021 on Draft Crew Records. The Whips released multiple singles in 2021. // More info at: http://www.thewhipsband.com]

10. Ivory Blue – “Forevermore”
    from: “Forevermore” – Single / IVORY BLUE / November 28, 2025
    [IVORY BLUE’s single “Echo” was #3 in WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2025. What IVORY BLUE says: “Echo” is about the energy in the world and how we get back what we put into it. The theme came to me when I was in the hospital, listening to stories from all kinds of people who were there. Our situations were different, but we were part of the same community striving for the love and connection we all deserve. I wanted this song to capture the echoes of our actions, our struggles, and our hopes all returning to use like a gift from above.” // Kansas City based artist, IVORY BLUE has a tendency of breaking through barriers that keeps her from saying what needs to be said, regardless of style. Bringing us hard hitting rock inspired ear candy like “Starlit Love Child” and “Control”, the idea of genre is only a tool IVORY uses to express her ability to communicate through music. // IVORY BLUE released the single “Mirrors” pon August 1, 2025. //IVORY BLUE released the single “Heartbeat” on March 28, 2025. // IVORY BLUE released the single “Rhythm of the Radio” on January 31, 2025 // IVORY BLUE released the single “Exiled” on November 29, 2024. IVORY BLUE released the single “Olé!” on October 4, 2024, Breathing Underwater” on August 9, 2024, “Bad Dreams”on June 7, 2024, “Batter Up” on April 22, 2024, “Flashback” on March 15, 2024, “Howl” on Feb. 16, 2024. // IVORY BLUE released their 2nd full length album, STARLIT LOVE CHILD, on Nov. 17, 2023. The 10-track album was in the top five of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023, and in the “Best of” lists at 90.9 The Bridge and stations around the world. // On Oct. 27, 2023 IVORY BLUE released the single “Ghost of Life.” This single followed IVORY’s previous releases,”In A World Like This” from Sept. 22, 2023, ”The Best of Life” from Aug. 4, 2023 and “Control” from May 26, 2023. IVORY released the single “All Outta Love” on Feb. 24, 2023. // IVORY BLUE released the single “Starlit Love Child” on Oct. 28, 2022, “Red Light” on July 29, 2022. // IVORY BLUE released their full length debut album COMPOUND LOVE on Feb. 25, 2022. COMPOUND LOVE was in the Top 10 of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. For COMPOUND LOVE, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, vocalist and played all instruments with the exception of: Lester Estelle on drums, Klaartje Van Lue on piano, Craig Kew on bass, Lennon Bone on drums, and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel guitar. // IVORY BLUE released the single “Good Changes” on Oct 26, 2021. Ivory Blue released the singles: “Heavy,” “Bad Weather,” “It Must Have Been Me,” “Compound Love,” and “The Start” on December 14, 2021. // IVORY BLUE’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015. While the EP helped spread the word and give IVORY BLUE attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017 when Ivory was among 1800 artists/bands that competed in neXt2Rock. Ivory won local & regional challenges and advanced to nationals in Los Angeles to win the top prize. // IVORY BLUE has played with The Band That Fell to Earth, Boulevardia, Crossroads Music Festival, The Middle of the Map Fest, The Westport Roots Festival, the KCPT Screening of “Real Boy” at KC Public Library, and Kauffman Stadium. // Ivory Blue was born in 1986 in Peoria Illinois, as Devin James Miclettet. Ivory’s birth mother put them up for adoption at the age of four. Ivory speaks about how it was difficult to find trust in people offering their home to someone denied it for so long, Ivory lived with eight different families, before running away at 15. // Ivory has talked with us about how in their life they have turned to music to express pain. Ivory spent most of their childhood looking for a family. In 2010 Klaartje Van Lue saw Ivory performing in a YouTube video and contacted them, flying Ivory to Kansas City, and adopting Ivory into the Van Lue family. In 2011, Ivory settled in the Kansas City, MO area. During the past 10 years Ivory came out as “Non-Binary Transgender”, and then later as Trans-Female. // As a multi-instrumentalist, Ivory began refining their performance style, using digital looping pedals to stack harmonies and guitar parts live on stage, giving their solo shows the feel of a full band. More info at: http://www.ivorybluemusic.com]

11. Dry Cleaning – “Joy”
    from: Secret Love / 4AD / January 9, 2026
    [Dry Cleaning released their new album Secret Love via 4AD. The project is the finest expression yet of the profound friendships that created the band. Here, frontperson Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard take their place in rock’s avantgarde, catalyzing the Reaganite paranoia of early 80s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave and pastoral fingerpicking, while Florence’s delivery, meticulously calibrated to her bandmates’ soundscapes, asserts her in a lineage of spoken-word artists stretching from Laurie Anderson to Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins. Producer Cate Le Bon likens the impression of listening to walking through a city; these 11 songs might also arrive like distinct images in a gallery. // The record started life in Peckham rehearsal spaces, the south London four-piece writing, playing and responding to each other in the room, the instrumentalists egging each other on as Florence drew from her collection of postcards and found materials: in Dry Cleaning, music and lyrics form an inseparable, generative whole. Then they bundled their demos in a suitcase and took them to musical friends with strong palettes to test and twist them. Secret Love evolved through affirming sessions at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio the Loft and explosive ones with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox in Dublin, taking advantage of the sonic particulars of each space, and finally with Cate in the Loire Valley. Some acts would fear being subsumed by these other musical iconoclasts. Dry Cleaning wanted to push themselves harder than they ever had before. “We’re very confident about our identity,” says Florence. “It doesn’t seem to be possible to break it down.” // The opposite: Secret Love is a singular, career-defining statement, coming after debut New Long Leg (2021) and Stumpwork (2022). They push the cheeky no wave of compulsively catchy lead single ‘Hit My Head All Day’ somewhere totally unexpected, powered by pistons of breathy synths and magnificent cresting arcs of guitar. ‘Cruise Ship Designer’ is a classic Dry Cleaning pop song in the vein of ‘Gary Ashby’, sung from the perspective of a nautical entrepreneur who has deluded himself that his work serves society. There is unprecedented darkness in ‘Blood’, a lurch between forlorn chill and desperate alarm that confronts the normalization of witnessing atrocities in Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine online, and the British government’s callous, capitalist attitude to war. Amid these disingenuous actors, Florence turns over questions of trust, and volunteers more of herself than ever before, a profound gesture of connection. She finds Secret Love “quite sad and dark,” she says, but feels good about the honesty of that reflection. “I really love confessional things,” she says. “It always makes me feel calm when people are sharing hidden stuff. I hate when you get a sense that there’s stuff people aren’t saying.” // The more introspective songs search for coherence between interior and exterior: the panicked longing for connection in spite of the certainty that people are repulsed by you in the Pentangle-influenced ‘Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit’; the warring frustration, lust and foolishness in the bristling crucible of ‘Rocks’, Dry Cleaning’s most teeth-gritting rager. ‘My Soul / Half Pint’ is the goofiest expression of this tension, exploring Florence’s love of tidying – organizing to a satisfying internal logic – but hatred of cleaning, a tedious social good. The album affirms the power of coherence in love. The celestial ‘Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)’ preserves an unspoken crush for eternity. ‘The Cute Things’ isa daydreamy swirl about the beauty of self-sacrifice in true relationships; the barely adorned pulse of ‘I Need You’ uses the characteristically off-kilter image of being fired by Donald Trump on The Apprentice as an analogue to the beautifully deranged pressure of pinning all your hopes on one partner: “The finger coming down: you.” // It’s no mistake that Secret Love ends on a similarly optimistic note to Stumpwork. ‘Icebergs’, the closing track to their second album, advised: “Stay interested in the world around you / Keep the curiosity of a child if you can.” Here, the song ‘Joy’ offers “don’t give up on being sweet” in the face of troubling mansophere cults. It can be hard not to feel overwhelmed by the lurid grotesques beaming dogma from your FYP page and wonder if you shouldn’t give up and join them. But Secret Love is a reminder to find the people you can go floppy with; a transmission of the band’s love and trust in one another that listeners might share in, too.]

12. Sara Swenson – “Taller Than You Think (feat. Greg LaFollette)”
    from: “Taller Than You Think (feat. Greg LaFollette)” – Single / Sara Swenson / January 9, 2026
    [One of several new singles Sara Swenson is releasing leading up to the release of her new album, TALLER THAN YOU THINK on Saturday, 28, 2026. // Critically acclaimed singer songwriter Sara Swenson has released some of our most played and favorite recordings of the last 7 years. Her self titled debut ended up at the top of our list of The 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second full length recording, “All Things Big and Small” again working with Don Chaffer in Nashville who added new layers to Sara’s great songs and voice. In November of 2011, Sara released her 5 song EP called “Never Left My Mind,” featuring her band at the time, The Pearl Snaps. In that time frame, she also had picked up two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” Then after the school year ended in 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as a High School English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and left the Kansas City music scene, and she flew off to the United Kingdom, where she got married. In the spring of 2014, Sara returned to Kansas City and performed for the Folk Alliance International Conference. On July 18, 2014 she released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, moving from dating to marriage and sorting through the accompanying transitions and emotions. Produced by Don Chaffer in Nashville. // On March 26, 2021 Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” Sara Swenson wrote to me that her new song is featured in her husband Michael Price’s film “The Hidden Pandemic” that premiered Thursday, April 8 at 7:00 PM on Kansas City PBS. The film is about the mental health crisis in KC – it’s a powerful film that also features Mark Lowrey’s piano playing. Sara’s song is featured in various parts of the film, and then also at the end. To see a trailer for “The Hidden Pandemic” you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkd7046rPtU. ] [Sara Swenson played the 21st Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Sat, September 6, at 5:00pm, at the Stockyards Brewing Co.]

[Sara Swenson plays a TALLER THAN YOU THINK album release show, Saturday, February 28, 2026 at the Gospel Lounge at Knuckleheads.] [Sara Swenson will be on Wednesday MidDay Medley on February, 18, at 10:15 am]

13. Jolson and The Fear of Snakes – “3613 Central St.”
    from: “3613 Central St.” – Single / Jolson and The Fear of Snakes / January 8, 2026
    [One of several new singles being currently released by Jolson and The Fear of Snakes. Jolson & The Fear of Snakes released their debut album, Yes, But Not With You on April 26, 2024, It was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2024. / Jolson Robert is a multi-instrumentalist/singer based in Kansas City. He grew up in rural Kansas and found solace in music where he learned as many instruments as he could and worked to recreate songs he loved. // Jolson Robert describes his music as indie pop/rock, midwest emo, and funk. He writes and records his musicby himself playing: bass, drums, guitars, keys, and vocals. Then, his friends Garret Aiken on drums, Jesse Rodriguez on guitar, Jackson Broadwater on bass, and recently, his younger brother Gavin Robert on keyboards bring the music to life for live performance as a band, Robert Jolson has written that, “each one of these people is more skilled at their given instrument than I am, which I quite enjoy! It makes the live shows that much cooler. And I’ve always been partial to performing live; I think it’s what I do best as a performer, and of course, it’s what we do as a band.” //Jolson was in Quite Frankly The Band. Info at: http://www.jatfos.com%5D

14. Joshua James and The First Aid Kit – “What The Hell”
    rom: “What The Hell” – Single / Records DK / December 15, 2025
    [Joshua James and the First Aid Kit were formed in 2023. They are now a five piece band. They have released multiple single and a Live album recorded at Bell Tower.In a 2024 article for The Pitch Joshua James told writer Ellen Beshuk, “There’s a lot of silos in the music scene,” James says. “I’m trying to bring people from different sides of the scene that don’t interact, so that we can build more relationships. We’ll see each other at shows occasionally. We’ll follow each other on Instagram, but there’s not a lot of talking unless you’re attending the same open.” // Ellen Beshuk wrote: “The First Aid Kits create music from songs to scream along with to songs about heartbreak. The name first came from a play on words and was reworked to distinguish itself from other popular bands. Joshua James also said, “We all aid in the band so we’re just a bunch of band aids, and that’s what we call our fans,” James says. “There’s a very popular band called First Aid Kit, which I didn’t know ’till I was in New York City, at Radio City Hall and saw a big billboard that said First Aid Kit. Then Joshua James is also another known folk artist in Nashville. I think if I put the names together, it’s okay.”]

15. José González – “Against the Dying Of The Light”
    from: “Against the Dying Of The Light” – Single / Imperial Recordings – Mute / Jan. 13, 2026
    [The album Against The Dying Of The Light, will be released on Friday, March 27th. Its title track and music video are out now. José González is launching a North American tour, with presale registration available now. European tour dates will be announced.
    Against The Dying Of The Light is the fifth studio album from José González and his first new collection of original songs in more than four years. As a concerned world citizen, he wrote these songs as a reflection of our times. Times of amazing progress, but also worrying backslides to dogmatic tribal ideologies and an extremely uncertain future. These are songs about how we can navigate humanity towards flourishing on an individual and a collective level. // José Gabriel González was born on July 31, 1978 in the Haga district of Gothenburg, Sweden, to Argentine parents. His politically active parents were students at the National University of San Luis before fleeing Argentina after the 1976 Argentine coup d’état. Escaping to Brazil with González’s older sister, they were granted asylum by the Swedish consulate in Rio de Janeiro and relocated to Gothenburg in 1977.// González grew up listening to Latin folk and pop music and has named Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez as a favourite artist. He said that the first concert he went to was the Wailers. In an interview with Time Out magazine he stated, “I got their autographs and everything. I was about 12 or so. At the time, my favourite music was Bob Marley and Michael Jackson”. // González earned a master’s degree in molecular biology from the University of Gothenburg and was in a PhD program for biochemistry before dropping out and focusing on music. // The first band González played in was Back Against the Wall, a Gothenburg hardcore punk group influenced by Black Flag, Misfits, and Dead Kennedys. He later played bass guitar in another hardcore band, Renascence, between 1993 and 1998. Between 1997 and 1998, he played guitar with the rock band Only If You Call Me Jonathan. // In June 2003, González issued his debut solo release, a two-track 7 in (180 mm) single. It was discovered by Joakim Gävert, co-founder of the then-fledgling label Imperial Records, who signed González as their first official artist. In October, González released his debut album, Veneer, in Europe. The record was subsequently released in the UK on 25 April 2005 and in the United States on 6 September 2005. González had begun working on the material while still a PhD student. // González’ trademark sound is solo classical guitar with soft vocal melody. His work, although mostly original, also includes acoustic covers of such hits as “Heartbeats” by his fellow Swedes the Knife, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division, “Born in the U.S.A.” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad” by Bruce Springsteen, “Hand on Your Heart” by Kylie Minogue, “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat, “Teardrop” by Massive Attack, and “Last Snowstorm of the Year” by Low. // His second album, In Our Nature, was released internationally on September 22, 2007. Its lyrical content was in part influenced by books like The God Delusion by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and Practical Ethics by ethicist Peter Singer. In 2007, González won a European Border Breakers Award. // In 2010, a documentary about him, called The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of Jose Gonzalez, was released. // His third album, Vestiges & Claws, was released in February 2015. It was critically acclaimed and received the IMPALA Album of the Year Award. // On 17 February 2021, González released a single with Spanish lyrics, “El Invento”. In April, he issued “Visions”, the second single from his next album, Local Valley, which came out on 17 September. // In 2023, González appeared in the feature film A Tiger in Paradise, which is a fictionalized depiction of his own life.]

11:00 – Station ID

Next we feature music from our friends playing Official Showcases at the 38th Folk Alliance International Conference, New Orleans, LA this week January 21-24, 2026: Calvin Arsenia, Pieta Brown, Mireya Ramos & Ensemble Iberica & Texmaniacs, and Crys Matthews.

16. Mireya & The Poor Choices – “Blue Bayou (feat. The Burney Sisters & Teevor Turla)”
    rom: Sin Fronteras / Mireya Ramos / September 15, 2023
    [from mireyaramos.com: The U.S. border with Mexico has always been a fault line where cultural and political forces clash and meld with one another in a close embrace that is centuries old. The monumental musical project, Sin Fronteras, out September 2023, by Latin Grammy winner Mireya Ramos and the Poor Choices proves this 5,525-mile-long expanse that physically bisects the two countries and cultures doesn’t spiritually separate them. It is a ranchera and country dialogue that could only happen in Kansas City, Missouri which has become a second home for the New York City-based Mireya. // “La Frontera showcases the similarities between styles of music and traditions that on the surface may seem very different. I like that this album sparks a conversation—that’s always been important to me as an artist,” – Mireya Ramos // Mireya is a vocalist, violinist, composer, and arranger, and the founder of Flor de Toloache, NYC’s first and only all-women mariachi band. She co-produced Sin Fronteras with Beau Bledsoe, founder/director of classical chamber Ensemble Iberica. The 10-song album features 25 musicians, including Latin Grammy winners Texmaniacs, Ensemble Iberica, and western band Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices. Though this community spans different genres, generations, and cultures, it coalesced around an album of original and traditional songs that meld influences from both sides of the border. // “The parallels between the music on both sides of the border became obvious to me years ago—you can see that in the traditions of cowboys in the U.S. and Mexico,” says Beau, who grew up in Arkansas but spent summers in the early 1990s studying ranchera in a tiny town in Mexico near KCMO. // Mireya might be best known for her pioneering work with her two-time Latin Grammy-winning group Flor de Toloache, and her acclaimed solo career. Flor de Toloache has toured nationally and internationally, and performed on NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert,” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and BBC 2’s Later with Jools Holland. The mariachi quartet has garnered critical-acclaim from Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, The New Yorker, GQ Magazine, and The New York Times. // Mireya was born in California to proud Dominican and Mexican parents, and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her earliest connection to county music was through Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. When her family relocated from Puerto Rico to New York City, the Suzuki method, classically-trained violinist began to connect with bluegrass musicians and see firsthand the connections between the music of her Latin heritage and country music. Meeting Beau a decade ago and working with him for an internationally-themed seasonal performance series he curated in Kansas City only deepened the ranchera-country conversation for Mireya. // The shows documented a uniquely KCMO musical expression. Because of the city’s proximity to Interstate 35, a main tree branch for immigration to Mexico, Kansas City has had a long history of both traditional country and Latin music. “When I first moved here, I would study classical music at the conservatory, and play two-chord ranchera’s at night on the historic Southwest Blvd,” Beau recalls. // Latin-Grammy-winning, multiple Latin Grammy nominated and Grammy-nominated vocalist, violinist, Guitarron player, composer, producer, arranger and founder of Flor de Toloache – NY’s only all-women mariachi. She embodies all of her musical influences whether classical, mariachi, salsa, merengue or hip-hop, always creating a unique and refreshing sound. Her versatility, natural improvisational skills and beautiful tone has made her one of the top Latin artists in New York City and has landed her features on legendary albums by Latin Grammy Winner percussionist Luisito Quintero, Bobbito & Stretch, Len Smythe, Chicano Batman, Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas) and many more. As a big advocate of empowering the next generation and promoting the importance of representation, she has been an integral part of educational projects like México Beyond Mariachi, Lincoln Center, and Mariachi Academy NY. She continues to share her experience and knowledge through workshops, educational programs and performances. Apart from touring with her band, she is proudly involved in She is the Music, the Recording Academy as a serving governor of the NY Chapter, a SAG-Aftra member and promoting her debut solo album self titled “Mireya” which include collaborations with Flor de Toloache, Gaby Moreno, Haydée Milanés, Camilo Lara, Adrian Quesada, Velcro and the legendary Mike Garson. Originally for San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mireya Ramos, has an exciting new album coming out that was recorded here in Kansas City titled, Sin Fronteras, co-produced with Beau Bledsoe and the KC-based super-group, Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices. Sin Fronteras will be officially released on September 15, 2023. Mireya Ramos was on WMM on March 15 and August 23, 2023. ]

[Sin Fronteras is Mireya Ramos and Ensemble Iberica and Texmaniac joining together to play an official Showcase at the 38th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference on Wednesday, January 21, at 8:20pm at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal St., New Orleans, LA]

17. Crys Matthews – “Sleeves Up”
    from: Sleeves Up” – Single / Crys Matthews / January 20, 2025
    [Crys Matthews released her album CHANGEMAKERS on May 26, 2021. Crys Matthews was the Winner of the 2022 Folk Alliance International Folk Music Award for Song of the Year. Crys Matthews was also an Official Showcase Artist for the 34th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference, May 18, 19, 21, 21, and 22 in Kansas City, at Westin Crown Center Hotel, More info at http://www.folk.org. Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,” Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls “the poster-child for intersectionality,” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation called Matthews’s gift “a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides.” She is made for these times and, with the release of her new, hope-fueled, love-filled social justice album Changemakers, Matthews hopes to take her place alongside some of her heroes in the world of social-justice music like Sweet Honey in the Rock and Holly Near. Of Matthews, ASCAP VP & Creative Director Eric Philbrook says, “By wrapping honest emotions around her socially conscious messages and dynamically delivering them with a warm heart and a strong voice, she lifts our spirits just when we need it most in these troubled times. // ”Matthews began performing in 2010, but cemented her acclaim at Lincoln Center as the 2017 New Song Music and Performance Competition grand prize winner. That year she also released two new projects—her album of thoughtful songs on love and life called The Imagineers, and her EP called Battle Hymn for an Army of Lovers, which tackles social justice themes. Matthews also won the People’s Music Network’s Social Justice Songs contest at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance. Loyal fans quickly followed as Matthews racked up performances at large music festivals and prestigious venues across the country including the Sundance Film Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, and locally at venues like The Birchmere, TheHamilton, Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, and Jammin’ Java. In her TedTalk about difficult conversations called “Sing, Don’t Shout—An Alternative Approach” Matthews spoke about being born and raised in a small town in southeastern NorthCarolina by an A.M.E.preacher, and how she witnessed the power of music from an early age. A former drum major and classically-trained clarinetist turned folk singer, Matthews is using her voice to answer Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to be “a drum major for justice.” // “I believe in hope,” Matthews said. “As a social-justice songwriter, it is my duty to keep breathing that hope and encouragement into the people who listen to my music.” And, from the title track to the last track, Changemakers does just that all while tackling some heavy topics like immigration, the opioid crisis, Black Lives Matter, and gun safety to name a few.“ Ani DiFranco said, “People used to make records as in a record of an event,” said Matthews, “so I hope that these songs will serve as a time capsule, a record of the events of the last four years and what it was like to live through them.” Crys Matthews’s thoughtful, realistic and emotional songs speak to the voice of our generation and remind us why music indeed soothes the soul. More info at http://www.crysmatthews.com]

[Crys Matthews plays an Official Showcase at the 38th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference on Thurs, January 22, at 6:00pm at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal St., New Orleans, LA.]

18. Calvin Arsenia – “Is That What You Like”
    from: Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023
    [Paradise is Calvin Arsenia’s 14 track album. Available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com // A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Racism, The Police, being on probation, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer where at 24 he released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe, with a live show at recordBar in November 2016 that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers. After signing to Center Cut Records, Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectical at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated with Mike Dillon on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show that starred Calvin as an actor. Calvin is also the co-creator of the podcast “We Were Christian Kids” created with childhood friend Justin Randall who is a stand up comedian working in New York City and now Los Angeles. Calvin is also the published author of VERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. Calvin was voted KC’s Best Musician in The Pitch 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He has been featured in Billboard, NPR.org. Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott.] [Calvin Arsenia played a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com][Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on Jan. 18, 2023, June 21, 2023, and our 1000th Show on June 28, 2923.]

[Calvin Arsenia plays an Official Showcase at the 38th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference on Saturday, Jan 24, at 6:40pm at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal St., New Orleans, LA.]

19. Pieta Brown – “Out Of The Dark (feat. Bo Ramsey)” (CD #19) (3:36)
    from: “Out Of The Dark (feat. Bo Ramsey)”- Single / Righteous Babe Records / Nov. 18, 2025
    [Pieta Brown was born in 1973. She is an American singer-songwriter, artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who has released eight albums and five EPs. She is considered a folk/indie singer-songwriter, with Brown also naming country blues and jazz as strong influences on her musical style. // Brown was born in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Her early “bohemian” upbringing was in rural Iowa in a house with no running water, heat, or indoor bathroom. There, Brown was exposed to traditional and rural folk music through her father, singer-songwriter Greg Brown. Brown’s parents separated when she was very young and at age 8 she moved to Birmingham, Alabama with her mother. Pieta spent her childhood living in 17 different residences between Iowa and Alabama with a short time in St. Paul, Minnesota. While living with her mother in Alabama, Brown began writing poetry and composing instrumental songs on piano. // Pieta released her self-titled debut record in 2002, co-produced with Bo Ramsey, which NPR Music heralded as “a ghostly collection of largely melancholy songs rooted in the blues.” Her 2005 follow-up In The Cool was named one of the year’s best by Amazon Music who called it “calming, hypnotic, and seductive.” Her next album, Remember The Sun, was released in 2007 and was cited as one of the year’s best by The Wall Street Journal. In 2009, Brown released an EP called Shimmer, which was produced by Don Was after hearing her on his car radio in a live solo performance. // In 2010, Brown signed with Red House Records and released One and All. She joined Mark Knopfler’s North American tour later that year, had a string of performance dates with John Prine, participated in a full orchestral show with Brandi Carlile, and embarked on her own performance tour in Australia. It was followed by the 2011 release of Mercury which held the #1 position on the American Folk Radio Chart for 5 months, was included in iTunes’ Great Americana Albums of 2011, and landed at #26 in American Songwriter’s Top 50 Albums of 2011.[8] All Music Guide called it “terrific,” while Exclaim! named it “not just a beautiful album, but an essential one.” // Brown released her sixth studio album Paradise Outlaw in 2014. It was her most critically successful album to date, with praise from NPR’s Weekend Edition, Bust Magazine, Folk Alley, and American Songwriter. It was recorded and mixed by BJ Burton at April Base Studio and features guests Amos Lee, Mark Knopfler, and studio owner Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Vernon would later cite this as his “favorite album recorded at April Base.” // In 2017, Pieta went independent and self-released Postcards. The album explores the role of distance and isolation through collaboration as Brown enlisted special guest artists for each track through the mail. She described the process as “musical postcards,” consisting of her original stripped-down, acoustic shells of the song that each artist would then add their parts to and mail back. The list of collaborators included Mark Knopfler, Calexico, Mason Jennings, Mike Lewis, David Lindley, and Carrie Rodriguez. Postcards was praised by puiblications including Billboard, Chicago Tribune, Guitar World, and American Songwriter, who stated, “Brown sounds committed and melancholy throughout, a natural extension of the solitary circumstances that created this moving, emotional music.” // Pieta’s full-length album Freeway was released on September 20, 2019 through Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. It was co-produced with S. Carey of Bon Iver and recorded at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios. In addition to Carey, who also plays on the album, it features bassist Mike Lewis (Bon Iver, Andrew Bird) and guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker (Andrew Bird, Alpha Consumer). Freeway was recorded mostly live over the course of just three days with Carey, Lewis, and Ylvisaker hearing the songs for the first time on the spot in the studio while recording. Of the experimental process, Pieta said “it allowed them to rely on their gut instincts and to react to the tunes (and each other) in real time.” Freeway was met with widespread critical acclaim from NPR Music, Stereogum, Paste, Billboard, Flood Magazine, and American Songwriter among others. Don Was also participated by writing the liner notes for the album. // In 2020, Pieta released the collaborative EP We Are Not Machines via the artist collective label 37d03d. The 3-track release centers around the single “We Are Not Machines” which features Ani DiFranco and S. Carey. It was originally recorded in November 2019 at Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner’s annual HIVER Festival in Eaux Claires, WI. The other two tracks on the EP expand on the single’s original theme, featuring contributions from William Brittelle, Holland Andrews, Jenn Wasner, The Metropolis Ensemble, knotahaiku, Limit Infrared, and Grammy-nominated visual artist Eric Timothy Carlson. // In 2017, Pieta performed in the leading role of the feminist/indie Swiss film (in French) Autour de Luisa (“Around Luisa”). Brown also co-wrote several original songs that were featured in the film with French pop singer-songwriter Bertrand Belin, who also appeared in the film. This debut led to an invitation to appear in the underground experimental zombie short film The Bride, directed by Vincent Parronaud featuring the music of Thomas De Pourquery and Supersonic.]

Discography
Studio albums
2002: Pieta Brown (Trailer Records)
2005: In the Cool (Valley Entertainment)[31]
2007: Remember the Sun (One Little Independent)
2010: One and All (Red House)
2011: Mercury (Red House)
2014: Paradise Outlaw (Red House)
2017: Postcards (Lustre)
2019: Freeway (Righteous Babe)
.
Singles and EPs
2003: I Never Told You (T Records)
2007: “This Land Is Your Land” featuring Calexico
2008: Flight Time (T Records)
2009: Shimmer (Red House)
2015: Drifters (Lustre)
2020: We Are Not Machines (37d03d)
.
Compilations and contributions
2002: Going Driftless: An Artist’s Tribute to Greg Brown (Red House Records) – “Ella Mae”
2006: A Case For Case: A Tribute to the Songs of Peter Case (Hungry For Music) – “Spell of Wheels”
2007: Just One More: A Tribute To Larry Brown (Bloodshot) – “Another Place in Time”
2008: Before The Goldrush: A Project to Benefit Teach For America – “Birds”
2010: Think Out Loud – “King Of My Heart”[32]
2011: A Nod to Bob 2 (Red House) – “Dirt Road Blues”
2013: Fall to Rise (Little Secret Records) – “Love Over Gold (with Lucie Thorne)”
.
Guest Artist
2004: Greg Brown – Honey in the Lion’s Head (Trailer)
2006: Bo Ramsey – Stranger Blues – co-producer
2008: Bo Ramsey – Fragile (Continental Song City) – co-producer
2008: Calexico – Carried to Dust (Quarterstick)
2008: The Wood Brothers – Loaded (Blue Note)
2009: Chad Elliot – Redemption Man
2011: Amos Lee – Mission Bell (Blue Note)
2012: Greg Brown – Hymns For What Is Left
2012: Calexico – Algiers (Anti-)
2013: Mason Jennings – Always Been
2015: Calexico – Edge of the Sun (Quarterstick)
2015: Iris DeMent – The Trackless Woods (Flariella)
2015: Lucie Thorne – Everything Sings Tonight
2016: The Pines – Above The Prairie (Red House)
2018: Jeffrey Foucalt – Blood Brothers
2021: The Colorist Orchestra & Howe Gelb ft. Pieta Brown – “Not On The Map”
2023: Iris DeMent – Workin’ on a World (Flariella)

[Pieta Brown plays an Official Showcase at the 38th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference on Thursday, January 22, at 6:40pm at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal St., New Orleans, LA.]

11:17 – Allison Russell Superstar

On February 19-23, 2014, I attended my first Folk Alliance International Conference, and it was here in Kansas City for the first time after being in Memphis. The local music community and KKFI jumped into the conference and I saw so many artists, bands, and people from all over the world. One of the bands I saw was Birds of Chicago, a collective built around the husband and wife duo of JT Nero from Chicago, and Allison Russell from Montreal, Quebec. I was taken in by this amazing band and the sheer beauty of Allison Russell’s voice, lyrics, delivery, eyes. I immediately went in search of this band and observed the solo and collaborative work of Allison Russell.

20. Birds of Chicago – “Dim Star of the Palisades”
    from: Real Midnight / Five Head Entertainment / February 19, 2016
    [2nd full length release from Birds of Chicago, “This year’s biggest roots surprise” says L.A. Times. The band is a collective built around the husband and wife duo of JT Nero from Chicago, and Allison Russell from Montreal, Quebec. Since forming in 2012, they’ve toured internationally 10+ months of the year. Russell and Nero are most at home on the road, zigzagging across North America and Europe in their family band van, with their new baby daughter, Ida Maeve][Birds of Chicago played an Official Showcase of Folk Alliance International Conference, February 18, at The Westin Crown Center.]

21. Allison Russell – “Rag Child”
    from: The Returner / Birds of Chicago LLC – Fantasy Records / September 8, 2023
    [4x GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell has announced her new album, The Returner. The album was written and co-produced by Allison along with dim star (her partner JT Nero and Drew Lindsay) and was recorded over Solstice week in December 2022 at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It features Russell’s “Rainbow Coalition” band of all female musicians along with special guest appearances from the legendary Wendy & Lisa, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier. Allison Russell on The Returner: “My goal with The Returner – sonically, poetically, and spiritually – is a radical reclamation of the present tense, a real time union of body, mind, and soul. This album is a much deeper articulation of rhythm, groove, and syncopation. Groove as it heralds the self back into the body, groove as it celebrates sensual and sexual agency and flowering, groove as an urgent call to action and political activism. // In just a word, it’s funkier. But as is the history of anything funky, it’s never just a party. It is a multiverse of energies that merges the celebration and the battle cry. For while an embrace of the present tense is a celebration, it is equally an unquestioning leap into battle – cultural, political, environmental.” // Since the release of her debut solo LP two years ago Outside Child, Russell’s often devastating, deeply moving, cathartic celebration of survivor’s joy has become one of the most acclaimed albums of the past 10 years. Now comes the second chapter in her story, The Returner, a body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of liberation, love, and self-respect that serves as a fierce declaration of joy for all survivors that have made it to the other side. Allison, JT, and Drew built The Returner from the bottom up with a rhythm-first, genre-fluid approach. The improvisational energy of great female artists sparked the album’s fierce joy, and provided a wider canvas for Allison’s immense, unlimited talent. In all, the new album doesn’t just deliver on the promise of the last two years, it exceeds all reasonable (and unreasonable) expectations and affirms Allison Russell’s place among music’s most vital artists and The Returner, as one of 2023’s most essential recordings. // Allison Russell has spent her career in multiple bands, including Po’ Girl, Our Native Daughters, and Birds of Chicago. After a career spent as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, backing numerous other artists, she finally dared to release her solo project in 2021. “It’s an album of strength and affirmation, not victimization,” said The New York Times in their profile on Russell and Outside Child. Following the album’s release, Russell performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Ellen, Late Night With Stephen Colbert, CBS Saturday Morning, Austin City Limits, The Kelly Clarkson Show made her Opry debut and appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame and performed at the 2022 GRAMMY’s Premiere Ceremony. // The accolades for Russell have been immense. In addition to her four GRAMMY nominations, she has earned three 2022 Americana Award nominations and a win for Album of the Year, two International Folk Music Award wins, a 2022 Juno nomination for ‘Songwriter of the Year,’ and her first-ever Juno Award win for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. Russell received two 2021 Americana Awards nominations, won three Canadian Folk Music Awards, two UK Americana Music Awards, and more. She was recently nominated for Song of the Year and Artist of the Year for the 2023 Americana Awards. In addition, Russell has consistently used her newfound platform to elevate, educate and inspire; curating the history making Once And Future Sounds: Roots and Revolution set for the Newport Folk Festival in 2021 and mobilizing this year’s triumphant Love Rising All-Star benefit concert in support of LGBTQIA+ causes in Nashville – raising over $550,000 and calling national attention to Tennessee’s dangerous anti/trans and anti/drag laws. Russell has also announced a book deal with Flatiron/MacMillan for her debut novel, a memoir based on her life and the material that inspired Outside Child and The Returner. // All songs written by Allison Russell, JT Nero, and Drew Lindsay // Co-Producers: Dim Star and Allison Russell // Recorded by Brandon Bell at Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Assistant Engineer: Kelsey Porter. Mixed by Brandon Bell at The Cabin Studio (Nashville, TN). Mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering (Ringwood, NJ) // Allison Russell (vocals, banjo, clarinet), Elenna Canlas (keyboards/synth, backing vocals), Elizabeth Pupo-Walker (percussion), Chauntee Ross (violin, backing vocals) & Monique Ross (cello, backing vocals) aka SistaStrings, Ganessa James (bass, backing vocals), Joy Clark (guitar), Kerenza Peacock (violin), Larissa Maestro (cello, backing vocals), Lisa Coleman (piano), Mandy Fer (guitar, backing vocals), Meg Coleman (drums), Meg McCormick (guitar), Wendy Melvoin (guitar, bass), and Wiktoria Bialic (drums). Special guests Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier provide backing vocals on “Requiem”. //We first saw Allison Russell as part of the band/duo with her partner JT Nero as, The Birds of Chicago at the 2014 International Folk Alliance Conference, where they were an Official Showcase Artist . More info at http://www.folk.org. Russell was born in Montreal to a Grenadian student and a Scottish-Canadian teenage single mother. Her mother struggled with postpartum depression and schizophrenia, and Russell was initially placed in foster care. Her mother regained custody of her after marrying a white-supremacist American expatriate. From the ages of 5 to 15, she was physically and sexually abused by her adoptive father. At the age of 15, Russell ran away from home, eventually moving to Vancouver in 1998. She attended Dawson College. // Russell was initially a member of the Vancouver-based Celtic folk band Fear of Drinking. // In 2003, Russell formed the band Po’ Girl with The Be Good Tanyas member Trish Klein. She recorded seven albums with the band: Po’ Girl (2003), Vagabond Lullabies (2004), B-side Recordings (2006), Home to You (2007), Deer in the Night (2008), Live (2009), and Follow Your Bliss (2010). Russell formed the music group Birds of Chicago with JT Nero in 2012. As part of Birds of Chicago, Russell released three studio albums, Birds of Chicago (2012), Real Midnight (2016) and Love in Wartime (2018). With the group, she also released a live album, Live from Space, and an EP titled American Flowers in 2018. In 2018, Russell joined the musical collective Our Native Daughters alongside fellow musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah In 2019, the group released the album Songs of Our Native Daughters under the Smithsonian Folkways label. Russell was also featured alongside the rest of the group in a Smithsonian Channel documentary titled Reclaiming History: Our Native Daughters. Info: http://www.allisonrussellmusic.com]

22. Our Native Daughters – “Mama’s Cryin’ Long (feat. Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Amythyst Kiah & Allison Russell)”
    from: Songs of Our Native Daughters / Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / February 22, 2019
    [Our native Daughters is: Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Amythyst Kiah & Allison Russell (of Birds of Chicago). This song features all of their voices. Songs of Our Native Daughters’ gathers together kindred musicians in song and sisterhood to communicate with their forebears. Drawing on and reclaiming early minstrelsy and banjo music, these musicians reclaim, recast, and spotlight the often unheard and untold history of their ancestors, whose stories remain vital and alive today. The material on ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters’ — written and sung in various combinations — is inspired by New World slave narratives, discrimination and how it has shaped our American experience, as well as musicians such as Haitian troubadour Althiery Dorval and Mississippi Hill Country string player Sid Hemphill, and more. Rhiannon Giddens is the co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, was awarded a 2017 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and won the 2016 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Bluegrass and Banjo. She has performed for President Barack Obama, appeared on The Late Show, Austin City Limits, CBS Sunday Morning, and has played a recurring role on the television drama Nashville in the role of Hallie Jordan, a young social worker with “the voice of an angel.” For her project with Our Native Daughters, Giddens brought together three other black female roots artists. “Gathering a group of fellow black female artists who had and have a lot to say, made it both highly collaborative and deeply personal to me,” she explains. “It felt like there were things we had been waiting to say our whole lives in our art; and to be able to say them in the presence of our sisters-in-song was sweet, indeed.” Their debut recording, Songs of Our Native Daughters, is a stunning thirteen-track album. Produced by Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell. Engineered and mixed by Dirk Powell. Recorded at Cypress House Studio, Breaux Bridge, LA. Mastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge NY. Assisted by Chris Allgood. Annotated by Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell, and Dirk Powell.]

23. Mavis Staples – “Human Mind”
    om: Sad And Beautiful World / Anti / June 10, 2025
    [Sad And Beautiful World contains covers of songs by Tom Waits, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Frank Ocean, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, and Kevin Morby’s including ”Human Mind” written especially for the album by Hozier & Allison Russell. // Lead Vocals – Mavis Staples; Background Vocals – Anjimile; Acoustic Guitar – Brad Cook, Phil Cook; Electric Guitar – Rick Holmstrom, Phil Cook; Bass – Brad Cook; Drums – Matt McCaughan; Drum Programming – Matt McCaughan, Brad Cook; Wurlitzer – Phil Cook; Piano – Phil Cook; Organ – Phil Cook; Saxophone- Matt Douglas // A legendary performer who turned 86 next month on July 10, Mavis Staples continues to be a tour-de-force in music and a voice for the voiceless in today’s divided society. Well known for her work in the gospel and Americana space, Staples is also an R&B icon who famously worked with the one and only Prince in his 80’s heyday. // Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She’s both a Blues and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer; a civil rights icon; a GRAMMY Award-winner; a chart-topping soul/gospel/R&B pioneer; a National Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient; and a Kennedy Center honoree. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., performed at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, and sang in Barack Obama’s White House. // At a time when most artists begin to wind down, Staples ramped things up, releasing a trio of critically acclaimed albums in her 70’s with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy that prompted Pitchfork to rave that “her voice has only gained texture and power over the years” and People to proclaim that she “provides the comfort of a higher power.” “I sing because I want to leave people feeling better than I found them,” Staples says. “I want them to walk away with a positive message in their hearts, feeling stronger than they felt before. I’m singing to myself for those same reasons, too.” // On July 9, Staples and award-winning children’s poet Carol Boston Weatherford will release the new children’s book ‘Bridges Instead of Walls: The Story of Mavis Staples’, a vibrant and poetic new picture book that introduces young readers to Staples’ life story, who began singing at age 8 and ever since has used her voice as a rallying cry to the country at numerous civil rights protests and continues to sing and share her message of love, faith and justice in front of large audiences today. // Staples recently celebrated her upcoming birthday early in stellar fashion at Los Angeles’s YouTube Theater this past April, gracing the stage alongside a star-studded lineup including Hozier, Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Black Pumas, and more. Currently on tour in Europe, Staples will return to the US and perform at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July picnic on the nation’s birthday. The next day she begins a run of dates with Norah Jones, who she affectionally calls “my baby sister.” All upcoming dates are listed below. // Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family’s band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving member. During her time in the group, she recorded the hit singles “I’ll Take You There” and “Let’s Do It Again”. In 1969, Staples released her self-titled debut solo album. // Staples continued to release solo albums throughout the following decades and collaborated with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Prince, Arcade Fire, Nona Hendryx, Ry Cooder, and David Byrne. Her eighth studio album You Are Not Alone (2010), earned critical acclaim, and became her first album as a soloist to reach number one on a Billboard chart, peaking atop the Top Gospel Albums chart. It also earned Staples her first Grammy Award win. Following this, she released the albums One True Vine (2013), Livin’ on a High Note (2016), If All I Was Was Black (2017), and We Get By (2019); she is also featured on the single “Nina Cried Power” by Hozier. // Staples is the recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and has won three Grammy Awards, including one for Album of the Year as a featured artist on We Are by Jon Batiste.[6] Named one of the ‘100 Greatest Singers of all Time’ by Rolling Stone in 2008; Staples was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018, as a member of The Staple Singers. Additionally, she was made a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2016. The following year, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as a soloist. In 2019, she received the inaugural Rock Hall Honors Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a soloist. // Staples was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 10, 1939. She began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with “Uncloudy Day” for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from what is now Paul Robeson High School in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck “Pops” Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne, and Pervis, the Staples were called “God’s Greatest Hitmakers”. // With Mavis’ voice and Pops’ songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as well as Vee-Jay) to become the most spectacular and influential spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, inspired by Pops’ close friendship with Martin Luther King Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” and a version of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth”. // During a December 20, 2008, appearance on National Public Radio’s news show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, when Staples was asked about her past personal relationship with Dylan, she admitted that they “were good friends, yes indeed” and that he had asked her father for her hand in marriage. // The Staples sang “message” songs like “Long Walk to D.C.” and “When Will We Be Paid?,” bringing their moving and articulate music to a huge number of young people. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, including two No. 1 singles, “I’ll Take You There”, produced by Al Bell and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning, “Let’s Do It Again,” and a No. 2 single “Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?” // Mavis made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers, releasing a lone single “Crying in the Chapel” to little fanfare in the late 1960s. The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection Lost Soul. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release, Only for the Lonely, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989’s Time Waits for No One, followed by 1993’s The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her 1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson, was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honors Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples’s life. // Staples singing during the 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellows concert. // Staples made a major national return with the release of the album Have a Little Faith on Chicago’s Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic. // In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz-rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album, entitled That’s What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles and led to a live tour featuring Staples, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez. A new album for Anti- Records entitled We’ll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder. // Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling artists, including Salt ‘N’ Pepa, Ice Cube, Ludacris, and Hozier. Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend, Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award in the “Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals” category for their duet on “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking”, from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Prince, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan. // In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during “Soul Comes Home,” a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD & DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy’s SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed again at the Orpheum with 225 of the academy’s students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label. // In 2009, Staples, along with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers, released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration. // On October 30, 2010, Staples performed at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear alongside singer Jeff Tweedy. In 2011 she was joined on-stage at the Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival by Arcade Fire singer Win Butler. The two performed a version of “The Weight” by The Band. // Staples also performed at the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors, singing in a tribute to honoree Paul McCartney. // Staples headlined on June 10, 2012, at Chicago’s Annual Blues Festival in Grant Park. // On June 27, 2015, Staples performed on the Park Stage of Glastonbury Somerset UK. On October 31, 2015, Staples performed with Joan Osborne in Washington, D.C. at The George Washington // University’s Lisner Auditorium as part of their Solid Soul Tour. // In February 2016, Staples’s album Livin’ on a High Note was released. Produced by M. Ward, the album features songs written specifically for Staples by Nick Cave, Justin Vernon, tUnE-yArds, Neko Case, Aloe Blacc, and others. Discussing the album Staples said: “I’ve been singing my freedom songs and I wanted to stretch out and sing some songs that were new. I told the writers I was looking for some joyful songs. I want to leave something to lift people up; I’m so busy making people cry, not from sadness, but I’m always telling a part of history that brought us down and I’m trying to bring us back up. These songwriters gave me a challenge. They gave me that feeling of, ‘Hey, I can hang! I can still do this!’ There’s a variety, and it makes me feel refreshed and brand new. Just like Benjamin Booker wrote on the opening track, ‘I got friends and I got love around me, I got people, the people who love me.’ I’m living on a high note, I’m above the clouds. I’m just so grateful. I must be the happiest old girl in the world. Yes, indeed.” // In January 2017, Staples was featured as a guest vocalist on “I Give You Power”, a single from Arcade Fire benefiting the American Civil Liberties Union. In February 2017, Staples appeared on NPR’s Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me! in the “Not My Job” segment, answering questions about the rock band The Shaggs. In April 2017, “Let Me Out”, a single from the fifth studio album by Gorillaz, Humanz, was released, featuring Staples and rapper Pusha T. // Staples’s sixteenth album If All I Was Was Black was released on November 17, 2017. The record was again produced by Jeff Tweedy and contains all original songs cowritten by Mavis and Tweedy. Following the release, Staples toured with Bob Dylan. She also appeared on the 2017/18 Hootenanny. In 2018, she sang on Hozier’s single “Nina Cried Power”. // In May 2019, Staples celebrated her 80th birthday with a concert at the Apollo Theater, 63 years after first appearing at the theater as a teenager with her family band, the Staple Singers, in 1956. The show, which featured special guest artists, including David Byrne & Norah Jones, is one of a series of collaborative concerts she staged in May to commemorate her 80th birthday. She performed at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival. // In 2022, Staples released Carry Me Home, a collaboration with Levon Helm, recorded at Helm’s Midnight Ramble in 2011. // She released the single “Worthy” on June 18, 2024. // On May 13, 2022 Kevin Morby released THIS IS A PHOTOGRAPH on Dead Oceans. It was #7 on WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. It was Kevin Morby’s 7th album as a solo artist. From http://www.rollingstone.com: “In January 2020, songwriter Kevin Morby witnessed his father collapse from a medical event while visiting his childhood home in Kansas. In a state of shock, the singer spent the evening looking at old family photos and fixated on an image of his father as a young man, looking, as Morby states, ‘full of confidence.’ The experience forced Morby to confront both the idea of mortality and the passage of time — and, after an extended sojourn in Tennessee, these reflections came together in the form of his upcoming album, This Is a Photograph. To mark the announcement, the singer released the record’s eponymous single, accompanied by a music video directed by Chantal Anderson. Produced by frequent Morby collaborator Sam Cohen, This Is a Photograph was primarily written in Memphis’ historic Peabody Hotel, where the singer-songwriter holed up in search of inspiration and self-realization amongst the city’s dark past.” // On October 16, 2020 Kevin Morby released SUNDOWNER, ranked #20 on WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2020 and was his 6th release. Kevin Robert Morby was born April 2, 1988. SUNDOWNER was the follow up to his 2019 release OH MY GOD. Kevin Morby released CITY MUSIC in 2017. Kevin learned to play guitar when he was 10. In his teens he formed the band Creepy Aliens. 17-year-old Morby dropped out of Blue Valley Northwest High School, got his GED, and moved from his native KC to Brooklyn in the mid-2000s, supporting himself by working bike delivery and café jobs. He later joined the noise-folk group Woods on bass. While living in Brooklyn, he became close friends and roommates with Cassie Ramone of the punk trio Vivian Girls, and the two formed a side project together called The Babies, who released albums in 2011 and 2012. He began a solo career in 2013 releasing his debut HARLEM RIVER. His 2nd album STILL LIFE was released in 2014. SINGING SAW was in WMM’s 116 Best Recordings of 2016. His album CITY MUSIC was in WMM’s 118 Best Recordings of 2018.]

11:29 – Underwriting

24. David Bowie – “I’m Afraid of Americans”
    from: Earthling / Virgin / February 3, 1997
    [David Bowie – “I’m Afraid of Americans (2021 Remaster)” is aso ioncluded in Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) / Parlophone – ISO / November 26, 2021 a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on November 26, 2021. A follow-up to the compilations Five Years (1969–1973), Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) and Loving the Alien (1983–1988), the set covers the period of Bowie’s career from 1992 to 2001, commonly regarded by analysts as an artistic renaissance following his commercially successful but critically maligned work in the 1980s (Bowie’s 1988–1992 tenure with the hard rock supergroup Tin Machine is excluded). The set comprises eleven compact discs or 18 LPs. // Exclusive to the set are BBC Radio Theatre, a live album showcasing Bowie’s uncut BBC Radio Theatre live show in 2000 (previously documented in an edited form on Bowie at the Beeb) and Re:Call 5, the fifth installment in the retrospective boxes’ exclusive rarities compilations. The latter includes non-album and soundtrack singles, single edits, and B-sides. // The set contains remastered versions of Bowie’s studio albums Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia, Outside, Earthling, and Hours (1993–1999). Also featured is a finalized version of Toy, an album of re-recordings that was produced in late 2000 and set for release in 2001, only to be shelved due to Virgin Records viewing it as commercially unviable in the wake of a financial downturn for the company. An alternate version of Toy, containing prototypes of the Heathen tracks “Slip Away” and “Afraid” but excluding “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” and “Karma Man”, had previously leaked in 2011 “I’m Afraid of Americans” is a song by English musician David Bowie, released as a single from his album Earthling on October 14, 1997 through Virgin Records. The song was co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno and originally recorded during the sessions for Bowie’s 1995 album Outside. This version was released on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Showgirls. The song was then remade during the sessions for Earthling with his then-current band, guitarist Reeves Gabrels, pianist Mike Garson, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and drummer Zack Alford. The remake was recorded between August and October 1996 at Looking Glass Studios in New York City and featured rewritten lyrics, overdubs and transposed verses. An industrial and techno track, it presents a critique of America through the eyes of a stereotypical ‘Johnny’ and is characterized by drum patterns, synthesizers, various loops and vocal distortions. // Following its release on the album, Virgin Records issued the song as a maxi-single in North America only with six different remixes. The remixes were mostly created by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, continuing his and Bowie’s association following the Outside Tour; the ‘V3’ mix featured Ice Cube while the ‘V5’ mix was created by Photek. Reznor subsequently appeared in the music video, which reflected the song’s theme of a frightened European in an American city. A top 20 hit in Canada, the single peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 16 weeks on the chart. It was the final Bowie single to chart on the Hot 100 until 2015. Reznor’s ‘V1’ mix has since appeared on several compilation albums. // In an interview with Mojo magazine in 1997, Bowie described the song as “one of those stereotypical ‘Johnny’ songs: Johnny does this, Johnny does that”. The absurdist lyrics present a critique of America, in line with Bowie’s 1975 track “Young Americans”. Commentators have sighted similarities between the song’s titular ‘Johnny’ and the ‘Johnny’ of the Lodger track “Repetition” (1979); while the ‘Johnny’ of the former craves objects of status through self-entitlement, the ‘Johnny’ of the latter emotional abuses his wife due to his lower status. The song concludes with the revelation that “God is an American”, which biographer Marc Spitz considers an “ironic jingoism”. // Musically, reviewers have categorized it as techno, with author James Perone writing that it mixes various industrial and techno styles of the 1980s and 1990s. The Guardian’s Caroline Sullivan found the melody reminiscent of Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” (1980), with a “perky jungle percussion loop”, ultimately creating “a most singular fusion of rock and drum & bass”. Characterized by drum patterns, synthesizers, various loops and vocal distortions, O’Leary writes that the remake retained the original’s “‘laughing’ hook” and “synth hook pinging around an E♭ octave. Both the original and remake are also in the key of F major. Biographer Nicholas Pegg calls the remake “darker” and “funkier” compared to the original, while Spitz compares the track’s “loud/quiet/loud anthem[ic]” quality to the Pixies. Perone notes the musicality as “richer” than other Earthling tracks. // The original version of “I’m Afraid of Americans” was released on the Showgirls soundtrack on September 26,1995. Earthling was released on 3 February 1997 on CD and LP formats through RCA Records in the UK, Virgin Records in the US, and Arista Records and its parent distributor BMG elsewhere. “I’m Afraid of Americans” was sequenced as the eighth and penultimate track, between “The Last Thing You Should Do” and “Law (Earthlings on Fire)”. // The CD maxi-single featured various remixes by Trent Reznor (pictured in 2008), who subsequently appeared in the song’s music video. // Virgin issued “I’m Afraid of Americans” as a maxi-single in North America only on 14 October 1997, where it was backed by six remixes; the ‘V3’ mix featured guest vocals from rapper Ice Cube while the ‘V5’ mix was created by producer Photek. The project was instigated by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, continuing his and Bowie’s association following the Outside Tour. Reznor, who stated that he “tried to make it a bit darker”, stripped the production to its roots to create what biographer David Buckley calls “an eerie, psychotic track”. The ending result is an almost 40-minute project that, in Bowie’s words, was “not just a remix [but] almost…an album piece in itself. I was absolutely knocked out when I heard what [Reznor] had done. It was great.” Commercially, the single reached number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the chart for 16 weeks, becoming Bowie’s biggest hit in the country since “Day-In Day-Out” ten years earlier. It was the final Bowie single to chart on the Hot 100 until the release of “Blackstar” in 2015. It also stayed in the Canadian top 50 for six months. // Reznor also starred as the titular ‘Johnny’ in the Dom and Nic-directed music video, which was shot in New York City in October 1997 during the American leg of the Earthling Tour. Regarding the choice of Dom and Nic, Bowie explained that the duo were “making very interesting, quite hard-edged British videos at the moment. I felt it was important that it retained that outsider’s perspective of America, you know.” The video depicts Bowie as a man who is chased around the streets of NYC by a stalker portrayed by Reznor, reflecting the song’s theme of a frightened European in an American city. Discussing his character, Reznor stated: “They wanted a kind of Taxi Driver feel to the whole thing. That’s why I’m in my Travis Bickle outfit!” According to Spitz, the video received heavy rotation on MTV, a first for Bowie in over a decade. It also earned Bowie a nomination for Best Male Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. // O’Leary states that while the track has no “definitive” verison, Reznor’s ‘V1’ mix is the most recognisable, which has appeared on the compilation albums Best of Bowie (2002), Nothing Has Changed (2014), and Bowie Legacy (2016). The Showgirls version, ‘V1’ mix and Plati’s “Original Edit” were included on the bonus disc of the Earthling expanded edition in 2004.]

[The Band That Fell To Earth KC have two more shows for their 10 Anniversary Performances Friday & Saturday, January 23 and 24, 2026 at 8:00pm at recordBar 1520 Grand BLVD, KCMO.]

11:36 – Interview with Michelle Bacon

Michelle Bacon is Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, where she shines a light on musicians & events. Michelle has written for KC Options Magazine, The KC Star, Deli Magazine, and Folk Alliance Int. Her stories and interviews on area and national musical acts help define the musical community of Kansas City. Michelle plays drums in the band Frogpond, and plays bass & drums in many other bands. Michelle is the founder and leader of The Band That Fell To Earth a “Super Group” of 14 of Kansas City’s finest musicians who all have their own successful bands and solo projects, but for the last ten years they have gathered together to perform and celebrate the music of David Bowie with their remaining shows are this Friday and Saturday, January 23 and 24 at 8:00pm at recordBar. For more info you can go to http://www.therecordbar.com

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars album was the first time Michelle heard the music of Bowie. As with so many, Michelle recognized how Bowie reached out to those who felt left on the margins, this who felt outside.

Hunky Dory is her favorite Bowie album.

Through her work as a music journalist, and also a drummer and bassist, Michelle has been able to actually know so many players in Kansas City’s Music Community. Se used the knowledge to help put The Band That Fell to Earth together.

Stephanie Williams was the first person she called when she got the idea to do this Bowie Tribute over 10 years ago

The Bowie discography of 27 albums, soundtracks, live albums, films, videos, appearances textures is so vast. The Band That Fell to Eartn now have close to 80 Bowie songs in the repertoire.

The Band That Fell To Earth KC:

Michelle Bacon on bass
Alex Alexander on guitar
Stephanie Williams on drums
Nathan Corsi on vocals & guitar
Steve Tulipana on vocals
Kyle Dahlquist on keyboards
Katy Guillen on guitar
Matt Ronan on percussion
Rich Wheeler on saxophone
Havilah Bruders on backing vocals
Seyko on backing vocals
Julia Haile on backing vocals
Christine Broxterman on cello
Laurel Parks on violin

past members: Betse Ellis, Camry Ivory, Lauren Krum,

Last week’s special guests: Steady P, The Freedom Three, Kat King, Mike Tipton, Enrique Chi, Ben Grimes

This week’s special guests: Heidi Phillips, Jeff Harshbarger, Karalyne Winegarner, Ernie Locke, Lorna Kay, and a super surprise guest.

Past special guests: Chase Horseman, IVORY BLUE, Julia Othmer, Miki P, Slim Hanson, Wick Thomas, Lava Dreams, Cole Bales, Cassie Taylor, and more.

Watching Michelle lead the band is so much fun. Obviously there is a continuous conversation between Michelle on bass and Stephanie Williams on drums

Michelle Bacon, is Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridges. Michelle plays drums in the band Frogpond, and other bands too. Michelle is the leader of The Band That Fell To Earth who are presenting the 10th Annual multi-day Tribute to Davie Bowie at recordBar.

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The Band That Fell To Earth KC have two more shows for their 10 Anniversary Performances Friday & Saturday, January 23 and 24, 2026 at 8:00pm at recordBar 1520 Grand BLVD, KCMO.

For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!

11:54:00

25. David Bowie – “Fame”
    from: Young Americans / Anti / June 2, 1975
    [“Fame” is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released on his 1975 album Young Americans and was later issued as the album’s second single by RCA Records in June 1975. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, it was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City in January 1975. It is a funk rock song that represents Bowie’s dissatisfaction with the troubles of fame and stardom. // The song was a major commercial success in North America, becoming Bowie’s first number 1 single on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Singles Chart. The song was one of the most successful singles of the year, ranking at number 8 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. However, it was less successful in Europe, reaching number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. // In 1990, Bowie remixed the song under the title “Fame ’90” to coincide with his Sound+Vision Tour. “Fame” has since appeared on many compilation albums, and was remastered in 2016 as part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set. // The song is one of four Bowie songs to be included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. // With the release of his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Bowie achieved stardom. On that album, Bowie presented his aspirations to become famous in “Star”, which also encapsulated the fantasies of “every adolescent dreamer miming into a hairbrush in a suburban bedroom”, on top of Bowie’s own frustration with not having fulfilled his potential. By the beginning of 1975, “fame” meant a couple of different things to Bowie. It meant not only his stardom, but also impending lawsuits that were the result of the ending of Bowie’s relationship with his manager Tony Defries. It also meant an expensive musical theatre project concocted by Defries, titled Fame, that was financed through MainMan, a company that was built around Bowie’s fame; the show was an examination of Marilyn Monroe that closed after one night on Broadway and after already flopping off-Broadway. The failure of Fame almost ruined MainMan and was traumatic on Bowie and Defries’ relationship. // Bowie would later describe “Fame” as “nasty, angry”, and fully admitted that it was written “with a degree of malice” aimed at MainMan. This is supported by biographer Peter Doggett, who writes: “every time in “Fame” that Bowie snapped back with a cynical retort about its pitfalls, he had [Defries] and [Defries’s] epic folly in mind,” and noted the lyric “bully for you, chilly for me” as the striking example. In 1990, Bowie recalled the song as his “least favorite track on the album” and reflected: “I’d had very upsetting management problems and a lot of that was built into the song. I’ve left all that behind me, now… I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants.” // Bowie wrote “Fame” with former Beatle John Lennon, who also contributed backing vocals and guitar. With the Young Americans sessions mostly concluded by late 1974, the material was delayed while Bowie extricated himself from Defries. Sources differ on how “Fame” came to be in the studio, but both Doggett and Nicholas Pegg write that it was the product of “happy” accidents.By late 1974, Bowie was staying in New York City, where he met John Lennon during his “lost weekend” period of estrangement. Shortly after Lennon reunited with his wife Yoko Ono,the pair jammed together, leading to a one-day session at Electric Lady Studios in January 1975. There, Carlos Alomar had developed a guitar riff for Bowie’s cover of “Footstompin'” by the Flares, which Bowie thought was “a waste” to give to a cover. Lennon, who was in the studio with them, came up with the hook when he started to sing “aim” over the riff, which Bowie turned into “Fame” and thereafter, according to Marc Spitz, wrote the rest of the lyrics to the song with Lennon.However, according to Doggett, Lennon made the “briefest lyrical contributions” that was “enough” to give him co-writing credit. Bowie later said that Lennon was the “energy” and the “inspiration” for “Fame”, and that’s why he received a co-writing credit. Lennon stated in a 1980 interview: “We took some Stevie Wonder middle eight and did it backwards, you know, and we made a record out of it!” // After the group solidified the riff, they emerged with something that was in the hand of “black American music” at the start of 1975: a “cousin” of “Hollywood Swinging” by Kool & the Gang, “The Payback” by James Brown, and “Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied)” by B. T. Express. (Later in 1975, Brown released the song “Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved),” whose main riff was borrowed directly from “Fame.”) Doggett writes that other potential influences were the 1972 song “Jungle Walk” by the Rascals and the 1974 songs “Pick Up the Pieces” by the Average White Band and “Brighter Day” by Keith Christmas, a friend of Bowie’s.Overall, Doggett believes “Fame” resembled “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” by Sly and the Family Stone which, like “Fame”, is in the funk style with “viciously pointed” lyrics. // “Fame” is a funk rock song that represents Bowie’s (and Lennon’s) dissatisfaction with the troubles of fame and stardom, including “money-grabbing managers, mindless adulation, unwanted entourages and the hollow vacuity of the limousine lifestyle”. Lennon’s voice is heard interjecting the falsetto “Fame” throughout the song. Doggett found it “striking” that the falsetto expanded three octaves, from “Yoko Ono soprano” to “Johnny Cash basso profundo”. Along with “Fame”, Bowie worked with Lennon again when he decided to record a cover of Lennon’s Beatles song “Across the Universe”; Lennon played rhythm guitar on the cover. According to Spitz, “Fame” and “Across the Universe” were both last-minute additions to Young Americans. Although Young Americans was mostly co-produced by Tony Visconti, he was not present at the sessions for “Fame”; instead, both songs were co-produced by engineer Harry Maslin. In the song, Bowie sings “What you need, you have to borrow” with, according to Spitz, the same “venom” that Jimi Hendrix sang, “Businessmen they drink my wine,” on his cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”. // “Fame” was released on March 7, 1975 as the final track on Bowie’s ninth studio album Young Americans. It was subsequently released by RCA Records (as PB 10320) as the second single from the album in the US in June 1975 and the following month in the UK, with fellow album track “Right” as the B-side. // “Fame” became Bowie’s first song to top the Billboard Hot 100, displacing “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell during the week of 20 September 1975. The following week, “Fame” dropped to number two behind John Denver’s “I’m Sorry” for a week, before returning to the top spot for one final week, ultimately being replaced at number one by Neil Sedaka’s “Bad Blood”. Bowie would later claim that he had “absolutely no idea” that the song would do so well as a single, saying “I wouldn’t know how to pick a single if it hit me in the face.” Despite “Fame” being Bowie’s then-biggest success on the American charts, the song only reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. // Cash Box said that “with a scintillating rhythm track and chicken-guitar courtesy of Mr. Lennon, David’s versatile voice blends with John’s to produce an ethereal dancer with some r&b psychedelia thrown in.” Dave Thompson of AllMusic calls the track “a hard-funking dance storm whose lyrics – a hostile riposte on the personal cost of success – utterly belie the upbeat tempo and feel of the song.” Following Bowie’s death in 2016, Rolling Stone listed it as one of Bowie’s 30 essential songs. In 2018, the writers of NME, in their list of Bowie’s 41 greatest songs, ranked “Fame” at number 21. In 2016, Ultimate Classic Rock placed the single at number 25 in a list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best. // “Fame” was used as the soundtrack of an animated music video of the same title, directed by Richard Jefferies and Mark Kirkland while students at California Institute of the Arts. The film, released in 1975, went on to win the Student Academy Award for animation and aired on NBC’s The Midnight Special. // A 40th anniversary version of “Fame” was released in 2015 and peaked at number 141 in France.]

[The Band That Fell To Earth KC have two more shows for their 10 Anniversary Performances Friday & Saturday, January 23 and 24, 2026 at 8:00pm at recordBar 1520 Grand BLVD, KCMO.]

26. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Next Week on Jan 28 we’ll spin more New & MidCoastal Releases. Plus Chris Hudson returns to the show after playing Folk Alliance International in New Orleans.

Stay tuned at 12:00 Noon for Learning To Wiggle with Steve Stemmerman, at 2:00pm it’s Jazz Afternoon with Jeff Harshbarger. At 4:00pm we bring you, Dub’s Groove with Warren, at 6:00pm it’s: ON AIR with Nikki Brooks. At 7:00pm it’s Alternative Radio

You can find our playlists at: http://www.wednesdaymiddaymedley.org & http://www.kkfi.org
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http://www.instagram.wednesday_midday_medley

Thank you to KKFI Staff: Executive Director – Bess Wallerstein Huff, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers, Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, and Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. It is a collective spirit of hundreds of people, setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the goal of keeping our airwaves, non-commercial, and open! Thank you to programmers who create content for over 85 locally produced radio shows & volunteers who made extra effort to keep our station alive.

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
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Show #1131