The Right Signal
Station returns to the air; Earle & McCoury team-up
By Ron Wynn and Jim Ridley
Only a few radio stations in the area have managed to avoid takeover by demographic-conscious consultants pushing tight playlists and restrictive formats. Perhaps not surprisingly, almost all of these frequencies are college or public stations. One of the best in town, if not the most widely known, is Fisk University’s WFSK-88.1FM. Unfortunately, last spring’s tornadoes knocked the station off the air for several months, depriving listeners of its entertaining mix of jazz, gospel, blues, urban, and international music.
WFSK is now back on the air, broadcasting daily from 6 a.m. until midnight. Several regular highlights have returned, including local pianist Ilyas Muhammad’s superb jazz program, now airing Tuesday afternoons and Thursday evenings, and M.J. Rasool’s “All The Blues You Can Use,” airing Sunday afternoons. In addition, listeners can hear great reggae shows on Saturday and Sunday, a fine salsa program on Sunday night, and plenty of contemporary and classic gospel airing daily.
But in the true spirit of independent programming, WFSK does more than broadcast music. The station offers news and talk shows covering everything from book and poetry reviews, health, politics, and race relations.
Perhaps the best news of all is that WFSK’s sound has been greatly enhanced by a new transmitter and console—which also means more people will be able to pick up the frequency. Station manager Washington Dobbins says plans are in the works to expand WFSK’s community outreach programs, and he urges anyone with questions to contact him at 329-8754.
In other local radio news, WMOT-89.5FM, Middle Tennessee State University’s broadcast frequency, has garnered national attention for its distinctive jazz programming. The station is one of six nominees for the Gavin Award in the category of Jazz Station of the Year for markets 26+. The nomination is quite timely, as this year marks WMOT’s 30th anniversary. The awards will be presented Feb. 21 at the Gavin Seminar in New Orleans.
—Ron Wynn
Tickets go on sale Feb. 1 for one of the year’s can’t-miss music events: a four-night stand by Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band Mar. 3-6 at the Station Inn. The band performed with Earle last year at the bluegrass venue’s monthly No Depression concert series, and they’re returning to celebrate the simultaneous release of two CDs: The Mountain, an Earle-McCoury collaboration on Earle’s E-Squared label; and The Family, a Del McCoury Band project featuring the bandleader’s wizardly sons Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo).
Both records are due in stores Feb. 23, and no one can say that either disc suffers from the lack of personality that plagues many contemporary bluegrass recordings. The Earle-McCoury album is a ragged-but-right delight that pairs some of Earle’s most loose-limbed songs with the McCoury Band’s swaggering instrumental virtuosity. “I wanted to write just one song that would be performed by at least one band at every bluegrass festival in the world long after I have followed Mr. Bill [Monroe] out of this world,” writes Earle in the amusing liner notes. With the spectral “Carrie Brown” and the rollicking “The Graveyard Blues,” he might get his wish. No less engaging is the McCoury Band’s own LP, on which Del McCoury’s unwavering tenor rings as soulfully as ever—even on a rambunctious cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Nashville Cats.”
Special guests such as Iris DeMent and Jerry Douglas are already lining up for the shows—which, if the No Depression gig is any indication, will sell out way before show time. Tickets will be $17 in advance at the venue during business hours. Also, don’t miss Earle and the McCoury Band’s guest spot on Late Night With Conan O’Brien Mar. 19, or their appearance on PBS’s Sessions at West 54th series Feb. 27.
And while you’re marking your calendar, write down Apr. 12, the date of a special “Journey of Hope” concert at the Ryman to oppose the death penalty. The lineup thus far includes Earle, Emmylou Harris, the Indigo Girls, and Jackson Browne. No sale date for tickets has been announced, but we’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Ridley
Elliptical dispatches: Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me,” already in rotation on VH1, will be the first single from the Miramax teen comedy She’s All That, due in theaters Jan. 29. The Nashville-based quintet’s song can be heard in the TV spots for the film, and a new video has been shot featuring the movie’s stars, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. “Kiss Me” is also slated to appear on the upcoming Dawson’s Creek soundtrack album in April....
Sloan, the Canadian band that has appeared prominently on several year-end best-of lists, is coming to 12th & Porter Feb. 1 in a special Anhedonia Presents show.
Sloan, the Canadian band that has appeared prominently on several year-end best-of lists, is coming to 12th & Porter Feb. 1 in a special Anhedonia Presents show.
Comments (0)