Six Tuesday morning gems:
KDHX 88.1 FM
- Gladiolus Rag-The Lovestruck Balladeers (An impressive 2020 rendering of a Scott Joplin piece from 1907. The mandolin, violin, and piano players carry off an authentic throwback ragtime feel in this instrumental.)
WSIE 88.7 FM
- Stumped-The Service (A persuasive case for starting a band of all rhythm section players. This track, from the St. Louis band's appropriately titled "Serve The Groove" album, maintains a strong six-minute groove on organ, guitar, and bass.)
KCLC 89.1 FM
- Can't Let Go-Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (The original Lucinda Williams version has more grit, but this is a solid cover of a tune about clinging to a relationship past its expiration date.)
WFUN 96.3 FM
- All I Do-Stevie Wonder (There's no shortage of songs conveying the message, "I think about you constantly, and I'm glad." A lot of them, however, don't have a groove that's nearly this steady or coalesce into a tune that you still want to hear after 50 listens.)
WARH 106.5 FM
- Black Coffee In Bed-Squeeze (The keyboard intro holds up as one of the most ear-catching ways to start and sustain any rock tune. It also gives the lyrics about grappling with a breakup a ray of hope. I rarely hear this tune on American radio stations; that's a shame, as it deserves more stateside exposure.)
K297BI 107.3 FM, a.k.a. WFUN-HD2
- Valerie Coleman: Red Clay & Mississippi Delta (Imani Winds) (Gershwin with a twist? It's worth learning the clarinet to play this piece.)
