This week in a brand new installment of The Fields of Bluegrass Radio Hour it’s one for the dogs, friends. A theme show featuring bluegrass songs that pay tribute to “Man’s Best Friend.”
First, let me start out by wishing Mr. Earl Scruggs a happy birthday! That’s right, Earl Eugene Scruggs, the man that was instrumental (literally!) in helping Bill Monroe forge the template for bluegrass music and for perfecting and popularizing the 3-finger banjo-picking widely known as “Scruggs style,” turns eighty-eight on January 6th. We’ll have a couple from Lester & Earl in the program tonight to mark the occasion, you’d better know it.
Well, let’s see. Bill Monroe sings about foxhounds. The Stanley Brothers have both a rabbit in a log (but they ain’t got no dog) and a dog that’s as blind as he can be but at dinner time he can see. Norman & Nancy Blake have a dog that suffers from the same affliction. Doc Watson shoulders up his gun and whistles up his dog. Jimmy Martin has a dog he claims is the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee. Someone stole Don Stover‘s coon dog and he wishes they’d bring him back. Leroy Troy‘s rabbit dog is gone, gone, gone…yeah, better remember to bring a hanky. I know that last couple make both me and Briscoe Darlin cry. So I guess we’d best get them Darlin Boys (aka The Dillards) to sing about “Old Blue.”
Then, to close the program, we are going to throw the water dogs (retrievers, labs, spaniels, newfies, etc.) a treat by going in a more nautical direction with good ol’ bluegrass gospel numbers from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, The Johnson Mountain Boys, Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass, and more!
Join us at 9PM Eastern if you’re in the greater Indianapolis area. You’ll find us at 88.7 on your FM dial, right smack dab in the middle of “Friday Night Folk” programming on WICR.
Not in Indy? Not a problem! You can pick up our live stream by clicking on the WICR logo on the right, or the show will be posted on our player later this week. You are certainly welcome to drop by just as often as you’d like. Check the events calendar for concert information. See what we have planned for this week’s program. Request your favorites via email. We’re always tickled to hear from you!
