In a music business filled to the brim with coulda, shoulda and woulda’s – Frazey Ford is the real deal.
Her latest album is U kin B the Sun
Behind a singular voice..as comfortable on a folk festival stage in Calgary as a jazz festival stage in London (2 nights) ..she is a joy to hear and behold.
Frazey has overcome.
Family dynamics, bullying and abuse, the recent loss of 2 family members, and a male-dominated music business.
The first of four outstanding podcasts – we begin this journey with Frazey Ford.
1965 – James Brown and the Famous Flames release Papa’s got a Brand New Bag and popular music was changed. The R&B /pop world was on the 2 & 4 .. James took it to “the one”!
We’ll play you artists who James influenced. Isley Bros. Marvin Gaye. Sly Stone. Prince.
1975 – Bob Marley performed the first of two nights at The Lyceum in London. Many consider the album Live to be one of the best ever recorded. His life was never the same.
Sam Cooke
Three Los Lobos tracks – two new. Frazey Ford, Rosanne Cash, Madeleine Peyroux, Lighthouse. Martha Reeves, Joni, Dominique Fils Aime, Jimmy Reed, then Sam Cooke and his buddy Cassius Clay sing “the gangs all here” and Sam sings Just another Saturday Night and Wonderful World. We finish with Peace Train – Bros Landreth.
It’s not often that we double back on a previous interview.
There has to be something interesting that makes them candidates.
What we have here are two separate interviews with the co-founders of Hall of Fame/Juno winning band Blue Rodeo, plus Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy both have solo careers on the go.
I talked to Greg in March and Jim 3 weeks ago.
I decided to cut the two interviews together to see how the responses and stories matched.
Have a listen. It’s an interesting mashup.
Blue Rodeo plays the Calgary Stampede Saturday, July 17
And The Jim Cuddy Band play the Calgary Folk Festival Summer Serenades on Prince’s Island Park Friday, July 23
Jim Cuddy was standing at the door of his Toronto house waiting for the cab that would take him to Saskatchewan and the 2020 Junos when the phone rang and he discovered it was canceled because of Covid.
Instead, he headed to his small country home and started writing. Then slowly gathered his Jim Cuddy Band – one at a time – and created tracks for his next solo album. His Blue Rodeo partner Greg Keeler then called and got things rolling on a new Blue Rodeo album. Greg would send his songs to Jim and the band. They would replace or add instruments, vocals, etc and send back. Greg did the same for Jim. Normally they’re all in the same room when they record. Jim says – you can’t tell the difference. “It was remarkable”
When I asked about Canada Day and the conflicting thoughts on that day about residential schools, indigenous rights, and other cultures, Jim gave a beautiful honest response.
Jim says the new Blue Rodeo album has a “zip in it’s step”(January) Greg wrote lots of tunes. Lots of energy.
And what Jim really liked was having the time to sculpt his songs. They felt more clearly defined. “No throw-away lyrics”
And yes he admits to changing.
And having time to watch the seasons change was wonderful – “I had to stop leaning forward and relax.”
Blue Rodeo plays the Calgary Stampede on July 18
Jim Cuddy Band plays the Calgary Folk Festival – Summer Serenades – on Prince’s Island Park on July 23rd.
July 10th is Mavis Staples Birthday – We’re going to celebrate the fact that Mavis is well, inspiring another generation of fans and singing her heart out.
Mick Fleetwood and friends celebrate the genius of Peter Green. We’re featuring Oh Well One & Two with Steven Tyler, Billy Gibbons, and David Gilmore.
New music from Amy Helm, Joni Mitchell celebrates year 50 of her album Blue with a demo of Urge for Going with strings, Jackson Browne and David Lindley Live in Spain with Glenn Frey’s Take it Easy
And
Jim Cuddy returns to Alberta
July 18 with Blue Rodeo – at The Stampede
July 23 at Prince’s Island Park for Summer Sessions
He has a new acoustic single Good News.
We’ll talk about how he managed lockdown and how that solitude shaped the songs for the next Blue Rodeo album and his next solo release.
The complete interview can be heard on the MulliganStew Podcast. (right after The Stew on CKUA)
Steve Marriner is our special guest this week on Mulligan Stew.
We all know Steve from the award-winning Monkey Junk and the very popular Manx Marriner Mainline.
He’s a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and newly minted mixer. . Hope Dies Lastis his second solo album. His first was in 2006.
(He’s been just a tad busy)
Hope Dies Last has 15 musicians in the credits..so it’s a true group effort. And signals great things ahead in his solo career.
If you remember our Greg Keelor solo album Episode #152 it was Greg who raved about working with guitarist Jimmy Bowskill. (Sheepdogs. Jim Cuddy)
Steve worked tirelessly with the very same Jimmy Bowskill to get these songs sounding just right.
He’s written songs of pain and heartache, hitting rock bottom and working your way UP. (check out Enough)
Through his songs and albums, production and mixing what we’re hearing here is the the future of Canadian blues/roots/Americana music. Have a listen and let the stories flow.
Steve Marriner is our special guest this week on Mulligan Stew.
We all know Steve from the award-winning Monkey Junk and the very popular Manx Marriner Mainline.
He’s a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and becoming an in demand producer. Hope Dies Last is his second solo album. His first was in 2006.
(He’s been just a tad busy see below)
Hope Dies Last has 15 musicians in the credits..so it’s a true group effort. And signals great things ahead in his solo career.
If you remember our Greg Keelor solo album Episode #152 it was Greg who raved about working with guitarist Jimmy Bowskill. (Sheepdogs. Jim Cuddy)
Steve Marriner worked tirelessly with Jimmy Bowskill to get these songs sounding just right.
We found Steve on David Go Go’s front veranda up Go Go Mountain in Nanaimo. They were working on Dave’s next acoustic album.
Steve has been busy mixing 5 full albums
Alive in Italia – Paul Reddick
June – Crocky Teasdale
Storm comes rolling in – Brent Diabo (single)
Yet to be named – Dave Go Go
Yet to be named – Jake Chisholm
and Hope Dies Last.
Steve’s playing Wide Skies Festival in Lethbridge and Calgary Blues Festival in July
– the Cloggeroo Festival in PEI in August.
– a solo set and with Colin James at The Big Blues Bender in Las Vegas in September.
Add the future plans of Monkey Junk and Manx Marriner Mainline and you can see Steve Marriner is going to contribute greatly to shaping the future of Canadian music.
Have a listen and let the stories flow. and Thanks to David Go Go for the house and the hustle.
This week’s very special interview guest is Leeroy Stagger bringing with him new music from his forthcoming album Dystopian Weekends. Leeroy lets us know that unlike the last two albums he made for wider audiences. This one he made for him. Leeroy also talks about hosting Dirty Windshields on CKUA. It got him through the lockdown. Dystopian Weekends captures the sound of early Byrds, Clapton, Laurel Canyon.
Two stand-out songs – Buffy’s song Greedy Guts and Black Teenagers.
That last song deals with the headlines this very weekend. The Floyd George Murder.
Full disclosure – I jumped the gun on the release date. It’s not coming out until October 1 but as Leeroy says “the whole model of what is an album release has changed. Given Covid, lockdown, and technical innovations it’s a whole new format. So, run with it.”
This week’s very special interview guest is Leeroy Stagger bringing with him new music from his forthcoming album Dystopian Weekends. Leeroy lets us know that unlike the last two albums he made for wider audiences. This one he made for him. Leeroy also talks about hosting Dirty Windshields on CKUA. It got him through the lockdown. Dystopian Weekends captures the sound of early Byrds, Clapton, Laurel Canyon.
Two stand-out songs – Buffy’s song Greedy Guts and Black Teenagers.
That last song deals with the headlines this very weekend. The Floyd George Murder.
Full disclosure – I jumped the gun on the release date. It’s not coming out until well after Summer but as Leeroy says “the whole model of what is an album release has changed. Given Covid, lockdown, and technical innovations it’s a whole new format. So, run with it.”
The complete interview can be heard on The Mulligan Stew Podcast. Right after the show.
The Festival Radio Series launched last week and it airs during the first 30 minutes of The Stew – so this is our second 90 minute Summer Show!
Those 90 minutes become very important.
If you check the playlist below you’ll see we start with the co-host of Festival radio Dawn Pemberton. She’s a sanger!!
Some “Live Butter”
Curtis Mayfield
The Band/The Byrds/Fats/Robert Plant/iskwe & Tom Wilson/Dusty/Beatles/Tony Bennett and k.d.lang.
Also a Frank Zappa Live album Zappa 88: The Last U.S. Show and the haunting doo-wop ballad Love of my Life.
Frank and I got to be pretty good friends. I did maybe 6-8 interviews with him. The last was in his Laurel Canyon house. With young versions of Moon Unit and Dweezil running through the room.
The walls were lined with 1-inch recording tapes..100’s of them. Each one a concert performance from somewhere. He was the best interview in rock – but you had to be prepped and ready because you were dealing with a very sharp mind and a bone-dry sense of humor.
Here are two shots of Frank and I.
Me. Clean shaven and me years later – all hair. Frank was Frank.
Here’s to Frank Zappa. Truly gifted and one-of-a-kind.
He’s a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and newly minted mixer. . 
