The Blue Note delivers the best in classic and contemporary blues music each week, only on North Country Public Radio.
About the Host
Host Ellen Rocco
I
grew up in Manhattan (and, for a while, in Queens). Went to City College, in Harlem.
Highlights of my college years: poetry seminar with Paul Blackburn, the City College
cafeteria--a political gulag with tables invisibly marked for the Young Conservatives,
SDS, the Maoists, Communist Party, Socialist Party, Young Republicans, druggies,
etc--and Wednesdays at The Apollo Theater for amateur hour or the Moulin Rouge
Cafe for the world's best juke box, where I was introduced to the blues, thanks
to Big George, my guide through the alleys and backdoors of uptown New York. Here
I am, years later in northern New York, still totally hooked on blues, jazz, R&B
and, more recently, world beat.
If you're listening for
someone or something in particular on The Blue Note--and don't hear it--let
me know. I prefer blues and blues-related music that's direct and gutsy. You won't
hear the overproduced stuff--those tracks with excessive horns and guitars, or
the songs where the individual voice is muddied. Muddy Waters you will hear. Along
with all the greats from the '30s to the '60s--Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson,
Bessie Smith, Howlin' Wolf, BB King, Albert King, Jimmy King, Koko Taylor--plus
the best of the voices and groups of the past two or three decades, like Johnny
Winter, Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb Mo', Dave Hole, Coco Montoya, Corey
Harris, Rory Block, Maria Muldaur... and so on.
Stay in touch. Tell me what
I'm missing or hitting right...or just let me know you're tuning in. Thanks for
listening.
The Blue Note with Ellen Rocco
The Blue Notewith Ellen Rocco airs Tuesdays from 3-5 pm.
The best in blues each week. Here's your place to listen to the latest edition of The Blue Note, hosted by Ellen Rocco, anytime you want. This edition is the lead segment of this stream. This archive will only be available until next week's show is posted. (Updates Tuesday at 8 pm.)
(04/28/09) Two thirds of the Upper Jay-based alternative trio Monsterbuck were Ellen Rocco's live guests in the NCPR production studio. Chris Kowanko and Byron Renderer play a sampling of their original compositions, which earned them Esquire magazine accolades as "one of the top five unsigned bands on MySpace.
(04/07/09) In a special live remote edition of The Blue Note, host Ellen Rocco welcomes Russ Bailey and Crow Party to The Recovery Lounge in Upper Jay, NY. They deliver some some raw, no-nonsense blues.
(08/19/03) Canadian blues guitarist Pat Johnson was Ellen Rocco's studio guest for The Blue Note, August 19, 2003. Pat, at left, plays slide on his 1998 National Steel. Here are two numbers he played live during the show on an Oskar Graf custom steel string: his original Sweet Baby Swing, and the traditional Corinna in the Mississippi John Hurt arrangement.
Don Washington, guitar and vocals, teaches music at Morristown Central School
(05/13/03) The Don Washington Band cooled out the NCPR studio May 13, 2003. The bluesman and his band are regular guests on The Blue Note. Hear three songs from their live set: I Just Want to Make Love to You,Stormy Monday and Honey Hush.
(04/30/02) The Conrad Story Blues Band heated up a chilly spring day in the NCPR studio. The regional bluesmen were guests on The Blue Note, April 30, 2002. Here are three tracks from their 35-minute set: How Blue Can You Get? by BB King, When the Lights Go Out by Willie Dixon and Rack 'em Up by Bruce McCabe.
Performing: Rick "Conrad" Bates, lead guitar, harp and vocals, teaches education at SUNY Potsdam. Jonathan Hunkins, drums, and Chip Lamson, keyboard and vocals, teach music in Massena. Amalio Pratti, bass, vocals.
(07/03/01) Baltimore bluesman Automatic Slim plays Georgia Rag and Please Don't Go at the NCPR studio as a guest on The Blue Note, Tuesday, July 3, 2001.
Hailing from just outside Okemah — the birthplace of Woody Guthrie — Fullbright mixes folk, country and blues on his latest album, <em>From the Ground Up.</em>
A new anthology from the Putumayo label celebrates the variations in African blues. Critic Milo Miles says the collection is delicate, airy and strong all the way through.
Sam Phillips once referred to Howlin' Wolf's voice as "where the soul of man never dies." Phillips, who worked with dozens of great Memphis musicians, never changed his mind. Rock historian Ed Ward examines the evolution of Wolf's singular...
Music
Maker Relief Foundation Dedicated to helping the true pioneers and forgotten
heroes of the blues gain recognitiuon and meet their day-to-day needs.
The Blue Note
Blues
Dedicated to helping the true pioneers and forgotten
heroes of the blues gain recognitiuon and meet their day-to-day needs.
