Greasy Tracks
| Other names | The Back Porch (1995-2005) |
|---|---|
| Genre | Soul, Blues, Acid Jazz, Funk |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | WRTC-FM, Hartford, Connecticut |
| Original release | May 6, 1995 – present |
| No. of episodes | 917 |
| Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
| Opening theme | "Peter Gunn" by Roland Kirk |
| Website | www |
Search Greasy Tracks on Amazon.
Greasy Tracks is a weekly radio program airing Saturdays from the studios of WRTC-FM[1] in Hartford, Connecticut. Hosted by Chris Cowles, the program debuted on May 6, 1995. It holds the distinction of being the longest, continuously running soul- and blues-based program in the state.
Traditionally steeped in Southern soul, but always manages to mix in late-1960s and early-70s Brit blues stylists and extended acid jazz and fusion instrumentals.
Background[edit]
After doing radio for nearly a decade in the metro-Boston area, most recently at WMBR in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was one of the hosts on Lost & Found, a program that ran five days a week and focused on different genres of music from the late-60s/early-70s, Cowles joined WRTC and embarked on a new program, The Back Porch which was primarily a blues-based in style, but always found a way to shift into soul and funk with no warning.
For a short period of time in 1995-96, the program aired on Saturday's and Sunday's.
On March 4, 2000, the show started distinctly alternating its style, moving to an all-soul/funk format and going by the name Greasy Tracks. This format would air every other week, with the more standard blues foundation via The Back Porch airing on the alternate shows. The final edition of The Back Porch aired on Sept. 17, 2005 as the program has gone by the name Greasy Tracks ever since.
Studios[edit]
Greasy Tracks broadcasts from the WRTC studio on the campus of Trinity College.
The station features a diverse format featuring nearly 60 weekly programs—ranging from rock, jazz, Caribbean, Latin and soul to hip hop, funk, gospel, blues and Broadway.
The station can be found on the dial at 89.3 MHz.
Since its on-air debut on Feb. 26, 1947, WRTC has taken pride in providing innovative programming. It was one the first stations in the Hartford area to play rock music and today, airs more than 40 hours a week of a wide range of rock styles.
'Soulsville'[edit]
In 2010, Cowles collaborated with Tom Shaker who hosts Soul Serenade on WICN in Worcester, Massachusetts, to air the inaugural edition of "Soulsville" a six-and-a-half-hour feature on Stax Records.
Tracing the roots of the legendary Memphis-based label, from its humble beginning in 1957 through its heyday of the mid-to-late 1960s into the early 1970s, to its ultimate demise in 1975 as a recording entity, the duo played nearly 70 tracks and featured interviews with former Stax owner Al Bell; Memphis Horns co-founder Wayne Jackson; author Rob Bowman, William Bell, the first male solo singer signed to the label; and Mable John, the first female artist signed to Motown before she went to Stax.
In 2011, just weeks after Greasy Tracks marked 16 years on the air, Cowles and Shaker did their second-annual "Soulsville" special, this one running for seven hours, featuring 70 tracks and interviews with such Stax legends as Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, Charles Pitts, David Porter, Marvell Thomas, Sir Mack Rice, John Gary Williams, Sam Jones and Ardent Studios founder John Fry.[2][3][4] [5] [6]
A similar program would air in 2012 with Bar-Kays vocalist Larry Dodson; Royal Studios head Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell; and Don Nix, a former member of the Mar-Keys who later went on work with Leon Russell before putting out a number of solo albums and penning "Going Down" which would be covered by nearly 100 artists, including Freddie King, Jeff Beck, The Rolling Stones and JJ Cale.[7][8]
Live From The Stax Museum in Memphis[edit]
On April 27, 2013, following an invitation to broadcast from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Cowles and Shaker took the program on the road and were joined by a veritable who's who of Stax alums: Wayne Jackson, William Bell, Bettye Crutcher, Don Nix, Bobby Manuel as well as members of The Temprees, The Mad Lads and The Astors. The special broadcast corresponded with the 10th anniversary of the Stax Museum.[9][10] [11]
Duane Allman Feature[edit]
A four-hour feature on legendary guitarist Duane Allman was presented on Nov. 22, 2014.[12]
A number of guests were interviewed including bassist David Hood and guitarist Jimmy Johnson of the renowned studio band The Swampers who cut dozens of hit singles at FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound; former Derek and the Dominos keyboardist Bobby Whitlock; singer Boz Scaggs; legendary producer Rick Hall; Allman Brothers drummer Jaimoe; producer Johnny Sandlin; and Allman's daughter, Galadrielle Allman, who talked about her book: Please Be With Me: A Song For My Father, Duane Allman (Spiegel & Grau). Nearly 30 Allman-related tracks were played during the program which focused heavily on session work the guitarist did in the early part of his career.
Marking 20 Years[edit]
On May 9, 2015, Cowles marked 20 years on the air at WRTC with a special edition of Greasy Tracks featuring an interview with Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. [13]
Lou Reed Feature[edit]
Spurred by the publishing of Aiden Levy’s biography of Lou Reed in October 2015, Dirty Blvd: The Life and Music of Lou Reed (Chicago Review Press) a special edition of Greasy Tracks aired a four-hour Reed feature. Guests included guitarist Steve Hunter; drummer Chris Frantz (Tom Tom Club/Taking Heads); ex-Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears guitarist Steve Katz who produced Reed’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal album and long-time Reed guitar tech Stewart Hurwood. The feature aired on Nov. 28, 2015.[14][15]
Notable guests[edit]
Carter Alan (author), Devon Allman (guitarist), Galadrielle Allman (author), Paul Barrere (Little Feat guitarist), Al Bell (Stax Records executive), William Bell (singer), Elvin Bishop (guitarist), Amy Black (singer), Rob Bowman (author), Jay Blakesberg (photographer), Marc Broussard (singer), Deljuan "Del" Calvin (vocalist. The Temprees), Greg "Freddy" Camalier (director), Jack Casady (bassist, Hot Tuna/Jefferson Airplane), André Cholmondeley (guitarist, Project/Object), George Clinton (leader Parliament/Funkedelic), Newton Collier (trumpet player, Sam & Dave), Steve Cropper (Booker T & The MGs), Bettye Crutcher (Stax vocalist, songwriter), Drew DeNicola (producer/director), Larry Dodson (Bar-Kays vocalist), Eddie Floyd (Stax vocalist/songwriter), Chris Frantz (drummer, Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club), John Fry (founder, Ardent Studios), JJ Grey (Mofro), Marty Grebb (singer/keyboardist Fabulous Rhinestones/Buckinghams), Rick Hall (founder FAME Studios), Betty Harris (singer), Stewart Hurwood (Lou Reed guitar tech), David Hood (Swampers bassist), Grayson Hugh (singer/keyboardist), Charles L. Hughes (author), Robert Hunter, Steve Hunter (Lou Reed, Alice Cooper guitarist) Wayne Jackson (Memphis Horns co-founder), Jaimoe (Allman Brothers drummer), Mable John (Motown/Stax singer), Jimmy Johnson (Swampers guitarist), Sam Jones (singer, The Astors), Steve Katz (guitarist, Blues Project/BS&T), Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist, Hot Tuna/Jefferson Airplane), Steve Kimock (guitarist Zero, KVHW, SK&F), Greg Kot (author), Bert Lams (guitarist/Calif. Guitar Trio), Preston Lauterbach (author), Terry Manning (Stax/Ardent engineer), Arthur Kempton (author), Sam Lay (drummer), Aidan Levy (author), Bobby Manuel (Stax engineer/producer/guitarist), Jim Marshall, Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell (Royal Studios owner), James Montgomery (singer/harpist), Marc Myers (author), Mark Naftalin (pianist Butterfield Blues Band), Don Nix (songwriter, singer, former Mar-Key), Rick Nuhn (Concord Music Group), Robert Palmer (author), Deanie Parker (Stax Records PR), Skip Pitts (guitarist, Issac Hayes), Bill Payne (keyboardist, Little Feat/Leftover Salmon), David Porter (Stax songwriter/singer), Mark Ribowsky (author),[16] Sir Mack Rice (songwriter/vocalist), Joel Selvin (author), Jody Stephens (drummer, Big Star), Susan Tedeschi [17] (guitarist/singer, Tedeschi Trucks Band), Marvell Thomas (pianist, producer), Vaneese Thomas (singer), Tim Sampson (Stax Museum), Johnny Sandlin (engineer/producer), Merl Saunders (keyboardist, vocalist), Boz Scaggs (singer/guitarist), Harold "Scotty" Scott (vocalist, The Temprees), Kim Simmonds (guitarist Savoy Brown), Kirk Waylum (saxophonist), Jim Weider (guitarist, The Band), Bobby Whitlock (Delaney & Bonnie/Derek & The Dominos keyboardist), Ray White (guitarist/singer, Frank Zappa, KVHW, Project/Object), Tim Whitsett (fmr. head of East/Memphis Publishing), John Gary Williams (singer, The Mad Lads), Ike Willis (guitar/singer, Frank Zappa, Project/Object), Sherman Willmott (curator, Stax Museum), Ian Zack (author).
References[edit]
- ↑ "Best College Radio Stations". BestColleges.com.
- ↑ "A day of Stax on Hartford's airwaves". WestHartfordNews.com.
- ↑ "Miss this? WRTC's Seven-Hour Stax Records Show (now archived)". lightintheattic.net.
- ↑ "WRTC to host 7 hour Stax Records feature, May 21". =WestHartfordNews.com.
- ↑ "Seven hours of Stax". jazzwax.com.
- ↑ "Stax Radio Special in Hartford CT w/ Steve Cropper!". tdpri.com/.
- ↑ "Stax Records Special on WRTC". bluesbeatnews.wordpress.com/.
- ↑ "BLUES BEAT: Bluesy mix this week". NHRegister.com.
- ↑ "WRTC to broadcast from Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis". =WestHartfordNews.com.
- ↑ "Six Hour Stax/Volt Marathon from Memphis this Saturday". AmericanBluesScene.com.
- ↑ "Stax, at your leisure". www.jazzwax.com.
- ↑ "WRTC's Greasy Tracks Hosts 4-Hour Duane Allman Retrospective This Saturday". HartfordCourant.com.
- ↑ "Greasy Tracks radio show turns 20". westhartfordnews.com.
- ↑ "4-hour Lou Reed Feature" (Press release).
- ↑ "Independent Bookstores In CT Celebrating Small Business Saturday". HartfordCourant.com.
- ↑ "Redding On the Radio". HartfordCourant.com.
- ↑ "Susan Tedeschi of Tedeschi Trucks Band on Upcoming Concert". patch.com.
This article "Greasy Tracks" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
