This past Saturday listeners in the Coffee House Sirius 30 were treated to 10 song picks from the ultra-talented Indigo Girls. Nice to hear from Amy and Emily again. I have always considered these two very underrated and often misunderstood musically.

On B.B. King’s Bluesville Sirius 74 this past Friday the show 
“You and Me with B.B. King” was dedicated solely to the music of the legendary Willie Dixon. I make special note of mentioning this because Willie was a phenomenal bass player throughout his career. Even when his health had become so frail and he could barely hold an upright bass, he was given an lightweight electric upright from bass legend Bob Wasserman. Willie’s music was recorded by the virtual who’s who of Blues. Anything and everything he has ever written is worth checking out. Most noteable and arguably the most heard track Dixon has written is the version of “Spoonful” which was recorded by British Legends Cream. Although Howlin Wolf originally recorded the track first and best. The repeat for this great show happened Saturday at 2 p.m. and 12 a.m. this morning, with one more repeat coming Wednesday at noon.

Thanks to some company that we hosted in town for a night this weekend, I was encouraged to check out the Saturday Night Safety Dance up on Sirius 22 1st Wave. The Saturday Night Dance is an excellent mix of non-stop music from many of the great 1st Wave artists. I listened intently to the mix for over an hour and was very impressed at the variety of artists from this great era and how each song led itself into the next. Check this out Saturday night starting at 8:00 Eastern.

I consider it a real treat to hear many of these great artists in such a stripped down scenario. An acoustic guitar just by itself can ring through a room.  This creates a purity in the sound delivery whuch can strike a chord with many listeners. Especially when the singer is really on their game.

I have often scanned the dial at random moments during the day to find music on Coffee House that catches me by surprise. Hearing Jewel or Sheryl Crow for instance play just on their own is striking. They have such original deliveries in their music that you hear them just as they are giving the performance 100% of their souls.

It is worth a trip in time to go back and check out the earlier MTV Unplugged records for a taste of  acoustic bliss, as well as some records by acts who decided to strip down to basic instrumentation to present a fresh approach to the audience. I highly encourage everyone to listen to the MTV Unplugged albums of Eric Clapton, KISS and Neil Young for three of my favourites. Outside of the MTV Unplugged category, consider German Metal Heroes The Scorpions and “Acoustica”.