The Title: From the Mud to the Stars

When Jerry Garcia died in 1995 Rolling Stone magazine (October '95) published tributes from musicians and artists. Here's part of what Bob Dylan said of Jerry:

"There's no way to measure his greatness or magnitude as a person or as a player... He was that great - much more than a superb musician with an uncanny ear and dexterity. He is the very spirit personified of whatever is muddy river country at its core and screams up into the spheres" 

The Concept

From the Mud to the Stars is a three hour long music program played every second Saturday morning on community radio KRR 98.7. [Kandos and Rylstone, NSW, Australia]. Just as Dylan's quote is inclusive of many forms of music, so too is the show. A typical program may begin with old country blues, earthy, "muddy" sounds, and gradually move into other forms such as soul, reggae, world, folk, alt country, electronic, ambient, jazz and into "stellar" sounds. The mix always varies, but tracks are as old as 1927 and as recent as last  week.  

Here's Dylan again, of Garcia: "There are a lot of spaces and advances between the Carter family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school."  

Sample Playlists 

Saturday 24th  July 2010

This program is drawing on influences from two trips to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It also features soundbites as program IDs recorded from people that I met there.

Saturday 10th July

 This show was about exploring Roots and Pre-Rock Music. I'll fill the dates column in later but I think the newest piece here is Willie Nelson's version of Blue Skies. The mix of music  was enjoyable to create and it had the thrill of discovery. Because it wasn't made up of obvious Top 40 hits it allowed me to follow some lovely deep veins of music and emotion while not connected to a cranked up sense of nostalgia. I received a number of comments of appreciation but this raises the question about listeners wanting the heritage more than the contemporary. Mixing the two is what From The Mud To The Stars is all about. The group of three songs, Louis Armstrong, Koko Taylor and Porter Wagoner are cheery - infirmaries & asylums! Much of this music was made possible by some of the free cds accompanying music magazines such as Uncut.

1st March 2008

 From the Mud to the Stars 21^st March 09                

Playlist August 21st 2010

 Tom Waits was guest editor of the July edition of Mojo magazine. The magazine’s free cd contained tracks that reflect his current listening habits. As well as the cd, Tom gave a list of tracks that he couldn’t fit onto the cd. I’ve sought out the rest and put together this playlist for From the Mud to the Stars August 21^st 2010.