Smooth Kentuckyfound inspiration on the back of a whiskey bottle.
"The Baltimore Brewing Company used to have a bluegrass happy hour every Friday night," says guitarist/vocalist Ed Hough. "[Guitarist/vocalist Cris Jacobs] had a connection with the girl who put it on, and she told him to put together a bluegrass band. He called me up and we needed a name because the City Paper was about to go to print. We got 'smooth Kentucky' off the back of a whiskey bottle and it stuck."
It's a fitting representation for the six-piece band's blend of new grass and Grateful Dead roots.
Tune in at 8 p.m. Tuesday (with an encore broadcast at 9 a.m. Saturday) as the band performs selections from its 2009 release A Few More Miles-- and previews some new songs--during a special performance and interview recorded at The Bunker Recording Studio.
Smooth Kentucky performs at Mick O'Shea's on Friday, July 16.
WTMD listeners take over the airwaves with three-to-five song sets on Thursday.
7 a.m. Jill Bucolo
This is actually the first five songs of the mix tape my boyfriend at the time--who is now my husband--used to listen to on the way to All Good when it was at Wilmers Park
* "Carnival," by The Band * "Hurricane," by Bob Dylan * "Road to Nowhere," by Talking Heads * "Dear Mr. Fantasy," by Blind Faith * "One More Saturday Night," by The Grateful Dead
9 a.m. Jean Tansey
Girls and summer, celebrating the first days of summer!
* "Girls In Their Summer Clothes," by Bruce Springsteen * "Vacation," by The GoGos * "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," by Cindy Lauper
11 a.m. Beth Lacey Gill
Five songs I didn't know before Virgin Fest 2007. I still listen to them constantly!
* "Narc," by Interpol * "Fidelity," by Regina Spektor * "I Turn My Camera On," by Spoon * "Young Folks," by Peter, Bjorn & John * "Your Hand in Mine," by Explosions in the Sky
1 p.m. Sarah Morgan
Some of my favorite songs for summer.
* "Sausalito," by Conor Oberst * "Fat Man in the Bathtub," by Little Feat * "Salvation," by The Avett Brothers * "The Underdog," by Spoon * "Wagon Wheel," by Old Crow Medicine Show
5 p.m. Miranda Sinicrope
I chose these songs because I feel that they represent the diverse sounds of what is coming out of the indie genre. It's exciting for these artists who, for the most part have been around and touring for years, to be succeeding while bands such as Passion Pit and the Harlem Shakes are creating a new exciting sound.
* "The Reeling," by Passion Pit * "High Lonesome," by The Gaslight Anthem * "Two Weeks," by Grizzly Bear * "1901," by Phoenix * "Sunlight," by Harlem Shakes
7 p.m. Tom Geary
These five songs were my favorite performances of the past two Virgin Festivals in Baltimore. It's moments like these that remind me of how much of a blast I had in '07 and '08 at Pimlico and get me excited for this year's festival!
* "Honeybear," by Yeah Yeah Yeahs * "Your Touch," by The Black Keys * "Ain't No Easy Way," by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club * "Fortunate Son," by Cat Power * "Pioneer to the Falls," by Interpol
It's relatively easy to rattle off a list of great songs or albums, but what defines a great recording artist? Is it record sales? #1 songs? A showcase night on American Idol?
Producer Brian Eno once noted, The Velvet Underground never sold a lot of records, but everyone who bought one went on to form a band.
Ani DiFranco, on the other hand, sells a lot of records. But she does it on her own terms. DiFranco founded Righteous Babe, an independent label, long before the Internet was a series of tubes while reimagining an artists' business model--and redefining the role of the singer-songwriter--for the MySpace generation.
Bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish reinvented their songs and set lists every night, creating a new concert experience for fiercely loyal fans and introducing a series of live albums and bootlegs that, arguably, are just as important as their studio work.
Jeff Buckley is fondly remembered for one amazing album. And, like a lot of artists who died too young, a catalog of posthumous releases (and an assembly line of vocal imitators) has tried to fill the void.
George Clinton receives royalties every time someone samples Parliament-Funkadelic. When does he ever get credit for the originals?
Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits are enjoying a renaissance in the twilight of their careers. They never experienced the mass adulation (and scorn) as when Bob Dylan plugged in an electric guitar, but where would popular music be without Various Positions or Rain Dogs?
Are younger songwriters like Jack White and Ryan Adams so prolific--with so many incarnations--that it's hard to identify a career-defining album?
How many of these artists qualify as the Greatest Artists of All Time?
