God's Eternal Jukebox

Happy Trails - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - When My Dreams Come True (1929)

2012-02-24T10:00:00.000Z

Jack Fulton sings out the Paul Whiteman Orchestra tune written by Irving Berlin, with a solo from Bix Beiderbecke amongst others.

Featured Album - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music - 1965

2012-02-23T10:00:00.000Z

A great series concludes in 1965 with more Country music tunes that hit the charts, including Merle Haggard's live performance of his first top 10 Country chart hit and a young Johnny Paycheck singing about the A11, before it was dualled .

Featured Artists - The "5" Royales (Part Four)

2012-02-21T10:00:00.000Z

The last tunes from the great "5" Royales

Featured Album - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music - 1964

2012-02-20T10:00:00.001Z

Country classics from Bear Family Records that reached the charts in 1964, this time with Porter Wagoner from his own TV Show and Roger Miller performing his 1964 hit some time after..

Gospel Slot - The Sons Of The South

2012-02-17T10:00:00.000Z

Three selections from the Ace Records Excello set from vocal group The Sons Of The South.

Featured Album - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music - 1963

2012-02-15T10:00:00.000Z

More Country Music classics from Bear Family Records, this time from 1963, including a youthful Bobby Bare and a horribly out of synch but still stunning Patsy Cline.

Featured Artists - The "5" Royales (Part Three)

2012-02-13T10:00:00.000Z

Further tunes from the "5" Royales

Featured Album - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music - 1962

2012-02-10T10:00:00.001Z

More tunes from the Bear Family CD Series released last year, this time with Country hits from 1962, and two more classic performances from the Porter Wagoner TV Show.

Featured Artists - The "5" Royales (Part Two)

2012-02-08T10:00:00.001Z

More tunes from the "5" Royales

Live Session - Todd Snider

2012-02-06T10:00:00.000Z

Touring the US this month and next, Todd Snider makes it over to England for a sold out gig at The Borderline at the end of February before joining the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival.

Featured Album - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music - 1961

2012-02-03T10:00:00.000Z

In 1975, Bear Family Records, the independent record label based in Germany, began releasing wonderful sets of Golden Era music. Rhythm and Blues, Country, Rock 'n' Roll have all been covered in extensive detail, from Various Artists sets to releases focussed on a particular artist that turn up previously unreleased gems. (They also have an on-line radio station that keeps me from staying in bed most mornings).

Last year the label continued a great series of country music sets, with this one the first of 5 single CD's that packed in 31 classics from the Country & Western Hit Parade of 1961. Searching through YouTube, it was clear that a number of the tunes from the series had been performed live in various forms on American TV, often the Porter Wagoner show. So watch out for a few classic live performances in this series of posts from some of the greats of an often maligned, under appreciated and almost always wonderful genre.

Featured Artists - The "5" Royales (Part One)

2012-02-02T10:00:00.000Z

Recording first as gospel group the Royal Sons for Apollo, The "5" Royales released a string of great rhythm and blues tunes throughout the 50's for Apollo and King. Among the revered artists who forged the path to soul music, Steve Cropper's tribute record last year highlighted the guitar and song writing talents of group member Lowman Pauling, while Johnny Tanner's lead vocals are also a real treat.

More tunes coming up later this month.

Aural Massage - Ken Parker - True, True, True (1968)

2012-02-01T08:18:00.000Z

A Jamaican hit for the Treasure Isle label and a truly joyous rocksteady classic. For a detailed interview with Ken Parker go here. Truth seekers should go to God's Video Jukebox #1 for further enlightenment.

Happy Trails - Fletcher Henderson - Keep A Song In Your Soul (1930)

2012-01-27T10:15:00.000Z

Written by Benny Carter, this tune from Fletcher Henderson and his orchestra leads the rest of this month's souls happily down the trail.

Featured Artist - Tom T. Hall (Part Five)

2012-01-25T10:25:00.009Z

Final tunes from Tom T. Hall, featured artist for this month.

God's Jukebox Playlist

2012-01-24T19:03:00.000Z

In case this hasn't already come to your attention, this post is an alert pointing readers to an excellent Spotify playlist compiled by a reader - here. It features over 4,000 tunes previously played on God's Jukebox. With a selection of God's Jukebox live session tracks recently added to the Rockabilly DJ podcast page, 2012 has begun much better than 2010 ended.

Featured Album - Trinidad - Calypso (1939 - 1959) (Part Four)

2012-01-23T10:37:00.001Z

Final two helpings from the excellent calypso compilation that has been this month's featured album:

God's Jukebox Sessions - Rock n Roll style (Part Three)

2012-01-22T13:16:00.000Z

Third and final episode can be heard here

RIP - Etta James (25/01/1938 - 20/01/2012)

2012-01-20T23:37:00.000Z

Jamesetta Mills...

Featured Artist - Tom T. Hall (Part Four)

2012-01-20T10:10:00.021Z

Three more tunes from the archive of great songs written and performed by Tom T. Hall, including a repeat of "The Ballad of $40" this time from the Johnny Cash show in 1969.

RIP - Johnny Otis (28/12/1921 - 17/01/2012)

2012-01-19T20:03:00.001Z

Johnny Otis has died, age 90

Featured Album - Trinidad - Calypso (1939 - 1959) (Part Three)

2012-01-19T10:31:00.000Z

Three further wonderful tunes from the album featured this month.

RIP - Jimmy Castor - (23/06/1940 - 16/01/2012)

2012-01-18T07:38:00.000Z

Jimmy Castor has died, age 71

Featured Artist - Tom T. Hall (Part Three)

2012-01-16T10:13:00.007Z

More tunes from Tom T. Hall, this month's featured artist.

God's Jukebox Sessions - Rock n Roll style (Part Two)

2012-01-14T11:38:00.000Z

Episode Two now up here

Gospel Slot - Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs - You Can Feel It In Your Soul (1956)

2012-01-13T10:00:00.000Z

Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt feeling soulful, Earl showing he was quite good at the guitar as well as banjo.

Featured Album - Trinidad - Calypso (1939 - 1959) (Part Two)

2012-01-12T10:00:00.000Z

More tunes from the very fine Calypso CD set from Fremeaux, this time from the King of the Calypso World, The Mighty Sparrow

God's Jukebox Sessions - Rock n Roll style

2012-01-11T08:41:00.001Z

Posted a few days ago by Croydon's very own Bill Smoker on his Rockabilly DJ page, comes the first of three podcasts featuring great tunes recorded for God's Jukebox. A full list of all the sessions can be found here, but its great to be able to listen again to just some of the excellent artists who recorded for the show.

Featured Artist - Tom T. Hall (Part Two)

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000Z

More stories from the musical blogger Tom T Hall:

Live Session - Chris Smither

2012-01-04T10:07:00.000Z

Chris Smither currently playing gigs in US & in the UK from the end of February. Great songs and guitar playing.

Featured Album - Trinidad - Calypso (1939 - 1959) (Part One)

2012-01-03T09:30:00.000Z

This month's album is a 2CD set from French label Fremeaux, released in October last year and featuring more than 40 calypso classics from the golden age.

Below are tunes from Lord Kitchener included in the set - other artists covered in later posts.

Also added is a short clip from 1948 of the man himself arriving in England.

Featured Artist - Tom T. Hall (Part One)

2012-01-02T07:30:00.037Z

Last July saw the first Tom T. Hall release in a long time, and if anyone needed reminding what a talent this songwriter is, then the album did just that. Tom enrolled as a journalism student before moving to Nashville to pitch songs. Whatever he learned at college wasn't wasted. During a purple patch of quality song writing, in the late 1960's and early 1970's, Tom filed back reports on lives observed in a string of tunes that still delight.

Through this series of posts come a number of his classic country tales from small town America.

Aural Massage - Gene Chandler - A Song Called Soul (1964)

2012-01-01T09:42:00.001Z

Remembered for the 1962 hit Duke of Earl, in his prime Gene Chandler turned in many a fine soul performance. This tune was released as first an A, then a B side in the same year. Written by Billy Butler, younger brother of Impressions star Jerry, it has the light, melodic hallmark of 1960's Chicago song writing and production. No surprise as a production credit goes to Johnny Pate, long time Impressions producer and key figure in the development of Chicago Soul.

Also included is the French singer Dean Cooper's cover version from 1965...pour reason ne particular pas.

And there are 22 more lost souls waiting to be found over in God's Video Jukebox #2

Happy Trails - Blind Lemon Jefferson - Happy New Year Blues - 1928

2011-12-31T10:57:00.000Z

Blind Lemon sings in 1929. A Happy New Year to all who have stopped by God's Eternal Jukebox in 2011. And best wishes for a tunefilled 2012.

RIPs - 2011

2011-12-30T12:00:00.000Z

To look back at some of the great artists the music world lost over the last 12 months and hear why they will be much missed, click here

RIP - Dobie Gray - (26/06/1940 - 06/12/2011)

2011-12-28T09:01:00.000Z

Singer Dobie Gray died earlier this month, age 71

RIP - Hubert Sumlin - (16/11/1931 - 4/12/2011)

2011-12-28T09:00:00.005Z

Hubert Sumlin, guitar player with Howling Wolf and others, died earlier this month, age 80

RIP - Howard Tate - (13/08/1939 - 2/12/2011)

2011-12-27T08:31:00.000Z

Soul singer Howard Tate died earlier this month, age 72

RIP - J Blackfoot (20/11/1946 - 30/11/2011)

2011-12-26T09:37:00.000Z

Soul singer J Blackfoot, of the Stax vocal group the Soul Children, died at the end of last month, age 65

Christmas Tune #25 - All I Want for Christmas Is You - Carla Thomas

2011-12-25T12:00:00.013Z

Christmas Tune #24 - Snow Girl - Ron Winters

2011-12-24T12:00:00.008Z

Christmas Tune #23 - Christmas Balls - Ben Light & Surf Club Boys

2011-12-23T12:00:00.006Z

Christmas Tune #22 - White Christmas - Charlie Parker

2011-12-22T12:00:00.004Z

Christmas Tune #21 - Santa, Teach Me To Dance - Debbie & The Darnells

2011-12-21T12:00:00.004Z

Christmas Tune #20 - Blues For Christmas - John Lee Hooker

2011-12-20T12:00:00.007Z

Christmas Tune #19 - The Winter Song - Tex Williams

2011-12-19T12:00:00.005Z

Christmas Tune #18 - The Little Drummer Boy - Lou Rawls

2011-12-18T12:00:00.008Z

Christmas Tune #17 - Looking For Me Santa Claus - Sam Manning & Melodettes

2011-12-17T12:00:00.006Z

Christmas Tune #16 - A Merry Christmas - Sir Jablonski & Group

2011-12-16T12:00:00.006Z

Christmas Tune #15 - Good Old Fashioned Country Christmas - Buck Owens

2011-12-15T12:00:00.005Z

Christmas Tune #14 - Black Christmas - The Emotions

2011-12-14T12:00:00.004Z

Christmas Tune #13 - It's A Hillbilly Xmas - The Candy Mountain Boys

2011-12-13T12:00:00.007Z

Christmas Tune #12 - Don't Believe in Christmas - The Sonics

2011-12-12T12:00:00.007Z

When The Levee Breaks - BBC Radio 4 - 12/12/2011

2011-12-11T21:25:00.000Z

Tomorrow afternoon on BBC Radio 4, Mark Lamarr presents a 30 minute documentary on female blues artist Memphis Minnie

Christmas Tune #11 - Gonna Have A Merry Xmas - The Nic Nacs

2011-12-11T12:00:00.005Z

Christmas Tune #10 - Santa Won't Be Blue - Jimmy Charles

2011-12-10T12:00:00.005Z

Christmas Tune #9 - You're The Angel On My Christmas Tree - Faron Young

2011-12-09T12:00:00.006Z

Christmas Tune #8 - Don't Think I'm Santa Claus - Lil McClintock

2011-12-08T12:00:00.004Z

Christmas Tune #7 - Five Pound Box of Money - Pearl Bailey

2011-12-07T12:00:00.007Z

Christmas Tune #6 - Ding Dong Bell - The Ethiopians

2011-12-06T12:00:00.005Z

Christmas Tune #5 - Lonely Christmas Call - George Jones

2011-12-05T12:00:00.007Z

Christmas Tune #4 - Love for Christmas - The Jackson Trio

2011-12-04T12:00:00.004Z

Christmas Tune #3 - Last Christmas - Rubber Band

2011-12-03T12:00:00.005Z

Christmas Tune #2 - Cowboy Santa Claus - Bill Lacey & Group

2011-12-02T12:00:00.004Z

Christmas Tune #1 - Christmas Time - Jimmy McCracklin

2011-12-01T12:00:00.018Z

RIP Barrington (Barry) Llewellyn - 25/12/1947 - 23/11/2011

2011-11-28T08:44:00.000Z

Barry Llewellyn of The Heptones has died age 63

Happy Trails - Jimmie Davis - Honky Tonk Blues (1937)

2011-11-25T07:30:00.001Z

47th Governer of Louisiana, Democrat Jimmie Davis (who died on 5th November 2000, age 101) shows Hank Williams the way with this classic Honky Tonk tune.

Featured Album - The Bobby Robinson Story (Part Five)

2011-11-23T07:30:00.012Z

And so concludes the trawl through a great CD set of tunes produced by the late and great Bobby Robinson, well worth the investment.

Featured Artist - Pat Kelly (Part Four)

2011-11-21T07:30:00.001Z

Final tunes from this month's featured performer, Rocksteady legend Pat Kelly.

Rockin 'N' Rollin' With Santa Claus

2011-11-19T15:11:00.001Z

A perfect Christmas gift right here. More Christmas tunes to come throughout December in an Advent Calendar special - that'll be one Yuletide YouTube video each day then.

Featured Album - The Bobby Robinson Story (Part Four)

2011-11-18T07:30:00.012Z

These four tunes continue the selection from the recent CD set, starting with a great, if all too brief, live performance from Wilbert Harrison:

Featured Artist - Pat Kelly (Part Three)

2011-11-16T07:30:00.000Z

Another post bringing you great tunes from Jamaican vocalist Pat Kelly

The Two Tone Story - Channel 4 Documentary

2011-11-15T21:26:00.001Z

From 2004, narrated by Mark Lamarr - in 5 parts on YouTube:

Featured Album - The Bobby Robinson Story (Part Three)

2011-11-14T07:30:00.000Z

More great Rhythm & Blues tunes from this month's Featured Album from JSP Records

Gospel Slot - The Stewart Four - Walking in Jesus' Name (1952)

2011-11-09T07:16:00.001Z

Freddie, Rose, Vaetta and Sylvester Stewart were the Stewart Four, and this B side of a gospel 45 features Sylvester on lead vocal, later inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1993... as Sly Stone.

Featured Album - The Bobby Robinson Story (Part Two)

2011-11-08T07:30:00.014Z

More tunes from the CD set released earlier this year as a tribute to the record producer, who died in January 2011

Featured Artist - Pat Kelly (Part Two)

2011-11-07T07:30:00.006Z

3 more tunes featuring the wonderful vocals of Pat Kelly.

Live Session - Southern Tenant Folk Union

2011-11-04T07:24:00.000Z

Out on tour this month and into next year, this band (who recorded a God's Jukebox session in 2008) have gathered great reviews and as the videos below demonstrate well, are not to be missed if coming to a town near you.

Featured Album - The Bobby Robinson Story (Part One)

2011-11-03T07:19:00.000Z

Record producer Bobby Robinson died in January this year, and this 4CD set from JSP records, released in September, is a worthy tribute featuring many great Blues and R&B performers.

A series of posts features a wide selection from the CD's.

Featured Artist - Pat Kelly (Part One)

2011-11-02T07:30:00.037Z

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1949, Pat Kelly took over vocal duties with The Techniques in 1967 after Slim Smith left, recording glorious rocksteady tunes for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label. A solo career followed a year later and Pat's beautiful falsetto singing attracted the attention of Apple Records, who offered the singer a contract he was unable to accept due to existing commitments.

Anyone coming to rocksteady from scratch could do much worse than starting with Pat Kelly. This post (and others to follow) brings you some of his best work.

Aural Massage - Ray Barretto - New York Soul (1968)

2011-11-01T07:26:00.000Z

Great tune from the album "Hard Hands" released on Fania. You can get it on the album Let's Boogaloo Vol 2, which came out a year or two back. More New York visits are paid at God's Video Jukebox #1

RIP - Liz Anderson - 13/01/1930 - 31/10/2011

2011-10-31T08:45:00.013Z

Songwriter Liz Anderson has died, age 81

Happy Trails - Cab Calloway - Gotta A Darn Good Reason Now (For Bein' Good) (1930)

2011-10-26T07:30:00.011+01:00

An early Cab Calloway tune provides the very last reason for listening this month. See God's Video Jukebox #2 for the others.

Featured Album - Honky Tonkin' (Part Five)

2011-10-23T07:30:00.000+01:00

Final four tunes from a great compilation.

Featured Artist - Roy Brown (Part Five)

2011-10-22T07:30:00.007+01:00

The final helping of Roy Brown, a vocalist for all others to admire and respect

Featured Album - Honky Tonkin' (Part Four)

2011-10-18T07:30:00.000+01:00

Yet more great honky tonk tunes from the Fantastic Voyage set, released in July this year.

Featured Artist - Roy Brown (Part Four)

2011-10-17T07:30:00.013+01:00

Here's some more Roy Brown to enjoy - The Man Who Sings The Blues!

Gospel Slot - The Soul Stirrers

2011-10-14T07:30:00.000+01:00

The Gospel Slot this month belongs to the amazing Soul Stirrers with two classic recordings. The first features Paul Foster and Rebert Harris, from 1950, followed by Sam Cooke leading on a live recording from 1955.

Featured Album - Honky Tonkin' (Part Three)

2011-10-13T07:30:00.000+01:00

Four more tunes from the recently released set of country classics

Featured Artist - Roy Brown (Part Three)

2011-10-12T07:30:00.015+01:00

Four more fantastic tunes from one of the greatest Rhythm & Blues artists:

Featured Album - Honky Tonkin' (Part Two)

2011-10-08T07:45:00.006+01:00

More tunes from the excellent Fantastic Voyage set of honky-tonk classics

Featured Artist - Roy Brown (Part Two)

2011-10-07T07:05:00.000+01:00

Another four slices of the great Roy Brown:

Live Session - Nick Lowe

2011-10-04T07:30:00.016+01:00

Featured on the BBC Songwriters Circle this Friday, Nick Lowe is also touring to promote his excellent new CD, The Old Magic. Here's four tunes to help persuade you to grab a ticket...if you needed convincing.

Featured Album - Honky Tonkin' (Part One)

2011-10-03T07:30:00.002+01:00

This set from Fantastic Voyage, released in July, features some tunes you'd expect to find and others you may not know so well, making it a sound investment. Here's four tunes, more to follow

Featured Artist - Roy Brown (Part One)

2011-10-02T07:30:00.006+01:00

Roy Brown, simply one of the greatest singers - ever. Four reasons why here today, more to follow.

Aural Massage - Robbie Fulks - Doing Right (For All The Wrong Reasons) (2005)

2011-10-01T07:30:00.003+01:00

This Robbie Fulks song is a stand out track on a stand out album, a modern honky-tonk tune.

RIP Leonard Dillon (09/12/1942 - 28/09/2011)

2011-09-29T17:54:00.001+01:00

Leonard Dillon (AKA Jack Sparrow) of The Ethiopians has died, aged 68

New single from Tom Waits album Bad As Me

2011-09-29T09:02:00.000+01:00

Happy Trails - Joseph Falcon & Cléoma Breaux - Allons à Lafayette (1928)

2011-09-26T07:30:00.006+01:00

This tune can also be found on this month's Featured Album. Recorded in 1928, I'm told it's the first Cajun recording and I'm sure that's true.

Featured Album - The History of New Orleans R&B 1923-1953 (Part Five)

2011-09-25T07:30:00.011+01:00

Final selections from a brilliant set of CD's and a Tom Waits cover of a tune off the compilation