Shellac Stack No. 84 goes “Steppin’ Around” with Jan Garber, Ben Pollack, Ralph Williams, Fred Waring, and a few other “hot” bandleaders of the 1920s. We also hear some mountaineer songs from Ernest Stoneman and Kelly Harrell, take a trip “south of the border,” and play a guessing game.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:00 — 42.8MB)
Shellac Stack No. 83 proves that “unbreakable” doesn’t necessarily mean “indestructible”! On this program, we listen to records by Bob Skyles and His Skyrockets, The Wolverines with Bix, Jack Sheedy’s Dixieland Jazz, Seger Ellis, Morton Downey, Clayton McMichen’s Georgia Wildcats, Dolly Dawn, and many others.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:00 — 43.2MB)
Shellac Stack No. 82 transports you in time to April, 1929 for more than a dozen records made that month. Alongside news reports of the day (fair warning: some of it is a bit gruesome), we’ll hear performances by Gene Austin, Jesse Crawford, Fred Elizalde, Herman Kenin, Montana Taylor, Carroll Gibbons, and more.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:00 — 43.2MB)
Shellac Stack No. 81 features a veritable parade of great 78s, with performances by Turk Murphy, Charles Dornberger, Bix Beiderbecke, the ODJB, Billy Mayerl, Bobby Sherwood, and many others, including a pair of one-of-a-kind lacquer records.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:00 — 43.7MB)
Shellac Stack No. 80 advises you to “Take Your Girlie to the Movies!” We explore “multiple method recording” with Blake Reynolds, listen to a pair of 1933 tangos, and relax with Bing and the Mills Brothers. We’ve got Mildred Bailey, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Mel Henke, Vaughn De Leath, Fats Waller, and more.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:00 — 43.5MB)
Shellac Stack No. 77 starts out mysteriously, then whisks you to Ireland for some fine fiddle work by Patrick Gaffney. We hear from Bobby Hackett, Maxine Sullivan, Sophie Tucker, Frankie Carle, Red Allen, the Mills Brothers, and many others in this program of 78 rpm gems.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 50:15 — 37.2MB)
Shellac Stack No. 76 begins “‘Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” and ends “Long Ago and Far Away.” Along the way, we hear from Adrian Rollini, Jimmy Yancey, The Happiness Boys, and the orchestras of Joe Haymes, Phil Spitalny, Jean Goldkette, and Nat Shilkret. We also explore vocalist James Stanley’s connection to ragtime composer Scott Joplin.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 55:32 — 41.7MB)
Shellac Stack No. 75 has the audacity to suggest that “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie.” We hear a 100-year-old patriotic record, and listen to songs about fools, strawberries, and “winin’ boys.” The artist roster ranges from Frank Luther to Andres Segovia to Orrin Tucker to Jelly Roll Morton and beyond.
CORRECTION: In the program, I misattribute Jelly Roll Morton’s “Winin’ Boy Blues” to the famous Library of Congress sessions with Alan Lomax. I made that call after looking at incomplete discographical data that showed the record to have been made in December 1938 in Washington, DC without specifying an exact location. Although Morton was making his LoC recordings in DC in December 1938, “Winin’ Boy” was, in fact, recorded at a separate session at the “United Sates Recording Company” in the Rialto Theater Building at 9th and G Streets NW in Washington, DC. Thanks to Roger in the UK for pointing this out.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:07 — 37.7MB)
