My initial pitch for my radio show at WYXR was called “Postwar Pop,” and conceit was that each week I was going to play music from a different year, 1945-2000. But they gave me too much time to think between giving me a show and the station’s launch and once I started thinking of one-off ideas for shows those ideas piled up to the point that I switched to the “Sing All Kinds,” weekly theme format. But I think I’m going to weave the original notion in, with one “time travel” show each month. 

This week was the first one, jumping back 40 years. I did forget to move the fader on the first record I played, so this playback missed the first 20 seconds or so of “Take Your Time.” 

Next week: “The Your Favorite Music Show,” songs about listening to, well, songs. 

Here’s this week’s show:

And here’s this week’s playlist:

1. “When You Were Mine” — Prince
2. “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” — The S.O.S. Band 
3. “Upside Down” — Diana Ross
4. “Open Up” — Chic
5. “Zulu Nation Throwdown” – Afrika Bambaataa and Cosmic Force
6. “Twist and Crawl” — The English Beat
7. “Crosseyed and Painless” — Talking Heads
8. “I Found That Essence Rare” — Gang of Four
9. “Fa Ce-La” — The Feelies
10. “Split” — Kleenex
11. “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” — The Slits
12. “The World’s a Mess, It’s in My Kiss” — X
13. “Rolling Along” — Lucinda Williams
14. “Something on Your Mind” — Professor Longhair
15. “I’m Getting Ready to Go” — Michael Hurley

I missed doing last week’s show due to traveling, but it was nice to be back behind the glass at Crosstown Concourse this week.

This show was inspired by the Todd Snider song that leads things off. There are tons of good “train songs,” so this was a show that could have filled two or three hours easy. 

Next week I’m planning on the first of monthly “time travel” shows exploring individual years: The 1980 Show. 

Here’s this week’s show:

And here’s this week’s playlist:

1. “Play a Train Song” — Todd Snider
2. “Night Train to Memphis” — Roy Acuff 
3. “The Memphis Train” — Rufus Thomas
4. “Freedom Train” — James Carr
5. “Ride That Train” — The Oblivians
6. “Mystery Train” — Elvis Presley
7. “Folsom Prison Blues” — Johnny Cash
8. “My Baby Thinks He’s a Train” — Rosanne Cash
9. “Waiting for a Train’ — Dickey Betts
10. “Georgia on a Fast Train” — Billy Joe Shaver
11. “Train” — Uncle Tupelo 
12. “Night Train” — James Brown
13. “Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train” — Mabel Scott
14. “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” — Louis Jordan
15. “Everybody Loves a Train” — Los Lobos
16. “Westbound Train” – Dennis Brown
17. “C’Mon and Ride It (Railroad Mix)” — Quad City DJs

This week’s edition of “Sing All Kinds” on WYXR was inspired by the annual Indie Memphis Film Festival. It was The Movie Show, a hour of songs about cinema. 

The show can be streamed (and downloaded) after the fact on the show page. I’m on vacation next week and won’t have a show, but look forward to a set of themes in November that will include time travel, locomotion and something appropriate for Thanksgiving. 

Here’s this week’s show:

And here’s this week’s playlist:

1. “Movie Magg” — Carl Perkins
2. “Tom Courtenay” — Yo La Tengo 
3. “The Right Profile” — The Clash
4. “Marie Provost” — Nick Lowe
5. “Ingrid Bergman” — Billy Bragg and Wilco
6. “Made for TV Movie” — Clem Snide
7. “Debaser” — The Pixies
8. “The Union Forever” — The White Stripes
9. “New Age” — The Velvet Underground
10. “Bette Davis Eyes” — Kim Carnes
11. “Kung Fu Reference” — Ass Ponys
12. “Woody Allen” — Allo Darlin
13. “Attica” — Wussy 
14. “The Sands of Iwo Jima” — The Drive-By Truckers
15. “Slapped Actress” — The Hold Steady
16. “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” — Le Tigre
17. “Saturday Night at the Movies” — The Drifters

This week’s edition of “Sing All Kinds” on WYXR featured me remembering to take off my mask before I talked but also a couple of CD malfunctions. Still, overall I’d grade it an upgrade in execution. To paraphrase David Porter, I’m just trying to make it better each and every week.

The show can be streamed (and downloaded) after the fact on the show page. Next week’s show, in honor of the Indie Memphis Film Festival, will be “The Movie Show.” 

Here’s this week’s show:

And here’s this week’s playlist:

1. “The ABCs of Love” — Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
2. “Alison” — Elvis Costello 
3. “Bonita Applebaum” — A Tribe Called Quest
4. “Charles” — Scrawl
5. “Donna” — Clem Snide
6. “Evangeline” — Los Lobos
7. “Hey, Miss Fannie” — The Clovers
8. “Gloria” — Them
9. “Hannah Hunt” — Vampire Weekend
10. “Irma Jackson” — Merle Haggard
11. “Jolene” — Cory Branan (didn’t actually play)
12. “Kathleen” — The Blasters
13. “Lola” — The Kinks
14. “Mary Anne” — Marshall Crenshaw
15. “Nadine” — Chuck Berry
16. “Ophelia” — The Band
17. “Peggy Sue” — Buddy Holly & the Crickets
18. “Lovely Rita” — The Beatles
19. “Sheena is a Punk Rocker Now” — The Ramones