Radio review - Light programme

Published Monday 23 November 2009 at 13:05

Being a threat to the status quo can come in many guises. In the case of controversial fifties American DJ Alan Freed, that meant not only rattling established musical cages hard, but also breaking down staunchly defended race barriers in the process. Known as the Moondog, he not only coined the phrase rock and roll, but lived, breathed and championed it, as detailed in Radio 4’s far too short snap shot of his swift rise and fall, Payola, The Pluggers and the Father of Rock and Roll, presented by Nick Barraclough. That Freed stuck his neck out for the cause and didn’t mind upsetting people along the way, is clear from the start, but hearing his son say he was beaten up for being the “son of the wrong guy” - someone who dared play black artists on the radio - is truly disturbing. At his Moondog Coronation Ball, held at the Cleveland Arena in March 1952, 20,000 mostly black music fans gatecrashed the dance, which had to be cancelled. The authorities were not impressed. It took them a few more years to bring him down and off the popular airwaves though. A big name fall guy for the payola scandals (taking bribes to plug certain records), his ‘payments’ appear petty compared to today’s endless bungs. He died in 1965, aged just 43, excessive drinking said to have taken its toll. His daughter disagreed. “He died of a broken heart,” she says. A martyr, many would say, to a great musical cause.

Some buildings’ very bricks are just steeped in musical DNA, like the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. In Radio 2’s The Mother Church of Country Music, a reverential Bob Harris really got under the skin of the place, its history and why so many past and present performers loved, and still love, the iconic country music venue. Beginning life as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in the late 19th century, founded by a fishing entrepreneur who got the call from God, by 1943 it had become the home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, a country music institution that had never missed a Saturday broadcast since 1925. In the case of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, both battling with drink and drugs demons when they performed there, maybe the religious vibes the Ryman gave off offered some kind of personal, religious support. Williams got a record number of encores when he sang Lovesick Blues there in 1949, Cash got barred for smashing all the footlights one night in a drug-induced rage in 1965. A fonder memory for Cash was meeting there, for the first time, his future partner, the comedian and singer June Carter.

It’s not often a radio programme enables you to soak up and revel in the atmosphere and history of a famous venue. This hour, Harris at ease as both expert and fan, made you feel you had paid a personal visit.

The enthusiastic take of Ray Benson during episodes of That Western Swing Thing, Radio 2’s five-parter on the history of the constantly metamorphosing American music style, added that personal intuition all documentaries need to engage the listener. The founder and lead singer of Grammy-winning band, Asleep at the Wheel, Benson’s laid back, fact-packed narration certainly makes for easy listening. Described here as both a music hybrid that “defies easy definition” and “jazz with a cowboy hat on,” another contributor states that you almost need to be an archaeologist to understand Western Swing, digging back through all its layers of history. Amid all the anecdotes, some great images are conjured up too. Like one band getting off the tour bus, dressed to the nines for a concert and being described as strolling like Greek Gods down the main street of a dusty Midwest town. Such ‘visual’ nuggets, along with some great, albeit niche sounds, put the remaining episodes firmly into the must-listen to category.

Unlike the latest slice of Jo Caulfield Won’t Shut Up! series on Radio 4, which must surely have given any would-be comics encouragement to nip down to their local open mic comedy session and stake a claim to a future telling gags. The 30 minutes is peppered with a few decent jokes, but given the cast of supporting writers, it’s pretty dated, very cosy and takes precious few risks. On this evidence, Caulfield needs to up her radio game - or shut up.

PROGRAMMES

Payola, The Pluggers and the Father of Rock and Roll R4, Saturday, November 21

The Mother Church of Country Music - The Ryman Auditorium R2, November 12

That Western Swing Thing R2 (episodes 1&2 of 5), November 10 and 17

Jo Caulfield Won’t Shut Up! R4, November 17, (episode 2 of 4)