Performances:
J.D. Short: “Slidin’ Delta”
David Nelson Band: “Slidin’ Delta”
Robert Johnson: Excerpt from “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”
Sonny Boy Williamson II: Excerpt from “Eyesight to the Blind”
G.E. Smith with the Flying Other Brothers: “Eyesight to the Blind”
Son House: Excerpt from “Walkin’ Blues”
Robert Johnson: Excerpt from “Walkin’ Blues”
Son House: Excerpt from “Empire State Blues”
G.E. Smith with the Flying Other Brothers: “Empire State”
Rev. Gary Davis: “Hesitation Blues (Instrumental)”
Rev. Gary Davis: Excerpt from “Hesitation Blues”
Flying Other Brothers with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady: “Hesitation Blues”

This episode explores the country blues roots of California rock music, with licensed rare and historical performances (hosted by Tony Bove of the Flying Other Brothers). No form of music is more genuinely American than the blues, which is embodied within early jazz and became the basis for rhythm and blues and eventually rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, and hard rock. What we now know as “the blues” developed separately in three different regions of the South: the Mississippi Delta and eastern Texas at the turn of the century, and in the Piedmont region of the Carolinas ten years later. These rural blues were carried from the plantations and prison farms to urban areas such as Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles — where it evolved into the electric blues and rhythm and blues.

Play: Episode 3: Country Blues Roots of California Rock

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Featuring:

Roscoe Holcomb: “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow”
Peter Rowan and the Rowan Brothers: “Man Of Constant Sorrow”
Excerpts: versions of “John Hardy” (Carter Family and Lead Belly)
David Nelson Band: “John Hardy’s Wedding”
Woody Guthrie with Sonny Terry: “Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad”
Flying Other Brothers with special guest David Nelson: “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad”

Many of the songs that inspire today’s rock, folk-rock, and bluegrass bands from California are rooted in what is called Americana: the country blues of the southern states, the cowboy songs of the western states, and that high lonesome sound of bluegrass and country ballads from Appalachia.

Play: Podcast 1: Americana Roots of California Folk-Rock

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