Sonic Byways with Jamie Lynn

Mat Kearney hops in RedRide (aka Taxi to Visiting Rock Stars) and joins me in the studio for an unplugged set. Son of a mermaid and still recovering from the Irish Potato Famine, Kearney pontificates about sweet potato pie, women in purple boots, and the real reason people just can't seem to graduate from Chico State.

This week on Sonic Byways, Jamie detains her favorite traveling band of friends in the back room of Reggie's 42nd St. Tavern for some hearty guffaws, the good word on the new album and to get a closer look at Bailey's finely-coiffed moustache.

...let's hope so!  Jamie heads to the back room of the Soapbox Laundrolounge and Night Club, and tonight, the Sonic Byways Lair, to catch-up with Chris Henderson of Bronze Radio Return.  An appreciative crowd soaked up the positive on-stage vibes, and rock and roll's nicest lead singer effuses on the importance of positive energy, radios with knobs and writing original music--and in a confessional, never-before-recorded radio moment, Henderson admits he's intimidated by cover bands.

It's a dark and stormy night on Sonic Byways, a perfect time for a good visit from an old friend.  And corralling her onto the mic.  Emily Hyatt from Aspen, and now Baltimore, drives down to Wilmington, grabs Jamie, and drags her to a beach bungalow in Oak Island, North Carolina.  Jamie straps Emily to the chair (this is getting good), introduces her to Warren Zevon, and peer-pressures her into co-hosting Sonic Byways.  Emily provides her own one-liners; you just can't script this sort of thing.

What do Patrolled By Radar, Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground and The Wood Brothers have in common?  They were playing across borders, in unison, the day the MP3  player died.
Never mind the end of the world. This was way more catastrophic.
Jamie, stuck in the Dominican Republic; tropical rain falling down, music blasting through the MP3 player and across the palm trees until--dead silence.  Battery too low.  System shutdown.
She had an outlet but unfortunately, she had no charger.   So what were the last tunes on the desert island?  An amalgamation of punk, folk and rockabilly, in no particular order.  This week on Sonic Byways, we'll revisit that fateful soundtrack.  Turn it up, bring your chargers--or better yet, throw a gal an IPOD.

Jamie's sailing off the edge of the world before the ball drops, so here's an advanced musical surprise.  However: Do Not Tune In Before December 22, 2012.  I'm serious.  This is one present you can't open early; you'll jinx it, and then where will we be? Flailing about the universe without a post-apocalypic music bed.  Come December 23, here's a sublime Sonic Byways for those who wait.

Welcome to Sonic Byways from Wilmington, NC - Jamie sets up shop in her home studio; think humidity, unidentified "critters" and walls that are talking.  The new Sonic Byways studio dates back to 1858 - but don't worry, the music is a little more current.  This week, we'll discover Yarn, the Wood Brothers, some of Wilmington's finer speakeasies and music venues, and revisit the grandeur of Peter Wolf.

While gettin' jiggy in my home studio in Wilmington, North Carolina, I'm reminiscing about the Wilds of Wyoming and a band to be reckoned with, Patti Fiasco.   I first heard the Fiasco outdoors, lots of hay and a forest and barn-burning guitar riffs and then, they moved  a few blocks over to Jill Hunter's rip-roaring Lander Bar, where they thoroughly lit the town on fire.  I told them about a little place called Aspen and now, they're coming.  Enjoy a vintage Sonic Byways and kindred sounds from Johnette Napolitano, just in time for Patti Fiasco's Aspen debut.  As of press time, the band is still on fire.