Author: Paul Norton

You’ll hear another eclectic batch of 78s from the crates this Sunday on Roy’s Record Room. Roy will treat your ears to some Western Swing from Milton Brown & His Brownies. Jump blues from Tiny Bradshaw. Blood-harmony country from the Louvin Brothers. Skiffle from Chas McDevitt’s Skiffle Band. Vintage jug-band jazz from the Washboard Rhythm Boys. Early Canadian C&W from Hank ‘The Yodeling Ranger’ aka Hank Snow.

And that ain’t all. In honour of John Worthington, CKUA’s Old-Disc jockey, Roy has dug up a red-hot 1939 big band side from Artie Shaw & his Orchestra. Artie and the band blow the doors off the joint on this number. Especially the drummer. Get ready for “Traffic Jam”.

The spin begins this Sunday, March 19^th, 2 PM, Mountain, on CKUA. Dial in for more 78s from the crates on Roooy’s Record Room. Always revolving. Always revealing.

And folks … The second weekend in April marks seventeen years of RRR. With this in mind, I’ll  be celebrating YOU, the Triple-R radio listeners, on the April 9^th show, by spinning an hour of Listener highlights. If you want to get in on the fun, tap out roy@ckua.com.  Let me know where you’re writing from and what tune you’ve heard on RRR that you’d like to hear again. You can also use the ‘Open Mic’ feature on the CKUA app to leave an audio message.

Roy Forbes just can’t stay away from those heavy old shellac platters. This Sunday, it’s all jazz vocal 78s from the crates on Triple-R radio. Mr. Forbes spins a few sides from the likes of Lil Johnson, Anita O’Day with Gene Krupa. The Boswell Sisters, Julia Lee with Jay McShann, Louis Armstrong, the King Cole Trio, and more.

A highlight of many highlights is a hot Decca disc from the revered Gospel singer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Rosetta made several exciting sides with the Lucky Millinder band in the early 40s. She really struts her stuff on “Tall Skinny Papa”. It’ll put a great big smile on your face.

The spin begins this coming Sunday, March 5^th, 2 PM, Mountain, on donor supported CKUA Radio. Dial in for a stack of Jazz Vocal 78s from the crates on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve.

This episode of RRR will be available ‘on demand’ for seven days after the first broadcast –  ondemand.ckua.com

Roy digs deep into the RRR archives this week on Roy’s Record Room, spinning an eclectic stack of platters from folks like Mendelson Joe with Mainline, Irma Thomas, George Jones, the Byrds, Porter Wagoner, Dionne Warwick, the Shirelles, and so many more.

A rollicking highlight is a 1962 Ace 45 from Huey ‘Piano’ Smith & the Clowns. We lost the revered New Orleans piano player a while back. It’s good to have his records spinning on the Triple-R turntable to remind us how much joy there is in life and in music. Get ready to do a little dance with Huey ‘Piano’ Smith & the Clowns – “Popeye”.

The spin begins this coming Sunday, February 26^th,, 2 PM, Mountain, on donor supported CKUA Radio. Drop in for a lively batch of 45s from the archives on Rooooy’s Record Room. Always revolving. Always revealing.

This week, on Triple-R Radio, Roy journeys back to the dawn of recorded sound for a celebration of Black Musical Pioneers at 78 rpm. He starts in 1911 with the Fisk Jubilee Quartet and winds things up in 1935 with Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”.

In-between, you’ll hear an eclectic batch of performances from folks like Clifford Hayes’ Louisville Stompers (1927), Bert Williams (1919), Kokomo Arnold (1934), the Spirits Of Rhythm (1933), Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake (1924), Ethel Waters with James P Johnson (1928) and more, all spinning from ten-inch shellac 78 rpm records.

In the middle is a triple-shot of caffeine from the wild man of early Jazz, Cab Calloway. Cab and his band turn in a frenetic performance of “Some Of These Days”, a song written in 1910 by the black Canadian composer and singer, Shelton Brooks. Shelton also penned “Darktown Strutters’ Ball”. Both songs now reside in the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Hang on to your hats when the hi-de-ho man takes control of the turntable on RRR.

The spin begins this Sunday, February 19^th at 2 PM, MT on donor supported CKUA Radio. Dial in for a celebration of Black Musical Pioneers at 78 rpm on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve.

This week on Triple-R Radio, Roy’s really gonna rock the bop with his annual RRR Mid-Winter Rockin’ 78 Dance Party. Tune in for a whole lotta shaking from Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Wanda Jackson, Janis Martin, Lonnie Donegan, Carl Mann, Little Richard and more, spinning from the original 1950s 78s.

An undeniable highlight of this dance party is a 78 by a guy named Joe Clay. Born in Louisiana, Joe made a few hot sides for the Vik label in 1956. Unfortunately, he had a domineering manager who didn’t let him tour much outside of the New Orleans area. As well, sometime in 1956, Joe scored a spot on the Ed Sullivan show. Instead of having Joe sing his current single, “Duck Tail”, Ed insisted that the lad sing “Only You, a current Platters hit. Joe was only seventeen years old, mired down in the music biz of the 1950s. Roy spins the tune Joe should have played on the Ed Sullivan show – “Duck Tail”.

The non-stop excitement begins this Sunday, February 12^th, 2 PM, Mountain, on CKUA. Consider yourself invited to the annual Mid-Winter Rockin’ 78 Dance Party on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that’ll shake your nerves and rattle your brains

It’s a jazzy shellac world this week on Roy’s Record Room as Triple-R host, Roy Forbes, digs deep in those crates of 78s for some serious early jazz action. You’ll hear indispensable sides from the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Jay McShann’s Kansas City Stompers with Julia Lee, Sidney Bechet & His New Orleans Feetwarmers, Count Basie with Jimmy Rushing. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and so much more.

Among the many highlights is a 1932 platter from the Washboard Rhythm Kings, an informal collective of top-flight jazzers who made numerous loose, jug-band type discs between 1930 and 1935. Their washboard-driven recording of Irving Berlin’s “How Deep Is The Ocean” features some inspired wordless vocalizing from early scat pioneer, Leo Watson. Not to be missed.

The spin begins this Sunday, February 5^th, 2 PM, Mountain, on CKUA. Dial in for a stack of jazzy 78s from the crates on Rooooy’s Record Room, The show that revolves and reveals. Sixteen years and counting.

This week, on Triple-R Radio, Roy checks out a fresh stack of 45s that recently showed up in The Room. You’ll hear the obscure and the familiar from the likes of Doris Troy, Joe Barry, the Flamingos, the Fiestas, Alvin Cash & the Crawlers, the Impressions, the Marvelettes, and so many more.

Here’s a FUN highlight. Before the official British Invasion led by the Beatles in 1964, two of the top English rock ‘n’ roll imports to Canada were Cliff Richard and the Shadows. Cliff and the Shadows were all over the radio, together and separately. Well, actually, most of the early Cliff Richard 45s featured the Shadows as his backing band. Like “Dancing Shoes”, from 1963.

The spin begins this Sunday, January 29^th, at 2 PM on CKUA. Tune in for a Fingerfulla 45s on Roooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve.

Hecks-a-poppin this week on Roy’s Record Room as Mr. Forbes presents another instalment in the ‘78s from the crates series. You’ll hear a 1930 super session with the Blue Yodeler, Jimmie Rodgers, joined by Louis Armstrong and his wife, Lil, for an unforgettable musical meeting. Bessie Smith sings of the devastating Christmas Day Nashville flood of 1926 Hank Williams sings about another river. John Lee Hooker hears his mama and papa talking late into the night.

A true highlight is a 1953 disc from Portuguese singer, Amalia Rodrigues, Queen of Fado. Amalia declares her lifelong love for Fado. She says, “Fado was my beginning, it will be my end”. Portugal declared its love for Amalia by declaring three days of mourning upon her death in 1999.

The spin begins on Sunday, January 22^nd, 2 PM, Mountain, on CKUA. Dial in for more 78s from the crates on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve.