More 78s From The Crates

Buckle up for takeoff. The RRR rapidly revolving ‘78s from the crates’ series is back. Tune in for some stellar shellac from Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Fess Williams & His Royal Flush Orchestra, the Boswell Sisters, Buddy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald & Her Savoy Eight, Bill Monroe and many more – all from the original 78s.

That’s Sunday, May 16, 1 PM Mountain Time for more 78s from the Crates on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve, and revolve, and revolve.

A Shellac Shack Shuffle

Roy spins a cool batch of 78s this week on Triple R Radio. You’ll hear early 30s pre-swing era jazz from McKinney’s Cotton pickers, Jack Bland’s Rhythmakers and more; early country from the Carter Family, J E Mainers Mountaineers; 50s honky-tonk from Ramblin’ Jimmie Dolan, the Delmore Brothers, Hank Williams, and Jess Willard; some fine vocalizing from RRR faves Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday

Tune in on Sunday, May 9th, 1 PM Mountain, (repeated Wednesday, 4 AM) for an all-78 Shellac Shack Shuffle on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve, and revolve, and revolve.

 

Two Hour Spring Fundraiser Extravaganza

It’ll be nothing but thrills, chills and spills this Sunday afternoon when Triple-R Radio host Roy Forbes hits the CKUA airwaves with World Spinning host Lark Clark for two hours of shellac and vinyl on Roy’s Record Room.

The first all-78 rpm hour will feature RRR fundraising favourites from Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Roy Montrell, Smiley Lewis, Maddox Brothers & Rose, Etta James, Big Maybelle, the Dominos with Clyde McPhatter, Tennessee Ernie & Ella Mae Morse, Anisteen Allen, and more.

In the second hour, the turntable slows down to 45 rpm, but the music doesn’t let up, with sides from the Knickerbockers, Dusty Springfield, the Equals, Little Richard, Nina Simone, the Joe Cuba Sextet, Lonnie Mack, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and more.

Tune in on Sunday, May 2, 1 to 3 PM, Mountain, as Roy and Lark play some of RRR’s biggest hits from the archives, all the while encouraging you to donate to make this Spring Fundraiser another one for the history books.

It’s a million-dollar bash on CKUA and Roy’s Record Room. Join the crew and get in on the truly exciting last Sunday of the fundraiser.

Go to www.ckua.com for all the info.

Be there or be L7!

Spring Fundraiser Dance Date

Put your hands on your hips, let your backbone slip. Aside from donating, this is the key message in the music of the upcoming Spring fundraising edition of Triple-R Radio. Things lift off with Roy’s original 1966 copy of Wilson Pickett’s “Land Of 1000 Dances” featuring all the snaps, crackles and pops of a well played 55-year-old 45. The merriment continues with some early Alberta rockabilly from Scotty Stevenson; 1960s dance-fad singles from Huey ‘Piano’ Smith & The Clowns, Dee Dee Sharp, Sam Cooke, and Miriam Makeba; country boogie from Moon Mullican; 1930s movers from Lil Armstrong and Duke Ellington; dining and dancing tips from Aretha Franklin, and more.

That’s Sunday, April 25, 1pm, Mountain. Tune in as World Spinning host Lark Clark, joins RRR host Roy Forbes, for a lively hour of 45s and 78s – it’s a Spring Fundraising Dance Date on Roooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve.

If you want to donate, go to www.ckua.com for full details.

See you Sunday!

78s from the Crates

Roy returns to the ‘78s from the crates’ series this week with a stack of cool shellac from the Stan Getz Quintet, the Rhythm Pals, Claude King & His Hillbilly Ramblers, Ella Mae Morse, Camille Howard, Fats Waller and many more.

That’s Sunday, April 18,1 PM, Mountain, for a few 78s from the crates on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve, and revolve, and revolve…

Now officially fifteen years and counting.

A 15th Birthday Bash!

On April 10, 2006, a brand-new show hit the CKUA airwaves. Fifteen years and a day later, RRR host, Roy Forbes, celebrates a decade-and-a-half of Triple-R Radio with esteemed CKUA announcer Grant Stovel along for the ride.

Grant and Roy talk about Roy’s lifelong passion for vinyl and shellac, spinning sides about buttercups, psychotic reactions, Tennessee hustlers, electrocution, love drops and more.

You’ll hear a few of Roy’s record collecting stories, from a sock hop at Frank Ross Junior Secondary high school in Dawson Creek, BC, to a cluttered, unheated back room of a Peace River, AB, junk shop. The playlist is jam-packed with treasures from Count Five, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers, the Fort Worth Doughboys, the Esquires, Wanda Jackson, Jimmie Rodgers (with Louis & Lil Armstrong), Barry Allen, and more.

Join the festivities on Sunday, April 11, 1pm Mountain, as Grant Stovel and Roy Forbes celebrate fifteen years of Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that continues to revolve, and revolve, and revolve.

Listen here:ckua.com/listen-live

Atlantic Records at 78 RPM

This week, Roy will be mining the RRR archives for a stack of shellac celebrating the early years of the revered Atlantic label. You’ll hear some tough R&B, doo-wop, blues, and early rock ‘n’ roll from 1947 to 1957 featuring the sounds of Big Joe Turner, Stick McGhee & His Spo-Dee-O-Dee Buddies, The Clovers, Ruth Brown, Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, T-Bone Walker, LaVerne Baker and more.

That’s Sunday, April 4, 1 PM, Mountain, for Atlantic Records at 78 rpm on Rooooy’s Record Room, the show that is a week away from celebrating fifteen years on the CKUA Radio Network.

Listen to the show on-line HERE.

Penguin Eggs Review of Edge of Blue

His first album of original material in two decades feels as natural as his first recording.

by Pat Langston

Edge of Blue, the new album by Roy Forbes, glances backward while simultaneously speaking to the present.

The record is a tasty blend of soul, old-school rock’n’roll and country, with Forbes’s high, quavering voice—a voice that, decades ago, gave us the definitive cover of Hank Williams’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry—positioned front and centre.

When he decided to make the album, the West Coast artist quite consciously dipped into the past.

“I wanted to get back to the spirit of Kid Full of Dreams,” he says, referring to his debut album, released in 1975 when he was performing under the name of Bim. Back then, “I dug my heels in and said, ‘I want to sing everything live (off the floor).’ That’s the way you want to get me.”

Over the years, he’s taken advantage of technology for some records but for Edge of Blue the basic vocal tracks are live. There was some overdubbing and a couple of fixes along the way but not the autotuning and other tricks that make some singers sound so perfect it’s almost scary.

Making the album was “like it used to be. For the most part, what you’re hearing is what I was feeling. The vocals aren’t perfect but they are heartfelt.”

Even his pre-studio technique has an element of times past. When he’s working on a new song, for instance, he often uses a cassette recorder. He says it sounds terrible but he likes the tactile quality of the recorder’s buttons.

And though no one would accuse Forbes of living in the past, he mentions that most of the music he listens to comes from an earlier time, when today’s multi-track recording technology wasn’t available. If you’ve ever listened to the collection of 78s, 45s, and LPs he plays on his Sunday afternoon CKUA show Roy’s Record Room you’ll know what he means. Add it all up and this album feels like a first album to him.

“I can’t explain it, but it does,” says the man who has recorded 14 of them, including a couple as a member of UHF with Shari Ulrich and Bill Henderson. “I’ve kind of come full circle.”Continue reading

CFMA Nomination for Producer of the Year

Roy got an early Christmas present this year…a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination for Producer of the Year for his new album ‘Edge of Blue’. Since 1985, Roy has produced or co-produced all of his own albums as well as records by other artists. He is tickled to get the nod for this area of his work from the CFMA ‘Producer of the Year’ jury.

The awards will be held virtually on April 9th and 10th, 2021. Find out more here: folkawards.ca

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