It is noon on a hot summer Sunday. Earth and Sky, a syndicated science short featured on public radio stations across the country, has just finished its explanation of why roosters crow at dawn. A familiar, but shriller than usual, voice, taking on an exaggerated New York accent, exclaims, 'Chickens! Don't get me stahted!"
Immediately, the introductory strains of Louis Jordan's jump classic Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens waft from my radio speakers. Additional "chicken songs" follow, including zydeco and rhythm and blues selections, before the set culminates in Little Feat's rock and roll tour de force Dixie Chicken (which, by the way, also happens to be my wedding song).
The show is WYEP's "Roots and Rhythm Mix," and the voice belongs to host Kate Borger. Although the chicken set is a once in a lifetime occurrence, the show is a weekly feature of WYEP's weekend lineup, in which the DJs are volunteers and the usual playlist is set aside in favor of individual choice and personal expression. The show's name, however, may be a bit of a misnomer. This is not your standard roots show. If one tunes in with the expectation of a show that traces the various influences that have come together to inform our contemporary musical personality, and especially if one does so with preconceived ideas as to what those influences might be, one is likely to be disappointed. Instead, what one gets is a spicy gumbo of traditional and contemporary folk music in the broadest sense of the term, a musical journey with Kate serving as tour guide. Typically, she takes us all over the map, but she always includes a few extra and extended stops in New Orleans, Texas, Brazil and Africa.
Personally, I don't like everything Kate plays. I am not, for example, nearly as fond of accordion music as she apparently is ("Accordions don't play Lady of Spain," she explains, "People do."), and I can live quite comfortably without Spike Jones. If I were doing a roots show I would probably feature less Cajun/zydeco, Western swing/honkytonk and Brazilian/African pop in favor of more blues (both acoustic and electric), reggae, Appalachian and Celtic music, three-chord, stripped-down rock and roll, some doo-wop and maybe even a little bit of jazz.
But what I, or anyone else, would do is beside the point. This is Kate's show, and more than any other radio program I know, this one uniquely expresses the personality, preferences and sensibilities of its host. It is her own personal vision of "roots" that is explored and her own musical tastes that are indulged. Feigned accents and chicken and accordion jokes are actually relatively rare, and commentary on the music, the analytical or intellectual explanation of its history and development that one might expect from a "roots" show, is virtually nonexistent. For the most part, Kate keeps the interruptions to a minimum and lets the music speak for itself. And it speaks for her, as well. While DJs on commercial radio stations try to construct "personalities" out of gimmicks, silly and sometimes offensive behavior, and occasional forays into sexual harassment, Kate accomplishes what they don't simply by being herself.
Little by little, Kate's musical selections, and the way she puts those selections together, reveal pieces of her personality. Beginning her Fourth of July show with "patriotic" songs by Paul Robeson, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie and Stan Freberg, Kate makes no secret of her political leanings. A week later, she gives us a glimpse of her maternal side when she uses a feature celebrating Woody Guthrie's birthday to spotlight some of his children's songs. Although I have never met, spoken to or seen Kate, for three hours on Sunday afternoons she stops by my ears for a visit and brings along a stack of records to keep me company as I work in the yard or clean the basement or balance the checkbook or take the dog to the park or just sit on the porch watching the grass bake, and to share with me the simple pleasure of melody, harmony and rhythm.
And that simple pleasure is what "Roots and Rhythm" is all about. I noticed while researching this review that if you listen too analytically, patterns begin to emerge and the show can start to seem a bit unbalanced and redundant. It is the reviewer's curse. While it is my job to be analytical, sometimes analysis can interfere with the spontaneity and immediacy that makes the show worth reviewing in the first place.
This show is not meant to be analyzed, criticized or intellectualized -- it's meant to be enjoyed. What stands out most about Kate's show is that she enjoys doing it. One can easily imagine her two-stepping across the studio during sets. She is there to have fun and she cordially invites us to join in. Once we lighten up and let the music into our ears and heart and feet, once we give ourselves up to it and let Kate take us where she wants to go, we just might find ourselves kicking up our heels, dancing right along with her and occasionally shouting "Laissez les bon temps roulet."
Page posted 8/99
