Programming note: This episode was originally scheduled to air August 5, 2024. Due to technically difficulties, most of the show was not broadcast. Therefore, WVPE will give this one another shot a full broadcast on Monday, August 19, at 7 PM.
Andrew Morris. Julie Bates and their talented bandmates, Brian McCarty and Brandon Day, set the table for fun with their superb musicianship and quirky banter on this week’s edition of the Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour. The show begins with a brief exchange between host George Schricker and announcer Derek Jensen regarding his ingenious use of shirts to engage in time travel and spins out from there with a Note from Rosie, during which Pam Gunterman reads some apt words from German playwright Bertolt Brecht – “If you don’t have fun, you don’t have a show.” Since the show has already blasted off, Andrew Morris cleverly introduces his Bluegrasstronaughts song to enhance the evening’s festivities: “Hoosiers, we have a problem.” Julie Bates–scratching frantically on her fiddle – appropriately begins the countdown: “6-5-4-3-2-1,” and the band is off and running. The song, an homage to bluegrass heroes gone by, begins: “Earl Scruggs in a spaceship on his way to Mars, pickin’ away on the banjo at 100 thousand miles an hour.” The tribute continues – Kenny Baker and Jimmy Martin – punctuated with unbelievable breaks by McCarty, Day, Bates, and Morris – and their timing and prowess on each of their instruments are genuinely “stellar.” (I diverge to mention the remarkable mix throughout this program by recording engineer Nate Butler, who has captured this group with Grammy award-like perfection.) Julie Bates sings the following number, a dance tune, one of her own, Going Downtown. Using her fiddle to drive the melody, Julie swings the tempo and sings: “I’m goin’ down . . . town in a hurry, gonna see my baby in the city tonight. I’m goin’ downtown around 7:30, gonna swing my baby ‘round the city tonight.” During the bridge, she sings the fun: “Well, every rose has its thorns, every wrong has a right, every dog has its day, and every week has a Saturday night!”
At the break, Sonoma County, California - transplanted songwriter Christopher Lods sings his 60’s inspired psychedelic ballad, Microscopic Circus. He breaks loose as Nathan Waddill lays down a bubbly bass line and punctuates the rhythm with his harmonica. He sings: “The microscopic circus is coming to town, and millions of people are comin’ from miles around, bringin’ telescopes and microscopes too, your magnifying glasses all covered in molasses. We’ll pitch a tent upon a hill, come to teach our children free will.” The Shoot the Moon game show follows. Sandy Garrison, director of the Marshall County Museum, and Robert Listenberger, Mayor of Plymouth, playfully engage in a fanciful list of topics keyed to the biographies of Andrew Morris and Julie Bates. The fun ensues as they field questions with titles such as Kansas City Conundrum, Hoosier Bandits, and Once in a Weil – the latter question referring to Andrew Morris’s love of Kurt Weil’s Three Penny Opera.
The Hot Mess, the next song in the last section of the show, refers to a menu item served in a restaurant in Kansas City called The Brick. The lyrics describe the dish: “There’s a dish at the Brick at the crossroads, it’s a pile of tater tots with some nacho cheese, chili beans, sour cream, and tomatoes, they call it the hot mess, just like me–just like meeeeeee!” In the lyrical lead-up, Morris seems to be channeling one of his mentors, the late great John Hartford: “I got a pile of dirty clothes, my washing machine’s been broke since . . . last month, there’s crumbs on the floor, and my old sweeper cord is a . . . piece of junk, I got a parking violation from each state in the nation in my . . . glove box…” Each of these words gets articulated much like Hartford, whose love of the percussive qualities of syllables is demonstrated in all of his albums and poetry – think Aereo-Plain or Word Movies. Andrew follows with a sad and beautiful country ballad, Roann, that he penned using the name of an Indiana town by the same name. “Roann, Roann, my dear old friend, I’m so sorry this is the way it ends.” The tender lyric hangs in three-part harmony at the end, ending on a suitable and rich set of heartfelt notes. The show wraps up with John Bahler, the music producer and consummate cross-picker, belting out the theme song. It’s a whole lot of fun in a small package – your ears will thank you for listening.