Can't remember where I found this web radio site -- if you told me about it, let me know so I can give proper credit -- but Boot Liquor is about the best I've heard for that new-old-timey sound. They throw in enough vintage Jones, Owens, Travis, Paycheck and Monroe to keep it interesting, but the selection of insurgents and revivalists is equally good: Bottle Rockets, Beat Farmers, Dave Alvin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and many more. Kind of light on Bloodshot arteests like the Wacos and Alejandro Escovedo, but that's a quibble when the playlists are so good.
It's mercifully free of hippie residue (or residual hippies?), in contrast to the overrated KPIG, which is only available by subscription now anyway, thanks to our friends at Clear Channel. Boot Liquor is literally run out of someone's house via DSL that allows 90 concurrent listeners, so if you like it, think about sending 'em a check.
Posted by Vernam at February 19, 2004 10:06 PM | TrackBackYep, we're definitely on the same wavelength on this one. Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Beatles, etc fit well in the format, even if they're not as obscure as many of the other folks on the playlist.
The sad part is, I've never figure out how to, musically, work Marie Provost into the playlist (a personal favorite of mine).
Personally, I'm just another "burned out from too much classic rock" 40-ish guy who only recently realized that "country" music doesn't have to suck. But, without exposure to a wider range of artists, which I believe Boot Liquor provides (and, to a lesser extent, the Americana formats showing up on Sirius, XM Radio, DirecTV, Echostar, and College Radio), we've been brainwashed to think there's only "pop music with spurs".
I do admit, though, that the ad with the guy singing "I Feel Like a Woman", in the carload of guys, is pretty funny.
Posted by: Roy at February 20, 2004 03:51 PMHey, glad to hear about the increased capacity, Roy. I hesitated before posting last night for fear there'd be a run on your bandwidth, and I'd be left listening to the supercomputer hum in the hall. My blog readership is so vast!
What I enjoy most about your playlist is that it's light on orthodoxy -- I lose patience w/ the rigid traditionalists out there. "Let's pretend we never heard the Beatles!" Your ratio of vintage to recent is good, and it's cool how your web "What's Playing" works in real time (which Real.com, ironically, hasn't quite mastered!).
Not to mention you just played two different friends of mine . . . My fiddler, Joel Batty, was on the Freakwater track, and I crossed paths with Dennis Jay while living in DC.
Posted by: VC at February 20, 2004 03:37 PMHey, just a little more info on Boot Liquor. We've got more bandwidth these days, 250+ streams, so it's much less likely you're going to get shut out during the busy times (which was quite common a couple months ago). Tends to peak about 10am-3pm PST. No surprise there.
The music originates from my home DSL connection, true, then goes through the SomaFM hub in SF to be skattered to the far reaches. We're working on moving the whole setup to a colocation facility, which should give more stability and different streaming rates. But, we're still in early stages of that project.
You're right on target on the format, which typically means you need people that are comfortable with hearing vintage country music played back-to-back with more contemporary, harder-edged stuff (like Bloodshot). But, for the most part, I think it works.
And, yes, I was a great fan of KPIG too but twice got burned by trying to sign up, then cancel, my Real Audio subscription. The complaints by the Car Talk guys are right on target.
Roy
www.BootLiquor.com
Hey, Vernam, thanks for the plug. Unfortunately, the email address you sent me bounced. Send me another one and get me that music ya promised.
Roy
Posted by: Roy at February 20, 2004 02:58 PM