Folk and Country Spectacular featuring WORT Show Hosts 8/23 at the Bur Oak 1-4pm

Howdy Friends, Bobbie and Bill C. Malone are back in Madison to celebrate Bill's 91st Birthday this week and they are currently hosting Back to the Country in person on WORT FM. I had to leave to get back to work, but you can still catch the entire 3-hour hillbilly jamboree on WORT's archive https://archive.wortfm.org by looking for the 8/20 episode of Back to the Country (Thanks to Tina Kaske-Sanchez for the photo w/ myself, Bill, Bobbie, and engineer Aaron Scholz).

And if you are in Madison tonight, be sure to swing by Mystery To Me bookstore where Bill and Bobbie will be discussing their brand new book on Riders In The Sky with Doug Moe at 6pm. You can pick up the book at the event, or stream the event online: https://www.mysterytomebooks.com/bobbie-and-bill-malone-conversation-doug-moe

And before they scoot out of town, be sure to celebrate Bill's 91st and WORT's 50th birthdays this Saturday at the Bur Oak from 1-4pm when many of the station's morning DJs, myself included, will be pickin' and grinnin' to raise money for the station (which, frustratingly, just lost its CPB federal funding for the 2026 fiscal year). Friday morning's Mud Acres host Chris Powers will be opening the afternoon, Tuesday's Green Morning Radio host Brian Hirsch will be playing a set with his stellar bluegrass getup the Grazers, I'll do several numbers with friends, and then Bill and Bobbie will be headlining the event (and letting me sit in on upright bass!). It's sure to be a great celebration and I believe there are still a few tickets left. Thanks to Isthmus for a great write-up of the event this week https://isthmus.com/events/bill-bobbie-malone-nate-gibson-grazers-chris-powers/ and the Bur Oak for hosting! 

Tickets are available here: https://theburoakmadison.com/shows/wort-50th-birthday-concert-series-folk-and-country-spectacular

Memorial Union Terrace Gig Tonight 8/14 at 7pm

We've got some beautiful weather here in Madison, WI and the Milwaukee Brewers have the night off from dominating MLB. What is there to do? How about a free acoustic show at the Memorial Union Terrace looking out on the Lake Mendota sunset while the brats and burgers sizzle nearby?

I'll be singin' and pickin' guitar with some of my WORT FM friends from 7-8:15 and there's a great bluegrass band that follows. If you're out on the town, come on by and we'll sing a song for YOU!

Chess Country up next on Back to the Country (WORT FM 89.9)

Last month, Rachel and I went to Chicago and took a tour of the Chess Records historic studio. We saw Leonard and Phil's offices, the studio where Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Etta James, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and so many more recorded, Willie Dixon's bass, some original recording equipment in the control room, and much more. Many thanks again for an amazing tour, Janine! It's a blues and rock and roll oasis that every music fan should visit.

Though we thoroughly loved the tour, I didn't hear any talk of the great country music that came out on Chess. Between 1950 and 1960, Chess (and its subsidiaries Argo and Checker) released a handful of really great country records including Sam Phillips' first ever country recordings, some gems by Freddie Fender, Leon Russell and Pig Robbins, as well as seven releases on their own 4800- country series between 1954-55 (all Louisiana Hayride artists including one by Elvis Presley's then girlfriend!). Just last month I finally found the 7th and final 45 to complete the set and tomorrow I'll share the A and B sides of all seven. And of course, one cannot forget Chuck Berry and the profound impact he had in the country music sphere!

Tomorrow's Back to the Country on WORT FM show will shine a light on this country side of Chess with three hours of my very favorite Chess country 45s and 78s. Hope you can tune from 9am-noon CST via 89.9fm in southern WI or streaming at wortfm.org

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers to play the High Noon Saloon Patio This Thursday 8/7

Howdy Friends, Nate Gibson and the Stardazers will be playing a FREE all-ages outdoors show this Thursday [8/7] at the High Noon Saloon patio from 5:30-7:30. We love playing the High Noon and this one is sure to go down as a grand time had by all. It's our last Madison gig of the summer and we'd love to celebrate with y'all! [photo from our gig at the Al Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, WI last week by Joe Shaffer].

And speaking of that gig last week, I want to give a huge gratitude shout out to both the Baraboo Concerts on the Square and the Al Ringling Theatre staffs. The Stardazers and I had a blast playing to a great crowd of 250+ folks and we were even treated to a special behind-the-scenes tour of their 1915 architectural gem before being shown to our 11 separate dressing rooms for the night. Ha! I also want to specifically thank Jamie McCloskey (just his second gig as a Stardazer) and Jordan Kowalski (his first!) for crushing it onstage! Lastly, thanks to everyone who came out to honky-tonk with us and we'll hope to see ya in Baraboo again soon, or maybe even Madison (8/7 High Noon Saloon) or Spring Green (8/22 Sh*tty Barn) later this month!

Jordan Kowalski, Andrew Harrison, Jamie McCloskey, Nate Gibson

A great night for honky-tonking in a 1915 theatre

Starry skies for the Stardazers

Andrew Harrison, Nate Gibson, Jordan Kowalski, and Jamie McCloskey

Preaching the Starday recitation gospel

View from the Soundcheck of the Al Ringling Theatre, Baraboo, WI