Small Town Blues: Jeff Tweedy and Jimmy Duck Holmes

Wilco frontman, Jeff Tweedy tells of the impact on his songs of growing up in the blue collar town, Belleville, Illinois. Music became his creative outlet in high school and lead to founding the seminal Americana band, Uncle Tupelo. We hear from Jeff in his Chicago studio “The Loft” about the emergence of Wilco and the place that making music has in his life, including work with Woody Guthrie’s lyrics and producing records with Mavis Staples. In Bentonia, Mississippi, playing blues and running the Blue Front Cafe, has been a lifetime role for guitarist Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. Duck talks about juke joints and moonshine in the Jim Crow South til now— and how he got the name Duck. We’ll also hear music of jukes, honky-tonks and nightclubs from Hank Williams and George Jones to Bessie Smith and Mary Lou Williams.

HOUR ONE

Open Bed: That's Not the Issue Wilco
Wilco A.M., Reprise

No Depression Uncle Tupelo
No Depression, Rockville Records

Screen Door Uncle Tupelo
No Depression, Rockville Records

Someday Soon Wilco
Being There, Reprise

Sandusky Uncle Tupelo
March 16-20, 1992, Rockville Records

SEGMENT: Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett

Instrumental: Airline to Heaven Billy Bragg and Wilco
Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, Nonesuch

SEGMENT: Jeff Tweedy 2

Do Re Mi Woody Guthrie
Folkways: The Original Vision, Smithsonian Folkways

California Stars Wilco and Billy Bragg
Mermaid Avenue, Nonesuch

Instrumental: Train Breakdown Woody Guthrie
My Dusty Road, Rounder

SEGMENT: Jeff Tweedy 3

Wilco (The Song) Wilco
Wilco [The Album], Nonesuch

SEGMENT: Jeff Tweedy 4

Normal American Kids Wilco
Schmilco, dBpm Records

War on War Wilco
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Nonesuch

Country Disappear Wilco
Wilco [The Album], Nonesuch

Closing Bed: Sandusky Uncle Tupelo
March 16-20, 1992, Rockville Records

HOUR TWO

Open Bed: Back at the Chicken Shack Jimmy Smith
Back at the Chicken Shack, Blue Note

Chicken Shack Boogie Amos Milburn
Blues, Barrelhouse & Boogie Woogie: 1946-1955, Capitol

God's Own Jukebox Jessie Winchester
Third Down and 110 to Go, Bearsville

Honky Tonkin' Hank Williams
The Original Singles Collection... Plus, Polygram

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On Big Maybelle
The Complete OKeh Sessions 1953-'55, OKeh/Epic

Froggy Bottom Jimmy Witherspoon
Goin' to Kansas City Blues, RCA

Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer Bessie Smith
The Essential Bessie Smith, Sony Legacy

Instrumental: Froggy Bottom Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams Trio 1944 Roll 'Em, Solo Art

White Lightning George Jones
The Hits, Mercury

Moonshiner Uncle Tupelo
89/93: An Anthology, Columbia/Legacy

Cherry Ball Blues Skip James
The Complete Early Recordings, Yazoo

Hard Time Killing Floor Chris Thomas King
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Mercury

Instrumental: Juke Little Walter
The Essential Little Walter, MCA

SEGMENT: Jimmy "Duck" Holmes

Susie Que Dale Hawkins
Guitar Player Presents Legends of Guitar- Rock: the '50s, Vol. 1, Rhino

Sister's Coming Home Willie Nelson
The Complete Atlantic Sessions, Rhino

Small Town Talk Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles, Rhino

Closing Bed: Rock House Parts I and II Ray Charles
What'd I Say, Atlantic

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Drifting Cowboy Blues with Texan Charley Crockett & Homeland Bluegrass with Virginian Linda Lay

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 Live with Piano Prince Davell Crawford and Native American Songs and Sounds from Pow-Wow to Pop