Vinyl Voyage Radio

  Songs in the Key of Dave – Ep 4: We Did Something Right This special episode was recorded around the kitchen table in Florida, as my sister Lori and I visited our parents, Lynn and Dave, for Mom’s birthday. It’s the first time the four of us have been together in nearly a decade. Over gin and tonics, we laughed, swapped stories, and revisited the soundtrack of our family life—Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, the Oak Ridge Boys, Vikki Carr, and more. Along the way we talked about concerts, campers, curfews, and even tornadoes on the plains. The episode closes with Mom’s simple but powerful reflection: “Dave, we did something right.” Join us for an hour of music, memories, and family. Listen Sunday at 2pm, Eastern -- or, right now on Mixcloud.

  Episode 2 of Songs in the Key of Dave premieres tomorrow at 2pm Eastern on Vinyl Voyage Radio. This episode takes us to the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Featured in this episode are John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson and many more. Can't wait until tomorrow? Listen on-demand via Mixcloud .

I've been a Neil Diamond fan all of my life. To celebrate his 77th birthday on January 24th, we are featuring his first hit song from 1966...and one of his best: "Solitary Man." The Song of the Week segment premieres at 10am, central and repeats at 10pm. Listen to the song played on original vinyl from his 1973 Double Gold LP.

As usual, put some new albums into the rotation recently.  Some classics here.

We all have those songs which touch us in certain ways. Music has that ability---to stir emotions, to wrangle memories. We have the tendency to claim songs as our own for what they do within us. For me, no song is more poignant and powerful than “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” The song was written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell, their only collaboration as songwriters. Russell was dying of cancer at the time and his lyrics for this song would be the last he ever wrote. The origin of the phrase is unknown, but it did appear as the title of an article in Kiwanis magazine in 1924 and then later became the motto for Father Flanagan’s Boy’s Town in the 1940s. Written in the late 60s, the song conjures images of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam. In fact, every year when I teach Vietnam, I use music to tell the story and “He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother” highlights 1970, the year of it’s release. However, for me, the song has nothing to do with Vietnam. For me, the song i...