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Soundcheck

Friday, March 14, 2008
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  • Gram Parsons

    The Tragic Figure Behind Country-Rock

    Name any number of modern-day alternative-country bands and you can be sure that their influences include the singer and songwriter Gram Parsons. In working with groups like The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Parsons fused country and rock and created something entirely fresh. Today, David N. Meyer, the author of the new biography Twenty Thousand Roads, talks about Parsons' music and tumultuous life. Later: the Peruvian style "Chicha" blends indigenous melodies, Columbian cumbia, and surf rock. The band Chicha Libre performs live in our studio. This is a repeat edition of Soundcheck.

Rock's "Grievous Angel"

Singer and songwriter Gram Parsons infused country sounds into rock during the 1960s and early ‘70s, both as a solo artist and a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, the International Submarine Band and The Byrds. (Some credit Parsons with the countrified sounds on the Rolling Stones’ "Exile on Main Street.") We talk with David N. Meyer, author of the a new Parsons biography, Twenty Thousand Roads.

Chicha Libre

The band Chicha Libre plays a mixture of Latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop inspired by Peruvian music from the Amazon. This Brooklyn-based group revives forgotten Chicha classics and puts their own cross-cultural spin on them as we hear in a live performance.

Chica Libre's MySpace

audience

Soundcheck Smackdown: When Contemporary Met Classical

Soundcheck

Like vegetables stuck into a delicious meal, contemporary classical music is forced on concert audiences before they are allowed to enjoy their Brahms. So says humorist, critic and author Joe Queenan. Today, Queenan and John Berry, Artistic Director with English National Opera, join us for a Soundcheck Smackdown debate on the merits of contemporary music.

musical clouds

You Are What You Hear

Soundcheck

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi takes us through some of the most famously botched song lyrics in rock history. We’ll explore why the words we make up are usually more interesting than the real version. Then, listeners confess their favorite and most embarrassing reinvented lyrics.

Leave a comment: Give us your favorite set of misheard lyrics! Were you disappointed when you learned the actual words?

Rosanne Cash and Mark O'Connor

Soundcheck

For her, he was a father. For him, he was a boyhood hero. For the nation, he was an icon. Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash and composer and violinist Mark O'Connor join us to talk about how Johnny Cash has inspired their musical collaboration. And they will play live.

Katy

Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll

Soundcheck

Every year, popular and critical opinion somehow converge to settle on a "summer song." In 2007, it was Rihanna's "Umbrella." The year before, it was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. The practice stretches back to the very dawn of pop radio. Yet defining the essence of a "summer song" is a bit elusive. We enlist the help of Blender editor at large Lizzy Goodman -- and of our Soundcheck listeners, in an online poll.

Cast your vote: Soundcheck's Summer Song Poll 2008

Can't decide? Check out audio and video clips of the contestants here.

Our blog: John Schaefer asks what makes a good summer song,

  1. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention (08/25/2008)
  2. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from Denver (08/29/2008)
  3. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention: Day 4 (08/28/2008)
  4. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention: Day 3 (08/27/2008)
  5. The Brian Lehrer Show: Live from the Democratic National Convention: Day 2 (08/26/2008)
  6. The Leonard Lopate Show: 1-2-3 (08/26/2008)
  7. The Leonard Lopate Show: Layered Look (08/27/2008)