The Sound

What is The Sound? Our ten-words-or-less description is "Five hours of Americana, roots rock and contemporary folk," but it's more than that... a host of styles, from acoustic blues to rockabilly to bluegrass to, well, whatever catches our fancy that day. It's artists you've known for decades like Bruce Cochburn, Shawn Colvin, Marshall Crenshaw and the Bodeans plus artists you'll hear for the first time who you'll listen to for decades to come, including the Greencards, Arlington Priest and Crooked Still.  AND its musicians homegrown here in North Carolina whose work stands up to all the performers just mentioned...  bluegrass from Clayton's the Wells Family, singer/songwriters from an area thick with them ... Asheville, including Christine Kane, Chris Rosser and David Lamotte, and blues from Chatham County's Dmitri Resnick ... just to name a few. So, again, what is The Sound? Here's another ten-words-or-less description - great music that needs a place to be heard.  Scott Robertson is your host for The Sound Monday thru Friday from 7-12 midnight on PRE Public Radio East... News & Ideas... at 88.5, 90.3, 91.5 and 88.1.

The Best of The Sound (so far...)

The Top 40 CDs on The Sound for 2010 (thru Feb. 5, 2010) 1)One Fast Move or I'm Gone - Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard (Atlantic) 2)Live in Louisville - Carrie Rodriguez 3)God Don't Never Change - Ashley Cleveland (E1) 4)North Hills - Dawes (ATO) 5)Little Moon - Grant-Lee Phillips (YepRoc) 6)Heaven & Earth - Blue Mother Tupelo (Diggin') 7)Serpentine - Gillian Grassie (Harp Power) 8)Pizza Box - Danny Barnes (ATO) 9)Blues for You - Jeff Golub (E1) 10)Yatra (Nomadic Soul) - Kailash Kher & Kailasa (Cumbancha) 11)Songs from Lonely Avenue - Brian Setzer (Surfdog) 12)Good Evening New York City - Paul McCartney (Hear) 13)Live in Europe - James McMurtry (Lightning Rod) 14)Balm in Gilead - Rickie Lee Jones (Fantasy) 15)American Horizon - Los Cenzontles (Cenzontles) 16)The Fall - Norah Jones (Blue Note) 17)Sunny Side Up - Paolo Nutini (Atlantic) 18)Jill Andrews (Liam) 19)Cheap Seats - The Trapps 20)Battle Studies - John Mayer (Columbia) 21)Things About Comin' My Way (Black Hen) 22)Golden Apples of the Sun - Caroline Herring (Signature) 23)Crows - Allison Moorer (Ryko) 24)Sugar Sweet - Grandpa Elliott (Concord) 25)So Dark You See - John Gorka (Red House) 26)Had Enough - Tom Gillam (Smith) 27)One Foot in the Ether - Band of Heathens (BOH) 28)Joy - Phish (Jemp) 29)Welcome Home - Shelley King (Lemonade) 30)Este Mundo - Rupa and the April Fishes (Cumbancha) 31)The Wreckage - Will Hoge (Ryko) 32)Nowhere Nights - Kasey Anderson (Red River) 33)Everything's Easy - Girlyman 34)What to Say - Daphne Willis (Vanguard) 35)The Sun Came Out - 7 Worlds Collide (Sony Music) 36)The List - Rosanne Cash (EMI)- 37)Orchid - K.C. Clifford (Skipper) 38)Animal Boy - Matt the Electrician 39)11:11 - Rodrigo y Gabriela (ATO) 40)The Day After Everything Changed - Ellis Paul (Black Wolf)

What keeps The Sound on the air?

The one word answer is "you." If you'e been listening to The Sound for any length of time, you may have noticed the lack of commercials. That's what keeps the typical radio station running... they sell advertisers air time, then you pay for your usage of that station by, in essence, donating your time to listen to those commercials, and then (they hope) rushing out and buying that product... which has the cost of the advertising tucked into the price. We don't have that option. We're licensed as a non-commercial station, meaning if we air commercials, we're in violation of our FCC license, which isn't a good thing. So how do we pay for the 1001 incidentals that are involved in getting The Sound into your home, office or car? We're back to the one word answer... "you." The Federal Communications Commission won't let us sell commercial time BUT they will allow us to ask for donations from those folks with the good taste to listen to this station. The majority of the funds we use to present The Sound are listener dollars. Without those listener dollars, no Sound... literally. We believe what you hear on Public Radio East on its own is enough to pledge your financial support... but a little incentive never hurt, so make a $40-or-more pledge and we'll send you your choice of CDs. Among the choices...One Foot in the Ether by the Band of Heathens, Works Progress Administration by the WPA, or The Wreckage by Will Hoge... or check out the full list of possibilities in the next section just below. When you go to our pledge form by clicking here, just type in the comments box the name of the CD you'd like and we'll get it out to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your pledge. You're making The Sound possible. George Olsen Host/producer "The Sound"

Because Great Music Needs a Place to Be Heard

Love The Sound?   Get The Tee Shirt!                                             For information about The Sound Tee Shirt click here.  ...or if you'd like to own some of the music you've enjoyed on The Sound make a $40-or-more pledge and any of the CDs listed below can be sent to you as our way of saying thanks for becoming a Public Radio East member. Just type the name of the CD (or DVD) you'd like in the Comments box on the pledge form you can access by clicking the Pledge Now button above. Pizza Box - Danny Barnes The Stars are Out - Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles The Wreckage - Will Hoge One Foot in the Ether - Band of Heathens Works Progress Administration - WPA Everything You Love will be Taken Away - Slaid Cleaves Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm Fascination - The Greencards Ready for the Flood - Mark Olson and Gary Louris Oktibbeha County - WSNB Back to the River - Susan Tedeschi Recovery - Louden Wainwright III Same Old Man - John Hiatt Alligator Purse - Beausoleil Life Death Love & Freedom - John Mellencamp Bucket - Mando Saenz Lay It Down - Al Green So I Begin - Rachel Van Slyke Nine Lucid Dreams - Two Loons for Tea On the Way - Abra Moore Secret Heart - Lauren Adams Vagabonds - Gary Louris Live from Austin, TX - Tift Merritt (DVD) Live from Bearsville Theatre - Dar Williams (DVD)