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 thru June 19, 2009 1)Last Exit to Happyland - Gurf Morlix 2)Oktibbeha County - WSNB 3)Swinging from the Chains of Love - Blackie & the Rodeo Kings (True North) 4)Deep Water - Tony Furtado (Funzalo) 5)Light of X - Miranda Lee Richards (Nettwerk) 6)Chances - Kelleigh McKenzie (Zatchubilly) 7)That Kind of Love - Pierce Pettis (Compass) 8)Written in Chalk - Buddy & Julie Miller (New West) 9)Love Me Tonight - John Nemeth (Blind Pig) 10)10,000 Feet - David Grissom (Wide Lode) 11)Live in Japan - Rodrigo y Gabriela (ATO) 12)Songs in the Night - Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers (Ramseur) 13)Sugar Shack - Damon Fowler (Blind Pig) 14)Debris - Michelle Malone (SBS) 15)Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Lightning Rod) 16)Alligator Purse - BeauSoleil (YepRoc) 17)The Stars are Out - Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles (Sugar Hill) 18)Ready for the Flood - Mark Olson & Gary Louris (New West) 19)Lucky One - Raul Malo (Fantasy) 20)The Gabe Dixon Band (Fantasy) 21)Blazing Red - Anne Heaton (Spill) 22)Never Going Back - Shemekia Copeland (Telarc) 23)Everything You Love will be Taken Away - Slaid Cleaves (Music Road) 24)Inside Out - Missy Raines & the New Hip (Compass) 25)The Truth According to - Ruthie Foster (Blue Corn) 26)Gulf Coast Highway - Eric Lindell (Alligator) 27)Back to the River - Susan Tedeschi (Verve Forecast) 28)Grand and Green River - Kara Grainger (Craving) 29)Leap of Faith - Seth Walker (Hyena) 30)A Sucker's Dream - Alternate Routes (Vanguard) 31)Haymaker - The Gourds (YepRoc) 32)Once Eponymous - The Mumbles 33)Fiction Family (ATO) 34)Not Far Now - Richard Shindell (Signature) 35)Red River Flower - Brigitte DeMeyer 36)Sea of Tears – Eilen Jewell (Signature) 37)Working on a Dream - Bruce Springsteen (Columbia) 38)For Crying Out Loud – Scott Miller and the Commonwealth(FAY) 39)The Time that I Spend with You - Brooks Williams (Red Guitar Blue Music) 40)Always the Bridesmaid: A Singles Series - The Decemberists (Capitol)

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... Fascination by the Greencards, Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm or Everything You Love will be Taken Away by Slaid Cleaves... all currently featured on The Sound. 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. The Stars are Out - Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles 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 Silverlined - Donna the Buffalo So I Begin - Rachel Van Slyke Are Me - Barenaked Ladies Washington Square Serenade - Steve Earle Nine Lucid Dreams - Two Loons for Tea On the Way - Abra Moore Secret Heart - Lauren Adams Another Country - Tift Meritt Vagabonds - Gary Louris Live from Austin, TX - Tift Merritt (DVD) Live from Bearsville Theatre - Dar Williams (DVD)