Blues Department
Scott Young, Music Director
Welcome to the WSRN blues department. The department encompasses blues, roots, gospel, soul, funk, and zydeco and of course has overlappings and legacies in jazz, hip hop, rock, and electronic music.
Swarthmore is unique in its long and fruitful commmitment to the blues. Some truly great blues musicians come to perform here before they gain wider recognition. Lightning Hopkins had a very warm reception here in the early sixties, and the performance was even recorded: the cd now resides in the extensive Swarthmore blues library.
Our djs draw from early 1900's field hollers to the new Keb Mo' and everything in between-- acoustic, funky, soulful, stompin', storytellin', instrumental, amplified, male, female, black, white, and brown. Expect to hear both what you always wanted to hear on the radio and what you never new existed.
Feel free to call and make a request. Chances are we have that John Mayall, that Mississippi John Hurt, that Koko Taylor, that Tower of Power, that Reverend Gary Davis, or most any out of print blues vinyl you've probably seen in independent record stores.
Whatever generation or culture you belong to, the blues is a universal language that WSRN keeps alive every week.