My Exit to the radiowaves

Want to hear the radio show in question? You’re in luck! An hour of pure dreams-come-true, in three parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

What are your dreams? Like: Dreams-dreams. Dreams so fantastical, so far outside the walls of your actual lived-life, that you never actually dream them. One of mine is to be a rock DJ, spinning tunes and talking about tunes and spinning more tunes — but, psht, you know, that’s not even —

wait, what’s that? *puts finger to ear* I was on the radio?

I WAS ON THE RADDIIIOOOO!!!!!!

I was on the radio!

WEXT Radio is a listener-supported roots & rock station out of Amsterdam, New York — but this being The Future, you can listen to WEXT any darn where you like, which I often do here in Chicago. And one day, whilst rocking out to listener-supported roots & rock out of Amsterdam, New York, I happened to hear that WEXT hosts a weekly listener-DJ hour (“My Exit ”— get it?), and friends, I almost gave myself whiplash looking for where to apply for the gig.

And (as you’ve by now guessed) they said yes!

So I made my playlist and recorded all the talking bits, and DJ/Producer Eva turned it into an hour of radio content, and on December 30th I was on the radioooo!

I know, I can’t believe it either :) You can listen, above; hereunder, you will find the playlist, lightly annotated.

Quick aside: I don’t usually say “never give up, your dreams can come truuue” because in my experience, they very often do not. But having lately been a radio DJ for one glorious hour, I believe I’ll start saying at least this much: Never give up thinking that cool things can happen — can leap out of nowhere and surprise the damn bejesus out of you — because it turns out they can.

Huge, massive thanks to Eva, and everyone at WEXT, for making my almost-undreamable dream come true! Rock on, my friends.

***

Cumberland Gap — Jason Isbell If I am nothing else in this world, I am a Jason Isbell nerd. Perhaps the hardest question for me was “which Isbell track?” and also “really, just one Isbell track?” But I erred on the side of Not Crazy, and picked just one. “Cumberland Gap” is off his most recent disc, The Nashville Sound, but my Spidey sense (and the fact that just completed a few weeks in the studio) tells me that he’ll have another studio album out in June-ish, 2020.

Badge — Fanny If I am anything else in this world, it’s an ardent advocate for spinning more goddamn women on rock radio. Fanny was a pioneering, all-woman, major-label rock band in an era when the idea was almost incomprehensible, fronted by two Filipina-American sisters who could shred so hard that David Bowie was a fan. Read about them here and here, and let them melt your face here.

My Girl Is a Heartbreak — Ida Mae I know nothing about this husband-wife duo other than that they are a husband-wife duo and they rock. the. hell. out. And I discovered this track on WEXT!

Daizy — Flat Moon Theory Ok, you want a heartbreak, I’ll give you a heartbreak: This phenomenal band out of Urbana, Illinois, with grooves from here to Funktown, has broken up. Broken up! But I have hope that I, at least, will continue to enjoy some of their talent, because frontman/guitarist Jake Julian is my son’s housemate *waves at her son and all his housemates*

Salvation — Tash Sultana I started ukulele lessons a few months back, right? And I needed a strap. So I went to a music store. The lady at the music store suggested a weird-ass strap that hooks onto the soundhole, and works a treat, and that weird-ass strap was made by a local Chicago company, Souldier. I like local businesses! So I looked them up on Instagram. And guess who uses their guitar straps? Oh, only Aerosmith! And Sheryl Crow’s band! And this Australian woman I’d never heard of, Tash Sultana! So I looked her up, too. AND SHE’S AWESOME. Let her rock your world here.

Bad Woman Blues — Beth Hart OH MY GOD THIS SONG OH MY GOD. (Also a WEXT discovery for me!)

You’re Not What I Need — Dayna Kurtz I discovered Dayna Kurtz, who is now one of my favorite artists hands down, via Steve Almond’s book Rock & Roll Will Save Your Life (which is a goddamn delight.) Almond is an obsessive just a titch more obsessive that I am, and honestly, when I read his writing, game recognize game. But perhaps more to the point, if there were any justice in this world — and I mean any, at all — Dayna Kurtz would be headlining every major festival you’ve ever heard of and probably several you haven’t. She’s a gift to this weary world, and I want to send Almond lavish gifts for introducing me to her.

Brothers and Sisters — Mavis Staples “Trouble in the land/ we can’t trust that man…. I’m waiting on you/ like a message from God.” Ms. Mavis is waiting on us, y’all. Like a message from God.

There Must Be Another Way — Mira Awad and Noa The thing about me is that I’m American, but I’m also Israeli, and I’ve been fighting for a just peace in Israel/Palestine since the first intifada. Noa (aka: Achinoam Nini) and Mira Awad are hugely talented Israeli singers, one Israeli-Jewish, the other Palestinian with Israeli citizenship (it’s so exhaustingly complicated, but if you’d like to learn more, here’s a start), and they performed this lovely English-Arabic-Hebrew song at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. If I was going to be on the radio for one hour of my life, I had to include a little piece of this part of my heart. So I did.

Hello Sunshine — Bruce Springsteen Ok alright, enough with the intractable international conflicts! I love this song a whole bunch. I don’t really like the rest of Western Stars, the album it’s on? But I like this track a whole, whole bunch.

Peach Fuzz — Caamp Why do they spell their name with two As? Is it to inspire Chicagoans to say it like those commercials for transmission repair shop AAMCO, “double-A-M-C-O”? Probably not.

Jackboot Jump — Hozier Another track I discovered on WEXT! I’ve lately become a bit of a Hozier fan, largely spurred by another of his tunes, “Nina Cried Power,” on which Mavis Staples (see: above) features. If Mavis digs him, he’s good enough for me. And lord knows I have a soft spot for a solid protest song.

The Chain — The Highwomen Wow, that The Highwomen album — my god! It’s so good! This song isn’t on it. This is from the soundtrack for the movie The Kitchen, which I did not see because it looked very bloody. But if Stevie Nicks herself approves of your cover of “The Chain”? Well then, the people need to hear it. (Also, I cheated: Isbell’s responsible for the guitar work here, so I actually got him into this hour twice. Sike!)

What Light — Wilco Around about the same time I was putting this playlist together, I had the most out-of-left-field opportunity to sit in a teeny, tiny space with Jeff Tweedy, watch him talk and play his guitar a little, and then walk up to him and say “Hi, I’m Emily, and I just wanted to tell you how much your work has meant to me.” I was referring to all of his work, of course, including his memoir, about which I briefly babbled, but I really-super-especially meant this song. Thank you, Jeff Tweedy.

***

So there you have it! An hour of tuneage! DJ’ed by me! On the radio! No, I know :)

Here’s the last thing I want to say, because I kind of can’t get over it: This entire thing, every word and every minute, stems directly from the fact that on May 11, 2017, Marty Lennertz played a new track by a guy I’d never heard of on Chicago’s own WXRT (93.1!).

Jason Isbell’s “Hope the High Road” took over my ears and my brain, and then the rest of his music did too, and then I started listening to his fiddler, Amanda Shires, who is also his wife, who I now also listen to a lot (give To The Sunset a spin, you won’t regret it), and because I love Shires, I perked up when she started talking about her new project, The Highwomen, and on the day that album dropped, WEXT spun all women, all day, in tribute (a surprisingly easy feat! I encourage All Of Rock Radio to try half as much some day!), and I heard about it out here in Chicago and tuned in — and here I am.

And I think that’s the absolute best of what art can achieve in our lives. Good art, great art, can lead us to seek and discover new and different art, to learn and grow within a bigger, broader space, and maybe, just maybe, make a little bit of a kind of art of our own.

It’s not every day that you can draw a straight line from the moment you heard a new song to a dream coming true two and a half years later — but sometimes you can. So, thanks, Marty Lennertz. Thanks, WXRT. And thanks, Jason Isbell.

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