(A Heaping Helping of Americana today)

Since it is Thanksgiving and a traditional American holiday, I thought I would toss out a large helping of Americana by way of a concert with The Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Howard Hanson, featuring all American composers of the early 20th Century - most of whom you've probably never heard of before.

The concert (actually two concerts - one from April 1945 and the other from February 1953) features music by Quincy Porter, Bernard Rogers, John Alden Carpenter, Aron Copland, Leo Sowerby and David Diamond.

Almost an hour of unfamiliar music. I understand it goes well with stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving from the crew at Newstalgia!

I would venture to guess, just based on uncovered evidence, that America in the 1950's was probably more balanced from a cultural standpoint, than it is now.

Why do I say that? The evidence - weekend radio in America was a veritable grab-bag of music, information and culture - all laid out, usually in one place. In 1955, NBC Radio introduced a Weekend service called Monitor. It was an adventuresome idea, geared along the lines of America's then-insatiable curiosity over how things worked.

Monitor's credo was "go anywhere, do anything" and it lived up to that credo over a 48 hour period, beginning at 12:01 on Saturday morning until 11:59 Sunday night.

This episode of The Grand Ole Opry comes from that service. For a half hour (On June 22, 1955) it featured the talents of "Little" Jimmy Dickens, "Cousin" Minnie Pearl, Del Wood, Jimmy Newman, Chester "Chet" Atkins and a host of others. Strictly Americana at its most rural.

But here's the thing - right after Grand Ole Opry, Monitor went to Birdland and featured a set by Woody Herman and Erroll Garner, and a half hour after that, a set by Tyree Glenn and "Philly Joe" Jones.

And the next day, you got the NBC Symphony. Quite a blast of disparate culture, to say the least. But if you were up for it, you got one hell of an education in the space of 48 hours. And your musical taste got very broad and all-encompassing. And if you were a musician, you stumbled into a gold mine.

So as a reminder of how potentially isolated we've become as a culture, here is a half-hour of down-home rural/middle America/roots music, supplied by Mainstream Radio in the form of NBC on June 22, 1955.

The Jazz portion comes tomorrow.

Recovering from last weeks high-voltage Mott The Hoople Concert from 1974, here is something a bit more laid-back. Little Feat, a live concert from Ultrasonic Studios, recorded on September 19, 1974.

If you listen to both concerts back to back (this one and Mott), you'll get some idea of just how diverse the playing field was, even in the 1970's. And, with most fans at the time, had both Little Feat and Mott The Hoople albums in their collections. Musical taste was pretty broad back then and radio wasn't nearly as restricted in what it played. Even though the writing was on the wall for radio even in the early 70's, it was still possible to get a wide range of music to sample and form opinions on.

Little Feat were one of the very popular bands in concert in the 70's. Even though they weren't considered a "hit-making" operation, they recorded a lot of memorable material and they had a strong popularity with what was, at the time, referred to as the FM Underground audience. With several changes in personnel and some direction shifts, they're still together and still recording and touring. They've carried on the legacy of one of America's premier eclectic bands and it's good to know they're still very much with us.

But for now, here they are in 1974, at their early high point. If you haven't heard them before, now's a good time to check them out.

Continuing our occasional series of broadcast transcriptions of American Music, circa 1930's and 1940's with music by Douglas Moore. Moore is probably best known for his folk opera The Ballad Of Baby Doe. This recording was part of a series of broadcast concert excerpts featuring strictly American Classicl music, put together for The State Department and issued only overseas

Moore's Farm Journal is probably one of his lesser known pieces and this performance, recorded circa 1946 features the CBS (Radio) Symphony conducted by Alfredo Antonini.

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, there's no shortage of American composers from the early 20th century onward. It's just a question of hearing their work that's the problem from time to time.

More rarities next week. Stick around.

Back to basic Americana tonight with The Eastman School Orchestra conducted by Howard Hanson in music of Aaron Copland. Originally called Music For Radio, it was later dubbed "Saga Of The Prairie" when it was complete in the late 1930's.

This recording, which comes from the series America's Composers first broadcast on May 28, 1949 was part of a program entitled "New American Composers", of which, at the time, Aaron Copland was one of its most modern and most prominent.

Mid-Century Americana this week in the form of music from a composer I am completely unfamiliar with and whose information seems to be missing from just about everywhere. Stanley Finn is a name new to me and I have searched extensively to find out anything I can about him. This week's Gramophone features the only work I have of Stanley Finn - his Prelude and Dance for Orchestra.

Suffice to say the work was noteworthy enough in that it got the attention and admiration of fellow composers, most notably Roy Harris who leads the ABC Radio Symphony in a recording made roughly around 1946. Listening to the style, I would venture to guess he was either a pupil or colleague of Roy Harris' - but that's speculation.

If anyone has any information on this composer, please let me know and I will post an update.

Further evidence there is a lot that needs to be discovered out there - and probably even more that needs to be identified.

Since the last day of the year is usually enveloped in contemplation of the 364 days before, 1955 kept that tradition up nicely.

Here are two commentaries on the day's news and the current state of American affairs on December 31, 1955 as presented by veteran news reporters Gabriel Heatter and Virgil Pinkely.

Strange times when you consider the possibility of nuclear annihilation was hovering over everyone's head while trying to be optimistic about the future at the same time. So on the one hand you had news of the Cold War escalating and drunk drivers going completely out of control on the nation's highways. And on the other hand you had a picture painted of who the first born of 1956 would be.

It explains the growth of the pharmaceutical industry and the advent of Mitown.

At the end of the two broadcasts there is a very nice commercial for the 1956 Desoto. A reminder that conspicuous consumption was also very much a household word in the 1950's.

News and commentary from Gabriel Heatter and Virgil Pinkley, broadcast on December 31, 1955 over the Mutual/Don Lee Radio network by way of KHJ in Los Angeles.

Maybe in anticipation of Labor Day next week, but here is a change of pace for Weekend Gramophone. A portion of a concert by The Eastman School of Music conducted by Howard Hanson, and devoted to the music of Modern American Composers (as of 1950). This weekend's entry is by Lyndol Mitchell, who was also a student at the Eastman-Rochester School of Music.

This piece is entitled Folk Suite and it's in three movements: 1. Cyndi 2. Ballad 3. Shivaree.

It was originally broadcast as part of the America's Composers series over NBC Radio on May 27, 1950.

Americana from mid-century. Something you hear very little about these days.

Switching it up this week (at least tonight) and adding some Alec Wilder to the mix. I had already posted something on him in December of last year, talking about his wild eccentricities and how they paved the way for a lot of creative music.

Tonight it's the flip side of the track I played last December. Walking Home In Spring is typical of the Wilder style. It was recorded on March 30, 1939.

The Eastman School of music Orchestra under the direction of Howard Hanson played music of Student Composers on this particular evening in 1953.

Works featured on this set of transcription discs from March 6, 1953 are:

1. Walter Hartley: Ballet Music For Orchestra
2. William Pursell: Christ Looking Over Jerusalem
3. Ron Nelson: Savannah River Holiday

It's not likely any of these are familiar, or even ring bells. But these were representative of the Best and Brightest at the time.

Enjoy what's currently left of Sunday.

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