WPRB Princeton 103.3 FM

New Jersey's Only Radio Station

WPRB is a community-supported, freeform radio station. Our FM signal (103.3) serves central New Jersey, Philadelphia, eastern PA and the northern tip of Delaware. We reach a global audience at wprb.com.

Blues, Off The Record

Jul 25, 2025 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Music

With Sonny Boy Williamson III

10:03 AM		Blind Willie Johnson Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed Praise God I'm Satisfied Yazoo 1989
10:06 AM		Skip James Cypress Grove Blues (1994 Remastered) The Complete Early Recordings 1930 (1994 Remastered) Yazoo 1994
10:09 AM		Scrapper Blackwell "E" Blues (Remastered 2025) Mr. Scrapper's Blues (Remastered 2025) Craft Recordings 2025
10:13 AM		T-Bone Walker Railway Station Blues The Complete Imperial Recordings'
10:16 AM		Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup Shout, Sister, Shout That's All Right Mama RCA Bluebird 1992
10:18 AM		Lafayette Thomas Old Memories Chess Blues Guitar
10:23 AM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
10:23 AM		Harlem Hamfats Who Done It? Hamfat Swing
10:26 AM		Peetie Wheatstraw Don't Feel Welcome Blues Peetie Wheatstraw Vol. 1 1930-1941 Document Records 1993
10:30 AM		Willie (Boodle It) Right Two By Four Blues Root n' Blues: The Retrospective
10:32 AM		Memphis Seven Grunt Meat Blues Roots N' Blues: The Retrospective 1925-1950 Legacy/Columbia 1992
10:37 AM		Big Joe Turner Trouble In Mind Rhythm & Blues Years Rhino Atlantic 2005
10:38 AM		Rudy Greene Juicy Fruit Jump Blues Classics
10:40 AM		Muddy Waters I'm Ready The Best Of Geffen 1957
10:44 AM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
10:44 AM		Bo Diddley Who Do You Love? Chess Blues Guitar
10:47 AM		Chuck Berry No Particular Place to Go 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Chuck Berry Geffen 1999
10:49 AM		Richard Berry Louie Louie (Remastered) Louie Louie (Remastered) - Single Bacci Bros Records 2011
10:51 AM		Koko Taylor Wang Dang Doodle (Single Version) Chess Pieces: The Very Best of Chess Records UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) 2005
10:54 AM		Howlin' Wolf Hidden Charms (Single Version) The Definitive Collection Geffen 2007
10:57 AM		James Cotton Cotton Crop Blues Chicago Blues
11:00 AM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
11:05 AM		Taskiana Four Dixie Bo Bo Walk Right In
11:06 AM		Two Poor Boys Old Hen Cackle American Primitive, Vol. II - Pre-War Revenants Revenant 2005
11:08 AM		Ishman Bracey Left Alone Blues Canned Heat Blues: Masters of the Delta Blues
11:12 AM		Mattie May Thomas No Mo' Freedom American Primitive, Vol. II - Pre-War Revenants Revenant 2005
11:15 AM		Furry Lewis Dry Land Blues Canned Heat Blues: Masters of the Delta Blues
11:17 AM		Mississippi Sheiks That's It Stop and Listen
11:19 AM		The Carter Family Wildwood Flower East Virginia Blues RCA Bluebird 2003
11:22 AM		W.T. Narmour and S.W. Smith Sweet Milk and Peaches (Breakdown) Roots N' Blues: The Retrospective: 1925-1950, Vol. Two Soundmark 2011
11:25 AM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
11:28 AM		Muddy Waters Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You (Plantation Recording) The Complete Plantation Recordings Geffen 1993
11:31 AM		Robert Johnson Traveling Riverside Blues Bottles, Knives, and Steel
11:33 AM		Etta Baker Lost John One-Dime Blues Rounder 1991
11:36 AM		Eddie Lang Church Street Sobbin' Blues Blue Guitars Vol. II
11:42 AM		Eddie Lang There'll Be Some Changes Made Blue Guitars Vol. II
11:43 AM		Jim & Bob (The Genial Hawaiians) St. Louis Blues Country Blues Bottleneck Guitar Classics
11:45 AM		Mae Glover Two Timin' Woman Complete Recordings in Chronological Order
11:50 AM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
11:50 AM		Son House Shetland Pony Blues Delta Blues
11:53 AM		Albert King Down Don't Bother Me Born Under a Bad Sign
11:56 AM		Willie Nix Just Can't Say Chicago Blues
11:58 AM		Little Walter Juke Chicago Blues Geffen 1997

Chat is archived.

Good mornin!

"Who done it?" If' you're talkin' 'bout playin' The.Very.Best. blues on a Friday morn' ... Sonny Boy Williamson IIIrd done it! :-D

I admit it!

Love the lyrics on Rudy Greene's "Juicy Fruit" ... "I got a car so long / I gotta park it in the air!"

If the FBI had heard Richard Berry's original, clearly-sung 1957 recording of his song "Louie Louie" instead of the Kingsmen's bigger ~ but largely unintelligible ~ 1963 hit version, maybe the agency (and this is a true story) wouldn't have wasted so much time & effort trying to find sexually suggestive lyrics and make a big bust for interstate shipment of obscene material. It's just a charming calypso-style ditty, once you understand the words!

"Animal House" was set in 1962 yet featured that 1963 Kingsmen recording. That anachronism drives me crazy!

Indeed, Richard. It's been speculated that the the patois-inspired lyrics of the original may have been inspired by Chuck Berry's Havana moon

Not a point I'd thought of David!

What year did the Two Poor Boys record "Old Hen Cackle"? It sounds lots like the Monroe Brothers recordings of the mid-1930s. Did one influence the other, I wonder ...?

Richard -- 1931

From the CD booklet:

Two Poor Boys - Joe Evans, Arthur McClain: between them: vocals, guitar, mandolin, kazoo. Recorded four tracks 20 May 1931 for the ARC labels. Believed to have come from Fairmount in east Tennessee.

Apparently more than four tracks -- there's a whole document CD:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Poor_Boys

..excellent show, thank you for your service..

Thanks for the Poor Boys info, very valuable. Likewise today's show!

Thanks Richard!

Great music this morning. Especiallly llikked Old Hen Cackle. Thanks.

Thanks for listening in John!

Attention, Tommy Johnson fans: https://crumbproducts.com/products/mr-natural-meets-tommy-johnson-at-the-crossroads-signed-serigraph-print

Anyone wishing to gift me a print can mail it to me at the station...

Thanks all!

So glad to hear Sonny