Blues Specials Week of June 19-20

WORT Music Playlists

What was that song I heard? Who was the artist, what is the album title, where can I get it? Where can I find the entire playlist for a show?

Click on the Playlists button to bring up a calendar where you can choose any date to find the playlists for that day. If you can’t find the right playlist or the song you’re looking for, your best bet is to call the station the next time that program’s on and ask the host yourself. If that’s not possible we may be able to help you, but please have as much information as possible at hand when you contact us, such as: approximate day and time the music was played, what type or genre of music it was, who hosted the show and any other information you remember about the selection and we’ll do our best to track it down.

Contact Information

Music Director: Sybil Augustine – musicdirector@wortfm.org (for music submissions, charts and tracking, promotional exchanges for music events and following up on volunteer applications or other requests. Please include specifics in your subject line, such as “Hiphop Music Submission” etc, )

Digital Production Director: Aaron Scholz – aaron@wortfm.org (for record donations and sales, promos recording volunteers, etc.)

Music Calendars: Submit your events online here or send by email to calendar@wortfm.org

How do I get my music played on WORT?

We accept submissions in most genres and styles of music, focusing on noncommercial, out-of-the-mainstream, independent releases (check out our playlists and music charts for more information.) It may take up to a few weeks for us to review and process your submission so we appreciate your patience, and feel free to contact us to follow up. Please send your music, indicating any tracks with language that needs to be aired after 10 pm and including a one-sheet description and any biographical and tour information, to WORT Music Director, 118 S. Bedford St, Madison, WI 53703 and/or to musicdirector@wortfm.org.

We do accept digital files on .wav or mp3, but currently we still prefer CDs to digital submissions because it’s the quickest way to get it into the hands of our programmers and onto the airwaves, though we have a growing digital library. Digital submissions should be .wav or other lossless files, or high quality mp3s [128-320 kbps.]

You can follow up or “track” your submissions by email, or call 608-256-2001 on Wednesdays between 1-4 pm CST to ask if we received it, has it been reviewed, has it been added to our library, and what kind of airplay it’s getting—e.g. light, medium, heavy or charting. Thanks and we look forward to hearing your music!

Willie Kent, blues bassist and vo9calist, it the subject of tonight’s Blues Cruise. Willie Kent and the Gents was one of the finest bands Chicago had to offer in the 1990s-2000s. The band together with Bonnie Lee headlined WORT’s 26th birthday bash in December 2001. This broadcast aired a week before their appearance at Luther’s Blues. The show airs from 8-10 PM Central Daylight time tonight. (Photo courtesy of earwigmusic.com).

Two For the Blues this week features the Detroit blues of Alberta Adams and Johnnie Bassett. This shows airs 6/20/2020 at 8 PM Central Daylight time. Alberta Adams was discovered singing on Maxwell Street in Chicago by the Chess brothers. They recorded her with Red Saunders band. She recorded for the label with Red Saunders’ band. In 1952, she recorded Say Baby Say with TJ Fowler’s band. She remained active in the Detroit music scene but it wasn’t until 1999 recording for the Cannonball Record label that she gained greater recognition outside of Detroit. She released 4 CDs in her remaining career and had a number of blues festival performances. A performance at the Madison Blues Festival in August of 2001 led to this interview which was done about a week before her appearance here. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Foundation).

Johnnie Bassett was a blues guitarist and vocalist. He was an important session guitarist and did quite a number of recording sessions for the Fortune label in Detroit. He backed Smokey Robinson’s Miracles on their first record “Got a Job”. He backed John Lee Hooker, Ike & Tina Turner, Alberta Adams and Little Willie John to name a few. T-Bone Walker was a major influence on his guitar playing style. His breakthrough recording was I Gave My Live to the Blues recorded for the Dutch Black Magic label in 1996. Johnnie recorded 5 albums after this one. I originally broadcast this radio special in December 2000. The interview was done live on air prior to Johnnie’s performance at a club in Detroit. It is the only live interview done in this series. (Photo courtesy of WordPress.com)

Both shows will be on our station’s archive for 2 weeks following broadcast.