Today's Country

The “Wood Songs Old Time Radio Hour” has certainly become a staple amongst the Americana audience over the years. The live-radio broadcast that combines many genres into a single radio program recently celebrated its 500^th episode and to help celebrate it is The Best Of…Volume 3 collection that brings some of the shows recent bests to our stereos speakers. With the motto of “you don’t have to be famous, you just have to be good” how can you go wrong? Familiar names appear on this collection including Jakob Dylan, who displays a laid back feel to his song “Evil Is Alive And Well,” Tim O’Brien who contributes “Nothing To Say” about the ability to write a unique song when everything’s already been done, and Kathy Mattea who proudly displays her roots on “Green Rolling Hills Of West Virginia. If it is a more bluegrass driven flavor that you are looking for then it is contributions from the likes of Carolina Chocolate Drops that will be up your alley. As with most radio shows of this nature it is not one style or another that is the attraction, but rather the combination of unique instrumentation and genres. This collection is chalked full of not so typical instruments all played a top level including ukulele and cello, as well as a variety of styles from bluesy driven songs, to folk, to gospel inspired, etc… all which fall under the Americana blanket. This is a left of the dial radio show, with songs and artists that tend to not get noticed from mainstream radio, however if you like a well-crafted song that isn’t of the typical mainstream flare then you will love this collection of solid, honest, music, that is full of variety.