Radio the Way It Was Meant To Be

I don’t know how many people subscribe to XM/Sirius Radio, which is satellite radio you pay for. I have it, as I suspect many do, because it came with my car. I kept it because of one reason and one reason only: XM Radio carries The Theme Time Radio Hour, with host Bob Dylan.

Themes, dreams, and schemes — that’s what the show promises, and it delivers so very much more than that. For an hour each week, Bob sits behind the mike and spins his favorite records, based on the theme that week. It could be “Hair,” or it might be “Girls’ Names,” or “Cadillac.” He has had a different theme for the 100 shows that exist. There may not be a fourth season.

You never, ever hear a Bob Dylan song on the show. Instead, you hear one of the most distinctive voices the world has ever produced, announce each tune and give insightful, funny, and smart commentary on the song, artist, times, whatever. Bob knows his music, lives for it, and has one of the greatest record collections of all time. At least that’s what he wants you to believe – I don’t personally know if the records he plays on his show actually belong to him, or if he just announces them after they are researched and purchased by his staff. I prefer to believe the myth, and God knows Bob is capable of myth. After all, he’s the one who told us at the beginning of his career that he got his start in the circus. And we believed him (or at least the media did).

On this show, you’ll hear every kind of genre. You hear old time country music, like Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzel and Bill Monroe. You’ll hear the Davis Sisters, and Skeeter Davis. You’ll hear Patsy Cline and Earnest Tubb. You’ll hear George Jones sing a duet with a woman – it’s a song about a husband and wife, each in love with their neighbors and anxious to invite them over for another evening. I’m not making this up.

You’ll hear blues, exquisite blues from the masters, like Robert Johnson, Skip James, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry. Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie.

You’ll hear REM and Elvis Costello and the White Stripes.

You just won’t hear Bob. Some people think that’s a good thing. I’m sorry for those people. Bob is masterful. But that’s another column.

The point is, Theme Time Radio Hour is worth getting XM Satellite Radio for. It’s expensive — $145 a year, plus you have to buy the radio. But there are other treats as well; a station devoted to blues, one to the music of Bruce Springsteen, another to the Grateful Dead. These are ok, they get tiresome for me. I also am a fan of Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure Show, which features Mr. Petty spinning his favorite records from the early to mid 1960s. This show is also a treat.

And if, for some reason, you can’t afford to have satellite radio in your car, and you still want to hear Theme Time Radio Hour (and you really must – here’s a sample of the kind of patter you can expect, this from the Musical Instruments show: “the harmonica is the best selling musical instrument. You’re welcome.”), then you can probably search on the Internet and find a place to hear the shows without the need for a subscription. I mean, most everything is available out there these days, and this is probably no exception.

So happy listening, and if you do run across this show and like it, drop me a line and let me know.

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