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Ok—we’re taking a little excursion from Beatles season this week to check out one of their heroes (and mine): Chuck Berry.
I’m hoping in this episode you hear a side of Chuck you maybe haven’t heard before… and get a fuller picture of what this strange dude from St. Louis actually did.
Episode 73: The Other Chuck Berry
“If it wasn’t for Chuck Berry, we wouldn’t have The Beatles and The Rolling Stones,” blah blah blah.
Yeah… that’s definitely true—and I’ve definitely talked about that on this show. But this week I want to forget all that. I want to forget Chuck Berry’s place in the rock history books for a minute, and just listen to the music.
Because Chuck made a lot of music—a lot of great, unusual music. All kinds of moods, all kinds of styles—stuff inspired by Nat King Cole, Jimmie Rodgers, Louis Jordan, T-Bone Walker, and plenty of others.
And unlike most of his contemporaries, Chuck wrote his own songs—sad songs, fun songs, angry songs, hilarious songs, poetic songs, weird songs.
As much as I adore “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Maybellene,” this week we’re putting the big hits aside and heading into the darker, more beautiful corners of Chuck Berry’s catalog.
I love this stuff.
Enjoy
-walt
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