Midwest BEAT

Tom Lounges talks with Uli Jon Roth, who's U.S. tour starts this week.

Each week's program finds producer and host Tom Lounges blending together various styles and eras of the blues -- from the old school legends, to the top contemporary players of today, along with some of the up and young guns deserving to have their music heard. Audiences will hear the guitar greats, the harp blowers, the piano pounders, the singers, and the shouters. Some of club-hopping Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland's regional players also get showcased on this program.

Remember the 1980 dual A-Side 45 single -- " This Beat Goes On" / "Switch Into Glide"-- by Canadian rock band, THE KINGS?

My guest this evening is Northwest Indiana singer/songwriter T.J. AUBUCHON whose debut CD -- "EDGE OF NIGHT" landed at #8 on my 2022 annual listing -- Tom's Top 10 Regional Albums of the Year -- published in The Northwest Indiana Times daily newspaper.

Join Tom as he talks with author and Chicago media journalist/broadcaster Rick Kaempfer about his new book "THE LOOP FILES" (Eckhartz Books), detailing the ups, downs, highs, lows of classic Chicago Radio Station -- THE LOOP -- through the words of the colorful characters who were there to create it's history as one of rock radio's most influential stations.

Each week's program finds producer and host Tom Lounges blending together various styles and eras of the blues -- from the old school legends, to the top contemporary players of today, along with some of the up and young guns deserving to have their music heard. Audiences will hear the guitar greats, the harp blowers, the piano pounders, the singers, and the shouters. Some of club-hopping Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland's regional players also get showcased on this program.

Each week's program finds producer and host Tom Lounges blending together various styles and eras of the blues -- from the old school legends, to the top contemporary players of today, along with some of the up and young guns deserving to have their music heard. Audiences will hear the guitar greats, the harp blowers, the piano pounders, the singers, and the shouters. Some of club-hopping Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland's regional players also get showcased on this program.

My guest this evening is California-based blues woman VAL STARR of VAL STARR & THE BLUES ROCKET .Val Starr & the Blues Rocket have shared the stage with the likes of Albert Cummings, Rick Estrin, Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, EG Kight, EC Scott, Laurie Morvan, and Chris Cain, to name but a few.As a longtime fan of this talented singer/songwriter and performer's West Coast Blues sound, show host Tom Lounges has featured Starr on his radio shows in the past, and is thrilled to be offered the honor of debuting some of the brand new songs from Val's forthcoming album, which will drop in April of 2024.

JENNY BOYD is Tom's celebrity guest this evening on 89.1-FM for Lakeshore Public Radio's weekly celebrity interview/music program, "Midwest BEAT with Tom Lounges."Boyd is a former 1960's British "Swingin' Sixties" fashion model, the ex-wife of Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, the former sister-in-law of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and has spent much of her life in the proximity of musical and cultural influencers. Her access has allowed her to interview some of the world’s most recognizable musicians regarding their thoughts about the creative process.Boyd's new book -- "Icons of Rock—In Their Own Words" -- is a compendium that provides an intimate insight into how some the world’s greatest musicians and producers created some of their greatest work. It will be published in the U.S. by Mango Publishing on February 13, 2024.Among the music legends interviewed in her book are Eric Clapton, Julian Lennon, Don Henley, Keith Richard, Ringo Starr, Steve Winwood, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell, John Lee Hooker and many others. Songs by artists like Donovan, Graham Nash, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac will be included in this broadcast between interview segments

Every January, The Times daily newspaper publishes Tom Lounges' personal picks -- 'Tom's Top 10 Regional Albums of the Year" -- culled from the many albums released by artists from the Chicagoland music.Once the list is published in the newspaper, Tom dedicates a radio program to spotlight a song from each of his TOP 10 picks so the public has a chance to hear this great new, locally produced original music.