Episode 96: Country Pirates' Radio of the Caribbean

Over the past 5 weeks Tropicology has been on a good time roll… there have been a couple episodes of bubbly African funk, you heard an uptempo show for the fund drive and then good vibes in a downtempo mode the week after, and last week I played international music for club dancing. This week I am going to restore a bit of cosmic balance, listeners… today’s set features sad moods and dramatic stories of love, loss, and longing. The setting today is dirt roads, straw hats, and fields of sugar cane… this is Pirates’ Radio of the Caribbean in its country music manifestation. That is where I start the show, at any rate, with sets devoted to the influences of Cuban Son and Gwo Ka from Guadeloupe, two musical styles with very deep rural roots. In hour 2 we will hear the sound go uptown a bit… but while these tracks were born in the city, they still show their country roots. The second hour today is country sounds in the big city.