Hogan’s heroes? Anyone who can play blues.
Blues is getting hard to find on the Boston radio dial these days. WBOS-FM (92.9) ended Holly Harris’s long-running “Blues on Sunday” last winter, and WERS-FM (88.9) no longer airs its Saturday night blues program.
But despite all the shows that have been cut, for the past few years fans of roots music have known they can tune in to Brendan Hogan, host of “Blues on WGBH,” which airs Saturdays 9 p.m.-1 a.m. on WGBH-FM (89.7)
An unabashed fan,
Hogan took over the public station’s blues slot five years ago, following the death of longtime radio star Mai Cramer. The show he inherited was severely trimmed (Cramer’s “Blues After Hours” had also run on Fridays), and its audience was both knowledgeable and highly opinionated. At 22, Hogan could have been intimidated. He wasn’t.
“I was so young and so happy to be doing it, that I didn’t even think about it,” Hogan says over coffee in Inman Square. As for facing those hardcore fans? “I’ve been accused of being a purist myself,” says the 28-year-old host, professing a fondness for classic cuts by Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, and Big Bill Broonzy.
“Blues on WGBH” is not the only sole surviving blues show. Although that WERS show, where Hogan learned his trade, is gone, other college and community stations offer programming, including “Blues and Beyond,” on WMFO-FM (91.5) Thursdays 6-9 p.m.; and the country, roots, and blues mix of “Backwoods,” on WMBR-FM (88.1) Saturdays 10 a.m.-noon. Still, says Jack Wolker, proprietor of Stereo Jack’s records and a blues aficionado, Hogan’s show is important to the music community.
“He does a good job,” says Wolker. “The music needs to be heard, and we should all be thankful that it’s on a high-profile station like ‘GBH.”
What that music is changes. Five years along, Hogan has relaxed his idea of proper blues. “When I first started doing the show, I almost wanted to prove that I knew what I was doing, so I was really trying to find the most obscure stuff,” he says, citing “Old Earl Hooker recordings from 1953. I still love those recordings, but I want to show that the music is not to be preserved - it’s still alive.”
While he still listens for basic blues qualities he describes as “grit” and “honesty,” Hogan has begun playing such crossover rock artists as Tom Waits. “Some people think I’m pushing the envelope and they get upset,” says Hogan. “They need to listen to more than five or 10 minutes of the show and hear that it’s part of something bigger.”
That broader definition of blues, says Hogan, came about largely because of his other career, playing his own guitar-based music live.
“Having immersed myself in the scene around Cambridge and Somerville, I’ve really become much more open minded,” says Hogan, who for the past two years has performed his blues-oriented material both solo and in small groups. (Demos and upcoming dates can be found at myspace.com/brendanhogansongs.) “When a person performs, when they write their own material, that takes a lot of guts and that is coming from something very, very personal,” he says. “My own performing has made me more sympathetic to that.”
The songwriter/DJ realizes that at some point, these two vocations may conflict. Last month, in fact, some out-of-town performance dates took Hogan away from his ‘GBH show for the first time. He prerecorded a program to air during his absence, an option he may consider again, adding, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
He’s certainly not ready to give up the radio show, which he sees as a work in progress.
“I get so excited about the music and the history of the music that I tend to go on,” he confesses. “But that’s not conducive to the flow, so I’ve been trying to just pick one nugget out of one set. People don’t want to hear from me that much. They might appreciate that nugget, but they want me to get back to the music.”
Spinning the dial
More changes in the top station seats. Ron Bowen has left the position of program director at “The River,” WXRV-FM (92.5), which he had held since early 2007. Assistant program director and music director Catie Wilbur, who has temporarily assumed the PD job, says the station does not discuss personnel. . . . Across town, Mike Thomas, program director of CBS classic-rock station WZLX-FM (100.7), has also assumed programming duties for sister station WBCN-FM (104.1).
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
His soundtrack
We asked Hogan for his favorite blues albums. Although he was loathe to commit to a permanent selection, he sent along this list, calling it his “top five desert island blues discs as of this printing.”
“Trouble in Mind,” Big Bill Broonzy (Smithsonian/Folkways)
“Wicked Grin,” John Hammond (Virgin/Pointblank)
“The Complete Recordings,” Robert Johnson (Columbia/Legacy)
“Janis,” Janis Joplin (CBS)
“Howlin’ Wolf/Moanin’ in the Moonlight,” Howlin’ Wolf (Chess)