Doug Lang : I'll meet you on "Riverside Drive" for "Better Days".

I do not know all their programs, but I try not to miss "Riverside Drive" et "Better Days" hosted par Doug Lang.

Riverside Drive on wednesday 12:00 PST (Pacific) - 21:00 - 22:00 France
Better Days : on saturday 07:00 - 09:00 PST (Pacific) - 13:00 - 15:00  France.

Coop Radio web site

The first one owes its name from a street in Moose Jaw where the man grew up, but does not exists today. A great story teller, Doug drives his show from an imaginary "Wakamow Bar" (see interview below) and you sure believe it is real.

Titled "The Fastest Hour in Country Music", it shows a great mix of good Country Music with, sometimes, a little bluegrass, some days depending on a theme.

On saturday in Better Days, it is more Roots and Folk Music, Old Time and Bluegrass.

Give your ears a great time by visiting the podcasts page.

There is a pleasant "plus". During the shows, Doug posts on  his Facebook page titles, photos of the artists and sometimes lyrics of the songs. You may comment live and the regulars really do and like it.

Better Days with Duke Lang, le samedi (on Saturday) on CFRO 100.5FM.

Coop-Radio CFRO 100.5FM Vancouver, BC.

Imaginary Bluegrass & Old Time Festival.

 

A look on CO-OP Radio 100.5 FM, Vancouver

Born in 1975, CFRO 100.5 FM introduces itself as a non-profit community radio station & podcast recording studio, the voice of the underrepresented in mainstream medias.

Dialogues sur la page Facebook de Doug, émission du 19 mai 2021.

 

Doug Lang, interview

Jam Hall : Doug Lang, listening to your radio shows and following you on social medias, I understand you really like telling stories, would you tell us why?

Doug Lang : I grew up on the prairies, around elders who told stories. There were no writers in my family, but when I began writing stories and songs in my early teens, my uncle, Bill Lang, provided encouragement. He understood something that no one else in my extended family did. Later, living on the west coast in Vancouver, I was invited to join an Indigenous Tellers Circle. During the years I took part in that weekly Circle, I received further encouragement for my storytelling from many of the elder tellers.

JH: One can see several faces of yours : poet, song writer, musician, singer, radio showman… What did I miss ?

DL : - Being a father was very important to me. I worked a decade with street youth, which was maybe the hardest work I ever did. I have also been a successful minor baseball coach and teacher, and have published a book, a coaches’ manual called The Next Pitch. In 2000 I was chosen Baseball Canada’s Youth Coach of the Year. That was a sweet surprise.

JH: Now the question with the impossible answer. Among the huge amount of songs you heard in your life, can you pick just three that stayed with you and tell us why ?

DL: There are far too many songs to choose from. I could pick different ones tomorrow. As a songwriter, though, I have studied the work of others. I knew Leonard Cohen’s work as a poet before he made recordings, so I took a special interest in him during my teen years when he turned to songwriting. Dylan, of course, was always worth following. Woody Guthrie. Hank Williams. Buffy Sainte-Marie was important to me, as was Joni Mitchell... both born on the prairies where I’m from. I paid attention to the early work of Gordon Lightfoot.

Songs I love ? Only three ? That’s a question I’d have a different answer for every week. Michael Peter Smith’s song, The Dutchman, is a great one. Leonard Cohen’s song, Suzanne, which I first knew as a poem, still means a lot to me. I think the Merle Travis song, Dark As A Dungeon, is a gem, simple perfection. I used to sing Buffy Sainte-Marie’s song, Universal Soldier, which held meaning for me during my early social activism days. Ferron’s song, Girl On A Road, made me shiver when I first heard it; when I moved to Vancouver in 1979, Ferron gave me a place to stay until I found my own apartment. I’m forever grateful for that kindness. See ? I can’t pick just three.

JH: How did you start as a musican? And as a professional? Please tell us more about your work in music, solo or as a band member.

DL : When my family moved from the prairies to the west coast of Canada, my dad lost his guitar teacher, so I inherited his guitar. A Silvertone with high action, almost unplayable. But I learned, painfully. I played coffeehouses, bars, was hired to play the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in my twenties and that was a ticket to a wider audience. I’ve shared stages with some excellent artists, and made friends with them… Mimi Farina, Utah Phillips, Rosalie Sorrels, to name a few.

I gave up on the music business when I became a father in 1982. Still wrote songs, but the business no longer interested me. Too many sharks, dishonest people. A friend stopped me one day, in 2002 I think it was, and said he’d die sad if I didn’t do something with my songs. His name is Billy Mazappa. So I started working on the songs, and wrote dozens of new ones. To have his encouragement meant a lot. I remember writing 37 new songs in a period of four months, for recording projects. A year or so later I made a couple albums of demos for the Mazappa label, recorded at Graveyard Sound (right next to the Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver). Those albums are out of print now, four of them. But Billy’s encouragement got me back into music, travelling, touring. Good times.

JH: You spent some time in France, how was that?

DL: I’ve travelled most of Europe, lived in Greece a while. Twice I spent some time in Paris, some weeks in Dijon. Also in Holland, Belgium, Italy, and later on Norway. I’ve gigged in the UK and Ireland. I wrote a song, La Rue des Blancs Manteaux, about a South African saxophone player I met in Paris. It’s on youtube somewhere, a rough demo I made on a friend’s request. I sang it with a terribly sore throat one day, but it’s there.

JH: What took you to the Co-operative Radio in Vancouver?

DL: I first was a guest on CFRO’s Vancouver Extract show (defunct) in 1979. I remember that day because I couldn’t find my car after. I was new to Vancouver. Eventually I started hosting a jazz show, as a substitute host. Then the main host took a job and I took over The Jazz Forum for many years. January 2001 I changed the show to a folk-roots show, as I was resurrecting my own performing career and meeting so many artists doing folk, blues, country and roots music. I wanted a format for sharing their music. That’s where Better Days began.

It’s only recently, 2020, that I began doing Riverside Drive, the country music show. Riverside Drive is the street in Moose Jaw that I grew up on. It’s no longer there, name changed, so I used the name to keep it alive.

JH: We really want to know more about the Wakamow Bar!

DL: - I’m a storyteller, as mentioned already, so as I began doing the country music show I decided to invent a bar in the Wakamow Valley, on the south edge of Moose Jaw, my hometown. I pretend the show broadcasts from the Wakamow. It’s been a good invention. I keep adding to the fiction of it, adding characters, stories, having fun with it. It’s a virtual weekly gathering, people from around the world coming, magically, to the Wakamow Bar & Grill for an hour of good country music.

JH: How would you describe each of your two radio shows, Riverside Drive and Better Days?

DL: Riverside Drive is a country music show, presenting what to my ears is authentic country music, not the imitations found on the charts these days. I play bluegrass on there, too. Anything that rings true. I pay my respects to the artists I grew up hearing, even those I didn’t particularly like at first as a kid. It’s in me, country music is in me, so I’ve got to let it out. Haha.

Better Days has aired more than 1,000 shows now. That’s a lot of shows. I love the freedom I have with that show. I can play just about anything, as long as it appeals to me. I play songwriters, folk, blues, bluegrass, country, some gospel, soul. I rotate between playing new work and older stuff that deserves to be heard anew. I pay tribute to artists I admire, artists I ‘ve met, and I give folks a listen to newer, emerging artists. It’s work, a lot of research, but the pleasures are many. You don’t do over a thousand shows without loving the music you’re sharing. Better Days is all about that love for good music.

Article rédigé par Ti' Pierre