XM Radio, Bluesville, X-County, Etc.

["Mick Erickson" <erickm001@xxxxxxx>]

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I've been subscribing to XM for about 3 now, and it's become an
indispensable part of my life. XM is satellite radio; you buy the
hardware and subscribe for about 10 bucks a month. What you get is about
120 channels, most of them commercial free. I was just expecting some
commercial free music, without all the yack, bad-jokes, political gas
bags, and endless advertising, but I got much more than I expected. I've
yet to explore all of XMs 120 or so channels, but I have found a handful
of channels that I listen to continually.

Bluesville. The only nationwide 24/7 commercial free blues station on
the planet. It covers all genres, all styles and eras. You can't listen
too long to Bluesville without hearing some harmonica. It's a great
station and intelligently programmed, with live blues lovers picking the
songs. One of their daytime host (You can't call him a DJ, he's got to
much intelligence for that label), Bill Wax, is outstanding. Every 10
songs or so, he add commentary or background information about the songs
played. Every hour he plays a "forefather of the blues", and you get
Charlie Patton, Sonny Boy I, Tampa Red, Lonnie Johnson, or Memphis
Minnie. Bill Wax knows his blues, and his commentary is informative and
interesting. I've heard so much great harmonica at Bluesville -- Piazza,
Clark, Little Walter, Sonny Boy (I&1), Kim Wilson, Billy Branch, Big
Walter. Bluesville even has a station promo with the Nighthawks, with
some smoking harmonica. I can't live without Bluesville. I get in my car
in the morning, and I listen to blues. I don't have to listen to moronic
humor, endless commercials, and am free of political gas-bags. My days
are so much better now. 

X-Country. Alt county, cowboy punk, rockabilly, psychobilly, honky-tonk,
with a big dose of Willie Nelson. Artist include Lyle Lovett, The
Derailers, The Twang Bangers, The Bastard Songs of Johnny Cash,  and
many other artists that rarely find their way onto commercial radio. You
won't find as much harmonica on X-Country as you do on Bluesville, but
it's there. But you still get great music, and intelligent programming.

Real Jazz. Mingus, Coltrane, Miles. The real stuff. No commercials. 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.

Deep Cuts. A rock station. I was setting up XM radio in my car and tuned
to this station and out of the speakers came Government Mule with some
over-the-top harp player trading licks with Warren Haynes. This station
plays rock you will never hear on your local terrestrial FM station.
They play cuts from albums (hence, the name Deep Cuts), not necessarily
the hits that are played endlessly on terrestrial radio. All rock styles
represented.

There's much, much more that I haven't explored yet. There's LUNA, that
plays nothing but Latin Jazz. There's an unsigned artist station.
Bluegrass, classical, soul, big band, and even opera.

In my opinion, Commercial terrestrial FM, and AM radio are horrible. I
stopped listening to them on a regular basis years ago. There's no
blues, no jazz; they play the same songs by the same artists all the
time. AM radio is an utter wasteland. Satellite radio has the potential
to bury terrestrial radio, or at least force them to change their inane
ways.

I'm not affiliated with XM in anyway. I just want them to succeed.