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I’ve always said that Halloween is the ultimate rock and roll holiday, and it’s only natural that every year I do a show devoted to that great evening. Tonight’s the night, and it’s chock full of greatness. Our pals at Rum Bar Records and Big Stir have fabulous contributions. Regular Ledge buddies Vista Blue, The Goldstars, and others have special tunes for the occasion, and there’s great Halloween-inspired albums by the likes of Twin Temple, The Carts, Zombina & The Skeletones, and The Dahmers. There’s plenty of ghosts, vampires, zombies and other creatures that is perfect to play for the trick or treaters! Plus, I also chat for a few minutes about the great honor of being inducted into the South Dakota Rock & Rollers Hall of Fame. It was a super special evening, and I appreciate everyone who has reached out to congratulate me. What’s your favorite Halloween tune? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

The covers folder is full so, yes, it’s time for yet another show of nothing but remakes. And what a lineup we have this time around. Chrrisie Hynde doing The Doors. Velocity Girl doing The Jam. Dwight Twilley’s last studio recording remaking Bram Tchaikovsky. Sharp Pins with some of his favorite Mod revival tunes. Yet another fabulous reimagining of The Undertones! All sorts of tracks originally recorded by the likes of Status Quo, Prince, Jesse Malin, Plimsouls, and even The Eagles!   What’s your favorite cover? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

Maybe I should stop calling part one of my monthly new release series the “friends of the show” episode, as part two is inevitably full of just as many pals as the first one. Come on, Rum Bar Records is probably the best friend of The Ledge, and there’s a lengthy set of great new tunes from that label. There’s new submissions by Dany Laj and The Looks, The Hellflowers, the Speedways, The Trouble Seekers, and many others. Plus, Brody and The Grodies ask the very question millions of people are asking these days – “Why is the price of beer so high?” And there’s all kinds of other great new tracks, as always. What’s your favorite new release? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

If the first part of the monthly new releases series is lovingly called the “friends of the show” broadcast, then tonight’s show is sort of a reunion of sorts. You see, besides the usual contributors to this show (Numb Surprise, Rob Moss, The Rockerati, Phil Cook & The Fall Dogs, etc.), we have the great returns of many other regularly featured artists. There’s great new EP’s from Pavid Vermin and Daniel James Gang. There’s a ferocious new track from our favorite wrestling theme rockers The Ex-Bombers. And White Rose Motor Oil returns with sneak peaks at their upcoming full-length album Spider. Plus, there’s more great new tunes from Big Stir Records, the return of Australia’s Loose Lips, The Tub’s first album for Merge Records, and great rock and roll from K7s, The Schizophonics and Psychotic Youth. Plus so much more! What’s your favorite new record? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

This being the last show of September also means it’s the last show of the third quarter of the year, and what a great three months! Tonight’s show recaps 35 of the best albums to come out over this period, and there’s something here for everybody! From longtime faves to brand new bands, it’s a great collection of power pop, Americana, punk, and all sorts of other mini-genres! What’s your favorite release of the last three months? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

Once I learned of the death of legendary guitarist Cheetah Chrome last Sunday (9/13), it became pretty obvious that he deserved a special show devoted to his great career. The first half of the broadcast is devoted to his time with not only the Dead Boys but also the infamous Rocket From The Tombs. The second half deals with his post-Dead Boys tenure, which varied between solo recordings, other projects utilizing the Dead Boys name, and a few where he was a sideman. The collaborations included recordings with Ronnie Spector, Cherie Curie, UK Subs, Sonny Vincent, and many others. Many of these releases were also cover tunes, and the artists they tackled included Robert Gordon, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Queen, Ramones, and…well, shockingly, Taylor Swift. Much credit must also go out to the second volume of Steven H. Gardner’s groundbreaking series, Another Tuneless Racket: Punk and New Wave In the Seventies. His chapters on Rocket From the Tombs and Dead Boys are extensively quoted tonight. What’s your favorite Cheetah Chrome recording? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

It’s my birthday show!!! Yes, September 11 is a terrible day to celebrate a birthday, but one can’t help when they were born. But what better way to kick off a birthday show with a brand new cover of “Teenage Kicks”. Oh, yes, I was so excited when Malibu Lou sent me the file straight off the Rum Bar presses. I’ll never tire of this song, especially when artists such as Christina Jean & Her All Stars create such a wonderfully uplifting version! Of course, that’s not the only Rum Bar Records treat, as I also air brand new songs from the legendary Cindy Lawson, The Laissez Fairs, and The Vibeke Saugestad Band. And, yes, I consider Geoff Palmer and Kurt Baker part of the Rum Bar family, even if their new tracks aren’t technically on the label Plus, “Teenage Kicks” is not the only cover on tonight’s show. There’s not one, but two Paul Westerberg remakes. One if from Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, and then there’s a track by Weird Nightmare from a new Sub Pop compilation called Maximum MN. (Sweeping Promises’ cover of Husker Du is also from that comp.) There’s also new reworking from Die Toten […]

We are now in the greatest month of the year (September), and once again we have two straight weeks of nothing but new music. This week is the “friends of the show” episode, and well over half the show consists of music submitted by the artists themselves (or their representatives). There’s the monthly new track by Numb Surprise, another split single from Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, the triumphant return of Lorne Behrman, football-related punk from Vista Blue, and two tunes by my new favorite Minneapolis band, Cheap Glue.  Plus so many more. Beyond the submitted tracks are new releases by veterans such as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dinosaur Jr, Swami John Reis, and Kiwi Jr. There’s also a great new band from England, Westside Cowboy, and a cool track from a French band called Dynamite Shakers that’s produced by Lionel from The Liminanas! For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

1996 was a great year for me. I had a comfortable day job, I still worked a couple of nights a week at the record stores, and I was the music editor for a local newspaper. This was quite possibly the peak year for live music in my city. Local bands were selling out clubs and releasing great albums, and more national acts were hitting town than ever before. Besides the local upswing, it was a great year for new music. Americana was on the rise, with lauded albums by the likes of Wilco, Golden Smog, Steve Earle, and others. Songwriters such as Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Vic Chesnutt, and others released surprisingly great albums. And good ol’ punk rock was also on the rise, with fantastic records by Bad Religion, Descendents, and Chixdiggit. Tonight’s show is certainly not a complete rundown of every great album of that year, but it’s a pretty thorough snapshot of those 12 months (along with a couple of mis-tagged 1995 tracks). What record was your favorite of 1996?  For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

I ended last week’s new release episode with a good dozen or so songs I did not find time to air. How could I handle that? That’s not enough new tunes for a third show of new tunes? Should I just keep them in storage for the September series? But then I remembered that today (8/21/26) was a momentous day for rock and roll. It’s the day that Gravest Graves by The Cramps was coming out. For those living under a rock, here’s the short story. After Lux Interior died in 2009, his partner Poison Ivy became a complete recluse. Reportedly, she didn’t even open the mail containing the royalties from the inclusion of “Goo Goo Muck” in the Netflix show Wednesday. At some point, In the Red Records head honcho Larry Hardy was visiting Ivy, and was stunned to find boxes and boxes of studio reels in her garage. He contacted Henry Rollins, who dropped everything to head across the country to bring them back to proper storage in Nashville. There they discovered reels and reels of recordings from the 1977 sessions with Alex Chilton that resulted in their first couple of singles. Now this material has been released, […]

I may call the artists in my first part of the monthly new release series “friends of the show” but this month’s second part heavily features two of my longest serving buddies of my years broadcasting The Ledge.  First off, I have the privilege of debuting around half of the brand new album by Jeremy Porter and The Tucos, Sell Their Souls. Set to come out next week (August 21), this may be Porter’s masterpiece, and he was gracious enough to record commentary tracks for the tracks I picked to play. I must thank Porter for his longtime support of the show, and for going the extra mile in  And then there’s our pal Malibu Lou. For close to a decade, he has sent me care package after care package, both digital and physical. His label, Rum Bar Records, is certainly a Ledge favorite, and his latest free download, Summer School Sampler: Second Semester, is a must for everybody. 33 new or new-ish tracks, and it costs nothing! Besides a set of highlights from this comp, there’s another set with new material from The Lemon Drop Gang, The Amplifier Heads, and The Hollywood Stars. Besides those great sets, there’s plenty […]

Last month may have been a little shy of new music, but this month’s two-part new releases series may be the best ever. Tonight’s part one, as always, is pretty much a “friends of the show” episode as it’s filled with artists who regularly supply the show with new tunes. There’s not one but four new tracks by Vista Blue, and new tracks from Numb Surprise, The Rockerati, The New Brutarians, The Dear Boys, Phil Cook, and the ChrisVandalay Project. There’s another cool split covers single by Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, this time with The James Clark Institute on the b-side. Plus two great new records from our pals at Big Stir Records.  There’s also new records by veterans such as Robyn Hitchcock, The Mountain Goats, Nine Pound Hammer, and many others. My local buddies Off Contact also celebrate the release of the full-length album we previewed the last two months. And there’s also the second fantastic album released this year by Twisted Teens. Plus much, much more. What’s your favorite new album?  For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

One of my favorite occasional theme for this show is the “Hudson Compound” series, where I play nothing but tracks from records I’ve been listening to in my humble abode. It’s been awhile, so I figured it was the perfect time to do this again. The core of this week’s tracks comes from a little personal theme I’ve been following for the past week, where I have been playing almost nothing but great Minneapolis rock and roll that I’ve otherwise ignored in the last couple of years. There are great bands that should be much more recognized (Crash Street Kids, Loose Rails). There are original Twin/Tone Records legends (Suburbs, Magnolias, The Phones, Curtiss A, Soul Asylum). And there’s a few artists that rarely are far from my turntable (Paul Westerberg, Husker Du, The Hypstrz).  Besides those two sets, there are sections devoted to 60s legends, garage rock bands whose albums I’ve acquired in recent months, and a few odds and ends. It’s the perfect weekend listen! What’s your favorite Minneapolis band or album? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

You guys all know my rules about the cover version episodes – once the folder is full it’s time for a show. This time around, it’s also perfect timing. As I was putting this week’s show together, I discovered that Trash Kickers had put out a live video of them covering “Can’t Hardly Wait” at their May album release show. Oh, yeah, I had to include that. Here’s why I love this band so much. Over the years, I’ve received dozens and dozens of press releases stating that this band or that album is reminiscent of The Replacements. They rarely are. In fact, many tracks on their debut record, Way Out Somehow sound like discarded Paul Westerberg tunes. Very good Paul Westerberg tunes, in fact.  And while I was at it, another Facebook post reminded me that in 2013 Paul Westerberg had produced a band called The Silks, and on the b-side to their 7 inch had played guitar and sang on an obscure Rolling Stones song called “One More Try”. Yep, I had to pull that out of the archives. Overall, this is one of the most interesting cover shows I’ve ever put together. You have the return of […]

I wish I could say I have vivid memories of 1986, but I really don’t. Look, it was the year after I graduated from college, and life was a party. I was working in a record store during the day at night I was a club DJ. Quite often the club followed me to the home I shared with a couple of friends with similar lifestyles. I do remember the music, though, and tonight’s show celebrates the soundtrack of that glorious year. What surprised me as I was preparing this show, though, is that this was a year where roots rock dominated my life. Sure, there was plenty of traditional punk and alternative music, too, and that will probably be the focus of a sequel, but jangly guitars seemed to the be the sound of the times for me. What was your favorite record of 1986? For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com