Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives

08/03/2025

The Super-Americana Sunday line-up of great music and personable hosts are here on Smoky Mountain Radio! Stay with us all through the day and night!

The Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives Sunday line-up features loads of diverse music, shows, and knowledgeable personalities back to back. From gospel, bluegrass, blues, classic country, jazz, and old-time, it's all here!

2pm: Gospel Boogie with host-curator James Zurek
4pm: Wildwood Jubilee with host-curator Jim Childs
4:30pm: Under The Covers with host Kevin Crothers
5pm: Roots Music Highway with host Drew Fisher
6pm: The Lost Elvis Presley Album (1963)
7pm: Shouting Distance with host Keen Garrity
8pm: Star-O-Sonic Record Club with host Bailey George
9pm: In The Groove with host Russ Wilson
11pm: CBS Radio Mystery Theater All-Night Episodes.

Kick back, and let SMR do the driving!

Links for listening to the SMR streams in the comments below.

08/02/2025

Order up a pizza, grab a cold one, and leave it on Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives all day and night for the best in Americana roots music, from blues to bluegrass, classic country, lounge, and jazz!

The Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives Saturday lineup features loads of great diverse music, shows, and knowledgeable personalities back to back.

5pm: Roots Music Highway with host Drew Fisher
6pm: Blues Before Sunrise with Bradley E Reeves
7pm: Honky-Tonk Hit Parade with host Boppin' Bailey George
8pm: Shouting Distance with host Keen Garrity
9:30pm: Under The Covers with host Kevin Crothers
10pm: My Little Corner of the World with host Jim Childs
11pm: Spotlight On: The Dorsey Brothers Reunion, Deane Hill Country Club, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1953

Kick back, and let SMR do the driving!

Links for listening to the SMR streams in the comments below.

08/01/2025

Copied from page "Talking About Radio."

07/31/2025

I hope you'll find some time to join me for my show, GOSPEL BOOGIE on Smoky Mountain Radio, as I explore the songs that form the bedrock of the American musical experience. Tonite at 9-11pm EST.

James Zurek - Gospel Boogie
Listening links in the comment section below.

07/30/2025

Tonight at 8pm Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives ...the best Elvis tracks you never heard!

Most of the 1960s were a unique period for Elvis. No longer the rockabilly cat of the 1950s, nor the jumpsuited godlike icon of the 1970s. The Elvis of 1960-1968 was a movie idol, a singing pop star who branched out into country, Hawaiian music, gospel, and ballads. Nobody sang a ballad like Presley in this era.

And, he kept the faith by still cutting excellent rock and roll and blues tracks. But, there were those filler movie songs, often a waste of great talent.

One of the best Elvis sessions of the 60s took place in May 1963 at RCA Studio B in Nashville. It's a great pop-rock session with some fabulous music and superb balladry (that soulful voice never sounded better). The musicians were all the top-notch Nashville A-Team.

The planned album for these sessions, FOR THE ASKING, was never released. Instead, the tracks were used as filler, and scattered about the various Elvis movie soundtrack albums, which were then outselling his far-superior studio music.

The Lost Album finally came out, years after Presley's death. It's a tight, cohesive sound.... fun pop music with some catchy hooks, all played and sung with precision. Hear the entire album, with some choice obscure bonus tracks from his movie sessions at 8pm on Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives.

Listening links in the comments!

07/30/2025

07/30/2025

Good morning from the foothills of the great Smoky Mountains! Stay cool, and have a great day.

07/29/2025

The Smoky Mountain Radio Tuesday evening line-up features rare music that entertains, educates, and inspires!

6pm: Jame's Record Vault with host-curator James Zurek: The best of 1950s-1960s Rock and roll.
8pm: SMR Spotlight On East Tennessee Folk-Blues legend James "Sparky" Rucker
9pm: The Lost Guy Carawan Recordings (1967)
10pm: Roots Music Highway with host Drew Fisher: We Shall Overcome!

Stay in, keep cool, listen to SMR! Listening links in the comments section below:

07/29/2025

Tonight at 8pm on Smoky Mountain Radio!

We turn the spotlight on legendary folk musician James "Sparky" Rucker, recently recognized by the Tennessee Arts Commission for his decades of fabulous music recordings and performances.

Well play some rare recordings from the SMR vault, including a live 1974 performance at the Smoky Mountain Folk Festival in Cosby, Tennessee, and the entire recording of his 1981 cassette-only release "A Home in Tennessee"!

Rare musical riches available only on Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives! Listening links in the comments below.

07/29/2025

Congratulations to Sparky Rucker on some well-deserved recognition! A true journeyman who's given us decades of great music. We'll feature some early Rucker recordings tonight at 8pm on Smoky Mountain Radio and Archives

Rucker wins Tennessee Arts Commission Folklife Award

https://tnartscommission.org/governors-arts-awards/2025-award-recipients/james-sparky-rucker/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLja5lleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFpN3hDZmJtNk5GaHpvaklTAR5D9_PXvbp5tkQ1RhDmdn0hUUzZOWuxI2xMfhs2f9z8cCsEvNZ7K2efvwPFVw_aem_JeCSiMoiNenz7fcpaxHXRA

James “Sparky” Rucker is a singer, storyteller, historian, and author, whose distinguished voice has left an indelible mark on the traditions of American music and storytelling. Internationally recognized for his […]

07/29/2025

Here’s a rarely seen view looking up Airport Road in Gatlinburg, Tennessee 📸

To the left would be the Gillette Motel, which is still standing today. However, what really makes this photo special is the glimpse of the long gone Bearland Court, sitting right next to the Cloverleaf Motel, later absorbed into the Rocky Top Village Inn. And across the street? That’s the Smoky Mountain Plaza Motel, which originally sported a bold pink and aqua blue color scheme, a nod to its Florida-based owners.