Usually when a program has two hosts, it’s for the love of friction – some friendly debate, a little teasing, maybe an outright clash.
But Sokol Heroes, a local music radio show on 93.9 The River every Saturday night at 7 p.m., is hosted by the father/son team of David and Michael Sokol, and it’s one big broadcast of love.
The show’s apt theme song? A cover version of Ray Mason’s “Big Hug.”
“Hey Dad!” said Michael at the top of a recent episode. “Happy Saturday night!”
“Happy Saturday night to you, too!” David replied; you could hear the smile in his voice.
The positivity is as sunshiney as Mister Rogers and his land of make believe, but the Sokols are having fun celebrating the very real creative world of the Valley.
They started the one-hour program back in February, and it’s a thoughtfully curated weekly mix of music from our area, past and present, famous and nearly forgotten, spotlighting everything from brand-new releases to little-heard gems that date as far back as the early-’60s – like “Twistin’ Strings (Part One),” a surf-rock-with-accordion instrumental by The Starfires.
Michael, the production director and midday on-air host at The River with six years under his belt, spent some of his teenage Saturdays with his dad, congregating around the stereo for what David called “Rock-Out Saturdays.” They’d hang out, excitedly playing each other their favorite songs, chatting, listening and learning.
And now here in 2016, they’ve found a way to continue that Saturday night musical bonding time, and we’re all invited to listen in.
Sokol Heroes thrives on connection, celebrating the bonds within the Valley music community and beyond. The program showcases locally made songs, but a typical episode might also include a national artist covering an area songwriter (such as Pam Tillis’ version of Jim Armenti’s “Down By the Water”). And a great Valley band you’d probably only know about if you were around the scene at the time (like The Elevators, who were signed to big national label Arista in 1979). And some fun spoken/sung IDs for the show from people like J Mascis, June Millington and NRBQ’s Terry Adams.
And songs linked by a particular theme (“bands who just played at Transperformance”), or a playful connection, like placing a song from Brattleboro band Wooden Dinosaur next to a new track from local legends Dinosaur Jr.
Clubland interviewed the Sokols in one of The River’s studios as they prepared to do their 31st show, powered by ginger beer and peppermint tea, surrounded by piles and boxes of local CDs.
The local-minded music program was David’s idea, which he pitched to WRSI manager and on-air host Monte Belmonte. The concept got solidified during a beverage-fueled conversation at last year’s Green River Festival, with David saying he’d only do the show if Michael was involved.
Each Sokol brings his strengths to the program. Michael is the tight professional, keeping the show moving from his tall swivelchair, controlling racks of equipment like a pilot in a crowded cockpit.
David, now retired, spent 16 years as the music editor of the Valley Advocate and 3 1/2 years as editor-in-chief of New Country magazine, and his head is full of history and detailed facts. He’s the kind of music fan who relishes diving into reference books as exhaustive and fine-print-filled as an unabridged dictionary.
During our 30-minute interview, just from David’s asides, I learned that international stars Natalie Cole and Buffy Sainte-Marie had local ties to UMass. The former lived in the Orchard Hill area (right before David arrived as a student), while Sainte-Marie, responsible for co-writing the Grammy-winning mega-hit “Up Where We Belong,” lived in Knowlton Hall.
David generally gets each Sokol Heroes episode started by brainstorming around his music collection, choosing possible songs to play. “I have more time than Michael does. I try to put together a playlist that is balanced with newer stuff, older stuff,” he said.
Building on that initial skeleton, Michael will add his own song ideas. “I let him come up with the order, and when we actually do the show, we’ll maybe swap stuff,” Michael said. “It’s pretty loose.”
“We try to put in artists every week that we’ve never played, even after 31 shows, something like 450 songs,” David said.
“For me it’s important to cover a lot of ground, to really make it as interesting and vast as possible,” Michael said. “The local music scene is diverse, and what I don’t want is pigeonholing ourselves into just playing the rootsy stuff or the Americana stuff. I want it to represent the Valley as accurately as it can, not just from our particular taste or lens.”
David’s enthusiasm for discovering local music is evident on-air and off. “For an area with such a relatively small population as ours, the fact that there are so many committed musicians, playing so many different kinds of music, and doing it so well, and recording it so well … the depth of it is just remarkable,” he said, honestly agog at the bountiful artistic landscape he and Michael explore every week.
During their eight months on the air, the father and son team has gotten some inspired feedback – like the memorable email from a listener in Guilford, Vermont, compelled to write after hearing a new-to-her song that she immediately loved. She hadn’t caught the name or the artist, so she contacted the hosts with lyric clues, trying to track down what she described as “one of the most awesome songs ever.”
They let her know it was “Feel the Fields” by The Figments, from the Northampton band’s 2001 CD “All the Gone Days.”
“That was one of the best songs I have ever heard!” she wrote back. “You have made my day!”