The Midnight Special with Marilyn Rea Beyer 01-17-26
Theme: Gospel Music to Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Next Week: Hot Stuff for a Cold Nigh
*** New or notable
Hour 1


  1.  Lead Belly: Midnight Special | RCA Victor LPV-505
  2.  Bett Padgett: Don't Take My Child | If I Catch My Dream | self 2019
  3.  Soweto Gospel Choir, feat. Robert Plant: Valley of Tears (Domino/Bartholomew) | Divine Decade | Decca B0019931-02
  4.  Kate MacLeod: Gospel Songs | Trying to Get it Right | Waterbug WBG0017 CD
  5.  Henhouse Prowlers: Gospel In Review (Wright) | The Departure | henhouseprowlers.com 195269083953
  6.  Sweet Honey in the Rock: I Got to Know (Guthrie) | Woody at 100 Live at the Kennedy Center | Columbia/Legacy 88883728122
  7.  Mandolin Orange: Gospel Shoes | Blindfaller | Yep Roc YEP-2487
  8.  Nora Guthrie, Ensemble: This Train | Woody at 100 Live at the Kennedy Center | Columbia/Legacy 88883728122
  9.  Blind Willie Johnson: Soul of a Man | Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues: Soul of a Man | Columbia/Legacy CK 90491
  10. Marian Anderson w/Franz Rupp:  Hard Trials | He's Got The Whole World In His Hands | RCA 61960-2
  11. Mavis Staples: Hard Times Come Again No More (Foster) | Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster | American Roots Publishing 591594-2
  12. Walter Parks & the Unlawful Assembly feat. Ada Dyer: Amazing Grace (trad./Newton) | Walter Parks & The Unlawful Assembly | Atomic Sound 91021
  13. *** Sara Thomsen: Tough Like that | Here and Gone | sarathomsen.com 1.1.2026
  14. *** Crowes Pasture: Raise Your Hand | Raise Your Hand (single) | crowespastureduo.com 7.2024
  15. *** Steve Eriksson: Hands Off | Hands Off (single) | Steve Eriksson 2025
  16. Mahalia Jackson and the Falls-Jones Ensemble: A Rusty Old Halo (Bob Merrill) | Gospels, Spirituals and Hymns | Columbia/Legacy C2K 47083
  17. *** Wes Weddell: Stems | The Work, The Hope, The Promise | Shadows Music DSM 2001
  18. Owen Walsh: The Midnight Special (Trad.) | The Midnight Special "exclusive" | single 1.31.2024

Hour 2

  1.  Sonia Sanchez, arr. Sweet Honey in the Rock: Letter to Martin Luther King, Jr. (Sanchez) | Live at Carnegie Hall | Flying Fish FF 106
  2.  Grace Griffith: Beautiful Fool (Don Henry) | Grace | Blix Street G2-10028
  3.  Sam Robbins: Just One Cronkite | Bigger Than In Between | samrobbinsmusic.com 8052022
  4.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream 1963 - excerpt | Great Speeches of the 20th Century  | Rhino World RWB 70567 3
  5.  Orig. Broadway Cast: If We Only Have Love (Brel) | Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris | Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy SK 89998
  6.  Crys Matthews: Call Them In | Single Honoring John Lewis | self released [2021]
  7.  Mouths of Babes: Gospel Truth | Faith & Fumes | Mouths of Babes MOB 001
  8.  *** Kray Van Kirk: Turtle Joe | Empire | Kray Van Kirk 1 95269 39920 7
  9.  *** Bill Camplin: January Guitar | January Guitar (single - remaster) | Bill Camplin 2025
  10. *** Claudia Schmidt: Come to Me | claudiaschmidt.com 1.7.2026
  11. *** Dar Williams: Sacred Mountain | Hummingbird Highway | Righteous Babe Records RBR 125-D
  12. Marilyn Rea Beyer: Bear Down - spoken (Hoffman)
  13. Joel Mabus:  Illinois/Indiana | Parlor Guitar | Fossil Records 1605

Hour 3

  1.  Mavis Staples: Sow Good Seeds (Trad./Tweedy) | One True Vine | ANTI Records ANTI-87206-2
  2.  Brooks Williams & Aaron Catlow: If You Want the Rainbow (Levant/Rose/Dixon) | Ready for the Times | Red Guitar, Blue Music RGBM2201C
  3.  Tim O'Brien, et al.: When This World Comes to an End (trad., arr. O'Brien) | Cornbread Nation | Sugar Hill SUG-CD-4005
  4.  Phil Ochs: Knock on the Door | All The News That Fit to Sing | Hannibal HNCD 4427
  5.  Billy Bragg: I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night |The Internationale Label MM 001
  6.  John Gorka: Good Noise | Out of the Valley | High Street 72902 10325-2
  7.  Patty Larkin: Good Thing | Angels Running | High Street Records HS 72902 10318-2
  8.  Cliff Eberhardt: Good Example | 12 Songs of Good and Evil | Red House Records RHRCD 105
  9.  *** Jan Krist and her "Hope Choir": Hope | Since You Asked Me | Yellow Room Records #27
  10. *** Diane Coll: Dream Away | Strangely in Tune | dianecoll.net 1.6.2026
  11. Anne Harris: Time Has Made a Change (Frye) | I Feel It Once Again | Rugged Road Records RRR AH2024Pre
  12. Odetta: Deep River | Best of Odetta: Ballads and Blues | Legacy International | CD 354
  13. Sam Cooke: A Change is Gonna Come | A Change is Gonna Come (single) | RCA Victor SP-45-73
  14. The Gospel Hummingbirds: Blowin' in the Wind (Dylan) | Taking Flight | Blind Pig Records | BPCD5023
  15. Laura Love: I Still Believe (Unplugged) | She Loved Red | Laura Love 88295 68276
  16. Andrew Beyer: The Midnight Special (Ledbetter) - cigar box slide  | Andrew Beyer
Compiled by MRB

Marilyn Rea Beyer
Host, The Midnight Special and Folkstage
WFMT 98.7FM
5400 N. St. Louis Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
(617) 513-5569

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