Tune in to 104.1 FM or go to KZSM.org every Friday from noon to 2 p.m. to take a musical journey along “Highway 261” with hosts Sterling Finlay and Jason Woolery. This audio thoroughfare rolls through every part of the state. As Jason explains, “we’re on a mission to explore the musical landscapes of Texas… all 261,000 square miles of it. Texas has made many contributions to the music landscape, from Van Cliburn (classical) to Pantera (metal) to Lightnin’ Hopkins (blues) to Norah Jones (pop) to Ephraim Owens (jazz) and Sterling, and I want to explore a wide variety of music that has connections to Texas.”
Like their predecessor in the Friday noon time slot, “Texas River Tonk,” hosted by Blake Farrar, Jason and Sterling emphasize the country or Red Dirt music most associated with Texas and invite local and touring musicians to play live in our downtown studio. So far, Dallas Burrow, John Arthur Martinez, Nathan Hamilton, and Sammy Wells (of the local band The Trips) have appeared on the show.
“Because we’re working with SO much possible content,” Jason explains, “Sterling and I really want to maintain a balance between playing lots of types of music but also having some sort of unifying thread throughout any given show.” For instance, their second show commemorated the passing of W. C. Clark with a focus on Texas blues music, including Ray Wylie Hubbard, Janis Joplin and Freddie King.
“Highway 261” expands the definition of Texas music to include musicians from Texas such as the Eagles’ Don Henley and Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Even Paul Simon, Jason’s first musical fascination, might be featured, since he recently relocated to Wimberley. “Maybe we can get HIM on as a guest artist, too,” Jason muses.
“Because we’re intentionally taking a slightly different path to programming each show, we think it’ll be a lot of fun for those listeners who are just looking to pass the lunch hour in an entertaining way,” he explains. Besides entertainment, “Highway 261” will also provide the unique experience that community radio stations like KZSM do best. “It’ll yield some real gems for listeners like we were as youngsters, the kind who relied on local radio stations to not only play the good stuff regularly, but to show us what the good stuff is in the first place.”
