Home

Here's what some of our listeners say ...

"Here's one of the great musicologists with an eclectic mix you won't hear anywhere else. For the connoisseur. Lorne VanSinclair turned me onto a ton of cool performers and near forgotten music, his play[list] is like a back road way out in the country."

Danny Marks, Musician, Broadcaster

"I listen to your show in the car and on several occasions when I got home, I just sat in the car and kept listening to the music, even though the frozen food was melting."

Hank Davis - author of Ducktails, Drive-Ins and Broken Hearts: An Unsweetened Look at 50s Music, available from SUNY Press

"Our family invites Backbeat Radio to join us for Sunday brunch, where us oldsters stroll memory lane and the youngsters gain an appreciation for the roots of the music they listen to nowadays. Keep it turning!"

Jim Geddes, Newfoundland

"Hi Lorne! I live in Powell River BC. I first heard your show on the local station, CJMP. I absolutely love your show! It's perfect music for painting at my studio on Monday mornings. You have great taste and never play a record I don't like. Thanks for the inspiration!"

Meghan Hildebrand www.meghanhildebrand.com

Backbeat is an internationally syndicated, one-hour radio show featuring vintage popular music. It's not about nostalgia. It's a fun and lively exploration of our shared music history with an emphasis on artists and records that have been underrated, forgotten or just ignored over the years.

We also play new music from emerging artists who honour that history. Music submissions are welcome. Send info and links to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The National Community and Campus Radio Association named Backbeat Best Music Variety Show in 2023 and Best Blues or Similar Music in 2026. It is a favourite on radio stations across North America as well as with on-line listeners all over the world because it is fun, informative and entertaining. Best of all, it's available for free to any radio station that wants it - either broadcast or on-line, just fill out this simple form to get started or see more details here ...

This site is meant to be used as a resource so you can learn more about the music played on Backbeat. The playlists include links to articles and videos about specific records played. We also have links to some great sources of more general information for research, just scroll to the bottom of this page.

For breaking news follow backbeatradioshow on Facebook.

https://www.backbeatradio.com/download

- Listen to Past Shows -

Hear the latest show

August 16, 2026

Lots of vocal harmony, instrumentals, classics and favourites this week. Mixed in with the usual vintage blues, country, gospel and jazz you'll hear Louis Armstrong covering a Hank Williams hit, (a song that was probably older than both of them). We've also got a blues man who started performing on his own at seven years old and the incomparable Rose Murphy.

SEE THE PLAYLIST - LISTEN

Opinions? Questions? Favourite Song? Contact Lorne!

Backbeat can be heard on these stations

Our Home Station CKHA-FM, 100.9 Haliburton, ON Sundays at 10 AM Eastern time	CFBW-FM Bluewater Radio 91.3FM Hanover, ON Sundays 8 PM Eastern time	At various times on: CKUW University of Winnipeg 95.39 FM Winnipeg, MB
CFIS FM Boomer Radio 96.1 FM Prince George, B.C. Thursdays 7 PM Pacific time	CHBB FM Voice of Bonne Bay 95.9 & 98.1 FM Gros Morne NL Mondays 2 PM, Nfld time	CKOL FM 93.7 FM Campbellford, ON Part of the overnight mix
CHSR FM 97.7 FM Fredericton, NB Sundays, 8 AM Atlantic time	CFMH-FM LocalFM 107.3 Saint John, New Brunswick Tuesdays 5 PM Atlantic time	MVPR Merrimack Valley Public Radio (Boston) Mass, USA
Hambergsender.de Hamberg, Germany Mondays, 9 PM local time	CFRO 100.5 FM Vancouver, BC Mondays 9 PM Pacific time	KGIG 104.9 FM Modesto, California, USA Frequently, at various times
WXDR 99.1 FM New Orleans, LA, USA Thursdays, 8 PM Central Time	CJRC Clarence-Rockland, ON Tues 2 PM & Wed. 11 PM Eastern time	CJMP 90.1 FM Salish Sea BC Mondays 10 AM Pacific time

External Links

Here are links to some artist web sites and articles that give more detailed info on some of the songs or artists I've played recently.

*Note clicking on a link may take you to another web site in a new window or tab.

Dick Spottswood - 1925 Songs
tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/album/dick-spottswood-tompkins-square-present-1925-songs

Allen Lowe - “Turn Me Loose White Man”
Or: Appropriating Culture: How to Listen to American Music 1900-1960. A two-volume book with 30 CDs (about 800 tracks).
Web Site: https://allenlowe.com/
Bandcamp page https://allenloweturnmeloose.bandcamp.com/ (CDs or tracks can be streamed or purchased individually)

https://www.stevedawson.ca/

Sean Poluk web site
https://seanpoluk.com/

Big Fancy and the Shiddy Cowboys on Bandcamp
https://bigfancy.bandcamp.com/album/the-legendary-loser-wins-again

Weepin' Dave and the Diamond Boys web site https://www.weepindave.com/

Ken Tizzard and Music for Goats - Whiskey Wednesdays https://kentizzard.com/

"Ducktails, Drive-ins and Broken Hearts - An Unsweetened Look at '50s Music" by Hank Davis
https://sunypress.edu/Books/D/Ducktails-Drive-ins-and-Broken-Hearts

Ronnie Douglas on LastFM: https://www.last.fm/music/The+Ronnie+Douglas+Blues+Band

Blue Moon Marquee web site: https://bluemoonmarquee.com/

Pat Johnson web site: https://patjohnson.ca/home

Music Links

Learn more!

Here are links to web sites, blogs and podcasts that I use to research and learn more about the vintage music played on Backbeat. Use them to do your own research or even legally download some of the music.

Spontaneous Lunacy
A website designed to tell the entire history of rock ‘n’ roll music from its birth in 1947 to the present day, one song at a time. Reviewer Sampson looks at all the records he feels helped develop the rock style, both good and bad. As he says, it's for people who are obsessed with arcane details of records made seven decades ago that almost nobody heard at the time. I read it every day. He offers knowledgable, insightful, witty and sometimes scathing reviews with links to listen to or purchase the songs. Warning, you could spend hours reading this, Sampson has been at it for two years - posting every day until he mysteriously stopped in February 2024 after posting the final record for 1952. There's still a lot to read and let's hope he gets back at it soon
https://www.spontaneouslunacy.net/master-index/

A History of Rock in 500 Songs
An ambitious project by Andrew Hickey. He starts at 1938, so it isn't just rock, and each episode includes a number of related records so there will be way more than 500 songs by the time he's finished. Well written and well researched.
https://500songs.com/podcast/

Vocal Group Harmony Web Site
Their stated purpose is to "provide information about the rhythm and blues vocal groups of the 1930s, 1940s & 1950s and their records". To that aim they offer up hundreds and hundreds of pages of pictures, label scans, press clippings, commentary and free, downloadable music files they make from the original 78s (all are Public Domain). Check out the Article of the Month and the new Black Artists Videos page
https://www.vocalgroupharmony.com/ARTICLE.htm

Cocaine & Rhinstones
Cocaine & Rhinestones is a podcast about the history of country music made in the 20th century. It is not in chronological order. You can listen to episodes or read the transcriptions on this web site. Tyler Mahan Coe offers in-depth articles on country music and the people who made it. Another rabbit hole of reading (or listening). Tyler "took the summer off" at the end of season two and hasn't posted since but we assume he is busy researching - there's a lot of research.
https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/

Second Hand Songs
An excellent resource for finding out who recorded what and when. They are in the business of finding original copyright holders for those in the film and TV industries who want to licence songs, so they are quite accurate. Plus you can find original versions of hit songs you didn't even know had been recorded earlier.
https://secondhandsongs.com/

And don't forget there are many original articles on this site, check them out. If you have any suggestions for sites to add here, please shoot me an email, I'll have a look.

Backbeat Radio on Facebook