Your Resource for the Blues and Roots Music Community in the Greater DC/Baltimore Area and Beyond!

Your Resource for the Blues and Roots Music Community In the Greater DC/Baltimore Area and Beyond

"Don’t Forget the Blues" Radio Show with Elliott Gross

Show Description and Preview

On my radio show this Monday October 5 from noon to 1 pm on WPFW, 89.3 FM in Washington, DC (and surrounding areas), I’m going to play Duke Robillard (whose 78th birthday is October 4), new material from Chris O’Leary and Danielle Nicole, a couple classics from Elmore James, and the rest locally-based (or formerly locally-based), including Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers, Carly Harvey, Dave Chappell (& Friends), Ashleigh Chevalier, Johnny & The Headhunters, Sol Roots and Bill Starks.

You can stream WPFW live at https://www.wpfwdc.org/; scroll down and hit the play button on the left.

My show is every Monday from noon to 1pm EST on WPFW, 89.3 FM in Washington, DC. I present all styles and eras of blues music, from the 1920’s to last week’s newest releases. Some shows have themes throughout, and typically I will start with one or more musicians who have birthdays during the upcoming week, some new releases, possibly artists coming to town during the week, one or more locally-based artists, and possibly also just some great blues songs I want to share with the listeners.

Not able to catch a show live? You can still listen for up to 2 weeks after a show airs. Click on the link below, click the pull-down that says “All Shows” and scroll down to Select “Don’t Forget the Blues – Elliott Gross.” The archived shows from the prior two weeks will be listed. Hit play next to your show of choice. You can also click on the progress bar to Jump around in desired.

The most recent posted playlist for my show is shown below.

Playlist for prior shows are available at the link below:

Elliott’s Bio

I have been hosting the Monday Don’t Forget the Blues Hour on WPFW since November 2000 (including operating the board and peripheral equipment). I have full artistic freedom over the choice of songs that I play on air and interviews that I perform, and have interviewed many of the greatest names in blues, including Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Shemekia Copeland, Mavis Staples, Tommy Castro, James Cotton, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, as well as many others.

My early entrée into blues, and major influences, came via blues rock (like many people of my generation, growing up in the 1970s), primarily by the bands ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Bob Seger, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Allman Brothers Band, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat and DC area’s own The Nighthawks. My first roommate in college (fall 1980) was a junior and he had a big blues album collection (as did another guy across the hall), including Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Johnny Winter and others. This also had a major impact on me and further put me on the path of being a blues lifer.

Highlights

Member of the DC Blues Society since 1988, the Blues Foundation since around 1995, and Baltimore Blues Society since around 2000. I receive and read publications from each of these organizations, and vote in the annual Blues Music Awards.
Served as a judge for the Blues Foundation’s Best Self-Produced CD multiple years
Served as a judge multiple times for both the DC Blues Society and Baltimore Blues Society for their band contests to select representatives to go to the International Blues Challenge (IBC)
MC’ed or announced bands at multiple blues festivals or concerts in the greater DC/Baltimore region
Have subscribed to both Living Blues Magazine and Blues Revue/Blues Music Magazine for over 25 years, as well as receive many other email blues newsletters
Have sent a weekly email blast (and posts on Facebook) for years, providing previews of my radio shows, blues musician and related birthday bios for the week, calendars for upcoming blues (and roots) music listings in the greater DC/Baltimore area, and sometimes other noteworthy blues news
Launched the website www.bluesandrootsmusic.com in May 2026 to make available to everyone the blues and roots music calendars, previews of my radio shows and playlists for past shows, and everything else that you see on the site today

Playlist – September 28, 2026

Artist	Song Title	Album	Label
Koko Taylor	Gonna Buy Me a Mule	Old School	Alligator Records
Albert Collins	Cold, Cold Feeling	Ice Pickin’	Alligator Records
Nick Schnebelen	Crazy All By Myself	Crazy All By Myself	VizzTone Label Group
Stevie Ray Vaughan	Dirty Pool	Texas Flood	Epic Records
The Fabulous Thunderbirds	Low-Down Woman	What’s the Word?	Benchmark Recordings
The Nighthawks	Push and Shove	Ten Years Live	Varrick Records
Patty Reese	Strong Medicine	Strong Medicine	Azalea City Recordings
Vaneese Thomas	Ain’t Gonna Be No One’s Fool	Window to My Soul	Overton Music
Ryan Lee Crosby	Spoken Intro & Going Away	At the Blue Front	self release
Johnny Sansone	People Like You and Me	Into Your Blues	ShortStack Records
Gerry Hundt Trio	Runnin’ Wild	One More for Me	self release
The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra feat. Willy Jordan	Secret	What Can We Do?	Nola Blue Records