LOTSA A CAPPELLA
HISTORY

What does "Lotsa A Cappella" mean anyhow?

I'll refer you to the Primarily A Cappella website for a discussion of the phrase "a cappella".

The Primarily A Cappella Company also explains why they are not the "Exclusively" A Cappella Company. In the same vein, my radio show plays music by all kinds of artists and all sorts of genres, mostly (but not strictly or exclusively) unaccompanied by instruments. My sister Liz helped me come up with the title "Lotsa" A Cappella, because I play a lot of it!

Marjie (your Lotsa A Cappella on-air host and programmer)

I'm a middle aged widow who loves music of all kinds. I've got a special fondness for the human voice as an instrument. I love singing, but am not a soloist. I sing alto in the Christ Church Cathedral choir.

Lotsa A Cappella started in the Monday 3 AM to 6 AM timeslot on KDHX in August of 1994. For most of the show's run, it aired on Sundays 8 - 10 AM starting in December 1994 through August 10, 2008. On August 16, 2008, Lotsa A Cappella moved to Saturday mornings, 6 - 8 AM. Starting on January 16, 2010, all the Saturday shows were shifted to an hour earlier, so Lotsa A Cappella aired from 5 - 7 AM every Saturday through March 13, 2010.

UPDATE: Starting March 14, 2010 Lotsa A Cappella will be heard on Sundays for a one-hour show starting at 7 AM. I am happy to be moving back to Sundays, and cutting the show to one hour enabled Lotsa A Cappella to move from the super-early time on Saturdays, back to Sunday, which many listeners had requested. It's a little earlier than it used to be, but I hope you'll all get up with me on Sundays to listen!

Lotsa A Cappella's Mascot

I don't need a mascot, really, but since the beginning of the show in 1994, the Lotsa A Cappella mascot has been my dog Touille, a terrier/chihuahua mix with maybe a little dachshund mixed in. Touille passed away on May 27, 2006, but will live forever in my memories.

...i really love the show! wish it weren't right smack in the middle of church! (but, sometimes i "church" at home... listening to your show!)

~ Lotsa A Cappella listener J.K.

Lotsa A Cappella on KDHX

My radio show is called Lotsa A Cappella, because though I focus mainly on unaccompanied singing, I am not opposed to playing music with instruments other than the human voice. I've been doing the show since August 1994 on KDHX radio (88.1 FM) in St. Louis, Missouri. You can listen to KDHX on the internet at kdhx.org .

I've had three cohosts: Rick Yakimo, Fred Davis, and Angela Pancella. Currently I am the only host.

Where to find A Cappella Music on CD

I find lotsa stuff on these two websites:

Or if you know the name of a particular a cappella group and want to buy their CD, chances are the group has a website where they sell it. I find lotsa groups by using a search engine, such as Google, to find the groups I'm looking for.

If you don't have web access, you're probably not looking at this page now unless somebody printed it out for you. I have found a cappella CDs in my local record stores, even though most stores do NOT have an "a cappella" section. I frequently find some a cappella stuff in the following categories:

Classical
Easy Listening
Pop
Folk
Bluegrass (especially bluegrass gospel)
Jazz (especially vocal jazz groups)
Gospel
World

...and really just about any other category. So how do you know which CDs in these sections might have a cappella songs?

The short answer is: You don't. It helps to have a sense of adventure and to like lots of music that isn't a cappella. Sometimes the clerk in the local record/CD store knows a lot, but most wouldn't be able to steer you to CDs that have even one a cappella track. Many hip hop or rap songs have an "a cappella" version, which is just the song stripped of the instruments, and usually available only on the "single" of the track. Only a few of these really stand on their own as a good a cappella song.