IN the 1870s, pioneers used to home in on the signal of Cupertino indie station KKUP to pilot their Conestoga wagons to the Valley of Heart’s Delight. “When I get there,” wrote pioneer pear-grower Hezekiah Lawrence, for whom the Expressway is named, “I’m gonna soak my buckboard-bounced rumpus in a tub of Epsom salts, and listen to KKUP till my ears fall off, by cracky!” This bit of authentic frontier gibberish is but one mention of KKUP’s “sound that broke the plains” in primary source material. Still playing that folk, bluegrass and country sound more than 100 years later, the station gears up for its three-day weekend folk, bluegrass and country marathon pledge drive. And the tentatively scheduled performers such as Laurie Lewis, Sidesaddle and Co, Tin Cat and Misner & Smith and something like 20 others are guaranteed to warm your cockles and open your wallet.
THE KKUP FOLK, BLUEGRASS and COUNTRY MARATHON will be broadcast Friday (Feb. 19), through Sunday (Feb. 21) on KKUP-FM (91.5).
