MTSU’s WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 is welcoming Nashville’s Cordovas to its Sunday-night lineup this weekend, adding the psychedelic country-rock band’s “Strange Roots Radio” show to the Americana station’s schedule.

The weekly show began airing at 10 p.m. Central Jan. 17 on WMOT’s 89.5 FM radio channel, as well as its website, www.wmot.org.

“Strange Roots Radio” is two hours of deep-cutting exploration from the American South and beyond, exploring the fringe of the Americana canon’s fabric, according to Cordovas’ front man Joe Firstman, who’s also the show’s voice.

“Like the mud-covered stilts holding up the grand American music billboard, Strange Roots Radio digs deep to uncover the sometimes forgotten essence of roots music: pure American weirdness,” multi-instrumentalist Firstman says.

“Join us as we spin everything from New Orleans queens to California hippie heroes, plus poetry, interviews and more.”

The Nashville-based psychedelic country-rock band Cordovas, shown here, will join the Sunday-night lineup at Middle Tennessee State University’s WMOT 89.5-FM Roots Radio this Sunday, Jan. 17, with their unique two-hour show, “Strange Roots Radio.” From left are band members Lucca Soria, Toby Weaver, frontman and show host Joe Firstman, and Sevans Henderson. (photo by Joseph Ross/The Cordovas)

Besides little-known cuts and wine-cellar gems from familiar outlaws like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, the Cordovas will be spinning up populist reggae, country soul, Southern funk, Appalachian rambler anthems, gospel shouts and ribald blues queens.

Jessie Scott

WMOT Program Director Jessie Scott says Strange Roots Radio “compliments WMOT’s commitment to the best contemporary Americana with the kind of edutaining backstory one could only learn from some good friends with good sources and an attic full of records spanning five decades.”

WMOT, a charter member of National Public Radio and part of MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, is the region’s only Americana music channel and is marking its 52nd year of operations in 2021.

Its 100,000 watts, broadcast from the Center for Innovation in Media inside MTSU’s Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, reaches an over-the-air audience stretching from Bowling Green, Kentucky, to the Alabama state line, while its website’s international audience continues to grow.

WMOT features original American roots programming and is dedicated to the music most deeply connected to Music City’s legacy: old-school country music, bluegrass, singer/songwriters, folk, soul, R&B and rock ’n’ roll.

The station also offers its award-winning jazz programming on secondary radio channels 89.5HD2, 92.3 FM inside Rutherford County and 104.9 FM inside neighboring Williamson County.

For more information about WMOT, visit www.wmot.org.

The Cordovas recently released “Destiny Hotel,” a collection of folk, country and groove-heavy rock ’n’ roll originals that harnesses the freewheeling energy of their live show and showcases their songwriting at a new level of sophistication.

The video for the album’s lead single, “High Feeling,” is available below.

The Cordovas, whose music American Songwriter magazine calls “timeless … with lyrics that are indefinite but at the same time emotionally specific,” formed in 2011. Along with Firstman, the band includes keyboardist Sevans Henderson, guitarist/vocalist Lucca Soria and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Toby Weaver.

For more information about the band, visit their website at http://cordovasband.com.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)