The final hour of Blues Before Sunrise creates a wide-ranging conclusion from a playlist that moves with assurance among vocal harmony, jazz, soul-inflected material, country blues, Chicago blues, and electric blues. Rather than settling into a single sound for the program’s final stretch, the hour draws strength from contrast: vocal groups beside individual singers, jazz figures beside blues artists, and a closing sequence that gradually narrows toward amplified blues expression.

The Delta Rhythm Boys open with “Georgia on My Mind,” immediately placing a vocal-group performance at the head of the hour. That choice establishes a polished vocal presence before the program turns to Milt Jackson’s “This Masquerade.” The two selections provide an early contrast in artist identity and musical direction without requiring the hour to define itself too narrowly. Dinah Washington’s “Soft Winds” follows, then Johnny Hartman’s “They Say It’s Wonderful,” creating a four-record opening that gives singers and jazz-associated artists substantial room within the larger blues context of the broadcast.

Shirley Scott’s “Hip Soul” changes the hour’s profile again. Its placement after Washington and Hartman gives the sequence a different kind of momentum, and it precedes a two-song Brook Benton passage: “Daddy Knows” and “I Worry ’Bout You.” Pairing two Benton titles lets the hour linger with one performer rather than treating every record as an isolated stop. That recurring-artist approach becomes even more pronounced later with John Lee Hooker and Little Milton.

Lightnin’ Hopkins enters with “Lightning’s Sky Hop,” marking the beginning of the hour’s deeper blues-oriented middle section. John Lee Hooker follows with “Do My Baby Think of Me” and “Yes Baby Baby Baby,” two consecutive performances that give the program a compact Hooker feature. The sequence is important not because it announces a historical argument beyond the supplied playlist, but because it lets a single artist’s recordings form a clear center of gravity. After the early movement among several vocal and jazz-related figures, these two tracks make the blues focus more concentrated.

Robert Nighthawk’s “Bricks in My Pillow” extends that direction, while Big John Wrencher Johnson’s “Special Rider” maintains the hour’s progression through individual blues voices. Sunnyland Slim’s “Machine Gun” follows, then Little Milton’s “Long Distance Operator” and “That’s What Love Will Make You Do.” Once again, the programming uses a two-record stretch to create continuity. Little Milton’s pair arrives late enough in the hour to feel like a culminating statement, with “Long Distance Operator” followed directly by “That’s What Love Will Make You Do.”

Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross” closes the hour and the five-hour program. Its placement after the Little Milton sequence is a notable final shift: the show does not end by repeating its central blues pattern, but by allowing a different artist and title to provide the last word. That ending reflects the hour’s overall design. It is not a rigid chronological survey, nor is it a narrow genre exercise. Instead, it uses the varied identities of Delta Rhythm Boys, Milt Jackson, Dinah Washington, Johnny Hartman, Shirley Scott, Brook Benton, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Big John Wrencher Johnson, Sunnyland Slim, Little Milton, and Fleetwood Mac to make variety itself part of the musical logic.

The hour also mirrors the larger character of this week’s program. Earlier hours move between blues, vocal material, rhythm and blues, gospel, and festival performances; Hour 5 gathers that expansive sensibility into one closing sequence. It begins with voices associated with finely shaped song performances, moves through repeated artist spotlights, and finishes with an unexpected but purposeful final selection. Blues Before Sunrise closes not by reducing its scope, but by preserving the range that has defined the broadcast from the opening hour onward.

Hour 5 Playlist

Georgia on My Mind — Delta Rhythm Boys

This Masquerade — Milt Jackson

Soft Winds — Dinah Washington

They Say It’s Wonderful — Johnny Hartman

Hip Soul — Shirley Scott

Daddy Knows — Brook Benton

I Worry ’Bout You — Brook Benton

Lightning’s Sky Hop — Lightnin’ Hopkins

Do My Baby Think of Me — John Lee Hooker

Yes Baby Baby Baby — John Lee Hooker

Bricks in My Pillow — Robert Nighthawk

Special Rider — Big John Wrencher Johnson

Machine Gun — Sunnyland Slim

Long Distance Operator — Little Milton

That’s What Love Will Make You Do — Little Milton

Albatross — Fleetwood Mac