The fifth hour gives Blues Before Sunrise a late-night shape without settling into one lane. Its opening sequence brings together Henry Mancini, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Shirly Horn, and Groove Holmes, a set of names that immediately places jazz beside blues rather than treating the two as separate destinations. “Mr Lucky” begins the hour, followed by Ellington’s “Mood to Be Wooed,” Nat King Cole’s “The Blues Don’t Care,” Shirly Horn’s “Light Out of Darkness,” and Groove Holmes’s “Hey You – What’s That.” The progression is concise, but it establishes a measured, after-hours atmosphere before the hour turns toward artists more directly identified with blues and gospel programming.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe occupies an especially important place in the middle of the hour. Her three selections, “I Want a Tall Skinny Papa,” “Rock Me,” and “Rock Daniel,” form the most sustained artist grouping in the playlist. Their placement after the opening jazz sequence changes the hour’s center of gravity while retaining its vocal focus. The grouping also gives the program time to stay with one performer rather than passing immediately from name to name. Tharpe’s presence is followed by T-Bone Walker’s “I Walked Away,” which keeps the hour moving through a blues repertoire shaped by prominent individual voices.
The playlist then moves through Buster Pickens and Lil Son Jackson. “Mountain Jack” and “Peace Breaking People” create a short instrumental-and-vocal contrast only in the sense of program placement; the source does not identify either recording’s format, so the music is best understood here through its position between Walker and the subsequent blues selections. Eddie Burns follows with “Superstitious,” then Ray Agee takes over a substantial closing stretch. “Black Night Is Gone,” “Hit Me Where It Hurts,” “Monkey on My Back,” “Love Is a Cold Shot,” and “My Silent Prayer” give Agee five consecutive appearances.
That extended Ray Agee sequence is the hour’s clearest programming decision. Rather than offering one isolated selection, Blues Before Sunrise gives listeners a compact run that can be heard as a focused section within the broader hour. The titles themselves should not be treated as evidence of a shared narrative or subject, but their consecutive placement makes the set a natural point of attention. It also creates a different kind of continuity from the Tharpe group earlier in the hour: one comes after jazz and vocal material, while the other leads directly into the program’s final recording.
Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross” closes the listed hour and the five-hour show. Its placement after Agee’s run is a notable final turn, not because the source supplies a story about the recording, but because it deliberately ends a program that has spent the evening moving among many traditions and presentation styles. The title’s appearance at the end offers a clear final marker after a long, varied set of performances.
The hour’s structure rewards close listening to transitions. Mancini and Ellington make room for Cole, Horn, and Groove Holmes; Tharpe receives a three-song segment; Walker, Pickens, Jackson, and Burns keep the blues portion in motion; and Agee receives the longest single-artist sequence before Fleetwood Mac signs off. It is a closing hour that does not reduce the program’s range. Instead, it gathers jazz, gospel-adjacent vocal presence, blues, and a final change of pace into one continuous after-hours broadcast.
Hour 5 Playlist
Mr Lucky — Henry Mancini
Mood to Be Wooed — Duke Ellington
The Blues Don’t Care — Nat King Cole
Light Out of Darkness — Shirly Horn
Hey You – What’s That — Groove Holmes
I Want a Tall Skinny Papa — Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Rock Me — Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Rock Daniel — Sister Rosetta Tharpe
I Walked Away — T-Bone Walker
Mountain Jack — Buster Pickens
Peace Breaking People — Lil Son Jackson
Superstitious — Eddie Burns
Black Night Is Gone — Ray Agee
Hit Me Where It Hurts — Ray Agee
Monkey on My Back — Ray Agee
Love Is a Cold Shot — Ray Agee
My Silent Prayer — Ray Agee
Albatross — Fleetwood Mac