The final hour of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise brings several strands of the program together in a sequence that moves from polished vocal material and jazz into r&b and blues, ending with Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross.” Rather than holding to one narrow format, the hour makes its contrasts part of its appeal. Familiar names appear beside performers whose selections add different shades to the closing stretch of the five-hour broadcast.

The Charioteers open with “A Kiss & a Rose,” setting a vocal foundation before Charlie Parker’s “Just Friends” changes the hour’s frame. Parker’s appearance places a major jazz voice near the start of the hour, while Billy Eckstine’s “Never Been in Love Before” returns the programming to a vocal performance. Ernestine Anderson follows with “I Got Lost in His Arms,” extending that thread. Together, these first four selections establish an opening shaped by singer-centered material and jazz presence rather than a single stylistic lane.

Charles Earland’s “More Today Than Yesterday” arrives next, followed by two Sam Cooke selections: “I Don’t Want to Cry” and “That’s All I Need to Know.” The Cooke pairing gives the hour a small internal focus, much as the earlier King Cole Trio and Lowell Fulson segments do elsewhere in the show. Keeping two titles together allows the programming to spend more time with a single artist before moving on, while Earland’s placement provides a bridge between the earlier jazz-oriented stretch and the more blues-centered material that follows.

Roy Gaines’s “Gainesville” marks that turn. Larry Dale then receives three consecutive selections: “You Better Head My Warning,” “Please Tell Me,” and “What Your Love Means to Me.” The sequence is one of the hour’s strongest organizing ideas. Rather than treating Dale as a brief stop among many names, the program gives listeners time to hear three titles in succession and to register his place within the hour’s larger movement. Alonzo Scales’s “My Baby Likes to Shuffle” follows, its title offering a natural change in pace after Dale’s compact set.

Bob Gaddy, Jackie Brenston, and Billy “The Kid” Emerson continue the closing hour’s r&b and blues route. “No Help Wanted,” “Trouble Up the Road,” and “Holy Mackerel Baby” are placed one after another, creating a lively section built around distinct performers and titles. There is no need for the hour to explain its energy through a single theme; its character comes from the deliberate accumulation of records, each one changing the color of the sequence while remaining connected to the program’s broader blues orientation.

B.B. King’s “I Got Papers on You Baby” supplies another major blues name near the end of the hour. Jimmy McCracklin’s “Come on Home” follows, bringing the playlist toward its final turn. The choice to conclude with Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross” is especially notable because it gives the hour a clear closing marker rather than simply another vocal performance. It also completes a program that has consistently placed different eras and approaches in conversation with one another.

As the fifth hour closes, the full week’s design becomes easier to hear. Earlier hours devoted sustained attention to the King Cole Trio, Percy Mayfield, Ida Cox, Brewer Phillips, and Lowell Fulson. This final hour instead works through a sequence of changing voices: vocal groups, jazz figures, singers, r&b artists, and blues guitarists. The result is a closing hour with room for both breadth and focus, an appropriate final chapter for a Blues Before Sunrise built around discovery, continuity, and musical range.

Hour 5 Playlist

A Kiss & a Rose — Charioteers

Just Friends — Charlie Parker

Never Been in Love Before — Billy Eckstine

I Got Lost in His Arms — Ernestine Anderson

More Today Than Yesterday — Charles Earland

I Don’t Want to Cry — Sam Cooke

That’s All I Need to Know — Sam Cooke

Gainesville — Roy Gaines

You Better Head My Warning — Larry Dale

Please Tell Me — Larry Dale

What Your Love Means to Me — Larry Dale

My Baby Likes to Shuffle — Alonzo Scales

No Help Wanted — Bob Gaddy

Trouble Up the Road — Jackie Brenston

Holy Mackerel Baby — Billy “The Kid” Emerson

I Got Papers on You Baby — B.B. King

Come on Home — Jimmy McCracklin

Albatross — Fleetwood Mac