Episodes

  • Felix Cavaliere (Season Three, Episode 4)

    Felix Cavaliere (Season Three, Episode 4)
    May 20 2022
    More about Felix: The message has always been to stand for peace, love, and happiness. For legendary singer songwriter, Felix Cavaliere, making people feel good is primary to his illustrious 50-year career that includes the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriter Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and Grammy Hall of Fame. Few artists can claim they defined a generation; Felix Cavaliere continues to remind us to keep listening for the world’s beauty. The classically trained pianist, born in Pelham, New York, idolized Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, and Sam Cook. Felix Cavaliere embraced the Hammond Organ and pioneered a fresh, rock and roll sound. Upon leaving Syracuse University to form the Escorts, and become a backup musician for Joe Dee and the Starliters and later Sandy Scott, who knew that his legendary next stop would be the beginning of an illustrious hall of fame career. Early in 1965, Felix Cavaliere formed the ‘Young Rascals’ with Dino Danelli, Eddie Brigati, and Gene Cornish. That October, they caught the attention of promoter/manager Sid Bernstein with their high-energy set at Long Island’s elite club, Barge. Signed to Atlantic Records, and now called The Rascals, the mega hit “Good Lovin’” struck No. 1 in February 1966. They followed suit with a string of hits like “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long,” “Groovin’(No. 1 in 1967), “How Can I Be Sure,” “A Girl Like You,” “A Beautiful Morning,” and “People Got to Be Free” (No. 1 in 1968). The Rascals are considered the best ‘blue-eyed soul’ group to come out of the 1960s, as well as one of the groups with the most record sales. By the early 70s, The Rascals experimented with more jazz-influenced sounds, and moved to Columbia Records. The Rascals disbanded in 1972. Felix Cavaliere’s solo career thrived during this decade. He released his self-titled debut album with Todd Rundgren at the producer helm. His follow-up albums were Destiny (1974), Castles in the Air (1979) (Castle in the Air produced another Top 40 hit – “Only a Heart Sees” reached No. 2), Dreams in Motion (1994) and in 2008 he collaborated with Stax guitar legend, Steve Crooper, on the Grammy-nominated Nudge it Up a Notch and again in 2010 with Midnight Flyer. Felix Cavaliere calls Nashville home base, where he is constantly collaborating and writing new material.
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    25 mins
  • Dave Cobb: Grammy Winner Extraordinaire (Season Three, Episode 3)

    Dave Cobb: Grammy Winner Extraordinaire (Season Three, Episode 3)
    May 13 2022

    Dave Cobb is a six-time Grammy award-winning American record producer, songwriter and music executive based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of John Prine, The Highwomen, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile and The Rival Sons.  Cobb is also a contributor to the six million-selling 2018 A Star Is Born soundtrack and produced "Always Remember Us This Way" for Lady Gaga.
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    35 mins
  • Darden Smith - Texas Troubadour (Season 3, Episode 2)

    Darden Smith - Texas Troubadour (Season 3, Episode 2)
    May 6 2022

    DARDEN SMITH
     

    Open and empty. That’s how Darden Smith describes the west Texas landscape that inspired his wildly creative new multi-media project, Western Skies. Comprising a new studio record, a book of photography, lyrics, and essays, and an accompanying album of readings set to music, the collection is an immersive journey through a world both real and imagined, a place of mystery and mythology, possibility and longing. Like his photographs, Smith’s writing is steeped in isolation, though rarely lonely; timeless, yet acutely aware of the hours and minutes whizzing by like mileposts on the highway. The songs on Western Skies are spare and deliberate, often marked by a distinct sense of motion and transience, and the performances are similarly raw and intimate, reflecting the desolate beauty of the region that so captured Smith’s imagination as he crisscrossed it time and again throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Over the course of his remarkable three-and-a-half decade career, Smith has released 15 critically lauded studio albums, landed singles on both the country and pop charts (including the Top 10 hit “Loving Arms”), penned a symphony, scored works for theater and dance, published a widely celebrated book on creativity, exhibited works of visual art, and co-founded the non-profit SongwritingWith:Soldiers program, which pairs veterans with musicians in order to tap into the transformational possibilities of collaborative songwriting. (During the pandemic, the Austin-based artist also helped launch Frontline Songs, which connected musicians and healthcare workers to support them in telling their stories and healing their trauma.) The Daily News hailed Smith as “one of the most respected American musicians working today,” while the Austin Chronicle dubbed him a “master song craftsman,” and AllMusic called him “a singer-songwriter blessed with an uncommon degree of intelligence, depth, and compassion.”
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    28 mins
  • Bob Weir (Season 3, Episode 1)

    Bob Weir (Season 3, Episode 1)
    Feb 14 2022
    Bob Weir is one of the founding members of the legendary Grateful Dead. Since establishing the band in 1965, Weir has become one of rock’s finest and most distinctive rhythm guitarists. The band has received a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and appeared on Forbes’ list of top-grossing entertainers. The Grateful Dead is still one of the highest-grossing concert attractions in the US and their final tally of 2,318 total concerts remains a world record. He is currently a member of Dead & Company (featuring Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti) as well as his own trio Bob Weir and Wolf Bros (a trio featuring Weir, Don Was and Jay Lane). Weir has been honored with Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association and is also a Les Paul Spirit Award recipient. Weir has teamed up with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a Goodwill Ambassador to raise awareness and mobilize support for the UN agency’s work to end poverty while fighting climate change. Weir has a partnership with D’Angelico Guitars for two signature models, the Bob Weir SS and Bob Weir Bedford. In 2017, the Bob Weir SS won the Editor’s Choice Award for Guitar, Amps and Accessories at the Summer National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show, while Musical Merchandise Review (MMR) nominated the Premier Bob Weir SS for Dealer’s Choice Award in the Electric Guitar category. Music and Sound Retailer deemed the Deluxe Bob Weir Bedford the Best Electric Guitar of 2019. Weir's Blue Mountain LP (2016) on Columbia/Legacy/ROAR marked his first album of solo material in more than 10 years and first album of entirely original material in more than 30 years. The album received raves from critics including NPR who called the LP "stately, autumnal, metaphysical cowboy songs.”
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    35 mins
  • Encore Presentation of Paradise, The First Episode!

    Encore Presentation of Paradise, The First Episode!
    Oct 25 2021
    We'd like to revisit the episode that started it all: Paradise. If you're a new fan or have been with us from the start, we hope you enjoy this encore presentation Peace!
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    28 mins
  • Jason Wilber: Over 20 Years with John Prine (Season Two, Episode 12)

    Jason Wilber: Over 20 Years with John Prine (Season Two, Episode 12)
    Jul 26 2021
    Billy talks with Jason Wilber who was John Prine’s guitar player for over 20 years. They discuss Jason’s first time meeting John in Bloomington, Indiana, joining John’s band, songwriting, the pursuit of the perfect gift (which included a cuckoo clock), Dairy Queen lunch stops on tour, and John’s love of meatloaf. More about Jason: Jason Wilber is an American singer, guitar player, songwriter, and recording artist. In addition to his work as a solo recording artist, he is also known as the long time lead guitar player for singer-songwriter John Prine. Other artists Jason has accompanied live or in the studio include Iris Dement, Greg Brown, Tom Russell, Sheryl Crow, Mary Gauthier, Todd Snider, Simrit, Hal Ketchum, Tim Grimm, Krista Detor, Greg Trooper, Carrie Newcomer, Kim Fox, Bill Wilson, and Over the Rhine. Jason Wilber’s solo albums include Lost In Your Hometown (1998), Behind the Midway (2000), King For A Day (2004), Lazy Afternoon (2006), Live and Otherwise Volume 1 (2006), Ghost of Summers Past (2009), Live and Otherwise Volume 2 (2009), Secret Window (2014), Echoes (2016) and Reaction Time (2017). Jason Wilber’s work with John Prine includes the Grammy Award winning CD Fair & Square, and the Grammy nominated CDs Live On Tour and In Spite of Ourselves (which spent 32 weeks on the Billboard Country Charts). In addition to playing guitar on John Prine’s 2017 album For Better or Worse, Jason also served as a Co-Executive Producer. Jason has accompanied John Prine on duet recordings with Iris Dement, Allison Krauss, Susan Tedeschi, Emmylou Harris, Miranda Lambert, Kathy Mattea, Amanda Shires, Fiona Prine, Lucinda Williams, Josh Ritter, Patty Loveless, Lee Ann Womack, Connie Smith, Melba Montgomery, Morgane Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, and Sara Watkins. From 2006-2016, Jason Wilber hosted the syndicated radio series, In Search of a Song, which featured long form interviews with singers, songwriters, musicians, and producers. Jason Wilber served as C0-Executive Producer on the compilation CD Coal Country Music featuring Willie Nelson, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, Jason and the Scorchers, Kathy Mattea, Justin Townes Earle, Natalie Merchant, Diana Jones, Tom T. Hall, Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Jean Ritchie, and other artists, who all contributed their talents to benefit the Alliance for Appalachia’s work to stop Mountain Top Removal in rural Appalachia. Jason Wilber’s past TV and radio appearances include The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Colbert Report, Sessions At West 54th Street, The Grand Ole Opry, Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, CNN Entertainment Week, The Road, Mountain Stage, E-Town, Austin City Limits, and The Late Show with David Letterman.
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    44 mins
  • Peter Guralnick: Looking To Get Lost, Part Two (Season Two, Episode 11)

    Peter Guralnick: Looking To Get Lost, Part Two (Season Two, Episode 11)
    Jul 8 2021
    In this, the second of two episodes, Billy and Michael talk with renowned music author Peter Guralnick about Charlie Rich’s success and final record, Elvis Presley, Tom Waits, Chet Atkins, Colonel Tom Parker, and highlights from his highly-acclaimed new book, "Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing". More about Peter: Peter Guralnick has been called "a national resource" by critic Nat Hentoff for work that has argued passionately and persuasively for the vitality of this country's intertwined black and white musical traditions. His books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. Of the first Bob Dylan wrote, “Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe. This book cancels out all others.” He won a Grammy for his liner notes for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club as well as writing the scripts for the Grammy-winning documentary Sam Cooke/Legend and Martin Scorsese’s blues documentary Feel Like Going Home. His biography of Sam Cooke, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, was hailed as "monumental, panoramic, an epic tale told against a backdrop of brilliant, shimmering music, intense personal melodrama, and vast social changes.” His 2015 biography of Sam Phillips, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times and was a finalist for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography of the Year. Reaction to his latest book, Looking to Get Lost, has ranged from Michael Eric Dyson’s tribute to “one of the 3 or 4 greatest writers in the country today” to Rosanne Cash’s description of him as “a dedicated explorer, a writer of great sensitivity and intuition, who lyrically untangles the network that exists between artist and art” to No Depression’s description of a book that “is not a summation so much as a culmination of his remarkable work, which from the start has encompassed the full range of blues, gospel, country and rock and roll.”
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    34 mins
  • Dave Prine: The First Brother Speaks, Part Two (Season Two, Episode 10)

    Dave Prine: The First Brother Speaks, Part Two (Season Two, Episode 10)
    Jul 6 2021
    In the second of two episodes, Billy and his brother Dave Prine reminisce about traveling in brother John's big cargo van, attending the University of Chicago Folk Festival, Ernest Tubb, John and Dave attending the Old Town School of Folk Music, and some hilarious other Prine family stories you won't hear anywhere else!
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    22 mins