Music Makers and Soul Shakers with Steve Dawson

Ep. 191 - Pat Bergeson Jan 21, 2026

Pat Bergeson joins me on the show this week. Pat is one of those musicians who makes you stop and rethink what’s actually possible on a guitar. And on a harmonica.

Pat Bergeson is a true master of touch, tone, and taste, and one of the most deeply musical players you’ll ever hear.

Pat’s guitar playing is rooted in the blues, jazz, and country traditions, but it’s always personal, always expressive, and always unmistakably his own. He’s been here in Nashville for a number of decades now, and has amassed an impressive list of credits, playing on records for artists like Dolly Parton, John Paul White, Suzy Bogguss, Blake Shelton, Alison Krauss and Lyle Lovett. But Pat has never been one to devote himself to session work, so he’s led a much more rounded life, with tons of live playing and touring, including his current touring gig in Peter Frampton’s band. When I first saw him, it was with the band Les Brers, which was Butch Trucks’ band playing mostly Allman Brothers music, and seeing Pat teamed up with the band’s other guitarist Jack Pearson, was a one-two punch of two of my absolute favorite guitarists in music city!

One of the most meaningful chapters in Pat’s career was his close association with the legendary Chet Atkins. Chet didn’t just admire Pat’s playing - he brought him to Nashville. Pat recorded and performed with Chet, and you can really hear that shared philosophy: musical elegance, deep respect for melody, and an understanding that less can truly be more. Pat played with Chet for years, both on records but also as part of his band that used to have a weekly gig here in Nashville at a little Italian joint downtown.

And then there’s the harmonica.

Pat isn’t just a great guitarist — he’s one of the finest diatonic harmonica players you’ll ever hear. So whether you know him from his work with Chet Atkins, his collaborations with Peter Frampton, his session work, his solo recordings, or his unforgettable harmonica playing, you’re in for a great conversation today.

Enjoy my conversation with Pat Bergeson!

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Ep. 190 - Dave Jacques (Pt. 2) Jan 14, 2026

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Dave Jacques - have a listen to Part 1 from last week first and then dig in!

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Ep. 189 - Dave Jacques (Pt. 1) Jan 07, 2026

Bassist Dave Jacques is on the show today. Dave was John Prine’s bass player for nearly thirty years. That’s not just a gig - that’s a musical marriage! That’s knowing when to play, when not to play, when to push a lyric forward, and when to just lay the hell out of the way and let the song do its thing. This will be a 2-part conversation and Part 2 will come out one week from today.

If you know John Prine’s music, you know that the bass is doing a lot of quiet heavy lifting. Those songs don’t survive flashiness. They survive feel, restraint, and humor, and Dave understood that instinctively. He helped build the foundation under some of the most beloved songs in the American songbook, and he did it without ever getting in the way.

What’s remarkable is that Dave brought that same sensibility everywhere else he went. Whether it was Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Townes Van Zandt, or countless other sessions and tours, he always sounded like himself — but somehow also exactly right for the artist.

In this conversation, we talk a lot about his years with John Prine — what he learned from standing next to and playing with night after night, one of the greatest songwriters ever, not to mention endless hours in a car with him.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and playing with Dave on quite a few sessions here in Nashville, and he was also crazy enough to join my band The Volcano Brothers, so if you find yourslef in Nahsville, come see us! You can also find Dave playing with a host of great musicians around town, my favorite being Kenny Vaughan’s Imperial Blues Hour.

You can get the latest on Dave and his projects over at davejacquesonbass.com

Enjoy my conversation with Dave Jacques!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 188 - Ruthie Foster Dec 03, 2025

Ruthie Foster joins me on the show this week. I first met Ruthie about 20 years ago, when we were both playing at a Canadian folk festival. We had a few workshops together and really hit it off. She’s one of the most incredible singers I’ve ever heard - so powerful and soulful, but also totally open to jamming and opening things up in a cool way. We re-connected this summer at the Vancouver Folk Festival and had a blast playing together again after all those years.

Ruthie is a Grammy Award- winning recording artist (among many other awards!) who has an incredible new album out on Sun Records that she made here in Nashville with Tyler Bryant called “Mileage” - be sure to check it out! Ruthie came up singing in the church, performing all over Texas, and then had a stint in New York when she got signed to Atlantic Records. That didn’t really pan out and Ruthie stepped back from music for a while, joined the Navy, which led to joining the Navy band, which sort of got her back into performing music. After her time in the Navy, Ruthie re-committed to music and started releasing her first solo albums, of which she now has 11 or 12 out since about 1997. They’re all excellent, and Ruthie has always stayed true to her roots of blues, soul, gospel, folk and rock & roll. I got a chance to spend a bit of time with her here in Nashville during the Americanafest this year, and it was so great to hear her tell her story about her ineteresting path in the music world.

You can get all Ruthie’s current info and her busy tour schedule over at www.ruthiefoster.com

Please enjoy my conversation with Ruthie Foster!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 187 - Gary Craig Nov 19, 2025

Drummer Gary Craig joins me on this show this week. Gary is an incredible musician who has gained the reputation as one of Canada’s finest studio and live drummers working today. He’s been at it for a long time and has maintained a number of long-term associations with artists like Bruce Cockburn, Anne Murray, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings and Jann Arden. Gary’s attention to detail, combined with a unique sense of groove makes him one of the more creative forces in modern roots drumming. Coming up in Toronto in the 70’s and 80's, Gary learned from some of the city’s great jazz drummers, but shifted his focus to roots, blues and rock bands that appealed to his taste more than jazz did. Landing the gig with Anne Murray, which he got at a young age, Gary stayed with her until she retired about 25 years later. His ability to hold on to gigs and manage juggling several of them at once is no small feat, but when you hear him play, you understand why artists will do what they need to to keep him on board. Gary’s also a great hang too, which I can attest to first-hand, and while that might not be the most important thing in keeping a gig, it’s probably the second most important! Gary and I get into his history, influences, his work with many of the artists that he is known for, and what he’s up to these days both on the road and around Toronto as a live player and studio musician.

Enjoy my conversation with Gary Craig!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 186 - Chuck Mead Nov 05, 2025

Singer, songwriter, bandleader and founder of the legendary BR549, Chuck Mead, joins me on the show this week.

There’s some people that just have music in their veins and they can do things with it and within it that other people can’t - perfectly naturally with seemingly no effort. Well, Chuck is one of those guys. He just knows music. He understands country music and rock & roll in a deep way. He can sing it, feel and play it better than almost anyone. Chuck is known as the leader of the band BR549, which was a huge band in the alt-country scene in the 90’s before “Americana” existed. That band, almost single-handedly, turned Broadway in Nashville into a hopping live music scene, where there really was nothing much going on before they arrived. He’s also a fantastic solo performer and bandleader in his own right, as well as having a big part in the Broadway musical “The Million Dollar Quartet”.

Chuck was born in Missouri, but grew up in Kansas, where he started playing music in all kinds of country and rock bands, but also played in a family band, touring on weekends all through high school and cutting his teeth that way. His band, The Homestead Grays, had some notoriety around Kansas, but when that band broke up, he moved to Nashville in the early 90’s. Broadway at that time was just a sleazy street with a couple bars, some cool guitar shops, and not much else. But that all changed once Chuck and his band (which became BR549) started playing basically 6 nights a week at Robert’s Western World and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Their notoriety led to them being put on the cover of Billboard magazine, which essentially started a label bidding war for the band and led to a deal with Arista records. The band made about 7 albums before splitting up. Since then, Chuck has made 4 solo albums, and played on the Grand Ol Opry a whopping 137 times. He’s been nominated for 3 Grammys and is still very active around Nashville. You can get all the latest onfo and find out when he’s playing at chuckmead.com

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

He’s also a hilarious fellow and a great story teller as you’ll hear, so now please enjoy my conversation with Chuck Mead!

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Ep. 185 - Pete Finney Oct 15, 2025

Steel guitarist and country music historian Pete Finney joins me on the show this week.

I got to know Pete’s playing when I’d go and see Chris’ Scruggs' band The Stone Fox Five out in the parking lot of the East Nashville Legion during Covid. They’d put on a well-distanced weekly show that was my only live music for a couple of years! I loved Pete’s soulful playing and got to learn more about his interesting history, mostly on the pedal steel guitar, playing for all kinds of country legends - artists like Reba McIntyre, The Judds, Vince Gill, The Chicks, The Monkees and lots more. Pete has a unique style, and while he has clearly absorbed the classic country sounds, he doesn’t sound like anyone else. Pete’s path from the DC area playing almost every night in country bars, to Austin to play with Doug Sahm, to his move to Nashville in the 80’s is an interesting one, and Pete has carved out an incredible career in that time. Lately, Pete has also taken on the role of historian, and had a big hand in producing the Country Music Hall Of Fame’s “Dylan, Cash and The Nashville Cats” exhibit, which was one of the best collections of 60’s and 70’s country music stories, exhibits and paraphernalia ever put on display. Pete is a well loved Nashville icon and plays around town with many different artists. He has no website or social media, so you’ll have to just keep your ear to the ground about where to see himj play if you’re in Nashville, but don’t miss your chance if you get it!

Enjoy my conversation with Pete Finney.

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 184 - Nate Smith Oct 01, 2025

Drummer, composer and bandleader Nate Smith joins me on the show this week. While many people have come to know of Nate’s work through his recent collaborations with Vulfpeck, Brittany Howard, and as a member of the Fearless Flyers, Nate has been playing, touring and honing his craft for decades. His early experience with legendary jazz vocalist Betty Carter led to him being a full-time member of Dave Holland’s group for many years, and carved out a reputation as one of New York’s great up and coming jazz drummers. Nate’s wide range of skills and musical tastes led him to start his own group, Kinfolk, which has recorded 2 spectacular albums. A somewhat random invite led him to become a member of The Fearless Flyers, which exploded on youtube, and has paved the way for Nate’s own set of solo and collaborative videos that are highly original, exciting, and musical. His collaborations with musicians like Charlie Hunter, Cory Wong, Victor Wooten, Carrtoons, and Lionel Loueke are well documented on both album and youtube videos. Nate’s latest project is under his own name, entitled “Live-Action” and is an incredible collection of compositions, improvisations and collaborations with many of his musical partners. Nate will be touring quite a bit over the next while with his band, so be sure to catch them when you can!

You can get all the latest info on Nate and all his projects, records and amazing set of videos at natesmithdrums.com

Enjoy my conversation with Nate Smith!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 183 - Mike Farris Sep 17, 2025

Vocalist, songwriter and Grammy Award-winning artist Mike Farris is on the show today. Mike has this incredible new record out called “The Sound Of Muscle Shoals” that he recorded at the legendary Fame Studios with Rodney Hall (the son of Fame founder Rick Hall - the guy who is largely responsible for creating the Muscle Shoals sound that we all know and love). Mike has had an incredible career, from his early days in the insanely wild and high energy band The Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, Mike honed his skills as an incredible frontman and vocalist, but as we talk about today, he feels like he never really learned to sing until he started making solo records in 2001. Since that time, Mike has continued to evolve as an incredible singer whose voice and delivery pull from soul, gospel, country and rock n roll - and all of them very convincingly, as only someone who has truly lived the life can. His 2014 album “Shine For All The People” won a Grammy award, and Mike has been consistently recording and touring the world for decades. I wanted to hear from Mike about his songwriting, how he captures his voice in the studio, how his travels (which include some incredibly rocky patches) have brought him to where he is today, and how he feels like a bit of a misfit in a world where people love to peg musicians under a certain style. We also get into the nuts and bolts of making his new album, and the legacy that he feels working in such a sacred space with incredible musicians.

Mike has quite a few albums out under his own name and the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies albums are also well worth hearing. But do check out the new record “The Sound Of Muscle Shoals” - it’s an incredible listen.

You can catch Mike on tour and get all the latest info at mikefarrismusic.com

Enjoy my conversation with Mike Farris!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 182 - Bruce Bouton Sep 03, 2025

Bruce Bouton is an accomplished pedal steel guitarist who has played on an extensive string of massive country albums and singles from the 80’s onward. From his multi-year stint backing up Ricky Skaggs, playing some of the most memorable steel licks of the era, to most of Garth Brooks’ musical output all through the 90’s, Bruce has also appeared on records for Emmylou Harris, Brooks & Dunn, The Mavericks, Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, and many more. Bruce has incredible skill on the instrument and has found a way to come up with hooky, accessible yet technically skillful parts and solos that have contributed to the success of so many of those recordings. He’s been at this a long time and brings a wealth of experience to sessions and gigs still today. Bruce also made an instructional pedal steel video that is well worth seeking out - I sure found it enlightening when I was starting to play steel. Bruce is still very active around Nashville and we had a chance to hang out at the Henhouse and spend an hour or so talking about lots of his history and path to where he is today.

You can get all the current info on Bruce at his website:

www.rockinlapsteel.com

Enjoy my conversation with Bruce Bouton!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 181 - Tom Hambridge Aug 20, 2025

Tom Hambridge joins me on the show this week. Tom is a Nashville-based drummer, but also an incredibly successful songwriter and producer. Mostly known over the past couple of decades as Buddy Guy’s producer and key songwriter, Tom has had a huge hand in everything the blues legend has released since 2008’s “Skin Deep”. Their partnership has earned them multiple Grammy nominations, and they have toured the world many times over. Tom is a solo artist in his own right, releasing 8 albums under his own name over the last 30 years. Aside from his stellar work with Buddy Guy, Tom has fascinating stories about working with artists like Roy Buchanan, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley while he was a top-call bandleader around the Boston area. His other production credits include records for Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood, Joe Louis Walker, Chris “Kingfish” Ingram and many more.

Tom’s latest projects and tour dates can all be found at hambridgetunes.com

Enjoy my conversation with Tom Hambridge!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 180 - Kenny Vaughan (Pt. 2) Aug 13, 2025

This is part 2 of my conversation with the incredible guitarist Kenny Vaughan. This episode picks up right where we left off in Part 1, and we get into some of his guitar and amp preferences, his continued work with Marty Stuart, and his session work in his Nashville years, where he has called home since the 80’s. Kenny doesn’t have a website, but he is active on social media, so you can find him there. Enjoy Part 2!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 179 - Kenny Vaughan (Pt. 1) Aug 06, 2025

One of my absoliute favorite Nashville guitarists, Kenny Vuaghan, joins me on the show today for the first of a 2-part episode where we go deep into his stories about growing up in Colorado, his formative experiences seeing the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix, taking guitar lessons as a youngster from Bill Frisell, and playing a seemingly endless string of country and rock gigs around the local area. We get into his move to Nashville in the 80’s which led to many incredible sessions and touring gigs with Patty Loveless and of course his role in Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives, a gig he’s held down for over 24 years. We also discuss the finer points of 1980’s Japan-made Strats, his pickups of choice and other nerdy guitar details.

Kenny remains very active these days, continuing on a regular touring schedule with Marty Stuart, but also fronting one of my favorite bands to see around Nashville on a regular basis called The Imperial Blues Hour. Kenny doesn’t have a website, but is active on socials if you want to follow him there. Stay tuned for Part 2 a week from today!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 178 - Mark Howard (Pt. 2) Jul 23, 2025

This is part 2 of my conversation with legendary engineer/producer Mark Howard. This episode picks up right where we left off, as we continue discussing sessions with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and get into Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. Be sure to listen to Part 1 first and then dive into this one!

Mark doesn’t have a website, but he is quite active on social media, so you can find him there. Enjoy Part 2!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, Fabfilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 177 - Mark Howard (Pt. 1) Jul 16, 2025

Season 9 kicks off with an epic 2-part conversation with engineer/producer Mark Howard. Mark has been behind the console for some of the greatest and most sonically interesting albums of the past 40 years - Emmylou Harris “Wrecking Ball”, Dylan’s “Time Out Of Mind”, Willie Nelson’s “Teatro”, Chris Whitley, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Lucinda WIlliams and many more. While he is most often associated with Daniel Lanois as his engineer, Mark has gone off on his own to become one of the most respected producers in the business. It’s quite a run for yet another kid from Hamilton, Ontario whose career kicked off creating the sonics for The Neville Brothers classic “Yellow Moon” and went on from there. We get into some of his many projects, and talk about some of the interesting locations that he and Lanois set up shop in over the years. There’s some fascinating stories here and quite a few of them I’d never heard before, even as a total music nerd. This was a hefty conversation, so it’s broken into 2 parts. Part 2 will come out 1 week from today.

Mark doesn’t have a website, but he is quite active on social media, so you can find him there. Be sure to check out his 2 books and look for the new documentary film about his incredible career. Enjoy Part 1!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, Fabfilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Ep. 176 - Welcome to Season 9! Jul 09, 2025

A little bit about what's in store this season, and our incredible giveaway at the end of it. The season kicks off for real next week!

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Ep. 175 - Ken Coomer Feb 19, 2025

Ken Coomer joins me on the podcast today. Ken is a fantastic drummer, producer, and studio owner, as well as one of the few musicians I know that is actually from Nashville! Ken is well-known as the original drummer for Wilco, as well as the last for Uncle Tupelo, bands that literally defined the alt-country genre in the mid-90’s. But before that, Ken came up in the punk and alternative rock scene here in Nashville with his band Clockhammer, and since leaving Wilco in 2002, he has had an incredible career as a studio drummer and producer, operating most recently out of his studio just a few blocks away from me in East Nashville called Cartoon Moon Recording. Ken was heavily involved in the recording of Uncle Tupelo’s classic “Anodyne”, as well as the Wilco albums “FM”, “Being There”, “Summerteeth”, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and the “Mermaid Avenue” projects with Wilco and Billy Bragg. After his run with Wilco, Ken returned to Nashville to try his hand at session work and producing. He’s played with and recorded on albums for Steve Earle, Will Hoge, Al Green, Tim Finn, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris and many more. He’s also had an incredible run producing some huge Spanish artists, which is an intriguing left-turn that his more recent career has taken, with artists like Chetes, and AppleTree - albums that were huge in Mexico and Columbia.

It was great to have Ken drop in to speak about all of this amazing history. You can get all the latest info on Ken at kencoomermusic.com - enjoy my conversation with Ken Coomer!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes.

Visit us at: www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 174 - Maya DeVitry Feb 05, 2025

On the show today is singer, songwriter, fiddle player and now producer, Maya DeVitry. Maya is an incredible musician and someone I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with in a number of projects with over the last few years. Originally from Pennsylvania, Maya is known by some for her work with her old band, The Stray Birds, and some from her more recent solo recordings and touring. She has released 4 solo albums since 2019 and the latest is an amazing album that she self-produced, called “The Only Moment” which came out late last year. She has an incredibly powerful and expressive voice and has worked hard at developing her unique delivery, along with her exceptional songwriting skills. Maya spent a good deal of time emersing herself in bluegrass music as a youngster and became an accomplished fiddle player, which led her to studying at Berklee, but while there, veered more into the world of songwriting and that has been her focus ever since. While The Stray Birds were an excellent vehicle for her to begin her career, it wasn’t until she left the band that she really came into her own as a performer and writer. It’s an interesting story and it was great to get a chance to talk to her about it, how she took the plunge into finally embracing a solo career, making her latest record, and how she’s navigating a hefty touring schedule on top of also now producing records for other artists.

You can get all the latest info and her tour dates at mayadevitry.com - Enjoy my conversation with Maya DeVitry!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes.

Visit us at: www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 173 - Chris Smither Dec 18, 2024

Songwriter, blues guitarist and singer Chris Smither joins me on the show today. I had the pleasure of meeting Chris and playing with him this past summer at a festival, and he really was a force of nature. He had an incredible groove between his guitar lines and his powerful foot, all brought together with a voice that has developed so much character over the years it just oozes out of him. Chris grew up in New Orleans, but as you’ll hear, doesn’t totally identify musically with his hometown. He’s spent most of his career based out of the Massachusetts area, and developed his style and sound in the folk clubs of Boston and Cambridge. His songwriting style owes as much to others from that era and scene as it does to blues songwriters like Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt and Skip James. He manages to pull something off which I think is difficult and very unique - he’s developed a style of songwriting that seems to be right out of that era of the classic folk/blues tradition, but without being even the slightest bit derivative of those artists that came before him. He wrote the songs “Love Me Like A Man” and “I Feel The Same” that became staples in Bonnie Raitt’s career and repertoire, not to mention Diana Krall also cutting “Love Me Like A Man”. His recording career began in 1971 with the album “I’m a Stranger, Too!” at which time he was label-mates with Townes Van Zandt. He’s been a prolific artist ever sonce then, with a few personal low times where he shied away from making new records. But since the 90’s he’s been extremely consistent with a new record every year or two. His latest is called “All About The Bones” and is one of his best. Chris is one of those rare artists that just seems to keep getting better, even into his 80’s. I had a great conversation with him from his home on a rare break from the road, and we had a chance to dig into all of his history and record-making process. You can keep up with Chris and all his latest news and extensive touring over at smither.com - please enjoy my conversation with Chris Smither!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 172 - Willie Cantu Dec 04, 2024

Legendary drummer Willie Cantu is on the show today, the sole surviving member of the ultimate lineup of one of the greatest ensembles of all time - Buck Owens’ Buckaroos. I’ve talked about the Buckaroos on this show a number of times - they keep coming up in discussions with various folks, and I’ll say it again that I think that mid to late 60’s lineup is as electrifying a band as any band of that era, no matter what genre. That lineup of Buck, Willie on drums, Don Rich on guitar, fiddle and vocals, Tom Brumley on steel and Doyle Holly on bass were like a finely tuned Ferrari in their heyday. They looked slick and they played and sang like no one else, anywhere. Songs like “Together Again”, “I Don’t Care”, “Open Up Your Heart”, “Sam’s Place” and so many classic albums defined the sound of Bakersfield country which was in stark contrast to the smooth sounds coming out of Nashville in those days. Their influence can be heard directly on everyone from the Beatles to CCR, Gram Parsons to Dwight Yoakam. Willie is an accomplished jazz drummer, and while he was in one of the great country bands of all time, it’s very evident that jazz is his real love. He’s from Corpus Christi, Texas, and joined the Buckaroos when he was 17 in 1964. We had an epic visit and I did have to edit it way down, even though this sucker still clocks in at about 2 hours. Maybe we’ll do a part 2 somewhere down the line! For some essential listening, be sure to check out the 2 Buck Owens live albums that feature Willie - The Carnegie Hall Concert and Live in Japan! They are both amazing documents of a band in their prime. After the Buckaroos, Willie has been involved in some very interesting jazz and improvisational music, which you can check out here. Willie doesn’t have a website and is being more selective about his gigs these days, but if you’re in Nashville, keep your ear to the ground and maybe you’ll catch him playing at a jazz club or Robert’s Western World. you never know! So now, please enjoy my conversation with Willie Cantu!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 171 - Richard Bennett Nov 20, 2024

Guitarist and session ace Richard Bennett joins me on the show this week. Originally from Phoenix, Richard spent the first big chunk of his career in the 70’s LA studio scene, before moving to Nashville in the 80’s where he’s been a mainstay in studios ever since. Richard is known as one of the ultimate sidemen and spent 17 years in Neil Diamond’s band, playing on all of his records and tours from ’71 to ’87. Richard has had another long-term sideman gig playing guitar in Mark Knopfler’s band since '94, and that continues to this day, touring in his band and playing on all of his records, including the latest “One Deep River” from this year. Aside from those impressive long-term gigs, Richard has played on countless sessions and gigs for artists like Roseanne Cash, Marty Stuart, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Iris Dement, and Waylon Jennings. He also loves to write and record his own music, and is constantly working on the next set of tunes to get into the studio to document. His latest is called “Talltale Tunes” and it’s a killer record of great playing, tone and creativity. Richard is also an in-demand producer and has helmed an impressive list of albums in the last few decades as well. He had a huge role in the Nashville session scene of the 80’s and 90’s that continues to thrive, and I loved getting a chance to hear about that era of Nashville. I’ve spent the last year playing in a band with Richard called The Volcano Brothers, playing all 1920’s and 30’s Hawaiian music, with Richard playing ukulele. While we just play tiny local gigs around Nashville with that band, I still get to see and hear Richard’s amazing touch on his instruments, and the dedication and the preparation that he puts into every show, no matter how small! He’s an incredible musician, an encouraging band-mate, and an inspiring person to be around, and we had a very enjoyable conversation about his history in music and the recording studio. You can get all the latest on Richard at richard-bennett.com - Enjoy my conversation with Richard Bennett!

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Ep. 170 - Jen Gunderman Nov 07, 2024

Jen Gunderman is one of the great keyboard players currently working out of Nashville. She is always busy in recording studios and venues around town with all kinds of bands, but is also on the road as a member of Sheryl Crow’s band, a gig she’s held for over 10 years now. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jen now and then over the past number of years, always in the studio, and she always shows up to a session with great ideas and energy, raring to go. Her path to this point in her career is a very interesting one, as she grew up playing piano in church, made her way through college and had a stint working for the last gasps of the late 80’s/early 90’s major label scene, working in the offices at Columbia/Sony Records in New York from 1992-1994. Jen jumped ship from that world and landed a gig as the keyboard player for The Jayhawks. She spent a couple of years in the band, touring and recording before eventually landing in Nashville with her husband, guitarist Audley Freed. Jen found her way into session work, landed a job treaching music history at Vanderbilt (which she continues with today) and when she’s not out with Sheryl Crow, she keeps very busy playing with local bands and artists all over Nashville. Jen is a killer piano player, but also knows how to lean into a B3 with the best of them. She plays a mean Wurlitzer, and can also come up with wildly creative soundscape parts as well. Jen’s studio career has brought her into the studio and on stage with artists like Kris Kristofferson, Roger McGuinn, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, The Dixie Chicks, St. Vincent, Emmylou Harris and many more. You can get all the latest info on Jen at jengunderman.com

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Ep. 169 - Jim Kweskin Oct 02, 2024

Singer, guitarist, jug-band pioneer and songster Jim Kweskin joins me on the show today. I can’t tell you how many times I heard Jim’s name before I ever heard his music. To the generation before me, he was a total legend, and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band was very influential to many musicians who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. Jim came up in the Boston/Cambridge area and The Jug Band was legendary around those parts and eventually across America. Old blues, jug and string band music was considered old fashioned at that point in time, and Jim spearheaded its return and kicked off a musical revolution that inspried bands like the Lovon’ Spoonful and The Grateful Dead (don’t forget they started off as a jug band too). With bandmates like Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Bill Keith, Mel Lyman and Fritz Richmond, the Jug Band was signed to a major label, sold thousands of records and toured across the country tirelessly between 1963-1970. They turned countless young musicians on to the music of artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Boy Fuller and the Mississippi Sheiks.

Jim has continued making records and performing under his own name and has just put out a rerally cool album called “Never Too Late”, which is mostly duets with some of his friends on vocals like Maria Muldaur, Meredith Axelrod and many more.

I won’t go too in depth on his bio here because in the interview, he actually had a bio preopared and read it to me, which you’ll hear on the show. It’s a first “written statement” for the podcast! I think you’ll dig that part of the conversation. You can get all the latest info on Jim at jimkweskin.com - Enjoy my conversation with Jim Kweskin!

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Ep. 168 - Tony Trischka Sep 18, 2024

Banjo legend Tony Trischka joins me on the show this week. I first saw Tony playing with his band Psychograss back in the 90’s at a bluegrass festival in Vancouver, and have been following Tony’s music ever since. Tony is from Syracuse, and has spent most of his career in the New York area. His early bands included The Down City Ramblers, Country Cooking and Breakfast Special. He also started making really cool solo records in the early 70’s that are pretty out-there in the context of what was going on in those days in bluegrass. Those albums definitely nod to traditional bluegrass, but they are also very progressive and experimental. He did alot of touring and recording with his various projects and collaborations over the years, while continuing to teach and compose (he taught a young upstart named Bela Fleck a thing or two in some lessons). After working to progress the banjo and its role in music through his entire career, Tony suddenly has dropped this amazing new project on us that is as traditional as it gets, and has allowed him to mine the depths of the greatness of Earl Scruggs. The new record is called Earl Jam, and was made after he was given hours and hours of tapes of Earl and John Hartford jamming. Unheard stuff that is like a portal into the brain of the greatest banjo innovator of all time. Tony transcribed a hours of that playing, and those transcriptions are what you hear, along with guests like Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings. So let’s dive into all this history and hear about the new record - you can get all the latest info on Tony and his upcoming gigs at tonytrischka.com - Enjoy my conversation with Tony Trischka!

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Ep. 167 - Rich Hinman Sep 03, 2024

Pedal steel guitarist Rich Hinman joins me on the show today. Rich is a really creative player who has definitely spent a great deal of time with the classic steel guitar cannon, but has very much branched out and developed his own style and voice on the instrument. He has a great flair for improvisation, and his tone and touch are really of the highest calibre. Rich is currently a teacher at Berklee College in Boston in the guitar Department, but continues his work in the studio and on the road. He has had recurring stints with artists like Sara Bareilles, Maren Morris, Molly Tuttle, KD Lang, Tanya Tucker, St. Vincent, Josh Ritter and many more. His current project is an amazing band with guitarist Adam Levy. The two of them go way back, and it shows, as their interplay and group improvisations are really incredible. The band is called Rich Hinman Vs Adam Levy and they have a brand new album out called “Fan Favorites” that you should check out. Rich also put out a solo album recently that is more on the ambient side, but full of inspired playing and compositions as well called “Memorial”. Rich is really active on social media which is how I first ran into his playing, and he also has a cool Patreon thing going on with weekly steel guitar lessons, so check out what he’s up to over in his world at richhinman.com and if you get a chance to see him and Adam Levy, who are out on tour as we speak, don’t miss them. Enjoy my conversation with Rich Hinman!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 166 - Missy Raines Aug 21, 2024

On today’s show is Missy Raines, one of the great bluegrass bassists out there, not to mention a fabulous singer and songwriter. Bluegrass bass playing is a funny thing - on the surface it seems simple. But there’s a whole other level to it, and when you hear someone like Junior Huskey do it, or Mike Bub, or Dennis Crouch, or Missy Raines, they all play at that level. There’s a way the really good players place their notes, there’s the tone, and it all comes down to the bed that the bass players lay for the other players in the band to live in. And that’s the hard part. Once you get a chance to play with someone of that calibre it becomes much clearer what great bassist brings to the table, and Missy is one of the best. She’s been releasing albums under her own name since 1998, and her latest recording just came out a couple months ago - it’s called “Highlander” and it’s a killer record that features her band Allegheny as well as guests like Kathy Mattea, Michael Cleveland, Darol Anger, and Rob Ickes. Missy is from West Virginia, and she was lucky enough to grow up in an area that had a strong bluegrass scene that she got to experience first hand. She’s lived in Nashville for a long time now, and is on the road alot these days. She’s won multiple IBMA awards for Bass Player of the Year, and has performed with legends like Mac Wiseman, Peter Rowan and Josh Graves. Aside from her accomplishments in the bluegrass world, Missy swerved over into more experimental territory a few years back and had a band going called The New Hip, who made a couple of incredible records well worth checking out as well that feature her songwriting in a less traditional context. But these days she’s pretty focussed on traditional bluegrass and has one of the best bands on the scene, so make sure you go see them if they come through your area. You can get all the latest news and her tour dates over at missyraines.com - Enjoy my conversation with Missy Raines!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 165 - G. Love Aug 07, 2024

On today’s show is Garrett Dutton, better known to you and me as G. Love and his band G. Love and Special Sauce.

G. Love appeared on my radar in the early 90’s when I was just getting into playing in bands. Originally from Philadelphia, but breaking out of the Boston music scene, Special Sauce’s debut album was pretty massive in my world. It mixed blues, soul, rap and hip hop in an organic way that no one else was doing. Garrett was influenced by everyone from John Hammond to Lightning hopkins and Muddy Waters, The Beatles to the Beastie Boys and Schoolly D and he’s one of the few people that can convincingly meld those influences into cohesive music. He got into playing guitar at a really young age, learning Beatles tunes, and eventually found his way to Bob Dylan, which led to playing harmonica, which led to John Hammond, who opened the musical floodgates for him.

He moved to Boston in the early 90’s and started playing around Cambridge with his band that included Jimmy Jazz on bass, and Jeffrey Clemens on drums, who made up the perfect rhythm section for the music they were making. The band came to be known as G. Love and Special Sauce, and their debut album, just called “G. Love and Special Sauce” which came out in 1994 is a killer. I saw them a few times around them and they put on an amazing show. Their latest album, produced by Luther Dickinson, is called “Philadelphia Mississippi” and came out in ’22. Lately, Special Sauce has been doing some shows commemorating 30 years since their debut album came out.

Garrett and I had a great conversation, and I’m thrilled that he found his way back to his hotel that day! You can get all the latest info and upcoming tour dates over at www.philadelphonic.com - Enjoy my conversation with G. Love!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 164 - Duke Levine Jul 17, 2024

The incredible guitarist Duke Levine joins me on the show today. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s when I was just getting started, Duke was putting out all these really amazing twangy instrumental guitar records. He actually started out as almost a fusion guy on his first album, but pretty quickly veered off into this highly original guitar style that has elements of blues, jazz, country, bebop and influences like Roy Buchanan, Ray Flacke, Albert Lee, I hear Wes Montgomery and Jerry Reed in there as well. The first record I heard of his was called “Country Soul Guitar” and I feel like at that time, the early 90’s, no one was really playing anything like that. He’s primarily a tele player and just has an incredible touch and tone that makes him a totally unique player. He put out a couple more records in that vein, but pretty quickly got scooped up as a sideperson, playing guitar for artists like Shawn Colvin, Peter Wolf, J Geils, Bill Morrissey, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Slaid Cleaves, Jonatha Brooke, and eventually his current employer, the untouchable Bonnie Raitt. The hired gun gigs really became his bread and butter and he spent the better part of the last 25 years touring with alot of those folks. Duke came up in the New England club scene, and has basically stayed in the area his whole life. During the pandemic, he put out a string of really interesting videos featuring stellar guitar playing that you can watch, and some of those videos became what makes up his most recent and amazing EP “Left To My Own Devices”.

You can get info on all of Duke’s activities as well as his tour dates with Bonnie Raitt over at dukelevine.com - Enjoy my conversation with Duke Levine!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 163 - Rob Ickes Jul 03, 2024

Dobro master Rob Ickes joins me on the show this week. Rob was kind enough to drop in to the Henhouse to hang for a while, talk and even play a little bit. Rob is one of those players that is so good on one particular instrument that he’s managed to carve out a really impressive career being dedicated to just one thing. And that one thing is the dobro, which is kind of a specific instrument - It’s somewhat married to bluegrass music, but a very few players, and that list includes Rob and Jerry Douglas (and maybe one or two others), have managed to bring it to wider audiences through sessions and performances outside of that genre, while maintaining their standing at the highest level within it. Rob grew up in California, but moved to Nashville in the early 90’s and really established himself as a pre-eminent player with a long stint in the acclaimed bluegrass band Blue Highway. He left the band in 2015 to focus on his duo with the incredible singer and guitarist Trey Hensley, who was on this show a couple of years ago. Rob’s impressive session history includes working with artists like Merle Haggard, Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, Charlie Haden, Dolly Parton, Allison Krauss, Little Feat, Patty Loveless and many more. And while the session world keeps calling, Rob has never wanted to solely become a studio player, so he keeps busy on the road as much as he can, and the duo with Trey is incredibly busy now. Their latest release as Rob and Trey is called “Living In A Song”. On top of all that, Rob continues to teach and run his successful “Resosummit” each year here in Nashville.

You can get info on all of Rob’s activities as well as his tour dates with Trey Hensley over at robickes.com - Enjoy my conversation with Rob Ickes!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 162 - Margaret Glaspy Jun 19, 2024

Margaret Glaspy joins me on the show this week. Her album from last year “Echo The DIamond” was one of my favorite records of the year. Margaret started out as a fiddle player, and played pretty seriously around California as a youngster before dedicating herself to the guitar and eventually going to Berklee for a short time to study. She played around Boston and then moved to New York where she found her way into the creative music scene in Brooklyn in the mid 2000’s. She started making EP’s and then full-legth albums in around 2016. I first heard her “Emotions and Math” LP and was really intrigued by her approach to writing, and especially how she seemed to build intricate, angular guitar parts that would weave through her songs. “Devotion” came next in 2020, and then “Echo The Diamond” in 2023. On “Echo”, her songwriting is incredible, her guitar playing is intense and jagged, the band is stellar (she’s working with Chris Morrissey who has played with Andrew Bird and Ben Kweller, and David King, the drummer for The Bad Plus). It's a co-production with her husband, Julian Lage, and Margaret has also produced several of Julian’s recent releases. She just released a solo acoustic record called “The Sun Doesn’t Think” and we talk about all of these projects here today.

Check out all of Margaret’s amazing music and find out where she’s playing over at margaretglaspy.com - Enjoy my conversation with Margaret Glaspy!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 161 - Cedric Burnside Jun 05, 2024

My guest this week is the incredible Mississippi songwriter, guitarist and drummer Cedric Burnside.

Cedric comes from a long family line of Hill Country blues musicians. His dad is the drummer Calvin Jackson and he is the grandson of the legendary R.L. Burnside, one of the great traditional Mississippi blues artists of all time. Cedric is an exceptional guitarist and songwriter who seems to have found a unique place in the landscape of modern music. He’s able to make records that sound fresh and current, but is very much honoring the traditions of the Hill Country region. It’s a totally unique style of music that you catch glimpses of with artists like John Lee Hooker and Jesse Mae Hemphill, but the really traditional music is even more specific than that. Born in the juke joints of Northern Mississippi, the music is usually driven by guitars and drums. It’s hypnotic, relentless and so unpredicatble and exciting to see live. It’s almost the kind of music that you’d think wouldn’t translate that well to record, but in Cedirc’s hands it does. He is also a fantastic drummer who has played with all kinds of artists including Jimmy Buffett, Widespread Panic, T-Model Ford, and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, not to mention his grandfather R.L.. He has a bunch of albums out under his own name including the Grammy Award-winning “I Be Trying” from 2021 and the brand new “Hill Country Love”, both of which we get into in this episode.

You can get all the info on the new album and his extensive worldwide tour dates at cedricburnside.net - Enjoy our conversation!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 160 - JJ Grey May 15, 2024

JJ Grey joins me this week to get Season 8 rolling in style!

JJ is an incredible singer, songwriter, guitar player and frontman for his band JJ Grey and Mofro, based in the Jacksonville, Florida area. He’s been making soulful, brash, and deeply authentic soul and rock n roll records since the release of “Blackwater” in 2001. JJ has a brand new album out now called “Olustee”, which is a remarkable record due to the stellar material and inspired performances perfromances, but also in how it was made. We had a chance to sit down and talk about how it all came together, as well as his songwriting and recording process, how he records his vocals with a $15 microphone, getting janky guitar sounds (janky is his own term, as you’ll hear), along with self-producing for the first time and working on mixing the new record with Vance Powell. Enjoy my conversation with JJ Grey!

You can get all the info on the new album and his extensive worldwide tour dates at jjgrey.com

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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Ep. 159 - Welcome to Season 8 May 08, 2024

This episode is just to check in and let listeners know the schedule for the upcoming season, which will begin droping new episodes one week from today. Be sure to subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and thanks for tuning in!

Visit us and check out all the past episodes at:

https://www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 158 - Duane Eddy Remembered May 02, 2024

I’m preparing to release Season 8 starting very soon, but in the meantime, the great Duane Eddy passed away earlier this week and I have decided to re-release our conversation from 2016. That was a 2-part episiode, but I’ve combined them here into one so you can spend a couple hours with Duane and I chewin’ the fat. RIP Duane Eddy!!

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Ep. 157 - Tommy Emmanuel Jan 17, 2024

Tommy Emmanuel, the stellar Australian fingerstyle guitarist joins me on the show this week for the last episode of Season 7! I first saw Tommy play back in the early 90’s when he was relatively unknown and was blown away by his adventurous technique, style, and obvious dedication to his craft. Since then, Tommy has gone on to be one of the most well-known acoustic guitarists of our time and to create an incredible body of work, but he is still mostly known for his spellbinding solo shows. Tommy was a child prodigy, playing professionally since he was 6 years old. He and his brother, along with their dad, toured all over Australia and that lead to session work, and eventually pulled him to the US, where he landed in the 80’s and met his hero, Chet Atkins, in Nashville. Tommy received the coveted seal of approval from Chet, and is one of the few guitarists alive to have the official “CGP” title, given out only by Chet himself. Tommy has made tons of records, some solo, some duets and some with bands. The latest of these is the second in a series and it’s called “Accomplice Two”, a recording of collaborations with artists like Jerry Douglas, Sierra Hull, Little Feat, Molly Tuttle, David Grisman and many more. Since we do talk about his meeting with Chet quite a bit, be sure to also check out “The Day Fingerpickers Took Over The World”, Tommy’s collaboration with Chet Atkins, and must be the last thing Chet ever recorded, from 1997. It was great to have Tommy on the show - we did get a chance to talk quite a bit about Chet, their meeting, and his influence, as well as Lenny Breau, some of Tommy’s stage gear, how he goes back and forth from thumbpicks to flatpicks, and how he approaches arranging tunes for solo fingerstyle guitar. He was also kind enough to grab his trusty Maton guitar and show me some of the things he was talking about as well.

You can get all the current info on Tommy and his very busy tour schedule at tommyemmanuel.com

Enjoy my conversation with Tommy Emmanuel!

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

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Ep. 156 - John Reischman Jan 03, 2024

Mandolinist John Reischman joins me on the show this week. I’ve actually known John for many years, as he moved to Vancouver in the 90’s and when I was starting to do more acoustic music, our paths would cross at festivals and I’d also bring him in for various projects and sessions. John is an absolute master of his instrument with a unique touch and tone that is truly remarkable. He grew up in California and came up in the Bay Area music scene, where he joined The Good Ol’ Persons, which was up until then an all-female bluegrass band that featured Kathy Kallick and Sally Van Meter. After touring and recording with them for a couple of years, John scored a gig in the groundbreaking Tony Rice Unit, one of the ultimate ensembles in modern bluegrass and acoustic music. John toured and recorded with Tony for a few years and developed an incredible style that owes almost as much to jazz horn and piano players as well as different kinds of world music as it does to traditional bluegrass, although John certainly can stand up with the best in the world in any traditional setting. The Tony Rice albums Backwaters and Devlin feature this lineup with John’s amazing playing. After leaving Tony Rice, John moved to Vancouver, where he formed the Jaybirds, a group he has been performing with now for over 20 years. John also made a solo record during the pandemic called “New Time and Old Acoustic” which features guest appearances by Molly Tuttle, Chris Eldridge, Todd Phillips and many more. It was great to re-connect with John, and get a chance to talk about meeting and playing with Bill Monroe, his coveted mandolin, and his history recording and touring in the world of bluegrass and acoustic music.

You can get all the latest info and tour dates for John and the Jaybirds at johnreischman.com

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

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Ep. 155 - Larry Klein Dec 13, 2023

Larry Klein has had his mitts on so many amazing records over the past 40 years, but is still a relatively quiet, behind-the-scenes kind of musician. He is a four time grammy winner as a producer, and has made records for artists like Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Holly Cole, Madeleine Peyroux and Tracy Chapman. I think the first time I ever saw his name was on a cassette I had of Shawn Colvin called “Fat City”, and then I kept seeing his name pop up on cool records over and over again. Larry started out as a bass player in California, and landed a gig pretty early on with jazz legend Freddie Hubbard. He toured with Freddie for years, and then slipped successfully into the session world. As a bass player he played on so many classic albums like “So” by Peter Gabriel, “Building the Perfect Beast” by Don Henley, Robbie Robertson, Tracy Chapman’s debut album and many more. He eventually landed a session with Joni Mitchell, which led to him playing on and producing a string of her records, starting with “Wild Things Run Fast” in 1982, right up through “Travelogue” in 2002. They were married and divorced in that window of time as well.

His production work is always deep and sonically interesting. He has a real jazz mentality towards making pop records, which I love. There’s alot of live performance based takes, mixed with rich sounds and experimentation. Gaining the trust of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter is no small feat, but Larry did that and produced records for those jazz legends! In recent years, Larry made a great record with Herbie Hancock of Joni Mitchell tunes called “River: The Joni Letters”, and during Covid, he made a record in a similar vein called “Here It Is”, a Tribute to Leonard Cohen. It’s basically an insane house band backing up artists like Iggy Pop, Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Mavis Staples and lots more doing Leonard Cohen tunes. I should also mention that we just ran out of time on this one, hence the abrupt ending. Larry had a limited window and I lost track of time, so we just kind of had to cap it mid-stream, but we got into tons of cool stuff anyway! I don’t think Larry is on the road at all any more, so you can’t catch him live with anyone currently, but you can get info on him and news on his latest projects over at larrykleinmusic.net — Please enjoy my conversation with Larry Klein!

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Ep. 154 - John Paul White Dec 06, 2023

John Paul White is an amzing performer, singer, songwriter and studio nerd who lives in Florence, Alabama and is known by many for all his amazing work with his Grammy-winning band The Civil Wars. John Paul has also worked as a professional songwriter, and runs a studio and a label called Single Lock Records. This all goes down in Florence, which is part of the 3 cities known as The Shoals, or as us music nerds know it as, Muscle Shoals. This small, almost rural area unbelievably housed 2 amazing studios where some of the greatest soul music of all time was recorded - Fame, and Muscle Shoals Sound. Those 2 studios are still standing today and really are amazing places to visit! John Paul continues that tradition by carving out his own scene in the very same area today. He grew up in a small town in Tennessee, very close to Florence, and during his college days, started playing gigs in bands and on his own. He eventually discovered that he loved songwriting, especially as a vehicle to sing and perform. That led to him recording an album with his band, and eventually a solo album called "The Long Goodbye". But it was at a songwriting workshop that he was paired up with the already successful Joy Williams - they hit it off and immediately started working on music that became The Civil Wars. Their debut album, "Barton Hollow", came out in 2011 and was a huge success, winning a Grammy the following year.

They worked mostly with producer Charlie Peacock, but also with others like T-Bone Burnett and Rick Rubin, which we get into today as well. The Civil Wars came to a crashing halt in 2013, and John Paul has since re-started his solo career, the label and now the studio. His albums "Beulah", and the most recent "The Hurting Kind" are both stellar records to check out. They’re very different and sonically really deep and interesting. It was great to speak with John Paul about all of these projects, his creative process and what he’s up to these days. You can follow him for any shows, and news on albums he’s making or producing for others at johnpaulwhite.com - Enjoy my conversation with John Paul White!

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Ep. 153 - Alison Brown Nov 15, 2023

Alison Brown is a Grammy Winning banjo player, composer and producer who has made a bunch of great albums under her own name but also as a sideperson and collaborator with artists like Alison Krauss, Michelle Shocked, and Stuart Duncan. She started playing as a youngster, first on dobro and then switched over to banjo. She spent her early years cutting her teeth at bluegrass events and venues around California, before veering away from music in the 80’s to get her MBA from UCLA! Alison was working full-time in finance when she realized that she just didn’t want to be doing that and dove back head-first into music. She joined Union Station with Alison Krauss in the late 80’s and has never looked back. That band won a grammy in 1990, and then she joined Michelle Shocked’s band and became her bandleader for a few years. Alison started her own quartet and has been recording albums with them since the early 90’s. Her label, Compass Records, has grown to be one of the leading labels for roots music in the world, and her and and her husband Gary West run the whole thing out of the office and studio on music row. The studio itself is an incredible piece of history, known at one time as “Hillbilly Central” it’s where some of the iconic records were made for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Alison’s latest record “On Banjo” is a great example of her killer playing but also her composing and arranging skills. It features guests like Steve Martin, Sierra Hull, Sharon Isbin and the Kronos quartet and explores styles like Brazillian choro and bossa nova as well as bluegrass and old time.

You can keep up with what she’s up to, and get all her tour dates at alisonbrown.com

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 152 - Julian Lage Nov 01, 2023

Julian Lage is truly a guitarist like no other. He’s insanely creative, prolific, has unbelievable technical facility, but also plays with incredible taste, tone and restraint. He grew up around the bay area of California and was a child prodigy who started getting noticed when he was just a little tyke. There’s even a movie about him from that time called “Jules At Eight” (when he was eight!), and he played at the Grammys when he was 12, which is where Gary Burton, the incredible vibraphone player heard him, and asked him to join his band. Julian played with Burton for the better part of a decade, but also spent time playing and collaborating with John Zorn, Nels Cline, Dave Douglas, Charles Lloyd, as well as David Grisman and Chris Eldridge from over in the bluegrass world. He’s been releasing solo albums since 2009, and over the last year released a full-length album that is absolutley spectacular called “View With A Room”, and then some songs that were essentially out-takes from that album but took on a life of their own came out more recently, and that’s a beautiful new EP called “The Layers”. He has this incredible trio now that I think is one of the great American ensembles - Jorge Roeder is an incredible bassist and Dave King is the drummer, who some will know from the Bad Plus. Julian is an incredible talent, and very thoughtful human and musician and we had a great conversation about all these aspects of his career, nerded out on guitars, and got deep into music!

Keep up with what Julian is up to over at: julianlage.com

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 151 - Bahamas Oct 18, 2023

Afie Jurvanen, better known as Bahamas, joins me on the show today. Afie has made 6 records as Bahamas, and the newest one, “Bootcut”, just came out a few weeks ago. It’s a great record with inventive melodies, killer guitar playing and singing, and I guess will be sort of pinned as his “country” record, although I don’t think it’s that. But he did make it in Nashville, and used a bunch of seasoned session players for the recordings, including Vince Gill, Dave Roe and Russ Pahl on steel (who’s been on this show), so it has some country flavor. But Afie’s vision is to incorporate elements of country music into what he does without changing his own approach or sound that much, and it works really well. Afie has always made interesting choices when making records - almost as if he’s challenging himself and working out of his comfort zone. We talk a bit about his “Earthtones” album, which features Pino Paladino on bass and James Gadson on drums, and how touring as a duo for years influenced his guitar selection. We get into Nacho Guitars, fuzz tones and how Feist helped him developed a quieter, more intimate way of singing. Afie also spent some time as a side-guy and did a bunch of sessions around his old hometown of Toronto through the early 2000’s before landing a touring gig with Feist. But after that he set out on his own and that’s where the Bahamas adventure begins with “Pink Strat” in 2009 and continues through to the new album. You can keep up to date with his touring at bahamasmusic.net

Please enjoy my conversation with Bahamas!

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 150 - Duane Betts Oct 04, 2023

Duane Betts joins me on the show today. Duane is the son of the innovative guitarist and songwriter from the Allman Brothers Band, Dickey Betts, and while he’s certainly a chip off the ol’ block, Duane has his own thing going on and has finally just released his debut solo album “Wild & Precious Life”. It’s an inspired and engaging record - sort of a modern take on southern rock that’s unique and definitely has some of the Betts family sound but it’s also a great display of a killer band in fine form. Before he was writing and singing his own songs, Duane was a guitar slinger for hire and spent some time in the band Dawes, played with Phil Lesh and Friends, Dickey’s band Great Southern, and has had other bands like Backbone69 as well as a band with a few of the other Allman Bros offspring, including Berry Oakley Jr and Devon Allman - called The Allman Betts Band. After those various projects ran their course, it left Duane the time to focus on writing his own music, and after a casual conversation with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, he was offered their studio to record these new songs in. I saw Duane recently at the Grand Ol’ Opry and he and his band did a killer mini-set there. They’re going to be out playing all over the place in the coming months, so make sure you go and see them live and pick up the new album. We had a great conversation about all of this stuff and got deep into the process of recording his new album, guitar tones, his history with his own band and the legacy of the Allman Brothers. You can get info on all of Duane’s projects and his tour dates at duanebetts.com - Please enjoy my conversation with Duane Betts!

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 149 - Al Perkins Sep 20, 2023

Steel guitarist and dobro player Al Perkins is on the show today. Al is a true legend of the steel guitar, having played on hundreds of albums, including classics by Manassas, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, The Rolling Stones, as well as plenty of modern country hits through recent years. Al grew up playing steel guitar as a little tyke in country bands on radio and TV around his home state of Texas, and eventually moved out to California in the 60’s, where he encountered a young Kenny Rogers who brought him in on sessions for rock and country albums. Al was in a band at the time called Shiloh, and between his live work and sessions, his reputation led to him replacing Sneaky Pete in the Flying Burrito Brothers. His playing can be heard on classic albums of the time like GP, Grievous Angel and Exile on Main Street. Al stayed incredibly busy through the 80’s and 90’s as a session player, and then cropped up on my radar again as Emmylou Harris’ dobro player on the incredible Nash Ramblers “At The Ryman” album.

It was great to speak with Al about lots of these sessions, as well as hearing about some of the technical innovations he made to the steel guitar, customizing his own instrument as the need arose.

You can get info on Al at alperkinsmusic.com - Please enjoy my conversation with Al Perkins!

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 148 - Molly Miller Sep 06, 2023

Guitarist and composer Molly Miller joins me on the show today. I first saw Molly playing a show at Nelson Drum Shop here in Nashville with her trio - Jay Bellerose on drums and Jen Condos on bass. It was a spectacular show. Molly has a really unique style that’s rhythmic and aggressive but also extremely melodic. Kinda jazz. Kinda not. The trio is a regular thing for her, and they create music that owes as much to Booker T and the MG’s as it does to a more traditional jazz approach. Molly also has taken a unique path to her career in music - it’s a combo of playing live, recoding her own albums, touring and recording as guitarist for Jason Mraz, and then teaching at University. In fact, she has a doctorate degree in music and she was the Chair of the Guitar Department at LA College of Music, and is currently a professor of Studio Guitar at USC in LA. So between all those things, she’s got a really interesting career on the go. To hear her at her finest, check out one of the Molly Miller trio albums, which feature amazingly creative guitar playing but also spectacular arrangements and ensemble playing. The latest album is called “St. George”, and there’s also a new one in the works. We had a great conversation about all of those things, as well as her instruments and gear, and how she approaches solo guitar playing. Enjoy!

You can keep up with all of Molly’s projects and tour dates at

mollymillermusic.com

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 147 - William Bell Aug 16, 2023

On the show this week is William Bell, an incredible vocalist and legendary soul songwriter from Memphis. William was the first male artist signed to Stax Records in the early 60’s and it’s an honor to have him join me today to talk about his experiences. He grew up singing in church but quickly moved to the vibrant nightclub scene on Beale Street in Memphis where he worked with his vocal group The Del Rios at many of the venues there. He was first signed to Stax Records in the early 60’s, primarily as a songwriter, but also as an artist. Other Stax artists at the time included Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Booker T and the MG’s, Sam and Dave, and The Staple Singers. William wrote one of the label’s first hits with “You Don’t Miss Your Water” in 1961, and had several other releases and hits but his tenure at Stax was truncated in the mid-60’s when he enlisted in the army. When he returned to Memphis and the Stax world, he wrote more classic soul tunes like “Everybody Loves A Winner” and ”Any Other Way”, as well as the blues mega-hit “Born Under A Bad Sign”, which he tailored directly for Albert King (including whispering the lyrics in his ear as King sang the song for his record). That song has also been covered by Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Etta James, among many others.

Bell’s successes continued through the 70’s and 80’s writing and recording more hit soul tunes, and having songs covered by artists like Eric Clapton, Lou Rawls, Rod Stewart, and Billy Idol.

In 2017 William collaborated with the incredible producer and guitarist John Leventhal to make his album “This Is Where I Live” which brought him in front of a new audience and won him a Grammy award. That killer album was followed by 2023’s “One Day Closer To Home”. We’ll be hearing lots more from William Bell in the years to come, so make sure you check his dates at williambellmusic.com and go so him live!

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 146 - William Prince Aug 02, 2023

Singer and songwriter William Prince joins me on the show this week.

William came by the studio here in East Nashville to talk with me on the eve of his Grand Ol’ Opry debut, which was quite thrilling for a guy from northern Manitoba. William hails from the Peguis First Nation, which is a couple of hours outside of Winnipeg, which is where he now lives. He’s just released a killer new record called “Stand In The Joy” and it was great to get a chance to talk about that, how he wrote the songs for it, and recorded it, as well as his musical history, his upbringing, and how he was exposed to the country and rock music that really resonated with him. He’s made a few records now here in Nashville and Savanah with Dave Cobb, and they really do sound amazing. Great playing, great vibe, and what a voice! He is a Juno Award winner, and has a bunch of other accolades and awards for his various records. 2020’s “Reliever” is a great one, and right after it came out he also released a gospel record, “Gospel First Nation”. William is going to be out touring alot this year and next, so check out all of his dates and music at williamprincemusic.com

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 145 - Kaia Kater Jul 26, 2023

Songwriter and banjo player Kaia Kater joins me on the show this week.

I’ve seen Kaia’s artistry grow over the years as she’s been involved in festivals and events like Folk Alliance that I’ve been a part of and seen her perform quite a few times. Kaia started showing up on the scene 10 or 15 years ago and has put out some incredible music in the last 7 or 8 years. She’s a really interesting banjo player, well versed in traditional string band and old time music which she studied in depth at Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia, but also takes the instrument in her own direction using the trad stuff as a launching pad. On her Dad’s side, Kaia has a strong Grenadian connection, which is where he’s from. She did some hefty research into his life and the music from that island, and that all comes out in an incredible way on her album from 2018 called “Grenades”. Go have a listen to that as well as the one before called “Nine Pin”. She has a brand new record that is stellar, but it’s not out yet and she’s not exactly sure when it’ll be out, so we talk about it a bit too, as well as her writing process, and how she approaches recording her own music. Kaia will be touring alot this year and next and I highly encourage you to go see her. You can keep track of all of her activities at www.kaiakater.com

Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 144 - Peter Case Jul 05, 2023

On the show this week we have the incredible songwriter Peter Case, who I’ve been listening to for a long time. He’s been making records for decades and has some really cool stories under his belt. He’s also a bit of a guitar nerd, so it’s fun to get into that with him as well. Peter’s latest album is called “Doctor Moan” and it’s available now at all the places.

Originally from Buffalo, Peter moved to the Bay Area as a youngster and that’s where he started getting into the punk rock scene with a band he started called The Nerves. After The Nerves disbanded, he moved to LA, and that’s where he started to flourish as a performer and songwriter. He formed the Plimsouls next which were more of a straight up rock & roll band, signed to Geffen and made some killer records. “A Million Miles Away” was a hit for them and they started touring all over the country. After the Plimsouls, Case started his solo career, and worked with some amazing producers and musicians, some of whom he continues to work with to this day. His debut was nominated for a Grammy and led to a string of other cool records like “The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar”, “Six Pack of Love”, “Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John” and “Full Service No Waiting”. His brand new album “Doctor Moan” features mostly songs written and performed on piano, which is a departure for him in some ways, as he is known as a guitar player/singer, but he has in fact always been a keyboard player as well.

You can keep track of all of his music and his tour dates at petercase.com

Be sure to listen to the accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 143 - Aaron Lee Tasjan Jun 21, 2023

We kick off Season 7 this week with the very remarkable singer and songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan. Aaron has released a string of compelling and original solo albums over the past decade. They are all unique and interesting, but the last 3 or 4 are real gems, both in the writing and the incredible production and delivery with Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! being the latest release. Aaron has had an interesting path to where he’s at now, starting out playing in bands and jazz band at high school, and toying with a career as a jazz guitarist. As he realized his real passion was for songwriting, he left his jazz studies behind and moved to New York. He joined or started various bands there like The Madison Square Gardeners (great band name), and Semi-Precious Weapons. He also had stints as a side-person to artists like Marc Cohn and even The New York Dolls! Eventually, Aaron relocated to Nashvile and started his solo career in earnest - he’s managed to stay true to his own unique sound but has also evolved in really interesting ways with each new project. He’s collaborated with folks like Sean Lennon, Jack White, Tim Easton and Lilly Hiatt and is currently in the middle of completing his next album, and we get into that process as well.

You can keep track of all of his work plus his upcoming tour dates at: aaronleetasjan.com

Be sure to listen to the accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist’s work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:

Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple Music

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 142 - Welcome to Season 7 Jun 14, 2023

A bit of info on what's to come in Season 7 - All-new full episodes starting next week!

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscription

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 141 - David Lindley Remembered Mar 04, 2023

We lost the great David Lindley yesterday. In remembrance of the great Mr. Dave, I have gone back to my conversation with him in 2019. Because I’ve had to pull the music samples from my show, the episodes were shorter, so I glued the 2 parts together into this one episode. I hope you’ll spend a couple hours with us and then go crank some Twango Bango!

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Ep. 140 - Jerry Douglas Mar 01, 2023

Season 6 comes to an end this week with my guest - the incomparable Jerry Douglas, who has re-invented the concept of the Dobro over the last 50 years, while also working as a bandleader and acclaimed producer. There are select few musicians on the planet who have undeniably redefined their instrument and the way it is approached in modern music, but Jerry is definitely one of them. He has had an incredibly prolific career, starting in the mid 70’s with stints in The Country Gentlemen, the groundbreaking JD Crowe and the New South, Boone Creek and with the incredible Buck White. Soon after establishing himself in the bluegrass world with those groups, he started playing on records as a session musician and became not only the most recorded Dobro player in history, but pretty darn high up there with anyone on any instrument. The number of records he’s played on is somewhere seemingly about 1600. He’s been nominated for 32 grammies, won 14 of them, and is a 10-time IBMA winner of dobro player of the year. His production credits are amazing too, and that really came to the fore with Allison Krauss and Union Station, not to mention his recent work with John Hiatt and Molly Tuttle. Jerry is very active with his own incredible band, and continues to produce and tour seemingly non-stop. He’s been involved in alot of technical Dobro innovations as well, which are really interesting. We’re going to get into all of that and more here today, and meanwhile you can keep up with his latest projects and touring at jerrydouglas.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 139 - Bob Rock Feb 15, 2023

Producer and engineer Bob Rock is on the show this week. Bob is originally from Winnipeg, but he cut his teeth in the late 70’s and early 80’s Vancouver punk rock scene while working at Little Mountain Studios. While Bob was working on original music and starting to achieve success with his band The Payolas, he continued his day job at the studio, which started to snowball into a string of successful engineering and mixing gigs, mostly with Bruce Fairbairn. These included albums for Prism, Loverboy and Honeymoon Suite. The success of those Canadian albums led to the same team getting asked to make records for Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, after which Bob struck out on his own to produce albums for Motley Crue, The Cult and of course, Metallica. In more recent years, Bob has worked on records for The Tragically Hip, Michael Buble, Jann Arden, Ron Sexsmith and many more. But at the end of the day, Bob is just a huge music nerd, loves guitars and amps, and is obsessive about tones and the path to find them. We got into all of it and had a great conversation. Enjoy!

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 138 - John Leventhal Feb 01, 2023

John Leventhal is a multiple Grammy Award-winning producer, guitarist and songwriter who has been steering the ship on many albums and musical projects over the last 40 years. John first came onto most people’s radar when he produced Shawn Colvin’s successful debut album “Steady On”. They collaborated again in 1996 on “A Few Small Repairs” which was a smash hit. Coming up in the New York live music scene, John also worked with Jim Lauderdale in those years and produced Jim’s debut as well. A late bloomer to music and the electric guitar, John has developed a subtle yet complex and unmistakeable sound that has kept him working as a live musician and producer for artists like William Bell, Marc Cohn, Sara Jarosz, and Rodney Crowell. Leventhal has also produced a slew of successful and acclaimed albums with his wife of many years, Rosanne Cash. As a songwriter, he’s penned songs for Tedeschi Trucks, Vince Gill, George Strait, Patty Loveless, and many more. John has (finally!) made his debut solo album which he is threatening to release sometime this year, called “Rumble Strip”. I’ve heard it, can vouch for its awesomeness, and we talk about it on the show, although you won’t be able to hear it for some months yet! John is a bit elusive - he doesn’t have a website, but watch for the new album, and he’ll be out on tour with Rosanne Cash - you can find info on their dates at www.rosannecash.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 137 - David Grissom Jan 18, 2023

Guitarist and songwriter David Grissom is on the show this week! Anyone who knows anything about the guitar knows Grissom is a monster player, and has been a key element of albums for Joe Ely and John Mellencamp, and then with the band Storyville. But what I wasn’t really aware of was his extensive list of session work he did here in Nashville during the early 2000’s. For a good 10 years or so, Nashville session work was kind of his main thing. He played on huge records for artists like Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Lee ann Womack, Montgomery Gentry, Billy Ray Cyrus and Brooks and Dunn. But he also maintained his work on the rootsier side of things, writing for, touring with or playing on records for Buddy Guy, John Mayall, Eliza Gilkyson, Chris Isaak, Rita Coolidge and lots more.

So all this to say we had alot to talk about. I wanted to dig into that session scene in the early 2000’s and see what was going on at that point. We had a great talk about all the aspects of his career, making some of the classic records he was involved in, how he got into music in the first placxe and his current band and regular gigs around Austin, TX. We also get a little nerdy and talk about his signature Paul Reed Smith guitars closer to the end.

You can get all the info on David, his recordings, live albums, and weekly gig at: www.davidgrissom.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

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This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
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Ep. 136 - Nicki Bluhm Jan 04, 2023

Nicki Bluhm joins me on the show this week. I first heard her recent record “Avondale Drive” about 6 months ago and was blown away. She jas an incredible voice and writes really interesting tunes that draw from blues, soul, country and pop music. Nicki has made some killer records aside from Avondale Drive, and also had a really cool band called The Gramblers, which she fronted with her ex-husband and Mother Hips member Tim Bluhm that have a couple releases as well. Nicki is originally from the Bay Area and while she lives in Nashville now, she stays rooted in that scene with regular appearances with Phil Lesh and Friends as well as Little Feat, with whom she has been on tour recently as a featured guest and backup singer. She’s also out touring with her band, and as a duo with her new partner Jesse Wilson, who she made Avondale Drive with during the pandemic. Keep posted with Nicki and all of her upcoming shows and new releases at www.nickibluhm.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 135 - Happy Holidays and Season 6 Update! Dec 21, 2022

Just a quick episode to give you the scoop on how/when the rest of Season 6 will unfold (soon!), and a peek behind the curtain on how some of these episodes come together. And also a call out to see who you’d like to hear on the show on Season 7 - chime in! (use the comments section on this episode, or send me an email or DM.

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 134 - Patric Caird Dec 08, 2022

On the show this week is the prolific film and TV composer, Patric Caird. I’ve known Pat for a long time, and I’ve worked with him a few times over the years on various scoring projects. He’s had an extremely busy career both as a composer, and earlier on as a music editor for TV shows. His credits include shows like The Dead Zone, The Collector, The Imperfects, The Order, and Outer Limits, not to mention lots of projects for the Hallmark Channel. I got to know him starting about 22 or 23 years ago, and at the time he was scoring an animated series for Comedy Central called “Ed, Edd and Eddy”. That show was insane, both the show itself, but so was the music Pat was writing and recording every week. He moved to LA shortly after that and has been working steadily - composing for film and TV, ever since. Pat is an amazing musician, mostly a sax player, and he came up through the Canadian live music scene as a jazz player and then became a touring musician with The Powder Blues. I thought it would be cool to hear about how the film composing side of things works and I’m sure you’ll enjoy hearing about it too! You can find info on Patric and all of his projects at www.patriccaird.com

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 133 - Bryan Sutton Nov 16, 2022

Bryan Sutton, one of my absolute favorite bluegrass guitar players is on the show this week. I first heard of Bryan years ago when I was on a serious bluegrass binge (It occasionally continues to this day!). Around that time, Ricky Skaggs made a return to bluegrass and released his “Bluegrass Rules!” album. His band was called Kentucky Thunder and it was mostly youngsters with just unbelievable chops and feel. The guitar player in that band was Bryan Sutton, and I’ve been following his career ever since. He continued to crop up on credits for albums that I’d hear and I got a chance to see him at various festivals over the years. He always blew me away with his tone, feel and the way he was taking flatpicking in some exciting new directions. Bryan has now clearly become the top acoustic player in the Nashville session scene and gets most of the calls to fill that role in this town on all the big records made here. I wanted to talk to him about how he approaches sessions, the specialty of just being an acoustic player in the studio, and how his path led to being where he is now - the top call in Nashville, as well as being out on the road with Bela Fleck for his My Bluegrass Heart project. Bryan’s credits include records for Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Lyle Lovett, Dierks Bentley, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton - you get the picture. But at the heart oif it, he’s a monster flatpicker who has been the IBMA guitarist of the year 9 times. He teaches through an online course as well, and he put out a really cool solo album called “The More I Learn” a few years back. You can get info on all this stuff and check out his tour dates at bryansutton.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 132 - Mick Flannery Nov 02, 2022

Mick Flannery is on the show this week. Mick is an amazing songwriter, well known and loved in his native Ireland, but has also made alot of in-roads in recent years into the US and Canada. This conversation came about very organically, after we met at the Edmonton folk festival this past summer, and it was a real pleasure getting to speak with Mick about his music and writing and recording process. He was touring behind his latest album called “In The Game” which is a collaboration with another singer-songwriter form Ireland, Susan O’Neill. It’s really intense, beautiful, layered music, and they really brought it to life with their performance. Mick is a multi-platinum selling artist, with 8 releases out to his name, and I suppose is most well known in Ireland, but that is changing. His debut album “Evening Train” has been turned into a musical that debuted in 2019, with more performances on the horizon. He performs around Ireland, the UK, Europe, and Canada and the US fairly regularly, so please check out the latest news and tour dates at: mickflannery.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 131 - Stanton Moore Oct 19, 2022

This week on this show I have Stanton Moore, one of the great drummers to emerge from the New Orleans music scene in the 90’s and early 2000’s with his band Galactic, and he has become an absolute force of nature - performing, touring, recording, teaching, making cool stuff for drums, and being an ambassador for New Orleans music worldwide.

Stanton has been one of the most respected drummers in contemporary music for a long time now, since he emerged as afounding member of Galactic, who I was lucky enough to see way back in the early 2000’s as they started to tour all over the place. They took funk, jazz, traditional New Orleans music and put a modern spin on it with killer grooves and amazing sounding records. Aside from Galactic, Stanton has another killer band called Garage a Trois with Skerik and Charlie Hunter - they’ve been an ongoing thing now for many years as well. He’s always heavily involved in the New orleans Jazz and Heritage fest, and plays around the city regularly. When we spoke for this episode, he was heading out with Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz. A busy fellow, indeed!

Stanton is also heavily into drum and cymbal design, which we talk about a bit, and is a master educator as well, which you’ll definitely get a sense of in our talk.

So to keep all this strauight, here’s some links. For all things Stanton Moore, go to stantonmoore.com

for his teaching world, check out stantonmooredrumacademmy.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 130 - Audley Freed Oct 05, 2022

My guest this week is a killer guitar player and songwriter, known for his work with his band Cry of Love, and being a sideman to the Black Crowes, Dixie Chicks, Sheryl Crow and many others - Audley Freed.

Audley is a master of groove and tone, and his undeniably cool approach to playing rock n roll guitar has landed him some amazing gigs over the last 3 decades. He started out in North Carolina playing in cover bands, and eventually got an original project going that got signed, and had some pretty serious success for a young band - Cry Of Love. Their album “Brother” is still regarded as a benchmark for great rock guitar playing. Eventually, Audley focussed his time and efforts on becoming a sideman, and he’s been steadily working ever since. He’s had long-standing stints with many great bands, including The Black Crowes, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, The Dixie Chicks, Chris Robinson, played on tons of great records, and has had a remarkable career for such a humble person. He doesn’t have a website, or much presence on socials, but you can see him these days wherever Sheryl Crow is playing, and I highly recommend catching her and her band if you can.

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 129 - Sierra Hull Sep 21, 2022

This week on the show is the great mandolin player, singer and songwriter Sierra Hull. Sierra is a monster player, and while she’s still really young, she’s been making records of her own for over 15 years now. The latest one, called “25 Trips” came out right around the pandemic, so her touring was curtailed for a while, but she’s back at it now in full force, playing with her band and also with Cory Wong and Bela Fleck, being a major part of Bela’s “My Bluegrass Heart” album and shows earlier this year. I was really interested in talking to her about that because I can’t imagine how crazy that must be to be sitting in a room full of your heros that you grew up listening to and learning from and suddenly they’re your peers and you’re right in the mix with all of them. In the bluegrass world, that project doesn’t get any heavier - Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Noam Pikelny, Stuart Duncan, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle - they’re all involved, and it’s a great album. Sierra has made some great solo albums with Allison Krauss and Bela Fleck producing, and on the latest one, “25 Trips”, she’s co-producing with a killer engineer named Shani Gandhi. It’s definitely rooted in bluegrass, but steps out into some more experimental territory as well with some innovative sounds and production ideas. The crew on this album includes Justin Moses, Viktor Krauss, Bryan Sutton, Paul Franklin, Jano Rix and lots more. So we got to talk about how she approaches making music, and all about how she prepares as a side-person for some of the heavy gigs she’s involved in these days.

Sierra is constantly out on tour and you can keep up with what she’s doing and where to see her at: sierrahull.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 128 - Rose Sinclair Sep 07, 2022

My guest today is a killer steel guitarist who has been working out of Austin, TX for years - Rose Sinclair. We had this conversation over zoom a few months ago and I’m thrilled to be bringing it to you today. Rose put out an album recently called “Wave” that I sort of stumbled across and listened to it over and over again for weeks. There was just something that really spoke to me in her tone and phrasing and the way she approached playing the tunes on the album, which are mostly swing and jazz standards. She refers to her current music as cocktail swing, which I can get with. She plays a double neck steel with no pedals, no effects, not even a volume pedal and she has just really forged a cool style of her own and a modern voice on the instrument.

Rose started out as a multi-instrumentalist, playing bass, guitar, banjo and even accordion in bands around Massachussets, where she’s from. She eventually got into the steel, as you’ll hear in our conversation, and that led to her moving to Austin to immersive herself in western swing music. Another really fascinating element to Rose’s career is that she dug deep into the roots of the style and tracked down some of the original generation of steel players and studied with them. Players like Maurice Anderson, PeeWee Whitewing and Herb Steiner, so we got to talk about her experiences with some of those players, too.

Rose is actively making records, and also has a weekly gig at Sam’s Town Point in Austin. So please check out her beautiful record Wave, and you can find out about her new projects and any touring at rosesinclairmusic.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 127 - George Kahumoku, Jr. Aug 17, 2022

The great Hawaiian slack-key guitarist, George Kahumoku Jr. is on the show this week! George has been playing around the Hawaiian islands for decades, but came to prominence in the 80’s and 90’s when Dancing Cat records started putting out records by the foremost traditional slack-key players. George was one of the main ones, but we were alo introduced to his brother Moses, Sonny Chillngworth, Keola Beamer, Ledward Ka’apana, Barney Isacs, Cyril Pahanui, and quite a few more.

George is one of the greats of the fingerstyle slack-key genre - he grooves, he has an amazing voice, he plays almost exclusively on a 12-string and he has his own F-tuning that suits the style so well. The first part of this interview includes some really interesting Hawaiian history that was mostly news to me, so I hope you enjoy that! George is very active still and plays a weekly show on Maui called Masters of Hawaiian Music. He is also a multiple Grammy award winner, not to mention a celebrated farmer. His latest album is called Rennaisance Man, and he’s also going on tour this fall around the western states. You can get all of that info at kahumoku.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 126 - Fred Eltringham Aug 03, 2022

Hey everyone, welcome back! My guest today is an incredible drummer who lives and works here in Nashville, Fred Eltringham. Fred one of my favourite drummers around town and has held down the drum chair in Sheryl Crow’s band for the last 10 years or so. I’ve had a chance to see them in action a few times and they are really special. Fred keeps pretty busy here in Nashville when he’s not out with Sheryl Crow - he’s played on records or on stage with folks like Billy Gibbons, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, Darius Rucker, Kenney Chesney, Rodney Crowell, Kacey Musgraves - the dude has stacked up some serious credits! I love to talk to folks like this on the show - maybe slightly under the radar players who are super talented and just learn about their paths to get where they are now. Fred is pretty invisible on socila media, but he has a website where he posts a few things and his dates with Sheryl Crow are up there if you’re ever able to go see him. That’s at www.fredeltringhamdrummer.com

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 125 - Amy Helm Jul 20, 2022

This week on the show is an incredible singer, songwriter and musician - Amy Helm. Amy has a sublime feel for music, and a really interesting story too. She grew up in New York, partly in the city and I think at various times with her dad in Woodstock - her dad, of course, being legendary Band drummer and singer, Levon Helm. She was around Levon’s barn an awful lot and has seen that place go from its humble beginnings to a mecca for roots music, hosting some of the greatest live shows of the early 2000’s onwards, known as the Midnight Ramble. Amy started a killer band in the early 2000’s called Ollabelle, and they did alot of touring and recording, and made some great records too. When Levon got really sick with cancer in the early 2000’s, Amy worked with him as he regained his speaking and eventually singing voice and she ended up producing the incredible Dirt Farmer album with Larry Campbell. Amy has put out 3 records under her own name, the most recent one we got to talk about quite a bit, and it’s called “What The Flood Leaves Behind”. It’s a masterful album, and she just keeps getting better. We talked about her recording and writing process and just had a great ol’ conversation. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

Info on Amy’s records, merch and tour dates can be found at www.amyhelm.com

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 124 - Russ Pahl Jul 06, 2022

Today I’m bringing you a conversation with one of the most recorded pedals steel players in modern times - Russ Pahl. Russ has played on all the great T-Bone Burnett records of the past bunch of years, and has also recorded for the likes of Sturgill Simpson, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Norah Jones, Blake Shelton, Orville Peck, Marcus King, Ceelo Green, Yola, Jim Lauderdale, Buddy Miller, and the list goes on. From his early days cutting his teeth in country bands around Minneapolis, to moving to Nashville in the 80’s, he has managed to hone his craft and develop a unique sound. He scored a cool gig with Dickey Betts in the late 80’s, and then Buddy Miller started calling him for his productions, and Vince Gill had him in his live band for about 5 years. It seems that after about 2000, the floodgates just opened and when someone wanted a steel player that didn’t play the same licks as everyone else and had a creative approach, Russ was the one to call. We had a great conversation and get into all that stuff, and more. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 123 - Tristen Jun 15, 2022

Welcome back, music nerds! My guest this week is Tristen, an incredible songwriter and performer from right here in Nashville. She released one of my favorite albums during the pandemic called “Aquatic Flowers” and I was excited to get a chance to meet with her to talk about the making of that album, as well as how she approaches songwriting, lyrics, and how melodies flow so easily for her. She has a unique style that seems so effortless, but the way she can craft a melody and instrumental parts is downright remarkable. I also wanted to discuss the pitfalls of being an indie artist in Nashville, and how she juggles her songwriting and performing career with her other business, which is a groovy vintage clothing store here in East Nashville called Anaconda Vintage. We had a great conversation and I think you’ll enjoy hearing about her life and career. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

Info on Tristen’s records, merch and tour dates can be found at www.tristen.com

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 122 - Duke Robillard Jun 01, 2022

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

Welcome back, music nerds! My guest this week is the phenomenal guitarist, producer and sideman, Duke Robillard. Duke is a fountain of knowldege about blues, swing, jump and R&B and has been touring and recording in those fields since the early 70’s. His early successes with his band Roomful of Blues gained him noteriety as a guitarist who had processed all of the classic styles and players of those genres but had his own remarkable voice. Duke has gone on to make a boatload of solo albums, and tours with his band all over the world. Duke has also produced lots of records for other artists and played as a sideman to many as well, including a stint in Bob Dylan’s band, and was a part of the sessions for the classic Time Out Of Mind album. We get into all of it here today, as well as some of his greatest influences and early experiences learning to play. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

Info on Duke’s records, merch and tour dates can be found at www.dukerobillard.com

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at: www.izotope.com

Thanks for your support, and your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 121 - Aoife O'Donovan May 18, 2022

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

Welcome back to Season 6! This week I’m joined by the amazing songwriter, singer, and guitarist Aoife O’Donovan. We get into all kinds of things about her spectacular new record “Age of Apathy” - how she approached songwriting and layering guitar parts, working with producer Joe Henry and remotely with musicians during the pandemic. We also talked about her history recording with Tucker Martine, and her other group I’m With Her. Whether performing solo, part of a collaboration with the likes of Chris Thile, Jerry Douglas, or I’m With Her, to her earlier band Crooked Still, Aoife has always pushed the boundaries of melody and song framework, and her voice is always spectacular. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen to the accompanying playlist for this episode here, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show.

Info on Aoife’s records, merch and tour dates can be found at www.aoifeodonovan.com

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at www.izotope.com

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 120 - Steve Poltz May 04, 2022

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

It’s our first show of Season 6 and we're thrilled to bring you this interview with the incredibly unique singer/songwriter, guitarist and all-around hilarious fellow, Steve Poltz. Steve just put out a new record called “Stardust and Satellites” that I love, and we got into that a bit before going on massive tangents about everything under the sun - Chet Atkins, words of wisdom from Roger Miller, getting into sticky situations with Sean Penn, touring til you drop, songwriting, how to overcome stage fright, and everything in between. Then we played a Christmas song together. And it was all a total riot. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

The accompanying playlist for this episode, which features the artist’s own music, plus many of the songs that were discussed during the show can be found at:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/76uyIoB89Z84nc3PzzsdsQ?si=113ad27170414fcc

Info on Steve Poltz’s records, merch and tour dates can be found at:
https://poltz.com

This episode is brought to you by Izotope - check out their amazing recording software at https://www.izotope.com/en/lp/soulpod.html

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
https://www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 119 - Welcome to Season 6 Apr 27, 2022

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
https://www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 118 - Rob Baker Jan 05, 2022

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

It’s our last show of the season and we’re thrilled to bring you this conversation with Rob Baker! Rob is a guitarist and songwriter from one of the most iconic Canadian bands of all time, The Tragically Hip. Growing up in Kingston, Ontario, the Hip became friends in high school, became a band, and aside from a sax player leaving in ‘86, never had a lineup change. They went on to release 15 albums over 33 years, most of which went multi-platinum, as they sold out the biggest stadiums across the country. All this while staying true to their Canadian identities and their musical path. When Gord Downie was diagnosed with brain cancer, they undertook their final tour in 2016, and the last show was broadcast from Kingston to a massive televised audience. Since then, Rob has taken some time to get back into creative mode, but has found inspiration again and just last year released a new album with Craig Northey as Stripper’s Union. It was great to speak with Rob about some of his many adventures in music. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Info on Rob’s projects and the Tragically Hip can be found at:
https://thehip.com

And your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at:
https://www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 117 - Craig Northey Dec 15, 2021

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

Vancouver guitarist, songwriter, composer and all around hilarious fellow Craig Northey joins me on the show this week. I’ve known Craig for quite a while, but it was great to delve into some of his early experiences with his band “Odds”, coming up in the 90’s indie rock scene, and how the success of that band has led him into writing music for other artists, producing, writing soundtracks for successful shows and movies, and being a side-guy to other artists. As Craig says, his career plan was just to say “yes” to everything that came along, and all these years later, Craig is a much-loved and respected member of the Canadian music scene and finds work in all those facets of it. Enjoy, share and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Craig’s band “Odds” can be found at:: https://www.oddsmusic.com

And your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at: https://www.stevedawson.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 116 - Bill Schnee Dec 01, 2021

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers

Legendary recording engineer and record producer Bill Schnee joins me on the show this week. Bill lives here in Nashville now, but spent the bulk of his career in LA. He has amazing tales of getting going in the studio scene there and learning the ropes. He seems to have had a knack for hooking up with some great mentors and studio people, and before long, Bill was working for the likes of Barbara Streisand and Three Dog Night. Those early hits led to an incredible run of classic records with Ringo Starr, Marvin Gaye, The Pointer Sisters, Mark Knopfler, Rod Stewart, Steely Dan and so many more. Bill also did some really captivating live to disc recording with Thelma Houston, and mixed records for Miles Davis. Bill’s incredible stories are the subject of his new book “Chairman at the Board”. It was an honor to have Bill join me on the podcast. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

Bill’s website and social links are at: https://www.billschnee.com

Bill’s book can be ordered directly from his website.

Our website is: https://www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

And your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at: https://www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 115 - Colin Cripps (Part 2) Nov 24, 2021

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers
This is part 2 of my conversation with guitarist and producer Colin Cripps. If you haven't listened to Part 1, go and do that first! Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.Colin’s website and social links are at: http://www.colincripps.com.

Colin is regularly on tour with Blue Rodeo these days. Their website is: https://www.bluerodeo.comOur website is: https://www.makersandshakerspodcast.comAnd your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at: https://www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 114 - Colin Cripps (Part 1) Nov 17, 2021

You can support the show with monthly contributions through our Patreon site at: https://www.patreon.com/MakersAndShakers
Colin Cripps joins me on the show this month. Colin is a phenomenal guitarist who doesn’t really appear under his own name very often. He prefers to play the sideguy role and has graced albums for years as musician and producer for Blue Rodeo, Kathleen Edwards and many more. Colin hails from the mysterious town of Hamilton, Ontario that has produced way more musical legends than a city of that size should have. We get into some deep Hamilton history, some stories about the scene with the Lanois brothers, and Colin’s work with his band Crash Vegas that was around the scene during that time, all the way through his career to his more recent work and how he approaches collaborating in the studio and finding cool guitar sounds. Colin is also a certifiable gear maniac and has a pretty extensive collection of guitars and amps that we get into as well. With so much to yak about, this episode got split into 2 parts and will continue one week from today. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

Colin’s website and social links are at: http://www.colincripps.comColin is regularly on tour with Blue Rodeo these days. Their website is: https://www.bluerodeo.comOur website is: https://www.makersandshakerspodcast.comAnd your fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at: https://www.stevedawson.ca

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Ep. 113 - Rose Cousins Nov 03, 2021

Rose Cousins joins me on the show this month to talk about her stellar recent album “Bravado”, her writing and recording process and the nurturing music scenes she came up in - both in her hometown of Halifax, and her adopted hometown of Boston and the scene at Club Passim. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

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Ep. 112 - Viktor Krauss Oct 20, 2021

Viktor Krauss joins me on the show this week. Viktor has been in Nashville for many years, but originally hails from Illinois. Viktor is one of the most recognizable players of the upright bass around and has developed a signature sound that is both massive and somehow understated at the same time. I first came to be aware of Viktor through an incredible string of albums with Bill Frisell, starting with the “Nashville” album, but have come to know his extensive body of work which includes stints with his sister Allison Krauss, and a long-standing gig in Lyle Lovett’s band. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

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Ep. 111 - Will Kimbrough Oct 06, 2021

Will Kimbrough joins me on the show this week. Will considers himself a songwriter first and foremost, but he’s a killer guitar player as well who has earned his keep as sideman both live and in the studio for many years. He has played with and/or produced albums for Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider, Steve Poltz, Kim Richey, and has even written songs for Jimmy Buffett and Little Feat. He put out a killer solo acoustic record in 2020 called Spring Break, and we get into the process of making that record, his guitars, how he approaches producing and playing on sessions, how he landed gigs with Rodney Crowell and Emmylou, and lots more. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 110 - Ariel Posen Sep 01, 2021

Ariel Posen joins me on the show this month to talk about his new album Headway, as well as his relatively young career growing up and cutting his teeth in the clubs of Winnipeg. From there, Ariel went on to tour the world with the Bros Landreth before setting out on his own as a solo performer and songwriter. Ariel is an incredible guitarist and we get into his technique and style, his recording and writing process, as well as some of his favorite music. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

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Ep. 109 - Matt Ross-Spang Aug 04, 2021

Matt Ross-Spang joins me on the show this month from Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, where he has set up shop as an engineer and producer over the last number of years. Matt cut his teeth as the house engineer at the historic Sun Studios before moving into Sam’s old digs and working on records for artists like John Prine, Margo Price, Jason Isbell, The Allman Betts Band, and Al Green. Matt was also tapped to mix a series of newly released recordings by Elvis Presley. His roots in Memphis music run deep, and he is a master of unique and vintage-inspired recording techniques and sounds, while embracing all of the advantages of modern technology in his recordings. We talked about many of his projects, his influences and early experiences in studios, as well as some of his upcoming adventures in his brand new studio that is about to open in Memphis. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe to the show.

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Ep. 108 - Robert Finley Jul 07, 2021

Robert Finley’s new album “Sharecropper’s Son” is a powerhouse soul album that draws on Delta Blues, R&B and greasy funk. Working again in the studio with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, the singer, who’s debut came out at the age of 62, delves into his story growing up as a young sharecropper in Louisianna. Robert’s path included stints in the army, leading gospel groups, becoming a carpenter, losing his sight to glaucoma, and a late start to a successful recording career. Robert and I talked about all of this as well as the process of creating his new album in Nashville. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe.

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Ep. 107 - Allison Russell Jun 02, 2021

I’ve known Allison Russell for over 20 years now through first crossing paths in the Vancouver music scene. She is a remarkable person in every way - an incredibly gifted singer, empathetic human, and is extremely kind and generous. She is a pleasure to work with, and I should know as I spent the better part of the last 3 years out on tour with her in Birds of Chicago. Allison has just released her debut solo album “Outside Child” which is a personal and stunning work of art that she co-wrote most of the material for with her husband JT. The album is a true journey through a troubled past that she lays out in song in a very unique and engaging way. From her early life in Montreal, to her begginings in the music scene in Vancouver, her bands Po’ Girl and Birds of Chicago, we get into it all. Enjoy, share the episode, and don’t forget to leave us a review, and subscribe.

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Ep. 106 - Bill Payne (Part 2) May 12, 2021

Part 2 of my conversation with Bill Payne of Little Feat. Be sure to listen to Episode 1 from last week if you haven’t already! Enjoy…

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Ep. 105 - Bill Payne (Part 1) May 05, 2021

Little Feat founding member Bill Payne joins me on the show this month for a 2-part interview. Not only is Bill a core member of one of my all-time favorite bands, he has also had a stellar career as a session musician, playing on countless recordings for artists like Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Pink Floyd, Bob Seger, Stevie Nicks, The Doobie Brothers and many more. From his almost random first encounter with Lowell George that came from a record label’s phone referral, to crafting some of the most creative, funky, and intricate music of the 70’s with Little Feat, to playing organ, piano and other keyboards on so many classic sessions, Bill has always operated at the highest level. Not to mention, he’s a very generous fellow who was happy to share some of his exploits with me for the podcast. Enjoy, share the episode, and leave us a review. We’ll be back for Part 2 next week.

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104. George Porter Jr. Apr 07, 2021

New Orleans funk legend, bass player, bandleader and founding member of The Meters, George Porter Jr. joins me on the show this month. George has such a rich history that goes deep into the history of funk and rock music. From their humble beginnings as a cover band on Bourbon Street in the early 60’s, to being top call session players for Allen Toussaint and playing on albums for Dr. John, Paul McCartney, and The Neville Brothers, not to mention their own epic catalog, The Meters developed a style and sound that is solid, funky, and unique. George’s history with amazing drummers is also well known, so we got to talk about his partnership with Zigaboo Modeliste, lots of his classic albums and sessions, a bit of the history of New Orleans music, and what he has been up to during COVID, particularly his new album “Crying for Hope” with his band Runnin’ Pardners. Join us!

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103. Peter Rowan (Part 2) Mar 10, 2021

Part 2 of my conversation with Peter Rowan. Be sure to listen to Episode 1 from last week if you haven’t already! Enjoy…

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102. Peter Rowan (Part 1) Mar 03, 2021

Bluegrass and roots music legend Peter Rowan joins me on the show this week to officially kick off Season 5. Peter has been involved in so many stellar projects over the decades, and is one of our last true and active links to the first generation of bluegrass, having spent a number of years touring and recording with Bill Monroe. After his stint in the Bluegrass Boys, Rowan went on to work with David Grisman in several incarnations, including the groundbreaking Old & In The Way with Jerry Garcia and Vassar Clements. Rowan has remained prolific over the years, recording and touring with Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, and many solo configurations that allow him to explore his other passions for rockabilly, reggae and blues. We get into lots of deep dives and this episode is Part 1 of 2. Part 2 will be released next week. Enjoy!

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Ep. 101 - Welcome to Season 5 Feb 24, 2021

Welcome to Season 5, music nerds! I hope you’ve all been keeping well. This quick episode is just a bit of an update on the schedule and what’s been happening the last few months. The Season will officially kick off next week and will continue with new episodes on the first Wednesday of every month. Thanks for tuning in, don’t forget to subscribe to the show, and we’ll see you next week.

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Ep. 100 - John Oates Oct 07, 2020

Well we made it to our 100th episode! Singer, songwriter and member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, John Oates joins me on the show this week. John is widely known for his work with Hall & Oates, topping the charts and selling over 40 million records - that ain’t too shabby. John’s been in Nashville now for quite a few years and has established himself on the local scene here, playing with the cream of the crop of studio players, and exploring some of his blues, country and soul roots with them, dubbing them the Good Road Band. His brand new album “Live In Nashville” features his soulful voice and the killer playing of his live band. John and I talked about the recent records he’s worked on with them, and delved into his early history in the Philly and New York soul scene, which goes back to his recording debut in 1966, and through some of his early Hall and Oates recording experiences with Arif Mardin and Todd Rundgren, jamming with Doc Watson, and how he ended up with Mississippi John Hurt’s guitar. Enjoy my conversation with John Oates!I’m encouraging listeners to call in this season, and at this point I’m hoping to hear from people about their experiences, good and bad, with starting to play or experience live music again. Join in and leave a message at 615-375-6318 anytime! If you want to skip straight to the interview, it starts about 12 minutes in. Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 99 - Keith Scott Sep 23, 2020

Guitarist Keith Scott joins me on the podcast this week. Keith is a fellow Vancouverite (although he lives in California now) and for almost 40 years, he has been the guitarist for Bryan Adams. He has played on countless hits, and some of the biggest selling records of all time. Its been quite a ride for him, and while his hooks and solos on Adams’ songs are incredibly crafted gems, it was a night that I saw him sit in with a local blues band in Vancouver, The Vaqueros, that blew my mind, and cemented him as one of the finest guitarists I had ever seen. But if you weren’t there that night (there was about 12 of us), you’ll just have to take my word for it. It was great to speak with Keith and hear abou this early days on the road, hooking up with Adams, and hearing about some of the sessions that he was involved in. I’m encouraging listeners to call in this season, and at this point I’m hoping to hear from people about their experiences, good and bad, with starting to play or experience live music again. Join in and leave a message at 615-375-6318 anytime! If you want to skip straight to the interview, it starts about 13 minutes in. Enjoy my conversation with Keith Scott!

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 98 - Introducing the "One Life" Podcast Sep 18, 2020

An excerpt from the "One Life" Podcast presented by Steve Dawson and featuring Jim Byrnes. The new series will be released October 12th on all Podcast platforms. Subscribe now!

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Ep. 97 - David Piltch (Part 2) Aug 26, 2020

Part 2 of my conversation with bassist David Piltch. If you haven't listened already, please go back and listen to Part 1 first. Enjoy!

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 96 - David Piltch (Part 1) Aug 19, 2020

David Piltch, the bassist on many of my favourite records from the last 15 years joins me on the show this week. David grew up in Toronto in a musical family - his Dad was a session musician around the city and on CBC. David and his brother Rob grew up playing jazz around town, and David eventually left Canada for Los Angeles to find studio work. His body of recorded work is epic, starting in Canada with Mary Margaret O’Hara and KD Lang and includes recordings along the way with Joe Henry, Holly Cole, Solomon Burke, Salif Keita, Allen Toussaint, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, Elton John and many more. His path is an intriguing one, and many of his stories and experiences are so relatable to all musicians. In my experience of doing this podcast, no one has been so frank, honest, and able to paint a picture of the sense of dread you feel when you’re on a gig and know that you really don’t know how to play the music properly (C’mon we’ve all been there at least once!). His trial by fire attitude imbued him with a musical sense that has made him one of the most sought after bassists in music today. We sure blabbed alot, but it’s all so fun and fascinating that I’m just making a big ol’ 2-part episode out of this one. Enjoy Part 1 of my interview with David Piltch, and please subscribe to the podcast! Part 2 will come out next week.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 95 - Gordie Johnson Aug 05, 2020

Guitarist, songwriter, producer and frontman for the mighty Big Sugar, Gordie Johnson joins me on the show this week. Gordie has been creating amazing sounding records since the early 90’s when Big Sugar exploded out of the Toronto blues and jazz scene. Almost 30 years later, Big Sugar has just released another great new album. Gordie relocated to Austin years ago, and has worked out of his studio there, making his own records, as well as working in the studio and on the road with other artists like The Black Crowes, Taj Mahal, Gov’t Mule and Warren Haynes. Enjoy my interview with Gordie Johnson, and please subscribe to the podcast.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 94 - Tucker Martine Jul 22, 2020

Engineer and producer Tucker Martine joins me on the show this week. Tucker has been operating out of a couple of incarnations of his own studio, Flora Recording and Playback, for quite a few years now. He has recorded and/or produced acclaimed records for a diverse cast of characters like The Decemberists, Bill Frisell, My Morning Jacket, Wayne Horvitz, Neko Case, Laura Veirs and many more. Tucker has an amazing sense of depth and tone that comes through in his recordings, which is a reflection of how much he cares for the art of recording itself. I wanted to have Tucker on the show to talk about some of his experiences making those records, as well as building his studio and some of the joys and trials of that process. We had a great time digging deep, and I hope you enjoy it!

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 93 - Joel Plaskett Jul 08, 2020

Singer/Songwriter, guitarist and producer Joel Plaskett joins me on the show this week. Joel is one of Canada’s most respected performers and has been making great records since the 90’s. Starting out with his pals from high school, his band Thrush Hermit toured endlessly and achieved great success before splitting up and Joel launched his solo career with his new band, The Joel Plaskett Emergency. Joel has become an excellent producer and engineer in that time, working at his own studio in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Joel has a sprawling new album out called “44” - a quad album full of great songs, themes, adventurous production and incredible sonics. We go deep into the process of making it in our conversation.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 92 - Colin Linden Jun 24, 2020

Nashville guitarist and producer Colin Linden joins me on the show this week. We talked all about his growing up and getting into music in Canada in the 70's and some of the great artists and records he's been involved with over the years, including his extensive work with Bruce Cockburn and The Band.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 91 - Sarah Jarosz Jun 10, 2020

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz joins me on the show today. She just released her 5th album "World On The Ground" and I thought it would be a great time to speak with her about her recording, songwriting and playing experiences.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 90 - Allison Russell Jun 03, 2020

I wasn't going to release anything today in light of what's going on around us, but then called up my touring compadre of the last few years, Allison Russell from Birds of Chicago to talk about what's going on out there - here's our conversation. We'll be back with a full episode next week.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 89 - Sadler Vaden May 27, 2020

Sadler Vaden is a killer guitarist in Nashville and has been a member of Jason Isbell's 400 Unit for a number of years. We got to talk about his path to Nashville from South Carolina and how his career has unfolded, his influences, style and his instruments.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 88 - Sue Foley May 20, 2020

Sue Foley is a killer blues guitarist and singer, originally from Ottawa, Canada, but has spent a good portion of her career in Austin, Texas. She has made a string of great blues records, the latest of which is "The Ice Queen".

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 87 - Guthrie Trapp May 13, 2020

Guthrie Trapp is one of the cream of the crop of guitar pickers in Nashville these days. He can be seen with his own groups all over town, or frequently collaborating with John Oates, Jerry Douglas and many more.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 86 - Dave Bidini May 05, 2020

Dave Bidini of The Rheostatics joins me on the show this week to talk about his long and storied career in Canadian music.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 85 - Chris Wood (The Wood Brothers) Apr 29, 2020

Chris Wood joins me on the show today. Chris is an incredible bass player, both on the upright and electric, writes and performs amazing music with his brother Oliver in The Wood Bros, plays a mean harp, and can even break out some inspired mid-set dance moves. I first got to know of Chris through his playing with the groundbreaking Medeski, Martin and Wood in the 90's and early 2000's - making amazing records and touring incessantly, and as that band ran its course, Chris switched gears and hooked up with his brother to create some of the grooviest, soulful roots music on record today. The Wood Bros spend a good deal of time on the road now, and we got to talk about all of that, his recording history and influences, as well as what he's doing with his spare time during the pandemic. Enjoy my interview with Chris Wood, and please subscribe to the podcast!

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 84 - Charlie Hunter Apr 22, 2020

My guest this week is the phenomenal guitarist Charlie Hunter. Through innovative use of 7 and 8-string guitars, Charlie has built a career on composing, performing and improvising while developing his mind-bending techniques of essentially playing guitar and bass at the same time on the same instrument. I've followed Charlie since his days in a Bay Area band called TJ Kirk, through his many solo, trio, quartet and collaborative projects. He was also involved in the early 90's hip hop and soul scenes, working with both Michael Franti and D'Angelo. Recently Charlie has hooked up with the spectacular singer, Lucy Woodward, and toured all over the world with their new group after releasing their latest record, "Music! Music! Music!". We got into all of it, and then some... Enjoy my conversation with Charlie Hunter, and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 83 - Jim Campilongo Apr 16, 2020

This week's guest is incredibly creative Telecaster-slinger, Jim Campilongo. I've been trying to get Jim on the show for a while now and it finally worked out. Jim is one of the finest modern players associated with the Telecaster and has worked for decades on playing and composing music around the New York and Bay Areas. While getting to be known as one of the finest musicians in a city full of great musicians, he chose to mostly stick close to home and hone his craft with weekly gigs in New York for almost 20 years! He has released a number of incredible albums with his trio, and lately also with the group Honeyfingers. Jim also had a band with Norah Jones for a while called The Little Willies. Campilongo is also a veteran teacher and has a wide range of amazing material on his site to delve into. Please check out jimcampilongo.com for more on that and what he's up to.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 82 - Patrick Warren Apr 08, 2020

My guest this week is a keyboard player and a major force in the LA music scene over the past 20 years, Patrick Warren. Patrick is a keyboard player technically, but really is a master of sonics as well. I’ve been seeing his name since the 90’s on amazing records and soundtracks coming out of LA in the scene there that I’ve been drawn to, which was everything Jon Brion was involved with, and then T-Bone Burnett’s and Joe Henry’s worlds. This included artists like Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Fiona Apple, Tom Waits and soundtracks that beautifully marry music to film like Magnolia, Boogie Nights, and Hard 8. Patrick is the ultimate connoisseur and player of the Chamberlin, which is a totally unique tape-based keyboard, much like the British mellotron, but even more finicky and complex. Lately, Patrick has been involved in some amazing TV soundtracks - True Detective with T-Bone, and The Chi, for which he is the principal composer.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Ep. 81 - Robben Ford Apr 01, 2020

Welcome to Season 4! My guest on the podcast this week is the incredible guitarist Robben Ford. I first got into Robben's music in the 90's when he was rockin' out with his trio The Blue Line. He made a string of cool records around that time, but as I dug a bit more into his past, it wasn't hard to find that he had already toured and recorded with Tom Scott, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison and Miles Davis. (This is the first Miles sideman we’ve had on the show too!) Robben continues to make great guitar records, and after his move to Nashville a couple of years back, has found new players to record and collaborate with. We got to talk about all of his current and past projects including his latest album "Purple House", lots of the great sessions and tours, his Dumble amps, and how he spent 2 months getting a guitar tone! It was a blast having him in the studio, and I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Our new website is now up at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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