Stay ConnectedWhether you write music, record music, play music…….or just LOVE music, this podcast is for you!
Note: Mix equal parts Top Hill Recording Podcast and bourbon.
Visit “One Shot One Mic One Song” on YouTube to hear artists from this podcast recorded live with a minimalist one mic approach from the past.
Copyright: © Brad Weston/Neil Johnstone
Top Hill Recording and Zebulon and Company crossed paths on Instagram. Zeb Tuck is just a random dude who has a deep passion for music and creating. He is a singer/songwriter and guitar player whose primary goal in music is gratification. Whether music takes him anywhere beyond personal fulfillment and fun is not important to Zeb. He has, in his words, "managed to wrangle a band of world class humans and musicians" to record and release two singles with more in the making. Where will Zeb's music take him? Who knows......and Zeb doesn't care. He's enjoying and appreciating every step of the journey!
Visit "One Shot One Mic One Song" on YouTube to hear this artist recorded live with a minimalist one mic approach from the past.
Guitarist, Singer, and Songwriter Alastair Greene has been a mainstay of the Southern California music scene for three decades. Following a 2018 live album that celebrated the 20th anniversary of his noteworthy Alastair Greene Band, the singer-songwriter/guitarist returns with an inspired solo collection, "The New World Blues".
A much in-demand guitarist and vocalist, Greene has traveled the world, touring with the legendary Alan Parsons Live Project from 2010 – 2017, as well as stints with Starship featuring Mickey Thomas and, most recently, Blues Music Award-winner Sugaray Rayford. His work with Parsons, in particular, sparked a conversation with renowned multi-instrumentalist and producer Tab Benoit at a Las Vegas blues festival. In 2019, Greene signed with Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Records label.
Alastair headed to Benoit’s Houma, Louisiana studio outside New Orleans to track The New World Blues. With Benoit, on drums, and bassist Corey Duplechin, the three formed a classic power trio, recording nearly the entire album live in the studio. Featuring funky, swampy grooves and flights of muscular guitar, Greene delivers an album stirred by touchstones such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, yet perhaps most often guided by the roadmap of Gov’t Mule and that band’s synthesis of The Allman Brothers Band’s improvisational firepower and the raw, stripped-down electric Blues-rock of Cream.
Aaron Bibelhauser is a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist from Louisville, KY. In addition to writing songs recorded by award winning bluegrass artists including Balsam Range, Del McCoury Band, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, and Dale Ann Bradley, he's taken first place in the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest and earned a nomination for the IBMA's prestigious Song Of The Year Award. An accomplished solo recording artist, radio broadcaster, producer, and session player, Bibelhauser also fronts the Kentucky based bluegrass band, Relic (with his twin brother Adam), and recently joined forces with other accomplished Bluegrass artists to form the band Wolfpen Branch.
Visit "One Shot One Mic One Song" on YouTube to hear this artist recorded live with a minimalist one mic approach from the past.
Longtime best friends Keagan Cross (Vocals/Guitar), John Peters (Drums), and Ricky Stone (Bass) are the Illinois based Americana/Blues rock band The Lovelorn. Formed during the pandemic year of 2020, The Lovelorn have created a sound that feels familiar, but is all their own. Catchy riffs with memorable choruses and imagery filled lyrics, The Lovelorn have found a way to incorporate the ways of old for a modern audience. Back woodsy blues vibes with a modern twist, The Lovelorn have been striving to breathe new life in the genre with their refreshing perspective. With their debut album: "May You Find Worth In The Waking World" out now, this Springfield, IL outfit has already begun taking the right steps in making their mark in the music world.
Los Angeles based Radio Ritual is singer Juan Carlos Sanchez, guitarists Burton Car and Mac Perez, drummer Eduardo Baldo, and bassist Tinu Cer. This group of Argentine, Spanish, Brazilian, and Mexican-American musicians came together by chance and aspire to be advocates for change. Guitarist Burton Car talks to us about Radio Ritual's unique rock which is purposeful and aims to champion every-day people while highlighting relevant humanitarian issues. The band stayed busy during the pandemic shut down. Look for their singles, videos, and live performances on streaming/video/social platforms.
Neil's bandmate and mentee, Spencer Corbin, discusses his experience at the Bryan Galloup School of Guitar Building and Repair. Spencer was a student in the school's Masters Program where Master Luthier Bryan Galloup teaches the most advanced topics in modern Lutherie. The Master Program is 24 weeks (960+ hours) of full-time guitar making in the Galloup shop. After six months of intense training, Spencer has a solid understanding of what it takes to make a living in guitar building and repair.
Acid Tonguehas been touring the world and espousing a timeless rock & roll sound with a DIYmentality since 2015. The touring band features a rotating roster of musicians from around the globe (with members based in Seattle, Paris, New York, London, Mexico City, Los Angeles, & Austin) lending fresh ears to the setlist for an ever-evolving live experience. Employing nostalgic riffs lifted straight from a forgotten jukebox and razor-sharp lyrics delivered in a childish croon, Guy Keltner has built a large catalogue of material in a short period of time.
Dismayed by their hometown of Seattle’s "devolution into a squeaky-clean tech bubble", Keltner & Ian Cunningham formed a partnership to elevate their soul-drenched compositions beyond a suffocating local music scene. Their debut EP, I Died Dreaming (2015) garnered the attention of both the iconic Seattle radio station KEXP and a hyper-alert British audience— landing the band opening slots for the likes of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, De La Soul, Ariel Pink, and Pacific Northwest legends The Sonics.
In the years to follow, the band set their sights on the global horizon—releasing their sophomore EP Beautiful Disaster (recorded in a London basement) in 2016, a handful of singles & cassette-only releases, and Guy’s autobiographical ode to his time living in New York City: 2019’s The Night We Broke Our Lease EP (recorded at a friend’s home studio in Brooklyn).
In 2016, Keltner and Cunningham co-founded their own record label, Freakout Records, with fellow Seattle music patron, Skyler Locatelli, and in 2017, released the band’s debut LP, Babies. The album’s singles, “Humpty Dumpty” & “If I Really Loved Her”, received substantial airplay and attention from college radio, playlists, and the underground indie-rock world. When the world is released from Covid-19, Acid Tongue will resume touring across the United States, Europe, Canada, & Mexico, spreading their gospel of cynicism and emotional catharsis to an increasingly wider audience.
Acid Tongue’s sophomore full-length album Bullies, released March 13, 2020, finds them fully-formed with a mature sound; synthesizing commentary on millennial culture, bruised relationships and broken dreams, painted against the backdrop of high energy, hard-rocking soul songs that could only be the product of our modern era.
HAVE FUN WITH THE TONGUE
Todd Whitener and his longtime bandmates, Jesse Vest and Matt Taul from Days of the New and Tantric, have joined forces with Donald Carpenter to build a new supergroup called Blisskrieg. Todd bought his first guitar from a pawn shop in his hometown of Louisville, KY in 1992 and by 1995 was playing with Jesse, Matt, and Travis Meeks in Platinum Award winning Days of the New......while still teenagers. After Days, Todd, Jesse and Matt founded Tantric and continued to maintain contact over the years. Todd later connected with Donald Carpenter in a series of events that could not have been planned and could not have worked out any better. Todd and Donald then invited Jesse and Matt into the mix and now we have Blisskrieg. Hear the story and listen to the music! You’ll be glad you did!
Jas Morris is a Guitarist Magazine "Guitarist of the Year" award winner. In 2013 his band Firekind won the Global Battle of the Bands competition in Thailand. The band consists of brothers Jas (vocals, guitar), Dan Morris (bass, keys) and Robin Shute (drums). Jas and Firekind were playing around 2-300 shows a year all over Europe before the Covid-19 shut down. They have supported Calvin Harris, Feeder, Wishbone Ash, Walter Trout, Tinie Tempah, Reef, Toploader, Texas and many others. Firekind’s debut album “What I Have Found is Already Lost” was recorded at the Hollywood based studio of legendary producer Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, and Chris Cornell......to name a few). Jas is an Official Seth Baccus Guitars artist. Jas and his bandmates live in Devon, United Kingdom.
Tyler Boone grew up in the Lowcountry of Charleston, SC. starting his music career in the small club rock scene. Recognized in 2017 as the runner-up to Darius Rucker for the Best Musician and Vocalist of Charleston, Tyler slowly started playing major music venues and opening for artists such as Sheryl Crow, The Avett Brothers, Sublime with Rome, Christopher Cross, Hootie and the Blowfish, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Silversun Pickups, Robert Randolph, Will Hoge, Canadian songwriter Donovan Woods, Platinum selling artist Edwin McCain, Zach Myers of Shinedown, The Revivalists, The Marcus King Band, Sean McConnell, Dr. John, Rayland Baxter, American Idol Winners David Cook & Lee DeWyze and others. Tyler is also an official Taylor Guitars endorsed artist. He has recently signed with Tom Sarig (Lou Reed, The Gaslight Anthem, Violent Femmes, CAKE, and others)and his label Antifragile Music.
In addition to the music business, Tyler is also the owner and creator of "Homegrown" Boone's Bourbon. Boone's Bourbon was named "The Top 6 Bourbons in the World" by Forbes Magazine, Double Gold winner at the 2020 New York International Spirits competition, and Gold Award at the Proof Awards (Las Vegas).
As if music and bourbon isn't enough to keep Tyler busy, he also is the co-founder of Artist Formula. Artist Formula offers "a la carte" services to artists to assist them with increasing their presence and influence in the music industry.
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