Talk and Rock Radio Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The Transatlantic Guitar Trio comprises fingerstyle guitar champion Richard Smith from the United Kingdom, German gypsy jazz virtuoso Joscho Stephan, and the brilliant multi-instrumentalist American musician Rory Hoffman. These remarkable musicians joined forces in 2019 and have entranced audiences across the country with their unique blend of jazz ballads, gypsy swing standards, and groovy original compositions. This mini-concert is being produced by Rick Kern and his podcast 'Talk and Rock Radio'.

Richie Furay is an American music luminary, an inductee into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He is celebrated for pioneering Country-Rock as a founding member of the legendary and quintessential groups Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and the Souther-Hillman-Furay band.

In this episode of Talk and Rock Radio, host Rick Kern discusses the illustrious career of Richie along with some of the landmark events that happened along the way.

Celebrating their 50th Anniversary, The Manhattan Transfer continues to set the standard as one of the world’s greatest and most innovative vocal bands. Winners of eleven Grammy Awards, with millions of records sold worldwide, this amazing quartet is building upon the extraordinary legacy created by founder Tim Hauser who organized the four-part harmony group along with Janis Siegel (alto), Alan Paul (tenor), and Laurel Masse (soprano) on October 1, 1972. Cheryl Bentyne (soprano) replaced Masse in 1979, and Trist Curless (bass) replaced Tim Hauser following his passing on October 16, 2014.

In 2009, Rick Kern and Rod Crosby produced the very first Border Legends of El Paso Concert at the Lancers Club East. There were 8 groups performing with approximately 250 in attendance. The show was a complete success and they were encouraged to continue doing another one the following year. The second concert took place at the Isaron Hall on the west side of El Paso. The third year had the show returning to the Lancers East with approximately 300 in attendance. That year the complete complex was used including the oitside courtyard. In 2012, the show went to a much larger venue - the El Maida Shrine Auditorium. This became the final and most useful venue for the annual show. There was a green room, private bar area and a much larger stage and performance hall accomodating 1,000 people. The final year of the Border Legends Of El Paso Concert resulted in the largest attendance with attendees coming in to El Paso from over 25 states. The event was best described as being El Paso's Best High School reunion ever - it brought all of the schools together in one place. Hearing the local bands once again that we grew up with was the best take away from the annual concerts. In 2016, Rod and Rick decided to put the show to rest. In the early part of 2022, Rick and Rod was discussing the possibility of resurrecting the annual show. Unfortunately, the plan was met with the unexpected loss of Rod on April 4, 2022. Rod Crosby and the Border Legends of El Paso Concert series will never be forgotten. 

Michael James Peterson (born August 7, 1959) is an American country music artist. He made his debut on the country music scene in 1997 with his second self-titled album (following his 1986 release featuring contemporary Christian songs), which produced five Top 40 hits on Billboards Hot Country Singles & Tracks, including the Number One hit "From Here to Eternity". Peterson's second album, 1999's Being Human, produced two more chart singles, and a third album, 2004's Modern Man, was issued only in Europe. Peterson also made a cameo appearance on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.

Richie Gajate Garcia, a Puerto Rican born in New York City, was raised on the island of Puerto Rico from the age of seven. Richie grew up with musical influences of his percussionist step father Doel Garcia and family friends like Tito Puente, Monchito Munoz and Armando Peraza.

Richie started his formal education at Springfield College and then went on to the Conservatory of Music in Chicago where he received his bachelor’s degree in music education. Since then, Richie has taught at the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood and the Los Angeles Music Academy known as LAMA in Pasadena, California. He is one of the top clinicians worldwide and has become an ambassador to the world teaching and demonstrating the art of drums and percussion with over 700 clinics to his credit. Richie has performed, recorded and toured the world as a drummer/percussionist for several major artists including Phil Collins, Sting, Diana Ross, Hiroshima, John Denver, Tito Puente and the Boston Pops. His experiences transcend musical genres from classical to pop, jazz, salsa, country and hip hop.

Richie has authored instructional books which include play along cds. He pioneered instructional drum/percussion videos long before dvds existed and currently has instructional dvds on the market. Countless musicians have credit Richie with their musical successes including his son, Roland Gajate Garcia who was nominated percussionist of the year by the readers of Modern Drummer Magazine.

Richie himself has held that title and many more distinctions in the music community including performances on grammy winning and nominated projects. He has been an advocate for music in public schools and spoke on an educational panel for Bill Clinton during his presidency. Richie has invented the gajate bracket distributed by Latin Percussion Inc. which has impacted the genre of multi percussion and taken indepence to a new level. Richie’s nickname is “el pulpo” which means “the octopus”.

Richie lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife of 30 years Mary. His two adult sons are thriving in the music industry playing regularly on tv and touring with legends. Richie is a trendsetter who continues to passionately perform while he educate and mentors worldwide.

Steven Lee Cropper, sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he has won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations.

Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, the Tragically Hip, Zeno, Jay Boy Adams, Booker T. & the MG's, Shakira, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Rhino Bucket, Johnny Winter, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Big Star, Johnny Taylor, Jason and the Scorchers, the Staple Singers, Molly Hatchet, George Thorogood, Al Green, Widespread Panic, Shania Twain, Joe Cocker, Joe Walsh, and Lenny Kravitz, among others.

During the early '70s, Warren and his brother Bill formed The Ham Brothers Band and included Ira Wilkes on bass, Red Young on piano and organ and Dahrell Norris on drums. The group recorded for Texas producer Huey P. Meaux. Despite critical acclaim for the work, the album never made it in the marketplace. It was soon taken out of print. In 1978 The Ham Brothers band had replaced Wilkes and Young with Bob Parr and Ken Rarrick, both from the acclaimed jazz education program at the University of North Texas. Later that same year, David Gates, of Bread fame, hired the Ham Brothers to tour as part of Bread. The act was then billed as David Gates and Bread. A year later pop diva Cher secured the services of the same band. When Cher recorded the project album Black Rose, Warren joined the band for the recording and the subsequent supporting tour.

In his early years, Ham was a vocalist and played the reeds for the Fort Worth, Texas based Bloodrock (1972–74). Ham appeared on the last two Bloodrock albums: Passage and Whirlwind Tongues.

Warren Ham has also toured with Kansas in the John Elefante era (in 1982, played additional keyboards, flute, alto and soprano saxophones, harmonica and backing vocals), Toto (1986-1988, and since 2017), and Donna Summer (1983). He toured with Olivia Newton-John in 2006 as an instrumentalist and vocalist performing John Travolta's part with Newton-John on her No. 1 Grease hit, "You're The One That I Want", as well as backing vocals.

When Kerry Livgren left Kansas to form his own Christian rock band AD, Ham went with him as the new band's lead singer. Ham appeared on the first, second and fourth of AD's four albums: 1) Timeline 2) Art of the State and 3) Prime Mover.

Ham was a featured vocalist and instrumentalist for the Maranatha! Promise Band - the worship band for the Promise Keepers men's movement put together by Maranatha! Music from Promise Keepers' incarnation in 1993 to 1996. He appeared on their 1993 album, Face to Face with the song "This Is What I Believe", and on their 1996 album, Break Down the Walls, on the song "Send Me" along with Steven Jackson and Leonard Tucker. He was also a part of the live touring version of the Promise Band for the 1995 Promise Keepers conference season where he played harmonica, saxophone, trumpet, flute, and other wind instruments along with backup vocals. This was documented in the VHS video and CD "Live Worship With The Maranatha! Promise Band" where he most famously played an intro to "Man Of The Spirit, Man Of The Word".

Since the demise of AD, he has released solo recordings in the contemporary Christian music genre "Come on Children" and is the author of Beginning Blues/Rock Harmonica (ISBN 0-8256-1154-7). From 1996 to 2000, Ham toured as part of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

Warren Ham also appeared as an integral member of Donna Summer's live band on her 2008 tour (having first appeared as part of her 1983 touring group) supporting her 2008 release Crayons. Warren Ham toured with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. In the mid-eighties and from 2017 on, he tours with Toto.

John Madara was born on May 28, 1936 and grew up in Philadelphia, at a time when the city was teeming with groups and artists such as The Spaniels, The Clovers, Harvey and The Moonglows, Billy Ward and The Dominos and the great Jackie Wilson.  Rock and roll was starting to take root and John Madara was destined to make rock and roll history.  

In 1957, John launched his solo career, with his first record, "Be My Girl," reaching the National charts.  That same year, John co-wrote with Dave White a song called "Do The Bop."  On the advice of Dick Clark, whose local show, American Bandstand, had just gone National, the title and lyrics were changed to "At The Hop."  Danny and The Juniors recorded it, and by

Christmas of 1957 it had reached the top of the pop and R&B charts worldwide.  "At The Hop" remained #1 for an astounding 7 weeks, the first record ever to reach that success, and 

it has remained a rock and roll classic to this day.

 Barry) and “You Don’t Own Me” (Lesley Gore). He also produced for Danny and The Juniors, “Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay."

In the Mid ‘60s, John, Dave and local D.J. Ray Gilmore formed a group called “The Spokesmen” and released “The Dawn of Correction," an answer song to the enormous hit “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire. At the same time, John was producing for other artists when he discovered a young man, Leon Huff, who later teamed up with Kenny Gamble and became one of the most prolific songwriting teams in the history of rock and roll, defining an entire category of Black popular music known as "The Sound of Philadelphia." He also discovered one of the most prolific duos of all time, Daryl Hall and John Oates. With them he produced two albums.

In 1965, John and Dave started their own publishing company, discovering and signing new songwriters. The company was very successful, and in 1984, it was sold to Michael Jackson.

In 1967, John, Dave and Local D.J. Ray Gilmore wrote the song, "Sadie The Cleaning Lady," which became a huge hit in Australia with singer, Johnny Farnham.

John moved to L.A. in the ‘70s, where he found success writing and producing for movies and television. He produced the soundtrack for the James Caan/Marsha Mason movie, “Cinderella Liberty," and also produced the title song for the Cliff Robertson movie “Ace Eli and Roger of the Sky.” In the mid ‘70s, he was music supervisor for the hugely successful “Sid and Marty Kroft Comedy Hour." This was in conjunction with an ABC Comedy Hour and network special which launched the new ABC season. During that time, John wrote and produced the music for the show, and was hands on with the mixing and editing. In the late ‘70s, he also wrote the theme song for ABC Sports, which ran for two years.

Las Vegas was also becoming a happening place for singers and performers. So it would seem appropriate that John would spend two years of his life working with one of the most successful performers of all time, Wayne Newton. He produced two of Wayne’s albums and also produced and wrote songs for a Christmas television special for Wayne on CBS.

In the mid ‘80s, John teamed up with one of the great film animators of all time, Ralph Bakshi. Ralph, known for the controversial film “Fritz The Cat," and also the highly regarded films “American Pop” and “Lord Of The Rings," needed songs for his upcoming animated film “Hey Good Lookin." John collaborated with the extremely talented writer/singer Ric Sandler, and they wrote and arranged all 18 songs in the film, which John produced.  Ric also performed all of the songs.  Time Magazine and Playboy raved about the film and later called it a cult classic.

Through the years, John has produced albums and singles for companies such as CBS, Warner Bros., Polydor, Atlantic, Paramount, 20th Century, MGM and ABC Records.

Madara & White songs have reached millions of people through radio, films and television. Worldwide sales of their songs and productions have reached over 2 hundred million records.  Their songs have appeared on some of the biggest grossing soundtrack albums of all time, including “American Graffiti” and “Woodstock” (At The Hop), “Grease” (Rock and Roll is Here to Stay), “Hairspray” (The Fly and You Don’t Own Me), “Mr. Holland’s Opus” (1-2-3), and “Dirty Dancing” and “The First Wives Club” (You Don’t Own Me). It was the 1996 hit film, “The First Wives Club," that paid the contemporary power of their talent the ultimate compliment by not only featuring “You Don’t Own Me” but by making it the theme of the movie.

Contemporary, in fact, has proven to be one of the mainstays of John Madara’s contributions through the years. He has consistently offered the world of music songs that speak clearly of given eras, but have equal impact on all eras.

John has continued to write and produce music, working with young, up-and-coming artists. He has always been a futurist, excited about working with new technology and incorporating it into his music and productions. His hands-on approach to every project he is involved in, whether it be as a writer, producer, music supervisor, editor, engineer or mixer, has enabled John to maintain the sound that is uniquely his own.

In March of 2001, “At The Hop” was voted by the Recording Industry Association of America as one of the top 100 songs of the century. The soundtrack album, “Grease," was voted one of the top albums of the century. “Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay” is featured on that album.

Taj Farrant was just hanging out at home in the backyard around the fire when a live version of “Comfortably Numb” started playing.

He declared he wanted to learn to play that guitar solo.

He’d only just gotten his first guitar for his birthday, but he set about mastering the solo.

And he did.

He was 7 years old.

His father, Brandin Farrant, wanted to share it with his family, so he put a YouTube video of it up on Facebook. 

The image of a 7-year-old, with a smile that revealed a gap where he’d lost a baby tooth, wielding a guitar like a pint-size David Gilmour was irresistible. It went viral.

What followed was an appearance on “Ellen” and a gig with Michael Jackson’s guitarist and fellow Australian Orianthi. Through her, he met Carlos Santana, who as her mentor. And as he’d done for a teenaged  Orianthi, the guitar legend  invited Taj on stage to perform with him.

Taj Farrant on stage with Rob Thomas in 2019. (Photo provided)

Now 13, Taj, and his family, split their time between Australia and the United States.

On Saturday, March 11, Taj will perform at Howard’s Club H. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the show at 7 p.m. Admission is $35. Click for tickets.

This North American swing, the Nothing But the Blues tour, will move on from Ohio through Missouri and into the heartland of the blues with shows in Arkansas ending up at the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) convention in California.

Taj will be performing with the Missouri blues band Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice.

Brandin Farrant said early on in Australia they tried to put together bands of other musical prodigies, but they couldn’t find youngsters who could keep pace with Taj.

On this tour, Taj will be joined for a half-dozen songs by his 12-year-old sister Jazel on drums. “She can keep up with him because they live together and play together all the time,” their father said, so she’s in synch with his virtuosity.

Taj Farrant plays chess with his 12-year-old sister Jazel . She’ll play drums on several numbers during the show at Howard’s.

Taj’s musical journey started on his father’s shoulders. They were at an AC/DC concert, and Taj was perched on his father, so he got a good look at frontman Angus Young emerging from the ground.

That right there made an impression on him, Taj said. Then Young started playing guitar.

“It must be pretty hard to play like that and I just wanted to try to learn,” Taj said. “I want to do this for the rest of my life.”

For his next birthday his parents and grandparents pitched in to get him a good quality Ibanez Prestige. He now has upgraded his instrument, but that guitar still goes on tour with him. He has all the stars he plays sign it. Other artists including Santana have also contributed to his growing guitar collection. The proceeds from this tour will go to buying a Gibson Custom 355 – the same model as B.B. King’s “Lucille.”

At first , Taj took a few lessons, but his father then assumed the role of instructor. Brandin Farrant is a drummer, but he started learning guitar so he could teach his son. What he learned in the afternoon, he’d pass on to his son when he got home from school.

Now Taj picks up tips from some of the greats.

His father has made videos of his playing all along as part of Taj’s instruction. This way he could listen back and analyze what he needed to improve on.

Those videos though became the conduit for sharing Taj’s talents with the world.

While COVID put a crimp into live performances, Taj said it was good for him.

He holed up at home in Australia and practiced and started to hone his singing chops. 

He continued to post a weekly video.

He’s now working on the demos for his first album at their family’s home studio.

He’s back on the road. After this American swing, there’s a European tour planned.

Brandin Farrant said they hope to get buy their own tour bus soon for traveling around the United States.

His parents are both highly regarded tattoo artists who can schedule their work around Taj’s touring schedule. 

Brandin Farrant has as high praise for his wife’s artistry as for his son’s. Opening his shirt, he displays the photographic tattoo she made for him of Taj in full swing on stage.

Taj said he doesn’t suffer from stage fright. He admitted the one time he had a touch of nerves was when he joined Rob Thomas on stage in front of an audience of 40,000. But that’s the size crowd he wants to attract. “Moving on from here,” he said. “I want to be able to play to as many people as I can. The goal is just to make people happy with what I do.”