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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and as always we bring you a shiny new episode! This month’s guest is the phenomenal singer and guitar player, Alvin Youngblood Hart. I’ve known of Alvin since his debut record “Big Mama’s Door” came out in 1996, but got to know, play and tour with him a number of times since playing at a Mississippi Sheiks tribute show with him back in 2010. To me Alvin is totally unique as an interpreter of acoustic and country blues, but is also a killer rock guitarist, an amazing singer, and also gets into Merle Haggard songs like no one else. He has vast knowledge of rock, folk and blues music from the 20’s through the 70’s and plays it all. Alvin has an interesting history with making records, and while not overly interested in recording these days, has made a number of great records throughout his career, and is a Grammy Award winner. Alvin spent some time in the US Coast Guard, where he developed a love of electronics that continues to this day – working on amps, guitars, pickups and other components. He also has a knack for finding cheap guitars and turning them into screaming rock machines. We got to catch up a bit and discuss his history on stage and in the studio, his love of old gear, pawnshopping with Bo Diddley, and lots more. Enjoy my conversation with Alvin Youngblood Hart! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

My guest this month is the stellar guitarist and blues interpreter, Rory Block.Block grew up in Manhattan, immersed in the culture of the folk and blues music that was so prevalent at the time. Her father, Allan Block, ran a sandal shop in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, and the influence of the Greenwich Village folk music scene, including luminaries such as Peter Rowan, Maria Muldaur, and John Sebastian, tempted Block to study classical guitar. At the age of 14, she met guitarist Stefan Grossman, who introduced her to the music of Mississippi Delta blues guitarists - Fred McDowell, John Hurt, and The Reverend Gary Davis were huge for her. Block began listening to old albums, transcribing them, and learning to play the songs. At age 15, she left home to seek out the remaining blues giants and hone her craft in the traditional manner of blues musicians and ended up in Berkeley, California, where she played in clubs and coffeehouses.After retiring temporarily to raise a family, Block returned to the music industry in the 1970s and ultimately signing with Rounder Records in 1981, who encouraged her to return to her love for the classical blues form. Since then she has carved out her own niche, releasing numerous critically acclaimed albums of original and traditional songs. Block has won five W. C. Handy Awards, two for "Traditional Blues Female Artist" (1997, 1998) and three for "Acoustic Blues Album of the Year" (1996, 1999, 2007).I first heard Rory play on some of those early Rounder albums and was struck by her voice and guitar playing, and while different in style, like John Hammond, her right hand was a force to be reckoned with - driving the music with confidence and soul. I had a chance to speak with Rory a while back about her history, and find out about her process for making records, her guitar style, as well as going through her recent catalog which includes tributes to the music of artists like Son House, Skip James, and the latest release "A Woman's Soul" which is a tribute to Bessie Smith - enjoy my conversation with Rory Block, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

In honor of the great Hal Blaine, this is a re-release of my 2016 interview with the legendary studio drummer and key member of the Wrecking Crew. Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Cobb first heard Chris Stapleton’s classic country delivery through the tinny speaker of an iPhone and was so taken he swore he’d someday work with the Kentucky-born singer. Eight years later they celebrated an all-genre Album of the Year nomination for “Traveller” at the 58th annual Grammy Awards. He also heard something special in Jason Isbell, Anderson East, and Brandi Carlisle. His work with all those distinct, genre-bending voices has earned him widespread critical acclaim and an additional nomination for Producer of the Year. Cobb has made some of the most respected and critically acclaimed albums to come out of Music City in recent years. He made Sturgill Simpson a reluctant star with “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”. And Jason Isbell No. 1 in three genres with rock, country and folk chart-topper “Something More Than Free”. This year his work on Brandi Carlisle's recent album cleaned up at the Grammies. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dave Cobb at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, which was built by Chet Atkins himself during the golden age of country music in Nashville. Dave has recently taken over the stewardship of that room and has created a string of incredible records while remaining humble and somewhat in awe of his surroundings. It was a pleasure to spend some time with him - enjoy my conversation with Dave Cobb, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Debashish Bhattacharya is an Indian classical musician, singer, composer and instrument pioneer. Debashish has redefined Indian classical music over the last 25 years by performing on slide guitar, and through introducing new techniques, sounds and instruments to the music. He has taught more than a thousand students, created a new genre (Hindustani Slide Guitar), and performed in more than two thousand concerts and workshops, with Grammy nominations and several world music awards. He invented his own slide-guitars, unique to his compositions, which he calls the "Trinity of Guitars". These hollow neck instruments are the 24-string chaturangui, the 14 string gandharvi and the anandi, a 4-string lap steel ukulele. I first met Debashish at the Winnipeg Folk Festival through our mutual friend Bob Brozman, and then had the chance to work with him in a collaboration at the Vancouver Folk Festival the next year. He is an incredibly accomplished musician, and also an excellent fellow and a sheer joy to hang out with! Enjoy my conversation with Debashish Bhattacharya. Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Please go and listen to part one of this episode first to get the full story! Kevin Breit is a humble Canadian treasure. And a hell of a unique guitar player. And a nice feller. I’ve known Kevin for about 20 years at this point, although I haven’t seen him much over the last 10, sadly. When I first got to know him, he was at the tail end of a run in Norah Jones’ live band, and had played on most of her recordings as well. He was bowing out of that gig to be able to spend some more time with his young family, but was already a seasoned vet in the studio, having played on records for folks like Rosanne Cash, k.d. Lang, Hugh Laurie, Cassandra Wilson, Holly Cole, Jane Siberry, Serena Ryder, Taj Mahal, Irma Thomas and countless others. As impressive as that list is, it was his quirkier solo records that I found most interesting. His guitar playing had a big influence on me, particularly his unusual voic eon slide guitar. His string of under-the-radar albums that he seemed to be churning out almost for his own amusement were some of the coolest music I knew of. From the slide guitar based “Empty” to the mandolin orchestra of “Maybelle” and the reckless abandon of “Folk Alarm”, not to mention the inventive “Supergenrous”, I loved all of it. Kevin is well known in his native Canada, but also well-respected internationally, as his session track record suggests. With multiple awards including a Maple Blues Award, Gemini Award, National Jazz Award, Canadian Folk Music Award and two Juno Awards for his recordings, as well as for his work on albums that have a collective 10 Grammy Awards, Breit’s unparalleled creativity is infinite. Breit’s latest release, the 11-track instrumental “Johnny Goldtooth and The Chevy Casanovas” features his interpretations of a mythical character in a twang world. Enjoy my conversation with Kevin Breit, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Kevin Breit is a humble Canadian treasure. And a hell of a unique guitar player. And a nice feller. I’ve known Kevin for about 20 years at this point, although I haven’t seen him much over the last 10, sadly. When I first got to know him, he was at the tail end of a run in Norah Jones’ live band, and had played on most of her recordings as well. He was bowing out of that gig to be able to spend some more time with his young family, but was already a seasoned vet in the studio, having played on records for folks like Rosanne Cash, k.d. Lang, Hugh Laurie, Cassandra Wilson, Holly Cole, Jane Siberry, Serena Ryder, Taj Mahal, Irma Thomas and countless others. As impressive as that list is, it was his quirkier solo records that I found most interesting. His guitar playing had a big influence on me, particularly his unusual voic eon slide guitar. His string of under-the-radar albums that he seemed to be churning out almost for his own amusement were some of the coolest music I knew of. From the slide guitar based “Empty” to the mandolin orchestra of “Maybelle” and the reckless abandon of “Folk Alarm”, not to mention the inventive “Supergenrous”, I loved all of it. Kevin is well known in his native Canada, but also well-respected internationally, as his session track record suggests. With multiple awards including a Maple Blues Award, Gemini Award, National Jazz Award, Canadian Folk Music Award and two Juno Awards for his recordings, as well as for his work on albums that have a collective 10 Grammy Awards, Breit’s unparalleled creativity is infinite. Breit’s latest release, the 11-track instrumental “Johnny Goldtooth and The Chevy Casanovas” features his interpretations of a mythical character in a twang world. Enjoy my conversation with Kevin Breit, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

My guest this month is Gabriel Roth, a/k/a “Bosco Mann”. He is a Grammy award winning engineer, the founder and chief producer/engineer of Daptone Records, and a prolific song-writer, having penned over 150 songs. Roth is highly regarded throughout the industry for his detailed and analog approach, a rare find in today’s computer-obsessed production world.Since the mid-90s, Roth has been honing his craft, first under his label Desco Records and then as co-founder of Daptone Records, producing, writing and arranging for the numerous artists on the label. His own band, the Dap-Kings, are the foundation of the Daptone House of Soul Stable, backing the label’s premier act Sharon Jones, and sought after by a growing list of artists.A superior bass player, Gabe is enlisted as a member of the Dap-Kings to perform on a wide range of sessions, but his talents as a producer, arranger, engineer and mixer immediately place him in an elite class. Early mainstream followers included Kanye West (who sampled Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings’ “Pick It Up, Lay It In the Cut” on Rhymefest’s “Brand New“) and Hank Shocklee (who hired the Dap-Kings to perform on the American Gangster Soundtrack). Mark Ronson quickly followed and what resulted was Amy Winehouse’s Grammy award winning, multi-platinum smash “Back To Black” (for which Roth received a Grammy as engineer).Gabe has expanded his operations to the West Coast, now operating Penrose Studios out of Riverside, CA (while still maintaining an active presence in New York at Daptone). Gabe has made good use of the new space in California, engineering sessions for Bob Rock-produced Michael Buble records and producing, engineering and arranging James Hunter’s latest album Minute By Minute. Enjoy my conversation with Gabriel Roth, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

My guest this month is the incredibly original singer, songwriter, author and activist, Billy Bragg. Bragg was the leading figure of the anti-folk movement of the '80s, and for most of the decade, he bashed out songs alone on his electric guitar, singing about politics and love. While his lyrics were bitingly intelligent and clever, they were also warm and humane, filled with detail and wit. Even though his lyrics were carefully considered, Bragg never neglected to write melodies for songs that were strong and memorable. With a strong DIY ethic and punk-rock attitude, Billy recorded an incredible body of work from the late 70's up through his recent collaborations with Joe Henry. Billy went from his obscure first recordings (which are awesome) through commercial success, working with artists like Paul Weller and Johnny Marr. Kirsty MacColl had a hit with "New England" and Billy's own solo recordings gained attention worldwide. Then in 1998, he teamed up with Wilco to record Mermaid Avenue, a collection of performances based on unreleased songs originally written by Woody Guthrie. That spawned 2 follow-up records that are all incredible documents of Americana. His latest records, "Tooth and Nail" and "Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad" mark a new direction in his work and prove that he's as vital as ever. He has also recently released an incredible book that details the history of skiffle music in Britain entitled "Roots, Radicals and Rockers". Thanks go out to Joe Henry for introducing us, and please enjoy my conversation with Billy Bragg! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Please go and listen to part one of this episode first to get the full story! Chuck Leavell is one of the great piano and organ players of our time. A member of The Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the jazz rock ensemble Sea Level. He has served as the principal touring keyboardist and de facto musical director of The Rolling Stones since 1982. As a session musician, Leavell has performed on almost every Rolling Stones studio album released during his tenure. He has also toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Gov't Mule and John Mayer. I was lucky enough to speak with Chuck about his many musical adventures, recording the classic Allman's album "Brothers and Sisters", his epic solo on "Jessica", and being in the studio with Mick and Keith for albums like "Undercover", "Steel Wheels" and "Blue and Lonesome". We yakked for a while, so I had to split this into 2 episodes. Enjoy my conversation with Chuck Leavell, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

Chuck Leavell is one of the great piano and organ players of our time. A member of The Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the jazz rock ensemble Sea Level. He has served as the principal touring keyboardist and de facto musical director of The Rolling Stones since 1982. As a session musician, Leavell has performed on almost every Rolling Stones studio album released during his tenure. He has also toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Gov't Mule and John Mayer. I was lucky enough to speak with Chuck about his many musical adventures, recording the classic Allman's album "Brothers and Sisters", his epic solo on "Jessica", and being in the studio with Mick and Keith for albums like "Undercover", "Steel Wheels" and "Blue and Lonesome". We yakked for a while, so I had to split this into 2 episodes. Part 2 will come next week. Enjoy my conversation with Chuck Leavell, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

My guest this month is guitarist, singer, and songwriter Jorma Kaukonen. Jorma grew up in Washington, D.C., where he first turned to the guitar. He lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early '60s, playing backup to Janis Joplin in local clubs. In 1965, he became a founding member of Jefferson Airplane which soared to fame in 1967, and his distinctive guitar-playing was crucial to its sound with signature solos and parts in classics like "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love". With bassist Jack Casady, Jorma formed a spinoff duo from the group in 1970 called Hot Tuna, and this became his primary musical vehicle after the Airplane broke up in 1973. Jorma's fingerstyle guitar playing was a big part of my musical education, and introduced me to the music of Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake and many more. His acoustic playing in the Airplane was a real eye opener for me too, with pieces like "Embryonic Journey". He has just released a great auto-biography called "Been So Long", but I thought it would be fun to hear some of his stories coming from his own mouth, so here we go! Enjoy my conversation with Jorma Kaukonen, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

In this brief episode, Steve gives you the rundown of what's going to be happening starting next week when the season begins for real! Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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!

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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!

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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!

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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.

Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts - it really helps get the show heard by more folks!
Just Click Here, and scroll down a bit and you’ll be able to leave a glowing review. Thank you!

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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

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

Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon.

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