Podcasts about Chet Atkins

What happens when two guitar virtuosos reunite after years apart? Greg Koch welcomes his former mentor Mike Irish to Chewing the Gristle for a masterclass in musical wisdom that spans far beyond technique.Mike Irish, who taught at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point when Greg was a student, shares his refreshingly inclusive teaching philosophy that embraced students' existing musical interests instead of forcing them into traditional jazz molds. "I really had no desire to make more Joe Passes and Pat Martinos," Irish explains. "I just wanted to take the talent that was there and nudge them in directions they might be interested in." This approach proved transformative for many students, including Koch, who found validation for his genre-blending musical vision.The conversation explores the practical realities of sustaining a music career through what Howard Roberts called "industrial guitar" – the bread-and-butter gigs that keep musicians afloat. Both men share stories from their journeys, from Irish's innovative approach to building jazz programs by focusing on small combos rather than big bands, to Koch's revelation about the creative and financial benefits of mastering solo guitar performance.With warmth and humor, they discuss their musical influences, from Chet Atkins to James Brown, and reflect on how technology has transformed music education. "There's really no reason to suck at this point," Koch quips about the wealth of instructional content available online today – though both agree that motivation and thousands of practice hours remain irreplaceable.Whether you're a guitarist, music educator, or simply appreciate heartfelt conversations between passionate creators, this episode offers insights into not just how to play, but how to build a sustainable, joyful musical life. Drop in on this reunion between two masters and hear how their musical paths have woven together across decades.

Nothing can beat a charismatic frontman. Then again, there are some Side Players that give them a run for their money. I mean… who is Bono without Edge? Freddie Mercury without Brian May? Roth or Haggar without Eddie Van Halen? Robert Plant without Jimmy Page? Anthony Kiedis without John Frusciante? Bon Scott or Brian Johnson without Angus & Malcolm? Or Mick Jagger without Keith Richards.Of course I would be remiss not to mention the few charismatic Frontmen that are also ripping guitarists. Like Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix, Either of the Vaughn Brothers, Derek Trucks, Prince, Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill… and lets just say ALL of the Kings.But which is it better to be, a Frontman or a Side Player? Can you be both? Which carries more stress? Which carries more fame? Does one roll have more significance than the other? Who has the bigger influence on the sound? If we could give some advice, what would it be? When I think of a band, which member  comes to mind? And… job security… did I just get fired?Well we will discuss this, and more on this group therapy session with Lloyd, on the Tweed Couch.

If you were to only know about one country guitarist, you'd want to know about Chet Atkins. On this episode, we're talking about the man people called “Mr. Guitar”—the Country Gentleman himself—and how he developed his style and transformed the way we approach our instrument. Atkins' recognizable eloquent sound is full of punchy bass notes, jazzy chords, cascading righthand patterns, and cleanly articulated melodies, and it can be heard all over the history of electric guitar music. How did he create his style? How can you fake it on your own? And was Chet Atkins responsible for the second most popular signature model guitar of all time? Sponsored by L.R. Baggs: lrbaggs.comFollow Nick: https://www.instagram.com/nickmillevoiFollow Jason: https://www.instagram.com/jasonshadrickGet at us: 100guitarists@premierguitar.comCall/Text: 319-423-9734Podcast powered by Sweetwater. Get your podcast set up here! - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/75rE0dSubscribe to the podcast:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0aXdYIDOmS8KtZaZGNazVb?si=c63d98737a6146afApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/100-guitarists/id1746527331

When people talk about the greatest guitarists of all time, names like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page often come up. But in the world of acoustic fingerstyle guitar, few names resonate louder than Tommy Emmanuel. Hailing from Australia, Tommy has spent his life redefining what one person and one guitar can do — creating soundscapes so full and expressive, you'd swear there's a full band on stage. But it's just Tommy, his guitar, and a heart full of music.Born in 1955 in NSW, Tommy was destined for a life in music. By the age of four, he was already strumming along on a homemade guitar, inspired by the country music on the family radio. When he was just six, he and his older brother Phil were already performing professionally, touring rural Australia as part of the Emmanuel family band. After the sudden death of their father in 66, the Emmanuel family relocated and Tommy's passion for the guitar only deepened. He didn't receive formal training. Instead, he learned by ear, copying the sounds he heard and developing a unique style shaped by necessity, emotion, and endless hours of practice.If there's one name Tommy Emmanuel reveres more than any other, it's Chet Atkins. The legendary guitarist's fingerpicking style — where melody, bass, and rhythm are played simultaneously — blew Tommy's mind as a child. From the moment he heard Atkins' music, Tommy knew he wanted to master the same technique.Years later, not only did Tommy meet his hero, but the two became close friends and collaborators. In one of the greatest honors a guitarist can receive, Chet Atkins named Tommy a Certified Guitar Player (CGP) — a title he gave to only a handful of musicians worldwide. Their 1996 collaboration, The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World, showcased both artists' brilliance and earned a GRAMMY nomination.Though he played in bands during the 1980s — it was Tommy's solo work that truly revealed his genius. Armed with a single acoustic guitar, Tommy became a one-man orchestra. He played melody, bass, harmony, and percussion all at once, creating dynamic performances that are equal parts musical and theatrical.From dazzling renditions of Classical Gas and Somewhere Over the Rainbow to heart-pounding originals, Tommy's concerts are unforgettable.Over the decades, Tommy has become not only a global guitar icon but also a tireless ambassador for fingerstyle playing. He's released over 30 albums, toured relentlessly across six continents, and collaborated with legends including Mark Knopfler, Jason Isbell, Jake Shimabukuro, Molly Tuttle, John Knowles, and many others.Tommy Emmanuel doesn't just perform — he teaches, encourages, and uplifts. Many students admire his technique, but it's his heart-led approach that sticks with them. Tommy's life hasn't been without challenges. Like many who spend their lives on the road, he struggled with addiction earlier in his career. But he's been open about those difficult years, crediting his recovery and ongoing sobriety to a mix of faith, family, and a renewed connection to the purpose behind his music.His story is one of resilience, not just in music but in life. He's spoken publicly about mindfulness, presence, and living with gratitude — all of which shine through in his playing.Now in his late 60s, Tommy Emmanuel shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to tour internationally, sell out shows, release new music, and connect with fans of all ages. Whether he's playing on a small club stage or headlining a major festival, Tommy pours everything into every note.There's a reason people call him a force of nature. Join us in conversation to hear Tommy talk about his life, his stories and his music. To learn more head for his website hereTo connect with me, jump onto my website. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Sintonía: "Trut" - Parus"La Fraga" - Parus; "Caminando junto al viento" - Lilap; "Noi de la mara" - Pere Mallen; "Morriña" - Parus; "La mala hierba" - Babila y las Golondrinas; "Yakety Axe" - Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler; "Furacroyos" y "As xentes" - ParusEscuchar audio

I spend about an hour with writer, historian and professor Don Cusic. He's the author of over 30 books, including his upcoming biography of Chet Atkins, and teaches "History of the Recording Industry" at Belmont University. We get into country music, music history in general, and the business of music.More on Don CusicCheck out Don's Books! BONUS MxTRA VIDEO: Don wrote a musical about Minnie Pearl!~~~SUPPORT THIS PODCAST!Join PatreonGet some merch~~~*intro/outro music credit: REC - "Sing Owwt"*mid roll music credit: The Drop - "Outerloper"

Episode Notes S6E10 - Join us as we sit down with the one and only Laura Pursell. She'll be telling us tales from acting to singing her hits and much much more. Her nostalgic, lush and heartfelt voice, Laura Pursell's smooth west coast vocals are backed by the genius of her famous father Bill Pursell, who wrote 8 out of 10 arrangements and played piano on all 10 tracks. The rich orchestration, recorded by Nashville's A-team players. Mr. Pursell is perhaps best known for his hit record "Our Winter Love," but also played piano on many of Johnny Cash's albums in the 1960s, and worked as a session musician and arranger for Patsy Cline, Johnny Paycheck, Hoover, Joan Baez, Eric Andersen, Scotty Moore, J.J. Cale, Willie Nelson, Dan Fogelberg, and others. In 1985, Pursell was named Composer of the Year by the Tennessee Music Teachers Association. HELPFUL LINKS: VETERANS: https://www.va.gov/.../mental-health/suicide-prevention/ ADDICTION: https://lp.recoverycentersofamerica.com/.../continuum-of.../ Due you know someone that has lost their lives due to addiction? Or even someone that has made a full recovery? Reach out to Johnny Whitaker so they can help to celebrate the lives lost/ lives recovered at overdoseawareness0831@gmail.com Follow our guest https://www.laurapursell.com/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0700958/ https://www.youtube.com/c/LauraPursell http://bhbpr.com/ Toking with the Dead: https://www.stilltoking.com/ ————————————— Follow Still Toking With and their friends! https://smartpa.ge/5zv1 ————————————— Produced by Leo Pond and The Dorkening Podcast Network MORE ABOUT THE GUEST: Singer/Actress Laura Pursell was born and raised in Nashville, TN surrounded by music (her father is pianist Bill Pursell, who had the hit record “Our Winter Love” (1963) and was a go-to sideman in Nashville for Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph, Johnny Cash, and many, many others. At 18, she was cast as Dick Van Patton's niece in a nationally televised Christmas special, “The Gift of Song”, starring a host of country music stars. Relocating to LA in the early 90's, she studied at the South Coast Repertory and Beverly Hills Playhouse and has starred in countless stage productions all over LA, including "Blue Moon Dancing" by Ed Graczyk, "In the City for the Summer" (Variety singled out her gritty performance), and the farcical, outrageous "And Then There was Nun" which played to sold out houses for 2 extensions, where she did a hilarious sendup of Gloria Swanson. She was a long time member of the Company of Angels, LA's oldest repertory theatre, winning a Dramalogue Award for her saucy, sword-wielding performance in the mainstage production of “Zastrozzi”. She appeared in an iconic video for Weird Al Yankovic, spoofing Tanya Harding in the "Mmmm Mmmm" song (where she did her own figure skating). She appeared in several episodes of "Days of Our Lives" and had a small but pivotal role in "The Landlady" starring Talia Shire. In 2013, she was cast as one of the three leads in a hilarious coming-of-middle-age web series called "Living the Dream", and in 2015, she had the starring role in "Only the Moon Howls", a moving one act which won the Encore! Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Her performance was singled out for its "deep emotional access" and hailed as "heartbreaking", "truthful", "sensitive" and "vulnerable". A film version of the piece is planned for late 2015. In 2001, she landed a plum role, singing for Betty and President Gerald Ford in Palm Springs. Over the years, she has recorded and performed with some of the greatest jazz musicians on the west coast. She has performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dublin Ireland and in west coast venues such as Spazio, Vitello's, The Money Tree, Barone's, Monteleone's, The San Ysidro Ranch (Santa Barbara), Vicky's of Santa Fe (Palm Springs) and the Canyon Club. She appeared with Gary Tole's "Legends of Swing" orchestra and the Doug MacDonald's 13-piece "Jazz Coalition". She currently performs every Thursday at Mixology 101 in the Grove at the LA Farmer's Market with a stellar jazz trio. Find out more at https://still-toking-with.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/still-toking-with/13da5f46-65d7-47be-b832-20740d7de20d

Chet Atkins was one of the most influential guitarists of the twentieth century, with over 100 albums to his credit. Author, historian, professor Don Cusic joins us on this edition of Americana Music Profiles to talk about his upcoming book about Chet Atkins; Chet Atkins: Mr. Guitar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Six String Hayride Classic Country Podcast, Episode 54. The Scotty Moore Episode.Chris and Jim discuss Guitar Legend Scotty Moore. Scotty is the guitar force behind the Elvis Sun Records Period and a huge influence on Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. Scotty Moore blends Country, Rockabilly, and Jazz in a way that creates a bridge between the world of Chet Atkins and the Great Rock Guitarists of the 1960's. The Elvis BBQ Sauce recipe and a bourbon laced Sweet Iced Tea included, plus all the usual fun with Chris and Jim.

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It was without question a natural progression. All of the attributes that country inherited from gospel, blues, and jazz resulted in what amounted to competition in the charts (and in some mid-century cultural clashes). Although The Beatles had suggested a kinship with mid-sixties tributes to Buck Owens and Chet Atkins, the only comfortable way to make the marriage work was to have it come from other directions…specifically from cultural prods of Nudie suits, coupled with folk and country nudges, and the inevitable respect for the music. Gram Parsons' influence on the late sixties rise of something they called ‘country rock' is easy to find but Dylan's John Wesley Harding album from 1968, The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and Leon Russell's alter-ego Hank Wilson opened the doors to a sound that swept the charts. We'll hear some originals, covers, and a whole lot more in this week's Deeper Roots. Hope y'all can join us.

Long-time musical collaborators Mariah Parker (piano, santur) and Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar) share their unique blend of captivating music that is sure to uplift. Performing original compositions inspired by the musical cultures of Spain, Brazil and India mixed with the contemporary colors of jazz, the duo creates a mesmerizing sound that has been described by concert goers as ‘absolutely spellbinding' ‘dazzling and unforgettable' and ‘a transporting experience.' Mariah Parker Mariah Parker has been playing music from the time she could reach the keys on the grand piano in her family home. As a composer, pianist and bandleader her work crosses cultural boundaries with an exuberant quest for defying musical labels or categorization. Her academic tenure at UC Santa Cruz was distinguished by her involvement with ethnomusicologist Fred Lieberman and the iconic drummer Mickey Hart on the “Planet Drum” project, marking her early foray into the fusion of musical traditions. Her discography began with the critically acclaimed Sangria in February 2009, followed by Indo Latin Jazz Live in Concert in 2017 and Windows Through Time in 2024. The last two albums have both enjoyed months of prominence on the National Jazzweek Airplay chart and been celebrated globally for their innovative soundscapes and compositional brilliance. Windows Through Time (released June, 2024) “One of the most beautiful and surprising releases of 2024” — Thierry De Clemensat, US correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine “Genre-bending brilliance….with Windows Through Time, Mariah Parker cements her position as a leading voice in contemporary music” — Jazz Sensibilities Matthew Montfort Matthew Montfort is the leader of the innovative world fusion group Ancient Future, and a pioneer of the scalloped fretboard guitar, an instrument combining qualities of the South Indian vina and the steel string guitar. Montfort studied intensively with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to apply the note-bending techniques to the guitar. In 2012, he was added to the 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists list at http://DigitalDreamDoor.com , joining luminaries such as Michael Hedges, Chet Atkins, John Fahey, and John Renbourn. Montfort has recorded with legendary world music figures ranging from Bolivian panpipe master Gonzalo Vargas to tabla maestros Swapan Chaudhuri and Zakir Hussain. He has performed concerts worldwide, including the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the Golden Coast of Spain near Barcelona and the Mumbai Festival at the Gateway of India in Bombay. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts. #commonweal #sacredmusic #musicthatheals #healingmusic #solsticeofheroes commonweal, sacredmusic, musicthatheals, healingmusic, solstice, summersolstice, summersolstice, winter solstice, winter

Send us a textDavid Tilmon has lived in Colorado his entire life. Growing up, his parents encouraged him and his siblings to try something musical. He remembers first trying piano, but taking lessons and practicing, he never connected with the instrument. His parents still encouraged him to pick an instrument, so he decided to try playing a guitar in their house that hadn't been played for a while. He started lessons with an instructor who exposed him to various kinds of music, encouraging his interests and guiding him through styles he hadn't known about before.Tilmon remembers a turning point for him being the first time he heard the song “Classical Gas.” When the song, an instrumental piece written and originally performed by Mason Williams, played on the radio, he realized that the guitar could still be a powerful instrument by itself. From there, he shifted into fingerstyle playing and focused on instrumental music. Currently based in Berthoud, his instrumental stylings blend folk, classical, jazz, Americana, and even rock influences. He's worked instrumental interpretations of acts such as The Beatles, Queen, and Talking Heads into his shows, taken inspiration from guitarists such as Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins, and written original instrumental compositions, releasing his debut album Formative in 2021. Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear podcast featuring the news and culture from peak to peak. If you would like to be featured in the podcast, contact the host at media@themountainear.com!SUBSCRIBE ONLINE and use the COUPON CODE PODCAST FOR A 10% Discount for ALL NEW SUBSCRIBERS https://www.themtnear.com/subscribe/ You can find us online by visiting https://www.themtnear.com/Find us on Facebook @mtnearShare this podcast around wherever you've found it or by sharing the link https://themtnearpodcast.buzzsprout.com/ or https://www.themtnear.comYou can contact our editor at info@themountainear.com.Thank you for listening.

0:00 - Our ESPN Broncos Insider Jeff Legwold joined us to preview a...Broncos PLAYOFF GAME! It's finally happening again. 18:20 - Let's dig into Deion Sanders, Chet Atkins, and Ched Jones. 2 of them are real people. 1 of them isn't. 33:46 - The Avalanche will bounce back against the Wild tonight. Book it!

MURIEL ANDERSON is among the top acoustic guitarists/harp-guitarists in the world, and she is the first woman to win the National Finger-style Guitar Championship. Woody Allen's film “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” features music by Anderson, who has performed in a bluegrass band and written music for the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. Her repertoire is varied, ranging from Doc Watson to Chet Atkins, Japanese songs to Sousa marches.HIROYA TSUKAMOTO was born and raised in Japan and came to the United States. He was the second-place winner at the International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. Described as an innovative guitarist and composer who fuses folk, jazz and world music. He has headlined concerts throughout the United States as well as internationally.WoodSongs Kid: Sara and Savannah Cool are two singers from Lexington, Kentucky. 

Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Jingle Bell Rock" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:00:00] Merle Haggard - "If We Make It Through December" [0:05:09] Buck Owens - "Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy" [0:08:14] Patsy Cline & Ferlin Husky - "Let It Snow" [Ozark Jubilee, 1960] [0:10:07] Patsy Cline & Red Foley - "Winter Wonderland" [0:11:46] Dolly Parton - "Hard Candy Christmas" [0:13:28] Hank Snow - "The Reindeer Boogie" [0:17:11] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:19:23] Ernest Tubb And His Texas Troubadours - "Who's Gonna Be Your Santa Claus This Year" [0:22:23] George Jones & Tammy Wynette - "Mr. & Mrs.Santa Claus" [0:24:35] Bobby Helms - "Jingle Bell Rock" [0:27:41] Loretta Lynn - "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus" [0:28:33] Red Simpson - "Truckin' Trees for Christmas" - Truckers' Christmas [0:30:43] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "White Christmas" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:33:15] John Prine - "I'll Be Home for Christmas" [0:35:59] Chester Ayers and the Shades - "Trimmin' the Tree at the Rockin' B-III" [0:39:25] Brenda Lee - "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" [0:41:29] Charlie Louvin - "Shut In At Christmas" [0:43:33] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Little Drummer Boy" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:46:54] Elvis Presley - "Blue Christmas" [0:49:23] Dr. Jim Matthews "The Singing Surgeon" - "We'll Have a Blue Christmas, Elvis" [0:51:35] The Western Caravan featuring Thirsty Dave - "Psycho Santa" [0:54:52] Willie Nelson - "Winter Wonderland" [0:58:14] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:59:56] The Del Vetts - "I Want A Boy For Christmas" [1:03:09] The Temptations - "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" [1:05:20] Huey "Piano" Smith and The Clowns - "All I Want For Christmas" [1:08:38] Twistin' Kings - "Xmas Twist" [1:11:14] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Jingle Bell Rock" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [1:14:05] The Cinnamons - "I'm Not Gonna Worry (Cause I Know He's Mine)" [1:17:22] Little Ann - "Sweep It Out In The Shed" - Deep Shadows [1:19:37] Barbara Greene - "Young Boy" [1:22:35] Junior Mance Trio - "Out South" - Happy Time [1:25:11] Ibrahim Maalouf - "True Sorry" - Illusions [1:30:36] The Books - "Tokyo" - The Lemon of Pink [1:35:18] Music behind DJ: Junior Mance Trio - "Jitterbug Waltz" - Happy Time [1:38:53] The Smiths - "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" [1:43:54] Yo La Tengo - "From A Motel 6" - Painful [1:47:33] Garbage - "Milk" [1:51:35] Sparks - "When Do I Get To Sing “My Way”" - Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins [1:55:31] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Here Come Da Judge" - Here Come Da Judge [1:59:45] A. Colomer - "Himna de Marato de Barcelona 1980" [2:03:57] Tarta Relena - "Stabat Mater" [2:07:28] Duo Dinamico - "Perdoname" [2:11:18] Los Amaya - "Nueva York, Nueva York" [2:14:24] Jorge Drexler - "La Turba (Night Rally)" - Spanish Model [2:18:05] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Tighten Up" - Here Come Da Judge [2:20:39] Sonny Harris and the Soul Reflections - "You Were Only Making Believe" [2:23:47] Sugar Pie Desanto - "Soulful Dress" [2:26:21] The Ideals - "You Lost and I Won" [2:29:07] Thelma Houston - "96 Tears" [2:37:17] Alba & The Mighty Lions - "La Verdad" [2:34:49] Ken Boothe - "Everything I Own" [2:39:01] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Dock of the Bay" - Here Come Da Judge [2:43:04] The Replacements - "Left of the Dial" - Tim [2:46:32] The Dirtbombs - "If You Can Want" - Ultraglide in Black [2:50:37] Love and Rockets - "Kundalini Express" - Express [2:52:47] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Here Come Da Judge" - Here Come Da Judge [2:58:22] Jazz Emu - "The True Meaning of the Season" [3:01:47] Deidre & the Dark - "One Night" [3:04:22] George Harrison - "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" [3:08:11] Belle and Sebastian - "Like Dylan in the Movies" - If You're Feeling Sinister [3:10:51] Ted Leo/Rx - ""(None)"" [3:14:58] R.E.M. - "Pretty Persuasion" - Reckoning [3:18:18] Music behind DJ: Junior Mance Trio - "Jitterbug Waltz" - Happy Time [3:22:05] Fairuz - "Nassam Alayna" [3:25:12] Ernesto Djedje - "Wanne" [3:29:18] Terence Blanchard - "Dancing In The Dark" - Perry Mason Official Soundtrack [3:32:07] Miles Davis - "Safta" - Sketches of Spain [3:37:53] Music behind DJ: Junior Mance Trio - "Jitterbug Waltz" - Happy Time [3:40:23] Bill Callahan - "Too Many Birds" - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle [3:42:27] Emperor X - "Raytracer" - Central Hug [3:47:23] Sufjan Stevens - "Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" - Come On Feel The Illinoise [3:48:54] Brian Eno - "2/2" - Ambient 1: Music For Airports [3:51:56] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/147458

Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Jingle Bell Rock" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:00:00] Merle Haggard - "If We Make It Through December" [0:05:09] Buck Owens - "Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy" [0:08:14] Patsy Cline & Ferlin Husky - "Let It Snow" [Ozark Jubilee, 1960] [0:10:07] Patsy Cline & Red Foley - "Winter Wonderland" [0:11:46] Dolly Parton - "Hard Candy Christmas" [0:13:28] Hank Snow - "The Reindeer Boogie" [0:17:11] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:19:23] Ernest Tubb And His Texas Troubadours - "Who's Gonna Be Your Santa Claus This Year" [0:22:23] George Jones & Tammy Wynette - "Mr. & Mrs.Santa Claus" [0:24:35] Bobby Helms - "Jingle Bell Rock" [0:27:41] Loretta Lynn - "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus" [0:28:33] Red Simpson - "Truckin' Trees for Christmas" - Truckers' Christmas [0:30:43] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "White Christmas" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:33:15] John Prine - "I'll Be Home for Christmas" [0:35:59] Chester Ayers and the Shades - "Trimmin' the Tree at the Rockin' B-III" [0:39:25] Brenda Lee - "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" [0:41:29] Charlie Louvin - "Shut In At Christmas" [0:43:33] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Little Drummer Boy" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:46:54] Elvis Presley - "Blue Christmas" [0:49:23] Dr. Jim Matthews "The Singing Surgeon" - "We'll Have a Blue Christmas, Elvis" [0:51:35] The Western Caravan featuring Thirsty Dave - "Psycho Santa" [0:54:52] Willie Nelson - "Winter Wonderland" [0:58:14] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [0:59:56] The Del Vetts - "I Want A Boy For Christmas" [1:03:09] The Temptations - "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" [1:05:20] Huey "Piano" Smith and The Clowns - "All I Want For Christmas" [1:08:38] Twistin' Kings - "Xmas Twist" [1:11:14] Music behind DJ: Chet Atkins - "Jingle Bell Rock" - Christmas with Chet Atkins [1:14:05] The Cinnamons - "I'm Not Gonna Worry (Cause I Know He's Mine)" [1:17:22] Little Ann - "Sweep It Out In The Shed" - Deep Shadows [1:19:37] Barbara Greene - "Young Boy" [1:22:35] Junior Mance Trio - "Out South" - Happy Time [1:25:11] Ibrahim Maalouf - "True Sorry" - Illusions [1:30:36] The Books - "Tokyo" - The Lemon of Pink [1:35:18] Music behind DJ: Junior Mance Trio - "Jitterbug Waltz" - Happy Time [1:38:53] The Smiths - "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" [1:43:54] Yo La Tengo - "From A Motel 6" - Painful [1:47:33] Garbage - "Milk" [1:51:35] Sparks - "When Do I Get To Sing “My Way”" - Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins [1:55:31] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Here Come Da Judge" - Here Come Da Judge [1:59:45] A. Colomer - "Himna de Marato de Barcelona 1980" [2:03:57] Tarta Relena - "Stabat Mater" [2:07:28] Duo Dinamico - "Perdoname" [2:11:18] Los Amaya - "Nueva York, Nueva York" [2:14:24] Jorge Drexler - "La Turba (Night Rally)" - Spanish Model [2:18:05] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Tighten Up" - Here Come Da Judge [2:20:39] Sonny Harris and the Soul Reflections - "You Were Only Making Believe" [2:23:47] Sugar Pie Desanto - "Soulful Dress" [2:26:21] The Ideals - "You Lost and I Won" [2:29:07] Thelma Houston - "96 Tears" [2:37:17] Alba & The Mighty Lions - "La Verdad" [2:34:49] Ken Boothe - "Everything I Own" [2:39:01] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Dock of the Bay" - Here Come Da Judge [2:43:04] The Replacements - "Left of the Dial" - Tim [2:46:32] The Dirtbombs - "If You Can Want" - Ultraglide in Black [2:50:37] Love and Rockets - "Kundalini Express" - Express [2:52:47] Music behind DJ: The Majestics - "Here Come Da Judge" - Here Come Da Judge [2:58:22] Jazz Emu - "The True Meaning of the Season" [3:01:47] Deidre & the Dark - "One Night" [3:04:22] George Harrison - "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" [3:08:11] Belle and Sebastian - "Like Dylan in the Movies" - If You're Feeling Sinister [3:10:51] Ted Leo/Rx - ""(None)"" [3:14:58] R.E.M. - "Pretty Persuasion" - Reckoning [3:18:18] Music behind DJ: Junior Mance Trio - "Jitterbug Waltz" - Happy Time [3:22:05] Fairuz - "Nassam Alayna" [3:25:12] Ernesto Djedje - "Wanne" [3:29:18] Terence Blanchard - "Dancing In The Dark" - Perry Mason Official Soundtrack [3:32:07] Miles Davis - "Safta" - Sketches of Spain [3:37:53] Music behind DJ: Junior Mance Trio - "Jitterbug Waltz" - Happy Time [3:40:23] Bill Callahan - "Too Many Birds" - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle [3:42:27] Emperor X - "Raytracer" - Central Hug [3:47:23] Sufjan Stevens - "Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" - Come On Feel The Illinoise [3:48:54] Brian Eno - "2/2" - Ambient 1: Music For Airports [3:51:56] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/147458

We are so thrilled to present this episode with the Young Fables. We had a great talk about mental health, their documentary (available on Prime) "The Fable of a Song" and their recently released album "Short Stories".  The Young Fables (TYF) create music with classic storytelling weaved into Country music with pop sensibilities. East Tennessee (Maryville) natives, Laurel Wright and Wes Lunsford are influenced by timeless treasures like Patsy Cline, Bonnie Raitt, Glen Campbell and Chet Atkins. The duo's unique sound has resonated with audiences around the globe as live performances have become stages from which The Young Fables discuss themes and topics typically saved for the therapy couch. Strong advocates for mental health awareness, The Young Fables are focused on helping to erase the stigmas surrounding the topic. Recognizing the duo's advocacy, the pair were honored with The Troy Gentry Compassion Award in 2021 for compassion, commitment, kindness and love. Their whimsical yet unmistakable blend of Country and Pop has garnered praise from industry icons and tastemakers. Nine-time GRAMMY® Award winner Sheryl Crow once tweeted, “Laurel's as good as any country singer out there!” Their releases have earned them recognition, including a spot on Rolling Stone's "10 Best Country and Americana Songs of the Week." Check them out here: Website: https://www.theyoungfables.com/ Facebook: The Young Fables IG: Theyoungfablesofficial YouTube: theyoungfables

Itthon leginkább filmszínészként ismertük - Konvoj, Csillag születik, Penge-filmek stb. - vagy éppen Janis Joplin legnépszerűbb dalának az íróját, pedig a country műfaj legfontontosabb dalszerző-előadója-megújítója is egyben a nemrég 88 éves korában, maui otthonában elhunyt Kris Kristofferson. Rengeteg sztorival megsépekelt adásunkban egyik nagy tisztelőjével, az outlaw country hazai nagykövetével, Sam Redbreast Wilsonnal tekintettük át Kristofferson szerteágazó munkásságát, Texastól Hollywoodig, katonaságtól oxfordi egyetemig, onnan egy nashville-i stúdió takarító állásáig, a nagy kitörésig, alkoholizmusig, háború-támogatástól a pacifizmusig, miközben felbukkan Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins vagy éppen Barbra Streisand. Műsorvezető: Bihari Balázs A Wanted podcast adása az NKA Hangfoglaló program támogatásával készült.

durée : 01:01:15 - Club Jazzafip - Un road-trip au cœur de la musique américaine pour la Journée internationale de la musique country avec Nat King Cole et Woodie Herman, Ella Fitzgerald et The Ink Spots, Chet Atkins, The Bourbon Street Stompers, John Scofield, Floyd Carmer ou Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith...

Six String Hayride - Classic Country Music and Beyond, the Midwest's Finest Award Winning Music Podcast is completing our Decades in Country Music Series with Six String Hayride Podcast Episode 46, The 2000's: Johnny, June, and The Great Beyond. Johnny and June pass away in 2003 as Johnny's American Recording album series is cementing his musical legacy and bringing his music to a new generation. Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Loretta Lynn and Chuck Berry are among the Musical Masters who leave us, ending an era that started with The Carter Family in 1927. The future of Country Music is filled with brilliant options in every town. Clubs like Carol's Pub and Fitzgeralds in the Chicago area and musicians like The Waco Brothers, Dean Schlabowske, Jo Walston, and Chicago's Cowboy Crooner, Andrew Sa are just a hint at what Country Music is doing in the present. Look around your town and find the next groovy thing to listen to, invite your friends over for a listening party (I recommend anything from SUN Records, STAX Records, or this here podcast), find an unsuspecting youngster and tell them about Johnny, June, Willie, and Loretta, get a George Jones Flat Top Haircut, and keep spreading the good word of our unbroken circle.https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81625843

This week's episode kicks off with a tent pole song in the history of rock n roll. One of two such songs in this catalogue! When an awkward looking fella wearing a headband gets up and starts playing Chet Atkins style guitar in the era of punk and heavy metal, how in the green shit is that going to be received? Only four songs in this week's episode and it's the London quadrilogy. Will Kev be taken back to his time living in the English capital? Will Corey understand all these gibberish limey references?The only way to find out is to turn on, tune in, and check out guitar George (he knows-all the chords).Songs covered in this episode: "Sultans of Swing", "In the Gallery", "Wild West End", "Lions"Don't forget to follow us on social media and leave us a rating/review if you're enjoying the show!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UltimateCatalogueClashTwitter: https://twitter.com/UCatalogueClashBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ucatalogueclash.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#drsquash #michaelbearclair #iwa #prowrestling Welcome to Episode 61 of Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling (@gmbmpw) with hosts and brothers, Jimmy Street (@jamesrockstreet) and "The Plastic Sheik" Jared Street, our action figure expert! Listen in as they join forces and tackle the world of Professional Wrestling! Today we welcome Michael Bear Clair, aka Dr. Squash to the show! Bear is a cool cat, and he's lived a cool life! He's the epitome of the term, Rock & Wrestling, as he did both! We're talking Chet Atkins, Steve Miller, Bruce Willis, Hal Ketchum, Maxx Payne and their wrestling promotion, the IWA, also their wrestler band, Living In Sanity which also included Road Dogg, Nick Patrick and Brad Armstrong! This one was a real treat! Enjoy! Visit our Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast page! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gmbmpw FOLLOW & SUBSCRIBE: https://facebook.com/gmbmpw https://facebook.com/groups/gmbmpw/ https://instagram.com/gmbmpw https://twitter.com/gmbmpw https://www.youtube.com/@GMBMPW VISIT OUR PROWRESTLINGTEES STORE: https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/related/livewolfied.html Check out Sheik's Shorts: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0oL-yrnIHtlaVHamAApDquYBXeGaHS8v Check out host Jimmy's podcast Live and In Color with Wolfie D: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wolfied VISIT OUR AWESOME SPONSORS! -STEVE BOWTIE BRYANT'S 1993 "Unbeatables" trading card sets (LIMITED QUANTITIES!): Contact stevebowtiebryant@icloud.com ADVERTISE WITH US! For business and advertising inquiries contact us at gmbmpw@gmail.com Very Special Thanks To: -Sludge (@sludge_cast) for the "Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling" entrance theme! -Tracy Byrd and A Gathering Of None for the "Sheik Fell Down A Rabbit Hole", "Name Game" & "Stories From Across The Street" theme songs! Support them at these links: https://agatheringofnone.bandcamp.com/ https://agatheringofnone.bigcartel.com/ © jamesrockstreet Productions --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gmbmpw/support

Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann talks about he developed a passion for photography that led to commercial and portrait work during a long band hiatus. He photographed Chet Atkins' guitars and Les Paul. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann talks about he developed a passion for photography that led to commercial and portrait work during a long band hiatus. He photographed Chet Atkins' guitars and Les Paul. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is this one of the best or worst method books for acoustic fingerstyle guitar? You can learn to play music by simultaneously using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books. The Alex de Grassi Fingerstyle Guitar Method, written by fingerstyle legend Alex de Grassi and produced by Stringletter (the publisher of Acoustic Guitar Magazine), is a method book for learning to play solo fingerstyle guitar.  You will learn many of the nuts and bolts that bolster de Grassi's technique, musicality, and general style.  This is an amazing book (a 192 page tome of information!), but it is dense and highly technical. If you are thinking about investing your time into this book, consider what sub-style of fingerstyle you are interested in.  Listen to Alex de Grassi's playing to see if that is the direction that you want to go in.  I personally love his playing – he uses a lot of classical technique, he has incredible control and clarity, he is extremely melodic, expressive, and musical, he tastefully uses some modern percussive techniques and cross string ideas, and he plays music that sounds like a blend of folk, Celtic, and blues.  If you want to play like Chet Atkins or Tommy Emmanuel, start with a different book.  If you want to play like Andy McKee, Preston Reed, Don Ross, or Mike Dawes, this book has several very applicable chapters and isn't a bad stepping stone.  This is a great book if you want to be a well-rounded and precise player. De Grassi claims that this book is for beginner through advanced players.  The first half of the book certainly contains a lot of “beginner” fingerstyle information, but I highly discourage beginner players from starting with this book as their first foray into fingerstyle guitar.  There are more approachable books with easier arrangements and less text.  If you are a big Alex de Grassi fan and you're dead set on going through this book as a beginner, it would be helpful to work with a teacher and/or to supplement it with another more beginner-oriented method book (see my other videos/reviews). I think that this book is very beneficial to a late beginner or intermediate player who can already smoothly play some solo fingerstyle arrangements.  This book will tweak your physical techniques, your tone, and your artistic touch (phrasing, articulation, dynamics, etc.).   Overall, the 2nd half of the book is very “heady” with many advanced concepts that beginners don't need to bog themselves down with.  These concepts include difficult cross-string ideas, reasons to use alternate tunings, complex rhythmic ideas (cross-rhythms), modern percussive techniques, and ways to add depth and dimension to your sound. The repertoire in the book consists of traditional tunes and the author's original tunes.  There are several full song arrangements, but most of the examples are song fragments.  De Grassi breaks down these fragments in great detail in order to demonstrate the topic being discussed in the text. There is SO much detail in the descriptions.  He gets into the nuances of how to physically perform a technique, where to place your fingers, how to control note durations, etc.   The text is very dense, and it took me a long, long time to get through it.  I recommend listening to each (wonderful) audio example, then reading the text pertaining to that example, and then playing that example.  You will likely need to repeat this process multiple times for each example or topic. The audio recordings are invaluable for hearing the artistic details, ornamentation, and complex rhythms of the examples.  I don't think I've ever been so tied to the audio recordings of a method book. All playing examples are provided in standard notation (treble clef) and tablature. You could use either a steel string acoustic or nylon string classical guitar to work through this book.  You don't have to fret any bass notes using your thumb over the top (although I like to here...

About Peter Zavadil: Referring to himself as "tirelessly enthusiastic," or, "caffeine enhanced" -- depending on your perspective -- Peter has been working in the film business for over twenty years starting from the bottom and working his way up. Zavadil arrived in the music industry initially as an executive producer of music videos working with such legends as Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette , Alabama and countless others. He then moved into directing and has gone on to work on music video, commercial and television ventures. As a director, he has received numerous ACM and CMA nominations including two CMA wins, a National Emmy and numerous regional NARAS awards, a World Fest Award and various other awards and nominations. He has shot and edited music videos for Eric Church, Jewel, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Florida Georgia Line and The Black Keys just to name a few. Aside from his ongoing commercial work, Peter has shot over a hundred and fifty music videos, countless concert packages for artists such as Lady Antebellum and Eric Church, numerous long form television, doc and reality projects for Viacom including a show with Trace Adkins where he logged over twenty five hours of Blackhawk helicopter time over hostile regions of Iraq and Afghanistan.   Pre-order Sara's new album, Unbroke out 6/7: https://ffm.to/seunbroke   LET'S BE SOCIAL:   Follow Peter Zavadil: Instagram - (@peterzavadil) Twitter - (@zavadil) Facebook - (@pzavadil) Website - https://www.peterzavadil.com/   Follow Diving in Deep Podcast: Instagram –(@divingindeeppod) TikTok – (@divingindeeppod) Twitter – (@divingindeeppod) Facebook – (@divingindeeppod)   Follow Sara Evans: Instagram – (@saraevansmusic) TikTok – (@saraevansmusic) Twitter – (@saraevansmusic) Facebook – (@saraevansmusic)   Produced and Edited by: The Cast Collective (Nashville, TN) YouTube – ( @TheCastCollective) Instagram – (@TheCastCollective) Twitter – (@TheCastCollective) Directed by: Erin Dugan Edited By: Sean Dugan, Corey Williams & Tara Down https://www.thecastcollective.com

In this week's episode of Diving In Deep, Sara Evans sit down with longtime friend and music video director, Peter Zavadil. If you've seen a Sara Evans music video before, then you've seen Peter's work. Peter directed everything from "Suds in the Bucket" to "Born to Fly" to "Saints & Angels" and so many more. They tell hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from the sets of these big time productions, reveal some of the secrets to Peter's special effects and the origin of "Sexy Dorothy".   About Peter Zavadil: Referring to himself as "tirelessly enthusiastic," or, "caffeine enhanced" -- depending on your perspective -- Peter has been working in the film business for over twenty years starting from the bottom and working his way up. Zavadil arrived in the music industry initially as an executive producer of music videos working with such legends as Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette , Alabama and countless others. He then moved into directing and has gone on to work on music video, commercial and television ventures. As a director, he has received numerous ACM and CMA nominations including two CMA wins, a National Emmy and numerous regional NARAS awards, a World Fest Award and various other awards and nominations. He has shot and edited music videos for Eric Church, Jewel, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Florida Georgia Line and The Black Keys just to name a few. Aside from his ongoing commercial work, Peter has shot over a hundred and fifty music videos, countless concert packages for artists such as Lady Antebellum and Eric Church, numerous long form television, doc and reality projects for Viacom including a show with Trace Adkins where he logged over twenty five hours of Blackhawk helicopter time over hostile regions of Iraq and Afghanistan.   Pre-order Sara's new album, Unbroke out 6/7: https://ffm.to/seunbroke   LET'S BE SOCIAL:   Follow Peter Zavadil: Instagram - (@peterzavadil) Twitter - (@zavadil) Facebook - (@pzavadil) Website - https://www.peterzavadil.com/   Follow Diving in Deep Podcast: Instagram -(@divingindeeppod) TikTok - (@divingindeeppod) Twitter - (@divingindeeppod) Facebook - (@divingindeeppod)   Follow Sara Evans: Instagram - (@saraevansmusic) TikTok - (@saraevansmusic) Twitter - (@saraevansmusic) Facebook - (@saraevansmusic)   Produced and Edited by: The Cast Collective (Nashville, TN) YouTube - ( @TheCastCollective) Instagram - (@TheCastCollective) Twitter - (@TheCastCollective) Directed by: Erin Dugan Edited By: Sean Dugan, Corey Williams & Tara Down https://www.thecastcollective.com

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rWotD Episode 2596: Muskrat Ramble Welcome to random Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a random Wikipedia page every day.The random article for Wednesday, 12 June 2024 is Muskrat Ramble."Muskrat Ramble" is a jazz composition written by Kid Ory in 1926. It was first recorded on February 26, 1926, by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and became the group's most frequently recorded piece. It was paired on the flip side with another one of Armstrong's hits, "Heebie Jeebies." It was a prominent part of the Dixieland revival repertoire in the 1930s and 1940s, and was recorded by Bob Crosby, Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Muggsy Spanier, Chet Atkins, Lu Watters, the Andrews Sisters, Harry James, and Al Hirt, among others. It is considered a part of the jazz standard repertoire.Without Ory's consent, lyrics were written for the instrumental tune in 1950 by Ray Gilbert. After Gilbert protested that he was entitled to share credit with Ory, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awarded him one-third credit on all performances of "Muskrat Ramble", vocal and instrumental.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:06 UTC on Wednesday, 12 June 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Muskrat Ramble on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Arthur Neural.

Joining Chris is Mark Knopfler, the revered singer-songwriter and a masterful guitar player, with a totally distinctive sound and style. Always fascinated with music, Mark worked as a junior reporter and studied English before finally realising his long held dream of finding the right band. That band was Dire Straits, whose ascent was remarkable with their 5th studio album 'Brothers In Arms' becoming a global juggernaut eventually selling over 30 million copies. But after several gruelling world tours and the almost impossible task of topping their best loved album the band splintered. But since 1995, Mark's kept busy with a steady stream of solo albums, soundtrack work and collaborations with like-minded artists like Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and Chet Atkins.

The Flint Music Scene was once his stomping grounds. Then came the rest of Michigan, from Saginaw to Detroit, to Canada and into the entire mid-west. Nothing could stop Lafayette Yarborough as he briefly dominated AM Radio and was the talk of the town during his Lafayette and the LaSabres era. Weeks and sometimes months, playing up to seven nights around for a local stint, Yarborough brought the rockabilly and pre-Elvis sound to many around the state. The man never stopped and continued into the past few decades, recording four albums with his wife Vada (a former musician sometimes backing Elvis, as well as produced by Chet Atkins). His skills and stories take us on the best trip to the land of Michigan Music History. Jump on board to his special tour bus now...

On this episode of Tent Show Radio, experience the authentic ebullience of revered guitar master Tommy Emmanuel. Tommy was born in 1955 in Muswellbrook, New South Wales Australia, and started playing the guitar at age four. In his twenties, he was the most sought-after performer and session musician in Sydney. By age 30, he was burning on electric guitar with several rock bands in stadiums across Europe. He could have gone on to live the rock star life. Yet, he yearned for something purer and closer to his heart. Casting off the reliable rock band engine of monstrous sonics blasting, Tommy went acoustic. The inspiration for Tommy's transformation was his hero, Chet Atkins, who represented the purity of one man, one guitar, and unlimited passion for serving the song. Eventually Tommy met his hero and started a lifelong friendship which shaped Tommy's music forever. Chet welcomed Tommy into guitarist knighthood by bestowing upon him the coveted title of CGP (Certified Guitar Player), an honor awarded only to four other humans ever. The real-time exuberance Tommy Emmanuel brings to every note of every song he plays is palpable and infectious. His fans are in love with his unbound talent as a guitarist of multitudes, his ability to play three parts at once, always with pure heart and real soul. He is a true virtuoso. But he seems as delighted always with the magic of the music as the audience, if not more, and his joy illuminates everything. It's one thing to play these multi-dimensional arrangements flawlessly on an acoustic guitar. But to do it with that smile of the ages, that evidence of authentic, unbridled delight, is an irresistibly infectious invitation to feel his music as deeply as he does.     EPISODE CREDITSMichael Perry - Host Phillip Anich - Announcer Matt Jugeinhemer - Engineer Gina Nagro - Marketing Support   FOLLOW BIG TOP CHAUTAUQUA https://www.facebook.com/bigtopchautauqua/ https://www.instagram.com/bigtopchautauqua/ https://www.tiktok.com/@bigtopchautauqua https://twitter.com/BigBlueTent FOLLOW HOST MICHAEL PERRYhttps://sneezingcow.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sneezingcow https://www.instagram.com/sneezingcow/ https://twitter.com/sneezingcow/ 2024 TENT SHOW RADIO SPONSORSAshland Area Chamber of Commerce - https://www.visitashland.com/    Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau - https://www.bayfield.org/  Bayfield County Tourism - https://www.bayfieldcounty.wi.gov/150/Tourism  The Bayfield Inn - https://bayfieldinn.com/  Cable Area Chamber of Commerce - https://www.cable4fun.com/  Kylmala Truss - https://www.kylmalatruss.com/ SPECIAL THANKSWisconsin Public Radio - https://www.wpr.org/ 

On this episode of Tent Show Radio, Midwest folk group Good Morning Bedlam showcases their exciting sound & soaring three-part harmonies, then, acoustic musician Gareth Pearson, known for his distinctive fingerstyle techniques, captivates with his creative and innovative arrangements. Good Morning Bedlam has become an innovative force in the Midwest folk scene. Their shows are known for their contagious energy, with members careening about the stage. With tight soaring three-part harmonies, and thumping kick-drum, they captivate their audience night after night. Every song is a unique twist on what is generally dubbed as folk music. In 2019, the folk-rock band from Minneapolis, MN claimed the first-place title at the John Hartford Memorial Festival Band Competition and were finalists at the NWSS Band Competition. Their shows are known for their wild energy and stunning harmonies. They have played at festivals alongside artists such as Shakey Graves, Sam Bush, Jason Isbell, The Infamous Stringdusters, Trampled By Turtles and others. In 2021, the band ran a successful Kickstarter in July of 2021 for their much anticipated third full-length record ‘Lulu' where fans from around the world pledged a total of $34,000. Good Morning Bedlam has been featured on Bluegrass Today, Relix Magazine, Glide Magazine, and Paste Magazine. Now in 2023 the band is gearing up to release a brand-new EP titled Dear Day, Dear Darling in the Fall of this year. Referred to as "The Welsh Tornado," Gareth Pearson has emerged as one of the most exciting acoustic musicians of his generation. His distinctive style can be heard through his creative and innovative arrangements which cover a wide spectrum of genres including country/folk/classical/pop/rock/jazz/swing and bluegrass music, along with his own beautiful and often intricate original compositions, which serve in showcasing an enthusiasm and musical intuition well beyond his years. Influenced by guitar greats like Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanuel and Merle Travis, Gareth Pearson strays from the traditional style of the seated and motionless acoustic performances. An extremely entertaining and inspiring performer, Pearson exhibits immense love for the music he performs while he combines fingerstyle pyrotechnics, with explosive lead runs as his exuberant style denotes a mastery of the instrument very few possess.     EPISODE CREDITSMichael Perry - Host Phillip Anich - Announcer Matt Jugeinhemer - Engineer Gina Nagro - Marketing Support   FOLLOW BIG TOP CHAUTAUQUA https://www.facebook.com/bigtopchautauqua/ https://www.instagram.com/bigtopchautauqua/ https://www.tiktok.com/@bigtopchautauqua https://twitter.com/BigBlueTent FOLLOW HOST MICHAEL PERRYhttps://sneezingcow.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sneezingcow https://www.instagram.com/sneezingcow/ https://twitter.com/sneezingcow/ 2024 TENT SHOW RADIO SPONSORSAshland Area Chamber of Commerce - https://www.visitashland.com/    Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau - https://www.bayfield.org/  Bayfield County Tourism - https://www.bayfieldcounty.wi.gov/150/Tourism  The Bayfield Inn - https://bayfieldinn.com/  Cable Area Chamber of Commerce - https://www.cable4fun.com/  Kylmala Truss - https://www.kylmalatruss.com/ SPECIAL THANKSWisconsin Public Radio - https://www.wpr.org/ 

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The Young Fables (TYF) create music with storytelling weaved into Americana roots music with pop sensibilities. East Tennessee (Maryville) natives, Laurel Wright and Wes Lunsford are influenced by timeless treasures like Patsy Cline, Bonnie Raitt, Glen Campbell and Chet Atkins. The duo's unique sound has resonated with audiences around the globe as live performances have become stages from which The Young Fables discuss themes and topics typically saved for the therapy couch. Strong advocates for mental health awareness, The Young Fables are focused on helping to erase the stigmas surrounding the topic. Recognizing the duo's advocacy, the pair were honored with The Troy Gentry Compassion Award in 2021 for compassion, commitment, kindness and love.The couple has dropped 3 full length albums Two, Old Songs, and Pages (the latter two collaborations with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Mitch Dane). Their sound - a whimsical, distinguishable classic country-meets-Americana pop blend - was praised by iconic artists and taste-makers alike, with nine-time GRAMMY® Award winning artist Sheryl Crow tweeting, “Laurel's as good as any country singer out there!” Their releases opened the door for a Rolling Stone “10 Best Country and Americana Songs of the Week” nod, direct support for artists like Vince Gill, Amy Grant, and Rascal Flatts and an invitation from multi-platinum songstress Shania Twain to take part in the CBS showcase celebration Real Country. “Wes is a perfect partner for Laurel's voice. I fell in love with these guys as a genuine, authentic talent and sound,” mused Twain, and Travis Tritt added, “Our industry needs (TYF) right now! 2024 will see Wright and Lunsford releasing SHORT STORIES, the band's 4th studio effort, and their feature documentary 'The Fable of a Song', winner of the 2021 Nashville Film Festival Audience Choice Award. “Every album that we have released has become sort of a journal entry for us and Short Stories is the next chapter.” Wright reveals. “We feel fortunate to have a space to share our music and are so grateful that our story seems to be helping others with their healing. That's a reward unlike any other.” Learn more about The Young Fables at https://www.theyoungfables.com Host Lee Zimmerman is a freelance music writer whose articles have appeared in several leading music industry publications. Lee is a former promotions representative for ABC and Capital Records and director of communications for various CBS affiliated television stations. Lee recently authored the book "Thirty Years Behind The Glass" about legendary producer and engineer Jim Gains.Podcast producer/cohost Billy Hubbard is an Americana Singer/Songwriter and former Regional Director of A&R for a Grammy winning company. Billy is a signed artist with Spectra Music Group  and co-founder of the iconic venue "The Station" in East TN. Billy's new album was released on Spectra Records 10/2023 on all major outlets! Learn more about Billy at http://www.BillyHubbard.comMy Backstage Pass intro & outro music credit: Intro - Billy Hubbard "Waitin' on The Wind"Outro - Billy Hubbard "Lonesome When I'm With You"

This week's episode is all about a guitar hero of mine, Kurt Cobain, who passed away thirty years ago, on April 5th.   I have many guitar heroes, people like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Chet Atkins, and so many more, but Kurt Cobain was one of my favourites. He was in the band Nirvana and he was only 27 years old when he died. In this episode, I talk about my own discovery of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, and I also talk about the album Nevermind. Nirvana did some really cool stuff, including some amazing covers, and you could see the direction they were heading in before Kurt died.   Kurt Cobain was a really underrated guitar player. A lot of people have tried to teach or recreate his solos, but unsuccessfully. He was a student of classic music, which showed in his playing. Whether or not you're a Nirvana fan, I think there is a lot to appreciate listening to Kurt's music. Sometimes it's good to look back at your early guitar heroes who made you passionate about music.   This episode is all about guitar heroes and the journey of discovering music.   You can get more tips, advice, and a powerful new free eBook on the 13 Ways to Escape the Acoustic Asylum from me, Dan Thorpe, by joining the email list here – https://acousticasylum.com/   Like this episode? Your reviews for this podcast mean the world to me, so please let us know what you thought about the Acoustic Asylum!

Today, we have a special guest episode. Dana Lombardy of Lombardy Studios hosts talks on military history and current events. To find out more about Dana's work, check out LombardyStudios.com. For this episode, he brings in retired Rear Admiral Michael Baker, a general surgeon who travels to Ukraine to teach combat first aid.  It's a great story about volunteering and working in a war zone to help Ukrainians save soldiers' lives.  Great news: FeedSpot ranked One CA Podcast as one of their top 10 foreign policy podcasts. Check it out at: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_podcasts/ One CA is a product of the civil affairs association  and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail dot com or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org Special thanks to Max Jansson for posting the Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins instrumental "I'll see you in my dreams," performed live at Secret Policeman's Third Ball 1987. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wTVLIZaxMk

Sometimes you have to kiss a bunch of frogs to find true love. Listen to our story behind our song “Frog Kissin'” and get an update about our next CD. It's all on the Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast #80 0:02 - NAGIANS ONLY: Bard Specific Content, Where were they? Rant about public domain and arrangements Andrew at Sherwood Marc's new CD Come Adventure With Me 19:48 - Brobdingnagian Bards “Wild Mountain Thyme” from A Faire to Remember — 23:44 - HOW LONG IS A BROBDINGNAGIAN MINUTE? Brobdingnagian Bards are The Original Celtic Renaissance music duo. A Bard by any other name… would have a shorter name. THANK YOU NAGIANS! We finance our music entirely through the monthly financial generosity and support of our fans on Patreon. Sign up to our individual Patreon pages so that you can access behind-the-scenes, Brobdingnagian Bards-exclusive content. You'll get an extended version of this podcast, bootleg concerts, videos, and first access to new songs. Support us on Patreon. 28:46 - BARD NEWS Frog Kissin Story New monthly Bards Blog New CD, Another Faire to Remember Marc Gunn MAR 17: Wings Cafe & Tap House, Marietta, GA @ 3-7 PM MAR 23-24: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX MAR 28: Dragon Con Filk Music Concert w/ Brobdingnagian Bards @ 8 PM MAR 30-31: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX APR 19-21: Jordan Con, Crowne Plaza Ravinia, Atlanta, GA Andrew McKee MAR 2 - APR 21st: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX MAY 18th - JUN 9th: New Jersey Ren Faire, Columbus, NJ 34:01 - TODAY'S SONG STORY: FROG KISSIN' Recorded by Chet Atkins originally. I heard a version by Ed Kilbourne. It was in 4/4 time and sounded nothing like our version. Our is in 3/4 time. That was the only way I could make it sound like a song that belonged at a Renaissance Festival. Stage performance choreography Frog Kissin' Lyrics words and music by Buddy Kalb, arrangement Marc Gunn Do you remember in the fairy tale, how the wicked witches spell Turned the handsome prince to a toad? By the power of a potion, she handed him the notion He was lower than the dirt in the road. And though she left him green and warted, her evil plans were thwarted Their chanced to happen by a young miss Who in spite of his complexion, offered him affection And broke the wicked curse with her kiss So if you've never been frog kissing Then you don't know what you've been missin', There's a wealth of opportunity under each and every log. And if you've never been charm-breakin', Then you've never been handsome prince makin'. You've got to slow down, turn around, bend down, Kiss you a frog! Once upon a time ago, I was down and feelin' low Like a lonely frog in a pond My life was just a joke, and I was just about to croak Cuz I'd be zapped by life's wicked wand. But in the depths of my depression, there came a true expression Of love from a person so sweet. She gave me warm fuzzy feelings, feelings that were healin' And she knocked me off my little webbed feet. There's a happy-ever-after-land, deep in the heart of man Where a prince and princess abides. But all we get are glimpses, of the happy prince or princess 'Cauce they're covered with a green warty hide. Though they're full of life's potential, they're lacking one essential To enable them to shine like a star. That's a handsome guy or missus, to smother them with kisses And love them just the way that they are. That's the secret of frog kissing You can do it too if you'll just listen There's a wealth of opportunity under each and every log. That's the secret of charm-breakin', That's the secret of handsome prince makin'. You've got to slow down, turn around, bend down, Kiss you a… You've got to slow down, turn around, bend down, Kiss you a… You've got to slow down, turn around, bend down, Kiss you a frog! 47:32 - Brobdingnagian Bards “Frog Kissin'” from Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales 50:29 - CLOSING Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn and Andrew McKee. Sign up to our mailing list to download free MP3s and get monthly updates of what's new. Find it all at thebards.net  

The Surfrajettes and Chet Atkins both take on a classic from The Beatles in our Head 2 Head segment on this new Catching A Wave. Beth Riley has a deep track from The Beach Boys in her Surf's Up: Beth's Beach Boys Break. We hear a tune from an album by The Challengers celebrating it's 60th Anniversary in our Good Time segment. We tell you about an upcoming "Favorite Song Countdown" coming later this year for Dick Dale. The Jammin' James Jukebox selection of the week is a cover of a Dick Dale classic too! We remember Melinda Ledbetter Wilson who passed away on January 30th with a beautiful tune by her husband, Brian Wilson ("Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl"). Plus, there's tracks by The Courettes, Martin Cilia, The Vaccines, The Beatersband, Mr. Cesar, Yalisco, Los Twangheads, The Frigidaires, Sys Malakian feat. Los Atascados, Blue Dawn & The Day Breakers and Tiger Shark Nilsson!   Intro music bed: "Catch A Wave"- The Beach Boys   Tiger Shark Nilsson- "Night Surfer" Sys Malakian feat. Los Atascados- "Aguas Locas" Dick Dale- "Surf Buggy" The Courettes- "You Woo Me" The Frigidaires- "Rip Current"   Good Time segment: The Challengers 60th anniversary of K-39 (1964 Vault Records) The Challengers- "Mr. Rebel"   Los Twangheads- "La Venganza" Yalisco- "High Tide"   Surf's Up- Beth's Beach Boys Break: The Beach Boys- "I'm So Young" Follow "Surf's Up: Beth's Beach Boys Break" HERE   Blue Dawn & The Day Breakers- "Out Of Sight"   For Melinda Ledbetter Wilson (October 3rd, 1946-January 30th, 2024): Brian Wilson- "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl"   The Beatersband- "Danny Says" Mr. Cesar- "When Luchadors Cry"   Head 2 Head: Chet Atkins- "She Loves You" The Surfrajettes- "She Loves You"   Jammin' James Jukebox selection of the week: Huevos Rancheros- "The Wedge"   Martin Cilia- "Splash and Run" The Vaccines- "Love To Walk Away"   Outro music bed: Link Wray- "The Flying Wedge (Drag Race)"  

PARKER HASTINGS is one of the finest thumb picking guitar champions in America, the youngest to be awarded as the “Thumb Picker of the Year.” A protege of Tommy Emmanuel, he has songs from his new album he will premier on WoodSongs. RAY CUMMINS has overcome tremendous odds to keep his music career going, from a sick bed as a youngster all the way to the Grand Ole Opry and the Thumb Pickers Hall of Fame. Chet Atkins said: “Ray Cummins is one of the best finger-pickers around.” WoodSongs Kids: Johnathan Moore is a 13-year-old singer and guitarist from Knott County, Kentucky.

PLAYLIST: Pacific St Blues & AmericanaMarch 3, 2024Visit our homepage for trivia, discussion, humor, and fun factswww.facebook.com/PSBlues1. Coco Montoya / Baby, You're a Drag2. Tinsley Ellis / Don't Bury Our Love 3. Mike Zito / Lonely Man4. King, King / Never Give In 5. JJ Grey & Mofro / Wonderland 6. Bernard Allison / Castle 7. Schnebelen / Poor Side of Town8. Danielle Nicole / Head Down Low 9. Heather Myles / By the Time I Get to Phoenix10.Glen Campbell / Galveston 11. Cassandra Wilson / Wichita Lineman12. Chet Atkins & Allen Toussaint / Southern Nights 13. Emma Wilson / A Small World 14. Bonnie Raitt / Used to Rule the World 15. Sue Foley / Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie 16. Margo Price / Malibu17. Tedeschi Trucks Band / Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?18. Fanny / Badge19. Heavenly Cream / Sunshine of Your Love 

Steve Howe talks to us from the old house and studio in Devon where they rehearsed ‘The Yes Album' in 1970. He's been recording there for 54 years and is part of the current line-up about to set out around Europe. He looks back here on what he's learnt from 60 years onstage and mentions …   … the effect of seeing Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and The Animals in 1964. … playing old Shadows tunes at the Barnsbury Boys School in Holloway, aged 14. … how Yes songs evolved and the cover versions they used to play (America by Paul Simon, Something's Coming from West Side Story). … “the dark 1968 that followed the rainbow 1967”. ... Duane Eddy, Hank Marvin, Chet Atkins, Alison Krauss and the Big Three. … how Sgt Pepper – and blues, jazz and classical music - lit prog's blue touchpaper. … the value of “homework” and the hours of painstaking rehearsal that allowed them to play Fragile onstage. … how Iron Butterfly helped transform the Yes stage show. … Starship Trooper, Roundabout and other songs they're guaranteed to play. … old memories of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe. … and the road ahead: “I'll keep going while I can still do the twiddly bits”. Yes tour dates: https://www.yesworld.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Howe talks to us from the old house and studio in Devon where they rehearsed ‘The Yes Album' in 1970. He's been recording there for 54 years and is part of the current line-up about to set out around Europe. He looks back here on what he's learnt from 60 years onstage and mentions …   … the effect of seeing Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and The Animals in 1964. … playing old Shadows tunes at the Barnsbury Boys School in Holloway, aged 14. … how Yes songs evolved and the cover versions they used to play (America by Paul Simon, Something's Coming from West Side Story). … “the dark 1968 that followed the rainbow 1967”. ... Duane Eddy, Hank Marvin, Chet Atkins, Alison Krauss and the Big Three. … how Sgt Pepper – and blues, jazz and classical music - lit prog's blue touchpaper. … the value of “homework” and the hours of painstaking rehearsal that allowed them to play Fragile onstage. … how Iron Butterfly helped transform the Yes stage show. … Starship Trooper, Roundabout and other songs they're guaranteed to play. … old memories of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe. … and the road ahead: “I'll keep going while I can still do the twiddly bits”. Yes tour dates: https://www.yesworld.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Andersen is known as the Ambassador of Music City and he is a member of the Musician's Hall of Fame. He traces his journey from the Southern California music scene and friends like Jackson Browne to Nashille and mentors like Chet Atkins. You will enjoy his great stories and songs around the dining room table.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/songwriter-connection/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.comEnjoy my conversation with Tommy Emmanuel!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscriptionThe show's website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.comYour fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/mmasspodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Celebrating performers born 100 years ago, this year, including, Dinah Washington, Bud Powell, Earl Scruggs, Roger Williams, Ella Mae Morse, Chet Atkins, Sarah Vaughn,Slim Whitman, Max Roach and Henry Mancini. Songs include: Cow Cow Boogie, Autumn Leaves, April In Paris, Baby, Get Back, Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Black Coffee. 

Episode 171 looks at "Hey Jude", the White Album, and the career of the Beatles from August 1967 through November 1968. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifty-seven-minute bonus episode available, on "I Love You" by People!. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata Not really an error, but at one point I refer to Ornette Coleman as a saxophonist. While he was, he plays trumpet on the track that is excerpted after that. Resources No Mixcloud this week due to the number of songs by the Beatles. I have read literally dozens of books on the Beatles, and used bits of information from many of them. All my Beatles episodes refer to: The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn, All The Songs: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Release by Jean-Michel Guesdon, And The Band Begins To Play: The Definitive Guide To The Songs of The Beatles by Steve Lambley, The Beatles By Ear by Kevin Moore, Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald, and The Beatles Anthology. For this episode, I also referred to Last Interview by David Sheff, a longform interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono from shortly before Lennon's death; Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, an authorised biography of Paul McCartney; and Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey. This time I also used Steve Turner's The Beatles: The Stories Behind the Songs 1967-1970. I referred to Philip Norman's biographies of John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney, to Graeme Thomson's biography of George Harrison, Take a Sad Song by James Campion, Yoko Ono: An Artful Life by Donald Brackett, Those Were the Days 2.0 by Stephan Granados, and Sound Pictures by Kenneth Womack. Sadly the only way to get the single mix of “Hey Jude” is on this ludicrously-expensive out-of-print box set, but a remixed stereo mix is easily available on the new reissue of the 1967-70 compilation. The original mixes of the White Album are also, shockingly, out of print, but this 2018 remix is available for the moment. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start, a quick note -- this episode deals, among other topics, with child abandonment, spousal neglect, suicide attempts, miscarriage, rape accusations, and heroin addiction. If any of those topics are likely to upset you, you might want to check the transcript rather than listening to this episode. It also, for once, contains a short excerpt of an expletive, but given that that expletive in that context has been regularly played on daytime radio without complaint for over fifty years, I suspect it can be excused. The use of mantra meditation is something that exists across religions, and which appears to have been independently invented multiple times, in multiple cultures. In the Western culture to which most of my listeners belong, it is now best known as an aspect of what is known as "mindfulness", a secularised version of Buddhism which aims to provide adherents with the benefits of the teachings of the Buddha but without the cosmology to which they are attached. But it turns up in almost every religious tradition I know of in one form or another. The idea of mantra meditation is a very simple one, and one that even has some basis in science. There is a mathematical principle in neurology and information science called the free energy principle which says our brains are wired to try to minimise how surprised we are --  our brain is constantly making predictions about the world, and then looking at the results from our senses to see if they match. If they do, that's great, and the brain will happily move on to its next prediction. If they don't, the brain has to update its model of the world to match the new information, make new predictions, and see if those new predictions are a better match. Every person has a different mental model of the world, and none of them match reality, but every brain tries to get as close as possible. This updating of the model to match the new information is called "thinking", and it uses up energy, and our bodies and brains have evolved to conserve energy as much as possible. This means that for many people, most of the time, thinking is unpleasant, and indeed much of the time that people have spent thinking, they've been thinking about how to stop themselves having to do it at all, and when they have managed to stop thinking, however briefly, they've experienced great bliss. Many more or less effective technologies have been created to bring about a more minimal-energy state, including alcohol, heroin, and barbituates, but many of these have unwanted side-effects, such as death, which people also tend to want to avoid, and so people have often turned to another technology. It turns out that for many people, they can avoid thinking by simply thinking about something that is utterly predictable. If they minimise the amount of sensory input, and concentrate on something that they can predict exactly, eventually they can turn off their mind, relax, and float downstream, without dying. One easy way to do this is to close your eyes, so you can't see anything, make your breath as regular as possible, and then concentrate on a sound that repeats over and over.  If you repeat a single phrase or word a few hundred times, that regular repetition eventually causes your mind to stop having to keep track of the world, and experience a peace that is, by all accounts, unlike any other experience. What word or phrase that is can depend very much on the tradition. In Transcendental Meditation, each person has their own individual phrase. In the Catholicism in which George Harrison and Paul McCartney were raised, popular phrases for this are "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" or "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." In some branches of Buddhism, a popular mantra is "_NAMU MYŌHŌ RENGE KYŌ_". In the Hinduism to which George Harrison later converted, you can use "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare", "Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya" or "Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha". Those last two start with the syllable "Om", and indeed some people prefer to just use that syllable, repeating a single syllable over and over again until they reach a state of transcendence. [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hey Jude" ("na na na na na na na")] We don't know much about how the Beatles first discovered Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, except that it was thanks to Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's then-wife. Unfortunately, her memory of how she first became involved in the Maharishi's Spiritual Regeneration Movement, as described in her autobiography, doesn't fully line up with other known facts. She talks about reading about the Maharishi in the paper with her friend Marie-Lise while George was away on tour, but she also places the date that this happened in February 1967, several months after the Beatles had stopped touring forever. We'll be seeing a lot more of these timing discrepancies as this story progresses, and people's memories increasingly don't match the events that happened to them. Either way, it's clear that Pattie became involved in the Spiritual Regeneration Movement a good length of time before her husband did. She got him to go along with her to one of the Maharishi's lectures, after she had already been converted to the practice of Transcendental Meditation, and they brought along John, Paul, and their partners (Ringo's wife Maureen had just given birth, so they didn't come). As we heard back in episode one hundred and fifty, that lecture was impressive enough that the group, plus their wives and girlfriends (with the exception of Maureen Starkey) and Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, all went on a meditation retreat with the Maharishi at a holiday camp in Bangor, and it was there that they learned that Brian Epstein had been found dead. The death of the man who had guided the group's career could not have come at a worse time for the band's stability.  The group had only recorded one song in the preceding two months -- Paul's "Your Mother Should Know" -- and had basically been running on fumes since completing recording of Sgt Pepper many months earlier. John's drug intake had increased to the point that he was barely functional -- although with the enthusiasm of the newly converted he had decided to swear off LSD at the Maharishi's urging -- and his marriage was falling apart. Similarly, Paul McCartney's relationship with Jane Asher was in a bad state, though both men were trying to repair their damaged relationships, while both George and Ringo were having doubts about the band that had made them famous. In George's case, he was feeling marginalised by John and Paul, his songs ignored or paid cursory attention, and there was less for him to do on the records as the group moved away from making guitar-based rock and roll music into the stranger areas of psychedelia. And Ringo, whose main memory of the recording of Sgt Pepper was of learning to play chess while the others went through the extensive overdubs that characterised that album, was starting to feel like his playing was deteriorating, and that as the only non-writer in the band he was on the outside to an extent. On top of that, the group were in the middle of a major plan to restructure their business. As part of their contract renegotiations with EMI at the beginning of 1967, it had been agreed that they would receive two million pounds -- roughly fifteen million pounds in today's money -- in unpaid royalties as a lump sum. If that had been paid to them as individuals, or through the company they owned, the Beatles Ltd, they would have had to pay the full top rate of tax on it, which as George had complained the previous year was over ninety-five percent. (In fact, he'd been slightly exaggerating the generosity of the UK tax system to the rich, as at that point the top rate of income tax was somewhere around ninety-seven and a half percent). But happily for them, a couple of years earlier the UK had restructured its tax laws and introduced a corporation tax, which meant that the profits of corporations were no longer taxed at the same high rate as income. So a new company had been set up, The Beatles & Co, and all the group's non-songwriting income was paid into the company. Each Beatle owned five percent of the company, and the other eighty percent was owned by a new partnership, a corporation that was soon renamed Apple Corps -- a name inspired by a painting that McCartney had liked by the artist Rene Magritte. In the early stages of Apple, it was very entangled with Nems, the company that was owned by Brian and Clive Epstein, and which was in the process of being sold to Robert Stigwood, though that sale fell through after Brian's death. The first part of Apple, Apple Publishing, had been set up in the summer of 1967, and was run by Terry Doran, a friend of Epstein's who ran a motor dealership -- most of the Apple divisions would be run by friends of the group rather than by people with experience in the industries in question. As Apple was set up during the point that Stigwood was getting involved with NEMS, Apple Publishing's initial offices were in the same building with, and shared staff with, two publishing companies that Stigwood owned, Dratleaf Music, who published Cream's songs, and Abigail Music, the Bee Gees' publishers. And indeed the first two songs published by Apple were copyrights that were gifted to the company by Stigwood -- "Listen to the Sky", a B-side by an obscure band called Sands: [Excerpt: Sands, "Listen to the Sky"] And "Outside Woman Blues", an arrangement by Eric Clapton of an old blues song by Blind Joe Reynolds, which Cream had copyrighted separately and released on Disraeli Gears: [Excerpt: Cream, "Outside Woman Blues"] But Apple soon started signing outside songwriters -- once Mike Berry, a member of Apple Publishing's staff, had sat McCartney down and explained to him what music publishing actually was, something he had never actually understood even though he'd been a songwriter for five years. Those songwriters, given that this was 1967, were often also performers, and as Apple Records had not yet been set up, Apple would try to arrange recording contracts for them with other labels. They started with a group called Focal Point, who got signed by badgering Paul McCartney to listen to their songs until he gave them Doran's phone number to shut them up: [Excerpt: Focal Point, "Sycamore Sid"] But the big early hope for Apple Publishing was a songwriter called George Alexander. Alexander's birth name had been Alexander Young, and he was the brother of George Young, who was a member of the Australian beat group The Easybeats, who'd had a hit with "Friday on My Mind": [Excerpt: The Easybeats, "Friday on My Mind"] His younger brothers Malcolm and Angus would go on to have a few hits themselves, but AC/DC wouldn't be formed for another five years. Terry Doran thought that Alexander should be a member of a band, because bands were more popular than solo artists at the time, and so he was placed with three former members of Tony Rivers and the Castaways, a Beach Boys soundalike group that had had some minor success. John Lennon suggested that the group be named Grapefruit, after a book he was reading by a conceptual artist of his acquaintance named Yoko Ono, and as Doran was making arrangements with Terry Melcher for a reciprocal publishing deal by which Melcher's American company would publish Apple songs in the US while Apple published songs from Melcher's company in the UK, it made sense for Melcher to also produce Grapefruit's first single, "Dear Delilah": [Excerpt: Grapefruit, "Dear Delilah"] That made number twenty-one in the UK when it came out in early 1968, on the back of publicity about Grapefruit's connection with the Beatles, but future singles by the band were much less successful, and like several other acts involved with Apple, they found that they were more hampered by the Beatles connection than helped. A few other people were signed to Apple Publishing early on, of whom the most notable was Jackie Lomax. Lomax had been a member of a minor Merseybeat group, the Undertakers, and after they had split up, he'd been signed by Brian Epstein with a new group, the Lomax Alliance, who had released one single, "Try as You May": [Excerpt: The Lomax Alliance, "Try As You May"] After Epstein's death, Lomax had plans to join another band, being formed by another Merseybeat musician, Chris Curtis, the former drummer of the Searchers. But after going to the Beatles to talk with them about them helping the new group financially, Lomax was persuaded by John Lennon to go solo instead. He may later have regretted that decision, as by early 1968 the people that Curtis had recruited for his new band had ditched him and were making a name for themselves as Deep Purple. Lomax recorded one solo single with funding from Stigwood, a cover version of a song by an obscure singer-songwriter, Jake Holmes, "Genuine Imitation Life": [Excerpt: Jackie Lomax, "Genuine Imitation Life"] But he was also signed to Apple Publishing as a songwriter. The Beatles had only just started laying out plans for Apple when Epstein died, and other than the publishing company one of the few things they'd agreed on was that they were going to have a film company, which was to be run by Denis O'Dell, who had been an associate producer on A Hard Day's Night and on How I Won The War, the Richard Lester film Lennon had recently starred in. A few days after Epstein's death, they had a meeting, in which they agreed that the band needed to move forward quickly if they were going to recover from Epstein's death. They had originally been planning on going to India with the Maharishi to study meditation, but they decided to put that off until the new year, and to press forward with a film project Paul had been talking about, to be titled Magical Mystery Tour. And so, on the fifth of September 1967, they went back into the recording studio and started work on a song of John's that was earmarked for the film, "I am the Walrus": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] Magical Mystery Tour, the film, has a mixed reputation which we will talk about shortly, but one defence that Paul McCartney has always made of it is that it's the only place where you can see the Beatles performing "I am the Walrus". While the song was eventually relegated to a B-side, it's possibly the finest B-side of the Beatles' career, and one of the best tracks the group ever made. As with many of Lennon's songs from this period, the song was a collage of many different elements pulled from his environment and surroundings, and turned into something that was rather more than the sum of its parts. For its musical inspiration, Lennon pulled from, of all things, a police siren going past his house. (For those who are unfamiliar with what old British police sirens sounded like, as opposed to the ones in use for most of my lifetime or in other countries, here's a recording of one): [Excerpt: British police siren ca 1968] That inspired Lennon to write a snatch of lyric to go with the sound of the siren, starting "Mister city policeman sitting pretty". He had two other song fragments, one about sitting in the garden, and one about sitting on a cornflake, and he told Hunter Davies, who was doing interviews for his authorised biography of the group, “I don't know how it will all end up. Perhaps they'll turn out to be different parts of the same song.” But the final element that made these three disparate sections into a song was a letter that came from Stephen Bayley, a pupil at Lennon's old school Quarry Bank, who told him that the teachers at the school -- who Lennon always thought of as having suppressed his creativity -- were now analysing Beatles lyrics in their lessons. Lennon decided to come up with some nonsense that they couldn't analyse -- though as nonsensical as the finished song is, there's an underlying anger to a lot of it that possibly comes from Lennon thinking of his school experiences. And so Lennon asked his old schoolfriend Pete Shotton to remind him of a disgusting playground chant that kids used to sing in schools in the North West of England (and which they still sang with very minor variations at my own school decades later -- childhood folklore has a remarkably long life). That rhyme went: Yellow matter custard, green snot pie All mixed up with a dead dog's eye Slap it on a butty, nice and thick, And drink it down with a cup of cold sick Lennon combined some parts of this with half-remembered fragments of Lewis Carrol's The Walrus and the Carpenter, and with some punning references to things that were going on in his own life and those of his friends -- though it's difficult to know exactly which of the stories attached to some of the more incomprehensible bits of the lyrics are accurate. The story that the line "I am the eggman" is about a sexual proclivity of Eric Burdon of the Animals seems plausible, while the contention by some that the phrase "semolina pilchard" is a reference to Sgt Pilcher, the corrupt policeman who had arrested three of the Rolling Stones, and would later arrest Lennon, on drugs charges, seems less likely. The track is a masterpiece of production, but the release of the basic take on Anthology 2 in 1996 showed that the underlying performance, before George Martin worked his magic with the overdubs, is still a remarkable piece of work: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus (Anthology 2 version)"] But Martin's arrangement and production turned the track from a merely very good track into a masterpiece. The string arrangement, very much in the same mould as that for "Strawberry Fields Forever" but giving a very different effect with its harsh cello glissandi, is the kind of thing one expects from Martin, but there's also the chanting of the Mike Sammes Singers, who were more normally booked for sessions like Englebert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz": [Excerpt: Engelbert Humperdinck, "The Last Waltz"] But here were instead asked to imitate the sound of the strings, make grunting noises, and generally go very far out of their normal comfort zone: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] But the most fascinating piece of production in the entire track is an idea that seems to have been inspired by people like John Cage -- a live feed of a radio being tuned was played into the mono mix from about the halfway point, and whatever was on the radio at the time was captured: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] This is also why for many decades it was impossible to have a true stereo mix of the track -- the radio part was mixed directly into the mono mix, and it wasn't until the 1990s that someone thought to track down a copy of the original radio broadcasts and recreate the process. In one of those bits of synchronicity that happen more often than you would think when you're creating aleatory art, and which are why that kind of process can be so appealing, one bit of dialogue from the broadcast of King Lear that was on the radio as the mixing was happening was *perfectly* timed: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I am the Walrus"] After completing work on the basic track for "I am the Walrus", the group worked on two more songs for the film, George's "Blue Jay Way" and a group-composed twelve-bar blues instrumental called "Flying", before starting production. Magical Mystery Tour, as an idea, was inspired in equal parts by Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, the collective of people we talked about in the episode on the Grateful Dead who travelled across the US extolling the virtues of psychedelic drugs, and by mystery tours, a British working-class tradition that has rather fallen out of fashion in the intervening decades. A mystery tour would generally be put on by a coach-hire company, and would be a day trip to an unannounced location -- though the location would in fact be very predictable, and would be a seaside town within a couple of hours' drive of its starting point. In the case of the ones the Beatles remembered from their own childhoods, this would be to a coastal town in Lancashire or Wales, like Blackpool, Rhyl, or Prestatyn. A coachload of people would pay to be driven to this random location, get very drunk and have a singsong on the bus, and spend a day wherever they were taken. McCartney's plan was simple -- they would gather a group of passengers and replicate this experience over the course of several days, and film whatever went on, but intersperse that with more planned out sketches and musical numbers. For this reason, along with the Beatles and their associates, the cast included some actors found through Spotlight and some of the group's favourite performers, like the comedian Nat Jackley (whose comedy sequence directed by John was cut from the final film) and the surrealist poet/singer/comedian Ivor Cutler: [Excerpt: Ivor Cutler, "I'm Going in a Field"] The film also featured an appearance by a new band who would go on to have great success over the next year, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. They had recorded their first single in Abbey Road at the same time as the Beatles were recording Revolver, but rather than being progressive psychedelic rock, it had been a remake of a 1920s novelty song: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "My Brother Makes the Noises For the Talkies"] Their performance in Magical Mystery Tour was very different though -- they played a fifties rock pastiche written by band leaders Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes while a stripper took off her clothes. While several other musical sequences were recorded for the film, including one by the band Traffic and one by Cutler, other than the Beatles tracks only the Bonzos' song made it into the finished film: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "Death Cab for Cutie"] That song, thirty years later, would give its name to a prominent American alternative rock band. Incidentally the same night that Magical Mystery Tour was first broadcast was also the night that the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band first appeared on a TV show, Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured three future members of the Monty Python troupe -- Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones. Over the years the careers of the Bonzos, the Pythons, and the Beatles would become increasingly intertwined, with George Harrison in particular striking up strong friendships and working relationships with Bonzos Neil Innes and "Legs" Larry Smith. The filming of Magical Mystery Tour went about as well as one might expect from a film made by four directors, none of whom had any previous filmmaking experience, and none of whom had any business knowledge. The Beatles were used to just turning up and having things magically done for them by other people, and had no real idea of the infrastructure challenges that making a film, even a low-budget one, actually presents, and ended up causing a great deal of stress to almost everyone involved. The completed film was shown on TV on Boxing Day 1967 to general confusion and bemusement. It didn't help that it was originally broadcast in black and white, and so for example the scene showing shifting landscapes (outtake footage from Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, tinted various psychedelic colours) over the "Flying" music, just looked like grey fuzz. But also, it just wasn't what people were expecting from a Beatles film. This was a ramshackle, plotless, thing more inspired by Andy Warhol's underground films than by the kind of thing the group had previously appeared in, and it was being presented as Christmas entertainment for all the family. And to be honest, it's not even a particularly good example of underground filmmaking -- though it looks like a masterpiece when placed next to something like the Bee Gees' similar effort, Cucumber Castle. But there are enough interesting sequences in there for the project not to be a complete failure -- and the deleted scenes on the DVD release, including the performances by Cutler and Traffic, and the fact that the film was edited down from ten hours to fifty-two minutes, makes one wonder if there's a better film that could be constructed from the original footage. Either way, the reaction to the film was so bad that McCartney actually appeared on David Frost's TV show the next day to defend it and, essentially, apologise. While they were editing the film, the group were also continuing to work in the studio, including on two new McCartney songs, "The Fool on the Hill", which was included in Magical Mystery Tour, and "Hello Goodbye", which wasn't included on the film's soundtrack but was released as the next single, with "I Am the Walrus" as the B-side: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"] Incidentally, in the UK the soundtrack to Magical Mystery Tour was released as a double-EP rather than as an album (in the US, the group's recent singles and B-sides were added to turn it into a full-length album, which is how it's now generally available). "I Am the Walrus" was on the double-EP as well as being on the single's B-side, and the double-EP got to number two on the singles charts, meaning "I am the Walrus" was on the records at number one and number two at the same time. Before it became obvious that the film, if not the soundtrack, was a disaster, the group held a launch party on the twenty-first of December, 1967. The band members went along in fancy dress, as did many of the cast and crew -- the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performed at the party. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys also turned up at the party, and apparently at one point jammed with the Bonzos, and according to some, but not all, reports, a couple of the Beatles joined in as well. Love and Johnston had both just met the Maharishi for the first time a couple of days earlier, and Love had been as impressed as the Beatles were, and it may have been at this party that the group mentioned to Love that they would soon be going on a retreat in India with the guru -- a retreat that was normally meant for training TM instructors, but this time seemed to be more about getting celebrities involved. Love would also end up going with them. That party was also the first time that Cynthia Lennon had an inkling that John might not be as faithful to her as she previously supposed. John had always "joked" about being attracted to George Harrison's wife, Patti, but this time he got a little more blatant about his attraction than he ever had previously, to the point that he made Cynthia cry, and Cynthia's friend, the pop star Lulu, decided to give Lennon a very public dressing-down for his cruelty to his wife, a dressing-down that must have been a sight to behold, as Lennon was dressed as a Teddy boy while Lulu was in a Shirley Temple costume. It's a sign of how bad the Lennons' marriage was at this point that this was the second time in a two-month period where Cynthia had ended up crying because of John at a film launch party and been comforted by a female pop star. In October, Cilla Black had held a party to celebrate the belated release of John's film How I Won the War, and during the party Georgie Fame had come up to Black and said, confused, "Cynthia Lennon is hiding in your wardrobe". Black went and had a look, and Cynthia explained to her “I'm waiting to see how long it is before John misses me and comes looking for me.” Black's response had been “You'd better face it, kid—he's never gonna come.” Also at the Magical Mystery Tour party was Lennon's father, now known as Freddie Lennon, and his new nineteen-year-old fiancee. While Hunter Davis had been researching the Beatles' biography, he'd come across some evidence that the version of Freddie's attitude towards John that his mother's side of the family had always told him -- that Freddie had been a cruel and uncaring husband who had not actually wanted to be around his son -- might not be the whole of the truth, and that the mother who he had thought of as saintly might also have had some part to play in their marriage breaking down and Freddie not seeing his son for twenty years. The two had made some tentative attempts at reconciliation, and indeed Freddie would even come and live with John for a while, though within a couple of years the younger Lennon's heart would fully harden against his father again. Of course, the things that John always resented his father for were pretty much exactly the kind of things that Lennon himself was about to do. It was around this time as well that Derek Taylor gave the Beatles copies of the debut album by a young singer/songwriter named Harry Nilsson. Nilsson will be getting his own episode down the line, but not for a couple of years at my current rates, so it's worth bringing that up here, because that album became a favourite of all the Beatles, and would have a huge influence on their songwriting for the next couple of years, and because one song on the album, "1941", must have resonated particularly deeply with Lennon right at this moment -- an autobiographical song by Nilsson about how his father had left him and his mother when he was a small boy, and about his own fear that, as his first marriage broke down, he was repeating the pattern with his stepson Scott: [Excerpt: Nilsson, "1941"] The other major event of December 1967, rather overshadowed by the Magical Mystery Tour disaster the next day, was that on Christmas Day Paul McCartney and Jane Asher announced their engagement. A few days later, George Harrison flew to India. After John and Paul had had their outside film projects -- John starring in How I Won The War and Paul doing the soundtrack for The Family Way -- the other two Beatles more or less simultaneously did their own side project films, and again one acted while the other did a soundtrack. Both of these projects were in the rather odd subgenre of psychedelic shambolic comedy film that sprang up in the mid sixties, a subgenre that produced a lot of fascinating films, though rather fewer good ones. Indeed, both of them were in the subsubgenre of shambolic psychedelic *sex* comedies. In Ringo's case, he had a small role in the film Candy, which was based on the novel we mentioned in the last episode, co-written by Terry Southern, which was in itself a loose modern rewriting of Voltaire's Candide. Unfortunately, like such other classics of this subgenre as Anthony Newley's Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, Candy has dated *extremely* badly, and unless you find repeated scenes of sexual assault and rape, ethnic stereotypes, and jokes about deformity and disfigurement to be an absolute laugh riot, it's not a film that's worth seeking out, and Starr's part in it is not a major one. Harrison's film was of the same basic genre -- a film called Wonderwall about a mad scientist who discovers a way to see through the walls of his apartment, and gets to see a photographer taking sexy photographs of a young woman named Penny Lane, played by Jane Birkin: [Excerpt: Some Wonderwall film dialogue ripped from the Blu-Ray] Wonderwall would, of course, later inspire the title of a song by Oasis, and that's what the film is now best known for, but it's a less-unwatchable film than Candy, and while still problematic it's less so. Which is something. Harrison had been the Beatle with least involvement in Magical Mystery Tour -- McCartney had been the de facto director, Starr had been the lead character and the only one with much in the way of any acting to do, and Lennon had written the film's standout scene and its best song, and had done a little voiceover narration. Harrison, by contrast, barely has anything to do in the film apart from the one song he contributed, "Blue Jay Way", and he said of the project “I had no idea what was happening and maybe I didn't pay enough attention because my problem, basically, was that I was in another world, I didn't really belong; I was just an appendage.” He'd expressed his discomfort to his friend Joe Massot, who was about to make his first feature film. Massot had got to know Harrison during the making of his previous film, Reflections on Love, a mostly-silent short which had starred Harrison's sister-in-law Jenny Boyd, and which had been photographed by Robert Freeman, who had been the photographer for the Beatles' album covers from With the Beatles through Rubber Soul, and who had taken most of the photos that Klaus Voorman incorporated into the cover of Revolver (and whose professional association with the Beatles seemed to come to an end around the same time he discovered that Lennon had been having an affair with his wife). Massot asked Harrison to write the music for the film, and told Harrison he would have complete free rein to make whatever music he wanted, so long as it fit the timing of the film, and so Harrison decided to create a mixture of Western rock music and the Indian music he loved. Harrison started recording the music at the tail end of 1967, with sessions with several London-based Indian musicians and John Barham, an orchestrator who had worked with Ravi Shankar on Shankar's collaborations with Western musicians, including the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack we talked about in the "All You Need is Love" episode. For the Western music, he used the Remo Four, a Merseybeat group who had been on the scene even before the Beatles, and which contained a couple of classmates of Paul McCartney, but who had mostly acted as backing musicians for other artists. They'd backed Johnny Sandon, the former singer with the Searchers, on a couple of singles, before becoming the backing band for Tommy Quickly, a NEMS artist who was unsuccessful despite starting his career with a Lennon/McCartney song, "Tip of My Tongue": [Excerpt: Tommy Quickly, "Tip of My Tongue"] The Remo Four would later, after a lineup change, become Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, who would become one-hit wonders in the seventies, and during the Wonderwall sessions they recorded a song that went unreleased at the time, and which would later go on to be rerecorded by Ashton, Gardner, and Dyke. "In the First Place" also features Harrison on backing vocals and possibly guitar, and was not submitted for the film because Harrison didn't believe that Massot wanted any vocal tracks, but the recording was later discovered and used in a revised director's cut of the film in the nineties: [Excerpt: The Remo Four, "In the First Place"] But for the most part the Remo Four were performing instrumentals written by Harrison. They weren't the only Western musicians performing on the sessions though -- Peter Tork of the Monkees dropped by these sessions and recorded several short banjo solos, which were used in the film soundtrack but not in the soundtrack album (presumably because Tork was contracted to another label): [Excerpt: Peter Tork, "Wonderwall banjo solo"] Another musician who was under contract to another label was Eric Clapton, who at the time was playing with The Cream, and who vaguely knew Harrison and so joined in for the track "Ski-ing", playing lead guitar under the cunning, impenetrable, pseudonym "Eddie Clayton", with Harrison on sitar, Starr on drums, and session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan on bass: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "Ski-ing"] But the bulk of the album was recorded in EMI's studios in the city that is now known as Mumbai but at the time was called Bombay. The studio facilities in India had up to that point only had a mono tape recorder, and Bhaskar Menon, one of the top executives at EMI's Indian division and later the head of EMI music worldwide, personally brought the first stereo tape recorder to the studio to aid in Harrison's recording. The music was all composed by Harrison and performed by the Indian musicians, and while Harrison was composing in an Indian mode, the musicians were apparently fascinated by how Western it sounded to them: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "Microbes"] While he was there, Harrison also got the instrumentalists to record another instrumental track, which wasn't to be used for the film: [Excerpt: George Harrison, "The Inner Light (instrumental)"] That track would, instead, become part of what was to be Harrison's first composition to make a side of a Beatles single. After John and George had appeared on the David Frost show talking about the Maharishi, in September 1967, George had met a lecturer in Sanskrit named Juan Mascaró, who wrote to Harrison enclosing a book he'd compiled of translations of religious texts, telling him he'd admired "Within You Without You" and thought it would be interesting if Harrison set something from the Tao Te Ching to music. He suggested a text that, in his translation, read: "Without going out of my door I can know all things on Earth Without looking out of my window I can know the ways of heaven For the farther one travels, the less one knows The sage, therefore Arrives without travelling Sees all without looking Does all without doing" Harrison took that text almost verbatim, though he created a second verse by repeating the first few lines with "you" replacing "I" -- concerned that listeners might think he was just talking about himself, and wouldn't realise it was a more general statement -- and he removed the "the sage, therefore" and turned the last few lines into imperative commands rather than declarative statements: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "The Inner Light"] The song has come in for some criticism over the years as being a little Orientalist, because in critics' eyes it combines Chinese philosophy with Indian music, as if all these things are equally "Eastern" and so all the same really. On the other hand there's a good argument that an English songwriter taking a piece of writing written in Chinese and translated into English by a Spanish man and setting it to music inspired by Indian musical modes is a wonderful example of cultural cross-pollination. As someone who's neither Chinese nor Indian I wouldn't want to take a stance on it, but clearly the other Beatles were impressed by it -- they put it out as the B-side to their next single, even though the only Beatles on it are Harrison and McCartney, with the latter adding a small amount of harmony vocal: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "The Inner Light"] And it wasn't because the group were out of material. They were planning on going to Rishikesh to study with the Maharishi, and wanted to get a single out for release while they were away, and so in one week they completed the vocal overdubs on "The Inner Light" and recorded three other songs, two by John and one by Paul. All three of the group's songwriters brought in songs that were among their best. John's first contribution was a song whose lyrics he later described as possibly the best he ever wrote, "Across the Universe". He said the lyrics were “purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don't own it, you know; it came through like that … Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship, it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write it … It's like being possessed, like a psychic or a medium.” But while Lennon liked the song, he was never happy with the recording of it. They tried all sorts of things to get the sound he heard in his head, including bringing in some fans who were hanging around outside to sing backing vocals. He said of the track "I was singing out of tune and instead of getting a decent choir, we got fans from outside, Apple Scruffs or whatever you call them. They came in and were singing all off-key. Nobody was interested in doing the tune originally.” [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] The "jai guru deva" chorus there is the first reference to the teachings of the Maharishi in one of the Beatles' records -- Guru Dev was the Maharishi's teacher, and the phrase "Jai guru dev" is a Sanskrit one which I've seen variously translated as "victory to the great teacher", and "hail to the greatness within you". Lennon would say shortly before his death “The Beatles didn't make a good record out of it. I think subconsciously sometimes we – I say ‘we' though I think Paul did it more than the rest of us – Paul would sort of subconsciously try and destroy a great song … Usually we'd spend hours doing little detailed cleaning-ups of Paul's songs, when it came to mine, especially if it was a great song like ‘Strawberry Fields' or ‘Across The Universe', somehow this atmosphere of looseness and casualness and experimentation would creep in … It was a _lousy_ track of a great song and I was so disappointed by it …The guitars are out of tune and I'm singing out of tune because I'm psychologically destroyed and nobody's supporting me or helping me with it, and the song was never done properly.” Of course, this is only Lennon's perception, and it's one that the other participants would disagree with. George Martin, in particular, was always rather hurt by the implication that Lennon's songs had less attention paid to them, and he would always say that the problem was that Lennon in the studio would always say "yes, that's great", and only later complain that it hadn't been what he wanted. No doubt McCartney did put in more effort on his own songs than on Lennon's -- everyone has a bias towards their own work, and McCartney's only human -- but personally I suspect that a lot of the problem comes down to the two men having very different personalities. McCartney had very strong ideas about his own work and would drive the others insane with his nitpicky attention to detail. Lennon had similarly strong ideas, but didn't have the attention span to put the time and effort in to force his vision on others, and didn't have the technical knowledge to express his ideas in words they'd understand. He expected Martin and the other Beatles to work miracles, and they did -- but not the miracles he would have worked. That track was, rather than being chosen for the next single, given to Spike Milligan, who happened to be visiting the studio and was putting together an album for the environmental charity the World Wildlife Fund. The album was titled "No One's Gonna Change Our World": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] That track is historic in another way -- it would be the last time that George Harrison would play sitar on a Beatles record, and it effectively marks the end of the period of psychedelia and Indian influence that had started with "Norwegian Wood" three years earlier, and which many fans consider their most creative period. Indeed, shortly after the recording, Harrison would give up the sitar altogether and stop playing it. He loved sitar music as much as he ever had, and he still thought that Indian classical music spoke to him in ways he couldn't express, and he continued to be friends with Ravi Shankar for the rest of his life, and would only become more interested in Indian religious thought. But as he spent time with Shankar he realised he would never be as good on the sitar as he hoped. He said later "I thought, 'Well, maybe I'm better off being a pop singer-guitar-player-songwriter – whatever-I'm-supposed-to-be' because I've seen a thousand sitar-players in India who are twice as better as I'll ever be. And only one of them Ravi thought was going to be a good player." We don't have a precise date for when it happened -- I suspect it was in June 1968, so a few months after the "Across the Universe" recording -- but Shankar told Harrison that rather than try to become a master of a music that he hadn't encountered until his twenties, perhaps he should be making the music that was his own background. And as Harrison put it "I realised that was riding my bike down a street in Liverpool and hearing 'Heartbreak Hotel' coming out of someone's house.": [Excerpt: Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"] In early 1968 a lot of people seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as if Christmas 1967 had been the flick of a switch and instead of whimsy and ornamentation, the thing to do was to make music that was influenced by early rock and roll. In the US the Band and Bob Dylan were making music that was consciously shorn of all studio experimentation, while in the UK there was a revival of fifties rock and roll. In April 1968 both "Peggy Sue" and "Rock Around the Clock" reentered the top forty in the UK, and the Who were regularly including "Summertime Blues" in their sets. Fifties nostalgia, which would make occasional comebacks for at least the next forty years, was in its first height, and so it's not surprising that Paul McCartney's song, "Lady Madonna", which became the A-side of the next single, has more than a little of the fifties about it. Of course, the track isn't *completely* fifties in its origins -- one of the inspirations for the track seems to have been the Rolling Stones' then-recent hit "Let's Spend The Night Together": [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "Let's Spend the Night Together"] But the main source for the song's music -- and for the sound of the finished record -- seems to have been Johnny Parker's piano part on Humphrey Lyttleton's "Bad Penny Blues", a hit single engineered by Joe Meek in the fifties: [Excerpt: Humphrey Lyttleton, "Bad Penny Blues"] That song seems to have been on the group's mind for a while, as a working title for "With a Little Help From My Friends" had at one point been "Bad Finger Blues" -- a title that would later give the name to a band on Apple. McCartney took Parker's piano part as his inspiration, and as he later put it “‘Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing. I got my left hand doing an arpeggio thing with the chord, an ascending boogie-woogie left hand, then a descending right hand. I always liked that, the  juxtaposition of a line going down meeting a line going up." [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Lady Madonna"] That idea, incidentally, is an interesting reversal of what McCartney had done on "Hello, Goodbye", where the bass line goes down while the guitar moves up -- the two lines moving away from each other: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"] Though that isn't to say there's no descending bass in "Lady Madonna" -- the bridge has a wonderful sequence where the bass just *keeps* *descending*: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Lady Madonna"] Lyrically, McCartney was inspired by a photo in National Geographic of a woman in Malaysia, captioned “Mountain Madonna: with one child at her breast and another laughing into her face, sees her quality of life threatened.” But as he put it “The people I was brought up amongst were often Catholic; there are lots of Catholics in Liverpool because of the Irish connection and they are often religious. When they have a baby I think they see a big connection between themselves and the Virgin Mary with her baby. So the original concept was the Virgin Mary but it quickly became symbolic of every woman; the Madonna image but as applied to ordinary working class woman. It's really a tribute to the mother figure, it's a tribute to women.” Musically though, the song was more a tribute to the fifties -- while the inspiration had been a skiffle hit by Humphrey Lyttleton, as soon as McCartney started playing it he'd thought of Fats Domino, and the lyric reflects that to an extent -- just as Domino's "Blue Monday" details the days of the week for a weary working man who only gets to enjoy himself on Saturday night, "Lady Madonna"'s lyrics similarly look at the work a mother has to do every day -- though as McCartney later noted  "I was writing the words out to learn it for an American TV show and I realised I missed out Saturday ... So I figured it must have been a real night out." The vocal was very much McCartney doing a Domino impression -- something that wasn't lost on Fats, who cut his own version of the track later that year: [Excerpt: Fats Domino, "Lady Madonna"] The group were so productive at this point, right before the journey to India, that they actually cut another song *while they were making a video for "Lady Madonna"*. They were booked into Abbey Road to film themselves performing the song so it could be played on Top of the Pops while they were away, but instead they decided to use the time to cut a new song -- John had a partially-written song, "Hey Bullfrog", which was roughly the same tempo as "Lady Madonna", so they could finish that up and then re-edit the footage to match the record. The song was quickly finished and became "Hey Bulldog": [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Hey Bulldog"] One of Lennon's best songs from this period, "Hey Bulldog" was oddly chosen only to go on the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine. Either the band didn't think much of it because it had come so easily, or it was just assigned to the film because they were planning on being away for several months and didn't have any other projects they were working on. The extent of the group's contribution to the film was minimal – they were not very hands-on, and the film, which was mostly done as an attempt to provide a third feature film for their United Artists contract without them having to do any work, was made by the team that had done the Beatles cartoon on American TV. There's some evidence that they had a small amount of input in the early story stages, but in general they saw the cartoon as an irrelevance to them -- the only things they contributed were the four songs "All Together Now", "It's All Too Much", "Hey Bulldog" and "Only a Northern Song", and a brief filmed appearance for the very end of the film, recorded in January: [Excerpt: Yellow Submarine film end] McCartney also took part in yet another session in early February 1968, one produced by Peter Asher, his fiancee's brother, and former singer with Peter and Gordon. Asher had given up on being a pop star and was trying to get into the business side of music, and he was starting out as a producer, producing a single by Paul Jones, the former lead singer of Manfred Mann. The A-side of the single, "And the Sun Will Shine", was written by the Bee Gees, the band that Robert Stigwood was managing: [Excerpt: Paul Jones, "And the Sun Will Shine"] While the B-side was an original by Jones, "The Dog Presides": [Excerpt: Paul Jones, "The Dog Presides"] Those tracks featured two former members of the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck and Paul Samwell-Smith, on guitar and bass, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. Asher asked McCartney to play drums on both sides of the single, saying later "I always thought he was a great, underrated drummer." McCartney was impressed by Asher's production, and asked him to get involved with the new Apple Records label that would be set up when the group returned from India. Asher eventually became head of A&R for the label. And even before "Lady Madonna" was mixed, the Beatles were off to India. Mal Evans, their roadie, went ahead with all their luggage on the fourteenth of February, so he could sort out transport for them on the other end, and then John and George followed on the fifteenth, with their wives Pattie and Cynthia and Pattie's sister Jenny (John and Cynthia's son Julian had been left with his grandmother while they went -- normally Cynthia wouldn't abandon Julian for an extended period of time, but she saw the trip as a way to repair their strained marriage). Paul and Ringo followed four days later, with Ringo's wife Maureen and Paul's fiancee Jane Asher. The retreat in Rishikesh was to become something of a celebrity affair. Along with the Beatles came their friend the singer-songwriter Donovan, and Donovan's friend and songwriting partner, whose name I'm not going to say here because it's a slur for Romani people, but will be known to any Donovan fans. Donovan at this point was also going through changes. Like the Beatles, he was largely turning away from drug use and towards meditation, and had recently written his hit single "There is a Mountain" based around a saying from Zen Buddhism: [Excerpt: Donovan, "There is a Mountain"] That was from his double-album A Gift From a Flower to a Garden, which had come out in December 1967. But also like John and Paul he was in the middle of the breakdown of a long-term relationship, and while he would remain with his then-partner until 1970, and even have another child with her, he was secretly in love with another woman. In fact he was secretly in love with two other women. One of them, Brian Jones' ex-girlfriend Linda, had moved to LA, become the partner of the singer Gram Parsons, and had appeared in the documentary You Are What You Eat with the Band and Tiny Tim. She had fallen out of touch with Donovan, though she would later become his wife. Incidentally, she had a son to Brian Jones who had been abandoned by his rock-star father -- the son's name is Julian. The other woman with whom Donovan was in love was Jenny Boyd, the sister of George Harrison's wife Pattie.  Jenny at the time was in a relationship with Alexis Mardas, a TV repairman and huckster who presented himself as an electronics genius to the Beatles, who nicknamed him Magic Alex, and so she was unavailable, but Donovan had written a song about her, released as a single just before they all went to Rishikesh: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Jennifer Juniper"] Donovan considered himself and George Harrison to be on similar spiritual paths and called Harrison his "spirit-brother", though Donovan was more interested in Buddhism, which Harrison considered a corruption of the more ancient Hinduism, and Harrison encouraged Donovan to read Autobiography of a Yogi. It's perhaps worth noting that Donovan's father had a different take on the subject though, saying "You're not going to study meditation in India, son, you're following that wee lassie Jenny" Donovan and his friend weren't the only other celebrities to come to Rishikesh. The actor Mia Farrow, who had just been through a painful divorce from Frank Sinatra, and had just made Rosemary's Baby, a horror film directed by Roman Polanski with exteriors shot at the Dakota building in New York, arrived with her sister Prudence. Also on the trip was Paul Horn, a jazz saxophonist who had played with many of the greats of jazz, not least of them Duke Ellington, whose Sweet Thursday Horn had played alto sax on: [Excerpt: Duke Ellington, "Zweet Zursday"] Horn was another musician who had been inspired to investigate Indian spirituality and music simultaneously, and the previous year he had recorded an album, "In India," of adaptations of ragas, with Ravi Shankar and Alauddin Khan: [Excerpt: Paul Horn, "Raga Vibhas"] Horn would go on to become one of the pioneers of what would later be termed "New Age" music, combining jazz with music from various non-Western traditions. Horn had also worked as a session musician, and one of the tracks he'd played on was "I Know There's an Answer" from the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "I Know There's an Answer"] Mike Love, who co-wrote that track and is one of the lead singers on it, was also in Rishikesh. While as we'll see not all of the celebrities on the trip would remain practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, Love would be profoundly affected by the trip, and remains a vocal proponent of TM to this day. Indeed, his whole band at the time were heavily into TM. While Love was in India, the other Beach Boys were working on the Friends album without him -- Love only appears on four tracks on that album -- and one of the tracks they recorded in his absence was titled "Transcendental Meditation": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Transcendental Meditation"] But the trip would affect Love's songwriting, as it would affect all of the musicians there. One of the few songs on the Friends album on which Love appears is "Anna Lee, the Healer", a song which is lyrically inspired by the trip in the most literal sense, as it's about a masseuse Love met in Rishikesh: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Anna Lee, the Healer"] The musicians in the group all influenced and inspired each other as is likely to happen in such circumstances. Sometimes, it would be a matter of trivial joking, as when the Beatles decided to perform an off-the-cuff song about Guru Dev, and did it in the Beach Boys style: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Spiritual Regeneration"] And that turned partway through into a celebration of Love for his birthday: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Spiritual Regeneration"] Decades later, Love would return the favour, writing a song about Harrison and their time together in Rishikesh. Like Donovan, Love seems to have considered Harrison his "spiritual brother", and he titled the song "Pisces Brothers": [Excerpt: Mike Love, "Pisces Brothers"] The musicians on the trip were also often making suggestions to each other about songs that would become famous for them. The musicians had all brought acoustic guitars, apart obviously from Ringo, who got a set of tabla drums when George ordered some Indian instruments to be delivered. George got a sitar, as at this point he hadn't quite given up on the instrument, and he gave Donovan a tamboura. Donovan started playing a melody on the tamboura, which is normally a drone instrument, inspired by the Scottish folk music he had grown up with, and that became his "Hurdy-Gurdy Man": [Excerpt: Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man"] Harrison actually helped him with the song, writing a final verse inspired by the Maharishi's teachings, but in the studio Donovan's producer Mickie Most told him to cut the verse because the song was overlong, which apparently annoyed Harrison. Donovan includes that verse in his live performances of the song though -- usually while doing a fairly terrible impersonation of Harrison: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Hurdy Gurdy Man (live)"] And similarly, while McCartney was working on a song pastiching Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys, but singing about the USSR rather than the USA, Love suggested to him that for a middle-eight he might want to sing about the girls in the various Soviet regions: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Back in the USSR"] As all the guitarists on the retreat only had acoustic instruments, they were very keen to improve their acoustic playing, and they turned to Donovan, who unlike the rest of them was primarily an acoustic player, and one from a folk background. Donovan taught them the rudiments of Travis picking, the guitar style we talked about way back in the episodes on the Everly Brothers, as well as some of the tunings that had been introduced to British folk music by Davey Graham, giving them a basic grounding in the principles of English folk-baroque guitar, a style that had developed over the previous few years. Donovan has said in his autobiography that Lennon picked the technique up quickly (and that Harrison had already learned Travis picking from Chet Atkins records) but that McCartney didn't have the application to learn the style, though he picked up bits. That seems very unlike anything else I've read anywhere about Lennon and McCartney -- no-one has ever accused Lennon of having a surfeit of application -- and reading Donovan's book he seems to dislike McCartney and like Lennon and Harrison, so possibly that enters into it. But also, it may just be that Lennon was more receptive to Donovan's style at the time. According to McCartney, even before going to Rishikesh Lennon had been in a vaguely folk-music and country mode, and the small number of tapes he'd brought with him to Rishikesh included Buddy Holly, Dylan, and the progressive folk band The Incredible String Band, whose music would be a big influence on both Lennon and McCartney for the next year: [Excerpt: The Incredible String Band, "First Girl I Loved"] According to McCartney Lennon also brought "a tape the singer Jake Thackray had done for him... He was one of the people we bumped into at Abbey Road. John liked his stuff, which he'd heard on television. Lots of wordplay and very suggestive, so very much up John's alley. I was fascinated by his unusual guitar style. John did ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun' as a Jake Thackray thing at one point, as I recall.” Thackray was a British chansonnier, who sang sweetly poignant but also often filthy songs about Yorkshire life, and his humour in particular will have appealed to Lennon. There's a story of Lennon meeting Thackray in Abbey Road and singing the whole of Thackray's song "The Statues", about two drunk men fighting a male statue to defend the honour of a female statue, to him: [Excerpt: Jake Thackray, "The Statues"] Given this was the music that Lennon was listening to, it's unsurprising that he was more receptive to Donovan's lessons, and the new guitar style he learned allowed him to expand his songwriting, at precisely the same time he was largely clean of drugs for the first time in several years, and he started writing some of the best songs he would ever write, often using these new styles: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Julia"] That song is about Lennon's dead mother -- the first time he ever addressed her directly in a song, though  it would be far from the last -- but it's also about someone else. That phrase "Ocean child" is a direct translation of the Japanese name "Yoko". We've talked about Yoko Ono a bit in recent episodes, and even briefly in a previous Beatles episode, but it's here that she really enters the story of the Beatles. Unfortunately, exactly *how* her relationship with John Lennon, which was to become one of the great legendary love stories in rock and roll history, actually started is the subject of some debate. Both of them were married when they first got together, and there have also been suggestions that Ono was more interested in McCartney than in Lennon at first -- suggestions which everyone involved has denied, and those denials have the ring of truth about them, but if that was the case it would also explain some of Lennon's more perplexing behaviour over the next year. By all accounts there was a certain amount of finessing of the story th

"It's maybe the most important thing to me that the solos [I record] are things that I haven't done a million times," country guitarist and singer/songwriter Brad Paisley shares on this episode of Shred With Shifty. "That's getting harder and harder to do." But as Paisley walks host Chris Shiflett through his solo on "Mud on the Tires," the centerpiece of the interview, it's clear that Paisley can improvise melodies that don't necessarily need to clear that bar in order to hook and make a lasting impression on his listeners. Brad was learning Chet Atkins-style thumbpicking in lessons from the age of 12, and while he later absorbed a rock vocabulary, Shifty comments that Brad always seems to play with a country feel. Throughout the episode, Brad frequently illustrates his points by playing riffs, in a way that shows that his connection with the instrument is a fluid one and a key part of how he expresses himself. "Mud on the Tires" was originally recorded 20 years ago, in 2003. Brad's setup was either his '68 Paisley Tele or '52 Tele, recorded through a '63 AC30 and a Dr. Z Z 28, the latter of which was run through a 15" JBL speaker. As he puts it, the AC30 fills the frequency gaps left by the Fender, making the combination a perfect sonic marriage. He says that live, he normally plays the solo on a guitar he's nicknamed "Splash," and they've had to replace the nut on it three times, due to how Paisley bends the 4th string on the space behind it at a certain point in the solo. While rockin' his G bender, Brad has some trouble executing the solo's most elaborate middle riff during the solo breakdown, but his incredible chops pull through towards the end of the ep as he whips out the impressive lick. Shifty encourages followers to see if they can match it! That might be a tall order, but it is all part of the fun. Click below to subscribe to the podcast! Full Video Episodes: http://volume.com/shifty  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1690423642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4B8BSR0l78qwUKJ5gOGIWb iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-shred-with-shifty-116270551/ Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/podcast/shred-with-shifty/PC:1001071314 Follow Chris Shiflett: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisshiflettmusic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shifty71 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chris.shiflett Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisshiflett71 Website: http://www.chrisshiflettmusic.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tv5SsSRqR7uLtpKZgcRrg?si=26kWS1v2RYaE4sS7KnHpag Producer: Jason Shadrick Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis Engineering support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudoin Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.

Richard Smith is unstoppable. The British fingerstyle guitarist has a grueling tour schedule, a busy Nashville studio that he recently adapted into a video studio, online music lessons, and probably a few projects that we don't even know about. But, mostly, he's got a lot of driving to do.  In June, Richard stopped by the Fretboard Journal in between concert stops for a loose, caffeine-fueled chat about life on the road, the music of Chet Atkins, keeping your chops up, the brilliance of the house concert circuit, and so much more. We also talk about David Schmidt's piece in the Fretboard Journal #52 about learning "The Entertainer" thanks to Smith's online lesson and why Richard's goal is to be able to book 365 tour dates a year, but not play them.   We packed a lot into the hour before his parking meter was up. It's a fun chat with one of the world's best guitarists. You'll love it.  https://www.richardsmithmusic.com/ https://www.instagram.com/richardsmithmusic/ Love our podcast and want to support it? Join our Patreon and get episodes ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/Fretboard_Journal Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal and start with our new, 52nd issue:  https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription Get a discounted digital subscription and get our 52nd issue immediately:  https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/collections/downloads/products/fretboard-journal-digital-subscription-offer Our Fretboard Summit is taking place August 24-26, 2023 in Chicago. https://fretboardsummit.org/ Our podcast is sponsored by Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar, Peghead Nation (use the promo code FRETBOARD and get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription); and Stringjoy Strings (get 10% off your order with the FRETBOARD discount code). This episode is also sponsored by iZotope. Use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off your Izotope order.