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From Aerosmith to Zappa: Some Celebrity Christmas Cards
Posted by jaso 161 days ago in Player News
Ever wonder what kind of holiday greeting cards well-known musicians send their friends and acquaintances? Here’s a sampling of two-dozen of my favorites over the years, including Aerosmith, B.B. King... [Read More]
 
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Les Paul: Guitarist, Inventor, Inspiration
Posted by jaso 190 days ago in Player News
Les Paul is a towering figure of modern music. A performer for more than 80 years, he made unsurpassed contributions to the sound, scope, and design of the electric guitar. He was among the very first... [Read More]
 
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Les Paul at Home: A Remembrance by Jon Sievert
Posted by jaso 190 days ago in Player News
Les Paul with his personal namesake guitar and “Paulverizer,” June 1977. By Jon Sievert I first saw Les Paul in 1975 at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, a few months after he began performi... [Read More]
 
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Sherlock Holmes’ Favorite Music
Posted by jaso 229 days ago in Player News
Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle imbued literature’s most enduring “consulting detective” with both extraordinary and very human qualities. Sherlock Holmes has keen powers of obs... [Read More]
 
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How to Interview Musicians
Posted by jaso 255 days ago in Player News
Interviewing James Gurley, 1978. The best description I’ve heard of what it takes to be an excellent interviewer of musicians came from Ry Cooder. We’d been talking about his performing with celebrate... [Read More]
 
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Bert Williams & George Walker: The Early Years
Posted by jaso 286 days ago in Player News
Although their names are seldom recognized today, Bert Williams and George Walker were the first African-American superstars. Years before blues 78s spun on wind-up Victrolas, Williams & Walker we... [Read More]
 
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Tommy Tedesco and Friends on the Golden Age of Studio Guitar
Posted by jaso 442 days ago in Player News
Tommy Tedesco, the most recorded guitarist in history, was also one of the most beloved characters to ever work the Los Angeles music scene. And work it he did: After arriving from Niagara Falls in 19... [Read More]
 
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Twiggs Lyndon Talks Gear: An Unpublished 1978 Interview
Posted by jaso 510 days ago in Player News
Best known as the Allman Brothers’ road manager, Twiggs Lyndon also worked for Little Richard, Percy Sledge, and the Dixie Dregs. A wizard with mechanics, he described himself as “a hydraulic, mechani... [Read More]
 
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Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”: Mike Bloomfield v. Johnny Winter
Posted by jaso 544 days ago in Player News
“Lord, that 61 Highway, it’s the longest road I know,” sang bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell. “She run on to New Orleans, and down to the Gulf of Mexico.” The most famous road in blues lore, Highway... [Read More]
 
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Randy Rhoads: The Max Norman Interview
Posted by jaso 549 days ago in Player News
While working as the resident engineer at England’s Ridge Farm Studio, Max Norman was hired by Ozzy Osbourne to produce Blizzard of Ozz. Released in 1980, the platinum album revitalized Osbourne’s car... [Read More]
 
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Randy Rhoads: The Ozzy Osbourne Interview
Posted by jaso 550 days ago in Player News
In August 1982, I was gathering interviews for a Randy Rhoads cover story for Guitar Player magazine. After speaking to Randy’s mother, brother, and Rudy Sarzo (see my previous blogs), I received a ph... [Read More]
 
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Randy Rhoads: The Rudy Sarzo Interview
Posted by jaso 552 days ago in Player News
Randy Rhoads and Rudy Sarzo played side-by-side in Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne’s band. A skilled Cuban-born bassist, Rudy initially auditioned for Quiet Riot near the end of Randy’s tenure. They beca... [Read More]
 
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Randy Rhoads: The Kelle Rhoads Interview
Posted by jaso 556 days ago in Player News
Let’s continue our Randy Rhoads celebration by turning to his brother, Kelle Rhoads. Randy and Kelle grew up in the same house, attended the same schools, started a band together, and worked in their ... [Read More]
 
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Randy Rhoads: The Delores Rhoads Interview
Posted by jaso 559 days ago in Player News
Guitarist extraordinaire Randy Rhoads burst into mainstream rock and roll with the release of Ozzy Osbourne’s debut solo album, 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz. His timing was unassailable: This was the height... [Read More]
 
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Jeff Beck: The Fusion Years
Posted by jaso 564 days ago in Player News
For blues-rock guitar playing during the late 1960s, England’s “big three” were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. All three had come to prominence with the Yardbirds, with Beck making his first... [Read More]
 
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Saunders King: On Charlie Christian and Early Electric Guitar
Posted by jaso 566 days ago in Player News
Saunders King was the first “King of the Blues.” More than a sixty years after buying his first Saunders King 78, another King, B.B., still beams at the mention of his name. “Saunders King – I’m a big... [Read More]
 
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“Rollin’ and Tumblin’”: The Story of a Song
Posted by jaso 570 days ago in Player News
Search “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” at www.youtube.com, and more than 300 versions pop up. You’ll find recent performances by Bob Dylan, Jeff Beck and Imogen Heap, Imelda May, Cyndi Lauper, the Carolina Cho... [Read More]
 
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Gregg Allman Interview: My Brother Duane
Posted by jaso 577 days ago in Player News
For most of his life, Duane Allman was inseparable from his brother Gregg. Raised by their widowed mom in Nashville and Daytona Beach, they learned music together and played side-by-side in bands. Aft... [Read More]
 
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Neil Woodward: Michigan’s Troubadour
Posted by jaso 580 days ago in Player News
Neil Woodward looks, sings, and plays like someone straight out of the 1870s. A natural-born storyteller, he’s culled a portion of his extensive repertoire from old books, sheet music, and the musical... [Read More]
 
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John Lee Hooker: The Living Blues Interviews
Posted by jaso 586 days ago in Player News
For sixty years, John Lee Hooker ruled as the world’s baddest boogieman and one of the most idiosyncratic performers in blues history. While he cut more than a hundred albums with some of the finest b... [Read More]