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Leslie West on Mountain, Woodstock, West Bruce & Laing, Guitars, and Soloing
Posted by jaso 57 days ago in Player News
Even if Leslie West had never sang or played another note after the summer of 1970, his place in rock history would have been assured. The summer before, he’d stunned everyone who saw or heard him wit... [Read More]
 
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Jimmy Rogers on Songwriting, Muddy Waters, and 1950s Chicago Blues
Posted by jaso 100 days ago in Player News
An under-sung hero of the blues, Jimmy Rogers played an essential role in creating the electrified, band-oriented postwar Chicago sound. He was best known for playing guitar in Muddy Waters’ lineups d... [Read More]
 
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Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1979 Interview
Posted by jaso 132 days ago in Player News
To outsiders, Eddie Van Halen seemed to be sitting on top of the world in December 1979. The first two Van Halen albums had gone platinum, the band had just wrapped up a massive world tour, and he’d b... [Read More]
 
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Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1979 Interview
Posted by jaso 132 days ago in Player News
To outsiders, Eddie Van Halen seemed to be sitting on top of the world in December 1979. The first two Van Halen albums had gone platinum, the band had just wrapped up a massive world tour, and he’d b... [Read More]
 
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Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1979 Interview
Posted by jaso 132 days ago in Player News
To outsiders, Eddie Van Halen seemed to be sitting on top of the world in December 1979. The first two Van Halen albums had gone platinum, the band had just wrapped up a massive world tour, and he’d b... [Read More]
 
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Blind Boy Fuller: His Life, Recording Sessions, and Welfare Records
Posted by jaso 154 days ago in Player News
Decades ago, a fellow blues enthusiast sent me a package of official papers related to the life of Fulton Allen, who recorded as Blind Boy Fuller. Written during the 1930s by government officials, soc... [Read More]
 
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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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Willie Dixon on Songwriting, Bass Playing, and the Blues
Posted by jaso 177 days ago in Player News
For four decades, Willie Dixon loomed at the forefront of Chicago blues, working as a bassist, arranger, band leader, producer, talent scout, agent, A&R man, and music publisher. His most enduring... [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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Blind Willie Johnson: His Life and Music
Posted by jaso 205 days ago in Player News
A singing street-corner evangelist, Blind Willie Johnson created some of the most intensely moving records of the 20th century. Void of frivolity or uncertainty, his 78s from the 1920s and ’30s are c.... [Read More]
 
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Mick Taylor on the Rolling Stones, John Mayall, and Playing Guitar
Posted by jaso 219 days ago in Player News
By the time of our 1979 interview, Mick Taylor, master of slide guitar and the poignant solo, had accumulated some of the most stellar credentials imaginable. Thirteen years earlier, just after he’d t... [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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Eric Johnson: The Complete 1982 Interview
Posted by jaso 235 days ago in Player News
Four years before the release of his debut solo album Tones, Eric Johnson and I sat down to do an extensive interview. At the time it was unusual for me to interview a guitarist who didn’t have nation... [Read More]
 
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Keith Richards on Songwriting, Creativity, and the Rolling Stones
Posted by jaso 245 days ago in Player News
For decades rumors have swirled that Keith Richards is a drugged-out burnout one wheeze away from the afterlife. Forget it. Richards is, in fact, charming, resilient, and among rock’s most articulate ... [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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Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1978 Interviews
Posted by jaso 268 days ago in Player News
On July 23, 1978, Van Halen and AC/DC opened the show for the Pat Travers Band, Foreigner, and Aerosmith at the Day on the Green concert at the Oakland Coliseum. Van Halen was midway through their fir... [Read More]
 
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Bert Williams: Star of the Ziegfeld Follies
Posted by jaso 271 days ago in Player News
With the breakup of the famous comedic team of Williams & Walker, Bert Williams quickly came into his own as a solo artist. In 1910, he joined the cast of the world-famous Ziegfeld Follies. During... [Read More]
 
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Bert Williams & George Walker: The First African-American Superstars
Posted by jaso 279 days ago in Player News
In 1893, Bert Williams and George Walker began performing together in minstrel shows. They found that by donning blackface and calling themselves “The Two Real Coons,” they could get booked into bette... [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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Sylvester Weaver: The First Blues Guitarist on Record
Posted by jaso 297 days ago in Player News
Sylvester Weaver and Sara Martin During the early 1920s, OKeh Records called him “The Man with the Talking Guitar” and claimed “he certainly plays ’em strong on his big mean, blue guitar.” Meet Sylves... [Read More]