In The Studio

American Black History Month In the Studio

redbeard — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:44:17 +0000

As a boy growing up in the segregated South around Daytona Beach , Florida in the 1950s and early 1960s , the younger of the Allman brothers , Gregg , had a friend named Floyd Miles . “He took me , literally, across the (railroad) tracks of town ,” Gregg told me .” Back then , maybe 1960 , it wasn’t cool to go over to’Black Town’ .You know what I mean? He took me to this combination drugstore-barber shop-7/11 convenience store-record shop. All in one room. And there was this big bin in there full of records , and they were on sale for , I think , like a buck ! And he (Floyd) started going through them , saying ‘ This is Sonny Boy Williamson , and this is Jimmy Reed, this is Otis Redding , this Howlin’ Wolf.’ And the music was gutsy , man , and it had something to hold onto . I just became totally infatuated with it . And every dime I got went to that record store . And I’d set at home learnin’ them licks , learned to play .”

Had the plane carrying Georgia soul singer/writer Otis Redding and several of his band members not plunged into that icy Wisconsin lake in December 1967, it’s highly unlikely that Redding’s Macon-based manager Phil Walden would have been actively looking to develop new , unknown bands in 1969 . Redding was poised to cross over from the soul / r & b world to a wider ( and yes,whiter) mainstream audience at the time of the tragic plane crash , evidenced by his “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” going #1 on the pop charts in early 1968.

Songwriter/organist/singer Gregg Allman and his older brother , guitarist Duane , were at the creative epicenter of the Southern Rock genesis , forming the Allman Brothers Band in March 1969 with a repertoire of blues standards by Muddy Waters , T-Bone Walker , and Willie Dixon – black Americans all . It’s clearly evident that the ABB was integrated from the outset , musically and otherwise ,which continues to this day . While true that the group would soon become augmented with original songs by the 21 year-old Gregg , how ironic that the Southern Rock movement , led by the Allman Brothers Band on Walden’s Capricorn Records , and later often associated with white Dixie flag-waving good ol’ boys , was actually borne from the musical success and misfortune of Otis Redding , a black American . – Redbeard

Fleetwood Mac Lindsey Buckingham

redbeard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:49 +0000

When the reclusive Lindsey Buckingham surprised us with a visit to my Dallas/Ft.Worth radio show in 1992, it was understood that the conversation was in support of his third solo album , Out of the Cradle . But when Buckingham offered up this live performance of his composition “Never Going Back Again” , made famous on the Rumours Fleetwood Mac album 15 years earlier , it signaled that his reticence to discuss those emotionally-charged years had lifted , at least enough to grant the interview found elsewhere in our Classic Rock Interview archive. But true to form , Lindsey made me wait almost another 15 years for that opportunity . -Redbeard

Fleetwood Mac

redbeard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:03 +0000

When California musical duo (and lovers) Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined British blues-rock veteran band Fleetwood Mac, their first collaboration in 1975 (their “white album” ) sold more copies than any previous album in the long history of their label . No one was in any way prepared for this new line-up’s stunning initial success , so you can imagine the in-house anticipation for Fleetwood Mac’s next effort . They had to wait a full year for it , however , as four of the five members were breaking up literally in the studio while Rumours was being recorded . Fleetwood Mac co-founder drummer Mick Fleetwood joins Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks with me In The Studio for the 35th anniversary of one of history’s most popular albums ever at around forty million sold worldwide ( half of that U.S. sales ), an album that Rolling Stone magazine ranks at #25 on their Top 500 All Time list .- Redbeard

Pink Floyd The Wall box set

redbeard — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:00:25 +0000

The keys to the adult theme park…a peek behind the curtain of the Wizard of Oz . Pink Floyd‘s iconic The Wall now gets the “kitchen sink” treatment as an “Immersion” box set , the big enchilada in the band’s multi-tier catalog reissue series .The #4 top-seller of all time in the U.S. at more than 23 million , and that’s a double album . You heard the original album ; possibly were one of the lucky few to have seen the limited live shows following the late 1979 release ; seen the movie starrng a pre-Live Aid knighthood by Bob Geldof ; heard the historic performance of The Wall by composer Roger Waters and superstar guests at the Brandenburg Gate at the fallen Berlin Wall in July 1990 . “What more could there be, Obewan ?” you say . Well , as Roger Waters prepares to tour The Wall concert extravaganza to an arena near you again this year , we will ask Mssrs.Waters , drummer Nick Mason , and guitarist/singer David Gilmour what brought them all together again to perform “Comfortably Numb” at London’s O2 Arena last year . And with them In The Studio for back-to-back weeks , that’s just for starters . -Redbeard

Peter Gabriel So

redbeard — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:57 +0000

As a kid I rarely read comic books,with the exception of the few minutes waiting down at the corner barbershop for a haircut.The concept of a person inexplicably endowed with superhuman powers of strength, speed, flight, sight,or intellect that they could use for either good or evil, seemed just too absurd .The books my parents encouraged me to read about the universe, from deep sea to deep space, were more than sufficiently fantastic for me. And that stuff was real. It was not until stumbling into the broadcast media/entertainment business that I got to witness, up close and personally, individual musicians who have been given enormous powers of influence ,through the modern phenomenon of celebrity, by the very people who they entertain. Case in point is this classic rock interview : 25 years ago, ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel had a cult following after four studio solo albums, with his most significant creation being the ground-breaking “Shock the Monkey” video. But with the May 1986 release of So (#1 UK,#2 U.S., over 5 million sold; 4 Grammy nominations including Album and Record of the Year for the #1 hit “Sledgehammer”), Peter Gabriel was vaulted into international pop stardom with all of its attendant door-opening , barrier-eliminating amenities. Like certain other entertainers who had reached elite status in the fame game, Gabriel chose to use his newly-found powers for good (think Bono, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young) rather than not-so-good (think Kanye West, Charlie Sheen) through several international human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Peter’s own World Music charity WOMAD, and a death row/capital punishment project (watch the film The Exonerated) . In one of the most personal, powerful, thought- provoking interviews ever in the 24-year history of the In The Studio rockumentary series, Peter Gabriel reveals candidly why he agrees with Jesus Christ in the Book of Luke that “to whom much is given, much is required”. -Redbeard

Sting Message in a Bottle

redbeard — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00:56 +0000

This solo performance by Sting (his first ever) of “Message in a Bottle” at the second Amnesty International fundraiser in London 1981 , known as “The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball”, is extremely rare on compact disc , but thankfully many of the stellar performances over the years have been collected now on DVD .”…Love can mend your life, But love can break your heart…” -Redbeard

Sting

redbeard — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000

The Sting box set 25 Years has been distilled into a two-cd Best Of 25 Years which chronicles the singer/songwriter’s post-Police work from 1985′s The Dream of the Blue Turtles on through The Soul Cages in 1991 , Ten Summoner’s Tales in ’93 , Brand New Day at the doorstep of the new millennium , all the way up to the present . In this In The Studio classic rock interview , Sting covers a lot of ground , including paying his dues pre-Police by playing in cabarets and backing stand-up comedians ; the pejorative term “Third World countries” and the “Catch 22″ of developing nations ; the alarming lack of heroes in our society today , and the failure of politicians to provide leadership ; ecology , global warming , and threat of pandemic disease ; how fatherhood changed his relationship with his own father ; losing both parents at the height of international stardom; his favorite pop songwriter ; the Nordic myth that inspired “The Soul Cages” ; and the satisfaction he derives from writing such timeless songs as “Roxanne”, “Message in a Bottle”,”Every Breath You Take”,”King of Pain”, “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”,”Fortress Around Your Heart”,”All This Time”,”If I Ever Lose My Faith in You”,”Fields of Gold”,” and “Brand New Day” .-Redbeard

Watch the Trailer – Texxas Jam ’78 Documentary (2012)

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:00:55 +0000

On July 4th weekend in 1978 , almost 100,000 people crammed into the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX on the hottest day of the decade to watch Van Halen, Heart, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Journey, Eddie Money, Walter Egan, Head East, & Frank Marino . It was one of the first stadium rock shows of this magnitude ever held in the South, and more importantly , it was the first of more than a decade of Texxas Jams to follow . To tell the story in an independent film documentary has been the long odyssey of producer Brian Hedenberg (yes , he was there ) . Against all odds in the worst economy since the Great Depression , Hedenberg has completed his dream and will unveil this thorough telling of the tale by the promoters who imagined it , bankrolleded it , and organized it ; the bands who played the first Texxas Jam that day in 1978 ; and the fans who made rock history . Check out the preview trailer from Texxas Jam ’78 , then look for the debut screenings at upcoming film festivals in Dallas and Austin this Summer . – Redbeard

Julian Lennon Saltwater

redbeard — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:00:11 +0000

John Lennon‘s eldest son Julian Lennon performed the “green” eco-ballad “Saltwater” acoustically Thanksgiving Eve November 1991 live on my radio show in a Far North Dallas pool hall with no stage , no proper monitors, and Jules with an abscessed molar .-Redbeard

(photo: Patti Coghill)

Doors 45th Anniversary

redbeard — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:54:54 +0000

The top 10 list of rock game-changing debut albums is short but breathtaking. Among them : Are You Experienced? , Led Zeppelin 1 , Music from Big Pink , Ramones , Please Please Me , Never Mind the Bollocks . But ever since John Densmore‘s opening snare drum shot through the ether to my little transistor radio tuned to some distant big city Top 40 station, The Doors‘ January 1967 debut took up permanent residence in any such aggregate collection purporting to have transfigured rock’n'roll . Guitarist Robbie Krieger , keyboard/bass pedal player Ray Manzarek , and vocally gifted wildchild Jim Morrison did more to influence the next 45 years of popular music with less ( six studio albums in five years) than just about any band in rock history . Ray Manzarek joins me In The Studio for this “Medium Rare” classic rock interview. Essential stuff .-Redbeard