Rare classic rock interviews by Redbeard from the vast In the Studio archive

Doobie Brothers- Toulouse Street- Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, John Hartman

After a totally forgettable first album, the Doobie Brothers' sophomore effort "Toulouse Street" may just be the strongest second act of the Seventies. In the Studio Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, & John Hartman joined me marking the golden anniversary of "Listen to the Music","Rockin' Down the Highway","Disciple", and the definitive cover of "Jesus is Just All Right".

John Fogerty- Blue Moon Swamp 25th anniversary

John Fogerty talks In the Studio with Redbeard about the Grammy winner ".Blue Moon Swamp" on its twenty-fifth anniversary.

Eddie Money- No Control

Eddie Money was always an effortless interview before his death in September 2019, a real pleasure, because he loved people, he loved to tell stories, and he had a million of 'em. As I prepared dual anniversaries for two of the late Eddie Money's best selling albums, “Eddie Money” debut in October 1977 and the big breakthrough “No Control” five years later in June 1982 forty years ago,  it occurred that one of the less recognized aspects of the brief but all-important Punk Rock trend in the latter half of the Seventies is how it aided and abetted countless upstart bands at the same time which were not necessarily a part of that CBGB Club scene. The late Eddie Money is my guest here In the Studio.

Alan Parsons Project- Eye in the Sky

The real-life backstory inspiration for the Alan Parsons Project's million-seller albums "Turn of a Friendly Card", released in November 1980, and even more successful "Eye in the Sky" in June 1982, is pretty interesting. By the Summer 1982, exactly five years after " I, Robot" , you could just spin the FM radio dial to any album rock or Adult Contemporary radio station in America and hear various songs from the Alan Parsons Project's sixth album, such as the hit title song "Eye in the Sky" or "Psychobabble". Alan Parsons is my guest In the Studio..

Alan Parsons Project- I Robot

Rare classic rock interview with the namesake British recording engineer/producer of the Alan Parsons Project, whose 1977 second album in collaboration with composer the late Eric Woolfson was once  again based on a famous literary work, this time the Isaac Asimov science fiction classic "I, Robot".

Alice Cooper- School’s Out: Best Of pt 2

When it came exploding out of the dashboard radio in May 1972, "School's Out" by Alice Cooper was louder, brasher, with more swagger than anything we'd ever heard on the Top 40. But with the Woodstock Generation inheriting a world of endless Viet Nam War escalation, Richard Nixon landslide re-election, while astronauts golfed on the moon, "School's Out" ominously was a sobering reality check for millions as well. Alice Cooper is my guest In the Studio on the golden anniversary.

Foghat- Lonesome Dave Peverett, Rod Price

It's that first self-titled Foghat album containing their electrified version of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You".. This is a bittersweet edition of In the Studio  as both of my guests, Foghat co-founding guitarist/singer/songwriter Lonesome Dave Peverett and slide guitarist/songwriter Rod Price, have since passed away.

The Cult- Electric 35th Anniversary- Billy Duffy

It was the latter-Eighties, and rolling the streets of Dallas/Ft.Worth at night felt less like a big-block muscle car and just right in a fire-engine red BMW M3, moonroof open, with The Cult Love  cassette alternatelyly jammed in the dash player blasting "She Sells Sanctuary"and "Rain" with the follow up in April 1987, Electric , slamming "Love Removal Machine","Wild Flower", and "Lil Devil". The Cult guitarist/songwriter Billy Duffy is my guest In the Studio.

ZZ TOP- Rio Grande Mud/Tres Hombres- Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard

The all-important transitional second ZZ Top album, "Rio Grande Mud", will focus on the all-around improvements in recording quality and songwriting reflected in such perennials as "Francene", "Just Got Paid", "Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell", and the introduction of "the squank" to guitar vernacular on "KoKo Blue". Squankmaster Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard, and the dearly missed Dusty Hill tell the colorful tales of the earliest days of ZZ Top here In the Studio for "Rio Grande Mud" and the breakthrough third album, "Tres Hombres".

Scorpions- Blackout- Klaus Meine, Rudolph Schenker

‘Blackout”, the March 1982 big breakthrough in the US for the irrepressible Scorpions. Over the decades I've had countless famous musicians claim that rock & roll had become their life ,but only John Kay of Steppenwolf and the members of The Scorpions knew that playing rock music could COST them their lives...

Jo Jo Gunne 50th Anniversary- Jay Ferguson

When artist manager-turned-media mogul David Geffen started his first Los Angeles-based record label Asylum Records, his first signing was Jackson Browne and his third deal was with the Eagles. Who was Geffen's second signing? Hometown heroes Jo Jo Gunne. marking the golden anniversary of that first ( and in songwriting, their best ) 1972 album Jo Jo Gunne, singer/songwrite/pianist Jay Ferguson reveals all kinds of influences when he told me, "If Sly and the Family Stone and Little Feat had a love child, it would have been Jo Jo Gunne!" Here In the Studio Jay tells the innocent tale of "Run Run Run","Shake That Fat","Babylon"," 99 Days","Barstow Blue Eyes", and"Take It Easy".

Bryan Adams- So Far So Good/ So Happy It Hurts

"So Happy It Hurts" is the Canadian rocker's fifteenth (!) studio album, and he's not even old enough to get the Early Bird Special down at Denny's. Adams became a star way back in late 1984 with "Reckless", one of the Eighties' biggest sellers, then in 1991 absolutely crushed it with "Waking Up the Neighbours", an all-time biggest selling album in history. Bryan Adams' seventh studio album, "18 'Til I Die" , was a #1 seller in the UK and Top Five sales internationally. But when  "18 'Til I Die" came out in June 1996, US rock radio programmers decided, in spite of the music actually on the album to the contrary, to brand Bryan Adams a love song balladeer, not rock enough, not alternative enough, not cool enough. Adams finally addresses the issue with tongue firmly in cheek on the song "Kick Ass" from "So Happy It Hurts" with the help of the brilliant British pillar of Python humor, John Cleese, who has been skewering pompous pundits for half a century. Also listen to the infectious "Never Gonna Rain Again" which could be Bryan Adams' next big hit.

Kinks- Sleepwalker- Ray Davies

Ray Davies of The Kinks In the Studio for their late Seventies rock revitalization which started with “Sleepwalker”.

Allman Brothers Band- Eat a Peach- the late Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts

The legendary Allman Brothers Band had officially disbanded even prior to the deaths of drummer Butch Trucks and singer/ organist Gregg Allman in 2017, but to this day I still marvel how it all could have possibly continued for almost half a century after what happened so early on at a critical launching point in the band's career during the making of their fourth album, "Eat a Peach. it was Duane Allman who formed and led the Allman Brothers Band, and behind them an entire new Southern Rock movement. But at the end of October 1971 midway through the recording of what would become Eat a Peach , Duane died riding his beloved motorcycle. Gregg Allman ( who died May 2017 ) and ex-guitarist Dickey Betts reveal how the music sustained the brotherhood.

Jefferson Airplane- Surrealistic Pillow- Grace Slick, the late Marty Balin & Paul Kantner

To carve in three dimensions the zeitgeist of the Summer of Love in 1967 America, you would have to chisel the Jefferson Airplane's second album "Surrealistic Pillow" into any Mt. Rushmore of Rock...Jefferson Airplane co-founder singer/songwriter Marty Balin (who passed away 2018), Grace Slick, and rhythm guitarist/songwriter Paul Kantner,  who died in 2016, joined me for this landmark recording "Surrealistic Pillow" released the first week of February 1967.