Redbeard's Blog

Neil Young- After the Goldrush 10-21-86- San Francisco

...on the Crosby Stills Nash sophomore release Déjà Vu, Neil Young only contributed two songs, no doubt saving even stronger material for his own third solo album barely five months later. Entitled After the Goldrush, writer William Ruhlmann calls the title song "...a mystical ballad that featured some of Young's most imaginative lyrics and became one of his most memorable songs."

Live Tracks

Billy Joel-Get It Right the First Time-Nassau LI 12-77

For some reason this song never became memorable to me when the original studio recording was released in Fall 1977 on Billy Joel's The Stranger album. Yet when I remastered the live version from the oft-bootlegged December 1977 concert at…

Stevie Ray Vaughan- Best pt 2

As Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton told me of first experiencing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s extraordinary guitar talent from outside an Austin nightclub , I had to smile . Like Chris , I had not actually seen the young blues guitarist the first time I heard him play live , but the memory is burned into my mind . It was February 4 , 1984 as I was anchoring the live network broadcast interviews of the myriad of performers at the annual Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam backstage at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium . Over ten years the Volunteer Jam had grown into an annual pilgrimage by the biggest names then in American rock music , featuring in one night the Charlie Daniels Band , the Marshall Tucker Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , the Allman Brothers Band, Molly Hatchet , the Outlaws , plus Billy Joel ,Emmylou Harris , and Ted Nugent !

Live Tracks

John Hiatt- Tennessee Plates- 3-93 Dallas

Now that Randy Newman has been inducted, here's my nomination for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the most deserving American songwriter working today: John Hiatt. Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton and B.B.King, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker,…

Classic Rock Interviews

Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Robert Plant Recall Rehearsal

Jimmy Page & Robert Plant recall first rehearsals for Led Zeppelin first public performance 11-9-68 at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm.

Beard's Blog

Ozzy Osbourne on ROCK 103 Memphis 4-28-82

In April 1982, little more than a month after a plane crash had taken the life of his young & talented guitarist Randy Rhoads , Ozzy Osbourne chose my afternoon radio show on Memphis' #1 station , ROCK 103 , to make his first public statements concerning the tragedy.