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The Band 55th Anniversary- Robbie Robertson
Widely viewed along with Bob Dylan, The Byrds, and Gram Parsons as fathers of the Americana musical movement, The Band also may have been one of rock's first alternative groups. In part one of this classic rock interview, main songwriter Robbie Robertson ("The Weight","The Night They Drove Ol'Dixie Down","Up on Cripple Creek","The Shape I'm In") helps me make that case.
Steve Earle- Days Aren’t Long Enough
"Days Aren't Long Enough" by Steve Earle is the 21st century replacement for "Auld Lang Syne", performed live In the Studio in Dallas in 2007 by the former Guitar Town resident and his ex-wife, Allison Moorer.
Neil Young- Harvest
Neil Young delivered "Harvest", his most popular and , perhaps, most influential album in February 1972. Only Bob Dylan's groundbreaking "Nashville Skyline"... the touchstones for the whole Americana musical genre.
Steve Earle- Guitar Town
"Guitar Town " Steve Earle shares here In the Studio for his #1-charting Country debut in March 1986: "I'm a straggler from what was going on in Austin and Nashville in the mid-70s. I had good teachers, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, B.W. Stevenson...when I first got to Nashville on any given night, you could go to Guy's house. And he'd have everybody, from the street level where I was to Mickey Newbury and Neil Young, with the guitar going around. So it was a good place to learn. Then, basically cocaine sort of created a caste system and killed that real fast!"
John Mellencamp- Scarecrow
John Mellencamp's "Scarecrow" album released in August 1985 was loaded with hits, including "Small Town","Lonely Ol' Night", and "R.O.C.K. in the USA". His list of Top 20 hit songs is extensive enough to require the double-disc "Words and Music" compilation, but it was the album tracks starting with Scarecrow's "Minutes to Memories", worthy of inclusion in the great Paul Simon songbook, which revealed his songcraft to me.
Creedence Clearwater Revival- Cosmo’s Factory- John Fogerty
How then do we explain Creedence Clearwater Revival and their five hit albums in three years, leaving the best for July 1970's "Cosmo's Factory" , all written, arranged, produced, and sung solely by John Fogerty fifty years ago? Enjoy my very rare classic rock interview.
Roger McGuinn- Chestnut Mare- Dallas 1991
Roger McGuinn takes requests. We discovered that fact when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legendary leader of The Byrds brought that unmistakable voice and trademark twelve string guitar to my Dallas radio show not long after the release of…
John Mellencamp- Martha Say- Dec 1991
I spent part of my Christmas holiday 1991 in an A-frame cabin with a woodburning stove in the still snow-covered woods among the hills and "hollers" of Central Indiana's Brown County . But we weren't there for skiing or even simply to chill out . Instead , I was there to record the private rehearsal for the upcoming John Mellencamp tour .