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Doobie Brothers- Minute by Minute- Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, John Hartman

Back when the Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute album was released in December 1978, I wasn't aware of the following Hollywood maxim, but the band's Warner Bros. record label apparently was. A little-known showbiz PR secret to which no one in…

Heart- Dog and Butterfly- Nancy and Ann Wilson

Without sacrificing any of the hard rock cred for which they had so tenaciously fought, Seattle sisters Ann Wilson and kickin' guitarist Nancy Wilson of Heart showed considerable growth and songwriting confidence in 1978 on "Dog and Butterfly"...
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Boston 50th Anniversary- Tom Scholz

When we scored a major coup getting Tom Scholz and Brad Delp  as guests for In the Studio  episode #10 telling the story of the Boston  1976  debut, Scholz had already earned the reputation as the "Howard Hughes of Rock" because of his technical wizardry and notorious reclusiveness.
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Dire Straits- Best pt 2- Mark Knopfler

When the song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits became a worldwide hit in Summer 1985, the album Brothers in Arms spent a stunning nine weeks as the #1-seller in the US in 1985, eventually selling a staggering 26,000,000  copies worldwide. This kind of celebrity could not have happened to a more reluctant rock star than Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, and trust me, there is absolutely no way to prepare for what comes next.

Dire Straits- Best pt 1- Mark Knopfler

Like David Bowie did five years before and Sting would repeat five years later, Dire Straits' October 1980 third release "Making Movies"  is Mark Knopfler's unabashedly "Big Apple" album through the eyes of an Englishman in New York who had grown up an ocean away on Hemingway, Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Bob Dylan.

Eric Clapton- Forever Man- Best pt 1

Eric Clapton In the Studio "Forever Man" career interview. Part one of two.

Steppenwolf- John Kay

Steppenwolf should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if only for, in early 1968, introducing the world to the term and sound "...heavy metal thunder" in the song "Born to Be Wild". That and other iconic songs  "Magic Carpet Ride","The Pusher","Rock Me","Move Over", Hoyt Axton's "Snowblind Friend" were all recorded in rapid succession from 1968 to 1971 by Steppenwolf...led by Communist East Germany-via-Canada exile John Kay (born Joachim Krauledat) whose real life story, as you will hear in this Medium Rare interview, beats any Hollywood back lot fable.

Peter Gabriel- Us, pt 2

Continuing my in-depth classic rock interview with Peter Gabriel in Autumn 1992 on the occasion of the release of his sixth studio album, "Us"pt 2.  This is the conclusion of the career-spanning conversation. -Redbeard
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Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble- 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!

Ted Nugent- Free for All 50th Anniversary

Ted Nugent does a colorful TED talk on "Free for All" fiftieth anniversary!