Music Makers And Soul Shakers Podcast With Steve Dawson

My guest this week is the incomparable Nashville recording engineer, Bil Vorndick. I first started seeing Bil's name on albums as I was getting into bluegrass, and he seemed to be the engineer on everything coming out by Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas and the rest of the top players of the time. Bil's artistry as a producer and engineer has helped earn his clients over 45 Grammy nominations that encompass 9 that won (among them Alison Krauss’ very first Grammy). He has worked on many albums during his 40 years in music. These include projects for such other Grammy recipients as Ralph Stanley, Marty Robbins, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Mark O’Connor and jazz bassist Charlie Haden. His credits appear on No. 1 albums in 5 different musical genres. I've had the pleasure of working with Bil a number of times and his easy-going manner, incredible knack with acoustic instruments, and attention to detail make him one of the very best in the business. Enjoy my conversation with Bil Vorndick, and please subscribe to the podc

My guest this week is the legendary rockabilly singer and bandleader, Ronnie Hawkins. I grew up knowing of Ronnie through his electrifying appearance in The Band's "The Last Waltz" movie, but as I learned more about the history, came to realize his importance as an artist in his own right, but also his abilities as a bandleader and talent scout. Like John Mayall did in the British blues scene, Ronnie could find the best players hidden away in remote corners, nurture them and bring them together like he did for one of the greatest bands ever, The Band (known originally as The Hawks)! In 1958 Ronnie released his first hit “Hey, Bo Diddley”. This was followed by "Marylou", which turned Hawkins into a teenage idol. Hawkins, an Arkansas native, started touring in Canada, and with an exploding rockabilly and Rock & Roll scene in Toronto and around more rural Ontario, Ronnie decided to stay. In 1959, Morris Levy signed him to Roulette Records for five years and tried to lure him back to the United States but Hawkin

My guest this week is singer, songwriter and fiddle player Sara Watkins. Watkins debuted in 1989 (at the ripe old age age of 8!!) as a founding member of the progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek along with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. With Nickel Creek, Watkins released five studio albums, won a Grammy and many other awards, and worked with some stellar producers like Allison Krauss and Eric Valentine. At the height of their success, the band decided to go their separate ways (for a while) and in the years of the bands' hiatus, she started recording solo albums, and has made incredible records with the likes of John Paul Jones, Blake Mills and Gabe Witcher. Her new album is called "Young In All The Wrong Ways". It was great to have a chance to sit down and talk about all this and more with her - Enjoy my conversation with Sara Watkins, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is one of the great bluegrass and roots music bassists, Mike Bub. Mike had a long and celebrated stint with the Del McCoury band, the most awarded band in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association, and Mike himself won the award for Bass Player of the Year himself 5 times! While with Del McCoury, the band recorded the seminal album 'The Mountain' with Steve Earle, taking their brand of bluegrass to a whole new audience. Mike is a staple around town here in Nashville, and performs every Monday night at the Station Inn with a killer band. Recent years have seen Mike recording and performing with the likes of Vince Gill, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet, Tim O'Brien, Shawn Camp, Dale Ann Bradley, Ashley Monroe, Chris Scruggs and countless others. We got into all of that, and got to discuss the impact of Roy Huskey Jr. on his bass playing, and a few great John Hartford stories to round it all off! Enjoy my conversation with Mike Bub, and please subscribe to the podcast for fre

My guest this week is the great Texas musician and icon of the recording world, Lloyd Maines. Best known as a pedal steel player, Maines is a multi-instrumentalist who has also performed and/or recorded playing dobro, electric and acoustic guitar, mandolin, lap steel guitar, and banjo. He toured and recorded as a member of the Joe Ely Band and has also played with Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and other Texas musicians. As the father of Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, he was instrumental in bringing the current lineup of bandmates together in 1995, which jump-started their sudden popularity and change in sound. Maines won a Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 2003 as producer of the Dixie Chicks' album, "Home". Enjoy my conversation with Lloyd Maines, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this wee is harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite. Charlie has been one of the most loved and respected harp players from his early days in the clubs of Memphis and Chicago to his extensive solo recording career and his incredible sideman history playing on albums for Tom Waits, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker and so many more. We talked about his playing style, influences, growing up in Memphis, and some of the highlights of a long and incredible career in music. Enjoy my conversation with Charlie Musselwhite and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is the superb fiddle player, steel guitarist, sideman and composer David Mansfield. At age 18, David joined Bob Dylan's band for four years, starting with the legendary touring spectacle "Rolling Thunder Revue". He recorded three albums with Dylan and appears on numerous compilations and live albums, including "Biograph" and "Bob Dylan Live 1975 The Bootleg Series Vol. 5". David went on to form The Alpha Band along with fellow Rolling Thunder Review members T-Bone Burnett and Steve Soles. He later produced the soundtrack for numerous films including "Heaven's Gate" and "Year of the Dragon". Enjoy my conversation with David Mansfield, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is Grammy winning producer and engineer, Oz Fritz. Oz is the man behind many amazing sonic masterpieces, including a number that we hold in high esteem on this show. In particular, John Hammond's "Wicked Grin" and Tom Waits' "Mule Variations". But those 2 faves aside, he has collaborated on over 60 projects with John Zorn and Bill Laswell and has worked on albums for Iggy Pop, The Master Musicians of Joujouka and many more. Oh, and I found out he made a rap album for Hulk Hogan in his early days! We got a chance to talk through all that and more. Enjoy my conversation with Oz Fritz, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is one of the great songwriters of our time - Ron Sexsmith. Ron's career has spanned over 25 years, and from his humble beginnings in the coffee shops and church basements of Toronto, to playing some of the biggest international stages, he's been through it all. His recording career includes about 15 albums under his own name, and his songs have been covered by everyone from Emmylou Harris to Rod Stewart. We got a chance to discuss his long career, his writing process, his brand new album, as well as working on records with producers as diverse as Mitchell Froom, Steve Earle, and Bob Rock. Enjoy my conversation with Ron Sexsmith, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is guitar player Chris "Critter" Eldridge. As a member of Punch Brothers since the band's inception, guitarist Chris Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for much of the past decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Chris Eldridge has worked with a diverse cast of musical luminaries including Paul Simon, John Paul Jones, Julian Lage, Fiona Apple, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, Sara Watkins, Del McCoury and others. Enjoy my conversation with Chris Eldridge, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is the incredibly enigmatic composer, arranger, and record producer Van Dyke Parks. I've had the good fortune of working with Van Dyke on a few projects over the years and his creativity, musicality and sense of humour are absolutely unlike any other human I've ever encountered. Van Dyke has been involved in so many legendary projects, it boggles a mind like mine. He has worked with Ry Cooder on his great early albums, Little Feat (Lowell George was one of his closest friends), not to mention classic recordings by such performers as Phil Ochs, Donovan, Haruomi Hosono, the Byrds, Tim Buckley, Arlo Guthrie, Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright, U2, Joe Henry, Harry Nilsson, not to mention his famously shelved (until 40 years later) collaboration with Brian Wilson on the Beach Boys ill-fated "Smile" album. Oh, and I didn't even mention that he arranged "The Bear Necessities" for The Jungle Book movie - this could go on and on, but I'll stop here so you can get on with it and have a listen f

My guest this week is the legendary session harmonica maestro and multi-instrumentalist, Charlie McCoy. Charlie is perhaps the definitive Nashville session musician, a multi-talented performer best known for his harmonica playing and whose mastery of the instrument virtually defined its role within the context of modern country music. By the mid-'60s, McCoy was a fixture on Elvis Presley's Nashville and Los Angeles sessions, and in 1965, he began working with Bob Dylan, appearing on a string of legendary LPs that included Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and Nashville Skyline. As a result, McCoy became as much in demand among rock and folk artists as he was within the Nashville community and recorded with the likes of Ringo Starr, Al Kooper, Roy Orbison, Simon and Garfunkel, and Gordon Lightfoot. At his peak, he was performing on over 400 sessions annually. Charlie is still very active around Nashville and was generous enough to spend some time talking with me about his incredible

My guest this week is singer and songwriting legend Sylvia Tyson. Tyson started performing professionally in 1959 as one-half of the internationally acclaimed folk duo, Ian and Sylvia. She wrote her first song, which turned out to be one of her most successful ever! “You Were On My Mind” was a hit for Ian and Sylvia in 1962, and three years later it reached number 3 on the Billboard chart for a group called We Five. Through the sixties and early seventies, Ian and Sylvia produced thirteen popular albums and toured extensively in North America and Europe, sharing their manager, Albert Grossman, with such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, The Band, and Janis Joplin. The duo went their separate ways in 1977, and Sylvia went on to have an extensive solo career. Enjoy my conversation with Sylvia Tyson, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is bluegrass guitar legend Norman Blake. Norman's recordings have had a huge impact on me, and I see him as one of the most inspired and quietly influential acoustic musicians of all time. Blake came into view in the late '60s, when he began performing as a sideman with artists such as Johnny Cash, June Carter and Bob Dylan. Norman was also a member of John Hartford's seminal Aero-Plain band. During the '70s, he began a solo career that quickly became one of the most popular and musically adventurous within bluegrass. He continued recording and performing - often with his wife, Nancy - well into the '90s. In recent years he has worked with T-Bone Burnett on soundtracks to "Oh Brother Where Art Thou", "Cold Mountain" and the collaboration between Robert Plant and Allison Krauss "Raising Sand". While Norman has quit touring, he still plays and we are lucky enough to have a brand new album, "Brushwood Songs and Stories" that sees Norman in fine form. Norman was kind enough to discuss all of t

My guest this week is multi-instrumentalist and record producer Steve Berlin. A longtime mainstay of the Los Angeles music scene, Steve Berlin is perhaps best known as a member of Los Lobos, although he is also a sought-after producer and session player. Berlin's production, arranging and session work includes REM, Sheryl Crow, The Replacements, Faith No More, Dave Alvin, John Lee Hooker, The Tragically Hip, Buckwheat Zydeco and  many more. I got to speak with Steve and we discussed his long career, the ins and outs of record production, the legendary 80's roots/punk scene in LA, turning down an "offer he couldn't refuse" from Ray Manzarek, creating the masterpiece "Kiko" and much more. Enjoy my conversation with Steve Berlin, and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!

My guest this week is songwriter and guitarist Dave Alvin. Dave, along with his brother Phil, is a founding member of the Rock n' Roll group The Blasters. The Blasters tore it up on the LA roots/punk scene from the late 70's through the 80's and toured endlessly around the world. Dave went on to join The Knitters and X, as well. He has great stories about growing up in the outskirts of LA, the great scene that evolved there, songwriting, and his lengthy career making a string of excellent solo records. I love Dave's songs and delivery, but he's also a badass guitar player - a rare feature in singer-songwriters! In recent years, Dave has teamed back up with his brother Phil for some great duo recordings. I got to know Dave a few years back when we worked together on a tribute to the Mississippi Sheiks, and he's always been one of the artists that I hold in the highest regard, so he seemed like the perfect guest to kick off Season 2 of the show! Enjoy my conversation with Dave Alvin, and please subscribe to the

A message of welcome to get you all prepped for Season 2 which will begin for real next week!

It's the final episode of Season 1 and I'm signing off in style with my guest this week, the spectacular Bettye LaVette. Bettye has a memory like a steel trap and an engaging and self-deprecating way about hr that makes for great storytelling. Since her first single "My Man - He's a Lovin' Man" in 1962 at age sixteen, Bettye has had a career full of ups and downs, and as she tells it, more downs than ups in the first forty! But in those years she managed to drift on and off Atlantic Records 5 times, and at one point, due to some questionable advice, actually asked legendary producer Jerry Wexler to be let off the label. He handed her $500 and told her she'd need it! Growing up in Detroit, and learning to sing in her parents' living room while they were selling booze to the locals, as well as the touring gospel groups of the day (Sam Cooke used to drop in for refreshments), Bettye developed an incredible voice and a desire to get out and perform. Some early success put her on the road with Ben E King, Clyde Mc

Drummer Jay Bellerose is my guest on the show this week. If your musical taste crosses over with mine at all, Jay is probably the drummer on some of your favorite records of the last 15 years. If you've been following this show, Jay's name has come up many times in other interviews, so it was high-time to drag him in for an episode of his own! Jay's unique approach to drumming, with unorthodox setups and an awesome palette of vintage drums has made him the go-to drummer for producers like T-Bone Burnett and Joe Henry. We talk about his approach to drumming and musicality in the studio, and how he tries to be very selective about the projects he takes on. In fact, he once turned down a gig with David Byrne, only to take his first gig with Joe Henry, opening for David Byrne! Jay has played on albums for BB King, Gregg Allman, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Bettye LaVette, Solomon Burke, Bonnie Raitt and the list goes on and on. Jay and I talked about his early days at Berklee, his long stint with Paula Cole,

My guest this week is the very creative and grooving drummer, John Convertino. Along with Joey Burns, John started Calexico in the mid-90's after a long stint playing and touring with the seminal group, Giant Sand. His work with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand brought him from LA to Tucson, where he's been living for many years, and has helped to develop a creative and nurturing music scene. Calexico has released a series of amazing albums, and John's unique approach to the drums is always a highlight. The group successfully mixes folk, rock, twang, mariachi, and avant-garde music into their sound, and it was great to discuss all of those elements with John, as well as his history playing in his family band, how he met Howe Gelb and started playing in LA, his move to the desert of Tucson, and his experiences recording and working in the studio. Enjoy my conversation with John Convertino and please subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes!