On today’s Fretboard Journal Talk Radio Show , we take a look at the guitar scene of Houston, Texas, through the eyes of Eric Danheim of Big Tex Guitars and FJ contributor (and Houston resident) Nate Nakadate. We’ll hear about the legendary vintage gear floating through the city, the towering figures of Houston’s music scene and also about the work that goes into the critically acclaimed Tele-style guitars that Danheim constructs. Grab a bottle of Lone Star and tune in at 1pm Pacific Time (or stream/download it anytime after). -JV
June 26th, 2009
After a brief technical glitch (sorry everyone!), I’m happy to announce that our interview with mandolin great Mike Marshall is now live. Listen to the interview here. Marshall talksa bout mandolins, fan frets, food, the Mandolin Symposium, teaching and, um, food! -JV
June 12th, 2009
While our webmaster updates our home page, we thought we’d spill the beans and alert you to the Fretboard Journal Issue 14 (Summer 2009). In it: lengthy interviews with Warren Haynes, Little Feat’s Fred Tackett, luthier Lynn Dudenbostel, jazz guitar god Marc Ribot, a peek at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, a feature on late mandolin great Paul Buskirk and much more. Subscribers should start seeing the new issue soon and stores will have it within a week or two. But why wait? Subscribe now, contribute to reader supported journalism and we’ll mail it to your home or office at a savings of 20%.
June 9th, 2009
We’re happy to announce that mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall will be this Friday’s guest on the Fretboard Journal’s Talk Radio Show. The page for the show is here. We hope you’ll listen in live at 1pm PST or stream or download it later. And, if you have a question for Mike, feel free to call in or email us and we’ll ask him for you!
Haven’t heard our weekly shows yet? You can listen to some of our archived shows on our BlogTalkRadio page here or via the iTunes Podcast store. Over the last few months we’ve had great conversations with David Lindley, Roland White, John Roderick of the Long Winters and many others.
June 9th, 2009
If you have yet to stream or download our internet-based Talk Radio show, you’re missing out on some great (and free!) interviews with musicians, luthiers and our contributors. Last Friday, we talked at length with Seattle indie rock musician John Roderick of the Long Winters about songwriting, his guitar collection and why he’s become an avid Twitter user. We’ve also recently had great talks with the Cheap Suit Seranders and Roland White. If you love hearing about music and you like the coverage of the magazine, join us or tune in to one of our hour or so long episodes! They usually air on Fridays at around 1pm PST. The show’s home page and archive is here.
June 8th, 2009
Just announced on the Mandolin Cafe, a new tribute album to the late, great Butch Baldassari. The Road Home features a stellar array of musicians, including David Grisman, Tim O’Brien, Steve Kaufman, Mike Compton, Sam Bush and Ricky Skaggs. Best of all, all proceeds go directly to the Baldassari family. Baldassari was a great friend to many (including us at the FJ) and we can’t wait to hear this. - JV
May 19th, 2009
Last Friday, the Fretboard Journal crew recorded the latest installment of their Friday afternoon Talk Radio show. Our guest? Bluegrass legend Roland White. The mandolinist talks about the book he recently published on his late brother Clarence White’s guitar playing, as well as his memories of playing alongside Bill Monroe, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, the Kentucky Colonels and others. Lots of great tales from Roland on growing up in LA, too.
May 12th, 2009
Last Saturday morning, guitarist, songwriter, producer and even actor Stephen Bruton passed away at the age of 60, after a tough fight with throat cancer.
Bruton is a hard guy to sum up. He was a stellar guitarist, of course, but he also wrote some amazing songs. He had a world class gear collection but he’s the last guy I’d call a “guitar collector”—these were merely his tools of the trade. He was equally at home sharing a stadium stage with giants such as Kris Kristofferson or playing to a tiny crowd at Austin’s Saxon Pub with his band the Resentments. And he could rock with the best of them but he would subtly pepper an Americana or blues tune with complex jazz chord progressions he picked up from Ted Greene. He could really do it all.
If you don’t know his music, it’s worth watching a couple of YouTube clips of him, such as this one, or this one. Here’s a young Bruton playing alongside old friend Kris Kristofferson.
I interviewed Bruton at his Austin studio for our Winter 2008 issue. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the interview. Usually as a journalist, you expect to talk to a musician for a couple hours max, get your quotes and interview essentials and then head home to start transcribing. But my Monday morning at Bruton’s place stretched on for hours… I think I was there for over 10 hours! We’d never hung out before but it felt like I was meeting an old friend. He didn’t want to talk about his cancer battle, but he did want to talk to me about guitars, Dumble amps, technique, the guys he’s played alongside, early influences, you name it. Bruton was a great connector, the one human who could hang with Kris Kristofferson or David Grissom; T-Bone Burnett or Geoff Muldaur; Jimmie Dale Gilmore or Bonnie Raitt. He was as quick to reference a conversation with Martin expert Eric Schoenberg as he was electric builder Paul Reed Smith. Everyone he met, it seems, became a lifelong friend.
Though he was obviously struggling health-wise, you could tell he was a fighter and brimming with projects he wanted to get done. From the obit reports I’ve read, it sounds like he was able to at least finish one of those projects; he was in Los Angeles wrapping up work as music producer on buddy Jeff Bridges’ movie Crazy Heart when he passed away.
Latley, we’ve done a bunch of interviews with famous studio guitarists and sidemen. And a recurring theme seems to keep coming up. The guys that get hired the most and respected the most aren’t just good players, they’re good human beings. They’re not jerks, they don’t have attitude, they’re true professionals. And they’re brimming with enthusiasm and an undying love for music. Bruton was all of these things and a lot more. Rest in peace, friend, and thanks for letting me visit your world. –Jason Verlinde
May 11th, 2009
Sorry for the late breaking news, but tune in today at 1pm PST (or stream or download the podcast afterward) and hear the one-and-only David Lindley on Fretboard Journal Talk Radio. Simply go here!
April 17th, 2009
We are pleased to announce the launch of our very own internet radio talk show. The show is hosted by the editors of the Fretboard Journal and will be airing live on Friday’s at 1pm (Pacific time). It’ll also be archived on the web. We hope to feature a wide array of guests, FJ contributors and more. We all love talking about guitars and instruments so this should be entertaining, right? We hope so… if you ever have a good guitar tale or a suggestion for how to improve the show, just drop us a line via the usual channels.
Here’s our first show from today (April 3, 2009), featuring Martin Guitars historian John Woodland (of the North Street Attic blog) and pedal steel guitarist Jon Rauhouse.
April 3rd, 2009
