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Guitar Player Magazine described Omar Dykes – “his guitar playing slices like a freight train pullin’ a load of Texas tone, and his voice has the kind of delivery that could shatter a beer stein.” Dykes has been making music for over 50 years, and he’s showing no sign of slowing down.

2014 was a particularly emotional year for him – he lost four dear friends that had been a part of his career. Using music as his catharsis, he’s created one of his strongest albums to date called the Kitchen Sink. In addition to the new songs, he gives us the origins of the archival tracks on the new disc. Plus, he talks about how being retired is actually helping his songwriting, and the time he met Johnny Cash.

Webb Wilder has been described by 20th Century Guitar Magazine as “a master at scrambling the sounds, songs and threads of country, blues, British rock, rockabilly, and the freedom and emotion of soul music.” We talk to the Mississippi native about his first new record since 2009, Mississippi Moderne, and writing with legendary songsmith Dan Penn.

In Texas, everything is larger than life, and that includes Kinky Friedman, the cigar-smoking, self-proclaimed Jewish cowboy, who first got noticed with his debut album, Sold American from 1973. He toured with Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review, and he’s even been on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. He’s a songwriter, satirist, author, politician, entrepreneur, and animal lover. Yet, it’s been an eternity since Friedman released a new album (Reagan was in his first term).

Well now’s as good a time as any for The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, featuring some Friedman originals, plus his take on songs by Dylan, Johnny Cash & Warren Zevon. There’s even a duet with Willie Nelson. We talk with Friedman about smokin’ with Willie, running for Governor of Texas, and who he thinks would be the perfect ticket for the 2016 Presidential Election. Warning – mature content

It was 60 years ago that James Dean, his star just beginning to rise, died in an auto accident. The crash, and the events surrounding Dean’s death have been shrouded in mystery. Author Keith Elliot Greenberg attempts to put some of those pieces together in a new book, Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: James Dean’s Final Hours, from Applause Books.

We talked with Greenberg back in 2010 about another book Dec 8, 1980, the day John Lennon Died. Greenberg went back to Dean’s hometown to talk with some of his family members and classmates. He also profiles Dean’s mechanic, Rolf Wutherich, who was the passenger who survived the crash, and chronicles the strange circumstances that surrounded Dean’s crashed car.

Legendary vocalist Jon Anderson led the progressive rock band Yes for almost 40 years – his soaring voice can be heard on such classic albums as Fragile, Close to the Edge and 90125. The work he did with that band brought a level of sophistication seldom heard in popular music. Anderson stepped away for a solo career in 2008.

His latest project returns him to a band format – and has been a long time in the works – bringing together two icons of music – Anderson and violinist Jean Luc Ponty – calling themselves the Anderson/Ponty Band – they’re getting ready to release the appropriately titled Better Late Than Never – and our planning a world tour.

We chat with Anderson about why it took so long for this project to finally become a reality. He also talks about the passing of his former bandmate, Yes bassist Chris Squire, and how Yes is still not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Johnny Mathis has spent 60 years singing and recording the music he loves. He’s enjoyed unprecedented worldwide success and his hits have included “Chances Are,” “Wonderful Wonderful,” “Misty,” and “It’s Not For Me to Say.” He’s also been a pioneer at the same time – in ways you might not even realize. For instance, he was the first artist ever to release a Greatest Hits album.

He’s getting ready to celebrate his 80th birthday – and to commemorate, Columbia/Legacy Recordings has put together Johnny Mathis – the Singles, a 4-CD box set that brings together 87 non-LP tracks for the first time in one collection. We talk to the legendary vocalist about making an early career choice between sports and music, befriending basketball legend Bill Russell, working with Mitch Miller, and the stories behind some of his most-beloved songs.

Marshall Crenshaw first gained notoriety with his 1982 debut album which featured the MTV hit “Someday Someway.” A few years back, he came up with a unique way to deliver music to his fans – he set up a subscription service where, beginning in early 2013, he delivered six EP’s over the course of two years on both vinyl and digital downloads. Each EP had a formula – one new song, one cover song, and one reworked cover of an old Crenshaw composition, plus a bonus track.

Well, he completed that project, and now he’s decided to put the best of the series in an album form – hence #392 The EP Collection. We talk to Crenshaw about his thoughts on completing this project, why he decided to cover the Carpenters, and how under-appreciated Bobby Fuller’s music is.

Tommy Keene first gained national attention with his 1983 EP Places That Are Gone, which was a college radio hit, and earned him accolades from the Village Voice, among others. Since then, Tommy has churned out a catalog of excellent albums, collaborated with Rob Pollard of Guided By Voices, and toured with Paul Westerberg, but one thing has remained constant, his gift of melody. Tommy’s just released his 12th full-length is Laugh in the Dark. He definitely wears his influences a little more confidently on his sleeves this time around. He also discusses the great payola scandal of 1986.

Who did the first rock n’ roll song? It’s a discussion that music fans have had for over a half century. Well, it wasn’t Elvis or Bill Haley. A strong case can be made for Lloyd Price who wrote and recorded “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” way back in 1952. That song sent shockwaves through black, and white audiences alike, and started Price down some uncharted territory. A successful black entertainer was hard to find in the early Fifties, and he met up against deplorable discrimination, time and time again, even while he was having hit after hit, with songs like “Personality,” “I’m Gonna Get Married,” and the #1 smash, “Stagger Lee.”

Price chronicles these stories in a very frank autobiography called, “Sumdumhonky” from Cool Titles, He tells some great stories about the origins of both “Stagger Lee,” and “Personality,” and reveals how he helped Little Richard get his start.

We chat with Stony Plain head Holger Peterson about a new Jeff Healey compilation – The Best of the Stony Plain Years. Healey was an amazingly talented musician, best known for his 1989 top five hit “Angel Eyes.” He lost his sight at an early age, picked up the guitar at three, and developed an unique style of playing the instrument on his lap.

The Jeff Healey Band showcased his talents as a searing blues-rock guitarist, releasing a series of albums in the late Eighties and early Nineties. But, as the decade wore on, Jeff became increasingly weary of the trappings of the genre. Amazingly, he switched gears, teaching himself how to play trumpet and immersing himself in traditional jazz of the Twenties & Thirties. Thus began a new chapter in his musical career – he issued a series of classic jazz & blues albums in the 2000’s up until his untimely passing in 2008.

Peterson, who was a longtime friend of Healey’s discusses this new compilation, Healey’s deep love for classic jazz and blues, and other releases he has coming up for Stony Plain.