Jeff Floro's All About Guitar

We are honored to have Grammy Award winning guitarist Ed Gerhard on the show this week! Performing on 6-string, 12-string, slide guitar or acoustic Hawaiian lap slide, Ed's playing can also be heard on recordings by Arlo Guthrie, Jorma Kaukonen and in the Ken Burns film "Mark Twain aht "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Along with players like Ben Harper and David Lindley, Gerhard's unique approach to the Weissenborn (an acoustic Hawaiian lap slide guitar) is playing a significant role in reinvigorating interest in this somewhat esoteric but beautiful instrument. So join us as we talk to Ed about his playing, his guitars and his fantastic tone!

Don Alder is an exceptional guitarist. Hailing from Canada, Don has served on the advisory panel for Lee Ritenour's Six String Theory Contest and been a part of Muriel Anderson's All Star Guitar Night Performances, held at the winter NAMM shows in Anaheim. He is a master of acoustic steel string, baritone guitar and harp guitar. Don has won numerous awards in Canada and Internationally for his fingerstyle playing and he joins us here tonight to talk about his tone, technique, his instruments, and his new album, "Armed And Dangerous."

It is truly an honor to welcome back Prescott Niles back to the show! Actually we had him on The FLO Guitar-Enthusiasts and we barely scratched the surface of what this amazing musician can do! Prescott is well known for being the bassist of the band The Knack, and his iconic bass riff for "My Sharona" is known by a lot of musicians over several generations. But there is more to Prescott than that, and that is what we will explore tonight. We will talk to Prescott about, while in the Knack, working with producer Don Was and drummer Terry Bozzio and explore some amazing bass playing on the Knack albums. Also we take a look at life after the Knack, his working with George Harrison, Josie Cotton (featured in the movie Valley Girl), Velvet Turner and Randy California and will play some rare clips of some legendary sessions!! And we will talk about his playing bass for Missing Persons! We will be talking tone, basses and Prescott will be bringing some interesting basses in his collection to show us!!

We all know the 1960's and 1970's was a rich time for music. Some amazing and groundbreaking groups and artists gave us such a varied and brilliant body of work that is has changed music forever. But there was another "golden age" too! The session musicians, the people behind the hits were experiencing a very creative and prosperous period and was just as significant. One of those legendary session men is Don Randi. Don was one of the members of the legendary "Wrecking Crew," a group of session musicians that played on almost all of the hits we know from the 1960's. We talk to Don about what it was like to be an A-list session musician at that time. We will also find out how Don balanced all those sessions and still being able to tour with the Sinatras and others. Don has written a book about his experiences, called "You've Heard These Hands," and we will talk to Don about working with the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, The Sinatras, and the incredible guitarists on those sessions! So get ready for some great stories, behind the scenes, from the road and in the studio!!

You know how it is when everything gets turned around? Well that happens tonight when we talk about "My Sordid Past!" I will be interviewed by guest guitarists and friends Jean-Pierre Durand and Lance Allyn. I have dug into the Floro Archives and pulled some music clips of various sessions that I think you will enjoy! Covering over 40 years of sessions and music, from The Floro Bros. to present day, it will be a night of guitars, amps, tone and stories from the studio and on the road!

My guest this week is Tina Karras. Tina is a classical guitarist and pianist, but is more than that. Pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter, Tina has taken her classical roots and is taking her music into new and exciting directions! Claiming classical influences of Bach, Beethoven and Debussy and rock influences The Beatles, Carly Simon and Fleetwood Mac, I actually hear more progressive influences in her music. So we will explore her unique music, her guitar playing, both electric and acoustic, her tone, technique, and more!

Since 1974, Michael Tobias has been tweaking and tinkering on guitars and basses, eventually he started building instruments, especially basses, and his Tobias basses have been collectible instruments used by a broad range of artists. In 1994, Michael started a new company, Michael Tobias Design, and has taken his instruments to a whole new level. To quote Michael: "The most important thing I learned is that, no matter what the instrument is, it is first and foremost acoustic. If an instrument sounds weak acoustically, adding pickups will just amplify its shortcomings. Throughout my career I have tried to apply this principal to everything I build. By experimenting with different types and combinations of wood, I seek to get the best possible tone from an instrument. And, by using different woods for body and neck, I am able to offer a wide variety of speaking voiced and tonal capabilities." Joining me, in studio, is renowned studio bassist and one of the founders of the phenomenal group Incendio, Liza Carbe. Liza will be showing us her collection of Tobias basses and demonstrate why she loves these instruments. Also joining us will be Jean Pierre Durand, also of Incendio, and extraordinary bassist Anna Sentina. It's a night of lots of low end and some insights into getting some amazing tone!!!

Ben Woods is a world renowned flamenco guitarist, but he is much more than that! Taking the music of Metallica and transcribing it for guitar, he has developed what people are calling "Flametallica" - a new hybrid style of music. Ben is pushing the bar bringing new and exciting repertoire to the flamenco and classical guitar body of music! We will be talking to Ben about his extraordinary technique, the music, his killer tone and more! Joining me as my guest host is another innovator on guitar, Jim Stubblefield, both as a solo artist and in the band Incendio. You will hear some guitar that you have never heard before!!

There are a few artists that really push the boundaries of their art, raise the bar, and take us to new places! Liona Boyd is one of those people! Truly the "First Lady Of Guitar" she has been one of the "A" list classical guitar artists for many years (having studied with Andres Segovia, Eli Kassner, Narciso Yepes, Alirio Diaz and Julian Bream) but she has gone much further. Starting with her breakthrough album "Persona" and continuing even today, Liona has gone beyond the traditional classical guitar repertoire and has explored a mixture of Rock, New Age and classical with such noted artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Chet Atkins, Al DiMeola, Steve Morse, and Roger Whittaker, taking her guitar playing into a multitude of directions. Today, she keeps going further, now also singing and songwriting, giving us a wealth of new repertoire for the guitar! We talk to Liona about her guitar playing, her beautiful tone, the guitars in her life and take a look at some of her music! We also will be talking to her producer, Peter Bond, about recording Liona and explore the creative process between these two brilliant artists!

The Allman Brothers Band. An iconic band, part of the "New South" music happening at the time which had a profound impact on rock and blues music for years to come. Guitarists Duane Allman and Dickey Betts both were perfect examples of great tone and technique. Tonight we delve into that legendary tone! Willie Perkins, who was the tour manager for the band from 1970 to 1984, and Jack Weston, an Allman Brothers memorabilia collector, have put out a book on everything Allman Brothers: "The Allman Brothers Band: Classic Memorabilia 1969-1976" which covers more than just the gear: artwork, patches, all sorts of merchandising and even tickets to the gigs! To help us explore the gear used by the Allman Brothers during their legendary years we are joined by guitar and amp tech Skip Simmons, who was commissioned by Jack Weston to completely restore Dickey Betts original 1964 Bassman amp. Skip is a renowned tech known globally for his expertise, especially on Fender amps. We will hear the story of how Dickey's amp was saved and restored and take a closer look at proper amp restoration and servicing. My guest host is guitarist and tech Don Butler, who is an expert on Marshall amps, having worked on Robin Trower's Marshalls used on his current tour. Don was a guest, previously, on the FLO Guitar-Enthusiasts Radio show. We delve into the Allman Brothers sound and explore the world of amp restoration to boot!