Rock 'n' Roll Grad School

Jay Jay French has learned a lot in his musical life. And, it turns out, the lessons are applicable in the board room as well as the stage. Twisted Business is Jay Jay's brutally honest and open guide to what he's learned in his life and how using these lessons can help anyone. 

Twisted Business is available wherever you get books. Check out Jay Jay's website for more info.

This week, we talk with the great singer/songwriter Dar Williams. Her new album, I'll Meet You Here is available this Friday, October 1st. We had a great conversation about her work, how she got through the pandemic and her friendship with Pete Seeger.

For tour information and to get a copy of her new album, check out her website.

-This week is about soul, as we sit down with Neal Sugarman. You may know him as a member of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. You may know him from his playing on records by Amy Winehouse. Or maybe you heard this one song he played on- "Uptown Funk?"

No matter how you know him, Neal is a fascinating guy; on top of his playing, he's been spreading the soul music around as the co-owner of Dap-Tone Records. They have a new album out celebrating the 20th anniversary of their inception. For more information, check out the Dap-Tone website.

Guitarist Keith Howland has been playing in the legendary band Chicago for over 25 years and it's been a journey that's taken him all over the world, and allowed him to play with some great musicians every night. We talked with Keith about Chicago's new tour, which just got started, how you claim your bunk on the tour bus, and the perils of hotel fire drills.

For more information on Keith and the band, and to see when they'll be playing near you, check out Chicago's website.

Kurt Deimer is the living embodiment of the idea that you should never give up on your dreams and you are never too old to rock n roll. We talked with Kurt prior to his heading out on tour with Phil X on guitar (and opening for Geoff Tate). The tour starts tonight! For more information & tour dates check out Kurt's website.

Alyssa Coco and Matt Merritt (better known as Roses & Revolutions) have been making music together for years now. On top of their own work, they're also collaborators with names you know. We talked with Alyssa and Matt from their new home recording studio in anticipation of their new EP Midnight Monsters, which is available October 1st.  For more information, check out their website.

This week, we talked with music and film critic Lesley Chow about her new book, "You're History: The 12 Strangest Women in Music." Why don't women get the acknowledgement they deserve for their work? And why is pop music so overlooked.

And, of course, we pay tribute to the great Charlie Watts.

For more information on Lesley, check her out on Twitter.

With melodies and harmonies evoking some of the best writers in pop music, Peter Block and his band Porter Block have been telling stories about the not-so-simple aspects of life in what you might call ‘middle-aged symphonies to God.’ Porter Block’s new record, Cleaning Up the Living Room is available now. For more information, check them out on Facebook.

This week, we got to talk with the great Arthur Hanlon about his new album, which is also a new special on HBO Max. Piano y Mujer is a celebration of latin music, as Arthur teams up with producer Motiff and five of the best female singers to reinterpret some classics. (We also got Arthur to play for us a little... always a nice bonus.)

For more information, check out Atrhur's website.

This week we're heading on down to the drive-in with John Brennan. John's best known for his role as the music guy on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs, but he's written far more music than one show can contain. (But it's all great for your run-on-the-mill mutant.)  On top of his work with Troma, John's got a solo album that just came out called, 'No Offense, None Taken.' He also has a record collecting all of his music from The Last Drive-In (with a wonderful cover).

For more information, check out John's website. And to order a copy, check out the Ship-to-Shore website.