My best friend Rich Brachold and I met in college and began performing for coeds while the boys played basketball.  We had so much fun, we ditched our after college jobs to begin performing professionally on Cape Cod, Boston and Sugarloaf Ski Resort in Maine.  Rich and I reminisce about the beginning years of attracting girls with guitars and how we got to where we are today, still performing 50+ years later.  Special thanks to Rich for joining me.  

David Craver is a busy man.  He is a performing singer-songwriter, founder of the Open Mic Network (www.openmic.us) and The Swiss String Company (Royal Guitar Strings).  He is also the President of Amped Kids, an organization that gets musical instruments into the hands of foster kids, and two or three other things.

As a follow-up to my recent interview with Washington DC based songwriter/guitarist Mark Austin, here are the songs from his 2004 CD 'Cool Water'.  

Washington D.C. based guitarist/songwriter Mark Austin relates what led up to him opening for the incredible Janis Ian, how he writes his songs, what string brand he uses (and why), and what it was like growing up disliking piano lessons, and how his grandmother came to the rescue.

Nashville-based performing singer-songwriter Jeff Miller uses a looper pedal to create multi-tracked songs live on-stage.  Jeff discusses his equipment, how he uses it and his collaboration with Phil Keaggy.

Ed Haser began his guitar playing at the age of 14 on a cheap beginner guitar that is now history, but he still owns his first good guitar, a Harmony Sovereign jumbo that he bought for $60.  We discuss his journey from the Harmony to a Martin D35, a Martin D28 and to his current favorite, a PRS electro-acoustic.

Washington State based Carl Tosten is a member of the select group of contemporary acoustic guitar super players, adept at open tunings, percussion and tapping.  He is also a performing songwriter and a clinician for Yamaha Guitars and Elixir Strings.  He talks about his passion - acoustic guitars.

David Hanners spent his career as a Pulitzer Prize Winning journalist, but always kept a guitar handy.  David tells us about his journey from the Midwest to Texas, to Kuwait, England & Cyprus and how the journey helped him form his songwriting style.

Baltimore MD based finger-style guitar player Jimmy Stewart was given his first guitar at age six.  After transitioning from a Fender 6-string to an Alvarez-Yairi 9-string until it was stolen, Jimmy took a guitar around the world as a submarine navigator. Retiring after 22-years and getting a position at the Washington DC Sea Command, he decided to take guitar seriously.

Retired Army Colonel Dave 'Kawika' Fiely fell in love with Hawaii on his first tour to Oahu, the moment he stepped off the plane.  The music and culture of Hawaii introduced him to Hawaiian Slack Key guitar.