Music Maps Podcast

This week we hear the story of the classic Graceland by Paul Simon. It started with a cassette titled Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits, Volume II, which is given to Paul Simon in the Summer of 1984. He plays it on drive to Montauk, New York where he is renovating a house with his then wife Carrie Fisher. Paul Simon is coming off the 1983 album Hearts & Bones & was looking for a new direction...

Jimmy McDonough joins us this week to tell us about his new book Gary Stewart: I Am From The Honky Tonks. The book is available in the UK & also in the US . While not a household name Gary Stewart became a hugely influential singer described as ‘too country for country and too rock for rock’. Jimmy developed a relationship with the Stewart family over a long period, enabling this book to come...

Roy Boulter joins us to talk about his time in The Farm & also his new film Algorithm Party starring PJ Smith, which marks Roy’s directorial debut. The idea came from a football game, Roy’s band The Farm had played an informal football game on Fridays in Birkenhead for over 20 years. One day PJ Smith turned up to play & Roy later found out. Algorithm Party was filmed in St. Georges Hall in...

This week we present an episode in 2 parts - in part 1 we welcome Holly Buckler daughter of The Jam drummer Rick Buckler. Holly has organised a tribute gig to her Dad who passed away in February 2025. The gig will take place at Woking Theatre on October 12th 2026 & you can buy any remaining tickets here . The gig is in aid of the Same Beare Hospice in Woking. The lineup includes: A Band Called...

Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne is our focus this week as Keith Kahn-Harris joins us to mark the release of his book The Beautiful Death of Ozzy Osborne - How Metal Teaches Us To Live. Out now in the US & the UK . Our journey starts in Aston, a suburb of Birmingham where a young Ozzy Osbourne grows up. His first band is the Pulka Tulk Blues Band who gig around the established circuit before...

Join us to go back 25 years to the release of The Strokes debut album Is This It.  Steven’s new book Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes is out now in the US & also here in the UK.  The story begins when future Stroke frontman Julian Casablancas meets future bassist Nikolai Fraiture meet as kids.  They hold a shared interest in music as they grow up before...

Marco Pirroni joins us to talk us through his huge success with Adam & The Ants - Marco’s new book Your Money Or Your Life is out now.  It all starts with a note through Marco’s door which simply says ‘Call Me, Adam’.  The next day Marco & Adam Ant meet & before long they are recording together at Rockfield Studios.  Drummers Chris Hughes, Terry Lee & bassist Kevin M...

Tony Fletcher joins us to talk about his new book POW!: When UK Punk Went Pop, 1980-84 . Starting with his Jammin’ fanzine at age 13, by the time he is 14 Tony writes a letter to Paul Weller & receives a reply.  He is invited to RAK Studios in London whereThe Jam are making what becomes All Mod Cons. He begins a relationship with The Jam & amongst other tales nearly ends up with the f...

Elliott Smith is our focus this week & we are joined by Jamie Fisher whose new book - Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith is out now in the UK & the US .  What differentiates Jamie’s book from others about Elliott Smith is the people who she spoke to when writing it - the Smith family were involved & talked to her at length.  Elliot Smith’s formati...

Our first episode focusing on Crosby, Stills Nash & Young with Rolling Stone’s David Browne. David’s book is out now or on audio if you prefer.  David also has a regularly updated substack you can subscribe to with lots of his music writing.  CSNY comes together after David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash all leave their previous bands (Crosby from The Byrds, Stills from Buf...

In the early 1970s the music scene is dominated by prog rock concept pieces, synth solos & overblown tours.  The societal backdrop in Great Britain is one of labour & coal strikes, riding inflation & unemployment & a struggling economy.  In the background of this upheaval an American band named Eggs Over Easy begin to play gigs at The Tally-Ho in Kentish Town in North Lon...

Our first episode about Jimi Hendrix & we are joined by Jimi’s former roadie Eric Barrett.  Eric ran into Mitch Mitchell & Noel Redding, bassist & drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience in a club & received a phone call shortly after asking him to fly to Milan to work his first gig with Jimi.  Eric had met them on a previous tour working for a band named The Koobas who ha...

This week we take a deep dive into the AOR scene of the 1980s, re-appraising some often overlooked bands & music.  We start with the story of Boston, where an MIT graduate named Tom Scholz spends 7 years practicing & making demos before coming up with ‘More Than a Feeling’ & achieving huge success.  Meanwhile Ann & Nancy Wilson form the female fronted band Heart - scoring...

Join us for a deep dive into Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska with writer Warren Zanes, author of Deliver Me From Nowhere which was recently made into a Hollywood movie.  In late 1981 Bruce Springsteen is coming off his biggest success to date with The River album & tour plus his first hit single, Hungry Heart.  But rather than offer more of the same Springsteen offers a curveball - a qu...

We are joined by author Rachel Brodsky to talk about the life & career of Stevie Nicks. Rachel’s new book Lessons & Lace is out now.  Stevie Nicks was born in Phoenix & moved around a lot as a child, finally settling in Los Angeles.  Her grandfather AJ Nicks was a country singer who would take her to saloons her played in as a child.  She grew up listening to the likes o...

Simon Reynolds joins us to talk about his new book Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984–1994.  Against a backdrop of Margaret Thatcher’s third term in Downing Street & Stock, Aitken & Waterman’s domination of the pop charts a new scene begins to emerge.  Starting with the Cocteau Twins & developing to include My Bloody Valentine & more, a...

Join us for a live recording with Debsey Wykes about her book Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band.  Debsey’s early musical experiences were centred around Cambridge & her early interests included The Bay City Rollers, Queen & David Bowie.  Punk arrived soon after & her tastes developed into The Damned, The Jam & The Stranglers.  Her & a couple o...

We welcome legendary music writer Peter Guralnick as we take a deep dive into the fascinating relationship between Elvis Presley & his manager Colonel Tom Parker.  Peter first gained access to Parker’s archives in the mid 1990s & what he found may change your view of Tom Parker & his relationship with Elvis. Parker was born in Breda, Holland in 1909 & came to the US in 1926, r...

An episode we have wanted to bring you since before we recorded our first episode - the birth of British rock & roll with 2 legendary drummers, Brian Bennett from The Shadows & Clem Cattini of The Tornados.  It starts at the 2i’s Coffee Bar at 59 Old Compton Street, Soho in London.  Opened by 2 Iranian brothers (hence the name) the coffee bar is taken over by 2 professional wrest...

We turn our attention to one of the most influential bands of all time, The Velvet Underground for the first time with biographer Richie Unterberger.  Lou Reed grew up in suburban Freeport, Long Island listening to the first wave of rock & roll.  Later at Syracuse University Reed began to write future Velvet Underground tracks including Heroin & I’m Waiting For The Man, while the...

Join us & Paul Morley to hear all about Yoko Ono & the Avant-Garde Diaspora.  We hear about her early years in Tokyo, born into an almost aristocratic background via her banker father, before her eventual relocation to New York to enter the art world. Once in New York Yoko goes on to create numerous significant works of art including Cut Piece & Grapefruit before meeting John Lenn...

Join us for a deep dive into an iconic gig venue, the legendary Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom.  The building was first opened by Maggie McIver on Christmas Eve 1934 & hosts dances for the East End of Glasgow for decades, however once the big band era passes the venue begins to decline & loses popularity following the infamous Bible John murders in the late 1960s.  After a brief per...

So today we take a deep dive into the early life of Ringo Starr, how he joined the Beatles & their subsequent unprecedented success.  After overcoming various serious Illnesses as a child, a young Ringo first develops an interest in drumming while in hospital recovering.  His first arrives courtesy of stepfather Harry Graves & before long Ringo is drumming in skiffle bands around...

Join us for a very special live episode to mark the release of Dreaming Of You - The Making of the Coral - the new documentary available now to rent or buy.  Our starting point is the faded seaside town of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula near Liverpool, where The Coral meet & come together to form the band.  Before music James & Ian Skelly live in a fantasy world of Ghostbusters...

Altman John’s Uncles Sid Phillips & Wolf Phillips were big band conductors at the London Palladium so John grew up around the likes of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong & Jack Benny. At a young age he played with the likes of Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Bridget St. John & Kevin Ayers. He joined Hot Chocolate & also found time to jam with Jimi He...