Caropop

Mastering engineer Kevin Gray returns to Caropop to break down mono vs. stereo and other issues of sound. Gray has been remastering Blue Note’s acclaimed Tone Poet and Classic Vinyl series, including separate mono and stereo releases of John Coltrane’s Blue Train . Which does Gray prefer and why? Are there time periods when mono is likely to be superior to stereo and vice versa? How are the rules...

Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard played herself on TV’s Ally McBeal , performing at the characters’ favorite piano bar, and she co-wrote and sang the show’s theme song, “Searchin’ My Soul.” But even with multiple Ally McBeal -tie-in albums, there’s been much more to Shepard’s career than the show. She performed her first gig as a 14-year-old, toured in Rickie Lee Jones’ band and duetted with Dan Hi...

Guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter was an original Steely Dan member who played on the band's indelible first three albums: Can’t Buy a Thrill , Countdown to Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic. Those are his memorable solos on “My Old School” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” When Steely Dan quit touring, he found more success with the Doobie Brothers and eventually brought in singer Michael McDonald, who pus...

Nora Dunn is a smart, funny, very talented actor and writer who has put up with much bad behavior and isn’t afraid to call it out. Despite all of her excellent work that followed, she feels like she’ll always be associated with Saturday Night Live . She and Jan Hooks were the lounge-singing Sweeney Sisters, she played talk-show host Pat Stevens, and she famously boycotted an episode hosted by come...

Kelly Hogan is fantastic singer who sounds equally at home singing lead or providing sublime harmonies with Mavis Staples, Neko Case, the Decemberists and her fellow members of the Flat Five. She delivered a torchy jazz-twang-rock hybrid with the Jody Grind, her early ’90s band from Atlanta’s Cabbagetown neighborhood, before moving to Chicago and proving in many contexts that she can sing anything...

Soul singer Bettye LaVette has had an epic career. She recorded her first single "My Man — He's a Lovin' Man" as a 16-year-old Detroiter in 1962, and its success put her on tour with Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter and a young Otis Redding. Yet it was another 20 years before her first album was released and another 20 years before her career finally caught fire and the accolades and Grammy nomination...

Please enjoy this brief Happy Thanksgiving message from the Caropop team, plus a countdown of the Top 10 most downloaded episodes and a preview of next week's guest. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks, everybody!

Drummer Stan Demeski has held down the crazy rhythms of the Feelies for four decades, with a stint in the alt-rock supergroup Luna in between. He replaced the late Anton Fier in the Feelies and played in the related bands the Trypes, Yung Wu and the Willies before appearing on his first Feelies album, the classic The Good Earth . Demeski takes us inside the idiosyncrasies and dynamics of this prop...

As Part 2 of this Caropop conversation with this astute producer/label owner begins, Fairport Convention has reached its peak, but lead singer Sandy Denny is suddenly out. Did she jump or was she pushed? We also hear about Boyd’s Hollywood stint, the story of how "Dueling Banjos" became a fluke hit and his role in Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace film and why it sat on the shelf for decades. Then t...

When Joe Boyd moved to London in the mid-‘60s, he had no idea how he’d change the music world. He opened the soon-to-be-legendary underground UFO Club and produced the first single by its house band, Pink Floyd. He also produced Fairport Convention, which rebounded from a tragic crash and basically invented British folk rock; the Incredible String Band, whose Woodstock appearance remains Boyd’s bi...

If all Klaus Voormann had done was design the cover of the Beatles’ Revolver , his place in rock history would be secure. The band needed artwork to match their bold musical leap forward, and he delivered striking black-and-white line drawings of his friends, with photos woven through their flowing hair. He recalls hearing the mind-blowing new music in the studio and struggling to draw one particu...

Dave Davies is constantly searching for answers beyond ordinary human comprehension, so a conversation with the trailblazing Kinks guitarist isn’t just a chance to geek out on music questions. We dig into the band's past, present and future, including the songs he wrote (“Death of a Clown,” “Strangers”…), the indelible harmonies he sang and the new box set showcasing Muswell Hillbillies and Everyb...

Glam band Slade ruled England in the early 1970s, with six No. 1 singles, including “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” “Cum on Feel the Noize” and “Merry Xmas Everybody.” Drummer Don Powell supplied the stomping beat but in 1973 was in a horrific car crash that killed his girlfriend and left him seriously injured and with amnesia. He returned to the band within two months. Powell takes us through Slade’s...

From the Young Fresh Fellows through the Minus 5, the Baseball Project and many more, Scott McCaughey has been in a lot of bands. He also played with R.E.M. for years and has collaborated with Wilco and others who love working with him. In late 2017 he suffered a stroke, landed in the ICU and worked his way back to the stage within months amid an outpouring of affection and support. How did Peter...

To cap a year’s worth of Caropop episodes, we’ve got an original Beach Boy, Al Jardine. He provided perfect harmonies to this band of brothers and a cousin; he sang lead on “Help Me, Rhonda,” “I Know There’s an Answer,” “Vegetables” and “Cotton Fields”; and he brought in “Sloop John B” and wrote "California Saga/California." At 80 and still sounding great, Jardine tours with his own Endless Summer...

Welcome to pub rock! Brinsley Schwarz is the namesake of the band Brinsley Schwarz and guitarist for Graham Parker and the Rumour. The band Brinsley Schwarz, which featured songs written and sung by his schoolmate, Nick Lowe, began with a burst of bad publicity—which he recounts blow by blow—but flourished as the quintessential British pub-rock band. Yet not even Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Pe...

Drummer Steve Goulding has brought his crisp, distinct style to more great songs than you may realize. As a member of Graham Parker and the Rumour, he played on Howlin’ Wind through the classic Squeezing Out Sparks . He demonstrated his reggae chops on Elvis Costello’s “Watching the Detectives” and powered Nick Lowe’s Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop for Now People while earning a songwriting credit on “I L...

Steve Wynn is singer-songwriter-guitarist for the Dream Syndicate and the Baseball Project, with a prolific solo career thrown in there as well. He’s also one of the most thoughtful people in the rock world, someone who was saved from journalism by discovering punk rock yet has retained his searching spirit when it comes to making music. He takes us back to the Paisley Underground and the creation...

Despite some identifiable influences (Velvets, Modern Lovers, Eno…), the Feelies are a band like no other. Their sound is crisp, their playing precise and explosive, their songs indelible in an often-mysterious way. Glenn Mercer and Bill Million provide the jittery, chiming guitars, while Brenda Sauter delivers melodic bass lines amid the propulsive thunder of Stan Demeski's drums and Dave Weckerm...

Pylon lead singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay never thought she’d still be talking about—and singing the songs of—this brilliant, groundbreaking Athens, Ga., band more than 40 years after it began recording. Appearing on the scene between the B-52’s and R.E.M., Pylon was conceived as a sort of art project by University of Georgia students who took inspiration from the textile factory where three of them w...

Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock brought the beat to “We Got the Beat” and elevated that band with her powerful, disciplined attack. She was hooked on muscular rock with her first concert, a one-time-only double bill of the Who and Led Zeppelin. After touring behind a star of John Waters' Pink Flamingos, Schock joined the Go-Go's, and that band took off. How did her fierce work ethic go over with her b...

When drummer Gilson Lavis joined Squeeze, he became the band’s most experienced musician, having previously played with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Dolly Parton. Starting with the gallop of Squeeze’s debut single, “Take Me I’m Yours,” he powered such undeniable Glenn Tilbrook/Chris Difford songs as “Up the Junction,” “Cool for Cats,” “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell),” “Another Nail in My Hea...

If you’re a fan of Philadelphia soul, you’ve enjoyed the work of Dexter Wansel. He wrote for and produced such Philadelphia International artists as Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, Patti LaBelle, Teddy Pendergrass and the Jacksons, and he conducted and played with MFSB, whose “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” was the “Soul Train” theme but wasn't called that for a reason he explains. As a kid working at P...

Drummer Freda Love Smith recently hung up her sticks after a long career playing in bands from Blake Babies to Antenna, Mysteries of Life and the Sunshine Boys. She also wrote Red Velvet Underground , a perfectly titled memoir that covers her rock ‘n’ roll life and her passion for cooking. Here she reflects on growing up in Bloomington, Indiana, and teaming up with John Strohm and, later in Boston...

Drummer Linda Pitmon brings her abundance of power, groove and talent to the supergroups the Baseball Project and Filthy Friends plus other bands. Growing up in Minneapolis, she banged on Tupperware to replicate the fills of her favorite songs. She had indie success with Zuzu’s Petals, then moved to New York, where she connected musically and personally with Steve Wynn, now her husband. She tells...