Music Makers and Soul Shakers with Steve Dawson

Season 9 comes to a close and I wanted to wrap it up with a short episode and what’s to come, and take care of our incredible end-of-season giveaways. This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars , Audeze , Izotope , FabFilter , and Chase Bliss . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guitarist Andy Reiss joins me on the show today, the last full episode of Season 9! When I first moved to Nashville, I started going to see the Time Jumpers. They are an incredible band that plays western swing and classic country every Monday at 3rd & Lindsley. For quite a few years there, the band included Vince Gill, Paul Franklin, Ranger Doug, 3 incredible fiddle players, Dawn Sears on voc...

Following the passing of blues legend John Hammond, we’re revisiting this conversation with him from the first season of Music Makers and Soul Shakers, with the addition of a later conversation in which John recounts meeting Bo Diddley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British pedal steel guitar legend BJ Cole joins me on the show today. BJ is a masterful steel player - very inventive and textural but with incredible chops and skills as well. He’s amassed an incredible body of solo work over the years, but has also been the top call steel session player in the UK for decades. He had a very solitary musical start, but got into country bands in England and eventua...

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Brent Maher - have a listen to Part 1 from last week first and then dig in! This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars , Audeze , Izotope , FabFilter , and Chase Bliss . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brent Maher joins me on the show today to talk about his incredible career as a producer, engineer and songwriter. This is Part 1 of our conversation, and part 2 will come out a week from today. Brent is one of the few 1st generation of Nashville recording studio icons still active and working in town. Some of his extensive credits including recording “Proud Mary” for Ike & Tina Turner, “Dance...

Eddie Angel joins me on the show today. Eddie is a guitarist, producer, and one of the founding members of the legendary instrumental surf-rock band Los Straitjackets . Eddie grew up in upstate New York, steeped in classic rock ’n’ roll, surf music, and vintage guitar tones, and he’s spent decades helping keep that spirit alive while pushing it into new territory. Eddie was a well respected guitar...

Pat Bergeson joins me on the show this week. Pat is one of those musicians who makes you stop and rethink what’s actually possible on a guitar. And on a harmonica. Pat Bergeson is a true master of touch, tone, and taste, and one of the most deeply musical players you’ll ever hear. Pat’s guitar playing is rooted in the blues, jazz, and country traditions, but it’s always personal, always expressive...

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Dave Jacques - have a listen to Part 1 from last week first and then dig in! This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars , Audeze , Izotope , FabFilter , and Chase Bliss . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bassist Dave Jacques is on the show today. Dave was John Prine’s bass player for nearly thirty years. That’s not just a gig - that’s a musical marriage! That’s knowing when to play, when not to play, when to push a lyric forward, and when to just lay the hell out of the way and let the song do its thing. This will be a 2-part conversation and Part 2 will come out one week from today. If you know J...

Ruthie Foster joins me on the show this week. I first met Ruthie about 20 years ago, when we were both playing at a Canadian folk festival. We had a few workshops together and really hit it off. She’s one of the most incredible singers I’ve ever heard - so powerful and soulful, but also totally open to jamming and opening things up in a cool way. We re-connected this summer at the Vancouver Folk F...

Drummer Gary Craig joins me on this show this week. Gary is an incredible musician who has gained the reputation as one of Canada’s finest studio and live drummers working today. He’s been at it for a long time and has maintained a number of long-term associations with artists like Bruce Cockburn, Anne Murray, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings and Jann Arden. Gary’s attention to detail, combined with...

Singer, songwriter, bandleader and founder of the legendary BR549, Chuck Mead, joins me on the show this week. There’s some people that just have music in their veins and they can do things with it and within it that other people can’t - perfectly naturally with seemingly no effort. Well, Chuck is one of those guys. He just knows music. He understands country music and rock & roll in a deep wa...

Steel guitarist and country music historian Pete Finney joins me on the show this week. I got to know Pete’s playing when I’d go and see Chris’ Scruggs' band The Stone Fox Five out in the parking lot of the East Nashville Legion during Covid. They’d put on a well-distanced weekly show that was my only live music for a couple of years! I loved Pete’s soulful playing and got to learn more about his...

Drummer, composer and bandleader Nate Smith joins me on the show this week. While many people have come to know of Nate’s work through his recent collaborations with Vulfpeck, Brittany Howard, and as a member of the Fearless Flyers, Nate has been playing, touring and honing his craft for decades. His early experience with legendary jazz vocalist Betty Carter led to him being a full-time member of...

Vocalist, songwriter and Grammy Award-winning artist Mike Farris is on the show today. Mike has this incredible new record out called “The Sound Of Muscle Shoals” that he recorded at the legendary Fame Studios with Rodney Hall (the son of Fame founder Rick Hall - the guy who is largely responsible for creating the Muscle Shoals sound that we all know and love). Mike has had an incredible career, f...

Bruce Bouton is an accomplished pedal steel guitarist who has played on an extensive string of massive country albums and singles from the 80’s onward. From his multi-year stint backing up Ricky Skaggs, playing some of the most memorable steel licks of the era, to most of Garth Brooks’ musical output all through the 90’s, Bruce has also appeared on records for Emmylou Harris, Brooks & Dunn, Th...

Tom Hambridge joins me on the show this week. Tom is a Nashville-based drummer, but also an incredibly successful songwriter and producer. Mostly known over the past couple of decades as Buddy Guy’s producer and key songwriter, Tom has had a huge hand in everything the blues legend has released since 2008’s “Skin Deep”. Their partnership has earned them multiple Grammy nominations, and they have t...

This is part 2 of my conversation with the incredible guitarist Kenny Vaughan. This episode picks up right where we left off in Part 1, and we get into some of his guitar and amp preferences, his continued work with Marty Stuart, and his session work in his Nashville years, where he has called home since the 80’s. Kenny doesn’t have a website, but he is active on social media, so you can find him...

One of my absoliute favorite Nashville guitarists, Kenny Vuaghan, joins me on the show today for the first of a 2-part episode where we go deep into his stories about growing up in Colorado, his formative experiences seeing the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix, taking guitar lessons as a youngster from Bill Frisell, and playing a seemingly endless string of country and rock gigs around the local are...

This is part 2 of my conversation with legendary engineer/producer Mark Howard. This episode picks up right where we left off, as we continue discussing sessions with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and get into Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. Be sure to listen to Part 1 first and then dive into this one! Mark doesn’t have a website, but he is quite active on social media, so you can find him there. Enjoy Part 2!...

Season 9 kicks off with an epic 2-part conversation with engineer/producer Mark Howard. Mark has been behind the console for some of the greatest and most sonically interesting albums of the past 40 years - Emmylou Harris “Wrecking Ball”, Dylan’s “Time Out Of Mind”, Willie Nelson’s “Teatro”, Chris Whitley, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Lucinda WIlliams and many more. While he is most often associated wit...

A little bit about what's in store this season, and our incredible giveaway at the end of it. The season kicks off for real next week! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ken Coomer joins me on the podcast today. Ken is a fantastic drummer, producer, and studio owner, as well as one of the few musicians I know that is actually from Nashville! Ken is well-known as the original drummer for Wilco, as well as the last for Uncle Tupelo, bands that literally defined the alt-country genre in the mid-90’s. But before that, Ken came up in the punk and alternative rock scene...

On the show today is singer, songwriter, fiddle player and now producer, Maya DeVitry. Maya is an incredible musician and someone I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with in a number of projects with over the last few years. Originally from Pennsylvania, Maya is known by some for her work with her old band, The Stray Birds, and some from her more recent solo recordings and touring. She has relea...