Out of the Main

Howdy, pardners! John and Tom go west (young men) to explore the final frontier of yacht rock: yacht country! Pull up an empty whiskey barrel, kick up them boots, and listen in, y’all! Things Discussed: The two sub-genres within the sub-genre The history and the possible origin story of yacht country What is Countrypolitan music, and who were the players? The crossovers, in personnel, style, compo...

We covered our take on the best guitar solos of all time in Episode 21.6 , now it’s time to devote a whole yacht rock podcast episode to the best solos of the yacht rock era that were nyacht played on the guitar! Things Discussed: What are the co-hosts listening to these days? Back to Rosanna, and forward Counting down the best instrumental solos of yacht rock, no guitars allowed this time Does sc...

Who better to talk to about the genesis, proliferation and ubiquity of the “foolish” concept in yacht rock song titles and lyrics? Things Discussed: What are the non-musical markers of yachtiness, besides the typical sonic ones? How does the concept of the Trojan Horse apply to yacht rock? Did “What a Fool Believes” kick off the Tomfoolery? Why do so many yacht rock songs (and others from the era)...

It's time to crown a champion! Who will sail on from The Smooth Sixteen to the Finals?! Will it be a Cinderella Story or an Aqua-Blue Blood? Was First Mate John's sealed-envelope prediction correct? John O'Grady from Milwaukee Yacht Rock and the Hot Schyachts joins John and Tom to whittle The Smooth 16 down to the finals! Which song will be crowned the yachtiest of all time? Tune in to find out! W...

Round 2 of the March Yachtness tournament to see who will move on to The Smooth Sixteen! Who are the Cinderella Stories surviving The Round of 32, and which Aqua-Blue Bloods will have their brackets busted? Will Tom have to exercise his veto power? Captain Hugh and The Contessa from Yacht Rockin’ Radio join John and Tom to tackle The Round of 32 and help determine which yachty songs will sail on t...

Part 2 of Round 1 of the 64-song March Yachtness tournament invites guest Jared Correia on the show to help John and Tom determine which yacht rock tune is the yachtiest of all time. Which songs were the “The Fatal Four” — aka, the “first four out?” Who will move on to The Smooth Sixteen? Who are the Cinderella Stories, and which Aqua-Blue Bloods will have their brackets busted? Which co-host will...

It’s March! Time for the 64-song tournament to see which yacht rock tune is the yachtiest of all time! Which songs were the “The Fatal Four” — aka, the “first four out?” Who will move on to The Smooth Sixteen? Who are the Cinderella Stories, and which Aqua-Blue Bloods will have their brackets busted? Which co-host will exercise his one-time veto power? Captain Juan Luv from Yacht Rock Miami joins...

John provides an overview and encapsulation of his second reading of “The Gospel According to Luke,” authored by Toto’s Steve Lukather. The memoir tells the tale of how a group of high school friends formed the band in 1977 and went on to sell more than 40 million records worldwide. “Luke” also lifts the lid on what really went on behind the closed studio doors and shows the unique creative proces...

You know the convention: "You're on a desert island, and you can only pick three..." Well, if you spend enough time on a yacht, this just may become a reality! So to prepare you for the inevitable, John and Tom stump each other on this week's yacht rock podcast with a series of challenges to pick three, and only three, of the complete set. Such as: Pick only three Steely Dan songs to listen to the...

John and Tom scour the sea charts to find yacht rock's best guitar solos of all time. Who made the cut? Who are the true guitar heroes? How many times does Steve Lukather appear on the list? And does Tom really sing "O Sole Mio?" Listen to 22 of the rockin'-est guitar leads of all time. Have a favorite yacht rock guitar solo? Give us your rips on our Facebook page! facebook.com/yachtrockpodcast Th...

It’s back! We’re going back to the mountain, for an all-new yacht rock podcast debating the Mt. Rushmore of albums, sliced three ways: The most significant yacht rock albums of all time The “yachtiest” albums of all time Our favorite yacht rock albums of all time What’s your Mt. Rushmore of yacht rock albums? Give us your mounts on our Facebook page: facebook.com/yachtrockpodcast But first! A quic...

John and Tom are back with another album focus, this time devoting an entire episode of the yacht rock podcast to perhaps Toto’s signature release, Toto IV . From historical significance to track-by-track analysis, listen in as our co-captains take a deep dive into one of the most iconic records from the era. But…is it yacht, or is it not? Where do you put Toto IV in the pantheon of Yacht Rock lor...

Stefan Olofsson and Daniel Anderson from modern yacht group State Cows, out of Sweden, join Tom and John to discuss's yacht rock's inordinate appeal in the Nordic region, especially in Sweden itself. Why is a sound/genre that is some-40 years old, borne a half o' globe away, so popular today in Sweden and the surrounding region? Things Discussed: State Cows' origin story Why this genre, why now? W...

Yacht or Nyacht? Isn’t that everyone’s favorite game to play? How do you objectively determine what’s in a genre that is largely “made up” and only retroactively applied? Well, people have their ways, and there are some certain rules to play by. While we’re not certifiers ourselves, John and Tom do their best to identify the defining boundary beyond which yacht rock becomes nyacht rock. There’s ev...

First we did our Yacht Rock Mt. Rushmore, no holds barred. Then we cleared the board and said, “No repeats! Only one front man, guitarist, etc., allowed.” Now, John and Tom kick off Season 2 of the Yacht Rock Podcast by  erecting their Mt. Rushmores of yacht rock bands…not artists, not duos…bands! Who’s on your Mt. Rushmore of yacht rock bands? Share them on our Facebook page! facebook.com/ya...

Our favorite convention from the late 70s and early 80s: Everything had a Christmas Special! Our yacht rock podcast should be no different! John and Tom scour musicdom for the yachtiest yuletide merriment to bring your season glad “tide”-ings, including songs from the era and modern buried treasures from classic yacht rock artists. Who’s on your yachty list? Tell us tunes, albums and compilations...

On this episode of the yacht rock podcast, John and Tom go deep-sea diving once again, this time in search of buried treasures that are lost in depths of the Yacht Rock blue bounding main. These are songs that perhaps never made it into the top 10 in their heydays, some by artists you might not recognize—and some of them never even charted in the top 40! But there is no questioning their yachty bo...

John and Tom hop in the boat and go exploring…deep-sea diving for deep cuts. “Hidden in Plain Sight” are buried treasures that are performed by acts with deep Yacht Rock catalogues, but songs that, for some reason, are off the map for most yacht rock radio programmers. They won’t be hard to find, as they’re among the artists you already enjoy! Most of them are instantly recognizable but not widely...

Michael Atilano, the founder of the Yacht Rock Facebook group , joins the show to discuss the avid community of yacht rockers who make up a special tribe of aficionados looking to explore the bounding main of yacht rock! Things Discussed: One of the most interesting “origin stories” we’ve ever heard How and why the group is growing so quickly on Facebook What is Yachtical , another of Michael’s Fa...

Jock Bartley (lead guitar, lead vocal) and Mark Andes (bass, vocals), two of the original members of Firefall, join the yacht rock podcast to talk about their first new album in 25 years: "Comet," released December 11, 2020. Listen in as John and Tom discuss the band's origin story, their prolific career and critical/commercial success, and the genesis behind their new album. Famous for popular hi...

You’ve heard of “one-hit wonders,” now let’s revel in “one-BAR wonders” of the Yacht Rock genre! Co-captains Tom and John each share their top 10 lists of their favorite one-bar wonders. What are one-bar wonders, you ask? Those are the songs that, even within the first 5-10 seconds, the moment you hear them, you are instantly transported to the yacht, sipping a boat drink, and relaxing to the chil...

Riffing off the popular Discovery Network show, “How It’s Made,” John and Tom take an “Inside Baseball” — er, Inside YACHT ROCK! — look at the tricks of the trade during the golden age of music production…ya know, before the computers made everything easy on us! All sorts of fun little secrets, as revealed in Steve Lukather's book, “The Gospel According to Luke,” such as: How did they create the “...

If Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald are the captains of the boat, who are the “maidens of the voyage?” John O’Grady, founder of Milwaukee Yacht Rock and creator of the Hot SchYachts, joins the yacht rock podcast to educate fans on the women of yacht rock: who are the stars, who have we missed, and who should we put on our radars that might be off the map? First, the origin stories of Milwauk...

It's time to confess your guilty pleasures! While some may say an admission of an adoration for the Yacht Rock genre could, itself, be a confession of guilty pleasure, John and Tom go where no man has intentionally gone before! Barry Manilow? Olivia Newton John? Neil Sedaka?!!?! Could it be so? Listen in as they each count down their top 10 list of sugary-sweet classics that must be bad for you, b...

John and Tom take a deep dive into one of the most icon rock records of all time, and certainly one of the most classic of the Yacht Rock genre, Steely Dan’s Aja, released in 1977. Some background and historical reference Personnel: Nearly 40 musicians in total, and a veritable who’s-who of the Yacht Rock session musicians of the era The making-of stories, both from YouTube and the VH-1 "Classic A...