Singer, guitarist, jug-band pioneer and songster Jim Kweskin joins me on the show today. I can’t tell you how many times I heard Jim’s name before I ever heard his music. To the generation before me, he was a total legend, and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band was very influential to many musicians who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. Jim came up in the Boston/Cambridge area and The Jug Band was legendary around those parts and eventually across America. Old blues, jug and string band music was considered old fashioned at that point in time, and Jim spearheaded its return and kicked off a musical revolution that inspried bands like the Lovon’ Spoonful and The Grateful Dead (don’t forget they started off as a jug band too). With bandmates like Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Bill Keith, Mel Lyman and Fritz Richmond, the Jug Band was signed to a major label, sold thousands of records and toured across the country tirelessly between 1963-1970. They turned countless young musicians on to the music of artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Boy Fuller and the Mississippi Sheiks.

Jim has continued making records and performing under his own name and has just put out a rerally cool album called “Never Too Late”, which is mostly duets with some of his friends on vocals like Maria Muldaur, Meredith Axelrod and many more.

I won’t go too in depth on his bio here because in the interview, he actually had a bio preopared and read it to me, which you’ll hear on the show. It’s a first “written statement” for the podcast! I think you’ll dig that part of the conversation. You can get all the latest info on Jim at jimkweskin.com - Enjoy my conversation with Jim Kweskin!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

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The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Banjo legend Tony Trischka joins me on the show this week. I first saw Tony playing with his band Psychograss back in the 90’s at a bluegrass festival in Vancouver, and have been following Tony’s music ever since. Tony is from Syracuse, and has spent most of his career in the New York area. His early bands included The Down City Ramblers, Country Cooking and Breakfast Special. He also started making really cool solo records in the early 70’s that are pretty out-there in the context of what was going on in those days in bluegrass. Those albums definitely nod to traditional bluegrass, but they are also very progressive and experimental. He did alot of touring and recording with his various projects and collaborations over the years, while continuing to teach and compose (he taught a young upstart named Bela Fleck a thing or two in some lessons). After working to progress the banjo and its role in music through his entire career, Tony suddenly has dropped this amazing new project on us that is as traditional as it gets, and has allowed him to mine the depths of the greatness of Earl Scruggs. The new record is called Earl Jam, and was made after he was given hours and hours of tapes of Earl and John Hartford jamming. Unheard stuff that is like a portal into the brain of the greatest banjo innovator of all time. Tony transcribed a hours of that playing, and those transcriptions are what you hear, along with guests like Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings. So let’s dive into all this history and hear about the new record - you can get all the latest info on Tony and his upcoming gigs at tonytrischka.com - Enjoy my conversation with Tony Trischka!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

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Pedal steel guitarist Rich Hinman joins me on the show today. Rich is a really creative player who has definitely spent a great deal of time with the classic steel guitar cannon, but has very much branched out and developed his own style and voice on the instrument. He has a great flair for improvisation, and his tone and touch are really of the highest calibre. Rich is currently a teacher at Berklee College in Boston in the guitar Department, but continues his work in the studio and on the road. He has had recurring stints with artists like Sara Bareilles, Maren Morris, Molly Tuttle, KD Lang, Tanya Tucker, St. Vincent, Josh Ritter and many more. His current project is an amazing band with guitarist Adam Levy. The two of them go way back, and it shows, as their interplay and group improvisations are really incredible. The band is called Rich Hinman Vs Adam Levy and they have a brand new album out called “Fan Favorites” that you should check out. Rich also put out a solo album recently that is more on the ambient side, but full of inspired playing and compositions as well called “Memorial”. Rich is really active on social media which is how I first ran into his playing, and he also has a cool Patreon thing going on with weekly steel guitar lessons, so check out what he’s up to over in his world at richhinman.com and if you get a chance to see him and Adam Levy, who are out on tour as we speak, don’t miss them. Enjoy my conversation with Rich Hinman!

This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman Amplification

You can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodes

The show’s website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.