Music Makers and Soul Shakers with Steve Dawson

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 interesting history, mostly on the pedal steel guitar, playing for all kinds of country legends - artists like Reba McIntyre, The Judds, Vince Gill, The Chicks, The Monkees and lots more. Pete has a unique style, and while he has clearly absorbed the classic country sounds, he doesn’t sound like anyone else. Pete’s path from the DC area playing almost every night in country bars, to Austin to play with Doug Sahm, to his move to Nashville in the 80’s is an interesting one, and Pete has carved out an incredible career in that time. Lately, Pete has also taken on the role of historian, and had a big hand in producing the Country Music Hall Of Fame’s “Dylan, Cash and The Nashville Cats” exhibit, which was one of the best collections of 60’s and 70’s country music stories, exhibits and paraphernalia ever put on display. Pete is a well loved Nashville icon and plays around town with many different artists. He has no website or social media, so you’ll have to just keep your ear to the ground about where to see himj play if you’re in Nashville, but don’t miss your chance if you get it!Enjoy my conversation with Pete Finney.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.

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 Dave Holland’s group for many years, and carved out a reputation as one of New York’s great up and coming jazz drummers. Nate’s wide range of skills and musical tastes led him to start his own group, Kinfolk, which has recorded 2 spectacular albums. A somewhat random invite led him to become a member of The Fearless Flyers, which exploded on youtube, and has paved the way for Nate’s own set of solo and collaborative videos that are highly original, exciting, and musical. His collaborations with musicians like Charlie Hunter, Cory Wong, Victor Wooten, Carrtoons, and Lionel Loueke are well documented on both album and youtube videos. Nate’s latest project is under his own name, entitled “Live-Action” and is an incredible collection of compositions, improvisations and collaborations with many of his musical partners. Nate will be touring quite a bit over the next while with his band, so be sure to catch them when you can!You can get all the latest info on Nate and all his projects, records and amazing set of videos at natesmithdrums.comEnjoy my conversation with Nate Smith!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.

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, from his early days in the insanely wild and high energy band The Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, Mike honed his skills as an incredible frontman and vocalist, but as we talk about today, he feels like he never really learned to sing until he started making solo records in 2001. Since that time, Mike has continued to evolve as an incredible singer whose voice and delivery pull from soul, gospel, country and rock n roll - and all of them very convincingly, as only someone who has truly lived the life can. His 2014 album “Shine For All The People” won a Grammy award, and Mike has been consistently recording and touring the world for decades. I wanted to hear from Mike about his songwriting, how he captures his voice in the studio, how his travels (which include some incredibly rocky patches) have brought him to where he is today, and how he feels like a bit of a misfit in a world where people love to peg musicians under a certain style. We also get into the nuts and bolts of making his new album, and the legacy that he feels working in such a sacred space with incredible musicians.Mike has quite a few albums out under his own name and the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies albums are also well worth hearing. But do check out the new record “The Sound Of Muscle Shoals” - it’s an incredible listen. You can catch Mike on tour and get all the latest info at mikefarrismusic.comEnjoy my conversation with Mike Farris!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.

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, The Mavericks, Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, and many more. Bruce has incredible skill on the instrument and has found a way to come up with hooky, accessible yet technically skillful parts and solos that have contributed to the success of so many of those recordings. He’s been at this a long time and brings a wealth of experience to sessions and gigs still today. Bruce also made an instructional pedal steel video that is well worth seeking out - I sure found it enlightening when I was starting to play steel. Bruce is still very active around Nashville and we had a chance to hang out at the Henhouse and spend an hour or so talking about lots of his history and path to where he is today.You can get all the current info on Bruce at his website:www.rockinlapsteel.comEnjoy my conversation with Bruce Bouton!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.

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 toured the world many times over. Tom is a solo artist in his own right, releasing 8 albums under his own name over the last 30 years. Aside from his stellar work with Buddy Guy, Tom has fascinating stories about working with artists like Roy Buchanan, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley while he was a top-call bandleader around the Boston area. His other production credits include records for Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood, Joe Louis Walker, Chris “Kingfish” Ingram and many more.Tom’s latest projects and tour dates can all be found at hambridgetunes.comEnjoy my conversation with Tom Hambridge!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.

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 there. Enjoy Part 2!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.

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 area. We get into his move to Nashville in the 80’s which led to many incredible sessions and touring gigs with Patty Loveless and of course his role in Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives, a gig he’s held down for over 24 years. We also discuss the finer points of 1980’s Japan-made Strats, his pickups of choice and other nerdy guitar details.Kenny remains very active these days, continuing on a regular touring schedule with Marty Stuart, but also fronting one of my favorite bands to see around Nashville on a regular basis called The Imperial Blues Hour. Kenny doesn’t have a website, but is active on socials if you want to follow him there. Stay tuned for Part 2 a week from today!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.

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!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.

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 with Daniel Lanois as his engineer, Mark has gone off on his own to become one of the most respected producers in the business. It’s quite a run for yet another kid from Hamilton, Ontario whose career kicked off creating the sonics for The Neville Brothers classic “Yellow Moon” and went on from there. We get into some of his many projects, and talk about some of the interesting locations that he and Lanois set up shop in over the years. There’s some fascinating stories here and quite a few of them I’d never heard before, even as a total music nerd. This was a hefty conversation, so it’s broken into 2 parts. Part 2 will come out 1 week from today.Mark doesn’t have a website, but he is quite active on social media, so you can find him there. Be sure to check out his 2 books and look for the new documentary film about his incredible career. Enjoy Part 1!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.

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.