Music Makers and Soul Shakers with Steve Dawson

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 eventually started gigging and playing sessions. Things changed for BJ when he got called to play steel on Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” in 1971. He laid down some very tasty and memorable steel parts on that hit, and the phone started ringing big time. BJ has played on records and toured with an incredible array of artists like Joan Armatrading, Marc Bolan, KD Lang, Beck, Bjork, Sting, John Cale, Brian Eno and many more.
He’s also always written and recorded his own music and collaborations, which have been all over the place musically and are a great way to delve into his musical brain. There’s a new collab with cellist Emily Burridge - cello and steel duets that’s really cool, and his solo albums like Transparent Music, The New Hovering Dog, Trouble in Paradise - all great albums well worth checking out.
We get into all it, plus some seriously nerdy pedal steel talk.
You can keep up to date on BJ’s latest projects and tours at bjcole.co.uk
Enjoy my conversation with BJ Cole!

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 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 to the Music” by Sly & The Family Stone and “Age of Aquarius” by the 5th dimension, not to mention producing every Judds record. His career began at Fred Foster Sound, which was the studio built by Sam Phillips. He learned and worked for years as an assistant to Bill Porter, one of the greatest engineers of all time. From the early 60’s, they were working on albums for Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Chet Atkins and many more. Brent followed Porter to Las Vegas, where they set up shop and that’s where Brent started his producing and songwriting career, with the first song he ever wrote being recorded by Ike & Tina. Brent eventually moved back to Nashville, where he found the Judds, produced all of their huge records and redefined country music in the 80’s. He was instrumental in bringing the recording scene to Berry Hill, where he helped design and build Creative Workshop and what eventually became Blackbird Studios. Brent continues to work at his studio in Berry Hill today with artists like Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, Taj Mahal, as well as his latest project “Night of the Orphan Train” - which is a musical novel. We get into all of these facets of his stunning career in this 2-part episode.
Enjoy my conversation with Brent Maher!

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.

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 guitarist in the DC rockabilly scene, playing with Tex Rubinowitz and the Bad Boys, and moved to Nashville to work with the Planet Rockers in the 80’s. Sometime in there, he formed a new band that became Los Straitjackets, and put out their first record in 1995. They also donned some luchador masks and have basically never taken them off since. They’ve gone on to record 14 studio albums, and 8 live albums. Their newest album is called “Somos” and is up there with their best work as a band. What started as an instrumental surf outfit quickly became something much bigger, blending rockabilly, garage, country, and cinematic guitar music into a sound that’s unmistakably their own.
Another interesting facet to Eddie’s career is as a collaborator, most notably working with Nick Lowe. The partnership between Lowe and Los Straitjackets has also gone on for years and is something they both continue to explore when the opportunities arise. Collaborations with Deke Dickerson and Eddy Clearwater are also notable projects that are a great example of interesting things coming along when you remain open to ideas.
In this conversation, we talk about Eddie’s early influences, the origins and evolution of Los Straitjackets, and what he’s learned from a lifetime of playing, producing, and collaborating at the highest level.
You can get all the latest info and tour dates for Eddie and Los Straitjackets at: losstraitjackets.com
Enjoy my conversation with Eddie Angel!

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.

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, and always unmistakably his own. He’s been here in Nashville for a number of decades now, and has amassed an impressive list of credits, playing on records for artists like Dolly Parton, John Paul White, Suzy Bogguss, Blake Shelton, Alison Krauss and Lyle Lovett. But Pat has never been one to devote himself to session work, so he’s led a much more rounded life, with tons of live playing and touring, including his current touring gig in Peter Frampton’s band. When I first saw him, it was with the band Les Brers, which was Butch Trucks’ band playing mostly Allman Brothers music, and seeing Pat teamed up with the band’s other guitarist Jack Pearson, was a one-two punch of two of my absolute favorite guitarists in music city!

One of the most meaningful chapters in Pat’s career was his close association with the legendary Chet Atkins. Chet didn’t just admire Pat’s playing - he brought him to Nashville. Pat recorded and performed with Chet, and you can really hear that shared philosophy: musical elegance, deep respect for melody, and an understanding that less can truly be more. Pat played with Chet for years, both on records but also as part of his band that used to have a weekly gig here in Nashville at a little Italian joint downtown.

And then there’s the harmonica.

Pat isn’t just a great guitarist — he’s one of the finest diatonic harmonica players you’ll ever hear. So whether you know him from his work with Chet Atkins, his collaborations with Peter Frampton, his session work, his solo recordings, or his unforgettable harmonica playing, you’re in for a great conversation today.
Enjoy my conversation with Pat Bergeson!

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.