Interview Performance
Terry Oliver grew up in Southern California and remembers the day his father took him for guitar lessons at RC Allen’s guitar shop in 1964. The famous luthier had dozens of projects in the works including building a hollow body guitar and a banjo. In 1967, Terry’s father requested that Mr. Allen...
Jesse Robinson grew up in Benton, Mississippi, the son of a Holiness Preacher. His father was always very encouraging of Jesse and his music, which was a major source of empowerment for the young bluesman. While still a teenager, Jesse was playing in and around Jackson for Sam Myers and Jimmy King...
Doug Williams heard his father singing as far back as he can remember. As a member of the Big Five gospel group, his father encouraged his children to sing in church. Doug sang with his two older brothers as part of the Williams Brothers, a group that performed and recorded for several decades. In...
Bobby Rush won his first GRAMMY at the age of 83 in 2017, some sixty years after his first professional gig as a bluesman. Beginning in the 1950s, Bobby performed live and recorded in Chicago with such artists as Bo Diddley, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter and Muddy Waters. Moving to...
Jimmy Bruno has had a long and influential career as a jazz guitarist and played with many top performers including Buddy Rich and Joe Beck. Jimmy also wrote several method books for Mel Bay which have inspired and encouraged musicians for decades. Over the years he has also formed long lasting...
Chris Mulkey is a well-respected actor who has appeared on hundreds of movies and television programs dating back to the mid-1970s. Chris is also a passionate music maker who has carried his guitar to most of his movie sets and even incorporated his playing into several movies over the years. Chris...
Andrew York has a powerful way of expressing himself, by using his words and his music. With his articulate delivery, he provides a special insight into the drive of playing and composing the music that is within him. It’s that inner drive that has given all of us works such as “Sunburst,” “Evening...
Ellis Hall is a man of many talents. This singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and composer may have lost his sight at the young age of 18, but he quickly found inspiration by looking to Ray Charles. After moving to Boston at a young age, Ellis started piano lessons despite knowing that...
Little Willie G. sang in one of the most successful bands to come out of East Los Angeles in the early 1960s, Thee Midniters. Willie G (the G stands for Garcia) was always proud of his cultural roots and sang about it on songs such as “Chicano Power,” which was rare at the time. He also scored a...
Harry Bickel has been passionate about the folk songs and bluegrass music of Kentucky since he was a kid. While in college, he took banjo lessons from J.D. Crowe and learned how to repair banjos from Tom Haile, at Shackleton’s music store. When he purchased his home (The Bluegrass Hotel) in 1975,...