This will be fun. I have asked 6 people I respect to name a favorite song. Any genre, any reason. Their picks are a stunning example of why music moves us.
Listen in as I read their stories and play their selection. You will be moved by the songs.
Steve Beck has been involved with music most of his life, from founding a leading musician portal in the early days of the internet, and speaking at SXSW, to releasing three acclaimed albums with his band Needle, and traveling the globe to speak to musicians on behalf of the U.S. State Department.
Needle blends Beck’s low-fi minimalist arrangements with Julie Cornett’s collection of lullabies and symphonic sagas. The duo's most recent release, The Long View, came during the pandemic. They enlisted Dana Colley (Morphine, Twinemen, Vapors of Morphine) to play saxophone on a few tracks, and Kramer (Low, Galaxy 500, Daniel Johnston) mastered the project. The Noise Room is Steve’s home on the web; he wrote or conducted most of its articles and interviews.
Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.
Text adapted from a review in The Guardian.
At 70, Johnny Cash was still defiant and still making country music with a rock 'n' roll attitude when he released American IV: The Man Comes Around in 2002. He was Robert Mitchum with an acoustic guitar. His ill health had merely given his odes to unrepentant bad boys a stinging resonance.
The title track rambles down the road to Armageddon, but this being the Man in Black, it's doubtful he'd be happy in heaven. He savours his role as a murderer in "Sam Hall," spitting with hate while grasping at life. Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" is given a sheen of weariness from someone who has battled his own drug demons, the sharp self-pity smoothed to a blurry mundanity. Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" goes from grand opera to a personal quest for fulfilment. Cash's vocals betray his fragility -- "Bridge Over Troubled Water" sounds like karaoke, Grandad-style -- but he still puts guest stars Don Henley and Nick Cave in the shade with his fury, humour and absolute cool.
Today's special guest on Silver Nine Volt Heart is Greg Anton, drummer and co-founder of the San Francisco musical institution Zero, which began in Marin County in the early 1980s. Zero released more than eight albums from 1987 to 2002 and played more than 1,300 concerts. In addition to Greg, and guitarist Steve Kimock, the musicians who joined in the adventuresome and spirited musical journey were a who's who of the Bay Area live music experience, including John Cipollina, Banana, and legendary Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.
Zero recently released Naught Again, a live album recorded in 1992 at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. The band will return to the venue this fall to celebrate the release and to fire up the epic sounds of Zero in San Francisco 30 years later. We will also talk with Greg about his new album, StarFire.
Neil Nayyar plays 117 musical instruments from around the world.
Chances are if you love a particular type of music, Neil plays it, and he plays it well. Classical, Bollywood, jazz, rock, and sounds from all over the world flow from this musician, but this is not the only amazing thing about him.
Neil’s parents credit much of his ability and love of music to Mozart classics he listened to while still in the womb. However, his talent didn’t surface until he was five years old when he took a drum class and wowed everyone, and this was just the beginning.
A lot of Neil’s talent and abilities as a multi-instrumentalist are natural, but he leaves nothing to chance. In fact, he practices his music six hours each day. The child prodigy is receiving training from 25 musical professionals both locally and internationally.
Neil holds the Assist Foundation’s world record as the youngest person to play all those instruments from all parts of the planet. The Assist Foundation provides a lot of resources for secondary education opportunities for young people around the world.
Telemakus, 22, is an Indian-American composer/pianist/producer/UC Davis student who has worked on numerous projects and recently put out his critically acclaimed album, The New Heritage. Listing Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Butcher Brown as influences, Telemakus aims to delve into the jazz fusion/funk and hip-hop sound. His music is modern, yet pays homage to the past. He grew up listening to jazz and hip-hop, and taught himself to play the piano and make beats.
After honing his craft, he collaborated virtually during the pandemic to finish his album. It was never recorded in a studio, but instead was made through Zoom sessions, with individual parts sent back and forth online. His music, praised on Spotify, Apple Music, BBC 6 Music, Worldwide FM, The New York Times, and more, has amassed more than 2 million streams.
Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.
Listening Lyrics is proud to present Didar Singh Khalsa. He has played guitars for 52 years, but started writing, singing and recording songs only six years ago, inspired by six consecutive trips to the guitar/songwriting camp taught by the amazing Richard Thompson. He claims the muse is relentless and not even very intermittent. Let’s test that theory.
This show will be broadcast over the air and streamed live at KDRT.org.
The Davis Music Festival is back and celebrating its 10th year! The event runs from Friday, June 17, to Sunday, June 19, and hosts 40 bands in three days across six downtown venues. Opening night happens at Sudwerk Brewing, where KDRT will again broadcast live from the kickoff. This year Sudwerk will have two stages, and KDRT will be onsite for interviews and live audio from the north stage with The Big Poppies, Wolf Jett, and Royal Jelly Jive. The live broadcast begins at 5 p.m. Friday on 95.7 FM with audio streaming at kdrt.org. The Davis Music Fest benefits the Davis School Arts Foundation. For more information about all bands, schedules, etc., go to DavisMusicFest.com
Joey Wisgirda (Big Joe Daddy ) has been playing trumpet since the age of 9. He has studied jazz theory and composition with jazz legend John Tchicai, and performed throughout California with a diverse range of players that includes Joe Craven and Rick Montgomery (David Grisman Quintet), Fully Fullwood (Peter Tosh), reggae superstar Alton Ellis, Hamsa Lila, and John Tchicai. He has opened for such acts as John Scofield, Galactic, Charlie Hunter, Bassnectar, Kraddy, and Tipper.
For the past decade, Joey has extended his musical efforts into the computer realm, using soft- and hardware synths, and tying it all together with a Morrison Digital Trumpet (MDT) to morph from jazz and funk to breakbeats and dub. His live performances on Ableton and the MDT are cutting edge.
Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.
Billy Larkin, who lives in Davis, is an award-winning pianist/composer/arranger who has been bringing his individual brand of musical artistry to audiences for over 40 years. He defies easy categorization and helps define true expression through the collaborative process.
From his website: "Following his studies in piano, music theory, and composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Billy worked in New York City as music director for cabarets, and wrote and performed music for the modern dance company Cheryl Wallace Dance Works. He went on to co-found Stone Street Foundation for the Arts in Cincinnati, which received numerous grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts for large-scale original productions featuring dance and live music.
