The Young Fables (TYF) create music with storytelling weaved into Americana roots music with pop sensibilities. East Tennessee (Maryville) natives, Laurel Wright and Wes Lunsford are influenced by timeless treasures like Patsy Cline, Bonnie Raitt, Glen Campbell and Chet Atkins. The duo’s unique sound has resonated with audiences around the globe as live performances have become stages from which The Young Fables discuss themes and topics typically saved for the therapy couch. Strong advocates for mental health awareness, The Young Fables are focused on helping to erase the stigmas surrounding ..read more

Lee and Billy welcome Danny McCluskey, Co-owner of The Alternate Root, Desert Roots Music and a thirty-year-plus veteran of the music industry. From 1979 to 1985 he wrote and developed radio shows, developed programming and organized the yearly local music event ‘The Rock and Roll Rumble’ for legendary radio station WBCN in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1985, Danny joined Atlantic Records, handling services for Island and Virgin Records when under the Atlantic umbrella, as promotion manager for the Boston / New England region where he remained until 1990. Moving on to San Francisco in 1990, Danny ..read more

Amelia White’s reputation as one of Nashville’s most captivating singer songwriters has increased substantially with each and every new release. And for good reason. Assured and emotive, White’s songs come across with an authority and determination that gets straight to the heart of her sentiment and intents. Her new album, Love I Swore, offers a discourse  revolving around bracing emotional issues — the struggle to maintain core relationships, dealing with loss and loneliness, and, in particular, the difficulties and diversions encountered by road-weary musicians. Taken in tandem Love I ..read more

Despite a storied career that found him firmly at the helm of the highly acclaimed East Tennessee-based band The Black Lillies, and prior to that, the primary back-up for singer Robinella, Cruz Contreras, in effect starting anew. His debut solo album Cosmico, finds him stepping out on his own and taking his music into a decidedly new direction. Borne from a personal perspective that is, by turns, both ethereal and emphatic, music conveyed through tone, texture and melodies that immediately crawl under the skin and then linger there in a perpetual haze. In this episode Cruz sits down with Lee Z ..read more

Despite a storied career that found him firmly at the helm of the highly acclaimed East Tennessee-based band The Black Lillies, and prior to that, the primary back-up for singer Robinella, Cruz Contreras, in effect starting anew. His debut solo album Cosmico, finds him stepping out on his own and taking his music into a decidedly new direction. Borne from a personal perspective that is, by turns, both ethereal and emphatic, music conveyed through tone, texture and melodies that immediately crawl under the skin and then linger there in a perpetual haze. In this episode Cruz sits down with Lee Z ..read more

Within a year after getting his first guitar donated by his sister’s boyfriend, Jimmy Gilmer of Sugar Shack fame, Jim Parker was playing in a band and later became a founding member of The Illusions that landed a record deal with Dot Records. In 1966 he and his buddies decided to leave their hometown of Amarillo, Texas, and head to Los Angeles. During that time, The Illusions became “The Kitchen Cinq” recording with Lee Hazelwood’s LHI label for three years. This later led to jobs with other recording bands like Armageddon and THEM (post Van Morrison) with some studio work with Sonny and Cher ..read more

Ellis Paul doesn’t just write songs; he’s a guitar-carrying reporter who covers the human condition and details the hopes, loves, losses of those he observes, turning their stories into luminous pieces of music that get under your skin and into your bloodstream. And much like the artists who have influenced him, everyone from Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon to the singer-songwriter who is undoubtedly his greatest inspiration, Woody Guthrie, Paul weaves deeply personal experiences with social issues and renders them as provocative works that are as timely as they are timeless. Born and ..read more

This episode we have a conversation with songwriter, storyteller, multi-instrumentalist Rees Shad. Shad has been described as a master of alluring melodies and short story songs whose characters interact and reoccur in eloquent musical vignettes. An accomplished musician, composer, and creative, Shad has an impressive catalog of thirteen solo albums (with another dozen side projects) containing a wide range of music and narratives. Shad grew up absorbing the NYC music scene immersing himself in vintage blues, jazz, folk, country, classic rock and punk before moving to upstate New York to embra ..read more

Be sure to also hear parts 1 and 2 of Steve Meyer! Steve was more than just a record executive whose stint as National Promotion Director for Capitol Records and Universal/MCA made him one of the biggest power brokers in the music industry during '70s, '80s and '90s. He worked with the biggest names in the business -- The Beatles (and Paul McCartney and John Lennon individually), Bob Seger, Steve Miller, Elton John, Little River Band, and so many other artists who defined Top 40 and Album-Oriented radio for all time. He not only worked the records, but actually played a role in which songs wou ..read more

Be sure to also hear parts 1 and 3 of Steve Meyer! Steve was more than just a record executive whose stint as National Promotion Director for Capitol Records and Universal/MCA made him one of the biggest power brokers in the music industry during '70s, '80s and '90s. He worked with the biggest names in the business -- The Beatles (and Paul McCartney and John Lennon individually), Bob Seger, Steve Miller, Elton John, Little River Band, and so many other artists who defined Top 40 and Album-Oriented radio for all time. He not only worked the records, but actually played a role in which songs wou ..read more