December | 2018 | Twirl Radio

2018 Twirl Radio Interviews

Musically speaking, the year 2018 has been stellar in so many ways. The quantity and quality of the music that came my way has been astounding. I received more music than I do in most typical years, and the quality has been uniformly top notch. We heard from old friends, and got introduced to some new artists.

And for me, the thing that’s really gone hand in hand with this new music has been the chance to chat with some of the artists on my show. So many of them have made themselves available to me this year–and for that, I’m extremely grateful. In some cases, the artists were passing through Sacramento on a Saturday, and were able to stop by my studio in person. In a few other instances, I was given a couple of extra hours for my show, so I was able to squeeze in 2 and 3 interviews in one day.

What’s the final tally look like? In 2018, I conducted 55 interviews. That number becomes even more amazing when you realize that there were a few weeks where I had no interviews, or took the Saturday off from doing my show. 16 of these interviews were done in person, in the Sacramento studio. 2 were prerecorded in person in Fresno, and 4 others were prerecorded via Skype or telephone, due to time zone or availability issues. That means that 49 of these interviews were conducted live, on the radio. 6 of these included a live, in-studio performance. In all, more than 70 individuals have been on the show with me.

So here’s the rundown of the interviews, with my sincere thanks and happy holidays to all the artists who were kind enough to spend a little time with me on Twirl Radio in 2018.

December 25, 2018
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Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #855 – 12/15/2018: Melissa Phillips interview!

Melissa Phillips

This week’s show was the final live Twirl Radio episode of 2018. Just like that…poof! And that’s another year of great music in the books. So how do we wrap up a year like this? Well, fortunately, my friend Melissa Phillips, a wonderful Bay Area singer-songwriter, just released her brand new EP “Both Ways”, a few days ago. She’s perennially been one of my favorite people to chat with on the radio, so it was a no-brainer to ask her on. And it was a comfortable, fun conversation. We covered everything…her songwriting inspirations, the process of making Both Ways, and her take on how we discover and acquire new music in the 21st century, vs. during our formative years.

Both Ways is an intimate album, mostly in the Americana vein. It’s a fitting showcase for Melissa’s songs, which as she revealed, were crafted individually and separately from one another. She and her husband, James DePrato, who produced and played all the guitars on the album, really did take each song one at a time, and didn’t start another one until the current song was finished. Each of these stories gets you thinking and feeling some powerful emotions about life and its changes. It’s a sad album, with notes of loss, but it’s buoyed by Melissa’s hopeful soprano voice and attitude. Her voice has really strengthened and matured since her last album. As good as it was back then, there’s a certain depth to it now that makes these songs really stick to you. And as a rock guitarist, James adds some touches of electric guitar that beef up the overall sound. Much care went into this record–from the sequencing of the songs, to the lovely artwork and packaging. It’s not every day that Melissa Phillips releases an album, so when she does, it’s an occasion. Learn more, and pick up your copy at http://www.melissaphillipsmusic.com.

This show also featured some great music from 2018–and even a song by The Who’s John Entwistle, which could reluctantly be called a “Christmas song”! Give a listen to all of it, and enjoy. Happy holidays from Twirl Radio!

December 17, 2018
Categories: Playlists . . Author: twirlradio . Comments: 1 Comment

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #854 – 12/8/2018: Nelson Bragg interview!

Nelson Bragg

This week’s show was a real treat. It had been a good while since I’d had Nelson Bragg on the show. A quick check of the Twirl archives showed that it was exactly 6 years ago–to the day–when he was last on! So it seems that we probably had a lot to catch up on since that show of December 8, 2012. And boy, did we ever. We had a wide ranging, freewheeling conversation for the better part of an hour, punctuated with a few of his perfect, melodic pop songs.

Nelson had been the percussionist in Brian Wilson’s band for a lot of years, while at the same time, pursuing his own music career. But leaving the Beach Boys mastermind’s band has not left him without opportunities to travel and make music. He recently toured the UK with Anny Celsi and Duncan Maitland, and has been constantly gigging around Los Angeles. He dropped a massive hint that he’s working on his next record, as well as promoting music by others on his own Steel Derrick Music label. My favorite part of the conversation was Nelson emphatically reminding us how easy and wonderful music discovery is these days–and how easy and important it is to support the artists you like. Both I and several listeners were inspired and moved to action by this. Nelson is truly a music fan first, before anything else. For more info, check out http://nelsonbragg.com/

We also dug into some of the indie rock ‘n’ roll that’s made 2018 such a banner year, and we even threw in a few of the cooler holiday songs I’ve got in my collection. Enjoy the show!

December 9, 2018
Categories: Playlists . . Author: twirlradio . Comments: 2 Comments

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #853 – 12/1/2018

Here it is–the first of December already. The holidays are upon us, and the end of the year looms large. It looms especially large here at Twirl Radio, because there are only a couple more live shows to go, and then our Access Sacramento studios close down for the annual year end inventory and maintenance. So we need to make these last few shows pretty memorable, and close down 2018 with a bang. But not to worry–I’ll be doing some additional shows over at Woody Radio, so there’s still a lot of music discovery to come, before the month and year are over.

The musical guest we had scheduled for this show had a small family emergency, so we have rescheduled him for late January. That turned the episode into an all music show, and we were able to sneak in even more of the stellar releases from 2018 that keep coming in. Folks who are preparing and releasing their year end lists of top songs and albums need to hold off for another month. 2018 isn’t even close to over, musically speaking. My list isn’t even a glimmer until 11:59 p.m. on December 31st.

So let’s celebrate the holiday season by listening to the great music gifted to us by the year 2018. Enjoy the show!

December 2, 2018
Categories: Playlists . . Author: twirlradio . Comments: 1 Comment

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2018 Twirl Radio Interviews

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #855 – 12/15/2018: Melissa Phillips interview!

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #854 – 12/8/2018: Nelson Bragg interview!

Twirl Radio Playlist – Show #853 – 12/1/2018

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