Episode 477: Bruce Sudano

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well out there in the world. i'm good. i have a busy day of running errands, laundry, writing two songs and of course, this podcast. i'm headed to vegas tomorrow to play a show with skyrocket. should be fun. i'm bringing my recording gear just in case i can interview donny osmond or an elvis impersonator. i hope you guys have a good weekend. 
my guest for episode 477 is legendary singer/songwriter, bruce sudano. i caught up with bruce when he was in town for sxsw promoting his gorgeous new album, the burbank sessions. his illustrious career spans five decades starting with the band, alive n kickin' in the late 60's, then his r&b band in the early 70's, brooklyn dreams hooked up with donna summer and wrote and performed, "heaven knows" with the disco star. he ended up marrying donna summer and going on to write "bad girls" with her among many other songs. he work on and in films like, "thank god it's friday", "american hot wax" and "hollywood knights". his latest album, the burbank sessions is absolutely gorgeous. he's still making music that is relevant because it's honest, the expression is raw and real and he is just a bad-ass songwriter. check him out at brucesudano.com he'll be on tour in may. i hope enjoy getting to know this amazning artist/person. i sure did. let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 459: Emily Bell Returns!

hello friends! i hope you're all getting ready for a fabulous weekend! the weather in austin is unseasonably gorgeous today. i would complain about global warming, but i'll just keep recycling, turning off my lights, walking instead of driving and things of that nature. it's also, my girlfriend, zuri's birthday and i have the weekend off from playing so we're going to hit the town all weekend! i hope you are too!my guest for episode 459 is the amazingly talented and entertaining, emily bell! emily has a fantastic new single out "goddess of destruction", a new band, emily bell & the talkbacks and a new residency! since emily was on the show in 2013, her life has taken many turns, both good and bad. now she's taken all of that energy and put it into a gorgeous/cathartic collection of songs that she will be showcasing with her new band, the talkbacks every other tuesday at stay gold in austin starting this tuesday, feb 2nd. if you don't live in austin, you can find all things emily bell at emilybell.com! i hope you enjoy my conversation with emily. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 451: Kev Bev and the Woodland Creatures

happy new year everyone! welcome to 2016! i hope you all had a safe and happy new years eve and spent it with loved ones. i am about to head to houston as i write this to play a new years eve party. should be fun. i'll be with my friends. i have some resolutions i'm going to try to stick to: quit sugar drinks and cookies, eventually quit smoking, be a better person. what are yours? my first guests for 2016 are kevin and candace collins from the 9-piece, soul/funk/reggae/hip-hop extravaganza known as, kev bev and the woodland creatures! their new album, domesticated is out TODAY, jan 1 2016! you can find it and all about them at kevbevandthewc.com domesticated is a celebration of life much like their idols, sly and the family stone. i thought this would be a great way to start out 2016. candace and kevin came a few weeks ago and had a great conversation about handling a 9-piece band, life in a small east coast town, music scenes, kickstarter, vinyl is the hotdog of music?, being a couple on a band and much, much more! i hope you enjoy getting to know candace and kevin as much as i did. let's get down! happy new year!ciao! -jg

Episode 439: Dan Dyer

hello friends! i hope you all had a fantastic thanksgiving! i had a really good one. my girlfriend zuri and i went to her family's house and had a great dinner. of course, i ate too much, tried not to fall asleep watching football after dinner then played a trivia game. good times. today is black friday. i hope you're having a successful one if you're one of the millions that go out and try to get the "super-deals". skyrocket is playing a show tonight (fri. 11/27) in austin at the one-2-one bar. we go on at 10. come out and celebrate the holiday with us! (i just made "black friday" a holiday)my guest for episode 439 is the amazing singer/songwriter, dan dyer! dan and i have known each other for over 20 years. he's a phenomenal talent and a super sweet and real cat. he's a black fret nominee and has the honor of performing at their black ball gala at the paramount theater in austin, tx next friday, december 4th along with a host of other nominees. you can find out all about it at black fret info dan has a new e,p,, singing river sessions available now. go to dandyer.com to find out where to get it and when you can see dan live. dan and i have a fantastic conversation about his journey from breedlove to working with lenny kravitz, jingle singing in new york city, getting into working with his hands and much, much more. i hope you all had a great thanksgiving. i am very grateful for you. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 431: LOLO

hello friends! i hope you all had an enjoyable halloween weekend. if you live in austin, i hope that you made it through the floods on friday. i had a pretty harrowing 6 1/2 hour trip to houston on friday getting around closed highways etc. i hope all that were affected by the floods are okay. hey gang! tomorrow, tuesday 11/3 at the townsend here in austin, i'll be playing with my rock band, ladyband johnson along with the bluebonnets, eve & the exiles and more. we'll be celebrating dominique davalos' birthday. she plays bass in ladyband johnson and in the bluebonnets and i love her. the shindig starts at 7:30. come out and party on a tuesday!my guest for episode 431 is singer/songwriter/actor and force to be reckoned with, LOLO. you might know her as lauren pritchard star of the hit broadway show, "spring awakening".  she's written the songs for an off broadway play called "songbird". she's just released an e.p., comeback queen on DCD2 records and is currently on "the wilderness politics tour" with andrew mcmahon in the wilderness, new politics and the griswolds. i caught up with LOLO when the tour stopped in austin at emo's last night and we had a great conversation in the backstage courtyard. her e.p. comeback queen is absolutely amazing. and i suggest you go to her website, weaponforsaturday.com and see when she's coming to a town near you. i hope you enjoy getting to know LOLO as much as i did. let's get down!ciao! -jg 

Episode 428: Autumn

hello friends! i hope you're all living it up this weekend. i'm good. i'm playing an F1 party with skyrocket tonight here in austin. i guess the town is gearing up for this huge car race. there's a special event in austin every weekend isn't there? wild. this is a giant worldwide car race and i hear it's very exciting. maybe someday i'll go. my guest for episode 428 is jazz/soul/funk singer, autumn! autumn just released her self-titled, debut album in september. she is also a vocalist in the nightowls who play out around austin a lot. i heard about autumn through my friends at the austin music foundation. she was their artist of the month for september. anyway, autumn came by and we had a fantastic conversation about growing in oklahoma in a conservative family, growing up singing in church, dating, making music with someone you're involved then not involved with, working in the oil business, beyonce'-esque outfits and much, much more. i really enjoyed getting to know autumn. i'm sure you will too. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 399: Songs From The Podcast

hello friends! i hope you're all enjoyeing summer. when this comes out i'll be getting ready to leave galveston and return to austin for our live recording of episode 400 tomorrow, wednesday, july 29th from 8-10pm at the townsend! my guests will be, aj vallejo, jazz mills, suzanna choffel, nakia and justin elliott! come celebrate 400 episodes with us!welcome to episode 399: songs from the podcast. over the last year i've had well over 100 guests come by the apartment, talk to me at festival, meet me at werd podcast studios and even meeting at undisclosed locations, to talk about where they're at with their music life and music career. often times, these people are coming by during their "press assaults" promoting their latest album or single. sometimes i end up getting turned on to a new band, artist, album or song. in fact, it happens all the time. i love when a podcast is over and the artist's music stays with me and i become a fan. with well over 100 artists on the show over the last year, i got turned on a bunch of music. in this episode i included 15 songs that i loved. there so many more, that i started a playlist on spotify titled, "episode 399: songs from the podcast" you can find a link to it on our facebook page check it out there are a lot of songs on there. so, i get to play d.j. and spin tunes from shivery shakes, little brave, quiet company, billy harvey, migrant kids, the blue bonnets, bob schneider, phranchyze, dwight twilley, t.a.p.e.s., skinny lister, cautiontape, the wind + the wave, LEV and wild adriatic! hopefully, this mix sparks your interest in some of these bands and makes you check out the spotify playlist where you can check out even more music from the podcast. i hope you enjoy listening to this as much as i enjoyed making it. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 361: Beats Delicious Festival 2015 Wild Adriatic / Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons / Topher Mohr / Skinny Lister

congratulations to our sponsor, strange brew loungeside for taking "best venue to play", "best club sound" and "best live music venue" in the 2014/2015 austin music poll!hello friends! welcome to the first sxsw show of the season. on sunday, march 15th i got to go to the beats delicious festival at the stonehouse villa in driftwood, texas! i got to watch and talk to wild adriatic, angela perley & the howlin' moons, topher mohr and skinny lister. my friend amy and her crew at beats delicious pulled together a great festival showcasing all these great bands from all over, with local vendors promoting all their wares from make-overs to photo booths, a gin and juice bar, local brewries, food and more. the stonehouse villa was a gorgeous location and we got to do our interviews in the bridal suite. i was joined by kristi olberding who shot some gorgeous photos which i will post on our facebook page. if you'd like to see kristi's work, check out her website www.kristiolberding.com i hope you enjoy my conversations with these great bands as much as i did. i had a blast at the festival and i'm looking forward to next year. thanks beats delicious! let's get down!ciao! -jgwildadriatic.comangelaperley.comtophermohr.comskinnylister.com

Episode 357: Extreme Heat

hello friends! i hope the world is treating you well. i'm good. i have a frantic week of rehearsals with multiple bands, shows with different bands, podcast stuff, dinner with rockers and more. i'm glad because this weather makes it easy to NOT go outside. to NOT got do stuff. and i've had kind of a cold since saturday. woke up this morning feeling much better and i'm ready to rock. are you?my guests for episode 357 are austin soul/funk institution, extreme heat! after 40 years of playing together, bruce spelman and mike barnes stopped by with a box of memorabilia, a quilt made of shirts from venues they've played, vinyl albums and their memories to tell the story of of their band, extreme heat. i've been seeing them for 30 of those 40 years. i still share the bill with them both, solo and with skyrocket and i still love seeing them play. this is a great story. mike and bruce came by and laid it all out, playing the armadillo, the crazy 80's, touring, taking a break, on stage heart attacks and much, much more. i hope you enjoy getting to know these legendary cats. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 349: Aaron Behrens and The Midnight Stroll

hello friends! i can't believe it's already february... can you? i hope you're doing well. things are good here. still doing this "song a day" thing. it's pretty hard to keep up. i fell behind over the weekend and now i'll be writing songs every day until feb 27th. all good. i need it pretty badly. do you write songs? what do you do to get everything kickstarted? do play some games? do you do something special? share it with us at the facebook page . we'd love to know.my guests for episode 349 is ghostland observatory frontman and now leader of aaron behrens and the midnight stroll, the amazing aaron behrens! i have been a fan of ghostland observatory for years, then i saw aaron did a solo project, i checked it out and reached out to him. he knew the show and was happy to come by and chat. we have a great conversation about growing up in a small town, finding music, ghostland observatory, touring like mad, being a dad, opening his own studio and much, much more. i had a great time getting to know aaron. i'm sure you will too. let's get down!ciao! -jg