A Conversation with The Tragic Thrills’ Zach Porter – HuffPost 9.26.14

Mike Ragogna: My favorite picture of The Tragic Thrills is you guys playing at a barber shop. Have you done a barber shop tour and have you gained a new appreciation for barbershop quartets? Zach Porter: Cameron’s dad actually owns a hair salon and we used to practice in it at night. I also had […]

A Conversation with Yellowcard’s Ryan Key – HuffPost 9.26.14

Ryan Key: Well I guess the first thing to say is that it is not a pop punk record. I don’t want it to come across as if we have an agenda to turn our backs on the scene that got us where we are. We are so grateful to the pop punk community for everything it has given and continues to give Yellowcard. That said, I have always felt that “genrification” of art in any form is restrictive. When we started writing the songs for Lift a Sail, we knew that we are heading in a new direction creatively, and one we were very excited about. So we didn’t worry about a genre or a scene. We wrote from our hearts. We took a lot of chances on the record. I believe it is a collection of songs that have high stakes. I like to describe the record saying, it’s as if all of our favorite ’90s alternative bands and Coldplay had a love child and named it Lift a Sail.

A Conversation with Music Maker’s Tim Duffy – HuffPost 9.24.14

Mike Ragogna: Tim, the Music Maker Relief Foundation has been around for many years with a pretty altruistic mission. How has the organization evolved over the years? Tim Duffy: The Music Maker Relief Foundation was founded in 1994 as a heartfelt response to a number of senior musicians in the Winston-Salem, NC, Guitar Gabriel, Willa […]

A Conversation with William H. Macy – HuffPost 9.24.14

Mike Ragogna: Bill, what an original, emotional movie this was to have directed. If this wasn’t a life-changer for you, it certainly must have been a life-enhancer.

William H. Macy: Yes! Separate from the story we told and how well I might have succeeded or failed it’s a life-changer because it’s the first time I’ve directed a feature and at this point in my career it’s completely new. The result of it is I haven’t felt this challeneged and alive in a long time. It was a shot in the arm at the perfect time in my career. I also just fell in love with our business all over again. I mean schoolboy, knock-kneed, cross-eyed in love with this business.

A Conversation with The Lost Bayou Ramblers’ Louis Michot – HuffPost 9.24.14

Mike Ragogna: Louis, The Lost Bayou Ramblers are a Grammy-nominated band that seems to be carrying the flag for cajun music as it explores the genre further with Western swing and rockabilly. Let’s first play some catch-up, how did the band come together? Louis Michot: After playing blues and rock’n’roll on our own, and paying […]

A Conversation with Survivor’s Jim Peterik – HuffPost 9.22.14

Mike Ragogna: Jim, your latest book, Through The Eye Of The Tiger, isn’t just about your time with Survivor, it’s also about your personal life and observations.

Jim Peterik: Actually I’m a huge fan of rock ‘n’ roll and a huge fan of rock ‘n’ roll biographies and autobiographies. I eat those things like potato chips. One comes out and it’s eaten in a day and a half. My latest one is the Bruce Springsteen book by Peter Ames Carlin. I eat these up. They always bring me inspiration, especially heroes like Springsteen. Keith Richards still has the best autobiography out there. So I go, “Why not?” Why not write my story? I think there’s enough stories behind me to make an interesting book. Certainly stories ahead of me. When I’m 85 I might do the second book. But I thought it was time. It’s nice to kind of put your life in perspective for the writer. One of my biggest fears was that I wasn’t going to have enough conflict in my life to be interesting. I’m reading about the Mötley Crüe people, a train wreck of drugs, the whole bit–I didn’t really have that–so I’m going, “What is going to sustain the interest in this?” As I was writing, I was really shocked by how much conflict there really was in my life and how much pain there really was. A lot of it was just glossed over because I talk about a creative cocoon that I go into, no matter what’s going on if I have a guitar and a notebook I’m writing a song. I realized I was sheltered from a lot of that pain. As I was writing, it really all came out. It was really cathartic.

A Conversation with Sondre Lerche – HuffPost 9.22.14

Mike Ragogna: Sondre, you’re known for creating some of the lushest recordings in the singer-songwriter field. Your new album Please continues that tradition. At this point in your career, how do you envision Sondre Lerche’s mission as a creative artist? Sondre Lerche: My mission is inevitably a bit selfish. I always trust that if I’m […]

A Conversation with Joe Bonamassa – HuffPost 9.22.14

Mike Ragogna: Joe, what’s the Different Shades Of Blue story?

Joe Bonamassa: I wrote it in Nashville and we recorded in Vegas. I took the year off from recording last year because I wanted to write a whole record. That was really important. It’s been a while since I did that kind of thing, so I had a good fundraiser in Nashville. Out here in LA, sometimes it’s like everybody’s looking to make beats. I don’t “make beats,” I play blues. A beat goes along with the blues, but I don’t know how to make a beat. Why would you make a beat and not a song?