Karl, Scott, and Trent explore two seminal albums in the catalog of arguably the greatest jazz guitarist of all time, Wes Montgomery. In Incredible Jazz Guitar and Boss Guitar, Montgomery lays down an adventurous blend of hard-swinging bop, rom

Music for the End Times

Mar 30th, 2022 2h 48m

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the meaning and purpose of music during troubled times, and share their playlists for the end of the world.

The Russian Five, Or, Why You No Listen to Russian Musics?!

Feb 24th, 2022 2h 14m

Can you imagine five of the most brilliant young musical minds sitting around the fireside, discussing how they could make a new Russian music? What form would it take? What instrumentation? What would the proper influences be? That's precisely

Tracing the Roots of Rock n' Roll

Jan 19th, 2022 2h 44m

Scott, Karl, and Trent trace the family tree of the biggest musical genre of the 20th century: rock n' roll. The roots are deep and gnarled, it turns out, and while they touch on the usual suspects such as Elvis and Chuck Berry, rock can trace

Bing Crosby's Christmas Classics

Dec 23rd, 2021 1h 51m

In part two of their study of Bing Crosby, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Bing Crosby's enormous impact on Christmas music and culture since he first sang "White Christmas" in 1942's Holiday Inn. "White Christmas" proved to be a huge hit, hitti

The First Multimedia Star: Bing Crosby & His Glittering Career

Dec 13th, 2021 2h 21m

Nowadays he's the American Father Christmas, the singer of nearly all the classic Christmas songs, but for several decades he was also the biggest pop star in the world. From his early days singing in The Rhythm Boys with the Paul Whiteman Orch

The Joyful Sounds of Sacred Steel

Nov 25th, 2021 1h 42m

Scott digs up an old treasure from his music vaults -- the gospel music of Florida which features an unusual instrument, the steel guitar. Played with a tonebar pressed over a horizontal neck with 6 or more strings, the steel guitar is usually

The Form of Beauty: Hilary Hahn Performing Bach's Violin Sonatas 1 and 2, Partita 1

Nov 10th, 2021 2h 7m

Scott, Karl, and Trent tackle Hilary Hahn's electric, virtuosic performances of three timeless pieces for solo violin: Bach's Sonatas 1 and 2, and the first Partita.

Sam Cooke: The Father of Soul

Oct 26th, 2021 2h 21m

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss arguably the greatest singer of the 20th century, and how he invented the classic genre now known as "soul."

#37- A Window into Live Jazz: Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival

Oct 12th, 2021 2h 12m

Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival is a 1956 live album by Oscar Peterson, accompanied by Ray Brown and Herb Ellis. The Peterson trio is celebrated for their seemingly telepathic sense of interplay and its virtuosity. In li

#36- The Master of Tension: Holst's 'The Planets'

Sep 22nd, 2021 2h 19m

The trio discusses The Planets, Op. 32, a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. When you first listen to this, you might just be recollecting it— The Planets comes with a long list

#35- Neko Case's Album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Sep 7th, 2021 1h 52m

This week, the trio discusses an album on Trent's shortlist: Neko Case's album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Released in 2006, it's a mix of folk, country, and early rock elements. Case classifies her style as “country-noir." "She defies genr

#34- The Live Sound Experience: Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Aug 25th, 2021 2h

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Joe Cocker's live album, Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Released in 1970, the album was spontaneously formed on a few days' notice to meet Cocker's contractual obligations. These concert tapes ended up being j

Greatest Album of All Time? Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon

Aug 11th, 2021 2h 16m

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss an album you may have heard of: The Dark Side of the Moon by English rock band Pink Floyd. As Scott points out, Pink Floyd is one of those bands that you either love or hate. Released in 1973, this particular alb

#32- Iconic Synth-Pop Album: Depeche Mode's Violator

Jul 27th, 2021 2h 6m

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss Depeche Mode's 1990 album Violator, a synth-pop smash. Featuring nine tracks of synthesizer dominant grooves, this English electronic music band created what Trent calls "a perfect album." The trio discusses how

Rebels With a Cause: The Outlaws of Outlaw Country

Jul 13th, 2021 2h 58m

Buckle up! In this much-anticipated episode, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss outlaw country music. Starting as a movement about freedom, authenticity, and rebellion, outlaw country is all about breaking the rules. During the 1970s, Nashville's

#30- Beethoven’s Fifth: The Most Famous Symphony Of All Time

Jun 29th, 2021 1h 57m

Da-Da-Da-DUM — hardly any succession of notes is as famous as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the life and legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music.

#29- Demystifying Indian Classical Music

Jun 16th, 2021 2h 13m

In today's episode, Trent orients Scott and Karl to Indian classical music. To a novice listener, the complexity of Indian music might seem overwhelming, but knowing just a few basics can give you the tools to appreciate the melodic richness.

#28- How to Listen to Jazz

Jun 2nd, 2021 2h 10m

Scott, Karl, and Trent introduce us to one of America's premier art forms— jazz. To better understand this music genre, the trio listens to the Clifford Brown and Max Roach album Study in Brown. Jazz is a language on its own: it's explorative,

#27- Chanting: A Religious Experience

May 18th, 2021 1h 56m

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the history, ritual, and tradition of chanting. Karl walks listeners through the musical structure and rules of different chanting traditions in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. Karl says, "For mos

#26- Just Pleasures

May 4th, 2021 2h 8m

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent each choose three "pleasure-only" songs to share on the show. From The Bangles to Lady Gaga, these picks are not guilty pleasures. These are the fun songs you listen to in your car, while you're lifting, or wh

#25 - Les Paul: The Father of Multitrack Recording

Apr 20th, 2021 2h 4m

Scott, Karl, and Trent introduce us to the genius of Les Paul. Best known for the solid-body electric guitar, Les Paul was a prolific inventor and tinkerer. He also developed many of the techniques that formed the backbone of modern music recor

#24- Pop Pathos

Apr 6th, 2021 2h 14m

Have you ever thought about what makes a pop song tick? This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent analyze the lyrics in some of the biggest pop hits from different eras of American music. The trio discusses the various levels a pop song can operate on.

#23- Instruments of the Orchestra

Mar 17th, 2021 2h 10m

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent talk about the different instruments of the orchestra. A Symphony Orchestra is defined as a large ensemble composed of wind, string, brass, and percussion instruments and organized to perform classical music.

#22- Rock 'N' Roll Pioneer Buddy Holly

Mar 3rd, 2021 1h 55m

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent talk about the life and music of rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly. Growing up in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy began his musical career singing country and western songs. Scott points out, "Buddy's love songs aren't t