Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast
By Verso Studios at the Westport Library
Connecticut Music Oral History PodcastJul 25, 2022
Karen Ponzio, CT Music Oral History Podcast, 8.29.23
This episode features, Karen Ponzio, arts and culture journalist for the New Haven Independent. Karen has shared her poems, displayed her artwork, and hosted a variety of live shows at venues throughout the New Haven area over the past ten years as well as the CygnusRadio.com show The Word According to KP which featured both poetry and music. Here’s our conversation…
https://www.karenponzio.com/
Barbara Reis, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, 3.7.23
Welcome to another installment of the Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast. This episode features Westport’s own Barbara Reis, a musician, composer, and music therapist whose travels took her to Julliard, High School of Music and Arts, University of Michigan, Tanglewood, the Brill Building, Westport Country Playhouse and theater committee. Barbara’s story is truly inspirational and vital to anyone who considers themself an artist. Subscribe to our Enews for more videos like this: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/vgrQ5ou/versostudio Your support helps us continue creating online content for our community. Donate now: https://go.westportlibrary.org/donateYT Keep up with everything from Verso Studios: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WestportLibrary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westportlibrary/ Verso Studios: https://westportlibrary.org/services/verso-studios/ Verso Records: https://versorecords.westportlibrary.org/
Jim Slice, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios, 2.8.23
The Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast returns with an interview conducted all the way back In February of this year (2023). It’s a complete deep dive with hip hop artist and documentary filmmaker, Jim Slice. From growing up in and around the advent of hip hop culture, performing all over the globe with New Haven’s Stezo, and now documenting Connecticut’s Skinny Boys and the legend of 70s funk band, Skull Snaps; Jim Slice’s story is integral to the foundation and evolution of hip hop. Enjoy the ride…
Gary, Gee's Records, CT Music Oral History Podcast, 9.6.22
Buckle up for Gary of Gee’s Records wild ride through true hip-hop culture as a producer, promoter, and record dealer. From roller rink hip-hop shows, to house parties, to 1212 Studios with Paul C, to Jazzy Jay at Strong City, to producing tracks with Beatnuts, and Afrika Bambaataa, recording with Grandmaster Flash, and selling sought-after break-beat records to Q-Tip, Large Professor, and Questlove, Gary is an innovator and conduit.
Rob Fraboni, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at the Westport Library 6.21.22
Rob Fraboni is a renowned producer and engineer. Fraboni is well-known for his work with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Buckwheat Zydeco, Hubert Sumlin, John Martyn, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, and Melissa Ethridge, and served as VP of Island Records in its heyday.
Fraboni, leant his expertise to the Verso hybrid analog recording studio, having built Bob Dylan and the Band’s Shangri La Studios to their specifications in 1976. At the turn of the century, Fraboni built Keith Richards home studio just miles away from Verso Studios.
Christine Ohlman, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at the Westport Library 5.31.22
https://christineohlman.net/home.html
This queen of blue-eyed rock n’ soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She’s the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band (SNL40’s anniversary post-show concert also featured her star turn onstage with Jimmy Fallon, Elvis Costello and the B-52s), whose latest CD, The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others. Ohlman topped the Alternate Root.com’s Readers’ Poll as top Americana vocalist, joining other winners Paul Thorn, The Mavericks and Rodney Crowell.
Lys Guillorn, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at Westport Library 12.7.21
Lys Guillorn is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and multi-disciplinary artist based in Shelton, Connecticut. She is of the same musical school as Laura Veirs, and Kristin Hersh, with a little Emmylou Harris thrown in: dreamy, lyric-driven, melodically interesting, and undefinable. She calls her genre of music "Avant-Twang."
Big Al Anderson, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at Westport Library 12.14.21
Connecticut music legend!
He’s been known as one of rock n’ roll’s greatest guitar players. Listed as one of the top 100 guitar players of the 20th century by Musician Magazine and with over 900 cuts internationally, Big Al’s music career was destined. Raised by his piano teacher mother and a radio that would get WWVA in Wheeling West Virginia late at night, he would devour all genres of music from Hank Williams, The Everly Brothers, The Ventures, Chet Atkins, Elvis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Motown and Stax paving the way for what would be a giant life in music.
While Al loves to tell people, “…my junior year in high school were the worst three years of my life,” his real education was coming up in the black clubs in the north end of Hartford. “…There was a camaraderie, a brotherhood, among all the musicians- black or white it didn’t matter. If the music was good, you were in.” His first band “The Sixpacks” became “The Wildweeds,” recording a regional hit “No Good To Cry” that went on to chart nationally. With a change in record labels (from Chess to Vanguard) and a change in musical direction, Al caught the attention of the members of NRBQ. In 1971, Al left Connecticut for New York’s to enroll at the “University of Q” — a 22 year planetary course in all things musical. Al’s exposure to a evener wider range of musical genres served him well in the “Q.” His mind and string-bending guitar playing coupled with his giant stage presence had become legendary, and in the course of recording over a dozen albums with them, he had written some of the band’s most memorable songs — ‘Ridin in My Car’, ‘Never Take The Place of You,’ It Was An Accident,’ ‘Comes to Me Naturally,’ ‘What a Nice Way to Go,’ ‘Feel You around Me,’ and many more. After over two decades of hard touring, hard living and encyclopedic musical knowledge, Al was ready to change his already prodigious song writing talent into a full-time venture.
Two years before he left NRBQ, he wrote a song with Carlene Carter, “Every Little Thing” that she took to top 5 all over the world. That song, and meeting music publisher Pat Daniel McMurry (Escott), were the turning points in Al’s career and life. With the support, guidance and belief that Pat provided, Al became unstoppable. At the same time that Al signed with Pat, he decided to quit drinking and suddenly became one of the most prolific writers in Nashville. “I went from 3 songs a year to writing sometimes 3 a day”. The parade of hits is long and include singles and cuts by Vince Gill, Bonnie Raitt, Trisha Yearwood, Jimmy Buffett, Martina McBride, Patty Loveless, George Jones, Sheryl Crow, Leann Rimes, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Rascall Flatts, Zac Brown, Anthony Hamilton, Harry Connick Jr and many others. He latest love is Music City’s premier rock band “The World Famous Headliners” rounded out with top tier penmen/artists/musicians extraordinaire Pat McLaughlin, Shawn Camp, Michael Rhodes and Greg Morrow.
Dick Kalt, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at Westport Library 11.29.21
Dick Kalt began his radio career in Detroit, moving to Connecticut in 1970 to join the management team of WPLR-FM New Haven which is celebrating its 50th year of broadcasting. As most of us know, WPLR has been central in the Connecticut community and music scene. Dick is an expert at creating synergistic buzz and making the seemingly impossible, possible.
In 1981 Dick joined Connecticut Radio Network as a partner and executive vice president where he has created and directed many of the company’s award-winning broadcast marketing campaigns.
Today Dick hosts the Distraction Podcast a podcast on coping and connecting in our crazy-busy world. Experts discuss mental health, focus, tech overload, and more.
https://www.distractionpodcast.com/
Rick Allison, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at Westport Library 11.2.21
Rick Allison is a central and towering Connecticut music figure both literally at 6 foot four and figuratively. Rick has been a radio DJ at an alphabet soup of stations including: wybc, wkci, wplr, whcn, kpig, wpix, sirius satellite radio and cygnusradio.com.
Rick has also been an announcer for abc, nbc, cbs, espn, hbo and a bushel of commercial clients.
For 29 years Rick has also been the co-host of the Local bands Show on WPLR New Haven and cygnusradio.com. The Local Bands Show is the longest running radio program showcasing the wealth of local musical talent in Connecticut.
http://thelocalbandsshow.com/
Rick can also be heard every weekday morning from 10am to noon on the Allison Transmission on cygnusradio.com
Frank Critelli, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at Westport Library 9-22-21
https://frankcritelli.bandcamp.com/
Frank Critelli writes songs and often performs live. Many times solo, and sometimes accompanied by one or more musical co-conspirators. For over 30 years, he's played in streets and subways, clubs and coffeehouses, barrooms and classrooms, colleges, festivals, theaters, and in his kitchen. Frank Critelli co-host The Local Bands Show on 99.1fm WPLR-New Haven and CygnusRadio.com w/ Rick Allison.
Kelly Reilly, Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast, Verso Studios at Westport Library 8-24-21
The Connecticut Music Oral History Podcast is a deep-dive interview series with musicians, artists, conduits, collectors, and dedicated fans focusing on 20th century Connecticut music history across all genres. This project preserves narratives, heralds unsung movers and shakers, and defines Connecticut’s influential role in cultural history. https://kellyreilly.bandcamp.com/ Kelly Reilly is a musician and rock ‘n’ roll interlocuteur who has held court at the center of New Haven, Connecticut’s vibrant music scene. Reilly discovered rock ‘n’ roll by grifting her mother’s Little Richard records, forever enamored by scratchy, soulful voices. At age ten, she stole T. Rex’s The Slider album from her older brother becoming instantly obsessed: the voice, the look, the hair, the lyrics all seemed so familiar. She took refuge from harsh middle school adversity in locked-door bedroom listening sessions with The Slider, expanding to the likes of David Bowie, Sly & The Family Stone, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Thin Lizzy, Janis Joplin et al. An experience with a psychic medium revealed Marc Bolan and Reilly shared past lives. By 15, Reilly discovered the burgeoning punk scene at Ron’s Place in New Haven, CT, a universe equal to the upstarts of NYC, Cleveland/Akron, OH, London and L.A. The Saucers, the Snotz, and the Poodle Boys reigned supreme and Reilly was determined to make her mark. Teens Kelly Reilly, Marcy LaBella, Deb Colby, Kathy Milani and Lynn Lacoss got their notarized parental papers in order to play local clubs as Baby Strange. The band’s name was naturally lifted from a T. Rex track on The Slider by Reilly. Rubber pants, Batman underoos, Beatle boots, raunchy lyrics, and fearless attitudes lit up New Haven nights as Baby Strange’s days were still consumed with the doldrums of high school schedules. Baby Strange remained a fixture of the Ron’s Place scene, extending their shows to Max’s Kansas City and Providence, RI’s Living Room. A second, new-wave, male-backed version of Baby Strange caught the ear of the Cars drummer, David Robinson. At the height of Cars fame, Robinson was grooming Baby Strange for rock ‘n’ roll success, with intentions of producing the band at the Car’s Syncro Sound Studios on Newbury St. in Boston. But Baby Strange Mach II disintegrated all too soon and Reilly suffered a heavy musical loss. Reilly and David Robinson remain close lifelong friends. 2020 marks Reilly’s return to form with a take on her all-time favorite song, T. Rex’s “Ballrooms Of Mars” and original “Ready For The Morning.” Reilly was encouraged by her partner and creative collaborator Richard Dev Greene (Pale Moon Gang, Plimsouls) and backed by longtime New Haven confidant Dean Falcone (The Excerpts, Tipsy in Chelsea, Shellye Valauskas). Reilly originally met Falcone at a Baby Strange gig at the Oxford Ale House. At 15, Falcone and his Excerpts bandmate Jon Brion (Spoon, Rufus Wainwright, Robyn Hitchcock) were unable to get in and resorted to watching Baby Strange wide-eyed, outside, through the stage window. Tracks were recorded in Brooklyn, NY, Weehawken, NJ and New Haven, CT at Mighty Toad, Hobo Sound and Firehouse 12. Sessions were engineered by James Frazee (Patti Smith, Sharon Van Etten), Craig Dreyer (James Hunter, Keith Richards) and Greg DiCosta (Damone, Hatebreed, John Zorn), with mastering by Kim Rosen (Bonnie Raitt, Bettye Lavette, Dirty Fences). You gonna look fine Be primed for dancing You're gonna trip and glide All on the trembling plane Your diamond hands Will be stacked with roses And wind and cars And people of the past… - Marc Bolan