Radio 2 Guitar Season

Episodes

EpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast
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03The Carol Kaye Story20140602As part of BBC Radio 2's guitar season, Johnnie Walker travels to Los Angeles to meet legendary session guitar player Carol Kaye. Johnnie hears her incredible story which has seen her partake in over 10,000 recording sessions throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, first on guitar and then on bass.

We will get a behind the scenes glimpse into the recordings of some of the biggest hits of all time. Carol will tell her story of the early hits with Sam Cooke, the years spent working with Phil Spector and the intense recording schedule of the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. We will hear how she became renowned for her creative flair and invention of memorable bass lines to hits like Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman and Sonny and Cher's Beat Goes On. Away from the charts, Carol tells us how she also recorded for Film and Television, on themes for Mission Impossible, Kojak and Ironside.

This programme celebrates Carol Kaye's story and the influence her playing has had on the way we hear the bass guitar in popular music to this day.

Johnnie Walker meets legendary session guitar player Carol Kaye to hear her amazing story.

An in-depth and fascinating look at the guitar, exploring its impact on popular culture

05Kalamazoo Gals20140623As part of Radio 2's Guitar Season: Suzi Quatro unravels the mystery of the Kalamazoo Gals, quite possibly, the greatest craftswomen written out of American guitar history.

Legendary stringed instrument maker Orville Gibson began making guitars, mandolins and violins in the Michigan town in 1896. After his death, the business expanded producing a wide range of instruments that were popular for their quality and tone.

But as America was drawn into World War 2, Gibson claimed their work force stopped producing guitars and concentrated on making parts for radar equipment and aircraft wings to support the nation's war effort.

But this wasn't the case. As Suzi reveals, an all-female workforce made over 25, 000 instruments including 9000 guitars. So why did the company keep this quiet? Did they fear no one would buy an instrument if they knew it had been made by a woman?

We'll meet some of the women who worked in the Gibson factory in the 1940's and hear their stories. Their skill, dedication and attention to detail produced guitars that were used by artists from Buddy Holly to Gene Autry and Woody Guthrie.

Even though the Gibson company of today has new owners, Suzi asks why Gibson are still reluctant to acknowledge the role that these ordinary American women played in the creation of some of the most beautiful and melodic instruments crafted in their factory in Kalamazoo Michigan.

And we hear the story of 'the soldier's guitar' a 1943 Southerner Jumbo that went with an unnamed soldier to the European battle front. The soldier survived, as did the guitar. It's now owned by academic and musician John Thomas who uncovered the truth about Gibson's wartime production by the Kalamazoo

Producer: David Cook.

Suzi Quatro uncovers the story of the female workforce who made Gibson guitars during WWII

An in-depth and fascinating look at the guitar, exploring its impact on popular culture

06Girl On Guitar20140630Cerys Matthews celebrates the legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist Joni Mitchell.

Joni Mitchell is one of only two women to have made it onto Rolling Stone magazine's '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time'. She's received eight Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award - the citation on which called her 'one of the most important female recording artists of the rock era' and 'a powerful influence on all artists who embrace diversity, imagination and integrity'.

The programme includes the music that influenced her, her love of art, and examines how she writes her songs - as well as reflecting on her eclectic and prolific back catalogue.

Joni Mitchell writes lyrics that speak to the listener and in a career spanning over five decades she's produced folk, jazz and electronic influenced work which is known and loved around the world.

But it's for her guitar playing that many fans love her, and many fellow musicians look up to her. Almost every song Joni has written on the guitar uses non-standard tuning. This and her highly rhythmic strumming style creates a rich and unique guitar sound. Originally Joni tried to teach herself how to play from a Pete Seeger songbook. She never finished the book - Her left hand had been weakened by polio, and some of the fingerings were difficult. Joni didn't give up though - she started to create alternative tunings that allowed her to play each song. The programme features a demonstration of how those tunings were achieved.

Contributors include legendary folk singer Judy Collins - who had hits with Joni's 'Both sides now' and 'Circle Game' - synth-pop producer Thomas Dolby - who worked with Joni in the 1980s, musician Max Bennett - who worked on Joni's earlier albums and toured with her, TV and Radio Producer Trevor Dann - who profiled Joni for the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, cultural commentator Kate Mossman, and musicians Jennifer Crook and Eddi Reader.

An in-depth and fascinating look at the guitar, exploring its impact on popular culture

07London's Tin Pan Alley: Danny Baker's Musical History Tour20140707Danny Baker offers a colourful guide to the pivotal role Denmark Street aka Tin Pan Alley has played in guitar music history - from the advent of rock 'n' roll in the 50s through to present day.

Behind almost every door in this iconic London street, Danny discovers an amazing story - as told by the many well-known musicians he bumps into on his journey including former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock who take us on unique tours of their old haunts.

One-time Denmark Street regular, Donovan, also performs his specially written track 'Tin Pan Alley' on the site of a former hangout and recounts tales of one David Jones often sleeping in his tour van parked in the street overnight, before becoming better known as David Bowie.

Plus 50s/60s rock 'n' roll star Marty Wilde tells how he bought the first ever Les Paul Gold Top guitar to surface in Britain - after a certain American music legend put it up for sale in one of the road's music shops. Meanwhile, one of today's guitar supremos, Suede's Bernard Butler, shares his love affair with the street and how it has played a key part in his own career.

Along the way, Danny uncovers fascinating Denmark Street connections with many more guitar legends such as Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and The Who's Pete Townshend.

He also discovers how today's musicians such as Mumford and Sons, Katie Melua and The Libertines are helping keep the street's musical legacy alive.

Danny Baker has a colourful guide to Denmark Street's pivotal role in guitar music history

An in-depth and fascinating look at the guitar, exploring its impact on popular culture

09Anatomy Of A Guitar20140818Harry Shearer and the world's great guitars! Radio 2 finds out just how this fabulous instrument evolved in the company of Harry and guests.

The Anatomy of a Guitar strips it down to the essentials, then puts it back together again so you hear just how the instrument works. Just like in a natural history documentary, Harry Shearer shows us the evolution of the guitar as it fought off the competition to become undisputed king of rock and roll. Mitch Benn brings his comic genius in song as he praises great guitars, and Rock Doctor Mark Lewney gives us the inside story.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Edinburgh Festival, this promises to be a celebration of the guitar like no other. And maybe if we're lucky, the man who was the once the great rock star in Spinal Tap, will be tempted to pick up an instrument. Tune in to find out!

The evolution of the guitar with Harry Shearer.

An in-depth and fascinating look at the guitar, exploring its impact on popular culture

10Radio 2's Top 100 Greatest Guitar Riffs20140825As part of the Guitar Season of programmes on Radio 2, we've been asking you to vote for what you consider to be the Greatest Guitar Riff Ever. Now in a special programme Zoe Ball will count down the top thirty and exclusively reveal what's been voted your greatest guitar riff of all time.

A panel of guitar music experts, made up of Radio 2 presenters, music critics and record producers were selected to pick the 100 guitar riffs. They are: Janice Long - Radio 2 Presenter, Bob Harris - Radio 2 Presenter, Richard Allison - Radio 2 Presenter, Gideon Coe - 6 Music Presenter, Steve Levine - Music Producer, Paul Sexton - Music journalist and broadcaster, Sunday Times, Radio 2, Sian Llewellyn - Editor, Classic Rock Magazine.

Zoe Ball introduces the top thirty greatest guitar riffs as selected by Radio 2 listeners.

An in-depth and fascinating look at the guitar, exploring its impact on popular culture