Harmonicast

Phil Alvin, in addition to being harmonica player, is an incredible singer, advanced set theorist and great storyteller. His powerful voice was first heard by much of the public in the Blasters, a band he and his brother Dave Alvin founded in the late 70s. This, after years of tutelage performing alongside Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Lee Allen and other musical greats Dave and Phil met while growing up in Downey, California. Phil talks about taking harmonica lessons from […]

Karen Mantler is a singer, songwriter, pianist, organist AND chromatic harmonica player who got her professional start at age 10 playing glockenspiel with Carla Bley (the jazz composer and arranger who also happens to be her mother). She’s made a handful of wonderful records including her most recent, Business is Bad which showcases her highly personal, often humorous and sometimes deeply touching lyrics along with her piano and harmonica playing. We talk about her musical upbringing, her...

Yuri Lane combines beatbox and harmonica, traveling the globe bringing this art form to streets, clubs, and theaters. As an actor, his one-man plays use beatbox, acting, mime, dance and harmonica to tell a story. He’s a compelling performer and a fine vegetarian cook too! We talk about being one of the first performers to “go viral” on YouTube, his fusion of beatbox and harmonica, and how his years as a child actor inform his career today.

Mickey Raphael’s playing has been an essential element of the music of Willie Nelson and Family for more than 40 years. He’s also performed alongside some of the biggest names in music and has recorded on sessions for many of them. We talk about his open, organic approach to performing with Willie, his ever-expanding influences, his love road biking when he’s on the road, and the new Highwaymen collection he produced....

John Kerkhoven is a great player from a great harp town, Montréal. In his visit to Chicago where he came to jam, meet other players and teachers we sat down in the studio for a conversation about his new CD from his band BluesReel, his other band KSB, how he got his start, his love of Mose Allison, short story writing and much more!

Peter Hope-Evans has performed with Who songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend since the 1970s but they’ve been friends even longer. He’s also been a part of the blues duo Medicine Head, guitarist Robbie McIntosh’s band, and the Blues Club Band. Peter’s unbridled playfulness and joy is apparent not only in his music making but in how he speaks about making music with Townshend over the years, learning from harmonicas (or “organs of the mouth” as he calls them), and his […]

If you don’t know Graham Nelson‘s harmonica playing, you should. He’s performed with everyone from Lonnie Brooks to Gypsy jazz guitar great Alphonso Ponticelli to Donovan (whom he has a long history with being the son of Donovan’s longtime road manager). We talk about his music-filled upbringing, his love of Middle-eastern and other ethnic musics, and his penchant for not only customizing harmonicas but making his own flutes....