Show notes
The B's refuse to end.
In Episode 15 of Tone Chasers & String Benders, Chaz Charles and Dr. Porifera Glund continue their alphabetical expedition through 1,000 legendary guitarists, moving from psychedelic pedal steel and the thunderous beginnings of heavy metal to prewar blues, ragtime and extraordinary acoustic virtuosity.
Featured guitarists in this episode:
Bobby Black – The pedal-steel wizard of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. What once sounded like countrified hippie nonsense to the Doctor now sounds remarkably good. The guys revisit the band's wonderfully irreverent blend of Western swing, country and rock, discovering that sometimes the best guitar playing comes from musicians you didn't appreciate the first time around.
Ritchie Blackmore – Deep Purple. Rainbow. Blackmore's Night. A Fender Stratocaster pushed to the brink of amplifier destruction and a musical legacy that helped establish the vocabulary of hard rock and heavy metal. Chaz makes the case for Blackmore's enormous influence on the Sunset Strip guitar generation, while also revisiting the stories surrounding his treatment of a young Eddie Van Halen. The Doctor remembers seeing Deep Purple in 1968, and the guys reach all the way back to The Book of Taliesyn for a little "Wring That Neck." Blackmore deserves an episode of his own. Naturally, they don't have time for that.
Scrapper Blackwell – From British hard rock to the foundations of American blues. Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell takes the show back to the early twentieth century, where his partnership with pianist Leroy Carr helped establish a guitar language that would echo through generations. The guys discover his remarkable playing, explore the blues recordings that survived him, and add another follower to a guitarist whose influence deserves far more attention.
Blind Blake – A master of Piedmont blues and ragtime guitar whose intricate fingerpicking could make one acoustic instrument sound like an entire ensemble. The conversation turns to the astonishing precision of early recorded guitar music, the instruments and strings of the period, and the realization that virtuosity existed long before anybody plugged into a Marshall stack.
Norman Blake – Acoustic virtuosity of another kind. The celebrated flatpicker brings the episode into the world of traditional American music, where breathtaking technique, melodic imagination and a deceptively simple acoustic guitar prove that you don't need electricity to leave two guitar enthusiasts speechless.
Featured recordings include:
- Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen – Live selections featuring Bobby Black
- Deep Purple – "Wring That Neck"
- Scrapper Blackwell – Early blues recordings and solo selections
- Blind Blake – Piedmont blues and ragtime guitar recordings
- Norman Blake – Acoustic flatpicking performances
And in between? The Guitar Freemasons emerge from the shadows. Sacrificial ice cream becomes an alarming possibility. The Doctor confronts his former prejudice against Commander Cody. Ritchie Blackmore's tone threatens to blow up another amplifier. Hendrix, Clapton and Eddie Van Halen enter the conversation. The history of guitar strings becomes a surprisingly serious subject. And somewhere along the way, the guys realize that nine more pages of B's may be waiting for them.
This isn't a ranking. It isn't a lecture. It's a journey through the people who made the guitar what it is—five players at a time, with absolutely no guarantee of staying on the subject.
Five more guitarists down. 925 to go.
Hosted by Chaz Charles and Dr. Porifera Glund.
Only on the Boneless Podcasting Network.
