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 recording, including multitracking, overdubbing, and tape effects. Scott says, "He's an interesting kind of genius because of the way it all came about."

Les Paul will always hold a special place in the pantheon of American musical greats. Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

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. Trent says, "There are songs that have a subtext to them that belies their exterior... Pop songs can connect with people in a very immediate and visceral way, but can also open them up to the whole human experience."

Has pop music lyrics moved from submissive to obvious and banal? Tune in to more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

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. Karl says, "It's one thing to have a melody, but really that's not where it's at. It's who plays the melody." 

The trio dives into the different voices in an orchestra that can produce such a rich, well-blended sound. Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

What We Mention:

Two Set Violin

Sir Mashalot Bro-Country Mashup

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 the sad, lonesome songs like Hank Williams, but they are about interpersonal relationships, they have the same swagger, and he sings in the vernacular."

With his prominent, black-framed eyeglasses and too-big suits, Buddy Holly looked different than most rock stars. He looked like an everyman, and audiences identified with him. Karl sums it up, "Charm and a good heart, that's Buddy Holly." 

While Buddy's career was cut short after a fatal plane crash, his legacy lives on. Tune in to learn more about the bespectacled '50s teen idol that taught Scott about romance. Brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Known as ‘the guitarist’s guitarist,’ Roy Buchanan never attained any real fame or fortune during his lifetime.

As an American guitarist, blues musician, and pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan turned guitar tone into an art form.

As the first commercially successfully solid-body electric guitar, the Telecaster was able to produce extra power and muscularity that Buchanan tapped into. 

Scott says, “It’s not just about the notes, he was trying to make the guitar cry.” Trent adds, “He’s searching for something when he plays, a moment in his solo where he hits on a certain feeling.” 

Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the sound and soulfulness that Buchanan is able to summon.

Karl says, “If it’s not tearing your heart out I don’t know what to do. The electric guitar is the most expressive instrument in the world today, except for the human voice.”

Tune in to hear more about Buchanan’s revolutionary sonic palette, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss the anatomy of funk music. 

Trent opens, "Funk music is dirty, it's degenerate, and it's wonderful." Both highly danceable and hypnotic, funk music includes a mixture of soul, jazz, rhythm, and blues, but there's also a psychedelic element as well. 

Scott says, “I love the aristocratic, regal, civil rights aspect to funk...  I think that funk is probably one of a few music stylings that came out of the 20th century that made no attempt for crossover success. It’s a cultural time capsule.”

Trent adds, "It’s a celebration of Blackness.”

In the podcast, Trent references the article "Shitty Is Pretty: Anatomy of a Heavy Funk 45, Part 1." Author Gabe Roth writes, “When used in combination with good taste and a little giblet gravy, this guide will give you the basic tools to produce a highly potent Funk 45’.”

Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

This week, Scott, Karl, and Trent discuss George Gershwin, the celebrated American composer of Rhapsody in Blue, the opera Porgy and Bess, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Of Thee I Sing, and hundreds more songs that continue to be radiant examples of the Great American Songbook.

Gershwin's compositional career began as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley, progressed through the theatres of Broadway and the concert halls throughout the U.S., ending far too early in the starry heights of Hollywood's glory years in 1937.

Karl says, "There’s a myth about Gershwin that he’s this untutored, unschooled rube who comes on the scene and then attempts to make classical music," which couldn't be further from the truth. 

With his Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin brings two competing genres of music together, creating something that lived in a world between jazz and classical.

Trent believes this guy is the greatest melodist he has ever heard. Do you agree? Tune in for more music and ideas, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com. 

Scott, Karl, and Trent explore Vince Guaraldi's timeless Christmas album, the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the 1965 TV special based on Charles Schultz's iconic Peanuts comic strip. At once hopeful and melancholic, Guaraldi's breezy jazz soundscape captures the childhood innocence of the Peanuts cast while lamenting the loss of meaning in the increasingly commercialized Christmas season.

Tune in to hear more music and ideas— brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.