Procol Harum

Dr. Philip Graham, rock scholar, leads a rigorous discussion of the works, personnel, and history of Procol Harum, from their peculiar name and explosive, immediate success through their continuing contemporary relevance and most recent releases.

Radio Free Anderson

Freestyle soundtracks, Austin psych, retro, and some astonishing early bullshit that forever destroys the punk cred of Lou Reed.

netfiles.uiuc.edu/gillespi/www/20110221anderson.mp3

Sorry, Lou.

Robyn Hitchcock

The irrepressible Dave Witzany joins us for a Valentine's Day show dedicated to a songwriter we truly love: Robyn Hitchcock.

Songs With Mellotrons

We dedicated a two-hour radio show to the Mellotron, which was a popular keyboard instrument using tape loops as a sound source - the first sampling keyboard, (analog) - popularized in the 1960s in "Strawberry Fields Forever" and many other songs. Though we couldn't totally avoid King Crimson, Zombies, and early Genesis, the show focused on recent examples. Featuring incidental mellotron music by Paul Kotheimer. Afterward hear a bit of a live in-studio concert by Santah. Download the playlist.

Byrds

Professor Philip Graham, the world's preeminent Byrds scholar, joins us for a lively conversation about the surprising, important legacy of America's first folk-rock, raga-rock, bluegrass-rock, and country-rock band.

Scott Walker

On a stormy 11/22 Honcho emerged from the mists to collaborate on a long-awaited Scott Walker show.

We covered Walker's career in chronologic order, touching on every solo album along the way.

Get serious.

Songs About Champaign

On November 1, John Steinbacher of Smile Politely Radio joined us, expertly mastering the WWII-era WEFT mixing board, and hosting a show of songs by national artists that mention "Champaign" (Illinois), and then, to fill the remaining hour and 45 minutes, songs by national artists that mention other downstate Illinois communities, songs by downstate Illinois bands that mention Champaign, songs with "Champaign" in the title that are about something else, and bands that have the word "Champaign" in their name. At no point was REO Speedwagon played. Nor, apparently, does anybody have anything to say about "Urbana."