Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
Classical
Jake Shimabukuro Finds Stillness and Nature’s Rhythm on New Acoustic Album Calm Seas, Out January 30
Press Release
Source: Jensen Communications
World-renowned ‘ukulele artist Jake Shimabukuro is set to release his highly anticipated new album, Calm Seas, on January 30, 2026. Blending masterful technique with emotional depth, the acoustic ambient album marks a reflective new chapter in Shimabukuro’s creative journey, one rooted in simplicity, peace, and the quiet strength of connecting nature to the human spirit.
Calm Seas features a collection of 13 original compositions, with 12 additional versions for the digital album. Each track is crafted to evoke cinematic landscapes and meditative soundscapes. The project showcases Shimabukuro’s unmistakable ability to push the ‘ukulele beyond convention, delivering performances that are both technically breathtaking and deeply personal.
“Calm Seas was an eye-opening and healing project for me. It rekindled my connection and relationship with nature. As a kid, I spent a lot of time outdoors, swimming in the ocean, camping in the mountains. Some of my favorite memories include sleeping on the beach to the sound of the waves, and waking up to the light of the rising sun,” says Shimabukuro.
Recorded in Hawai‘i, Calm Seas features warm acoustic textures, and minimalist arrangements that highlight the raw expressiveness of Shimabukuro’s playing. The record invites listeners to slow down, reflect, and immerse themselves in an expansive musical world.
Shimabukuro added, “Usually, when I think of adding the sounds of the ocean, waterfalls, or the sound of native birds to any music score, I write the music first, and later add the background sounds. However, for this project, we recorded nature first and created the music around it. The sound of the birds and the ocean waves served as the leading melodic content for each piece.”
Songs like “Sounds of Hakalau” was Shimabukuro’s serene tribute to one of Hawai‘i’s most treasured landscapes, the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Blending his signature ‘ukulele artistry with the calls of critically endangered native Hawaiian bird species found nowhere else in the world, Jake creates an immersive, ambient soundscape that transports listeners to the lush rainforest.
In “The Passing Storm,” Shimabukuro crafts an immersive sonic journey that rises from quiet unease to cathartic release. What begins as a sparse landscape of resonant ‘ukulele tones slowly gathers force, layers of texture rolling in like thunder on the horizon. Yet beneath the storm’s power lies reflection; every note feels deliberate, and by the time calm finally returns, you are left with the lingering clarity that follows after the storm.
“This project taught me that sometimes we need to let nature lead the pacing of our lives,” says Shimabukuro. “When we are able to align ourselves with nature’s key center and rhythmic tempo, we can live more harmoniously with everything around us. I hope listeners feel a sense of peace and connection when they hear this album.”
Shimabukuro will be back on the road in March 2026, promoting his recent projects. Dates and ticket information can be found at https://jakeshimabukuro.com/.
Calm Seas will be available on all major streaming platforms, with physical copies offered through select retailers and JakeShimabukuro.com. Pre-saves and pre-orders are available now http://jakeshimabukuro.lnk.to/calmseas.
Listen Now:
The Breath Of Life: https://jakeshimabukuro.lnk.to/thebreathoflife
The Passing Storm: https://jakeshimabukuro.lnk.to/thepassingstorm
Sounds of Hakalau: https://jakeshimabukuro.lnk.to/hakalau
Beneath The Waves: https://jakeshimabukuro.lnk.to/beneaththewaves
CD Tracklist:
- Early Morning
- Makapu’u Sunrise
- Wailau
- After The Rain
- Waterfall
- The Stars Are Out
- Let’s Go Home
- Beneath The Waves (With Nature)
- Sounds Of Hakalau (With Nature)
- Calm Seas (With Nature)
- The Breath Of Life (With Nature)
- The Passing Storm (With Nature)
- Beneath The Waves (Part 2 With Nature)
Digital Tracklist:
- Early Morning
- Makapu’u Sunrise
- Wailau
- After The Rain
- Waterfall
- The Stars Are Out
- Let’s Go Home
- Beneath The Waves Part 1 (with nature)
- Sounds of Hakalau (with nature)
- Calm Seas (with nature)
- The Breath Of Life (with nature)
- The Passing Storm (with nature)
- Beneath The Waves Part 2 (with nature)
- Sounds of Hakaiau (short version with nature)
- Calm Seas (short version with nature)
- The Passing Storm (short version with nature)
- Beneath The Waves Part 1
- Beneath The Waves Part 2
- The Breath Of Life
- Sounds of Hakalau
- Sounds of Hakalau (short version)
- Calm Seas (short version)
- Calm Seas
- The Passing Storm (short version)
- The Passing Storm
Jake Shimabukuro | Photo by: Kurt Stevens
2026 Tour Dates:
Feb. 11, 2026 – Honolulu, HI – Blue Note Hawaii
Feb. 12, 2026 – Honolulu, HI – Blue Note Hawaii
Mar. 3, 2026 – Clearwater, FL – Bilheimer Capitol Theatre
Mar. 7, 2026 – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL – Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
Apr. 2, 2026 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley
Apr. 3, 2026 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley
Apr. 4, 2026 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley
Apr. 5, 2026 – Seattle, WA – Jazz Alley
Apr. 17, 2026 – Brownfield, ME – Stone Mountain Arts Center
Apr. 24 – 25, 2026 – Wilkesboro, NC – MerleFest 2026
About Jake Shimabukuro:
Jake Shimabukuro is a world-renowned ‘ukulele virtuoso whose groundbreaking artistry has redefined the instrument for the 21st century. Hailed as the “Jimi Hendrix of the ‘ukulele,” Shimabukuro has captivated audiences across the globe with his masterful technique, innovative spirit, and deeply expressive performances that seamlessly blend elements of jazz, rock, classical, blues, folk, and traditional Hawaiian music.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, Jake began playing the ‘ukulele at age four, quickly developing a unique style that pushed the instrument far beyond its traditional boundaries. He first gained international recognition after his jaw-dropping rendition of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral, introducing millions to the ‘ukulele’s untapped potential.
Over the course of his career, Shimabukuro has released numerous acclaimed albums, collaborated with an array of legendary artists including Bette Midler, Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffett, Ziggy Marley, and Mick Fleetwood, and performed everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to the Hollywood Bowl and the Kennedy Center. His most recent projects include the Blues Experience album with Mick Fleetwood, a soul-stirring journey through masterful musicianship, capturing the timeless grit and storytelling at the core of blues tradition. And Tis The Season, Shimabukuro’s first ever holiday album of festive classics to capture the magic of the season.
Beyond the stage, Jake is a passionate advocate for music education and community outreach, frequently performing at schools and benefit concerts to inspire the next generation of musicians. Whether playing an intimate solo show or headlining with a full band, Shimabukuro continues to prove that the ‘ukulele is an instrument of infinite possibilities, one that speaks a universal language of joy, connection, and hope.
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Gibson at NAMM Kick Off Unveils an All-New Product Range
Press Release
Source: Prime Group PR
Gibson, the iconic global instrument brand that has shaped the sound of generations, returns to the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, this week with a powerful statement of 
innovation, craftsmanship, and artist-driven purpose. For more than a century, Gibson has been among the most played and beloved brands worldwide, inspiring legendary musicians and empowering new players across every genre.
With innovation, quality, and renowned craftsmanship at the forefront, Gibson kicks off the year by unveiling an all-new 2026 product range. On Wednesday, January 21, during NAMM Media Day, Gibson will showcase its 2026 lineup and present a special live performance by singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy. Gibson’s presence at NAMM emphasizes a strong commercial focus and curated experiences for both media and the general public.
From Thursday, January 22, to Saturday, January 24, NAMM attendees can explore highlights across Gibson, Epiphone, MESA/Boogie, KRK, and more. In front of Room #208A, Gibson will present vignettes spotlighting the year’s biggest stories with multiple first-look acoustic and electric reveals. Upstairs in the Creator Lounge Room #303B, media will find hands-on access to instruments and products, podcast studios, and robust content creation opportunities, alongside Gibson Generation Group (G3) performances, product demos, and panels featuring Gibson and Epiphone partners, artists, and creators. In the Pro Audio Hall, in Booth #14112, KRK will debut new monitoring solutions and studio innovations. Interviews and video tours of the Gibson vignette areas are by appointment only; media may request in advance here.
For the public NAMM experience at Room #208A, Gibson Custom Master Artisan Rickie Hinrichsen will demonstrate his handcarving craft, while the Gibson Guitar Throne and an oversized Gibson guitar provide immersive, social-ready photo moments for fans and creators.
“Gibson and NAMM share in our missions to better lives through music and to strengthen the music instruments industry at large,” says Beth Heidt, Chief Marketing Officer at Gibson. “At NAMM, the MI community connects with industry leaders, retailers, influencers, and artists to learn about new products and trends while supporting professional development and nonprofits through the arts.”
The Gibson team will also deliver daily panels during NAMM at the following locations:
Wednesday, January 21:
- NAMM Media Day
- 3:00 PM Hilton Pacific Ballroom — Mat Koehler, Gibson, Vice President of Product, will present Gibson 100 Years of Flat‑Tops, and other key stories for 2026. Mat will be joined onstage by singer-songwriter and Gibson artist Margaret Glaspy for a special guest performance.
Thursday, January 22:
- 12:00 PM at TEC Tracks/Hilton California B — From Studio to Standard: Hit-Boy on Craft, Culture, and Longevity — 3x GRAMMY® Award-winning producer and rapper Hit-Boy and Deston Bennett of KRK Audio Relations join TEC Tracks for a candid fireside chat on staying creative and relevant in a constantly evolving music landscape. He breaks down his process—from beat‑making and collaboration to shaping culturally lasting albums—while reflecting on how new technology, trusted tools, and intentional artistry are guiding his upcoming 2026 project.
- 12:00 PM at Creator’s Lounge 303 B — Jim DeCola, Gibson’s Master Luthier,will take the stage to share how every Gibson electric guitar is meticulously handcrafted in Nashville, TN. His talk will spotlight the company’s time‑honored traditions, the skilled artisans behind the instruments, and the legacy craftsmanship that continues to define Gibson today.
- 12:30 PM at Creator’s Lounge 303 B — Mat Koehler of Gibson will take the Creator stage to present 100 Years of Flat-Tops, exploring the rich history and enduring legacy of Gibson’s acoustic instruments. His talk will highlight the evolution of our flat‑top designs, the craftsmanship behind them, the milestones that shaped a century of acoustic innovation, and the new collections on the way.
Friday, January 23
- 11:00 AM–3:00 PM Creator’s Lounge 303 B — Gibson Generation Group (G3)emerging global artists perform, including Sawyer Lee, Russell Watson, Jayden English, and Zach Krys.
- 6:00 PM Hilton Hotel Pacific Ballroom — She Rocks Awards — Critically acclaimed Gibson artist Margaret Glaspy will be honored with the “Innovator Award” at the 14th Annual She Rocks Awards.
Saturday, January 24:
- 10:30 AM Hilton Laguna AB Ballroom — Solutions for House of Worship — Andrew Ladner, Marketing Manager, Mesa/Boogie, Gibson Amplifiers, Maestro, and KRK. This session explores why Gibson, Epiphone, and MESA/Boogie remain top choices for worship musicians on Sunday mornings and beyond. Covering Gibson’s iconic, time‑tested tones, Epiphone’s exceptional value without compromise, and MESA/Boogie’s versatility from studio to stage, this talk highlights real‑world player experience, the role of modelers and studio monitors in modern worship setups, and practical tools like CabClone
IR for shaping consistent, reliable tone. - 11:00 AM Creator’s Lounge 303 B — Melinda Colaizzi, founder of Women Who Rock, will speak, sharing practical insights on advancing women in music, her experience building and promoting the major annual Women Who Rock benefit concert, creating safe communities for expression, and empowering emerging artists—with actionable takeaways for creators, brands, and industry leaders. Rising alternative artist Black Polish (Jayden “Jay” Binnix)—a Gibson Spotlight Artistfor 2026, will be performing a handful of songs acoustic at the event.
Below is a snapshot of some of the key highlights for Gibson at NAMM, with more to be revealed throughout 2026:
Gibson Acoustics:
Gibson Century Collection
It’s a sound you can feel in your bones. For 100 years, Gibson flat-top acoustic guitars have dominated the airwaves, flowing through our hearts and into our homes. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the very first Gibson flat-top, we present the Century Collection, a beautiful assortment of 12-fret instruments channeling the minimalist elegance of early 20th century design, offering an easier and more intimate playing experience and rich, warm toes perfect for fingerpicking and vocal accompaniment. Available Spring, 2026, on www.gibson.com.
Gibson L-1 Anniversary Limited Edition
First introduced in 1902 and reinvented as a flat-top in 1926, the Gibson L-1 has an indelible link to the blues. This one-time-only run comprises 100 instruments, each featuring a beautiful Cremona Burst lacquer finish, a thermally aged red spruce top paired with mahogany back and sides, historic 12-fret construction with a 25-inch scale length, a bound ebony fingerboard, and a script headstock logo in mother of pearl. Available next month, on www.gibson.com.
Gibson Custom:
Gibson Custom ES-330 Reissues
The legendary ES-330 is back in the Gibson Custom lineup after an eight-year hiatus, and with more and more of today’s players using direct rigs at home or on silent stages, there’s never been a better time to enjoy the expressive dynamic range and beautiful P-90 tones of a fully hollow Gibson ES model, handcrafted in Nashville, TN, by the artisans at the Gibson Custom Shop. 1959 and 1962 ES-330 Reissue models offer two distinct flavors in vintage-inspired colorways. Available Summer 2026, on www.gibson.com.
Gibson:
Gibson ES-335 ’50s & ’60s
Introduced in 1958, the Gibson ES-335 is the most versatile electric guitar of all time. For 2026, the ES-335 is elevated in our core Gibson lineup with a choice of 50s and 60s-inspired models in vintage-inspired colorways. Handcrafted in Nashville, TN, using the same ES laminate press that was used to build the guitars played by the most iconic artists in music, our new ES-335 50s and 60s models feature era-specific plastics, neck shapes, pickups, and more. Available Summer 2026, on www.gibson.com.
Gibson Les Paul Studio Double Trouble
Hot on the heels of the hugely successful Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s & 60s Double Trouble models comes an even more accessible route to the Double Classic White aesthetic beloved by so many players. Based on the smash-hit Les Paul Studio platform and handcrafted in Nashville, TN, these guitars are as versatile as they are head-turning, with gloss nitrocellulose finishes and Double Classic White Burstbucker Pro pickups with coil tapping for a wide range of tones. Available Spring 2026, onwww.gibson.com.
Also premiering at NAMM are a soulful new Gary Clark Jr. ES‑355 from Gibson Custom, the meticulously recreated Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom, and the Michael Schenker 1971 Flying V. Add in the Les Paul Custom Long Scale and the refined ’57 L‑5 CES VS Humbuckers GH Prototype, and the range runs deep. Gibson USA counters with the new Victory Floyd Rose®, refreshed Victory Figured models, and the new Mark Morton Les Paul Modern Quilt—each delivering bold style and modern attitude.
Epiphone:
Epiphone Inspired by Gibson
The all-new 2026 Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Collection brings premium feel, refined performance, and iconic design within reach—no matter where you’re starting or where you’re headed. From reimagined icons like the 1959 Les Paul Standard to exciting new platforms like the Les Paul Special Double Cut Figured and “if you know, you know” models like the Explorer 80s EMG, there’s something here for every stage. Available Winter 2026, on www.epiphone.com.
Epiphone Futura Series
Bold by design, the new-for-2026 Futura Series from Epiphone takes the most iconic Gibson body shapes and remixes them with modern, professional-grade features at a price point for every player. Chromashift finishes change color in real time, while stainless steel frets, compound radius fretboards, and ProBucker Ignite pickups deliver the feel and fire to match. Don’t just play. Show up. Available Spring 2026, onwww.epiphone.com.
MESA/Boogie:
MESA/Boogie Custom Configured
MESA/Boogie brings its legendary custom‑built craftsmanship to NAMM with new additions to the Custom Configured collection, honoring a tradition that began with Randall Smith’s hand‑built amps in 1971. Still crafted from scratch in Petaluma with fully personalized options—from premium finishes and exotic hardwoods to custom grilles and hardware—each MESA amplifier is a true reflection of the player behind it. With 19 models already in the lineup, 2026 introduces a standout limited‑edition 90s Dual Rectifier featuring a Rosso Scuderia Red chassis and matching Split Back 4×12, continuing the brand’s legacy of building dream rigs for artists and individualists alike. Available at,www.mesaboogie.com.
KRK:
V Series Five
At NAMM, KRK debuts the first look at the all-new V Series Five—the latest evolution in Gibson’s professional audio portfolio and a milestone in KRK’s nearly four-decade legacy of precision studio monitoring. Since 1986, KRK has set the standard for accurate translation through hallmark technologies such as woven Kevlar® aramid fiber woofers and a scientifically tuned front bass reflex port, and the V Series Five advances that heritage with refined clarity, control, and reliability trusted across music, film, and content creation. Designed for musicians, producers, and engineers who demand every nuance, the V Series Five empowers creators to craft chart-topping mixes, score to picture, or elevate personal projects with confidence. Available Summer 2026, atwww.krkmusic.com.
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Fishman Fluence Acoustic Pickups: Sound flexibility Beyond Limits
By Carlos Martin Schwab
Fishman recently released 3 acoustic guitar pickups featuring Fluence technology (multiple voices and no copper wire winding): Rock Icon, Nashville Legend, and Spotlight. The Fluence technology gives them unprecedented sound flexibility. Let’s take a closer look.
Common features
By replacing copper wire winding with electronic circuits, it has been possible to design these pickups with a curved shape, making them less visually invasive (their dark colors and matte finish also contribute to this) and less obstructive to the guitar’s soundboard and natural resonance.
These pickups are magnetic (not compatible with nylon strings), active (9V battery, up to 70 hs battery life), with very low self-noise and no hum, can operate in mono (TS cable) or stereo (dual output, TRS cable) simply by choosing the appropriate cable, and have 2 different sound profiles (voices) each. On the housing, they have a connector for a cable with a 1/4″ stereo output endpin jack, a Main Volume rotary control, and 2 switches: Voice 1/Voice 2, and Voice 2 boost On/Off (up to 8dB).
They can be installed permanently or temporarily in minutes, without causing any harm to the surface of your instrument. The included installation kit contains a Velcro pouch for the 9V battery and 3 sets of self-adhesive shims of varying thicknesses for the left and right sides, allowing the pickup to be placed as close as possible to the strings and ensuring the pickup volume of the strings can be balanced.
Rock Icon – For performing with a band or in noisy venues
Designed for increased dynamism and presence, with a voice that cuts through dense mixes and responds well when amplified or played alongside other instruments. Ideal for powerful strumming, band, or amplified performances.
Voice 1 is more dynamic, direct, and suited for solo lines or more defined picking. It offers a tone with clear attack and enough presence so that notes can be heard distinctly, even in environments with other instruments. This makes it useful for parts where you want each note to be projected individually. Compared to other traditional acoustic pickups, Voice 1’s response emphasizes clarity and definition over traditional warmth or body, making it especially valuable for guitarists seeking a more “forward” sound in the mix. Suitable for clarity and solo expressiveness.
Voice 2 has a tonal character more inspired by vintage acoustic rock sounds, prioritizing rhythms and riffs over clean solo lines. It’s fuller and richer in body, with a vintage profile that adds a certain “weight” and energy to chords, helping the guitar blend in with electric rhythm guitars or full bands. Its boost enhance presence and projection of the sound in mixes or live performances without sacrificing definition. Ideal for rhythmic settings.
Nashville Legend – For a variety of styles or mixing with other instruments
This the most versatile pickup in the series, suitable for both acoustic performances and recordings with other instruments. It provides a good balance between clarity and overall presence and is perfect if you switch between styles.
Voice 1 delivers a well-balanced, clear, and articulate tone that is natural and musical, especially suited to styles such as flatpicking and fingerstyle, where each note is heard with definition. It tends to produce a forward, detailed sound that captures the acoustic character of the instrument without overly coloring the signal. In live or recording settings, this voice keeps the guitar prominent in the mix without overpowering other instruments, maintaining an organic sound. Ideal for natural acoustic clarity.
Voice 2 adds more presence and percussive quality to the sound. It offers a more rounded profile with attack, helping the guitar cut through a denser mix. It’s more energetic and modern, with a response that highlights transients and makes rhythmic chords or more dynamic parts stand out without losing clarity. Plus, the boost control for this voice lets you adjust the projection based on the style or performance setting, providing a more pronounced rhythmic presence.
Spotlight – For fingerstyle and intimate accompanied performances
This pickup is versatile and well-suited for different styles of acoustic playing, from vocal accompaniment to defined solo parts. It delivers a very “authentic acoustic” tone even when moving across the fretboard. Ideal for singer-songwriters and solo or small group sets, where natural tonal balance is key. It provides acoustic comfort and dynamic expressiveness.
Voice 1 is sweeter, smoother, and more natural, especially suited for accompanying vocals or playing in intimate settings. With acoustic amplification, it offers a full response with rich bass and rounded highs, maintaining tonal consistency as you move up the fretboard, something other pickups lose in higher positions. This voice is perceived as more “acoustic” and organic, with a smooth attack that doesn’t feel artificially colored, ideal for fingerpicking or soft accompaniments.
Voice 2 is more articulate and clear, with more defined highs and additional presence, which helps melodic phrases or solos cut through a mix better. It offers more punch and projection, useful when you need the guitar to stand out from other instruments or for more dynamic parts. The volume control and boost dedicated to this voice allow you to adjust that crisp character according to the intensity of the performance.
Price: $ 319.95 (retail price each)
More info: www.fishman.com
Carlos Martin Schwab thanks Nate Cambra from Fishman for his help in writing this article.
PART 2 – Singer-Songwriter, Author, Producer Rod MacDonald Talks About His Career and Rants & Romance
By: Rick Landers
PART 2
Guitar International and the masterful singer-songwriter, producer, author and music historian-presenter, Rod MacDonald, continue our conversation about Rod’s music career, including challenges, lessons learned, and reinventing or re-strategizing his approach to changes in the music business and life.
If you missed the beginning of our conversation, please go to PART 1 HERE!
“Politics, passion, and a sense of humor” The Village Voice
“A poet with a lot on his mind who has never allowed himself to make points at the expense of making music.” Boston Globe
“MacDonald’s songs combine poetic vision and journalistic insight.” Dirty Linen
CHECK OUT ROD’S 2026 CALENDAR!
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Rod MacDonald: I’m the president of the Greenwich Village Folk Festival, LLC, but I think that the music that I actually compose and record is much more contemporary and diverse than folk music. As folk music is seen by most people, it’s a very finite kind of thing, even the folk music world. So within the folk music world, for example, I see the playlists of folk DJs. There’s a bulletin board where the folk DJs all publish what they play.
I look at it, I subscribe to it, I’m interested. Part of my job with booking the Greenwich Village Folk Festival is to pay attention to who’s getting hurt around the country. And it’s mostly limited to a very finite kind of sound. Sparse, acoustic rural in a way. And very little of what I actually do would fit that playlist. But because I’m not on a corporate record label, most of the other outlets aren’t available on a certain level.
Things like Spotify is actually a godsend to someone like me. Even if you’re not marketed or promoted by any big corporation, people can still stumble on your music and hear it. So I guess that I feel that a part of me is involved with folk music, but it certainly doesn’t describe all of what I do.
But, I do like folk music as a vehicle for song. And I think that some of the best songs that I hear come from people who are somewhat similar to myself, folk singers that love contemporary music as well.
Rick: I was reading about folk music and a term that I had not seen before for that genre is Folk Adjacent. Have you heard of that before?
Rod MacDonald: Folk adjacent?
Rick: Yeah.
Rod MacDonald: No, I haven’t, but it’s not a bad idea.
Starting in about April of 2020, I played every Sunday night for a year and a half. And after I’d been doing it for a little while, I started thinking, well, I really should play some new songs. So, I started trying to write a song each week. And some of them stuck. Some of ’em were pretty good, I thought timely, and that gave me a lot of new material for the cd. And then when we started working by May of 2022, when we started the actual recording process, I had, I don’t know, 10 or 15 songs to work from.
I teach a music history course in a big lifelong learning program here in Florida, for seniors. It’s the biggest lifelong learning program in the United States. It’s kind of the very first big one. And I’ve been the music Americana instructor since 2006, and I do lectures on famous musicians.
And it’s almost a given that almost every artist who’s been hugely successful runs into a situation where they want to expand their palette and the people that are their financial apparatus, the record labels, the managers, all tell them, “Oh, you can’t do it.” Even their audience, I mean, Dylan is a famous example of somebody who actually had to endure a couple of years of boos from his own audience to get where he wanted to go.
But, it’s not really unusual at all. Ray Charles started out doing R&B for Atlantic Records, and then they didn’t want him to do what he wanted to do, which was to do country music his way. He loved country music, but he wanted to play it his way. So, he changed record labels and had the biggest hits of his career. The music history is full of examples of artists who wanted to be more than they were pigeonholed as.
Click here to view the embedded video.
And I’m sure that’s true of many of the singer songwriters in folk music; that folk is kind of an umbrella term. And yet, Mark Moss, the editor of Sing Out magazine, who is a good friend of mine, once said that the one thing he wasn’t interested in for Sing Out was singer songwriters who couldn’t afford a band. He said, “Just because you’re playing solo doesn’t make it folk music. “And I think he was totally right, that that’s true.
But at the same time, it also means, “Where are you going? Where are you going to go if you’re going to play this music?” Because if you’re not on a commercial record label that’s going to support your musical aspirations, you’re going to have to figure it out yourself.
And then you have to find your audience. And so what you often have is people like myself who record with a full band, but when we go out on tour, we pretty much play solo. Or I go out a lot with Mark Dan playing bass, and we’re pretty good. We’re a pretty good act. But you don’t get to hear, we don’t present my albums’ (songs) the way they sound, when you play them.
Rick: And I don’t think people should expect you to sound like your albums when you’re out playing solo.
Rod MacDonald’s Newest Book, Election Night (2025)
Rod MacDonald: Well, it’s a good thing if they don’t, because for the most part, they’re not going to get it.
Rick: And you also have to split the pie with four or five other people, so you end up with hardly anything. So, how do you survive with the band? Pretty different type of thing.
Rod MacDonald: Yeah, and I played with a band in the late 1970s. I played regularly with a band from about 1976 to the late Eighties around New York City. I played with a band, and at one point we would go up and play weekends in Hartford in this big club for hundreds of people about once a month. And those are really fun times. But, as you get a little older traveling around in a van, everybody’s got their lives, people get married, have kids.
The idea of driving around the country, sleeping in the back of a van with the amps and speakers all around me, no, I’m not going to do that at this point in my life. So, I record the way I aspire to record the versions of the songs that I would really love to hear and then take them out and play them, what I jokingly refer to as the Lonesome Rod Show.
Sometimes, I just go out and sing the songs with my guitar. I think for the most part, the audiences that come to see me are okay with that. Every once in a while when I get to play with other musicians, people kind of go like, “Whoa, that’s a whole other side of you!” Sometimes they’ll say, “We didn’t even know that that existed.”
I’ll say, “Geeze, I’ve been playing and listening to rock and roll and band music all my life. It’s not really that big a stretch. You have to have a group of people that are willing to work to get the music together, to rehearse it, to learn it.
I do concerts here in South Florida for the Lifelong Learning Program a couple times a year, and we’ll take an artist’s entire catalog and boil it and teach it, learn it, learn it in three rehearsals, and then play it in front of hundreds of people a couple of times. We’ve done a huge array of music doing that. We’ve done The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dylan, Paul Simon, and Art Garfunkel. We did a concert of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Buffett and Van Morrison Tunes.
Last year, this past year. We did Gordon Lightfoot and Jimmy Buffett with a full band, five piece band, and it’s really fun. It’s kind of like… almost a fantasy. You’ve loved this music all your life. We’re going to pay you enough to learn it and play it a couple times. But, I wouldn’t want to go on the road and do it necessarily. even I got offered. We did a Leonard Cohen show and it was really wonderful. I love Leonard Cohen’s songs, and also a lot of the musical arrangements to his songs are really beautiful.
At this point in my life, it’s not what I want to do, but I enjoyed doing that concert
Rick: And you’ve got plenty of songs at this point to go on the road and play for two or three hours without a problem, I would think.
Rod MacDonald: Yeah, but the problem is, can’t you draw enough people to pay a band?
Rick: True. That’s true.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Rod MacDonald: I’m not a young guy hustling into the music business. I’m not signed to a label. I don’t have promotion people and the “Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man”, follow me around and any of that kind of stuff anymore. I kind of gave that up years ago and have been on my own.
So, the idea that I’d go to Detroit and Chicago and Omaha and Seattle and draw a big enough crowd to be able to pay a band to do all that, it would take a real businessman to organize that and I’m not that guy.
Rick: And to get a label, from what I understand it, you’re a lawyer, so you’d probably be able to understand the lingo in the contracts. I think having a label, I’m not sure is such a great thing. I interviewed a guy who was picked up in a new RV and I knew he hadn’t had a great paying job and he ended up owing his label a ton of money.
Rod MacDonald: I’ve talked to some guys that have ended up in that position of owing their record company a lot of money. I never ended up in that position, fortunately, and I have done okay. I have a fairly modest career, but I think it’s okay.
Somebody asked me recently on a radio interview, how I feel about that and I said, “Well, I’ve never had to go to rehab. I’m not divorced. There’s some benefits to staying within yourself. On the other hand, you always dream of your music reaching more people than are available on a person to person basis. And hopefully some people who read this interview will say, “Hey, I’d like to check this guy out.” That’s a good thing.
Rick: Yeah. Well what about synching? Have you had any songs that have been in movies or commercials? There seems to be some bucks there.
Rod MacDonald: I suppose there are. The fact is that I don’t really spend a lot of time on the business end of this stuff. If there’s a fault in my career, that’s probably it, that I’m not a very aggressive business person. I don’t go out and look for those opportunities. I just don’t, don’t have time. I don’t want to spend my time doing that. So I guess either you can call it laziness or lack of engagement. I mean, I get emails every day, on how to navigate the new digital wilderness, “Sign up for this service and we’ll do this for you, sign up for that, blah, blah, blah.”
But basically, every once in a while I’ve tried one or two of those on a trial basis and they don’t really do any of those things. What they do is tell you a lot of things that you should do, which I just don’t have the time and ability to navigate my way through 550 Spotify playlists on an individual basis, trying to get my music heard.
If I could send it to 550 playlists in one blast, I would, or I have maybe, and that’s probably where I am getting air played, but I just don’t want to sit there and spend my day writing emails to 550 people or anything like that.
Rick: But what you do with your time has to be, since you’re a singer songwriter, you’ve written at least one book that I know of and you put on a presentations, workshops, whatever. So I would say you do have the discipline, but your discipline is really sort of vectored into actually having several revenue streams.
Rod MacDonald: My dad was an older dad and had started to decline health-wise and I wanted to help my mom take care of him. My dad did not want to leave home and go into a facility just because of his health.
Still very cognizant and he didn’t want to leave my mom, but she couldn’t take care of him physically. And I had been living with my wife, Nicole. We weren’t married yet, but we had been together for almost a year and we decided to move to Florida together and take care of my dad. But, then that meant getting off the road.
I’d been on the road for about 10 years by that time, driving around the country in a rental car, playing concerts. I had an agent. I was on Shaky records. I kind of gave all that up. I was on an upward trajectory probably career wise, but I gave all that up and I don’t regret it. I think it was a good thing to do. It’s given me a more normal life and probably less visibility as an artist, but it’s been a good thing to do.
And so I had to figure out how to make a living without being on the road, because you can only play your own songs in the town you live in so many times a year, you really can’t do that. So I learned. So I started doing a bunch of different things and at Lifelong Learning, being an instructor there came to me from playing this one club I was playing. I played with an Irish trio sometimes part-time here in South Florida.
I still do actually. I’ve been working with this same woman for 30 years and we were at that time playing like 40 weekends a year at this one Irish club, which was a pretty good gig and paid well. And they never objected if I sang one of my songs, any of my songs. So it was an okay situation. Then this woman came in and I didn’t even know there was a Lifelong Learning program. She said that there was, and she would like to introduce me to the director of it.
I went and met that person and then the next thing I knew they were asking me to teach a class. And that’s turned into very steady work and really interesting work, a lot of research and a lot of video editing. But I have learned a tremendous amount from it about artists that I’ve admired and music that I’ve always loved.
And one of the things that was really cool about it was the director of the program said, “We don’t want you just to teach what you already know. What we like our instructors to do is to take a general field that they’re well versed in. Then pick specific topics that they’d like, to know more about themselves.
Rick: Good idea.
Rod MacDonald: And go out and do the research and you’ll still be enthusiastic. So, you’ll bring that enthusiasm to your classes. Interesting. And so I do that and I’ve gone out and done lectures on probably a couple hundred different artists, including People that I always kind of loved but never really had the chance to learn that much about. And it’s really great.
And it’s also led to a lot of other situations where private communities will call me up and say, “Can you come do a lecture for us?” And I’ll say, “Okay, what do you want me to do a lecture about?” And they’ll look at the list of the lectures that I’ve already prepared and they’ll pick a couple topics and I’ll go talk to them and show ’em the videos that I’ve prepared. I’ll go talk to ’em for an hour and a half. And that’s led to another kind of income stream. So, I’ve been able to support my family by doing these diverse things. And then I still do, I don’t know, 50 nights a year of my own songs probably, which is fun too.
BONUS VIDEO “HEAL THE WORLD”
Click here to view the embedded video.
If you missed the beginning of our conversation, please go to PART 1 HERE!
Metal Guitarist David K. Starr Releases “Not Dead Yet”
Press Release
Source: Chipster PR & Consulting, Inc.
Veteran metal guitarist/bassist David K. Starr (WildeStarr, Vicious Rumors, Chastain) returns with a slamming new track and video
“Not Dead Yet” is Dave’s own testimony of life’s twists and turns after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2020.
Dave says… “I originally started writing the song about what I have gone through, but then I realized it’s bigger than me, this song is for anyone out there dealing with life changing events, be it their health, death of a loved one, a broken heart, or whatever comes your way”. Dave continues.. “I never mention my health problems in the song, that would be too corny, so I broadened my scope and made it for anyone out there who’s going through pain”…”It’s basically about standing tall and fighting for yourself, fighting to stay alive, no matter what kind of hell life throws at you”
“Not Dead Yet” was directed by London Wilde, and features Dave singing lead vocals for the first time, as well as playing all the guitars. Backing up Dave on this new track & video are Rich Gray on bass (Annihilator, Aeon Zen) and drummer Fabio Alessandrini (Annihilator, Bonfire).
Click here to view the embedded video.
David K. Starr was the bassist with Vicious Rumors from 1984 – 1993, and again from 2005 – 2007. He is featured on the albums; Soldiers Of The Night (1985), Digital Dictator (1988), Vicious Rumors (1990), Welcome To The Ball (1991), Live In Tokyo (1992), and WARBALL (2006)
David played bass for CHASTAIN from 2001 – 2005 and recorded the 2004 album, In An Outrage.
More recently, David K. Starr released 3 albums with WildeStarr: Arrival (2010), A Tell Tale Heart (2012), Beyond The Rain (2017) with David K. Starr on guitars and bass, London Wilde on vocals, and Josh Foster on drums.
Folk legends John McCutcheon and Tom Paxton new January duo album & 2026 Tour
Press Release
Source: Hello Wendy PR
John McCjutcheon & Tom Paxton – photo credit: Michael G. Stewart
In early August 2021, John McCutcheon reached out to his longtime friend Tom Paxton with a simple idea: why not use Zoom—a newly essential tool in those pandemic days—to connect, ease the isolation of COVID, and maybe write a few songs together? That following Monday at 2:00 PM Eastern, they logged in. One Monday led to the next, and soon the weekly sessions became a ritual. More than four years later, they’re still at it.
R.E.M.’s Chronic Town and Murmur Get the Definitive Sound Series Treatment
Press Release
Source: LPC Media
Interscope-Capitol Records announces the next installment inits acclaimed Definitive Sound Series (DSS): R.E.M.’s Chronic Town and Murmur, two landmark albums that introduced one of America’s most influential bands and reshaped the sound of modern rock.
Praised by NME as “full of immediacy and action and healthy impatience,” ˆthe five-song EP Chronic Town(1982), co-produced by Mitch Easter, helped define ‘80s college rock, introducing the band’s jangling guitars, enigmatic lyrics, and Southern post-punk spark.
Its follow up, Murmur (1983), produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, crystalized that sound into a richly textured, atmospheric debut album of lasting influence, earning widespread acclaim, including Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s, and its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Sourced from the original analog master tapes with direct involvement from Easter and Dixon, the 2LP, 180-gram high-definition vinyl set ($124.98) was mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Record Technology, Inc.
Presented in a top-quality heavyweight tip-on single pocket jacket, the set is, housed inside a uniquely designed slipcase. Download hi-res packshot and artwork here, and pre-order here. Product available at remhq.com while supplies last.
Created for collectors and audiophiles, the DSSeditions are limited to 3,000 numbered copies per title,each album includes a certificate of authenticity detailing its mastering, plating, and pressing.
Using the state-of-the-art One Step process, which eliminates multiple stamper stages to achieve unmatched depth and clarity, the series represents “the pinnacle of vinyl craftsmanship,” says Xavier Ramos, EVP D2C and eCommerce Strategy at Interscope/Capitol. “We’re proud to invest in these collectible pieces that reflect our respect for these iconic artists, their groundbreaking music, and the fans whose passion continues to keep these albums as relevant today as when they were first released.”
Previous DSS titles include Dr Dre’s The Chronic, A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms, and Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song. All DSS releases will be initially exclusive to Interscope.com and shop.capitolmusic.com.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Lynyrd Skynyrd & Foreigner Double Trouble Double Vision Tour in 2026
Press Release
Source: SKH Music
LYNYRD SKYNYRD and Foreigner have announced 19 co-headline appearances across North America confirmed for Summer, 2026. Produced by Live Nation, the Double Trouble Double Vision Tour begins on July 23 in Atlanta at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre with a final performance planned on August 29 in Rogers, AR at the Walmart AMP.
The artist pre-sale begins on Tuesday, November 18 at Noon local time. The general on-sale goes live on Friday, November 21 at 10AM local time. For tickets visit foreigneronline.com or lynyrdskynyrd.com.
The tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but include premium tickets, access to an intimate behind the scenes backstage tour, photo op with members of the band, exclusive merch pack & more. VIP package contents vary based on the offer selected. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
Just prior to the co-headline tour with Foreigner, Lynyrd Skynyrd will make two appearances in Florida. On July 17 in West Palm Beach at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre and on July 18 in Tampa at MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre. Tickets will be available simultaneously with the on-sale for the nineteen co-headline events. Six Gun Sally will open all appearances across all dates. Very Special Guest Loverboy will appear as direct support for Lynyrd Skynyrd in West Palm Beach, Tampa and Tinley Park. Additionally, on August 11, Lynyrd Skynyrd returns to the Legendary Sturgis Buffalo Chip for the annual rally and on July 17 in Elk Grove Village, IL, Foreigner will appear at the Mid-Summer Classics Concert Series.
Foreigner’s Jeff Pilson shares, “The energy the band has felt knowing we’ll be touring with Skynyrd this coming summer has been electric! Two bands with plenty of iconic songs, dueling guitars, double trouble and double vision are gonna set each and every stage on fire! No question this will be THE go-to event of the summer!”
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Johnny Van Zant states, “I’m excited to share the stage with Foreigner and hear all their amazing hits! I’ve always been a fan, and I believe the audience will love this tour. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner together — it doesn’t get much better than that. See y’all in 2026!”
LYNYRD SKYNRD & FOREIGNER: DOUBLE TROUBLE DOUBLE VISION DATES:
7/23 Atlanta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
7/24 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
7/25 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
7/26 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
7/30 Toronto, ON RBC Amphitheatre
7/31 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
8/01 Grand Rapids, MI Acrisure Amphitheater
8/06 Saint Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
8/07 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Music Center
8/08 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
8/14 Kansas City, MO Morton Amphitheater
8/16 Shakopee, MN Mystic Lake Amphitheater
8/20 Camden, NJ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
8/21 Wantagh, NY Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
8/22 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
8/23 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
8/27 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion
8/28 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion
8/29 Rogers, AR Walmart AMP
LYNYRD SKYNYRD HEADLINE APPEARANCES WITHOUT FOREIGNER:
7/17 West Palm Beach, FL iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
7/18 Tampa, FL MIDFLORIDA CU Amphitheatre
8/11 Sturgis, SD The Legendary Sturgis Buffalo Chip
8/15 Tinley Park, IL Credit 1 Union Amphitheatre
FOREIGNER HEADLINE APPEARANCE WITHOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD:
7/17 Elk Grove Village, IL Mid-Summer Classics Concert Series
ABOUT FOREIGNER
With more Top 10 hits than Journey, and as many as Fleetwood Mac, FOREIGNER features strongly in every category in Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time” listing. At times, the band’s weekly catalog sales have eclipsed those of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Aerosmith and most of their Classic Rock peers (Source: Nielsen SoundScan). With 10 multi-platinum albums and 16 Top 30 hits, FOREIGNER is universally hailed as one of the most popular rock acts in the world with a formidable musical arsenal that continues to propel sold-out tours and album sales, now exceeding 80 million. Responsible for some of rock and roll’s most enduring anthems including “Juke Box Hero,” “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “Feels Like The First Time,” “Urgent,” “Head Games,” “Say You Will,” “Dirty White Boy,” “Long, Long Way From Home” and the worldwide #1 hit and member of Spotify’s exclusive Billions Club, “I Want To Know What Love Is,” Rock & Roll Hall of Famers FOREIGNER still rock the charts almost 50 years into the game with massive airplay and continued Billboard album chart success. Audio and video streams of FOREIGNER’s hits are approaching 20 million per week. FOREIGNER‘s catalog sales were recently celebrated in Business Insider as hitting the Top 40 among the Best Selling Music Artists of All Time.
ABOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD
More than a half century after the release of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd,’ they resonate as deeply with their multi-generational fan base today as when they first emerged out of Jacksonville, Florida in 1973. Few ensembles have had the deep impact in creating a lifestyle as Skynyrd has. The band travels forward with a primary mission of celebrating a legacy that honors all whom have had a resonating contribution to the lives of hundreds of millions of fans globally. Former members Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Steve Gaines, Ed King, Billy Powell, Bob Burns, and Leon Wilkeson alongside others will forever remain significant contributors to this indelible repertoire and the band’s colorful history. Today, Lynyrd Skynyrd rocks on with a current line-up featuring Johnny Van Zant, Rickey Medlocke, Damon Johnson, Mark “Sparky” Matejka, Michael Cartellone, Robbie Harrington, Peter Keys, Carol Chase and Stacy Plunk.
The rock and roll powerhouse continually tours, and as Van Zant shares, “It’s about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and what it stands for, what the fans are all about. There’s nothing like getting out there playing a great show with Skynyrd and seeing people love this music.”
With a catalog of over 60 albums, billions of streams, tens of millions of records sold, and the introduction of Hell House whiskey, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Lynyrd Skynyrd remain a cultural icon that appeal to all generations.
Singer-Songwriter, Author, Producer Rod MacDonald Talks About His Career and Rants & Romance
By: Rick Landers
Rod MacDonald
A masterful and prolific singer-songwriter, author, workshop lecturer, and noted music history presenter, Rod MacDonald, is one of the most creative, hard working and entertaining entrepreneur you’re likely to meet. His songs are catchy, whether they are light-hearted or heartfelt with sincere intent, informing us and melodically nudging us to be better, choose smarter and contribute more to society.
As he pursued a career in the U.S. Navy, he honored and reflected his core values, becoming a conscious objector to become a creator and singer of folk music.
In our interview we covered his songwriting, collaborations with others, and his perspectives on what it means to be a musician. With several fine albums in his quiver, he offered up how he pulled together his most recent release, Rants and Romance (2023), with Rod on both acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, mandolin and vocals. And, from his early days performing and recording, he’s made his mark with a song that decades later still resonates and captures us still, “American Jerusalem”
When asked about his life decisions, Rod replied:
“Well, I suppose the biggest ones were to follow my dream and move to Greenwich Village and try to find a place in the arena of the music that I had loved, that I loved so much. And that paid off in a lot of ways. One of which was that in Greenwich Village, you weren’t asked to play cover music. You were asked to play your own songs.”
Rod’s decision followed his vision as he eventually served as a co-producer of the Greenwich. Village Folk Festival (1987 – 1994), with Ray Micek, Jay Rosen and Gerry Hinson. And today, the festival has gone virtual, featuring the best of folk musicians, as well as paying tribute to past generations of traditional music. In 2025, the festival paid tribute to the legendary folkie, Phil Ochs.
MacDonald’s been performing since the 1970’s and has 14 albums to his name, as well as 21 of his songs honored by being accepted into the Smithsonian museum’s Folkways Collection. Since 2006, Rod has served a Music Americana lecturer with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) – Florida Atlantic University. In 2012, Rod was named Distinguished Faculty Member.
McDonald’s music career has taken him around the world and on stage with such icons as: Pete Seeger, Peter Yarrow, Odetta, Tom Paxton, the Violent Femmes, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Dave Van Ronk, Emmylou Harris, Richie Havens, Ani DiFranco, Tom Chapin, Jack Hardy, David Massengill, Joe Jencks and more.
Rod honed his skills early, writing for Fast Folk Musical Magazine, and publishing 21 songs. And steadily gained solid performance experience at major festivals, including: Kerrville, Falcon Ridge, Summerfest Port Fairy (Australia) and Friulh (Italy).and more.
And in 2025, he scheduled three lectures, Music Americana: Protest Songs; Bob Dylan: The First Ten Years; and The Sound of Her Voice: Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.
And in keeping with his penchant for storytelling, Rod’s authored two books, The American Guerrillas and Open Mic.
Along with being one of the top musicians in today’s Americana scene, Rod’s music has been covered by others, including: Dave Van Ronk, Jonathan Edwards, Shawn Colvin, Garnet Rogers, Joe Jencks, 4 Bitchin’ Babes and Renaissance Fair artists. He also penned and presented, Songwriting for Self-Expression, at the New York Center and Common Ground on the Hill.
Guitar International is honored to include Rod MacDonald’s interview in our magazine for our valued readers and we’re certain they’ll look forward to Part 2 of our conversation with him.
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Rick: Let’s start with your latest album release, Rants and Romance. Are the tracks new songs that you’ve written, or are some of them songs that you wrote sometime ago and you just got around to putting on this album?
Rod MacDonald: I’ve got to think for a second about a question like that, because the weird part of it is you record 15 songs for a cd, but you probably only play four or five or six of them live very often, after 14 CDs. So, I think they’re all pretty new.
Several of ’em I wrote during the Pandemic, and it was my first CD of new songs since 2018, when it came out in 2023. So it had been, and we recorded most of it in 2022. It had been four years. I had a lot of the songs I wrote during the Pandemic. A few of them had been things that I’d worked on over time.
My work process in writing songs isn’t always that immediate. I mean, sometimes it is. Sometimes you wake up in the morning, write something down, grab your guitar and go, “Yep, this goes just like this.” But it’s not always that way. Sometimes I write words on a piece of paper or even type ’em into the computer, and then I go back and look at ’em weeks, months later. But, I think most of the songs, I think there are three covers on Ran and Romance by other people.
I think all of the songs that are my own, were pretty new at the time. Off the top of my head I’m not recalling anything that was laying around for a long time or anything like that.
Rick: I was a bit surprised to hear and I wasn’t expecting it, that you have some songs where you’re not singing, but you’re speaking. I think it’s only two tracks. I didn’t get a chance to hear the whole thing, “Cry Freedom’. That was great. I’m going, oh, that’s pretty cool. So did you find that more challenging than writing songs for singing, trying to get the cadence right, or the way you presented the words?
Rod MacDonald: I’m not sure I think that consciously about it. It’s something I also did on my 1996 cd, Then He Woke Up. There’s a couple spoken word pieces on that, two or three. I think every once in a while it just feels like the right way to go. I don’t suppose it’s that formal of a process. It’s more like, this just feels like the way to do this song. A melody would almost be worse than whatever it is.
In the case of “Cry Freedom”.it started out as a guitar piece. It was a guitar piece for a long time during the Pandemic. I’ve got my wife, Nicole, in, and at the time, two teenagers living here, and we have a small two bedroom condo.
Click here to view the embedded video.
So we kind of took shifts in a way. The kids were going to school online, virtually on the computer. They both had laptops. One would be upstairs and one downstairs. But one of my kids and I started staying up very late at night, and the other started going to bed very early, at the same time as my wife. And I guess we did this, not so deliberately, but we found that doing this made it easier for me to get my work done. Otherwise we’d all four be in the same room at the same time, and you can’t see it where we are.
But in our house, my office setup, where I’m sitting right now, is actually part of the living room. And so if we were all sitting around together, I don’t like to work on music when everybody’s hanging around me. I like to have some solitude.
I started sitting on the couch late at night with a cheap electric guitar that I have that I love to play with my fingers and just not plugging it in. And I started playing that piece of music. And then I had that whole guitar arrangement. I had the whole piece of music all worked out musically before I ever wrote any words to it.
And then I started thinking, “Well, what is this? What am I doing with this?” It was just a kind of guitar doodle for a long time. But then at some point, I wrote the poem of “Cry Freedom” without even thinking about music, really, just as a poem.
I do occasionally do that. And then at some point I just had the words in front of me and the guitar doodle going on at the same time, and I started thinking, “Can I do this?”And it fit, it worked out, and then I had to learn. The difficult part of it was learning the spacing of the words.
Despite being a spoken word piece, it’s very precise in terms of timing, how you phrase it, at least it seems to me that way. And so I had to learn it that way. And then once I got it, the next time I was up in Woodstock at Mark Dann’s place, I recorded the song with him, and it was the first thing we released from Rants and Romance. We put it out as a single several months beforehand.
I don’t know, I guess that’s sort of the process. I don’t have a formal process for writing all that much. I kind of do whatever works and that worked for that song.
Rod MacDonald
Rick: So, if you find that normal, you would come up with a melody, play with some chords, then you come up with the words afterwards?
Rod MacDonald: I almost have to say there is no normally, I kind of do whatever. That’s one way that I like to work. If I have a piece of music, I’ll just work on the music until it feels right.
I have several of those even now laying around with no words. And then I have words that have no music sometimes. And then sometimes when I write something, it just all feels I can hear the melody of the words when I’m writing it, and then that becomes more simple to execute, in a way. I’m trying to think if there’s a good example of that on Rant and Romance.
In the latter half of the cd, there’s a song called, “The King of Tomorrow”. When I wrote it I very much had the music in my head as I was writing the words, and then I just kind of had to learn to play it. I probably even had the guitar in my hands a lot of times. So that would be a case of where the words in the music were more, I dunno, unitary or more simultaneous in a way.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Rick: When you do that, do you come up with some words, and I know that Sting called some of his initial lyrics, “rubbish lyrics,” and I’ve called them trash lyrics.
Rod MacDonald: Dummy lyrics is a phrase that I’ve heard used.
Rick: Yeah, that’s kinder. And so do you come up with those and hen you fit in the right words and come up with a theme, and that sort of drives you to the end of this, basically a story?
Rod MacDonald: I don’t really work much with dummy lyrics. I will occasionally write music to an entire lyric and then use the music for something else, that’s not that unusual. But I don’t generally sit with my guitar and write out a melody while singing banana pancakes or anything like that. I just really work on the music first. But if I’m writing music to a lyric, then usually it’s because I already like the lyric and want to keep it.
Rick:. Paul McCartney started out “Yesterday” with the title “Scrambled Eggs”.
Rod MacDonald: Yeah. That’s a famous example of a dummy lyric. I don’t really know, but I think that part of their process was collaborative, and I believe that he brought that into the studio and played it for the other guys, and they all said, “Great piece of music, but the word’s got to get better than that”.
I saw an interview with McCartney one time. I thought it was very interesting. I think it was Conan (O’Brien) He asked him what he thought of himself as a lyricist or something like that, because McCartney among guys that are, I suppose, on my end of the songwriting spectrum, where we tend to write long and evolved songs, sometimes McCartney’s reputation as a lyric writer is middling and he looked at Conan and he said, “I’m not a great lyricist”, or something like that.
He said, I think, “if you and I were to sit here and each have an idea for a song and go out into another room and write it and then come back and meet, you would go out and write words, and I would go out and write music.” And then he said, “I think I’ve written some good words, but I’m really, I’m not a lyricist instinctively. I’m much more a musician.”
Which makes total sense to me. He’s a brilliant composer of music. He presented some great songs and some great riffing of the melody to some others, something totally different. And then he comes back to the melody and “Band on the Run” and a few other songs like, “Live and Let Die”, an awesome recording. But it’s got what, three lines of lyrics. It’s really great music, a great piece of music.
Rick: Yeah, A great legend I suppose. I love the title of Rant and Romance. wonder if you recall when and how you pulled that phrase together? I haven’t heard the phrase before, but it does sound great.
Rod MacDonald: I don’t remember, but I remember joking around probably with Mark Dann, who’s kind of my collaborator in the studio end of a lot of this kind of stuff.
And I think there was originally a different title for the album, and I ran it by him and he said, “Nah, that doesn’t really say it.” And then I started and he said, “How would you describe this record?”
And I said, “Oh, it’s a bunch of rants, and then there’s some romance.” And then we both left and kind of went, “Well, I think that might be it.”
It’s clever at some point, I think it was during the early Pandemic, I started describing in a sort of off-hand funny manner, some of my songs as rants, and they are. “Cry Freedom” is really a rant.
But I mean, you can do a rant artistically, and I try to do that. I’m always conscious when writing a song like “Cry Freedom”, that it has to make sense in and of itself. It has to hold together as a piece of writing. You just can’t vent and expect anybody to make any sense of it for you. You have to make it clear
Rick: Artful. You make it artful to some degree, I suppose,
Rod MacDonald: To some degree. Yeah. I sometimes teach songwriting. I teach songwriting workshops.
Rick: Yeah, I took two of yours.
Rod MacDonald: That’s right, I remember. Yes. Sometimes guys write political rants, and it’s largely just two lines at a time that rhyme. And a lot of the things that they say are kind of clinched lines, like “The Emperor has no Clothes” is one of that kind of stuff. And those are almost like dummy lyrics in a way to say, “The emperor has no clothes”. Yes, of course, everybody knows what you mean, but it’s kind of a cliche and almost like a dummy lyric. You have to sort of, I think, be more artful, as you said,
Rick: Or unpredictable.
Rod MacDonald: Or unpredictable. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a little bit of that. You want to explore it. Writing a rant is Dave Van Ronk. Do you know who Dave Van Rink was?
Rick: I’ve heard of him. I don’t know much.
Rod MacDonald: Dave Van Ronk was a big influence on a lot of us in Greenwich Village for a couple generations. Dylan, Phil Ochs, on down through guys like me, and quite a few younger guys that I know now that are in their forties that started playing guitar by learning with Dave. And Dave used to say, “It’s really hard to write a good political song, but it’s really easy to write a bad one.”
And I totally get that. I believe that’s true. And so you have to make a point of, somehow at the end of the day, you got to feel like, this is really what I want to say. That you’re willing to stand there and perform it for people for however many people are out in that room.
And they may have different political persuasions than yourself or among themselves, and it has to hold together. You’ve got to be able to stand there and say, “Well, I don’t care what you say. This is how I see it.”
Rick: Yeah. Are you familiar, you mentioned Phil Ochs, and I saw him at the, I dunno if you’re familiar with the John Sinclair concert at the University of Michigan.
Rod MacDonald: You were at that?
Rick: Yeah, I was there.
Rod MacDonald
Rod MacDonald: I was in Ann Arbor this summer.
Rick: Were you? What a great town.!
Rod MacDonald: Yeah, it is a great town. A good friend of mine from my childhood, actually one of my best pals of my life lives there. And we visited him, him, and it was really fun. We walked by the spot where they did that concert, and he mentioned it to me. No, I didn’t get to go to that, but I was aware of it when it happened,
Rick: It was great. John Lennon was there with Yoko and Bob Seger, who I’d actually seen before at a small club called The Club, for like a buck, in Monroe, Michigan.
Rod MacDonald: Phil was an ideal performer for that concert.
Rick: Yeah, he was really good. And there were other people there. Alan Ginsberg was there. He did “Howl” and Black Panthers were there, was pretty interesting.
Rod MacDonald: What year was that?
Rick: 1971.
Rod MacDonald: There were three of ’em, Phil, Sonny, and Michael. Michael just passed away, I think. I’m not sure who was older between Michael and Phil, but Sonny, who’s still alive, is a good friend of mine, and she’s the oldest of them.
Rick: I saw the list with some of the other folks that are on the album and was wondering how did you decide that they were the right fit for this particular album? Was there a process? Were they buddies, or how did you actually come up with them? As far as for, Rants and Romance?
Rod MacDonald: Well, I guess there are people that I’ve worked with or are friends with, mostly for some of my CDs. Most of my work has been recorded in Woodstock, New York.
And I work with Mark Dann at his studio there. And so sometimes some of the musicians are local Woodstock guys. They’re not even necessarily people that I know very well, but I know of ’em. A couple drummers I’ve worked with were like that. Sometimes they’re guys that Mark has worked with on other sessions and thinks would be a good fit. And sometimes they’re friends on Rants and Romance…Robin Batteau, so we were hanging around and playing music for each other a lot. And I’ve always loved his playing. He’s a wonderful violinist and a really good guy.
He was going in and out of Woodstock himself, working at Mark Dann’s studio on another project. So he was around. We did a lengthy session; four or five of the songs with the violin live.
And then the drummer, Bill Meredith, I work with here in South Florida in a band called Big Brass Bed. We do mostly Bob Dylan songs. We’re kind of a sort of a side project. We’ve been working together for almost 25 years, and Mark played bass. I also used a fiddler for the two Celtic songs. I used a local fiddler player down here named Ian Wilkinson, a very, very good fiddler because I didn’t want a violinist who was going to jam through the songs. I wanted somebody who was going to play very specific parts.
Rick: Yeah. What do you use to record?
Rod MacDonald: Pro Tools. A regular Pro Tools interface. I’m not using a lot of outboard gear, trying to hype up the sound or anything. I’m leaving that to the mixing process. I pretty much record people clean. I recorded some of Bill and Meredith’s drum parts here too in my living room.
And then we fixed them up. So those are the principle guys, the electric guitar parts on “Cry Freedom”, I played myself.
We didn’t really hire a lot of outside musicians for that cd. Sometimes I’ve used more, sometimes less. I guess that’s pretty much it.
Rick: So you decided on those fellas just because not so much of proximity to you locally, but because you knew ’em. And how did that work?
Rod MacDonald: I played with Robin Batteau, the violinist in certain other contexts, like past folk shows or all-star things where there’s tons of folkies on stage, kind of stuff like that. And very memorably, back in the 1970s, we had done a live broadcast on WBAI together, and a bunch of people had been in that one, and I had always remembered how much I loved his playing.
When he was hanging out on the couch here, I used every excuse I could to get him to play with me. And I had a couple gigs and a festival appearance. He was up for it. He just said, “Sure, I’ll come with you and play whatever you want.” So we got to making some music together. And then we did a couple of shows together too.
We learned some of each other’s songs that way, and that was fun. But yeah, I tend to hire people for specific things. Sometimes I’ll hire them because I really just like they’re playing and I trust that they’re pretty good at working with me on fairly fast basis.
I mean, in working with musicians in the recording process, what you need to have is, unless you’ve yourself written out a part for them, you want somebody that can hear your song and add something to it that really gives it something interesting, add it to it, not just playing along in the background. I don’t really need that all that much. And with drummers, you want somebody who has really good time and kind of a creative approach to drumming. So I’ve used several different drummers.
And I’ve also used some keyboard players that were really seriously good players. Professor Louis plays on one of my CDs; he produced the band, and he played organ and piano on one of ’em. And I love Louis. He’s great to work with. He’s a good guy. And Pete Levin, who’s not that well known to the general public, but he’s played keyboards with people like Miles Davis and Paul Simon.
He’s a really good piano player. And he played piano on my 2018 CD, Beginning Again. And I just loved working with him.
Sometimes you want to just turn people loose and let ’em do what they do. That’s really the best thing. If you can get somebody involved on one of your songs or even all of your songs that brings his own level of creativity to the project, then you’ve really got something going on.
Rick: So, Rant and Romance is one of several that you’ve produced. How did the recording engineering and the production, how did that differ than say, your first album? And I know there’s a lot of changes in technology, but was it that much different?
Rod MacDonald: My first album was back in 1983. I’d never really had much studio experience. I used the studio in New York City. It’s the only one I didn’t do with Mark Dan.
Though he was involved in it as a bass player, but I didn’t have much studio experience, and I just kind of went in there and we didn’t have a producer, although I did get some help from a longtime friend of mine who was executive for Capital Records out in L.A. at the time, Steven Powers, and he was in New York visiting and staying at my place.
So he came into the studio and helped me out on one session, but I had to produce it myself, which really, I was not especially qualified for that. But what I wanted to do was try to record everything, live as much as possible.
I think we did 17 takes of one song and still didn’t get it, but every once in a while we’d really nail something. And then it was just a question of mixing it, but we played live as a band for almost everything in that recording. And White Buffalo, the one after that we played live as a band. Then we’d touch it up, add an instrument here and there.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Then you are in a vocal booth, so your vocals not bleeding onto everything else anyway. So, then if you get a really good band recording, but you didn’t sing it that well, you put the headphones on and you sing it with the band track. And really, if you close your eyes, it’s the same experience. It’s not really that different.
The only thing that’s slightly different is that the way you sing it might slightly impact the way the band plays it. You lose that if you’re singing to a track. Of course, you have to sing it to the way they played it.
Rick: Yeah. I found that when I was in the studio, what worked best for me is I’d go in, I’d play my guitar and I’d sing the song, and then all the others would come in and they’d do their instrumentation.
Rod MacDonald: A lot of guys work that way. When we recorded later that night back in 2014, Mark and I came back from a gig and we just started playing in the studio late at night for our own enjoyment. And he said, “Got any new songs?” And I said, “Yeah, well, here’s one.” And then he says, “We should record this.”
And he set up a couple of mics and we discovered a different working method that really has worked fairly well since that time, which was to record the songs mostly because they were new songs that we hadn’t been playing in front of audiences. They weren’t totally formulated in a way musically. And we would sit across from each other and we’d record them, bass, guitar, and voice, and we’d do two, three, four, takes until I could say, “Okay, that’s the exact arrangement.” And then we would do one more take doing the same tempo and the same arrangement, but not singing.
Rod MacDonald
We’d have a guitar and bass track, and then sometimes we’d even just not use the bass track, use the guitar track, and then we’d bring in the other musicians and then I would sing it again. And the reason I liked doing it, I found that to be very productive way to work for two good reasons, particularly the drummer and keyboard players. If you work with a fixed track, they can really hone in on it, and by the second or third take, they’ve really got it down.
Whereas if you’re doing it live from scratch each time, each track has a slightly different feel and they’re still kind of trying to find it. So if you have a fixed guitar track that you think is good, that’s just the way you want to play it and that it’s comfortable to sing it to, then you can bring in the other instruments and play to it. And they can play to that same track and each time they’ll get it more precisely until finally, usually around the third or fourth take, because these guys are pros. We wouldn’t use my original vocal, but I would sing it with them live each time so that I was instinctively in tune with what was going on live and that
We’d kind of get a bit of that live chemistry that way. And I found that to be a good way to work.
Rick: As a songwriter, have you ever felt that you ran out of steam with ideas or do you, do they just sort of percolate along as you’re living your life?
Rod MacDonald: It’s funny. I sometimes feel like, “Wow, I’m supposed to be this big deal songwriter and I haven’t written anything in months. And then I’ll go to Woodstock and I’ll be having dinner with Mark Dann, and he’s kind of been my musical partner behind the scenes for 50 years.
And he’ll say to me, “So what’s your problem? Anyway? All this stuff’s going on in the world in your life, and you’re living your life and you haven’t written anything. What’s your problem? Are you just like falling asleep at the wheel here?”
And then I’ll go, “Okay, and I’ll say, well, I’ll tell you what, I got some stuff in my laptop. Why don’t you turn me loose in the studio? And I’ll see what I can do.” And then once or twice I’ve gone into the studio, I dunno, midnight, and he’ll set me up and he’ll say, “Good, I’m going to bed after at one o’clock, and I’ll just go through my computer and start making up music to the words that are in there, and I’ll end up with seven or eight songs and then we’ll start working on a new cd. And then while we’re working on it, I’ll write a few more. I don’t know what started, I think Rants and Romance really, by the time we started recording I had pretty much written most of the songs.
BONUS VIDEO!
Click here to view the embedded video.
PART TWO SOON!
Latin Grammy Winner Berta Rojas’ New Release “The Journey of Strings” – A Musical Journey Through Songs, Images & Stories
Press Release
Source: PRPR
Album Single Duet of Rojas and “Last of Us” composer Gustavo Santaolalla
Rojas Named to Latin Grammy Board of Directors
Berta Rojkas – photo credit: Paula Lucer
The fulfillment of a dream for Latin Grammy winning classical guitarist, Berta Rojas, “The Journey of Strings” weaves a fascinating tale fo musical transformation. Presented across various formats – vinyl, streaming, videos, and book with innovative augmented reality – it traces the intriguing story of how the guitars and vihuelas brought to Latin Amerixa by the conquistadors influenced the continent’s cultures and traditions and in turn was itself transformed, giving rise to unique instruments that voice the soul of the region’s people and their identities.
Released on October 31, the album marks the first time anyone has brought together the guitar and the incredibly rich array of Latin America’s stringed instruments for a vibrant collection of musical conversations.
A Latin Grammy winner in 2022 and a four-time Latin Grammy nominee, Berta Rojas is one of the few women in the top echelon of classical guitar, renowned for her virtuosity and electrifying performances. She was recently appointed to the Latin Grammy Board of Directors, a reflection of her deep commitment to championing Latin music and culture.
For this ambitious project, more than two years in the making, Rojas performed with over 17 guest artists, traveling more than 8,000 miles to 10_+ countries and working closely with researchers and musicologists. Each of the 11 tracks, all accompanied by a performance video, is a collaborative dialog between the guitar and these expressive string instruments, from the sonorous bass of the giant 25-string Chilean guitarrón to the twang of the more mandolin-like Puerto Rican cuatro.
Fans of the series “The Last of Us” —HBO’s cultural phenomenon with 32 million viewers per episode—might already be familiar with the ronroco. This Andean variant, once made from the back of an armadillo, is responsible for the haunting sound of the TV show’s theme composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, the winner of 2 Oscars, 17 Latin Grammys and 2 Grammys. On the album’s lead single, Rojas plays a duet with Santaolalla on a specially arranged version of the song for guitar and ronroco.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The performance videos – “The Journey of Strings” on YouTube and streaming platforms—include notes that reveal the stories of the instruments, their impact on local culture and behind-the-recordings interviews. Accompanying the vinyl album available on Amazon will be a large-format book written by Argentine music critic Santiago Giordano intertwining narratives, photographs of the instruments, and portraits of the artists. Within its pages, augmented reality will allow readers not only to visualize the instruments in three dimensions using a QR code but also hear what they sound like by strumming a finger across the virtual strings.
While string instruments can be traced as far back as 3200 BC, this journey begins with the 15th century arrival in Latin America of the double-stringed, flat-backed Spanish vihuela. “Smaller than today’s guitar, the vihuela provides the foundational DNA for so many of the instruments we’re spotlighting in the album,” says the Paraguayan-born Rojas. “They may be in their own niche, but they are still very much present in the culture and the traditions of Latin America.”
Berta Rojas – photo credit: Julio Zarate
“Their evolution reflects the interplay of the different inhabitants of the Americas at the time, the Spaniards and Portuguese, the Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans forcibly transported to bolster labor in the colonies,” she explains. “Interestingly, we see many instruments developing in those areas where Jesuit missions were established to interact with and convert local populations. From these contacts arise the stories of great joy—and great sadness—hidden inside these instruments.”
The album’s first track “La Huella del Códice,” recorded in Italy, brings together the sounds of the vihuela, the Baroque guitar (both played by Evangelina Mascardi), and Rojas’s antique 12-string guitar crafted in Havana in 1820. The work draws from the tablatures or musical notations of four pieces from the Saldivar Codex discovered in 1948 at an antiques shop in Mexico and written in the 18th century by Spanish composer Santiago de Murcia. “In this material we hear the unmistakable dance rhythms so typical of Latin America, like the samba and the chacarera, within pieces composed in 1738 by someone who never traveled to the New World,” Rojas says. “It was his music that sailed across the Atlantic.”
Click here to view the embedded video.
In Colombia, Rojas introduces us to a family of stringed instruments with Andean origins—the bandola llanera and the tiple—and performs with a family of instrumentalists, the Saboya Brothers. “Bambuco Pa’ Billy” is a new composition by Daniel Saboya based on a traditional form that blends Spanish melodies with indigenous and African rhythms.
Rojas also commissioned gifted composer and guitarist Elodie Bouny to write a three-movement work for chamber orchestra and guitar, resulting in a series of dialogs highlighting the charango, the Venezuelan cuatro, and the Brazilian mandolin. The pieces are a musical travelogue that takes us to the mountains of the Andes, the vast grassland plains of Venezuela and Colombia and the seaside of Brazil.
Berta Rojas – photo credit: Rodrigo De Silva
“From the moment I suggested this to my producers Sebastian Henríquez and Popi Spatocco, doors opened and everything was aligned,” Rojas says. “We hope this work reflects and enhances the musical richness of our people and culture. Our continent is a dream turned into a path and on that path, we want to leave a footprint.”
“The Journey of Strings” is now available on Many Major Platforms!
Joyo JW-06 Digital Wireless System: A Practical Choice for Guitarists and Bass Players
By: Carlos Martin Schwab
After a year of intensive use in my studio and on gigs without any problems, it was time to review my go-to wireless system.
The Joyo JW-06 is a digital wireless system designed for guitarists and bassists who want greater freedom of movement without complications. It operates in the 5.8 GHz band, a less crowded frequency than the popular 2.4 GHz, which reduces the chances of interference with other common wireless devices. This technical detail is especially useful in enclosed spaces with many active WiFi networks, where other systems may experience signal conflicts.
One of the JW-06’s highlights is its ease of use. The pairing process between transmitter and receiver is simple and fast: with a couple of clicks, both devices are connected. This makes it accessible even to musicians who are unfamiliar with wireless technology. In addition, its connectivity is standard, using a 6.35 mm jack, making it compatible with most guitars, basses, pedalboards, and amplifiers without the need for adapters.
The convenience of the JW-06 extends to its charging system. The product includes a charging case with a portable battery function, similar to those found in wireless in-ears. This base allows the transmitter and receiver to be recharged without the need for individual cables, making it easy to transport and organize your equipment. With the case charged, you can achieve a total battery life of over 15 hours of use, enough for rehearsals, performances, and long practice sessions.
Another advantage is its light weight and compact design. Its outer body measures only 3.5 x 3 x 1.5 cm and is one of the smallest on the market. Requiring no straps, pockets, or clips, it connects directly to the instrument and adds hardly any bulk. This is useful on small stages or during performances where the musician moves around a lot, and where every inch of freedom counts. Its low weight means you won’t notice it on your instrument. It is made of plastic, so it can survive minor impacts, but nothing more.
In terms of performance, the system offers a good volume signal, minimal distortion, full frequency response (48K/24 bits, 20 Hz-20kHz), and latency of less than 6 ms, allowing for performance without perceptible delay. Although most users find it reliable for everyday use, some reports indicate signal loss if the transmitter is covered or used at a distance with obstacles. However, these problems are not generalized and are usually linked to specific conditions of use.
The most appropriate application for the Joyo JW-06 is rehearsals, performances in small or medium-sized venues, and personal practice at home or in the studio. In these contexts, the system offers reliable performance thanks to its low level of interference in the 5.8 GHz band and its ease of setup. In addition, its range is sufficient for moderate movement on stage without signal loss, provided there are not too many physical obstacles or nearby interference. Its compact design and extended battery life, thanks to the charging case, make it particularly useful for musicians looking for a quick and functional wireless solution without technical complications.
Retail Price: US – $79.99
More info: joyoaudio.com
PRS Guitars Announces New SE Models Plus a New Combo Amp Ahead of 2026 Updates
Press Release
Source: PRS Guitars
PRS Guitars today announced several new SE Series models and the David Grissom signature DGT 15 amplifier as a combo. Along with the debut of the SE version of Herman Li’s signature model Chleo, the fresh models include the SE DGT Standard and the SE CE 24 Standard Satin Stoptail. 2026 also brings a construction update to the SE Hollowbody Standard, SE Hollowbody Standard Piezo, and SE Hollowbody II Piezo. Rounding out the launch, the DGT 15 amp brings the acclaimed tone and versatility of the DGT 15 head into a convenient, combo format.
NEW MODELS
SE CHLEO
The SE Chleo is the result of an intimate collaboration between PRS Guitars and award-winning guitar player Herman Li. Best known for his work as one of the lead guitar players in the power metal band DragonForce, Li is a demanding guitarist known for his fast and precise playing style. Based on the exclusive 2025 PRS Chleo Limited Edition, this SE signature model is a unique guitar in the PRS lineup designed with the modern metal guitarist in mind. The SE Chleo boasts the same Fishman Fluence Signature Series Omniforce Herman Li pickups as the Limited Edition that preceded it. With three distinct voices and a versatile switching system, the guitar offers up to 13 unique tone combinations.
“With the PRS SE Chleo, we set out to create the best affordable guitar that delivers a unique combination of effortless playability, outstanding craftsmanship, and versatile tonal range. It combines modern innovations with classic style, giving players the tools they need to create everything from classic tones to cutting edge new sounds. The SE Chleo proves that a world-class instrument doesn’t have to break the bank—it’s a guitar that brings high-end performance within reach for everyone,” said Herman Li.
In addition to the Charcoal Purple Burst and Orchid Dusk that the Limited Edition models were offered in, the SE Chleo introduces a third color, Mantis Burst.
SE DGT STANDARD
The SE DGT Standard brings David Grissom’s signature model to a stripped-down, all-mahogany platform, delivering organic tone, rich resonance, and bold midrange presence, all at a price that comes in slightly below the SE DGT. The SE DGT Standard adds warmth and growl to the model’s signature clarity and articulation. Like the SE DGT, the SE DGT Standard offers a versatile control layout with individual volume controls for each pickup, a master tone control with push/pull coil tap, and a PRS tremolo.
SE CE 24 STANDARD SATIN STOPTAIL
The SE CE 24 Standard Satin is now offered in a stoptail option. The SE CE 24 Standard Satin Stoptail joins its tremolo counterpart as the lowest-priced guitar across all PRS models, at just $499 USD. This new version brings the snap and response of a bolt-on guitar into an all-mahogany body for a warm, focused tone, now paired with the rock-solid stability of a stoptail bridge. Loaded with 85/15 “S” pickups and a push/pull tone control for coil tapping, the SE CE 24 Standard Stoptail packs impressive versatility, whether players are chasing classic humbucking growl or snappy single-coil sparkle.
UPDATED MODELS
Through close work with Cortek, PRS has updated the construction process of the PRS SE Hollowbody models. The center section is cut from solid mahogany, as opposed to bending the sides, so the body shape is now “fully PRS.” The SE Hollowbody II Piezo’s top and back are still made with 5-ply laminated maple for strength and rigidity. The PRS SE Hollowbody Standard models keep their all-mahogany build, while also benefitting from this construction update.
This construction method also allows more color options, so Vintage Sunburst has been added into the lineup on the PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo. With the SE Hollowbody II Piezo, players can plug into the “Mix/Piezo” jack and use the individual volume controls to blend the 58/15 LT “S” pickups with the piezo’s acoustic tones. Alternatively, players can plug into the jacks separately, so the guitar can run magnetic pickups into an amp and run the piezo through an acoustic amp or DI into the soundboard.
DGT 15 COMBO AMP
Designed in close collaboration with guitarist David Grissom, this 15-watt, single-channel amp delivers vintage-inspired tone and gig-ready portability—all in one compact package. The built-in master volume and 3-position bright switch allow for detailed tone shaping at any volume level. Additional features include a 3-band tone stack (treble, middle, bass), boost, tube-driven reverb, top cut, presence, and tremolo. Like on the head version, it is not just the controls, but the combination of the controls and control parameters that bring out this amp’s functional versatility. For example, the bright switch can be set to on, off, or on except when the boost is engaged, so players can intricately manipulate the amp’s high-end. The Master Volume can be set to be on, off, or on only with the Boost. The included 3-button footswitch allows control of the boost, reverb and tremolo.
“I’m very excited the DGT 15 is now available as a combo amp! With a tweak to the circuit and a lot of work on the cabinet design, the combo has a tight, robust low end and a slightly more open tone than the head/cab version, all in a lightweight 1×12 combo format,” said David Grissom.
PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year. For all of the latest news, click www.prsguitars.com/40 and follow @prsguitars on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, X, and YouTube.
About PRS Guitars:
PRS Guitaes is a leading manufacturer of high-quality instruments in Stevensville, Maryland and has provided some of the world’s most renowned musicians with instruments since 1985. The PRS team of highly skilled craftspeople design and build a wide variety of musical instruments and gear for worldwide distribution, including electric and acoustic guitars as well as boutique-style guitar amplifiers and effects pedals. The PRS SE Series complements the Maryland-made PRS line by offering highly approachable and more affordable electric and acoustic guitars. Carlos Santana, Mark Tremonti, John Mayer, Jimmy Herring, Myles Kennedy, Zach Myers, Mark Holcomb, Tim Pierce, Orianthi, David Grissom, Mark Lettieri, and Rhonda Smith are among the artists currently playing PRS instruments and/or amplifiers.
PRS Guitars Info: www.prsguitars.com
