Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Toots Thielemans retrospective

Hermine Duerloo, Laurent Maur and Alexandre Piret join me on episode 150, for a retrospective on the great Toots Thielemans.  Toots was born in 1922 to humble beginnings

The Ten Minute Question: part 3

Episode 149 is the third compilation of the ten minute question answers from episode 112 to episode 148. Not every episode had a ten minute question, as there’s been qui

Hank Shreve interview

Hank Shreve joins me on episode 148. Hank started playing harmonica at age eight, and that has remained his true love despite learning various other instruments. He expl

Santiago Alvarez interview

Santiago Alvarez joins me on episode 147. Santiago is a chromatic player from Buenos Aires, who has dedicated himself to the folk traditions of Argentina, including writ

Ryan Hartt interview

Ryan Hartt joins me on episode 146. Ryan is a harmonica player, vocalist and songwriter from New England. After completing musical studies, he headed to Los Angeles in

Josh King interview

Josh King joins me on episode 145. Josh hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, and picked up his first harmonica at just six years old. By the time he was eight, he’d fou

Shane Sager interview

Shane Sager joins me on episode 144. Shane is from Boston. In his early teens, a hand injury forced him to give up drumming, so he turned to the harmonica and never look

James Cotton retrospective

Kyle Rowland and Kenny Neal join me on episode 143 for a retrospective on James ‘Mr Superharp’ Cotton. Born in 1935 on the Bonnie Blue plantation in Mississippi, James C

Victor Puertas interview

Victor Puertas joins me on episode 142.  Victor Puertas grew up just outside Barcelona, discovering the blues in his early teens, splitting his passion between harmonica

Yoonseok Lee interview

Yoonseok Lee joins me on episode 141.  Yoonseok is from South Korea where he first took up the tremolo harmonica. He discovered the chromatic when he heard Sigmund Grove

Liam Ward interview

Liam Ward joins me on episode 140.  Liam is from the north west of England and first took up the harmonica in his late teens. His youthful zeal turned into his career wh

Big Walter Horton retrospective with Tom Ball, Mudcat and Madcat

Tom Ball, Peter ‘Madcat’ Ruth and Michael ‘Mudcat’ Ward join me on episode 139 for a retrospective on Walter Horton.  Walter was likely born on April 6th, 1918, in Horn

Richard Sleigh interview

Richard Sleigh joins me on episode 138.  Richard is from Pennsylvania and is a renowned harmonica customiser, player and teacher. He tells how his great uncle Bill inspi

Fabrizio Poggi interview

Fabrizio Poggi joins me on episode 137.  Fabrizio plays blues, folk and spiritual music. Hailing from near Milan, he took some time to find his way with the harmonica bu

Sonny Boy Williamson II retrospective with Giles Robson and Jim Basnight

Giles Robson and Jim Basnight join me on episode 136 for a retrospective on Alex ‘Rice’ Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson II).  Information on Sonny Boy’s early life is s

John Sebastian interview

John Sebastian joins me on episode 135.  John had considerable chart success in the 1960s as part of the folk rock band, The Lovin' Spoonful, who were inducted into

The Harmonicaster interview with Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber joins me on episode 134.  Ronnie runs The Electric Harmonica Company, producing the Harmonicaster, which is an alternative to the traditional harmonica

Kim Field interview

Kim Field joins me on episode 133.  Kim’s 1994 book ‘Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers: The History of the People’s Instrument’ was the first book released on the hi

Paul Butterfield retrospective, part 3, with Tom Ellis

Tom Ellis joins me on episode 132 for another look into the life and career of the legendary Paul Butterfield.  Butter gained access to the Chicago blues scene at a youn

James Harman retrospective with Rick Estrin and Nathan James

Rick Estrin and Nathan James join me on episode 131 for a retrospective on James Harman. James ‘Icepick’ Harman was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1946. After moving betwe