Frets with DJ Fey
Interviews with great musicians who play guitar. A place to hear their story and their music.
Episodes
58 episodes
India Ramey – The Woman in Black and Her Villain Era
India Ramey has been referred to as “The Woman in Black” and “The Wednesday Addams of Country Music”. India’s 2017 album Snake Handler landed her in Rolling Stone’s
Peter Case – The Nerves, The Plimsouls, Solo and Live at McCabe’s
Today I’m talking with Peter Case, who left New York in the early ’70s, headed to San Francisco and honed his craft as a street musician. He then became frontman of The Nerves, soon to become a force on the L.A. rock scene. He formed The Plimso...
Kevin Gordon – Journey to The In Between
I’ve been a fan of Kevin’s music for a long time and it was great to catch up with him recently. We talked about his early days growing up in Louisiana, his early punk band, his move to Nashville, and also the musicians, including Keith Richard...
Pete Holmström – The Dandy Warhols, Pete International Airport and Pin Ups
Peter Holmström and his family moved from Portland to the UK during his school years. After that, he attended college in New York. While living there, another native Portland guitarist, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, along with his band, crashed at Pe...
Martin Belmont talks Ducks Deluxe, The Rumour, Pub Rock and The Guest List
Martin Belmont was about 11 or 12 years old, a kid growing up in England, when he asked his parents to buy him a guitar. The first record he got was “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley. Around that time, The Shadows, out of London, were a popular...
Straight From the Hat – The Return of Ben Vaughn
Back in 2022, I talked with Ben Vaughn, whose music and radio show I’ve been a fan of for years. Ben has enjoyed a great career as a performer, songwriter, composer for film and TV, and record producer. He’s produced records by Ween, Arthur Ale...
Bob Collum – Expat Singer/Songwriter and Leader of The Welfare Mothers
“Wasted Wonderland” serves as the title of a great compilation of songs by Bob Collum. A singer-songwriter and guitarist, Bob grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then spent a couple years in Chicago before making a big change. In 2001, he moved to the ...
John McFee – From Clover to The Doobie Brothers and Jackdawg
John McFee formed San Francisco-based band Clover in the ’60s. Their first, self-titled album on Fantasy came out in 1970. Several years later, they came to realize some key people in the UK pub rock scene were big fans of their music. Nick Low...
Maia Sharp – Embracing Her True Self With Her Great New Album “Tomboy”
Multi-instrumentalist Maia Sharp has written songs for the likes of Cher, Bonnie Raitt, Trisha Yearwood, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal and Art Garfunkel, just to name a few. Hailing from L.A., Maia is currently based in Nashville, often collaborating wit...
Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets and Ashes and Diamonds - an Interview with Daniel Ash
Daniel Ash, along with Peter Murphy and brothers Kevin and David Haskins, formed Bauhaus, a band who were pioneers of goth rock. Their debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is considered by many to be the first record of the gothic-rock genre. &nb...
Long After the Fire - an Interview with Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill
Vicki Peterson played lead guitar and sang vocals for The Bangles. Vicki was also in The Continental Drifters and the Psycho Sisters, both with Susan Cowsill. John Cowsill is the youngest brother in The Cowsills, a family band who had a string ...
Rebecca Pidgeon – Singer/Songwriter, Guitarist, Actress
Rebecca Pidgeon has enjoyed a long, successful career as a singer-songwriter and guitarist as well as a very successful career in film as an actress. Her songs have also appeared in major motion pictures. Born in the U.S., she moved with her fa...
Crispian Mills – Kula Shaker’s Incredible Frontman
Crispian Mills was born into a family of actors, film producers and directors. He was exposed to a wide variety of music, but when he heard “You Really Got Me“ by The Kinks, it was an epiphany – he knew he wanted to play guitar. Through determi...
Chris Stamey of The dB’s, The Golden Palominos, Big Star Quintet and Salt Collective – Anything Is Possible
Chris Stamey’s new album Anything is Possible releases Friday, July 11. Musicians who contributed to this record include The Lemon Twigs, Matt Douglas of The Mountain Goats, Marshall Crenshaw, Don Dixon, Probyn Gregory and mor...
Jefferson Hart – All in the Family with Secret Monkey Weekend
Jefferson Hart and his stepdaughters Lila and Ella are Secret Monkey Weekend, a family band who were the subject of an Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary. Jeff plays guitar, Lila plays drums, Ella plays bass and all three provide wonderful voca...
Don Dixon – Singer-Songwriter, Producer, and Marti Jones, Singer, Musician, Visual Artist. A Marriage Made in Music.
Over the years, Don Dixon has produced some of the greatest albums of all time. Records by R.E.M., Marshall Crenshaw, The Smithereens, Guadalcanal Diary and Let’s Active. He’s also produced albums by his wife, Marti Jones. Marti is a wonderful ...
Tense Music Plays – Murray Attaway Returns
I was a big fan of Guadalcanal Diary, so when Murray Attaway appeared on Frets back in 2022, I could hardly believe I was talking with their lead singer and main songwriter. The band released four major label albums throughout the 1980...
Peter Holsapple Returns – The Face of 68 and The Paranoid Style
In June of 2024, I talked with Peter Holsapple about the reissues of two classic albums by the dB’s – “Stands for Decibels” and “Repercussion”. I had the pleasure of talking to Peter again recently, this time about his soon to be released solo ...
Paul Rappaport – Airships, Airplay & the Art of Rock Promotion
Paul Rappaport is an accomplished guitarist who first heard guitar when he was a kid in California, watching a live local TV show featuring country guitar players…a show that was broadcast from a huge L.A. car lot. He learned to play, fell in l...
Steve Wynn – He Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True
Steve Wynn has released well over 30 albums during the last 25 years, with his bands The Dream Syndicate, Danny & Dusty, Gutterball, The Miracle 3, The Baseball Project and more with quite a few solo records in the mix.He’s played o...
Chuck Mead – from Homestead Grays and BR5-49 to The Stalwarts
When Chuck Mead was a young boy, he and his sister moved with their parents to Lawrence, Kansas. He got a drum kit as a gift when he was 12, and soon after started playing in the family’s band. It was made up of his mom, his dad, his grandparen...
Syd Straw – Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist and a Wonderful Person
It was a wonderful experience talking with someone I've admired for so long. I love her songs, I love her voice. And she’s just incredibly cool. In additional to her solo work, there’s such a long list of great bands and artists she’s performed...
Beth Bombara – a Wonderful Songwriter, Guitarist and Musician
While growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a young Beth Bombara took piano lessons in grade school. By the time she was entering high school, she had become interested in another instrument: her Mom’s electric guitar. She formed a punk b...
Peter Holsapple – The dB’s Then and Now
The dB’s debut album Stands for Decibels was released in 1981, the album was praised by critics and over time, came to be loved by many fans who consider it a landmark power pop jangle classic. Stands for Decibels has now been...
From Kippington Lodge to The Rumour - an Interview with Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz met Nick Lowe at school in the 1960s. They played in various bands with different group names and different members. In 1969, the band took the name of their lead guitarist, Brinsley Schwarz. On their studio albums, all f...
