Legendary finger-style master Tommy Emmanuel talks childhood and the power of music

For more than half a century, Tommy Emmanuel has traveled the globe, touring relentlessly and gaining widespread recognition for his peerless technical skill, passion for music, and his heartwarming personality.

Like many who have found their true calling in life, Emmanuel discovered his passion at a young age—a very young age.

“I’ve been playing guitar since I was 4,” says Emmanuel, “but I didn’t turn professional till I was 6,” he adds, with a laugh. “All I knew when I was a kid was that I wanted to play, and that it was exciting to play with my family. I’m one of six kids; four of us played music and we all played together, and it was great making music as a family.”

While working on a breakup record, Binki Shapiro finds a match made in heaven 

What’s the reward for being brave all the time?” Binki Shapiro sweetly sings with a lingering and captivating languor. As listeners, we aren’t certain what the answer is, and perhaps never will be, since the question posed at the beginning of “What’s The Reward” is addressed to a former lover, just like the other tracks on Adam Green & Binki Shapiro. 

Amidst adversity Tristan Prettyman reconnects with music and soars

After nearly eight years of recording and touring, singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman found herself in a terrible position: She no longer had any interest in music. “I got really burnt out and I just took a break from music all together,” she says. “It was supposed to be just like a year or six months that ended up turning into almost four years.”

Luckily for fans, all of Prettyman’s disinterest in music evaporated the morning she went into surgery to remove the polyps from her vocal cords that threatened her career.

San Francesca turns off the computer, flips on the synths, takes a look in the mirror 

Examining the cover of San Francesca’s latest release, you might observe that the nine, evenly spaced square images—which, in turn, form a larger square—were taken using the popular photo-sharing application Instagram. You’d be wrong.

“None of us own a smart phone,” shrugs Cody Rhodes, drummer for the San Jose-based alt-rock trio, as he sits behind his kit in the band’s Campbell rehearsal space. San Francesca is practicing for a short string of upcoming shows in San Francisco, Las Vegas and at The Crepe Place on Jan. 13, with Moon Eater and E V Kain (members of Hella, Cigar and Broken Bells).

The Doors’ Ray Manzarek and slide guitar virtuoso Roy Rogers on performing, grasping the infinite moment and teaching Jim Morrison to sing

You have to give Ray Manzarek credit for helping keep the memory of The Doors alive. He’s not afraid to pay homage to his own history by putting out a movie and soundtrack called Love Her Madly, nor is he above reenacting his days as The Doors’ keyboardist in a spoof by Weird Al. And if he wants to tour with a Jim Morrison impersonator from a Doors tribute act (as he does in the band Manzarek-Kreiger, also featuring his old bandmate Robby Krieger), he’s not going to let the jeers of fans, Morrison’s relatives and former Doors drummer John Densmore stop him.

The Brothers Comatose craft high-energy indie bluegrass

Though the moniker, chord changes and twangy, lamenting storyline might seem similar, The Brothers Comatose have carved out a sound all their own among the brotherhood of “brothers” folk bands.

And besides, singer/guitarist Ben Morrison says that he and his band are simply following in the footsteps of a deeply rooted American tradition.

“I don’t worry about it,” says Morrison, who had just wrapped a rehearsal in Petaluma—one of the band’s two practice spots (the other is in San Francisco). “I think that’s part of the tradition of everything—the whole family band.”