Hanging with the band cover art

Hanging with the band

By: Howlin' Steve Howell
  • Summary

  • Do you like discovering new music? Are you ready to have a real conversation with people working in the business every day? Here at Burnt Possum Records Podcast you will hear about local and regional bands, their approach to the music industry, as well as listen to some original music as it is being discussed with the writer/writers and performers.   We don't stop there! This podcast will be home to that rare air known as "back stage"...those who know music from the minute its conceived to the on stage performance. It will be both informative and insightful for all to enjoy. Come join Howlin Steve Howell, performer/songwriter and his guests on the inside of music and the music makers. In this show we will find insights into what it takes to become a professional in the industry of music. By finding this podcast, you have found a place for your opinion and a place for you to grow in the knowledge of on stage, back stage and inside the business and the art of writing and selling music.
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Episodes
  • Ep. 67 Hanging with the Band - Howlin' Steve Howell w/Brandon Hudspeth
    Oct 14 2022

    Guitarist, singer, teacher, and songwriter Brandon Hudspeth was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  He began taking guitar lessons at an early age after hearing Johnny Cash on Sesame Street.  In high school, heavily influenced by the Blues, he started playing weekend gigs around the Tulsa area.  Soon after high school he moved to the Kansas City area where he freelanced with many bands, eventually forming his own band, Levee Town, which has released 9 albums. Levee Town represented the Kansas City Blues Society in the International Blues Competition twice, placing in the top ten in Memphis in 2009. In 2016, the album Takin and Givin charted on the Roots Music Report (#9 on the contemporary blues album chart, #10 on the contemporary blues song chart, #20 on the contemporary blues song chart, and #22 on the top 50 blues Album chart.)

    In 2020, Hudspeth along with Jaisson Taylor received a Blue Music Award Nomination, two Blue Blast Award nominations, and an Independent blues award nomination along with significant airplay and charting success hitting #1 on the RMR for a month for their debut album Folie a Deux.

    In 2022 Levee Town released Trying to Keep My Head Above Water which has attracted lots of attention. The song Music Martyr reached #1 on the Root Music Report and the album has been on the charts since its release on March 19. The album is nominated for a Blues Blast Award for best blues rock album. VOTE HERE

    While touring the US, Europe, and Canada Brandon has opened for artists such as Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Leon Russell, George Thorogood, Savoy Brown, Sonny Landreth, Jimmie Vaughan, Lee Roy Parnell, Chubby Carrier, Dale Watson, Bobby Rush, Bobby Bland,  and David Alan Coe, just to name a few.

    Hudspeth has played with Curtis Salgado, Chuck Rainey, Albert Lee, Tommy Castro, Ana Popovic, Mike Zito, Watermelon Slim,  Randy Mcallister,  Lazy Lester, Clark Terry, Dustin Arbuckle, RJ Mischo, Chris Duarte, Larry McCray, Louisiana Red, Lee McBee, Albert Castiglia, John Nemeth, Victor Wainwright, Big Bill Morganfield, Mud Morganfield, Bob Margolin, Kenny Neal, Gary Nicholson and many others.

    Brandon has taught guitar lessons for over 25 years to all ages and skill levels.  While he considers himself a blues guitarist he also has studied jazz and classical extensively.

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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Ep. 66 - Hanging with the Band - Howlin' Steve Howell w/ Josh Simons
    Sep 21 2022

    Josh Simons is the CEO and co-founder of Vampr, the world’s largest and most active social-professional network for musicians (often dubbed the “LinkedIn for creatives”). Recognised by Fast Company as one of the Most Innovative Companies in 2022, Vampr is home to over one million users, and active in every country on the planet. The music startup has helped fledgling musicians broker over 7 million connections worldwide. Vampr offers a free solution for young musicians, built by a sympathetic founding team of established musicians with Josh’s co-founder, Baz Palmer, best known as the lead guitarist for seminal hall-of-fame rock band, Hunters & Collectors.

    Simons has grown Vampr into a multi-award winning platform, including most prestigious nods from both Apple and Google in their respective Best Apps lists. Over five funding rounds the company has raised $3.5M from VC, the crowd and music industry angels.

    Prior to running Vampr, Josh Simons spent the better part of a decade as a successful artist, songwriter & producer. His artist project Buchanan enjoyed multi-million streams & chart impressions worldwide. They retired from the live circuit following a sold-out arena tour opening for Keith Urban & Carrie Underwood. As a producer and songwriter, Simons has shared credits with Travis Scott, Troye Sivan and Kanye West to name a few.

    In April 2020 Simons was named in The Music Network’s 30 Under 30 List in addition to being voted Reader’s Choice. Simons holds a Bachelor of Business from Swinburne University.

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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Ep. 65 - Hanging with the Band - Howlin' Steve Howell w/ Doug MacLeod
    Sep 21 2022

    MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit, and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of a Doug MacLeod performance is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters-from the faceless to the legendary-to strikingly real life.

    Doug is a multiple Blues Music Award winner, including the 2020 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year and the 2018 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album Of The Year ‘Break The Chain’. He was recently nominated for the 2022 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year.

    In March of 2022 he co-authored with Debra Schiff the blues murder mystery book MURDER AT THE CROSSROADS.

    In April of 2022 A SOUL TO CLAIM produced by Jim Gaines was released.

    Doug is an international touring artist who writes and sings original songs that are based on his own life and experiences. He learned from the old masters and carries forward a valuable tradition. As a youth, Doug overcame abuse and a crippling stutter by turning to music. After picking

    up a guitar, and singing - he found his voice.

    MacLeod's playing landed him sideman gigs with George 'Harmonica' Smith, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, Lowell Fulson, and Big Mama Thornton. Over 30 years, 22 studio albums, several live records, compilations, a blues guitar instructional DVD, and a live performance DVD, MacLeod has consistently earned raves. His songs have been covered by many artists including Albert King, Albert Collins, Joe Louis Walker and Eva Cassidy. MacLeod's songs have been featured in many TV movies and the hit show In the Heat of the Night. August Wilson requested his soulful slide guitar playing in the Los Angeles opening of "Gem of the Ocean”.

    From 1999 to 2004 Doug hosted Nothin' But The Blues, a very popular weekend blues show on Los Angeles' KLON-KKJZ. He has also been the voice for The Blues Showcase on Continental Airlines. For ten years he penned "Doug's Back Porch," a regular feature column in Blues Revue Magazine in which he shared his humorous and insightful stories with thousands of readers. He is one of the four featured artists in the movie “Resonate: A Guitar Story”, the feature documentary on the making of National Guitars.

    Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod's music expresses life and times through an intangible, elusive quality that may simply be a keen sense of what matters most. Doug’s music, stories, and philosophy provide a healing that has helped others overcome the hardships of their lives.

    Doug says the most important lessons he learned as a young musician came from Ernest Banks a one-eyed country bluesman from Toano, VA.

    "Never play a note you don't believe” and "Never write or sing about what you don't know about.”

    As Blues Hall Of Fame artist Pee Wee Crayton's widow Esther once told Doug, "You have a message and you'll send that message mainly to the people who don't go to church."  Amen.

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    59 mins

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