The Fretboard Journal Guitar Podcast

On this week's podcast, we talk to jazz guitarist Miles Okazaki about his epic new project, Work: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Monk. On it, he transcribes and performs the 70 known Monk compositions for solo guitar. We learn about his arrangement process, the guitar he used for the recordings and the rules he gave himself before tackling this huge undertaking. 

This week, we talk to YouTube sensation Ryan “Fluff” Bruce. With his Riffs, Beards & Gear channel, Fluff has conducted deep dives into all sorts of gear questions, unboxed the cheapest guitars imaginable on Amazon and, most importantly, had a ton of fun. We talk to Fluff about the unlikely career of a professional YouTuber (including the even more unlikely training he received as an editor of adult films!), his band Rest, Repose, and his signature model guitar built by Balaguer Guitars. Plus a lot m

Acclaimed singer-songwriter/producer Joe Henry joins us to talk about his latest recording projects, his writing habits and more! 

Brighton, England’s Gwenifer Raymond joins us on this week’s podcast. Raymond started playing guitar and drumming in punk and rock bands, but eventually stumbled upon Appalachian music, pre-war blues and John Fahey. Since then, she picked up a PhD, became a video game programmer and has just released her first album of Fahey-inspired American Primitive music, You Never Were Much of a Dancer (Tompkins Square).

Austin-based Tom Ellis is one of the world's most respected mandolin makers. On this week's podcast, we talk to him about how he got his start building instruments, the fateful day he showed Ricky Skaggs his second-ever mandolin and about the inlay work he does at Precision Pearl, Inc. today.

This week, we talk to Reverb.com's Dan Orkin. Dan recounts the company's early days, its explosive growth, some current marketplace trends when it come to guitars (including what's hot right now and what isn't) and a lot more. 

This week, we talk to one of the unsung heroes in the world of boutique guitars, Bruce VanWart of Collings Guitars. Bruce is the first official Collings employee and the one person who has touched nearly every instrument the company has produced since the late ’80s (almost 30,000 instruments). He reflects upon working alongside Bill Collings during the company’s earliest days, talks about his process evaluating wood for the company’s instruments and describes the 2018 re-launch of the Collings C-100.

Cory Wong is a force of nature: The thirty-something guitarist performs in Vulfpeck, the Fearless Flyers and on innumerable sessions. On this week’s podcast, we talk to Cory about the Minneapolis music scene (including his interactions over the years with Prince), why he loves clean amps and green screens, his impressive right-hand technique, Blake Mills and more.

Acclaimed guitar repair guru Tom Crandall of TR Crandall Guitars joins us to talk about the making of two gorgeous videos that we're showcasing on fretboardjournal.com. In the videos, Tom is shown doing his magic to two vintage Stella guitars, a 12 and 6-string. Both guitars required extensive restoration work and a neck reset. Tom also talks about his background as a largely self-taught luthier, current projects he's working on and much more. 

This week, we welcome frequent FJ contributor Nathaniel Riverhorse Nakadate onto the podcast. Over the years, Riverhorse has penned some of our favorite articles for the FJ, including his features on Huey Long, Paul Buskirk and Darrell Scott. We talk to Riverhorse about the making of these features, his writing career (including his prolific work writing about fly fishing), his favorite guitars and much more.

Stephen Bishop - the guy behind pop hits "On and On," "It Might Be You" and "Save It For a Rainy Day" - joins us on this week's Fretboard Journal Podcast to talk guitars (especially the gorgeous instrument that he commissioned from Danny Ferrington), movie making, songwriting and more. 

Sully Guitars founder Jon "Sully" Sullivan has had quite a journey: from growing up in Chicago, to attempting to be a rock star on the Sunset Strip, to building electric guitars full-time in Little Elm, Texas. On this week’s Fretboard Journal Podcast, we talk to Sully about all his evolution as a guitarmaker, his decision to manufacture a series of guitars in South Korea (Sully’s Conspiracy line), his influential social media presence and a lot more.

This week, we talk to country blues guitarist Todd Albright. He tells us about his early influences, including Dave Van Ronk and Paul Geremia; his choice of guitars (12-strings built by Todd Cambio's Fraulini Guitars); getting signed by Jack White's Third Man Records and much more.

We talk to two of the most energetic and promising young guitarmakers on this week's podcast, Meredith Coloma and Isaac Jang. Coloma talks to us about how she's found a unique audience for her guitars thanks to her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. We then talk to Jang, a young luthier based in Hollywood who already has a multi-year wait list for his acoustics.

Renaissance man and visual artist James A. Willis joins us this week to talk about his numerous guitar projects – from being the “Artist in Residence” at Gibson to this painted case projects and working with Zac Brown – and a lot more. Willis also explains why he launched a new podcast called James A. Willis Reads the Fretboard Journal.