The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

Marshall Crenshaw bridged an important gap during the end of the twentieth century. His early hits glimpsed into the recent past; recognizing the work of the 50s and 60s masters but soldering it onto…

Jacob Plasse is the producer of - and a musician in - the critically acclaimed Cuban big band, Orquesta Akokán and he is my guest on this episode. Jacob and the group found great success with their f…

Sure, there’s Detroit’s Motown, Los Angeles' famed music scene and we know all about the great records that were recorded and produced in New York City. However, during a certain, special period of t…

Corey Feldman is an icon: he represents a certain time and place for a generation of moviegoers who existed just prior to the internet’s big bang, before wi-fi conquered civilization. In the 1980s, o…

We begin the new year by trying something a little different. This week, we focus our radar’s attention on food. And we talk about it with the “highest paid professional restaurant server on the plan…

Sometimes, it’s the smallest instruments that make the biggest impact. If you’re of a certain age, you can remember tuning into this new thing called YouTube to watch a young man absolutely shred on …

Any good collection has a great number of different niches and subcategories: music and record collecting is no different. Some of us focus on rare soundtracks or hard-to-find instrumental music from…

Vinyl gets plenty of love in the 21st century even though streaming offers plenty of convenience and stability, while the venerable CD quietly sits waiting for someone to rediscover it. But what’s le…

As you know, this program typically finds me exploring the work of others, but for this episode, I hope you’ll allow me to turn the attention over to myself. The last few years have found me compilin…

It’s hard to look back at the British Invasion and not be amazed at the level of skill and talent that came across the pond to impact and influence the revolutionary pop music that was being made wor…

As a music lover, sometimes it’s hard for us to differentiate between being fans of music vs. being collectors. What part of our listening is really about enjoying the sounds of our favorite artist a…

Andrew Gold was a sort of Zelig figure in popular music during his career. If you fell in love with his music in any place, you’d probably be surprised to see him pop up somewhere else. Gold was a ta…

Whenever the mailman delivers a package that looks like a record, there’s no doubt that I become excited. Such was the case when I received something from Ted Riederer and Never Records. Except, some…

David Duchovny is one of those rare entertainment birds who has managed to craft a career in show business utilizing his many passions. Everyone is familiar with his portrayal of Agent Fox Mulder in …

It’s not hyperbole to say that musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer Van Dyke Parks is a legendary or mythical creature in pop music folklore. Sure, you know how Brian Wilson recruited h…

Much of the music we listen to today comes from different generations. It may be an old favorite like Led Zeppelin, or it might be a group that was under the radar for many years before finally havin…

Gregory Porter embodies the best of what a popular singer should be: he’s a suave and stylish songbird with the heart of a poet, painting the lyrics he’s reciting onto his canvas while letting his so…

For some folks, New York City is a place they’ve only seen in movies or read about in books; a mysterious, mystical place full of danger and excitement where fame or fortune - or failure - might be l…

It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when troubadours would travail the twilight streets of New York City with a guitar strapped to their back and scribbled lyrics written in coffee shops c…

Elroy is the son of Crowded House’s Neil Finn and, just like much of his musical family, he is a unique artist all his own. While he is currently playing drums in dad’s band, Elroy also has a brand n…