Caropop Mark Caro

Drummer Will Rigby provided the propulsion, grooves and furious fills for the dB’s, a North Carolina foursome who launched their collective career in New York City yet had their powerfully poppy first two albums released only overseas. Now the dB’s landmark 1981 debut, Stands for Decibels, finally has come out in the U.S. on vinyl and streaming services, with Repercussion to follow, and the classic lineup of singer-songwriters Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, bassist Gene Holder and Rigby will tour for the first time in 12 years. The ever-engaging Rigby recalls the band’s formation with Stamey, the addition of Holsapple, the making of those early dB’s albums, the reasons behind Stamey’s departure and the more American sound of 1984’s Like This. Rigby also discusses his own idiosyncratic songwriting and his work with other artists, such as Steve Earle. (Photo by John Gessner)

Vicki Peterson wrote, sang and played lead guitar on many of the Bangles’ best songs, even if they weren’t the ones that made the band famous. In a smart, revealing conversation, the down-to-earth Peterson reflects on the Bangles’ origins—and her desire to be in an all-female band, which soon would include her sister Debbi (a former Caropop guest) and singer/guitarist Susanna Hoffs—and the compromises and rising tensions that accompanied their success. In the aftermath of a painful Bangles breakup, Peterson—a band person through and through—joins the Continental Drifters, teams with Susan Cowsill in the Psycho Sisters and tours with the Go-Go’s. The Bangles also reunite for two more albums. What lies in the future for the Bangles and Continental Drifters? What is Peterson’s creative life like now? (Photo: Rebecca Wilson Studio.)

Impex Records has been releasing stellar audiophile recordings since Abey Fonn founded the small label in 2009. Impex’s offerings have included 33 and 45 rpm LPs (including Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucía’s Friday Night in San Francisco and Saturday Night in San Francisco) as well as deluxe 1Step releases such as Getz/Gilberto, Patricia Barber's Companion and, coming June 14, Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra. Here Fonn pulls back the curtain on how Impex chooses and makes deals for its titles, what the competition is like with the larger audiophile labels, how Impex decides which format is best for an album, whether original master tapes have become harder to obtain, whether a one-to-one analog transfer is superior to a high-res digital copy, which act has been Fonn’s white whale and which one she was happiest to land.

After co-producing R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning, Don Dixon got calls from other bands, often southern and jangly, seeking his services. He produced three albums by Guadalcanal Diary, another Georgia band, but it was his work with New Jersey's the Smithereens that took him to another level. It also prompted Nirvana to ask him about producing Nevermind. Dixon was pursuing his own career as well while thinking U.S. labels had slighted his previous band, Arrogance. What happened when the head of Enigma Records approached him in a European airport about releasing the song "Praying Mantis"? What unorthodox scheme did Dixon propose to the label in lieu of releasing albums? Why does he, of all people, think recording ruined music? Dixon has enough great stories and insights to fill two episodes. This is the second.

Don Dixon already had spent 13 years playing, singing and writing with the North Carolina indie band Arrogance when he joined Mitch Easter to co-produce R.E.M.’s trailblazing first two albums, Murmur and Reckoning. He went on to produce the first two crunchy-and-sweet Smithereens albums plus music from Guadalcanal Diary, Matthew Sweet, Marshall Crenshaw and Marti Jones, to whom he remains married. His own infectious “Praying Mantis” got him some airplay as well. Did he see himself more as a soul singer, a songwriter, a bassist or producer? What are the secrets to being a strong producer? What happened when Nirvana asked him about producing Nevermind? Dixon has enough great stories and insights to fill two episodes. This is the first.

William Bell is a soul legend who scored an early hit for Memphis’s Stax Records with 1961’s “You Don’t Miss Your Water” and wrote and sang such much-covered classics as “I Forgot To Be Your Lover,” “Everybody Loves a Winner” and “Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday.” He and Booker T. Jones co-wrote Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” and Bell vividly recalls the story behind that one. He also recounts his friendship with Otis Redding and how Redding’s death, followed by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, affected him, Memphis and beyond. At age 84, Bell continues to make music, releasing the Grammy-winning album This Is Where I Live in 2017 and One Day Closer to Home last year. His voice and writing—as well as his wit and memory—remain impressively strong.