Brian Tarquin's Guitar Trax Show Brian Tarquin's Guitar Trax Show

With a legendary career spanning five decades, KANSAS has firmly established itself as one of America’s iconic classic rock bands. This "garage band" from Topeka released their debut album in 1974 after being discovered by Wally Gold, who worked for Don Kirshner, and have gone on to sell more than 30 million albums worldwide. Rich Williams is one of the few members of Kansas that has been in the band from it's inception. He shared guitar duties with keyboardist/guitarist Kerry Livgren until 1984 when Kansas first broke up, and later from 1990 to 1991 and 1999 to 2000. From 1985 to 1991, he shared guitar-playing with Steve Morse, and later with Zak Rizvi from 2016 to 2021. Since April 2021, Williams has served as the band's only dedicated guitarist, as he also did from 1991 to 1999, and 2000 to 2016. In live performances, violinist Joe Deninzon serves as a second guitarist little or no violin, as did his predecessor, David Ragsdale. Williams and Phil Ehart are the only two founding members of Kansas who have never left the band and have played on all Kansas albums. Among the songs Williams co-wrote with the band are "Can I Tell You", "No Room for a Stranger", and the hit "Play the Game Tonight". GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year." 

Steve Vai needs introduction! A virtuoso guitarist, visionary composer, and consummate producer who sculpts musical sound with infinite creativity and technical mastery, Steve Vai has awed fans of all genres with his exceptional guitar skills and musicianship for decades. At age 12, he started taking guitar lessons from Joe Satriani. At 18, he began his professional music career transcribing for, and then playing with, the legendary Frank Zappa. More than three decades, over 15 million in album sales, and three GRAMMY Awards later, Vai has proven himself, in his own right, to be one of music’s true originals.Vai’s work has been recognized with a long list of awards and honors, including over 15 from Guitar Player magazine alone. His career accomplishments have earned him honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and Musicians Institute. The 2016 Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee was voted the 10th “Greatest Guitarist” by Guitar World magazine and consistently lands among the best in various lists of the top guitarists of all time.In 2012, the TEC Foundation honored him with the prestigious Les Paul Award, created in 1991 to salute those who have set the highest standard of excellence in the creative application of technology. Past winners of the Les Paul Award include Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, and Bob Clearmountain. In bestowing it on Vai, TEC noted, “Steve Vai’s sheer breathtaking facility on the guitar is acclaimed in the rock world and beyond…Vai has dedicated his talents to creatively advance the language of music. While many artists fit easily into a single category, Steve Vai remains unclassifiable. He is a musical alchemist of the highest order.”GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year." 

Larry Crane is an American editor and founder of Tape Op Magazine and recording engineer/owner of Portland's Jackpot! Recording Studio, He is also a freelance engineer, and the archivist for the estate of musician Elliott Smith.  Jackpot has recorded the likes of Built to Spill, Wooden Shjips, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Spoon, R.E.M., The Decemberists, Stephen Malkmus, She & Him, Eddie Vedder, Battleme, Summer Cannibals, M. Ward, Quasi, etc.Employing a combination of analog tape and digital workstations (Pro Tools and Logic), Jackpot! caters to vintage tastes while keeping the studio technology on the cutting edge. Centered around a custom-built analog Rupert Neve Designs console, engineers can track everything from full band sessions in the live room to intricate layered experimentation by single musicians. Equipped with an array of guitars, amps, effect pedals, and drums, Jackpot! also offers piano, organ, Moogs, Rhodes, Wurli, and old school effects units like plate and spring reverbs and tape delays.GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year." 

Stu Hamm is an iconic bass player who attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he met guitarist Steve Vai and, through him, met Joe Satriani. Hamm. He played bass on Vai's debut solo album, Flex-Able, which was released in 1984. Hamm has performed and recorded with Steve Vai, Frank Gambale, Joe Satriani and many other well-respected guitarists. It was his playing live on tour with Satriani that brought Hamm's skills to national attention. Subsequent recordings with Satriani and other rock/fusion artists, along with the release of his own solo recordings, solidified his reputation as a bassist and performer.Hamm's slapping, popping and two-handed tapping techniques are demonstrated on his solo recordings, as well as in his instructional videos, Slap, Pop & Tap For The Bass and Deeper Inside the Bass. A popular part of his live performance often includes a two-handed tapping arrangement of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" (from the animated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas). GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year." 

In the year 1973, Uli’s friend, Michael Schenker, quit the already established band Scorpions to join UFO in England. This lead to the break-up of the Scorpions, which his brother, Rudolf Schenker, had formed in the Sixties. But before leaving the band, Michael asked Uli to take his place instead. Later that year, the two remaining members of Scorpions – Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine – joined forces with the four members of Dawn Road in the summer of 1973. Soon afterwards, the “new” Scorpions played their first gig, which happened to be a two-song live appearance on one of the two main German television channels. This lead to a 5-year record contract with one of the major international record companies at the time, RCA.Uli recorded five albums with the Scorpions – one for each year of his tenure. Each one of these was to achieve iconic status in the history of rock music. The band recorded altogether four studio albums and one live-album during that five-year period. These were – in chronological order – Fly To The Rainbow (1974), In Trance (1975), Virgin Killer (1976) and Taken by Force (1977).GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year." 

Dave Mason left Traffic in 1969 to pursue a solo career in the U.S. Dave has penned over 100 songs, has 3 gold albums: Alone Together, Dave Mason, Mariposa De Oro, and platinum album Let It Flow, which contained the top-ten single “We Just Disagree”.In addition to cranking out hits, Dave has performed on, or contributed to, a number of famous albums, including: The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, Paul McCartney and Wings’ Venus and Mars, and Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland. Mason is featured playing acoustic guitar in “All Along the Watchtower” on Electric Ladyland, a favorite in Dave’s live shows!Dave, a prolific artist in his own right, has collaborated with an enviable list of the who’s who in the music industry … Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Rita Coolidge, Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, Ron Wood, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Jim Capaldi, just to name a few.GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year."