Articles by Bill DeMain

Bill DeMain is a correspondent for BBC Glasgow, a regular contributor to MOJO, Classic Rock and Mental Floss, and the author of six books, including the best-selling Sgt. Pepper At 50. He is also an acclaimed musician and songwriter who's written for artists including Marshall Crenshaw, Teddy Thompson and Kim Richey. His songs have appeared in TV shows such as Private Practice and Sons of Anarchy. In 2013, he started Walkin' Nashville, a music history tour that's been the #1 rated activity on Trip Advisor. An avid bird-watcher, he also makes bird cards and prints.

Articles by: Bill DeMain

The Knack posing for a photograph in 1980

“It was love at first sight. I broke up with Judy and chased Sharona for a year”: How The Knack wrote My Sharona, the one hit wonder to end all one hit wonders

By Bill DeMain published 12 March 25

New Wave megahit My Sharona was The Knack’s sole claim to fame – but what a claim to fame

"We were up in places no one else was thinking about": Nine albums by the Allman Brothers Band you should listen to... and one you should ignore

By Bill DeMain published 10 February 25

Celebrating the musical telepathy of the Allman Brothers Band

"I woke up three days later, in France, in this stupid castle, and I'm thinking: 'What just happened?'": How Stevie Nicks escaped the chaos of Fleetwood Mac and soared solo

By Bill DeMain published 24 January 25

In 1980 Stevie Nicks stepped out of Fleetwood Mac with a hit-laden debut solo album that showed she could fly just as high on her own

Excerpts from the cover art of nine 60s West Coast rock albums

10 West Coast rock albums you really need to hear... and one to avoid

By Bill DeMain published 8 October 24

From surf guitars to psychedelia, peace to paranoia, the 60s sound of Los Angeles and San Francisco was bright and multicoloured

The Jimi Hendrix experience posing for a photograph in 1967

“It gets tiring doing the same thing. In this life, you gotta do what you want, you gotta let your mind and fancy flow free”: The epic story of Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love, the heart of the guitarist‘s Holy Trinity

By Bill DeMain published 28 September 24

The story of Axis: Bold Of Love, Hendrix’s “science fiction rock’n’roll” masterpiece

Fastball's Tony Scalzo used to work the graveyard shift at a bagel store: Now he's celebrating more than 30 years of "a certain degree of success"

By Bill DeMain published 17 September 24

Originally formed in the early 90s, Texan alt.rock band Fastball are back with album number nine

Tyler Bryant & The Shekedown outside Grimey's Record Store

What happened when we went record shopping with Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown

By Bill DeMain published 5 September 24

“When I toured with Jeff Beck I never missed a single soundcheck. I'd sit on the side of the stage, just soaking it in" - Tyler Bryant

Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra onstage at Woodstock

"Baby boomers and bikers are eighty per cent of our audience, but we're seeing more and more young people": Fito de la Parra looks back on 60 years of Canned Heat

By Bill DeMain published 27 August 24

Canned Heat drummer Fito de la Parra has survived changing trends, the deaths of all his original bandmates, and more than 40 personnel changes

British guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page with his arm around American guitarist, songwriter, and luthier Les Paul (1915-2009), with British guitarist and songwriter Jeff Beck attending an event, United States, circa 1985.

"I took a bit of steel railroad track and strung a string along it, then hooked it up to the radio": The story of Les Paul, the man who invented modern music

By Bill DeMain published 12 August 24

Visionary, guitar wizard and inspiration, Les Paul invented the electric guitar and drew the blueprint for contemporary music as we know it

Sir George Martin driving a speeedboat near Air Studios Montseratt, West Indies, in 1979

The albums produced by George Martin you should listen to but only one is by the Beatles

By Bill DeMain published 8 August 24

Legendary producer and 'fifth Beatle' George Martin combined an adventurous sense of musicality with suit-and-tie professionalism

"Girls talk to me when I play": Chris Spedding took up the guitar nearly seventy years ago and he's still in demand

By Bill DeMain published 7 July 24

Legendary sideman and session guitarist Chris Spedding on a "naughty" 70s, discovering the Sex Pistols and being an honorary Beatle

"My friends and I went through hours and hours and many bags of weed blasting that record": The soundtrack of Walter Trout's life

By Bill DeMain published 11 June 24

Blues legend Walter Trout picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance

Pete Townshend walking in a London alleyway in 1980

"On this album he proved he was so much more than a rock musician": The Pete Townshend album that measures up to The Who's best work

By Bill DeMain published 23 May 24

A late-70s blitz of punk, personal problems and tragedy forced The Who’s Pete Townshend to reassess his life and career. One of the results was his solo masterpiece Empty Glass

"When Peter Gabriel played Red Rain I started sobbing - it makes me think of my dad": The soundtrack of Wolfgang Van Halen's life

By Bill DeMain published 3 May 24

Mammoth WVH guitarist/vocalist Wolfgang Van Halen picks his records, artists and gigs of lasting significance

Jimmy Carter visits Capricorn Records during the production of Dickey Betts debut album "Highway Call." (Left to Right) Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, Capricorn Records Co-Founder Phil Walden, Producer/Engineer Johnny Sandlin and Dickey Betts

The label that introduced Southern rock to the masses: The albums on Capricorn Records you should definitely own

By Bill DeMain published 30 April 24

The best albums from the Nashville label that brought together rock'n'roll and soul

"The bigger I got as a solo artist, the more we had to pay the Mob": Peter Frampton looks back over an extraordinary six-decade career

By Bill DeMain published 22 April 24

Peter Frampton has lived the rock life to its fullest, playing many parts – prodigy, teen idol, guitar hero, global superstar, forgotten man, comeback kid, survivor

The Cars in 1984, posing on a London taxi

“He's never done a band like us; he’s done a lot of heavy metal. But I thought the two could mix": How AC/DC's producer and synthesisers reinvented The Cars

By Bill DeMain published 3 April 24

By 1983 The Cars were stagnating, but Mutt Lange and a change of sound saw them heading to the top of the charts

"As I grew up, instead of wanting to marry Paul McCartney, I wanted to be him": How The Bangles wooed 1984 with their power-pop debut All Over The Place

By Bill DeMain published 21 March 24

A look back at four Beatles-crazed girls who jangled, spangled, and sang excellent harmonies

"It was a gift. It came from that mysterious place that lyrics sometimes come from": The Tom Petty reject that gave Don Henley the ultimate song of lost innocence

By Bill DeMain published 20 March 24

From an unwanted demo came Don Henley's Boys Of Summer, a song that aches with nostalgia and innocence

"Bella Donna had the formula for success: a singer from huge band, a top-notch producer, and a who's who of musicians": Bella Donna by Stevie Nicks

By Classic Rock Magazine published 15 January 24

Featuring stellar duets with Tom Petty and Don Henley, Bella Donna established Stevie Nicks as a star in her own right, away from the Fleetwood Mac soap opera

David Bowie in his apartment at Haddon Hall Beckenham Kent England in 1970

"On the Space Oddity album we had no idea what we were doing. So we tried something different, something harder": the making of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World

By Bill DeMain published 2 January 24

In 1970 David Bowie was a one-hit wonder, but The Man Who Sold The World helped him recalibrate his sound and vision, setting him on a path to becoming a decade-defining artist

Peter Frampton sitting down playing guitar with (inset) Dolly Parton holding a guitar

"There was this extra Dolly energy on there – and she's doing these wonderful ad libs, singing around me": Peter Frampton on Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney, and sitting down onstage

By Bill DeMain published 2 January 24

Having asked to play guitar on Dolly Parton's Rockstar album, Peter Frampton also ended up singing one of his own classics on it

"We're progressive people who grew up in a very conservative town. We're used to bridging the divide": Brothers Osborne's new album is a celebration of freedom and inclusiveness

By Bill DeMain published 1 January 24

Having weathered a few years of personal disclosures that might have derailed their career, Brothers Osborne are happily balancing who they’ve become with who they've always been

"I don't want to be a clown any more. I don't want to be a rock'n'roll star": The radical rebirth of Jimi Hendrix and his Band Of Gypsys

By Bill DeMain published 31 December 23

In January 1970, Jimi Hendrix pulled the plug on stardom to chase a funkier, freer direction with his Band Of Gypsys. This is their story

"Saucy enough to flavour a thousand barbecues": How a fabled Texan brothel inspired a ZZ Top classic

By Bill DeMain published 29 December 23

Celebrating a real-life Texan brothel, the visiting of which was in its day "a rite of passage", La Grange is still one of ZZ Top's best-loved songs and a must-play at shows

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Bill DeMain

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