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Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Neil Warren interview

January 05, 2024 Neil Warren Season 1 Episode 101
Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast
Neil Warren interview
Chapters
Chapters
1:33
Tom Ellis interviews Neil Warren on the podcast
1:45
Tom recently wrote an article on Neil Warren, and the podcast, which appeared in the Autumn SPAH magazine, Harmonica Happenings
2:04
In the article Tom compares the podcast to the efforts of Rick Beato in the US, who is documenting musicians on his YouTube channel
2:42
Neil is from Blackburn, Lancashire, in the north west of England, now living near Reading, not far from London
3:15
First inspiration for playing the harmonica was Bruce Willis
4:00
Then discovered blues harmonica from a low budget record label releasing albums on cassette tapes and started playing along to learn
5:01
Played with my friend, Philip James, after he moved to the US and started playing guitar, while I learnt harmonica in the UK, and he came back to the UK and we played together
5:35
No other harmonica players around in Blackburn when he started playing
5:51
Decent blues scene in North West of England, with Colne and Burnley festivals
6:08
Quite a good music scene in the pubs at the time (early 1990s)
6:14
First inspiring live gig was by a band called The Harpbreakers
6:50
Was also a big fan of Bob Dylan, and his not so great harmonica playing
7:34
Discovered more blues harmonica players partly through a blues magazine series featuring different artists
8:24
Started playing in a college band with friend who had returned from the US
8:31
Joined second band after a visiting workman to the house heard me playing harmonica in my bedroom
8:52
How became aware of the National League League (UK harmonica club)
9:49
Played a little chromatic when younger, and took it up seriously from age 30
10:10
Learned to read music a little when younger, then more seriously later
10:43
Had lots of jazz harmonica lessons from the great UK jazz chromatic player, Julian Jackson
12:01
Learnt diatonic initially by playing along with records, and had a small number of lessons on diatonic
12:25
Always been a dedicated practiser, and follow the Deliberate Practise model now (Peak book by Anders Erikson)
12:39
Started learning violin during pandemic, enjoying the classical approach to learning
13:07
Also play mandolin (which is same tuning as violin)
14:02
Like to play folk music too
14:38
Plays in an acoustic blues and folk act, with Greg Mayston
15:10
Other current band is Rev John and the Revelations, playing blues, ska, a little reggae and funk
15:53
Always keen to show the versatility of the harmonica and not just play one sort of genre or sound
16:18
Discovered the DM48 midi through the podcast interview with Erik Lekholm and Jason Keene
17:24
Helped organise the Chromatic Weekend festival for the National Harmonica League in the UK
17:49
Won three categories at the National Harmonica League competition: blues, jazz and diatonic melodic
19:08
Gigging 3 or 4 times a month at the moment while having a day job
20:04
Other bands played in, including a trio playing blues and quite a lot of gypsy jazz
22:02
The current harmonica scene in the UK
23:07
Ran a gig listing website for harmonica gigs in the UK, which allowed Neil to get to know lots of the UK harmonica players and was a precursor to starting the Happy Hour Harmonica podcast
24:40
Podcast covers different genres, and not just be about blues harmonica
25:11
How people are found to interview on the podcast
26:42
Qualifications for people to interview on the podcast
27:38
One of main reasons in starting podcast was my own extensive song collection of many harmonica players, and finding the ‘best’ harmonica songs
28:16
HarpKeys page shows key of diatonic harmonica used on over one thousand songs
29:15
Transcribing has been a part of Neil’s learning process, including for jazz
30:29
How structured and pre-planned are the interviews?
31:18
The plans to bring more of different aspects to the podcast, such as female players, and players from different regions
33:07
Example of sourcing Marko Jovanovic, a German player with Serbia roots
33:53
Podcast keeps away from the instructive side of harmonica, which is deliberate
34:55
Jazz player Gregoire Maret and want to represent chromatic harmonica strongly in the podcasts
36:04
Other research conducted for the interviews
36:43
Some of own personal favourite interviews from the first 100, but learns something from every one
38:12
Interview with Canadian Mike Stevens
38:36
Juzzie Smith and juggling harmonica
40:29
Seydel’s sponsorship of the podcast
41:07
Interviews with Hohner and Seydel and the gear oriented podcast episodes
41:52
Covering the topic of altered tunings and different approaches and development of the harmonica
42:31
Learning from the harmonica stories and successes of the people interviewed on the podcast
43:45
Podcast is documenting harmonica in our time, such as Los Angeles scene via Rod Piazza, and Piedmont style with Phil Wiggins
44:39
Possibility of writing a book based around the podcast
45:34
The podcast is a labour of love
46:16
Talking to so many different players about the gear they use often results in wanting to buy the gear they talk about
46:59
Harmonicas of choice
47:40
Improvement in quality of harmonicas in recent years
48:14
Does some basic set-up of harmonicas
48:24
Plays a little bass and chord harmonica, with the chord always getting a good reaction from a crowd
48:42
Chromatics of choice
49:12
Has a gig bag with all harps needed for performing
49:41
Amps used
50:47
Mics used
51:31
Pedals, including the Line 6 patches from Richard Hunter
52:14
Acoustic mics of choice
52:27
Plans to do more retrospective episodes, following the success of the 100th one on Little Walter
53:44
Top the Little Walter episode by having an interview about me!
54:16
The plans for the podcast
54:59
How playing is effected by podcast interviews
56:31
Spotify playlist is a key accompaniment to the podcast and other wider listening
57:36
Now reached the age of 50, intend to play as much music as possible, and attend the SPAH conference
58:46
Tom has been a great help behind the scenes of the podcast
Info
Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast
Neil Warren interview
Jan 05, 2024 Season 1 Episode 101
Neil Warren

Tom Ellis interviews Neil Warren on episode 101.

Neil started out playing blues harmonica in his hometown of Blackburn (with it’s 4000 holes). He progressed into learning jazz, taking jazz chromatic lessons for several years, and then folk music. Neil currently plays in two bands around his local area, an acoustic act playing blues and folk, and an electric band playing different genres, such as ska and funk and blues, including use of the DM48 midi chromatic.

He has won three categories of competitions at the UK National Harmonica League festival and helped organise the Chromatic Weekend festival for them for several years. 

The discussion then turns to focus on the Happy Hour Harmonica podcast, how it got started, how he sources the people to interview, what the podcast tries to do and some of his own favourite moments from the first 100 episodes.

Links:

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com/

Contact podcast:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com/contact/

Transcription website:
https://www.harptranscripts.co.uk/

Harp Keys: showing key of harmonica used on over 1000 songs:
https://www.harptranscripts.co.uk/harpkeys.html

Rev John and the Revelations:
https://revjohnh490546051.wordpress.com/

Greg Mayston band:
https://www.folkbluesandamericana.com/

Harmonica UK (was National Harmonica League):
https://www.harmonica.uk/

Videos:
Roseanne soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSE51IAUZ3M

Dark Eyes at UK Chromatic Weekend:
https://youtu.be/fh664YnZcFc?si=mowTd5gPtJJdBvNc

Blair Athol (Scottish folk song):
https://youtu.be/eZ-FT48q05Q

Blowing The Family Jewels:
https://youtu.be/fnOZrIr7AE4

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram

Support the Show.

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Show Notes Chapter Markers

Tom Ellis interviews Neil Warren on episode 101.

Neil started out playing blues harmonica in his hometown of Blackburn (with it’s 4000 holes). He progressed into learning jazz, taking jazz chromatic lessons for several years, and then folk music. Neil currently plays in two bands around his local area, an acoustic act playing blues and folk, and an electric band playing different genres, such as ska and funk and blues, including use of the DM48 midi chromatic.

He has won three categories of competitions at the UK National Harmonica League festival and helped organise the Chromatic Weekend festival for them for several years. 

The discussion then turns to focus on the Happy Hour Harmonica podcast, how it got started, how he sources the people to interview, what the podcast tries to do and some of his own favourite moments from the first 100 episodes.

Links:

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com/

Contact podcast:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com/contact/

Transcription website:
https://www.harptranscripts.co.uk/

Harp Keys: showing key of harmonica used on over 1000 songs:
https://www.harptranscripts.co.uk/harpkeys.html

Rev John and the Revelations:
https://revjohnh490546051.wordpress.com/

Greg Mayston band:
https://www.folkbluesandamericana.com/

Harmonica UK (was National Harmonica League):
https://www.harmonica.uk/

Videos:
Roseanne soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSE51IAUZ3M

Dark Eyes at UK Chromatic Weekend:
https://youtu.be/fh664YnZcFc?si=mowTd5gPtJJdBvNc

Blair Athol (Scottish folk song):
https://youtu.be/eZ-FT48q05Q

Blowing The Family Jewels:
https://youtu.be/fnOZrIr7AE4

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram

Support the Show.

1:33
Tom Ellis interviews Neil Warren on the podcast
1:45
Tom recently wrote an article on Neil Warren, and the podcast, which appeared in the Autumn SPAH magazine, Harmonica Happenings
2:04
In the article Tom compares the podcast to the efforts of Rick Beato in the US, who is documenting musicians on his YouTube channel
2:42
Neil is from Blackburn, Lancashire, in the north west of England, now living near Reading, not far from London
3:15
First inspiration for playing the harmonica was Bruce Willis
4:00
Then discovered blues harmonica from a low budget record label releasing albums on cassette tapes and started playing along to learn
5:01
Played with my friend, Philip James, after he moved to the US and started playing guitar, while I learnt harmonica in the UK, and he came back to the UK and we played together
5:35
No other harmonica players around in Blackburn when he started playing
5:51
Decent blues scene in North West of England, with Colne and Burnley festivals
6:08
Quite a good music scene in the pubs at the time (early 1990s)
6:14
First inspiring live gig was by a band called The Harpbreakers
6:50
Was also a big fan of Bob Dylan, and his not so great harmonica playing
7:34
Discovered more blues harmonica players partly through a blues magazine series featuring different artists
8:24
Started playing in a college band with friend who had returned from the US
8:31
Joined second band after a visiting workman to the house heard me playing harmonica in my bedroom
8:52
How became aware of the National League League (UK harmonica club)
9:49
Played a little chromatic when younger, and took it up seriously from age 30
10:10
Learned to read music a little when younger, then more seriously later
10:43
Had lots of jazz harmonica lessons from the great UK jazz chromatic player, Julian Jackson
12:01
Learnt diatonic initially by playing along with records, and had a small number of lessons on diatonic
12:25
Always been a dedicated practiser, and follow the Deliberate Practise model now (Peak book by Anders Erikson)
12:39
Started learning violin during pandemic, enjoying the classical approach to learning
13:07
Also play mandolin (which is same tuning as violin)
14:02
Like to play folk music too
14:38
Plays in an acoustic blues and folk act, with Greg Mayston
15:10
Other current band is Rev John and the Revelations, playing blues, ska, a little reggae and funk
15:53
Always keen to show the versatility of the harmonica and not just play one sort of genre or sound
16:18
Discovered the DM48 midi through the podcast interview with Erik Lekholm and Jason Keene
17:24
Helped organise the Chromatic Weekend festival for the National Harmonica League in the UK
17:49
Won three categories at the National Harmonica League competition: blues, jazz and diatonic melodic
19:08
Gigging 3 or 4 times a month at the moment while having a day job
20:04
Other bands played in, including a trio playing blues and quite a lot of gypsy jazz
22:02
The current harmonica scene in the UK
23:07
Ran a gig listing website for harmonica gigs in the UK, which allowed Neil to get to know lots of the UK harmonica players and was a precursor to starting the Happy Hour Harmonica podcast
24:40
Podcast covers different genres, and not just be about blues harmonica
25:11
How people are found to interview on the podcast
26:42
Qualifications for people to interview on the podcast
27:38
One of main reasons in starting podcast was my own extensive song collection of many harmonica players, and finding the ‘best’ harmonica songs
28:16
HarpKeys page shows key of diatonic harmonica used on over one thousand songs
29:15
Transcribing has been a part of Neil’s learning process, including for jazz
30:29
How structured and pre-planned are the interviews?
31:18
The plans to bring more of different aspects to the podcast, such as female players, and players from different regions
33:07
Example of sourcing Marko Jovanovic, a German player with Serbia roots
33:53
Podcast keeps away from the instructive side of harmonica, which is deliberate
34:55
Jazz player Gregoire Maret and want to represent chromatic harmonica strongly in the podcasts
36:04
Other research conducted for the interviews
36:43
Some of own personal favourite interviews from the first 100, but learns something from every one
38:12
Interview with Canadian Mike Stevens
38:36
Juzzie Smith and juggling harmonica
40:29
Seydel’s sponsorship of the podcast
41:07
Interviews with Hohner and Seydel and the gear oriented podcast episodes
41:52
Covering the topic of altered tunings and different approaches and development of the harmonica
42:31
Learning from the harmonica stories and successes of the people interviewed on the podcast
43:45
Podcast is documenting harmonica in our time, such as Los Angeles scene via Rod Piazza, and Piedmont style with Phil Wiggins
44:39
Possibility of writing a book based around the podcast
45:34
The podcast is a labour of love
46:16
Talking to so many different players about the gear they use often results in wanting to buy the gear they talk about
46:59
Harmonicas of choice
47:40
Improvement in quality of harmonicas in recent years
48:14
Does some basic set-up of harmonicas
48:24
Plays a little bass and chord harmonica, with the chord always getting a good reaction from a crowd
48:42
Chromatics of choice
49:12
Has a gig bag with all harps needed for performing
49:41
Amps used
50:47
Mics used
51:31
Pedals, including the Line 6 patches from Richard Hunter
52:14
Acoustic mics of choice
52:27
Plans to do more retrospective episodes, following the success of the 100th one on Little Walter
53:44
Top the Little Walter episode by having an interview about me!
54:16
The plans for the podcast
54:59
How playing is effected by podcast interviews
56:31
Spotify playlist is a key accompaniment to the podcast and other wider listening
57:36
Now reached the age of 50, intend to play as much music as possible, and attend the SPAH conference
58:46
Tom has been a great help behind the scenes of the podcast