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Composite Acoustics - GX
The Composite Acoustics GX Performer is a Grand Auditorium-sized graphite beauty that breaks stereotypes of composite instruments.
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Larkin Poe’s Rebecca and Megan Lovell join Axe Lords to talk guitars, their new album Bloom, their blood-harmony superpowers, and how building a recording studio with your spouse is a terrific way to test the structural integrity of a relationship—not to mention your credit card limit.
Rebecca walks us through how she became the reluctant lead singer, why she mostly relies on the bridge humbucker in her Strat, and how open tunings both elevate your riffs and ruin your life onstage. Meanwhile, Megan traces her lap-steel journey from a back-breaking vintage Rickenbacker to her signature model Electro-Liege. Warning: You may think you suck at music after she rips an improvised episode outro for us!
Axe Lords is presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Executive Producer is Kirsten Cluthe. Edited by Justin Thomas at Revoice Media. Engineered by Patrick Samaha. Recorded at Kensaltown East. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme music by Valley Lodge.
Follow @axelordspod for updates, news, and cool stuff.
Larkin Poe’s Rebecca and Megan Lovell join Axe Lords to talk guitars, their new album Bloom, their blood-harmony superpowers, and how building a recording studio with your spouse is a terrific way to test the structural integrity of a relationship—not to mention your credit card limit.
Rebecca walks us through how she became the reluctant lead singer, why she mostly relies on the bridge humbucker in her Strat, and how open tunings both elevate your riffs and ruin your life onstage. Meanwhile, Megan traces her lap-steel journey from a back-breaking vintage Rickenbacker to her signature model Electro-Liege. Warning: You may think you suck at music after she rips an improvised episode outro for us!
Axe Lords is presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Executive Producer is Kirsten Cluthe. Edited by Justin Thomas at Revoice Media. Engineered by Patrick Samaha. Recorded at Kensaltown East. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme music by Valley Lodge.
Follow @axelordspod for updates, news, and cool stuff.
She's already earned Mandolin Player of the Year six times. She's been nominated for five Grammys (including four praising her 2025 album A Tip Toe High Wire). And now she's earned a pair of fantastic F-style Gibson mandolins. What else could be on the horizon?
Well, in this performance and interview filmed at the Gibson Garage Nashville, host John Bohlinger goes back to Sierra's East Tennessee roots, getting to know the bonafide badass bluegrasser through her musical upbringing (performing and learning in circles, not classrooms. Then they explore her connection to a special 2009 Gibson Master Model mandolin that's logged thousands of hours and was the inspiration for her signature mandos. Finally, the positive, upbeat, inspiring musician concludes with gratitude for her independent success and overwhelming acceptance into the bluegrass community before encouraging fans (new and old) to join along for the ride.
Guitarist Doug Gillard breaks down his iconic black Les Paul, his tone secrets, early Cleveland punk roots, composed solos, and the gear behind “I Am a Tree.”
Doug Gillard (Guided by Voices, Nada Surf) joins the Axe Lords to dissect his signature sound , explain why why he’s one of the few “indie rock guys” running a Mesa Dual Rectifier and—bonus!-gives the A-Lords a guided tour of his battle-worn ’76 Les Paul Custom.
Doug — who also played bass in Dave’s Band Valley Lodge — breaks down his approach to composed solos, the harmony and capo tricks behind “I Am a Tree,” and how Cleveland punk, college radio, glam, and right-hand tapping shaped his style. Along the way: how annoying Tom is to work with in the studio, early guitars from Sears and Gibson, Cleveland-scene lore, surviving GBV’s marathon shows, and the most intense comedy monologue since Andy Kaufman shuffled off this mortal coil.
Axe Lords is presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Executive Producer is Kirsten Cluthe. Edited by Justin Thomas at Revoice Media. Engineered by Patrick Samaha. Recorded at Kensaltown East. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme music by Valley Lodge.
The Wilco frontman’s ’90s pawn shop raids are paying off decades later.
Back in September, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy released his fifth solo album, Twilight Override. The triple album, recorded at the band’s Chicago studio, the Loft, features 30 tracks total. Tweedy set out across the U.S. this fall to celebrate the monumental release.
On October 29, he performed at the Caverns in Grundy County, Tennessee, and welcomed PG’s Nashville correspondent John Bohlinger to the bat cave to check out a ripping collection of pawn-shop specials.
Tweedy has had this heavily modded Jaguar for a very long time—he bought it at a pawn shop when they were still cheap. He guesses it’s a 1964, and it’s been modded to run only on its Seymour Duncan Antiquity bridge humbucker.
Root of All Evil
Tweedy got this Fender Jazzmaster at a pawn shop in Chicago for around $500. With its Mastery bridge, he tunes it with bass strings for some of Wilco’s heavier, lower-tuned material like “Dawned On Me.”
Half Moon Fun
Ric Ocasek is one of the few other well-known guitarists to play one of these Kawai MoonSaults, a Japan-made guitar from the 1980s with a scorching-hot preamp wired into it. Tweedy has a soft spot for them, and has collected six or seven of the oddities. He strings this one with flatwounds.
Everyman’s SG
Tweedy didn’t like the feeling of being handed his $20,000 Gibson SG onstage. He wanted to model some more reasonably priced instruments to his fans, so he started bringing out this early-’80s-built Greco SG copy. It features PAF-style Maxon Dry Z pickups.
Tele: Fully Loaded
Fender didn’t make many of these Telecasters with top-loaded strings, and Tweedy loves the sound of this one’s snarl into his Fender Deluxe. It was purchased at New York’s RetroFret Vintage Guitars and lives in open-G tuning.
Tweedy’s Tweed
Tweedy bought this 1954 Fender Deluxe in 1994 for just a couple hundred bucks. This wide-panel, 10-watt 5D3 model still has its original speaker and transformer.
Jeff Tweedy’s Pedalboards
One of Tweedy’s boards is dedicated almost entirely to pedals by Fairfield Circuitry, based in Hull, Quebec. In addition to a TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, and Black Mountain volume pedal, there are seven Fairfield units: the Accountant compressor, Barbershop overdrive, ~900 fuzz, Randy’s Revenge ring modulator, Shallow Water k-field modulator, and two Meet Maude analog delays.
On a second board for his acoustics, Tweedy runs another Holy Grail, Polytune 3 Noir, and three more Black Mountain volume pedals, plus a Radial Shotgun splitter and buffer and three Rupert Neve RNDI-M direct interface boxes.