Stay Tuned Radio

04/22/2026

RIP Dave 💔
You will be deeply missed

It is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason. On Sunday, April 19, after cooking an amazing dinner with his beloved wife Winifred, he sat down to take a nap with sweet Star (the maltese) at his feet. He passed away peacefully, in his favorite chair, surrounded by the beautiful Carson Valley that he loved so much. A storybook ending. On his own terms. Which is how he lived his life right up until the end.

He leaves a lasting imprint on the soundtrack of our lives and the hearts he has lifted. His legacy will be cherished forever.

04/17/2026

66 years ago today April 17, 1960
21 year old Eddie Cochran, a pioneer of the early British Rock & Roll era was killed in a car crash.

The death of “Summertime Blues” singer Eddie Cochran is one of the most significant tragedies of the early rock and roll era. It occurred during the final leg of a highly successful UK tour that Cochran was co-headlining with fellow rock pioneer Gene Vincent.

On the night of April 16, 1960, following a late-night performance at the Bristol Hippodrome, Cochran, Vincent, and Cochran's fiancée (songwriter Sharon Sheeley) were traveling in a hired Ford Consul taxi toward London. They were in a rush to reach London so Cochran could fly back to the United States. At approximately 11:50 PM, while passing through Chippenham in Wiltshire, the taxi blew a tire while traveling at high speed. The driver lost control, and the car crashed head-on into a concrete lamp post.

Cochran was thrown through the windshield and suffered massive head injuries. He remained unconscious and passed away the following day, at St. Martin’s Hospital in Bath.

Gene Vincent survived but sustained a broken ribs and a shattered collarbone, which aggravated a pre-existing leg injury from a previous motorcycle accident. He never fully recovered physically or emotionally from the event. Sharon Sheeley survived with a broken pelvis and other injuries. The driver of the vehicle, George Martin (not the Beatles' producer) was later convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, and disqualified from driving for 15 years.

Cochran’s death occurred just over a year after the "Day the Music Died" (the plane crash involving Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper). His loss was felt most intensely in the UK. Because he had spent the weeks leading up to his death touring British theaters, he had a profound impact on the "Class of 1960."

Future legends like Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Jeff Beck were all heavily influenced by his stage presence and technical guitar playing. In fact, Paul McCartney famously secured his place in The Quarrymen (the precursor to the Beatles) by showing John Lennon how to play Cochran’s "Twenty Flight Rock."

04/15/2026

44 years ago today, April 15, 1982
Billy Joel was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident.

While riding his 1978 Harley-Davidson in Huntington, Long Island, a car reportedly ran a red light and struck him.

The impact was severe, throwing him from the bike and resulting in serious injuries, primarily to his hands. For any musician—but especially a pianist—the prognosis was terrifying.

Joel was rushed to North Shore University Hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries to his left hand and right wrist. The primary damage included a severely smashed left thumb with the bone being shattered into several pieces. His right wrist was also damaged. He suffered a laceration which caused concern regarding nerve damage and tendon function.

At the time, there was genuine fear in the music industry that he might never play at a professional level again. His surgeons used pins to reconstruct his thumb, and he remained hospitalized for over a month.

The accident happened while Joel was in the middle of recording his eighth studio album, The Nylon Curtain. Joel famously used his piano practice as a form of physical therapy. He had to relearn how to maneuver his hands across the keys, dealing with stiffness and a loss of some range of motion.

Some music critics and fans have noted that his playing style on The Nylon Curtain and subsequent tours became slightly more percussive and rhythmic, partly to compensate for the changes in his hand mobility during the healing process. The trauma of the accident contributed to the darker, more cynical tone of that album. Tracks like "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon" reflected a shift from his "Piano Man" persona toward more complex, socially conscious songwriting.

While his hands eventually healed well enough for him to maintain his legendary career, the accident left him with permanent physical reminders. He has mentioned in interviews that his left thumb remained somewhat stiff, and he occasionally had to adjust certain fingerings for his more complex arrangements.

Despite the scare, he returned to the stage later that year, proving the "Long Island Cowboy" was a lot tougher than the crash that nearly ended his career.

04/14/2026

57 years ago today, April 14, 1969
John Lennon and Paul McCartney recorded John’s song “The Ballad of John and Yoko."

The recording of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" is one of the most unique sessions in The Beatles' history because it only features two members of the band: John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Captured on April 14, 1969, at Abbey Road Studios the song serves as a musical diary of John and Yoko Ono’s recent wedding and their subsequent "Bed-In" protests.

The session happened spontaneously. John had just written the song and was eager to record it immediately. Because George Harrison was on holiday and Ringo Starr was busy filming the movie The Magic Christian, John and Paul decided to handle everything themselves.
Their chemistry during this session was reportedly excellent, a brief window of harmony during the otherwise tense period of the band's looming breakup.

The camaraderie was captured on the session tapes. At one point, as Paul was getting behind the drum kit, John jokingly said "Go a bit faster, Ringo!" To which Paul replied "OK, George!"

George Martin oversaw the session, with Geoff Emerick as the engineer. The entire song was recorded and mixed in less than nine hours.

Initially the song was banned by several radio stations (including the BBC and many US stations) because the lyrics "Christ! You know it ain't easy" and "The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me" were deemed blasphemous at the time.

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" became the band's 17th and final UK number-one single. It remains a testament to the deep musical bond between Lennon and McCartney; despite the legal and personal battles happening outside the studio, they could still function as a perfectly synchronized unit when the tape started rolling.

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04/13/2026

59 years ago today April 13, 1967. The Rolling Stones became the first major Western rock band to play behind the Iron Curtain, performing two shows at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland.

This Rolling Stones' performance is one of the most legendary stories of the Cold War era. It wasn't just a concert; it was a massive cultural collision between Western "decadence" and the Soviet-aligned state.

Most tickets never went on sale to the public. They were snatched up by Communist Party officials and their families, which caused thousands of teenagers who couldn't get tickets, to clash with the Milicja (the state police). The police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds, while fans threw stones and tried to storm the building.

Inside, the atmosphere was bizarre. The front rows were filled with stony-faced party dignitaries and their well-dressed children, while the actual fans were relegated to the back. Mick Jagger was reportedly furious at the lack of energy in the front. He famously shouted at the officials to get out or start reacting, allegedly telling one official who was sitting with his fingers in his ears to "get lost."

Despite the tension, the band played two sets that day. They tore through hits like "Satisfaction," "The Last Time," and "19th Nervous Breakdown."

Because the Polish currency (the złoty) was not convertible at the time, the Rolling Stones couldn't actually take their fee out of the country. Legend has it they were paid in a train car full of Polish vodka. However, when the shipment reached the UK, the British customs officials demanded such high duties that the band reportedly told them to just keep it.

The concert was a turning point for the youth of the Eastern Bloc. It proved that despite the "Iron Curtain," Western rock and roll was a force that the authorities couldn't entirely suppress. For many Polish fans, it remained the most important musical event of their lives, sparking a massive underground rock scene in Poland that flourished throughout the 70s and 80s.

The Stones didn't return to Poland for another 31 years, eventually playing in Chorzów in 1998.

04/09/2026

Today would have been Carl Perkins 94th birthday!

04/08/2026

65 years ago today, April 8, 1961, the BBC banned Gene McDaniels' song "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" from being played on their airwaves, declaring it “Blasphemous”

The song, which reached Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, describes God taking "a hundred pounds of clay" to create a woman. While it was intended as a lighthearted romantic pop song, the BBC’s "Religious Advisory Committee" took offense.

The BBC felt the lyrics treated the creation of woman with too much "levity" and distorted the biblical account in Genesis. In that era, the BBC had a standing policy against songs that used religious themes or figures for "secular entertainment" or commercial gain.

They deemed the lyrics, suggesting women were made from building materials, blasphemous. Evidently there was a specific sensitivity to the idea that a person was constructed from "clay" in a way that sounded like a manufacturing process rather than a divine miracle.

Despite the radio ban, the controversy didn't stop the song's success. If anything, the "forbidden" nature of the track helped its popularity in the UK.

While the BBC wouldn't play it, "Pirate Radio" stations (broadcasting from ships in international waters) and Radio Luxembourg played it frequently, allowing British teenagers to hear it anyway. Even with the ban, the song managed to climb into the Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, eventually peaking at Number 9.

McDaniels wasn't alone in the BBC "doghouse." During this period, the BBC also banned or restricted
“Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson, calling it a "death disc" that might encourage reckless behavior.
The song “Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett was called "too morbid."
And Elvis Presley’s song “Crying in the Chapel" also faced hurdles for mixing pop music with a religious setting.

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04/07/2026

6 years ago today, April 7, 2020

John Prine died in Nashville due to complications from Covid-19.

Prine was one of the first high-profile artists lost during the early weeks of the pandemic. His wife and manager, Fiona Whelan Prine, had tested positive for the virus in mid-March. John was hospitalized on March 26 after a sudden onset of symptoms. He was placed on a ventilator and spent 13 days in the ICU before passing away at age 73.

His passing was made even more tragic because he was in the middle of one of the most successful periods of his career.
His 2018 album, The Tree of Forgiveness, was his highest-charting ever. And just months before his illness he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

John Prine was often called "the most resilient man in music" because he had already survived two major bouts with cancer that fundamentally changed his career. In 1998 he underwent major surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his neck, which required removing a significant amount of tissue and severing nerves in his tongue. It changed his voice from a boyish tenor to the deep, gravelly "old soul" growl that defined his later albums. And then in 2013, cancer returned, this time in his lung. He had a portion of his left lung removed and to regain his stamina for touring, his physical therapist made him run up and down the stairs of his house, then immediately pick up a guitar and sing two songs while out of breath.

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04/04/2026

46 years ago today April 4 1980.

During their first North American tour Chrissie Hynde of the punk/rock band The Pretenders was arrested for disorderly conduct and malicious mischief.

On the night of the incident, Chrissie Hynde and the band had performed at
P.O.E.T.S. Music Hall on Madison Avenue in Memphis Tennessee. P.O.E.T.S. (which locals say stood for "P**s On Everything, Tomorrow’s Saturday") was a former theater turned into a premier rock venue. It was a staple of the Memphis music scene, hosting legendary acts like The Ramones and The S*x Pistols around that same era. Following the performance, Hynde and some of the band members were at a local TGI Fridays when a dispute broke out. Accounts of the incident vary, but it reportedly involved a disagreement with other patrons or staff that quickly escalated.

When the Memphis police arrived to intervene, Hynde didn't back down. She was arrested for disorderly conduct and placed in the back of a patrol car.
Legend has it that her frustration didn't subside once she was in the vehicle. While being transported to the station, she reportedly managed to kick out one of the rear windows of the cruiser. This act of property damage added the “malicious mischief" charge to the list of concerns for the night

She spent the night in a Memphis jail cell but was released the following morning after paying a $200 fine and covering the damages to the police car.

At the time of the arrest, The Pretenders were touring on the strength of their early singles like "Stop Your Sobbing." Their self-titled debut album would be released later that year, skyrocketing them to international fame.

04/01/2026

42 years ago today, April 1, 1984

Soul Singer Marvin Gaye was tragically killed in a domestic dispute by his father, just 1 day before his 45th birthday.

According to reports, the immediate trigger for the violence was a mundane domestic dispute. Gaye’s parents had been arguing for days over a misplaced insurance policy letter. On the morning of April 1, the shouting continued. Marvin, who was in his bedroom, shouted down to his father to leave his mother alone. When the elder Marvin Sr. continued to yell, Marvin reportedly went to his father’s room and a physical altercation broke out.
His mother, Alberta, testified that Marvin kicked and punched his father during the struggle.

After the physical fight was broken up, Marvin went back to his bedroom to sit with his mother. Minutes later, Marvin Sr. appeared at the bedroom door and shot his son twice. The first shot entered the right side of his chest, perforating his heart, lung, and liver. This shot was almost certainly fatal. The second shot entered into his left shoulder.

There has long been a theory that Marvin's death was a form of "su***de by proxy." His brother, Frankie, who held Marvin as he died, claimed Marvin's last words were “I got what I wanted… I couldn’t do it myself, so I made him do it."

Marvin had been struggling with severe co***ne addiction, massive IRS debt, and bouts of suicidal ideation (including a documented attempt to jump out of a moving car just days prior).

Marvin Sr. initially claimed self-defense, saying he didn't know the gun was loaded and was terrified of his son's physical strength.

It was later discovered that Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor, which, combined with the presence of drugs in his son’s system that might have provoked the initial violence, led to a plea bargain. Marvin Sr. pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and received a suspended six-year sentence and five years of probation. He passed away in a nursing home in 1998.