May 8, 2011

The Sunday Session: Transistor and Transistor Radio welcomed British singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and author Julian Dawson for a special event; his new book, "And On Piano ... Nicky Hopkins," is a biography of the legendary session pianist. Sound by Dominic Armstrong.

If you read the liner notes of any one of hundreds of classic albums recorded in the '60s, '70s and '80s, the name Nicky Hopkins appears again and again. Hopkins' incredible piano playing can be heard on classic albums and singles by The Beatles (solo and collectively), The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and many more. He played at Woodstock with Jefferson Airplane and at the Royal Albert Hall with Art Garfunkel.

Julian Dawson met Nicky Hopkins at South By Southwest in 1994, wrote and recorded with him that summer, and mourned with the rest of the music world when Hopkins died at age 50 in September 1994. Now, after 12 years of writing and research and 130 interviews (including with Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, Ray Davies, Steve Miller and Peter Frampton), comes the American launch of the biography.

In this special-event "Sunday Session," Julian read excepts from the book and performed a few songs associated with Nicky Hopkins. Then Transistor co-owner Rani Woolpert interviewed Julian on her arts interview "The Roundtable."