Phish’s Trey Anastasio is back again on this week’s extra-special episode of Wong Notes . The expansive conversation goes from the mundane to the massive: Trey shares the meaningful gift he bought himself for his 60th birthday, reflects on his most meaningful song, dissects boredom and nostalgia in the streaming era, and names the young bands impressing him most these days. Then, Trey and Cory dig deep into the songwriting process, and Trey reflects on how his songwriting has (and hasn’t) change...
Nov 12, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 9Ep. 6
Imagine being in a band with your best friends for over 40 years, and each night you step on stage you get to play one more show. That’s exactly what guitarist Trey Anastasio and his bandmates in Phish think about right before every sold-out arena or amphitheater show. “We're all hyper aware now, every night,” mentions Anastasio. “I mean, we just love it so much. It's like, I can't wait for the tour to start.” Anastasio’s energy and passion is infectious, even when he isn’t talking about music. ...
Oct 29, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 9Ep. 5
This go around, Cory Wong is joined by Pino Palladino and Blake Mills. Palladino, a Grammy-winning bassist, has collaborated with everyone from Erykah Badu and Keith Richards to John Mayer and the late, great D’Angelo. Mills’ resumé includes work with Bob Dylan, Fiona Apple, and Joni Mitchell. The duo has been around the block. Wong probes all corners of their creative processes, from the purpose of the music they make, to dealing with “unnatural” elements of the creative process, to layering pa...
Oct 16, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 9Ep. 4
Welcome back for a special episode of Wong Notes ! If you couldn’t make it to Cory’s Syncopated Summer Camp , this one’s for you: It features Wong and his Flyers bandmates—Nate Smith on drums, Joe Dart on bass, and Mark Lettieri on guitar—in a live masterclass recording from this summer, as they jam and break down an original composition. The group starts off with a rowdy rip through the tune (which, apparently, didn’t go so well when they played it in Italy) before slowing down its constituent ...
Oct 01, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 9Ep. 3
On this episode, James Bay joins Cory Wong from backstage at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. (It takes Wong all of 10 seconds to recognize and name the green room.) Bay is still supporting his fourth full-length record, Changes All the Time , and Wong picked up on a different guitar approach on the new album. Bay walks him through how his playing matched the collection’s title. Bay also reveals the first solo he learned to play (or, rather, failed to learn to play; it’s a Bon Jovi hit), and ho...
Sep 18, 2025•58 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Sound the alarms, tell your neighbors, hire a banner plane: Wong Notes is back. Cory Wong’s beloved podcast returns after a healthy break, and this exciting comeback episode features Wong in conversation with Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda . The Connecticut rock band’s guitarist and vocalist talks through the band’s origins and position in the jam-band and broader music scenes, and Wong and Mitarotonda debate an ancient, critical question: Can jam bands actually write great songs? The duo talk through...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 9Ep. 1
Welcome back for a special season finale of Wong Notes ! We’ve saved one of the best for last: Brad Paisley.The celebrated shredder and seasoned fisherman joins host Cory Wong for one of this season’s most interesting episodes. Paisley talks his earliest guitar-playing influences, which came from his grandfather’s love of country music, and his first days in Nashville—as a student at Belmont University, studying the music industry. The behind-the-curtain knowledge he picked up at Belmont made hi...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Season 8Ep. 12
Legendary shredder Joe Satriani was the first ever guest on Wong Notes , so it makes sense that he’s the first returning sit-in with Cory Wong. Satch is busy as ever, juggling enough projects to make a normal guitarist’s head spin. But Satriani’s not a normal guitarist. He teases a new song with Sammy Hagar, plus delves into the intricacies of Eddie Van Halen’s playing and why he can’t quite replicate it—every guitarist has their strengths and deficiencies, claims Satch. And believe it or not, S...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 11
Grace Bowers just released her debut record, 2024’s Wine on Venus , with her band the Hodge Podge, but she’s already one the most well-known young guitarists in America. On this episode of Wong Notes , Bowers talks through the ups, downs, and detours of her whirlwind career. Bowers started out livestreaming performances on Reddit at age 13, and came into the public eye as a performer on social media, so she’s well acquainted with the limits and benefits of being an “Instagram guitarist.” She and...
Feb 12, 2025•51 min•Season 8Ep. 10
You might not know Greg Koch, but we’ll bet your favorite guitarist does. In 2012, Fender called the Wisconsin blues-guitar phenom one of the top 10 best unsung guitarists, and in 2020, Guitar World listed Koch among the 15 best guitar teachers. He’s been inducted into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Hall of Fame. Koch is a bonafide midwest guitar god. He joins Cory Wong on this round of Wong Notes for this meeting of the Middle-America minds, where the duo open with analysis of music culture ...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 8Ep. 9
Mike Stern has been around the block. The jazz-guitar virtuoso earned his stripes through the ’70s and ’80s in New York’s jazz scene, playing 6-string with drummer Billy Cobham before tapping in with artists like Miles Davis and Jaco Pastorius—even at a time when guitar wasn’t necessarily a cornerstone piece of a jazz outfit. In this episode of Wong Notes , Stern fills Cory Wong in on the ups and downs of 50 years spent in one of the most complex and underappreciated music genres. Stern made the...
Jan 08, 2025•59 min•Season 8Ep. 8
Bluegrass music is bigger than a genre. It’s become an entire world of ideas and feelings in the popular American imagination. And musician Jerry Douglas has been a key part of its celebration and revival over the past 30 years. “It's an old form of music that came from people in the south playing on the porch and became this juggernaut of a genre,” says Douglas. “It’s a character. It's a physical music.” Douglas has racked up an impressive cabinet of accolades, including Grammies, American Musi...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 7
At 26, Blu DeTiger is the youngest musician ever to have a signature Fender bass guitar. The Fender Limited Player Plus x Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass, announced in September, pays tribute to the bassist and singer’s far-reaching impact and cultural sway. She’s played with Caroline Polachek, Bleachers, FLETCHER, Olivia Rodrigo, and more, and released her own LP in March 2024. In 2023, Forbes feature her on their top 30 Under 30 list of musicians. So how did DeTiger work her way to the top? DeTiger open...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 8Ep. 6
There probably aren’t too many artists out there as busy as Mark Tremonti. Aside from his celebrated careers in alt-rock mainstays Creed and Alter Bridge, the guitarist, songwriter, and singer organizes guitar and songwriting clinics while on tour; has a line of signature PRS gear; and cut a 14-track charity record, Mark Tremonti Sings Sinatra . Did we mention he’s aiming to become a pinball kingpin, too? Tremonti joins Cory Wong on this episode of Wong Notes to dig into his musical trajectory s...
Nov 13, 2024•55 min•Season 8Ep. 5
“Skunk” Baxter has had an interesting career. The Washington, D.C.-born musician was one of Steely Dan’s founding members in the early 1970s, and played on some of their most iconic numbers, like Can’t Buy a Thrill ’s’ “Reelin’ in the Years” and “Do It Again,” or Pretzel Logic ’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Then, he moved on to join the Doobie Brothers, from roughly 1974 to 1979, where he fatefully invited Michael McDonald into the band. After that stint, he became a go-to session player for...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr•Season 8Ep. 4
Jason Newsted spent 15 years holding down the low end in Metallica, playing bass for the band from 1986 through 2001. That era included records like …And Justice For All and Metallica —AKA The Black Album —plus the iconic S&M live album with the San Francisco Symphony. But that was just the beginning for Newsted, an artistic polymath who has since pursued a life of balance and creative freedom. On this episode of Wong Notes , he opens up to Cory Wong about why he left Metallica, and details ...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 8Ep. 3
We know what you’re thinking: Dave Navarro is gonna talk about the onstage brawl. But Cory Wong starts this episode of Wong Notes with an important caveat. This show was recorded long before the awful breakdown and confrontation between Navarro and Jane’s Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell, so don’t expect any salacious gossip. But that just makes this episode all the more interesting. Navarro talks Wong through his formative influences, from Hendrix, Zeppelin, and the Doors to Maiden, heavy metal...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes , the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High , which releases on September 20. Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] want...
Sep 18, 2024•52 min•Season 8Ep. 1
This time on Wong Notes , guitar legend Kurt Rosenwinkel joins Cory Wong to go deep on all things jazz. The genre has always been a haven for free-thinkers and adventurers, so it’s little surprise when Rosenwinkel reveals that he’s incorporated a Fractal FM9 into his live rig—though it’s still working in tandem with a good ol’ Fender tube amp. Rosenwinkel divulges the details on his “softer, darker” attack, which combined with his approach to tone—including a fair bit of top-end roll-off—constit...
May 31, 2024•56 min•Season 7Ep. 12
The legendary shred maestro—best known for his work as a solo artist and as a member of Return to Forever and other high-profile, hot-shot collabs—drops by to chat with Cory about his new epic full-length, Twentyfour . It features “sixteen brand-new compositions and they’re all very involved. I hope I don’t have to do this again.” One of Di Meola’s biggest projects is, of course, the guitar trio he shared with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía and their thrilling 1981 record, Friday Night in San...
Apr 24, 2024•50 min•Season 7Ep. 11
Marcus King has already been through the wringer, but he’s on the come-up. His hotly anticipated third LP, Mood Swings , drops this Friday, April 5, and on this episode of Wong Notes , the earnest, honest 28-year old South Carolinian goes deep on his career with Cory Wong. The two shredders open by swapping notes on how touring has changed post-pandemic. Costs are way up, but they’re managing to make it work. King reveals to Wong that on his upcoming tour, he’s wrangled a few sizeable, must-have...
Apr 03, 2024•49 min•Season 7Ep. 10
The ascendant roots shredder shares intimate details from his musical upbringing and gets philosophical on the past and future of bluegrass. Millennial folk philosopher Billy Strings joins this episode of Wong Notes . The Grammy-winning acoustic picker is an open book—nothing is off limits with Billy, from recounting his days selling magic mushrooms in exchange for passing grades in math class, to an emotional drunk-driving revelation that might have saved his life. Now, Strings can recount war ...
Feb 07, 2024•50 min•Season 7Ep. 9
This time on Wong Notes, Cory is joined by his Vulfpeck and Fearless Flyers copilot Joe Dart. Wong doesn’t waste any time, diving in by asking Dart, by now renowned as a modern bass wizard with flawless fundamentals, how he developed he signature “voice” on the bass. As Dart explains, it came from listening to players who had their own distinct “voice,” who sound like “they’re singing a part within the song,” he says. These “philosophers of the low-end,” like Flea, imprinted the value of total i...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato has had a lot on his plate since taking over as bandleader for Jon Batiste on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in late 2022, but has been enjoying every minute of it. "I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, with exactly the people I'm supposed to be there with," he tells Cory on this episode of Wong Notes . Of course, given his role there is a fulltime gig, the release of his second solo album, Reflections , last August was kind of a big deal. Its mu...
Jan 11, 2024•53 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Session drum ace Aaron Sterling might have fusion roots, but his bread-and-butter work lives at the top of the charts, where’s he’s featured on tracks by artists such as John Mayer, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Lana Del Rey. He tells Cory what brought him to Los Angeles, why he’s “meant to be in the studio” instead of the stage, and he shares the surreal story of playing with EVH in a florist’s parking lot for Tracy Morgan. Sterling defines his approach to recording in his studio as a “pedalb...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Cory Wong sits down with indie-rock bandleader Margaret Glaspy for an in-depth dialogue on artistry, celebrity, and the wisdom of Bruce Lee. Glaspy shares how she cut her latest record, Echo The Diamond , live off the floor, with most of the “homework” happening beforehand and studio performances happening in-the-moment. “It really felt like air blew through the studio and then the record was made,” she says. “What you’re hearing is mostly what happening.” The songs are like photographs of a par...
Nov 22, 2023•53 min•Season 7Ep. 5
"I don't consider myself a jazz musician," says guitarist Charlie Hunter on this episode of Wong Notes—essentially refuting how he's known in the music world. "I am maybe jazz adjacent." Most listeners probably wouldn't agree, but if nothing else, Hunter is experimental. He's known for playing a guitar that's strung with both bass and electric guitar strings, that has two pickups—one for bass and one for guitar—and two input jacks, which go to separate amps for the respective sounds. As the conv...
Nov 09, 2023•52 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Cory’s cast is off and he’s here to tell you to “go get hip” to Bruno Major! The soulful, jazzy British singer-songwriter shares why he prefers to record in his bedroom than a studio to create his “relatively lo-fi” music. “It’s far more important to be transmitting a privacy than an audio quality,” Major says. But he’s quick to point out that you can get good audio quality recording at home and discloses his gear of choice—shoutout to the Shure SM7B. Together, they discuss the state of record l...
Oct 25, 2023•47 min•Season 7Ep. 3
"When you switch the gear of what you're operating on from the memorized information to the gear of intuitive, faithful response, it's a whole different frequency that's emitted from the hands and from the soul," country shredder Daniel Donato expresses on this episode of Wong Notes. He's talking about what makes for powerful improvisation, and if you know anything about the guitarist, you know this insight around the topic is coming from someone who's a master on their instrument. Throughout hi...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Wolfgang Van Halen joins Cory for the season 7 premiere of Wong Notes ! Chatting before the release of Mammoth II , the duo discuss guitar trios, 5150 studios, cloning, touring with Metallica, plus: Who’s that playing wah on the record? What’s WVH’s rig? And much more. On his new record, WVH has lots to share. When it comes to writing and recording rhythm tracks, he’s says, “It’s all groove.” Later, he adds, “I’ve always championed myself as more of a rhythm player than anything.” And on what’s ...
Sep 27, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 7Ep. 1
