October 24th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ “The Genius Of Gordon Mote (Pt. 2)"

Chapters
00:00 - Gordon Mote in session
02:45 - Playing song
07:00 - Take 2
09:45 - Discussion
12:00 - 3 variations test / "Break" - in the piano strings


Notes
Here he is again folks.
https://www.youtube.com/@gordonmote7366/videos


A clip from a session we did today with Vince Gill at Vince’s studio in Nashville...

I thought you guys might learn a lot from seeing Gordon play some beautifully understated shit on an actual track in a large ensemble, instead of the usual effortless mind boggling feats of solo piano showbiz you guys are used to witnessing him do.

Dig the otherworldly touch…dig the ancient pocket.

This is once in a lifetime shit here friends.

There are literally only a few people left on this entire planet who can play LEGIT traditional old school country and western piano in it's purest form and successfully conjure the ghosts of Pigg Robbins and Floyd Cramer, and TWO of those people are on this very same session...Gordon and John Jarvis.

Believe me, we all clearly realize how spoiled we are....it's like having Jim Brown and Walter Payton in the same backfield....fun stuff kids

October 23rd, 2023

Homeskoolin' Bonus "Steel Your Heart Away"

Chapters
00:00 - Ole cowboy playing
02:30 - Hello, friends! / Long day Vince Gill session
03:32 - Real quick message about Plexi Soul
04:50 - Guthrie Trapp record
05:58 - Footage from session


Notes
Kids...we are SO CLOSE to having Plexi Soul on vinyl!! Stay tuned for forthcoming link friends....

The inside of the luxurious gatefold cover opens up to quite the scene....picture basically my entire life story shown in several grainy Polaroid photos laid out on a messy coffee table the morning after a boozy party strictly for grown ups.

And....if thats not enough to get your blood pumpin', you can thrill to the sound of the greatest living pedal steel guitar player on this planet...Paul Franklin.

Oh, and fuck off Teddy Boy you miserable twat...

August 29th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Studio Update.... “Get Me On It”

Chapters
00:00 - The man at work
02:17 - In the control room
04:40 - Gordon's genius
07:00 - Mchugh's drums


Notes
Studio update
Aug 29th 2023

Peter Frampton’s studio in Berry Hill

Session personnel:
Brandon Hood: producer and mandolin
Reed Foley: artiste
Seth Morton: lead engineer
Stix Mchugh: drums
Jacob Lowery: bass
Kris Donegan: guitar
Gordon Mote: keys
Bruce Bouton: pedal steel
Tom Bukovac: guitar
Jordan: assistant engineer

August 7th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Bryan & Brent”

Chapters
00:00 - What it takes to be a studio musician
05:00 - Gear / Telecaster
13:55 - Lesson: "Show Us A Cool Lick"
16:00 - Tanya Tucker lick
26:45 - Best pedals?


Notes
Hello class, I am fortunate enough to hang with these two legendary cats today, who were kind enough to let me ask a few poignant questions.

June 27th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Session Update, “Division Street”

Chapters
00:00 - Session and talk with Russ Pahl
02:55 - Tour of Omni
04:30 - Little keyboard playing


Notes
THE BIRTHDAY CONCERT VID IS OFFICIALLY LIVE ....go to thesessionman.com if you wanna check it out!

Uncle Larry was busy as usual today kids….he did two sessions in two different studios that were waaaay across town from each other.

This little clip is from the morning session where I led a demo session (four songs in 3 hours) for my old buddy Dan Friszell at an old studio downtown called Omnisound on Division Street.

The band was
Russ Pahl: pedal steel
Evan Hutchings: drums
Mark Hill: bass
Jenee Fleenor: fiddle
John D Willis: acoustic
David Crutcher: keys
Uncle Larry: electronic guitar

When I say i “led” the session that means I wrote the charts and got twice as much dough as the rest of the guys for doing so. By the long-standing rules of the Nashville Musicians Union AFM branch 257, every session must have an assigned “leader”, who makes twice the dough of the other cats, in return for going through the trouble of making all the charts beforehand. Also, historically, whoever is the leader of the session gets to boss people around a little more than usual on that day, People kind of treat you like it's your birthday when you are the "session leader".

This video stars the legendary Russ Pahl, who has played pedal steel and guitar on A LOT of records…he has played with Vince Gill, Dan Auerbach and Bob Plant to name a few. Russ makes some really nice guitars under the brand name of “RP Guitars” (mostly Fender Tele and Strats with a few twists and turns) and he hand winds his own custom pickups. He is the living definition and pure embodiment of the phrase "tinkerer". Contact me for his email if you would like to investigate his work further.

And…if you can name the tune that i play on the piano at the end of this video, then I KNOW that you are a cool person

June 14th, 2023

Homeskoolin' Bonus, "Deep Album Cut Wednesday"

Chapters
00:00 - Singing and strumming some Lynyrd Skynyrd / Thanks / Kids and music
03:20 - Selling Harmony Sovereign 1260
04:12 - 3rd and Lindsley remix / Guthrie update
05:17 - Trying out some guitars at Rumbleseat


Notes
Larry sings ya' a pretty obscure old tune and gives ya a little news you can use.

oh, and if you've never seen this before, you're welcome...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNkyaFnZYuE&t=0s

June 12th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Session Update, “Larry World”

Chapters
00:00 - A view from Tommy's world


Notes
June 8th 2023….
day one of a two day Kameron Marlowe session at Backstage studios in Nashville Tn.
I must say, after several sessions with Kam over the last couple months, it has become abundantly clear that the boy can sing his fucking ass off.

Dann Huff: producer
Drew Bollman: lead engineer
Joel: pro tools guy
Dave Cohen: keys
Ilya Tochinskiy: acoustic
Jimmie Lee Sloas: bass
Miles McPherson: drums
Tommy Bukovac: electric

May 18th, 2023

Homeskoolin' Volume 218, Tom Bukovac, "The Bad News Vent"

Chapters
00:00 - Intro playing
04:00 - Hello, friends! / Thanks / Taking kids to school
05:30 - Contest and the myriad of players, even weirdos
06:40 - "Can't stand looking at your mouth"
07:00 - Young gal from Jersey and a TV show
07:53 - Friend's Fender Stratocaster (Black?)
08:00 - Strung Out Repairs - Andy Jellison
10:00 - What kind of fuzz is that? / Can't tell you everything!
10:30 - Favorite comments -> Melodic pickups! :)
11:27 - Ann Wilson decision
12:33 - Producing credits, stepping on toes, and lucky to be here
14:30 - Can't tell a person, "that stove is hot!" / Got to learn firsthand experience
15:30 - Producing for people / Driving or guiding the project
16:50 - Father like son, telling people how to do their part
17:45 - Collaboration lights the fire
18:18 - Involuntary guitar face
19:25 - Bring string bending back / Bending in tune
19:50 - Being in the studio under a microscope / Exploiting weakness / Special person for session work
21:30 - Checking the phone
23:20 - Music style reflects society and how newer generation is growing up


Notes
Larry gets a little deeper here than he does on most Thursdays after a busy week of sessions.

a LOT of new viewers have recently asked "where is the tip jar?" when they felt led to contribute something after 218 free guitar lessons...despite Dominic Hudson's best efforts to deter them.

You can make PayPal donations to this address:
tombukovac@gmail.com

You can make Venmo donations to this address:
@Tom-Bukovac-1

A lot of these very same new viewers don't seem to know that Uncle Larry made a couple records that they could potentially listen to...
one is an instrumental solo record called "Plexi Soul" that is available here:
https://tombukovac.bandcamp.com/album/plexi-soul

another is an instrumental collaboration with his dear friend Dean Deleo (originally from the Stone Temple Pilots organization) that is available here:
https://tripthewitch.bandcamp.com/album/trip-the-witch

and a LOT of people don't seem to know that they can go here to purchase a myriad of Homeskoolin' related merchandise..including several different T-shirts and some beautifully constructed coffee mugs for those afflicted with thin lips...
https://dvg-inc.shoplightspeed.com/merch/tom-bukovac/

March 27th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Chart Boy”

Chapters
00:00 - Sessions and charting


Notes

Many years ago when I used to record with johnnie and Donnie van zant, they used to call me “chart boy”….cuz I was always making charts of the songs…well the name kinda stuck.

Here I am charting one for the Struts…of course the band already knows the song, but the additional keyboard player, the engineers and myself can certainly use one.

March 21st, 2023

Homeskoolin' Bonus Jam "Mad Dogs And Clevelanders"

Chapters
00:00 - Beatles - With A Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker / Tom Bukovac Rendition)
03:20 - All time favorite tunes / Howya going mate!
03:55 - "Mad Dog with Soul" (Joe Cocker documentary)
04:20 - The Struts (Session project)
05:00 - Watch Delta Lady from live performance of "Mad Dog with Soul"


Notes
Uncle Larry waxes rhapsodic about one of the greatest voices to ever step up to a microphone....and the great convergence of England and Tulsa.

March 17th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “And You’re With??….”

Chapters
00:00 - In the sessions fun


Notes

A quick session update from the final day of tracking for the record Guthrie and myself are making

Starring
Steve Mackey
Brandon Bell
Lester Estelle
Guthrie Trapp
Brook Sutton
Uncle Larry

Hey guys there are still a few of those 200 limited edition signed 200th episode prints left at
www.ziggysartstudio.com

Check one out if you feel that feeling…

March 10th, 2023

Homeskoolin' Vintage Long Form Session B Roll "Flower Power"

Chapters
00:00 - Sessions: The work into forming a song


Notes

Taking you waaaaaay back to the chilly cold February of 2023....Larry was holed up for a few days in a home studio out by the airport to produce a few tracks for his dear old buddy Bobby "Gateweed" Gatewood from Cleveland Ohio. Bobby and Uncle Larry have been friends since the late 80's when Bobby originally hired Uncle Larry to play bass in his cover band called Calabash.

Every few years or so Bobby slips away from his cushy life as the mayor of Put-In-Bay Ohio and cruises down to Nashtown to make a record with the Nashville cats.

We are working at the legendary Headroom Studio in Donelson here and the engineer you are seeing here in this video is my dear old pal Rick "Sweet Ricky D" Delima. Rick's sweet wife Stacy helped out on the project as well with some lyrics and backing vox...and some delicious lunches.

Tasty live drums being provided by another fellow Clevelander, sweet Shawn Fichter....one of the sweetest human beings to ever inhabit this planet.

Bobby originally brought this tune in as an uptempo boogie woogie kinda thing...but i thought the sentiment of the song and the introspective lyric "all i was trying to do was find me" might possibly be better served by a wistful longing 60's hippie vibe, with some janglin' stoner guitars...so we proceeded down that path.

Then later on, after some group lyric re-writing and the addition of David "Bird Dog" Dorn's B-3 and bunch of tasty Haight-Ashbury guitars and some folky holllowbody bass, this track turned out fantastic.

When it's finished and mixed i will play it for ya.

totally unrelated:

Here's an old song from one of Bobby's earlier records (2007) that i produced when we were all very much younger...."Did We Try?"
This track has some bad ass cats on it....Joe Vitale on drums, Will Owsley on rhythm guitar. David Santos on bass, Mark T Jordan on keys, Troy Johnson on backing vox, Larry on lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8McGEgFAew&t=0s

If you like these videos, feel free to hit the tip jar
Paypal is tombukovac@gmail.com
Venmo is @Tom-Bukovac-1

March 8th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Larry At Work”

Chapters
00:00 - Session playing


Notes

A sweet little tune from today’s session where Uncle overdubbed electrics on 7 songs at a home studio in Nashville…good songs and sweet people…and a nice Japanese themed lunch.

The singer?
Melissa Erin

The song? “Be The Sparrow”

The engineer? Chris “Gearhead” Condon

The bass player/producer? Phil Anthony

February 7th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Double Play Session Bonus Footage

Chapters
00:00 - A look into sessions


Notes
From today’s Aaron Lewis session at the Blackbird Studio in sunny downtown Nashville TN.

January 19th, 2023

Homeskoolin’ Daily Double “Session Footage”

Chapters
00:00 - Session
04:05 - Credits


Notes
This little video was filmed and put together by dearest John Jarvis, piano player extraordinaire and future filmmaker….

at the end i hillbilly spliced on a close up of Paul Franklin’s feet killing it on some cryin’ steel guitar…absolutely mesmerizing

Thank you John!!

December 22nd, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus, “Session Man At Work Again”

Chapters
00:00 - Rig sneakpeak (pedalboard, guitars, amps)
01:02 - In the studio


Notes
This is a two part thing…the first bit was shot at the gig by dearest Josh….
The second is Uncle Larry at a standard Nashville demo session this afternoon….which by the way, was his last session of 2022….praise Him

December 17th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus Sandwich “Guitars & Drums”

Chapters
00:00 - Mesmerizing playing
02:33 - Drumming in the studio with Nir Zidkyahu


Notes
The end of this video features the legendary Nir Z.
Pay close attention to his technique…
this is what happens when a person blows past the "10,000 hour barrier" twenty times over.

December 15th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “In The Arms Of Uncle Larry”

Chapters
00:00 - Hank Williams Jr. - Arms of Cocaine cover
01:19 - Bump the link / Thanks / Amazing playing
04:35 - High end guitar sale
06:07 - NFL / Appreciation
07:48 - Session footage


Notes
Ok kids here is the link for the pay per view streaming aspect of the big Uncle Larry show on Dec 20....please tell all your friends.

https://volume.com/t/JhP1ej/

and if you wanna get your hillbilly on and hear a REAL singer sing that old song i'm doing here, well then here ya' go...one of my alltime favorite drinkin' songs

https://youtu.be/k5TcUA0w3Is

November 29th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Long Form Session Update”

Chapters
00:00 - Session recording


Notes
For the real Homeskoolin’ die hards….another one way headphone studio conversation....

What if you guys found out one day that all these “studio update videos” i have put up over the years was really just me by myself in some studio talking to myself and all along there was never anyone else there with me?

Man that would be weird….

Today's session
11/28/22
Smoakstack

Jesse Key: artist
UL: guitar/producer
Mike Fahey: engineer
Zack Zinck: assistant engineer
Steve Mackey: bass
Jedd Hughes: guitar
Freddie Lee Eltringham: drums
David “Bird Dog” Dorn: keys

you guys can donate to Homeskoolin’ anytime you want…a good portion of the proceeds go to the fine people at Annheuser Busch LLC

Paypal is tombukovac@gmail.com

Venmo is @Tom-Bukovac-1

...and did you guys know Larry made a solo album a while back?

it's called “Plexi Soul” and you can can find it right here:
https://tombukovac.bandcamp.com/album/plexi-soul

...and did you know that Larry made an instrumental record with Dean Deleo from Stone Temple Pilots called "Trip The Witch"?
https://tripthewitch.bandcamp.com/album/trip-the-witch

...and did you know that Trip The Witch merch is also available??
https://shop.bandwear.com/collections/trip-the-witch-shop

November 8th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Session Update, “The Ocean’s Way”

Chapters
00:00 - In the studio


Notes
11/8/22
Oceanway Studio Nashville
Lauren Watkins project

Two worlds that are normally separated come together….right now…over me