For this week's episode I'm doing something I don't normally do – reposting an old interview. In fact, I don't think I've ever done it before. The reason I'm doing it is that so many of us make resolutions at this time of year to practice more, play better or just improve on our instruments….

My guest this week is Kristina R. Gaddy, who joins us to discuss her fascinating new book “Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History”. We chat about how she came to write the book and some of the key discoveries she made along the way, in particular the banjo’s unknown history as an instrument…

Here's the final interview of the year! My guest for this one is Josh Turknett, author of the fantastic book 'The Laws of Brainjo – The Art & Science of Molding a Musical Mind’. Josh's book is all about how our brains work and, specifically, what that means for learning to play an instrument (any…