RAG RADIO / Thorne Dreyer : Pschedelic Blues Pioneer Spencer Perskin of Shiva's Headband

Spencer Perskin of Shiva's Headband in the KOOP studios in Austin, Friday, May 25, 2012. Inset photos below: Susan Perskin and Shawn Siegel. Photos by William Michael Hanks / The Rag Blog.
Rag Radio:
Psychedelic blues pioneer
Spencer Perskin of Shiva's Headband

By Rag Radio / The Rag Blog / May 30, 2012

Spencer Perskin, who founded Austin's historic psychedelic blues group, Shiva's Headband, was Thorne Dreyer's guest on Rag Radio, Friday, May 25, 2012, on Austin community radio station KOOP 91.7-FM, and streamed live on the Internet.

Founded in 1967, Shiva’s Headband served as house band at Austin’s original Sixties music hall, the Vulcan Gas Company, and was the first group to perform at the historic Armadillo World Headquarters. Shiva's played with such luminaries as Spirit, Steppenwolf, ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, Canned Heat, and Steve Miller. Take Me to the Mountains, produced by Perskin for Capitol Records, was the first record released nationally by an Austin band, and the band's first royalty check provided the seed money to open the Armadillo.

You can listen to the show here:

Trained as a classical violinist, virtuoso musician Perskin plays several instruments, including the guitar and saxophone. At the age of nine Perskin was accepted as a special music student at SMU, and he later studied in the renowned North Texas State music program with classmates like Michael Murphy and Steve Fromholz. Spencer now leads a reenergized Shiva's Headband that has recently released Shiva's Headband: The Singles Collection, a limited-edition vinyl picture disc on Bluethroat.

Spencer is joined in the interview by his wife, Shiva's vocalist Susan Perskin, and keyboardist/singer Shawn Siegel. The show includes live performance with Spencer, Susan, and Shawn. Allan Campbell engineered this show.


Rag Radio, which has aired since September 2009 on KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas, features hour-long in-depth interviews and discussion about issues of progressive politics, culture, and history.

Hosted and produced by Rag Blog editor and long-time alternative journalist Thorne Dreyer, a pioneer of the Sixties underground press movement, Rag Radio is broadcast every Friday from 2-3 p.m. (CST) on KOOP and streamed live on the web. Rag Radio is also rebroadcast on Sundays at 10 a.m. (EST) on WFTE, 90.3-FM in Mt. Cobb, PA, and 105.7-FM in Scranton, PA.

Rag Radio is produced in the KOOP studios, in association with The Rag Blog, a progressive internet newsmagazine, and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Tracey Schulz is the show's engineer and co-producer.


Coming up on Rag Radio:

THIS FRIDAY, June 1, 2012: Singer-Songwriter & Peace Activist David Rovics.
June 8, 2012: Ronnie Dugger, Founding Editor of The Texas Observer.
June 15, 2012: American Botanical Council Director Mark Blumenthal on Herbal Medicine.

The Rag Blog