Episode 36 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie moves from the car parks of a Grateful Dead revival to the piano stool of one of rock’s great behind-the-scenes players, with Don Walker’s new album providing the local centre of gravity.
First up is Summer Tour, the documentary screening at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. Despite its title, the film is less about Dead & Company—the modern incarnation carrying the Grateful Dead songbook forward—than the people who follow them.
The camera enters the vans, markets and makeshift communities of contemporary Deadheads, where tie-dye, dancing and a distinctly 1970s countercultural spirit remain alive and well.
Mackenzie finds the film a little overlong, though he is won over by its portrait of a community that has made a life around the music.
Wise, meanwhile, recalls meeting a jeweller on the road in New Orleans in the 1990s who made a lucrative living selling wares outside Grateful Dead shows.
The larger point is clear: few acts have inspired such an enduring ecosystem of fandom, commerce and free-spirited ritual.
The pair then turn to The Session Man: Nicky Hopkins, a documentary on the late English pianist whose extraordinary credits run through the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, Kinks and countless others.
Hopkins, who died in 1994 aged 50, played on more than 250 recordings, bringing conservatoire precision and deep blues feel to everything from “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Monkey Man” to Who’s Next and John Lennon’s Imagine.
There is more guitar history in Link Wray: The Rock Prophet, now available via SBS. Wray’s savage instrumental “Rumble” helped lay the foundations for generations of electric guitar music, although the Shawnee musician’s contributions were too often diminished or overlooked.
Closer to home, Wise makes a strong case for Don Walker’s new album, Love Songs. The former Cold Chisel songwriter remains one of Australia’s sharpest chroniclers of place, character and emotional weather.
The 14-minute “Darwin”, previously heard in live form, is singled out as a standout: a story of the Top End as refuge, escape hatch and place of reinvention. A major Walker feature by Marty Jones is set to appear in the September issue of Rhythms.
The conversation also returns to the uneasy economics of contemporary music. A chart position that once suggested substantial sales can now be achieved with comparatively modest numbers, while artists increasingly rely on touring, limited editions and merchandise to make their work viable. Vika and Linda’s extensive 53-date run and the Icecream Hands’ merch-table presence are cited as evidence of the new reality: records may still matter, but gigs keep the lights on.
There is time, too, for The Huxton Creepers, who recently marked 40 years of 12 Days to Paris, and for the Icecream Hands’ new four-track EP, Pineapple Pieces.
Episode 36 finishes with a warm reflection on radio itself—community stations, shortwave sets, crystal radios, tape edits and the programs that shaped two lifelong broadcasters.
As Triple R’s Radiothon gets underway, it is a fitting reminder that radio remains at its best when it is curious, passionate and supported by the people who listen.
Show Notes
Summer Tour At Miff
The Session Man | Nicky Hopkins: The Unsung Hero Behind Rock’s Greatest Hits | Full Documentary
Sympathy for the Devil (Isolated Piano)
Link Wray: The Rock Prophet on SBS
Don Walker Darwin
Shakespeare Always (2026) – Official Video – Icecream Hands