August 29th, 2026: Interviews of The DZ COMBO & Craig Erickson

During the 5:00pm hour we featured featured The DZ COMBO, an award-winning jazz quartet from Dubuque, made up of four extraordinary musicians. Danny Zanger - pianist and composer, Benjamin Drury - trumpet, Jeremy Jones – bass, and Dan McNamara – drummer, made their way to the radio station! The group have been playing together for 3 1/2 years in and around Dubuque and Illinois. Last August they released 8 tracks on vinyl and social media platforms. I opened with one off of the album called “Fatally Cool”. The second song they played was the album title, “It’s Just Your Turn” followed by “Honest”. Danny and the other members of the group are inspiring the next generation of musicians as instructors with a local non-profit, ‘Centrally Rooted’. They also host open mic on Wednesdays and invited our very own Frank Balvanz to bring his trumpet and trombone and join them! You can be a part of the Jazz experience on September 17th from 6-8pm as they entertain you at The Grape Life Wine Lounge & Cellar in Davenport. Visit their website www.thedzcombo.com or Facebook page to get their full schedule of events.

Other artists and songs played during this hour were; RICH PATTON - “Summer Time”,

GINA OWENS – “What I Was Wishing For”, RICHARD ROBERTS JR. – “Tell Me A Secret”,

MADDIE WALKER – “Unpacking”, BRADFORD JOHNSON – “Outer Space”, and WEARY

RAMBLERS – “Hang On”.

You can hear the interview on Spotify or by clicking below beginning at 5pm on 8/31/2026:

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  JC Tonic Endorsement

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  The Black Angel

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During the 6:00 hour we featured the super talented CRAIG ERICKSON from Cedar

Rapids. Where do I even start? His love of Music started at a young age when his dad

owned the music store here in Cedar Rapids. He began playing cornet at age 8 and

switched to guitar at 12, forming his first band at age 13, their first performance was at an eighth grade event! In the mid 80s he taught over 40 students per week. Since then, Craig has been all over the world collaborating with musicians on other albums and performing at events. He released his own music a few years back after grinding to a halt due to the 2020 pandemic. Craig is recuperating from some serious health challenges, but that doesn't keep him down! He began this year sharing his love of music, playing at some outdoor events, and gradually increasing his performances again. Just before I introduced him I played one of his extraordinary songs off of his “Modern Blues” album called “Topsy Turvy”. You won't want to miss this episode of Corridor Blend! The second song was actually the title of his album, “Modern Blues”. Craig is working on his 2027 event lineup starting in March. Follow him on Facebook and check out his schedule next year at CraigEricksonSkytraining.com. I ended his interview having Frank play “Bring Love Back Again”. I really enjoyed this interview with the iconic CRAIG ERICKSON!

Other artists and songs played during this hour were; AMBER HANSON – “As The Band

Played”, JUSTIN GOODCHILD – “Gratitude”, JAKE STACK – “Everybody’s Been There”. I

ended this segment with my Honorary Feature Song dedicated to the legendary DOLLY

PARTON (1/19/1946 – 8/25/2026) I sang her rendition of her timeless hit song “I Will

Always Love You”.

You can hear the interview on Spotify, or by clicking below beginning at 6pm on 9/2/2026:

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