Exclusive: Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott Meets Ian Hunter on Speakeasy

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Ian Hunter and Joe Elliott on Speakeasy

Speakeasy, the public television series from the producers of Front and Center, is back with an all new season featuring Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy and Tony Award winners and other musicians exchanging details of their music careers with an interviewer of their choice.

Best Classic Bands is pleased to present an exclusive look at one of the programs from the new season of Speakeasy, featuring Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott speaking with Ian Hunter, the frontman of the legendary Mott the Hoople and a brilliant solo artist since the ’70s. In the program – which premieres on November 13 – Hunter explains to Elliot that he does not remember writing the songs that are featured on his forthcoming boxed set. (Scroll down for the video.)

Speakeasy is recorded on location at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, in front of a live audience, and celebrates the “art of conversation.” Tales of historically creative music collaborations, incarceration, politics and activism, as well as moments that helped shape their lives, highlight the second season, which premiereed on public television stations nationwide October 16. In addition to the program featuring Elliott and Hunter, this season features conversations with Frankie Valli and Paul Shaffer, David Crosby and Wynton Marsalis, Cyndi Lauper and Billy Porter, Graham Nash and Rita Coolidge, and Robbie Robertson and Warren Zanes.

According to a press release, “In this season of Speakeasy no topic is off limits. Frankie Valli discusses the success of Jersey Boys on Broadway and his distaste of the film adaptation. David Crosby expresses gratitude for his time in jail and how activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. inspired him. Cyndi Lauper spends her hour on the show sharing memories from creating the music for Kinky Boots on Broadway, for which she exclaims, “I had no idea what I was doing.” In their first in-depth conversation in 45 years, Graham Nash and Rita Coolidge share the story of how they met and their first impressions of each other.” And the Band’s Robbie Robertson reminisces about his time on tour with Bob Dylan and the impact of Woodstock on the creation of music.