“I was in second grade when I got my first taste of great music,” says Joe Herrschaft, KSVY DJ and radio host. Photo by Ryan Lely.
The dimly lit bar of Napa’s Uva Trattoria Restaurant was an ideal venue for a late afternoon interview with KSVY 91.3 Sonoma radio host and DJ Joe Herrschaft. Seated next to his fiancee, Ashley Laughridge (aka The Ash), who at one time co-hosted the Monday evening show, Herrschaft was in high spirits as he reminisced about his last four years at KSVY.
“My show has featured a lot of classic rock since its inception. It’s by far my favorite genre of music,” he said. “The show features a lot of tunes from the days of Dylan and Hendrix. At the same time, if I come across a new song I’m always glad to play it. But one week a month is dedicated to the blues. I don’t care what kind of music you listen to, everything has a connection to the blues. It was blues that shaped great bands like the (Rolling) Stones and the Beatles.”
Herrschaft’s musical taste is an all-encompassing and eclectic sampling of 1960s and 1970s rock and roll. “Today’s music has nothing on such an epic era in history,” he said. When asked to name some of his essential albums, Herrschaft rattled off a number of classics that included the Stones’ “Aftermath,” “Eat A Peach” by the Allman Brothers and Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland.”
“When you think about the impact Jimi Hendrix has had on rock and roll, it’s phenomenal. He only had three years and yet the man is legendary.”
Born in New Jersey, Herrschaft moved to Sonoma with his family when he was seven. “I was in second grade when I got my first taste of great music, “ he said. The album was Abbey Road. “I think I matured a few years on the spot. You had to in order to wrap your mind around an album like that.”
“Music is my life. I love to perform, and if I could, I would do it full time,” he said. Herrschaft recently composed an original score for “True West,” an Eric Burke production of a Sam Shepard play that ran for three weeks at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park and will be returning to the Sixth Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa in March.
“I’d love to do more work like that,” he said. “I write and perform music because it’s my passion. I love hosting my show on KSVY for the same reason. They don’t pay me to do it. They don’t have to. I love music and I will pursue it with humility and enthusiasm for the rest of my life,” he said.
Herrschaft has recently been entertaining the notion of starting a Napa rock and roll band, with his younger brother Phil and local guitarist Isaac Carter that he would humbly fashion after the Rolling Stones. “The Stones were able to cover every genre with skill and genuine homage. If I were to model a band after any one group, it would be them.”
Joe Herrschaft is on Mondays, from 5 to 7 p.m., on KSVY 91.3 FM.
