Van Dyke Parks

Our guest this week is composer, arranger, and musician, Van Dyke Parks. His contributions to popular music help to define the sound of an era. Over his 50 year plus career, he has worked with Harry Nilsson, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins, Haruomi Hosono, just to name a few. He is perhaps best known for his work on the Beach Boys' album, Smile, and his 1967 solo album, Song Cycle. In this interview with Carlos Niño, Parks speaks about creating the first "concept" record, learning clarinet the hard way, his love for arranging, and much, much more.