Renaissance, an iconic trend setting band was launched in 1969, combining a fusion of rock, folk, classical and jazz genres. The bands co-founders included Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, who launched The Yardbirds. A couple years after forming Renaissance, Jim focused back on music with The Yardbirds and vocalist Annie Haslam carried on as the focal point of the band. Multi-award winning program director Ray White “Zoomed” with Jim and Annie to talk about their “History of Renaissance” 2025 special performances and touch on the evolution of the band. A once in a lifetime event with key figures in the band, on this very special episode brought to you by your friends at Classic Artists Today.
Ray's passion for music and the musicians, started as a youth listening to transistor radios under the covers at bedtime. The bands and performers he liked, he followed throughout their career. In 2005 he was fed up with the evolution of a majority of the music the radio stations were playing and began investigating the bands he grew up listening to in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Radio wasn't playing any of those band's "new" songs, just the "classic" hits. Researching the industry for a year, Ray launched Classic Artists Today syndicated radio show - featuring "new" songs by "classic" artists and included interviews and classic tracks too. The show was carried by several dozen radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. Featuring Rock/Pop musicians and bands, Ray and the show won several awards from New Music Weekly magazine. With the success of these shows, he launched Coool CAT syndicated radio show, 5 years later, featuring Soul/R&B/Smooth Jazz/Blues performers and bands. In 2017, Ray starting producing his show in a 30-minute podcast format. Today, you can hear his work at Sittin' In With The CAT and Sittin' In With The Coool CAT. The legacy continues!
