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Songwriter/Musician Chris Hennessee

Tales of a Gearhead

Release Date: 04/02/2025

Garrett Niss with Kyle Fischer of Hot Shot's Secret + Kai Smith of Mid-Tenn Media Blasting show art Garrett Niss with Kyle Fischer of Hot Shot's Secret + Kai Smith of Mid-Tenn Media Blasting

Tales of a Gearhead

Garrett Niss and Kyle Fischer are in the shop to talk about Garrett’s one of a kind custom turbo diesel ’06 Dodge Ram and a very cool new product that Hot Shot’s Secret has coming out for LS engines. After that, Kai Smith from Mid-Tenn Media Blasting talks with Stacey about his mobile media blasting company and having the grit to decide to leave his desk job at age 30 - with a wife & newborn baby - to start his own business from the ground up.

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Custom Car Builder Ben Smithson show art Custom Car Builder Ben Smithson

Tales of a Gearhead

Ben Smithson from SMITHSON SPEED & ENGINEERING is in the shop today. He and Stacey dive deep into the ins & outs, do’s & don’ts, and everything in between about opening and running your own premier hot rod and custom car shop.

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Anthony Sims of Lucky Dog Guitars show art Anthony Sims of Lucky Dog Guitars

Tales of a Gearhead

The STUNT DOUBLE is on the road. Of course, no GEARZ project is truly completed without an accompanying guitar. So, Stacey has Anthony Sims from LUCKY DOG GUITARS in the shop to discuss the custom built six string. Anthony talks about how his love for music and playing live led to him and a group of buddies opening up a dance hall at 18 years old, how that led to building his first custom guitar and opening his small three-man shop in East Tennessee, and of course his two current automotive projects - a ’68 Charger and an original DeLorean that he inherited from his grandfather who purchased...

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SEMA VP of Events Tom Gattuso show art SEMA VP of Events Tom Gattuso

Tales of a Gearhead

TOM GATTUSO, vice president of events for SEMA phones into to the shop to talk with Stacey about – you guessed it – the upcoming SEMA show this fall in Las Vegas! They dive into the history of the event, how it has changed throughout the years, what is new for this year’s event, and SEMA Fest which will feature live performances from QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, THE BLACK CROWES, and NEON TREES.

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Z-Cars with Max McCroskey from Resurrected Classics show art Z-Cars with Max McCroskey from Resurrected Classics

Tales of a Gearhead

On this episode, Max McCroskey from RESURRECTED CLASSICS is in the shop to discuss his love of the Z-Car. After that, Stacey shakes open the mailbag to offer some advice on torque converter stall, converting a ’79 C-20 to a 4x4, and tow-strap safety.

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Matt Graves from American Powertrain show art Matt Graves from American Powertrain

Tales of a Gearhead

Matt Graves from AMERICAN POWERTRAIN is back in the shop to discuss all things related to “saving the stick” and beyond.

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LS Swap Guru Jefferson Bryant show art LS Swap Guru Jefferson Bryant

Tales of a Gearhead

Stacey continues his conversation with automotive journalist/author Jefferson Bryant. They discuss his love of music (especially classic funk) and playing the bass, his newest book (LS ENGINE PARTS INTERCHANGE: 1997-2020), and their love/hate relationship working on classic Jaguar XK-Es. Stacey also answers a listener question - “Can I get my ’41 FORD COE hot rod - with a fresh 406 small block Chevy - to run off of a 350 throttle body?”

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Automotive Journalist and Author Jefferson Bryant show art Automotive Journalist and Author Jefferson Bryant

Tales of a Gearhead

Automotive journalist / author Jefferson Bryant is in the shop. In this first part of a two-part interview, Stacey and Jefferson talk about his early days growing up in Oklahoma storm chasing with his dad, his love of Buicks - especially his ’71 Buick GS, which at one point was the world’s loudest true convertible (154.7db), and the various paths that led him into journalism and becoming an author.

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The Joe Dirte Bird Gets the Worm show art The Joe Dirte Bird Gets the Worm

Tales of a Gearhead

Jeff Kelderman from KELDERMAN MANUFACTURING is in the shop, but he is not alone. He brought with him his two favorite birds. No, these aren’t pet parakeets or parrots. One is the actual hero car used in the David Spade cult classic JOE DIRT. The other is a Superbird that Jeff had cloned into a replica of the Joe Dirt Daytona with way more power and creature comforts that he plans to use as a daily driver. Stacey and Jeff dig into Jeff’s love of the film, how it led to him going after it at Barrett-Jackson, and the insane amount of work that went to turning that Superbird into everyone’s...

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Guitar Stories with Chris Hennessee show art Guitar Stories with Chris Hennessee

Tales of a Gearhead

Stacey continues his conversation with singer/songwriter Chris Hennessee. They dive in on a lot of firsts. First guitar. First lick learned on the guitar. First song learned on the guitar. Then they discuss the bands and players that influenced them, the state of the music industry, how judging art as a contest is never a good thing, and finally Chris’ new podcast FULLY ARMED.

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More Episodes

In this episode, musician/songwriter Chris Hennessee is in the shop to swap some tales with Stacey. In part one of this two-part interview, Chris talks about his early days playing the honkytonks on Nashville’s Lower Broadway, how back then Lower Broadway was MUCH different than it is today, and meeting/jamming with a young Jamey Johnson. Stacey and Chris also discuss how their approach to songwriting is very similar to their approach to automotive projects, including Chris’ current ’95 white Ford BRONCO project.