It’s The Current’s 20th anniversary, and we’ve been unearthing some gems from the past — some are well-known stories, while others are a bit more obscure. Here’s one of the latter.

Back in 2007, The Current’s founding program director Steve Nelson put out a call for ideas in what was then the emerging field of podcasts. Brett Baldwin, a former longtime digital producer at MPR, hatched an idea called Facemelter that focused on guitar solos. The guitar solo is a pretty good bet as a content idea, Baldwin remembers telling Nelson. “Take an amazing guitar solo, talk about the artist, the gear used, and let the shredding begin!” 

Baldwin worked with The Current’s Jill Riley, not yet the Morning Show host, and technical director Sam Keenan. In January of 2008, the trio started producing weekly podcasts. Riley and Baldwin combed the catalog of rock music — classic rock, heavy metal, indie and beyond — for the best guitar solos to feature. They took turns presenting the solo clip while the other asked questions about the artist and instrumentation. “We both cracked a lot of jokes,” Baldwin recalls, “and Sam Keenan made us sound amazing.”

After 13 weeks, however, the extra workload proved unsustainable, and Facemelter played its final note. (The series is still available on Apple Podcasts and on a few other podcast platforms). “It remains one of the most hilarious and enjoyable projects of my career,” Baldwin says.

Is Facemelter over forever? Baldwin notes that his son and Jill Riley’s son share the same birthday, six years apart. “If we ever resurrect the show,” Baldwin says, “we should have our kids host it and call it SON OF FACEMELTER.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the January 28, 2008, episode of Facemelter: Jack White’s solos on the White Stripes’ “Ball and Biscuit.”