Yes, I know that the third quarter of 2023 is almost over, and that I am very late dropping this episode.  I've had some technical difficulties, and I apologize for the delay.  I hope that once you hear the GREAT music we talk about in this conversation, you'll feel super forgiving.

Taylor's review of Good Living Is Coming For You.

Taylor's albums

Pearl & The Oysters - Coast 2 Coast
One's a Crowd - Fictorian Era//Bedroom Pomp
McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Bully - Lucky For You
Sweeping Promises -…

This particular episode is an important one to me, and if you care about authenticity in music, I think it'll be important to you as well.

Country isn't my genre of choice, but I've been making an effort to listen to more of it over the last few years.  To keep it 100, as the kids say, the sound never spoke to me when I was young, and I couldn't see any value for me in that genre.  As I've gotten older, I've learned that country music is a vehicle for Black stories as well, despite what the music industry…

Meet the outrageously talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Cherimondis J.   She's a classically trained concert pianist among many other things.  We dig into her music background, her songwriting process, what it's like being a Black musician in the classical world, and the album she put out last year, Dove Archer.  You'll find that Cherimondis thinks very deeply about both music and life, and she has quite a lot of introspective things to say about how her art relates to her life. Why does she…

Generally speaking, science fiction authors starting religions is a bad idea

John Scalzi likes pie.  Of course, a lot of us like pie, so that's not the reason I wanted to talk to him for this very special episode with the number on hundred on it.  John Scalzi happens to be my favorite author at the moment, but that's also not our main topic of conversation.  No, dear listener / reader, I'm staying mostly on brand here, and we talk about music.  Scalzi is a musician who lives in Ohio, just like me!  What…

It's pretty cool to live in a place that has a venue where you can see 50 free concerts a year.  That place for us is Levitt Pavilion Dayton, and my guest of honor is their Executive Director, Lisa Wagner.  How do they make sure the concerts are diverse?  How much work does it take to put on a show at Levitt?  How in the world can they afford to deliver 50 concerts without charging for admission?  You'll learn the answers to these questions in this episode.

Levitt Pavilion Dayton

Kyleen Downes is a professional musician, and our music community here in the Dayton area is better off for having her here.  I truly enjoy seeing her play live, I like her songs, and I'm sure you'll agree after you hear this conversation that she has an infectious enthusiasm.  She has benefitted from the encouragement of others in her career, and is passing that on by teaching a new generation of folks here in Dayton how to play rock and roll.   Kyleen tells us about how she got started making music, who…

Tatiana Bonneau is founder and CEO of a company, a wife, a mom to four humans and two non-humans, a runner, multilingual, and an all-around fascinating individual.  I had the privilege to be a guest on her podcast a short time ago, and I kind of sound a little like I know what I'm talking about in that discussion.  Tatiana, of course, knows what she's talking about, no matter what language it's in.  We talk about her business life in our conversation, but we also get into some personal details.  How does…

I write when I need to exorcise… a particular emotion or feeling or experience…

Tracey Bunn is my first Australian guest. She's a seasoned touring musician and songwriter with lots of stories to tell.  You'll get to hear a few of them in this conversation.  You'll learn how exactly songs come to her and what her songwriting process is like.  You'll learn what her childhood smelled like. You'll learn about the time she spent living in the United States.  All of that awaits you and more!

LINKS

Official Website

…

The first three months of 2023 are gone, and Taylor Ruckle has returned.  We both think that this past quarter was a particularly strong one for new music.  Since we had this conversation, I have listened to the albums of Taylor's top five that I hadn't gotten to yet, and of those, the Screaming Females album was my favorite.  That said, I like them all to some degree, and they're all definitely worth your time.

Taylor's interview with Quasi.

Taylor's albums

Algiers - Shook
Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel
James…

I've actually used this photo of OriSoaring before, back when I did an email interview with her for my blog. We were overdue for a podcast chat, so here she is!  Ori's a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and painter.  You'll get a look into her creative mind in this conversation.

LINKS

Instagram

Soundcloud

Facebook

YouTube

I make noise. People seem to dig it. That's good enough for me.

Dirty Doc most often performs her original songs as Dirty Metal Lefty, and is a musician from Richmond, Virginia. We've spent time together in the occasional hotel lobby at music conferences, bonding over our mutual love of Chris Cornell.  This conversation is a chance for all of us to get to know her better.  You'll learn about her several musical projects, what her songwriting process is like, and how she got to be a guitarist.

LINKS

Official…

That picture is Jed Craddock.

That other picture with the beautiful bass is Joey Berrios.

I met these gentlemen and their manager in Austin at the DIY Musician Conference.  I knew last year that I eventually wanted to invite them to be podcast guests, and we've finally gotten that done.  We talk about their latest release, Runnin' On Empty, which was released on February 14th.  We talk about how each of them started making music, and you'll hear some captivating stories in that part of the conversation…

If you leave a Wag show and you're not smiling, it's probably you…

Here's how The Wag's official website introduces the band:  Got songs? Got harmonies? Got fun and unbridled enthusiasm? Then you’ve got The Wag! Hailing from the Bayshore area of New Jersey, this 4-piece unit has been entertaining and moving audiences for 20 years but still sounds as fresh as it did on day one! With 4 alternating lead vocalists, catchy melodies, and sophisticated harmonies, they will take you on a journey of pop rock…

…la manière oú j'ai changé la manière de penser que j'avais, ça s'est fait en parallel avec… j'ai commencé à penser en anglais…

Ce fois, je parle avec Maxime Cholley en français.  Il est batteur professionel qui vient de Savoie, mais qui habite maintenant en New York.  Il se considère un citoyen du monde. Comment est-ce qu'il a pris la décision de venir aux Etats-Unis pour étudier la musique?  Qu'est-ce que c'était son défi avec la langue anglaise?  Qu'est-ce que c'est son but primodial dans la musique…

The perfect first New York experience of looking at a place that doesn't make any sense…

Maxime Cholley is from Savoie, but his travels in music have taken him to Berklee in Boston, to New York, and now he plays all over the world. (In fact, today, as this episode gets released, Maxime is on tour in India.)

You'll learn how Maxime got started playing drums in this conversation, as well as what it's like being a professional musician in New York City. What was it like adjusting to the different pace of life…

It fascinates me how people have such different backgrounds, but we still come together... and we make music together as one unit...

Simona Smirnova is from Lithuania, but currently based in New York City.  She's a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, teacher, generally interesting person, and true music professional. She specializes in the kanklés, which is a traditional Lithuanian instrument.  (I'd tell you more here, but I want you to listen to Simona talk about it.)

Simona has just…

It is a very hard thing to do the thing that you want to do.

There I am on Polywork, and I see a posted opportunity from a company looking for people who want to learn piano.  I took piano lessons a few years ago, but once I got enough knowledge to use it as a composition tool, I stopped.  I'd like to learn more.  I responded to the opportunity, which was posted by Vlad Georgescu.  Shortly thereafter, Yue Deng-Wu reached out to me.

Vlad and Yue are cofounders of Spacenotes, a startup company looking…

It's about the right people seeing your product, it's not about the masses...

Josh grew up in Middletown, Ohio. Liv grew up in Australia.  They both live in Los Angeles now, and are both musicians and filmmakers. They are currently on the road promoting a new independent punk rock feature film called Wrong Reasons.  Josh wrote and directed the film.  Liv produced and starred in the film.  Kevin Smith is executive producer.  Cameron Mosavian composed the film's score.

Josh and Liv are on the road…

All these songs really mean a lot to me and help me to kind of decipher my thoughts...

Jovi Espina is a songwriter from Virginia who is currently based in Los Angeles. She has been making music since she was ten years old. I got a chance to see her play at an open mic, and I can tell you from my first person observation that she is a very poised performer who plays with confidence.  In this conversation, you'll learn about her writing process, what her childhood smelled like, and all sorts of interesting…

Why am I being so secretive when it's just a song?

I met Nina Nepa in Los Angeles at an open mic event.  Both of us managed to overcome our nerves from being in a room full of strangers and play our songs.  Since listening to her play that day, I've wanted to chat with her about her music for this podcast.  Well here you are, Nina is the guest on today's episode.

Nina is from Pittsburgh, currently living in Los Angeles.  She plays piano and writes songs. She describes herself as a mechanical engineer…

Ben Monat is an amateur guitar player from Massachusetts.  You'll be able to feel the enthusiasm he has for the instrument in our conversation.  We talk about his wide-ranging influences, how he got started making music more than 20 years ago, and the value of collaboration.

Visit Ben's YouTube Channel

Ben on Polywork
 

Let me tell you a tale of blunder, confusion, and woe. I procrastinated when it came to editing my conversation with Brenda Carsey, but it was going to get done in the early afternoon, and everything was ok.  I'd have this episode up and out, ready to tell folks to go listen to Brenda's new album Cognizance on January 9th anywhere you stream music. I'm in my DAW, working on the file, and I clicked the wrong thing... I couldn't see exactly what it was, but strange things were happening, so I tried to cancel…

Photo by Libby Danforth

these three hundred songs, they're all assets... they're all pieces of magic that started on a blank piece of paper

A few years ago, I arrived at Yellow Cab Tavern to play a show at my favorite curated open mic, Showcase Thursday. I had been told that we had an artist from Nashville in town to play with us that night. It's not every week that we get someone on tour to stop by, so I was very much looking forward to meeting this intrepid individual. The intrepid individual…

Exactly one year ago, on 30th December 2021, Juliet Fromholt joined me for a chat about our favorite albums of 2021.  I released that conversation the next day, 31st December, and it was Episode ½ of this podcast.  It was so much fun, I just HAD to have her back this year. Taylor Ruckle joins us for this conversation.  You might remember him from Episode 27 and Episode 43, where we talked about our favorite albums of the first and second quarters of 2022 respectively. 

All three of us are completely…

Cara Van Thorn is an Austin, Texas based new swing jazz fusion sort of nineties alternative band that just plays whatever we like to hear...

I'm sure you're wondering why this lovely lady is in a room in this nice dress whilst being surrounded by musicians in their underwear.  Well, there's a lot to wonder about Cara Van Thorn, this eclectic band from Austin. This band was founded by active musicians in the metal and punk scenes, and they came together to create a style of music that has more in…