Dayton is privileged to have had a listening room for decades, a wonderful music venue called Canal Street Tavern.  Alas, both that venue and its visionary owner are no longer with us, and while it's surely impossible to replicate that experience, it is definitely possible to carry on a similar spirit.  That's what Windsor Knotts has been doing for years by hosting Showcase Thursdays at Yellow Cab Tavern.  He is my guest on this episode, a conversation that has not been edited.

What exactly is a listening…

I love to perform… I'm in my community and I'm talking to people and I'm connecting with people, and people are connected with my music… I love it, I never want to stop.

Eleanor Dakota is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Dayton, Ohio, though these days she can be found in Cleveland.  In addition to being a prolific songwriter, Eleanor is the lead vocalist for Columbus based band crabswithoutlegs. When you listen to this conversation, it'll become clear to you how important music is for Eleanor…

You don't wanna waste time trying to impress people who aren't already into what you're doing…

Mery Steel is Canadian and Ohioan and pretty awesome. We cover a great deal of ground in this conversation. Some of the topics we discuss are: Canada, hockey, imposter syndrome, being fearless, their songwriting process, playing bass, chronic pain, their last album She's Back, their next album, and being sad, among other things.
 

LINKS

Official Website

Bandcamp

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

For those of you who are new to this podcast (or as a friendly reminder), I'm Mike Bankhead, bass player and songwriter from Dayton, Ohio.  I'm an indie musician, not a journalist.  My two esteemed guests on this episode are journalists.  Juliet Fromholt is Music Director at WYSO, which is the NPR affiliate in Southwest Ohio.  She hosts two music shows on the station, Alpha Rhythms and Kaleidoscope.  Taylor Ruckle is a freelance music journalist whose work has appeared in FLOOD Magazine and Under the Radar…

Alex Winters is a talented songwriter based in Texas. Her most recent album, Unexpected Trespasses, was released on February 27, 2024.  We had this conversation way back in April, and it's 100% my fault that I'm just now getting this episode into your ears, dear listener. 

This conversation will show you what makes Alex tick as a songwriter, and I think you'll be able to tell just how important the act of putting feelings into song is for her.  We dive into the recording process for Unexpected Trespasses…

(photo by Fred Shank)

there's always gonna be a little darkness, there's always a little melancholy…

My conversation with Tod Weidner remains the highest listened-to episode of this podcast. This is clearly a testament to how much this gentleman means to many people here in Ohio.  He's back in the Buckeye State this week to play a couple of shows, so we're having a brief chat in advance of that to invite folks to come out and listen. He's playing with the wonderful Peter Mulvey on Thursday May 2nd at…

Valerie Vonn is in Germany. We did not have our conversation in German, though I imagine that she can surely hold her own in a German conversation, because, well, that's not a language that I speak.  However, I do speak musician reasonably well, and for that reason, I think the two of us understand each other.

Valerie is a singer, songwriter, and producer.  Why does Valerie choose to live in Germany? What did her childhood smell like?  What does her songwriting process look like? What are some of the…

Anthony Church is a fellow Ohioan.  He's a musician, producer, and podcaster.  We actually had this conversation way back in June 2023, and I owe him a thousand apologies for taking this long to get the episode up. Back when we had this conversation, he had around 160 episodes of his podcast posted, and today, that number is 195.

When it comes to music, what does the word “producer” mean to you?  Your answer is going to depend in large part on (1) your generation and (2) what genres of music you normally…

It's a people skill as well… trying to work with people to get the best out of them…

I released I Am Experienced on June 20th.  Now that it's six months old, I figured I'd like to reflect on this project a little here on my podcast. The gentleman you are seeing in the picture is Rizo, and his studio is The Dreamcatchers Recording Studio in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.  I knew that I wanted all of the creatives on this project to be Black, and Rizo came highly recommended by my favorite Dayton rapper.  That was key…

If you don't yet have the language for what you want to say - you will

Buick and I have a few things in common.  We love music.  We're obsessed with language.  We write songs. We both put out a concept album this year. Hers is called Mass, and it comes with a whole book and a lot of stories. Buick was kind enough to take time out of her weekend to talk to me about all sorts of things a few weeks ago, and I procrastinated WAY too much, so this is going up super late.  I had intended to get this episode…

Golden Guy is an enigma of your fascination, that's what I am…

Golden Guy roams the land, backed by his band, the Bucking Bloviators.  Together, they wander to and fro in search of bourbon, a safe place to hide from their ex-wives, and stages on which to perform country and western music. Golden Guy is hard to pin down, and I'm glad I was able to chat with him on today's podcast episode.

Golden Guy and his Bucking Bloviators are releasing the album Personal Pain on Friday 20th October.  If you're in the…

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…