Episodes
Tuesday May 19, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Natalia Zukerman - Episode 17
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Natalia Zukerman is a musician, painter and educator who grew up in New York City. She studied art at Oberlin, started her mural business Off The Wall in San Francisco, began her songwriting career in Boston, and now resides, writes, plays, teaches and paints in Brooklyn, NY. Zukerman has released 7 independent albums and toured internationally as a solo performer since 2005. She has also accompanied and opened for Janis Ian, Willy Porter, Susan Werner, Erin McKeown, Shawn Colvin, Ani DiFranco, Richard Thompson and Tom Paxton among others. Zukerman also paints private and public murals as well as illustrates children’s books, designs and paints NYC playsets and paints private portrait commissions. Natalia teaches songwriting privately and has taught at Sisters Song School, Red Rocks Women's Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival and Interlochen Summer Music Program. In February 2017, Natalia became a Cultural Diplomat for the US Department of State, playing concerts and conducting workshops with her group The Northern Lights throughout Africa.
“Natalia’s voice could send an orchid into bloom while her guitar playing can open a beer bottle with its teeth.” –New Yorker
In our conversation from 2017, Natalia Zukerman shares about:
- Allowing yourself to do things imperfectly
- 4 things you can do to jumpstart your songwriting
- Writing away from your instrument and
- Creating a space where you can't ask: "What's it for?"
Wednesday May 06, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Sloan Wainwright - Episode 16
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Defying standard categorization, singer/songwriter Sloan Wainwright, consistently demonstrates her easy command of a variety of American musical styles — pop, folk, jazz and blues — held together by the melodious tone of her rich contralto, with the end result being a unique and soulful hybrid.
Her family tree (brother and folk-music luminary Loudon Wainwright, nephew Rufus Wainwright, nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche) reads like a who’s who of contemporary folk music. Sloan’s incredible gift is not only her unique songwriting ability but also her dramatically voiced rendition of original songs.
With a solid and impressive discography of 10 original CD releases to her credit, Sloan continues to write, sing and perform live and has won two songwriting awards at the annual EmPower Posi Music Awards.
Sloan’s open spirit and first-hand experience is welcome –year after year– in the musical classrooms of such prestigious song camps as Richard Thompson’s Frets and Refrains, The Swannanoa Gathering, SummerSongs, WUMB Radio’s Summer Acoustic Music Week (SAMW), Winter Acoustic Music Weekend (WAMW), Moab Folk Camp, Cape Cod Songwriting Retreat and emPower Music & Arts Totally Cool Song School.
During our conversation, Sloan shares with us about:
- The importance of simplifying words, song, and structure
- How songwriting can help you grieve and move on
- How to trust yourself and your instincts (If it’s not right, stay with it and keep working on it)
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Live From New York - Episode 15
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Live from New York was planning a 20-year reunion tour this May but due to Covid-19 it is, like so many other things, postponed. So instead, in order to spread a little joy/have a few laughs, the four of them decided to have a little chat about songwriting, heartbreak, sheltering at home and finding time to be creative when you have young kids. Mostly, they just enjoy each other’s company! Join us!
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Mai Bloomfield - Episode 14
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Mai is a singer-songwriter-cellist-guitarist from California. As a solo artist, she has received songwriting awards from the Kerrville, Telluride, and Rocky Mountain Folks Festivals. As a collaborator, she’s worked with various artists including Raining Jane, Jason Mraz, Adam Cohen, Sara Bareilles, Willy Porter. In 2016 she played cello on Leonard Cohen’s album “You Want It Darker.” Along with her bandmates of 15 years (Raining Jane) she co-wrote Jason Mraz’s chart-topping album “Yes!” (2014) as well as his 2018 hit single “Have It All” and she has toured with Mraz around the world. In 2010 Mai helped start the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles, a non-profit dedicated to empowering girls through music, where she teaches songwriting and serves as Art Director. She has also led songwriting workshops at the Song School in Colorado, Rain City Rock in Seattle, and The Americana Song Academy in Sisters, Oregon. Whether performing, writing, or mentoring, Mai brings a combination of strength and vulnerability to her work. Her songs often speak of the pursuit of finding the light inside the dark –a theme that was magnified in her own life when she became a breast cancer survivor. She is currently working on a book about that experience and hopes her story will inspire and encourage others on their creative paths.
In our conversation from 2017 Mai Bloomfield shares: What breast cancer taught her about the creative process, her process of co-writing with Jason Mraz and her band Raining Jane, and her philosophy of collaboration in writing and performing. Also… Mai shares a song that came into being in a unique or magical way –her song “Sway” –that she wrote during some time she’d spent at Leonard Cohen’s home in Montreal.
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Anne Heaton - Episode 13 - Joy
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
Thursday Apr 09, 2020
In today's podcast, Anne invites listeners to reflect on the possibility of joy even in troubled times and shares the insights of the Creativity Key of Intimacy. She shares her song "Joy" and how being invited to play a concert near the DC Women's March led to its birth.
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Shuvo Ghosh - Episode 12
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Today I talk to Dr. Shuvo Ghosh, songwriter, musician and Developmental-Behavioural Pediatrician at Meraki Health Centre & Montral Children's Hospital. We talk practical safety tips you can use during this time of COVID-19, creativity and medicine, universal health care in Canada and we also discuss what do we want to be healthy for, among many other things! It's a philosophical meandering with some great moments!
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Cary Cooper - Episode 11
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
Cary Cooper is an award-winning, captivating performer whose songs are simple, quirky in nature, and draw you in with their pop melodies and deceptively deep lyrics. Cary appeared on the TV docu/drama series Troubadour TX and is a dynamic songwriting educator!
In our conversation, Cary shares:
- Her BIG wake-up call
- Ways of songwriting when you don't feel like it
- How you aren't necessarily meant to be the BEST at anything, you are simply meant to write/sing the song only you can write/sing!
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Meg Hutchinson - Episode 10
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Meg Hutchinson is a nationally touring songwriter, poet and recording artist who has released eight albums and won numerous songwriting awards in the US, Ireland and the UK. She has been described as delivering “Music as powerful as it is gentle.” Performer Magazine writes, “With a poet’s eye, Hutchinson captures so beautifully that human journey toward peace, toward forgiveness, toward acceptance.” As an advocate for mental health, Meg helped make a feature-length documentary called "Pack Up Your Sorrows." Through her own personal story, the film explores creativity, healing, mindfulness in education, mental health advocacy, wellness, and how these elements converge in making the world a better place.
In our conversation, taped in 2017, Meg Hutchinson shares some beautiful insights on:
- Why living as an artist is as important as writing as an artist
- Why creativity doesn't stop just because you're not producing something and
- Writing from image and nature
- Among other things!
Thursday Mar 12, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Vance Gilbert - Episode 9
Thursday Mar 12, 2020
Thursday Mar 12, 2020
In this previously recorded interview from 2017, I interview Vance Gilbert who burst onto the singer/songwriter scene in the early 90's when buzz started spreading in the folk clubs of Boston about an ex-multicultural arts teacher who was knocking 'em dead at open mics. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Vance started out hoping to be a jazz singer and then discovered his affinity for the storytelling sensibilities of acoustic folk music. Once word got out about Gilbert's stage-owning singing and playing, Shawn Colvin invited him to be special guest on her Fat City Tour. Gilbert has recorded 12 albums, toured extensively as a headliner at festivals and clubs, and has been the opener of choice for artists as varied as Aretha Franklin, Arlo Guthrie, Anita Baker and comedian George Carlin. He has also been the opener of choice for Paul Reiser and The Subdudes.
In my chat with Vance Gilbert, he shares some brilliant tips including:
- Strategies from the great comics
- How to introduce a song on stage (Why your "intro" should only either be historical or hysterical!) and
- The 2 notebook approach to songwriting!
- Among other things!
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
How the Song Came to Be with Anne Heaton - Episode 8 - Celebration Song
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020