A Nashville duo figuring it out, who almost threw away their best song before it became the title track.

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Alex and Dave of The Thing With Feathers met at Belmont and built a band on melody and a refusal to take themselves too seriously. On a back patio in Nashville, they talk about the scene, the grind, and the album "So Electric," including the title track they nearly cut. There are ice-cream debates too. What does "making it" even mean while you're still figuring the band out?

🎵 The Thing With Feathers' latest: So Electric

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 The Emotional Journey of Songwriting
1:40 Meet Alex and Dave
1:55 Life in Nashville and Belmont
4:08 The Nashville Music Scene
10:25 Forming the Band
13:37 The Serious Side of the Music
16:59 Melody-Driven Music
18:06 The New Album, So Electric
20:08 Reflecting on Success
26:20 60 Seconds of Curiosity
29:21 Live Performance

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. Get the State of Music survey summary free → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode: the moments that didn't make the clips, what I'm learning running this show, and one curiosity prompt every issue → Subscribe free

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com · 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts · 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

A 30-year industry vet on why the future belongs to artists who own their work

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Jason Hollis has spent thirty years in the music business, and now he is helping other artists avoid the mistakes he watched up close. He talks about owning your content, the thousand-fan idea, his book "So You Wanna Be a Rockstar," and saving Nashville's Douglas Corner by building The Eighth Room. What does three decades in the industry teach you about who actually makes it?

🎵 Book: "So You Wanna Be a Rockstar"

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 The Biggest Mistake
1:59 Meet Jason Hollis
3:17 From Nashville to LA and Back
7:22 Advice for Aspiring Musicians
11:44 The Book: So You Wanna Be a Rockstar
14:23 The Thousand-Fan Theory
16:41 Building a Career Independently
23:06 The Viper Room and Legends
25:46 Saving Douglas Corner
29:17 The Eighth Room
48:07 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

A member of Certainly So steps out on his own, between band life and a solo voice.

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Tanner Lee Gray plays in the rising band Certainly So, and this conversation is about stepping out on his own. He talks about the many "homes" that shaped his sound, the cover-gig grind along the Gulf Coast, and the sacrifices of going full-time. He closes with "Time and Money" and "I Feel Free." What do you give up, and what do you find, when you finally chase the solo thing?

🎵 Also in: Certainly So

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Past Musical Endeavors
1:25 Meet Tanner Lee Gray
2:06 Influences
3:45 Pursuing a Solo Career
6:44 The Influence of Home
9:16 Side Jobs and Music
16:05 The Touring Grind
19:56 The Gulf Coast
22:41 60 Seconds of Curiosity
24:40 Live Performance: "Time and Money" + "I Feel Free"

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. Get the State of Music survey summary free → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode: the moments that didn't make the clips, what I'm learning running this show, and one curiosity prompt every issue → Subscribe free

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com · 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts · 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

A Nashville songwriter on faith, the gray areas, and writing from Thistle Farms.

Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity

Sammi Accola makes Americana with a gritty edge, and her work at Thistle Farms, a residential program for women survivors of trafficking and addiction, has reshaped how she writes. She talks about a faith that's made room for the gray areas, the place of women in Christian music, and songs that have gotten more honest and cinematic. She closes with "Mona Lisa" and "Turning the Tables." What opens up in your songwriting when you let go of needing to be certain?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Faith and Life's Journey
2:02 Meet Sammi Accola
2:14 Her Work at Thistle Farms
3:03 Personal Life
9:59 The Creative Process
15:13 Faith in Modern Times
19:53 The Complexity of Christian Music
21:43 Women in Christian Music
26:25 Music as Healing
31:40 Live Performance: "Mona Lisa"
36:40 Live Performance: "Turning the Tables"

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. Get the State of Music survey summary free → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode: the moments that didn't make the clips, what I'm learning running this show, and one curiosity prompt every issue → Subscribe free

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com · 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts · 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

An Episcopalian priest who waited a decade to release a rock record

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

John Francis O'Mara is an ordained Episcopalian priest and a rock-and-roll lifer, and his album "Forbidden Hymns" sat finished for a decade before release. He traces the road from Princeton divinity school to working with John Carter Cash, the blurring of sacred and secular, and a recovery journey that runs underneath the songs. What does a decade of waiting do to a record, and to the person who made it?

🎵 John Francis O'Mara's latest: Forbidden Hymns

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Meet John Francis O'Mara
2:42 The Story Behind Forbidden Hymns
3:53 A Decade-Long Delay
8:19 How Song Meanings Evolve
14:45 A Unique Background
15:38 Music and Faith Intertwined
20:45 Sacred and Secular
33:24 Faith and Sobriety
39:46 Songwriting Stories
48:10 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

From jazz to Americana, New York to Paris, a singer finally finding home

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Sweet Megg talks about her album "Never Been Home" and the move from jazz toward Americana that came with it. She gets into the story behind her stage name, balancing love and a career, and a life lived between New York, Nashville, and Paris. It is her most personal record yet, and she closes with a performance. What does it mean to finally find a place you can call home?

🎵 Sweet Megg's latest: Never Been Home

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:47 The Upcoming Album
1:13 The Stage Name and the Journey
3:31 Viral Success and Collaborations
11:06 Life in Nashville
15:20 Album Themes
17:05 Her Most Personal Album
19:19 Challenges and Growth
21:34 A Turbulent Love Story
25:49 Love and Wanderlust
40:05 Final Thoughts and Tour

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

A Kansas fossil museum sparked an album about digging up buried strength

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Lily Vakili built "Oceans of Kansas" around a visit to a fossil museum in western Kansas and the idea of unearthing strength you forgot you had, especially after her band broke up. She is open about raising a son with autism, the lesson of assuming competence, and a life shaped by a diverse background and human-rights work. She closes with "Okoboji" and "April Fools." What do you dig up when you go looking for what is buried in you?

🎵 Lily Vakili's latest: Oceans of Kansas

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Resilience Through Change
1:36 The Album "Oceans of Kansas"
3:17 Touring and Inspirations
8:37 Personal Challenges
15:30 Assume Competence
19:14 Background and Human Rights
24:16 The Power of Music
26:00 Reflections on the Album
28:14 Orphan Songs
30:16 60 Seconds of Curiosity
34:21 Live Performance: "Okoboji" + "April Fools"

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

At fifty, the parts of yourself you only meet in midlife

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Matthew Perryman Jones sits on a Nashville back porch and talks about turning fifty and the hidden parts of yourself that surface in midlife. He gets into mental health, the long arc of his career, and writing with real emotional depth. He shares the story behind "Cancion de La Noche" and an unusual recording process, then closes with "A Long Way Home From Here" off "Cold Answer." What do you find when you finally get curious about your own midlife?

🎵 Matthew Perryman Jones' latest: Cold Answer

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Midlife Reflections
3:15 The Interview Begins
4:00 Turning 50
6:14 Nashville and Career Beginnings
13:57 Creativity and Songwriting
20:26 Curiosity and Growth
28:18 The Healing Power of Music
33:59 Mental Health Challenges
39:01 The Story of "Cancion de La Noche"
42:51 The Recording Process
51:15 Current Journey and Plans

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

Two North Georgia friends and a sound they call swamp grass

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Logan Simmons and Malachi Mills of The Band Loula talk about how the band came together, the North Georgia roots behind their "swamp grass" sound, and the friendship and faith that hold it together. They get into recording at Ivy Manor and the touring grind of an up-and-coming band, then close with a live performance. What keeps a young band grounded as things start to take off?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Georgia Roots
1:43 Meet The Band Loula
3:25 First AmericanaFest
4:38 Collaborations and Influences
5:43 Recording at Ivy Manor
13:40 Touring Challenges
18:09 Future Plans
25:20 Faith and Personal Growth
36:48 Georgia Roots and Inspirations
38:09 60 Seconds of Curiosity
Live Performance

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast

A Hall of Fame songwriter who set Emily Dickinson's poems to music

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Marcus Hummon wrote "Bless the Broken Road" and "Cowboy Take Me Away," and now he is setting Emily Dickinson's poetry to music on "Songs for Emily." He talks about a career that moves between three-minute hits and full operas, the women who have shaped his imagination, and collaborations with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Darrell Scott. What keeps a Hall of Fame writer chasing brand-new forms this far in?

🎵 Marcus Hummon's latest: Songs for Emily

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 The Appeal of Dickinson
1:38 Meet Marcus Hummon
2:36 The Magic of Songwriting
3:46 Collaborations and Inspirations
7:05 Emily Dickinson's Influence
8:52 Setting Poetry to Music
25:17 A Lifetime Achievement Award
29:46 Storytelling in Music
39:40 The Journey of "Bless the Broken Road"
47:21 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: What 573 fans and artists told us about streaming, AI, and where the money in music actually goes. → State of Music survey summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity goes deeper on every episode. The moments that didn't make the clips, and one curiosity prompt each issue. → Subscribe

ABOUT CURIOUS GOLDFISH
A music podcast about more than music. Inspired by Ted Lasso. I talk with singer-songwriters and bands in Americana, folk, roots, and country about the lives behind the songs: resilience, faith, marriage, the business of music, and what keeps an artist going. Every episode ends with the same question about curiosity, and no two answers are alike.

New episodes every other week.

🌐 curiousgoldfish.com 🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📸 @curiousgoldfishpodcast