Holding onto hope and love in dark times, written on a frozen Canadian coast.

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Shayfer James called in from Calgary to talk about a new album, his devoted fan base, and the balance between performing and the business behind it. He's thoughtful about staying authentic on social media and about writing toward hope and love when the world feels dark. A secluded month on Canada's frozen coast shaped a lot of the new songs. How do you keep making hopeful music without lying about the times you're in?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:46 Touring the New Album
1:56 The Challenges of Social Media
3:09 Balancing Art and Business
4:29 Staying Authentic in Dark Times
6:47 Connecting with Fans
8:15 60 Seconds of Curiosity
11:02 The Making of the Album
14:58 The Frozen Coast
19:40 Songwriting Insights
24:12 Themes of the Album
29:16 The Artistic Journey

📊 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

She wrote a song from inside her grandfather's Alzheimer's, in his voice

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Alaina Stacey built a trilogy of EPs, "Dawn, Day, and Dusk," out of the bittersweet parts of her life. She talks about past relationships, her years in the trio Maybe April, and writing "Stan" from her grandfather's perspective as Alzheimer's took hold. Motherhood is shifting how she sees all of it, and she closes with an acoustic "Stan." What do you hold onto when someone you love starts to disappear?

🎵 Alaina Stacey's latest: Dawn, Day, and Dusk (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Reflections on Past Relationships
1:35 Alaina's Musical Journey
4:13 The Trilogy of EPs
9:22 The Story of "Think of You"
12:54 The Story of "Insomnia"
16:43 The Song "Stan"
19:10 Stan's Battle with Alzheimer's
21:11 Writing in Stan's Voice
25:58 The Trio's Journey
29:33 Going Solo
32:28 60 Seconds of Curiosity
33:32 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

The instrument his grandfather was never allowed to play bookends Trent Wagler's new solo album.

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Trent Wagler, frontman of The Steel Wheels, built his first solo record around family he almost left out of the story: a grandfather who grew up Amish and was never allowed to own an instrument, a sister he asked to play piano on a record for the first time in her life, and his own father and daughter singing beside him. This Might Be My Prime arrived in the same stretch of months as a new self-titled Steel Wheels album, both shaped by a band that has spent twenty years learning to listen to each other. Trent walks through the radio story that became the Steel Wheels song "Ghost of Myself," the discipline that replaced his teenage habit of writing through heartbreak, and the imposter syndrome that still shows up before every new song. What happens to the feeling of being in your prime once it passes?

🎵 Trent Wagler's latest: This Might Be My Prime (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction and Welcome
3:50 Coming Off the Red Wing Roots Festival
8:00 A First Look at the Steel Wheels' Self-Titled Album
13:15 The Story Behind "Ghost of Myself"
17:35 The Meaning Behind "This Might Be My Prime"
21:00 Ten Years Thinking About Going Solo
25:00 Sorting Songs Between the Band and the Solo Record
29:00 Bookending the Album with His Grandfather
33:00 A Family Affair: Sister, Dad, and Daughter
36:00 From Teenage Heartbreak to Daily Discipline
43:30 Imposter Syndrome and the Song "Imposter"
50:30 "I've Got Some Work to Do" and Owning Your Choices
53:00 Where the Steel Wheels Fit in the Bluegrass Lineage
1:03:00 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 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 Americana artist on radical honesty, industry ageism, and teaching songwriting behind bars.

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

Caitlin Cannon doesn't soften much. She talks about the "Love Addict" album and the loneliness and divorce underneath it, pushing back on industry ageism in her forties, and the Beyond Bars program where she teaches songwriting to people in prison, work shaped by her own brother's incarceration. She's funny and unsparing in the same breath. What does radical honesty cost, and what does it give back?

🎵 Caitlin Cannon's latest: Love Addict

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Life on Tour and ADHD
2:30 The Kill Tony Moment
6:30 Trauma, Religion, and Americana
9:00 Industry Ageism
13:30 Inside "Love Addict"
15:15 Loneliness and Divorce
22:15 Married to the Music
28:15 "Jesus Is My Lover"
38:30 The Intimacy of Co-Writing
47:00 Teaching Songwriting in Prisons
52:30 "Waiting": A Song for Her Brother
58:00 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 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

He lived in a van to chase Nashville. Now Shooter Jennings is producing his record.

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

Levi Foster moved to Nashville on a whim and made a pact to live in his van until the music worked. He talks about the publishing deal that changed things, writing more than 300 songs, his debut "We Made Fire," and the TikTok-as-Johnny-Cash bit that accidentally became a brand. The headline: a full-length on the way, produced by Shooter Jennings. What does it cost to bet everything on a dream with no backup plan?

🎵 Levi Foster's debut: We Made Fire

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:15 Growing Up Near Liberty University
2:45 The Move to Nashville
4:10 Living in a Van
4:45 The Publishing Deal
6:15 Writing 300 Songs
11:15 The Album "We Made Fire"
14:15 The Story of "Emerald Eyes"
17:05 Reluctantly Embracing TikTok
23:30 Recording with Shooter Jennings
25:20 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 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

Thirty years into Sister Hazel, and the fire's still lit.

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Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel looks back on thirty years of the band, from the rise of "All For You" to a fan community that keeps them on the road. He talks about the new album "Sand, Sea and Crash Debris," a memorable run on The Price is Right, and what it takes to keep a band and its relationships intact this long. How does a band stay in it for three decades without burning out?

🎵 Sister Hazel's latest: Sand, Sea and Crash Debris

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:52 The New Record
1:35 The Price is Right
3:39 Thirty Years of Sister Hazel
7:33 "All For You" and the Journey
10:21 The New Album
11:55 Songwriting Insights
19:10 Fan Engagement and Longevity
24:02 60 Seconds of Curiosity
26:36 Closing Thoughts

📊 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 queer, Black folk artist who records like she's casting a spell, on seasons, loss, and choosing optimism on purpose.

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

Naomi Westwater makes folk, soul, and ritual that doubles as a survival practice. A few weeks after releasing her album Cycle and Change, she sat down with Jason English to talk about writing a record that moves through the seasons, recording it in a converted 1800s church for the natural light and reverb, and finding her footing through a hard year that included losing her father. She is candid about being a queer, Black artist in a folk world that isn't always diverse, about reclaiming the word witch, and about the Reclaiming Folk and We Make Noise events she built to make room for other artists. What does it take to choose optimism when the easier thing would be to give up on it?

🎵 Naomi Westwater's latest: Cycle and Change (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:03 Summer Solstice and Manifesting
2:09 A Season of Transition
3:22 Her Father, Cape Cod, and the Seasons
5:19 Early Feedback on the New Record
7:19 Writing an Album Without Realizing It
8:45 Songs Written Across the Seasons
11:07 A Song That Isn't For Anyone
14:02 Moving Through a Hard Winter
17:00 Why the Album Works as One Piece
19:55 Still Believing in the Album
21:21 Recording in an 1800s Church
23:26 Salem, Witches, and Reclaiming a Word
25:57 Parents Who Were Completely Woo
30:37 Berklee, Spain, and Cape Cod Roots
33:42 Being a Black Artist in Folk
35:49 Reclaiming Folk, Day to Day
40:48 The Freelance Musician's Many Hats
44:30 We Make Noise Fest
47:19 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: Our research on how artists really make money in the age of AI and streaming → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Stories behind the episodes, in your inbox → 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

They once played a show nobody came to. Now they're selling out Europe.

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

Brothers Ocie and Wes Crowe grew up playing gospel in churches out of an RV, lost their mom young, and walked away from the Christian music industry to make songs on their own terms. Their debut album Made to Wander turns brotherhood, anxiety, and a show literally nobody attended into a record you can play start to finish. They get into the cheap advice behind "Bootstraps," the honesty inside "Brother Song," and the unwanted TikTok take that pulled them out of obscurity in a single night. They are unbothered about where they rank and clear about why they make music at all. So what keeps two brothers grounded when overnight fame shows up by accident?

🎵 Crowe Boys' latest: Made to Wander (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome
1:00 Their Grand Ole Opry Debut
5:00 Growing Up a Touring Family Band
8:00 Losing Their Mom and Finding Their Own Sound
10:00 Why They Left the Christian Music Industry
12:00 The New Album, "Made to Wander"
14:00 "Bootstraps" and the Trap of Cheap Advice
17:00 "Brother Song" and Writing Through the Hard Stuff
23:00 "Good Days" and the Show Nobody Came To
30:00 The Music Video Trilogy and the Time Machine
40:00 The TikTok Video That Changed Everything
47:00 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 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

Thirty years in Americana, and his debut solo album almost became another record with his brother.

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

Mike Delevante spent the 1990s earning critical praise as one half of The Delevantes, then stepped back from full-time music for the better part of two decades. The batch of songs that became September Days started as a possible reunion with his brother Bob, until Mike realized the material was too personal to hand off. He talks with Jason about teaching himself to finish songs alone, the band of old friends who showed up to play, and two songs at the album's center: "I Wrote to You," built on his parents' nearly sixty-year love story, and "The Rain Never Came," a reckoning with the end-times religion of his youth. What does it take to make your most personal record only after thirty years of helping make everyone else's?

🎵 Mike Delevante's latest: September Days (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:46 Going Solo After Thirty Years
1:32 September Days, the Debut Album
4:00 The Band of Friends Behind the Record
5:51 Being His Own Final Judge
9:23 No Rust After All These Years
12:15 The Day Job and a Creative Life
17:22 What People Still Want From Music
21:35 Learning to Finish the Songs
30:15 A Label, a Legacy
37:49 "I Wrote to You": His Parents' Love Story
47:17 "The Rain Never Came": Faith and the End Times
56:02 60 Seconds of Curiosity
58:43 Farewell With Four

📊 FREE REPORT: Where music, money, and AI are really heading → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: The stories behind the songs, every other week → 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

He writes songs beside men in prison, and refuses to call them anything but gentlemen.

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

Wyatt Espalin grew up on his family's bluegrass campground in the North Georgia mountains, and he still writes from that same quiet. On this episode he tells Jason English about sitting beside men in prison through a songwriting outreach, watching people who did terrible things make something beautiful, and refusing to call them anything but gentlemen. He talks about leaving Nashville to guide rafts on a river, turning fifty, and finally writing songs for himself before anyone else. His new album Lies From the Lonesome Valley, with guests like Amy Ray, came together over a long rollout from the hills he calls home. When you spend your days asking what other people are capable of, what do you start to wonder about yourself?

🎵 Wyatt Espalin's latest: Lies From the Lonesome Valley (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:57 Beyond Bars: The Men Who Stayed With Him
7:53 From Ministry to Songwriting With Veterans
11:26 Growing Up on the Campground
13:58 The New Album: Lies From the Lonesome Valley
15:30 Amy Ray and the River Stones
20:09 Folk Roots and the Carter Family Sound
23:07 The Valleys: Depression, Loss, and Healing
26:00 Leaving Nashville to Guide River Rafts
29:00 Writing Songs for Himself
30:21 Turning Fifty, Dating, and the Rollout
36:07 60 Seconds of Curiosity
37:20 Live Performance: "You Had It All"
41:29 Live Performance: "Dim"

📊 FREE REPORT: Our research on how artists really make money in the age of AI and streaming → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Stories behind the episodes, in your inbox → 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