Curious Goldfish Podcast

He left the medical field for Nashville, and wrote about the veteran suicides nobody talks about

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Matt Rogers traded a medical career for a songwriting one in Nashville. He talks about the writing behind "Camouflage," a song about veteran suicide, along with "You Are My Hallelujah" and "White Trash Royalty." He is candid about dating in the music business and the fiancée who steadied him, and he closes with "Camouflage." What keeps an artist chasing greatness without losing himself in it?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 The Philosophy of Songwriting
1:36 Meet Matt Rogers
3:00 The Journey to Nashville
4:11 The Songwriting Process
8:10 Songwriting as Therapy
12:06 The Story of "Camouflage"
14:47 "Hallelujah" and "White Trash Royalty"
22:00 The Realities of the Industry
27:37 The Engagement Story
31:46 60 Seconds of Curiosity
33:15 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

From American Idol to a Wrigley Field anthem on her own terms

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Gina Venier traces the road from Midwestern roots to Nashville, with a stop at the mic singing the national anthem at Wrigley Field. She is honest about her American Idol run and the pressure to turn a personal story into a product. Authenticity, curiosity, and community keep surfacing, and she closes the episode with "Nora Jane." What does it take to tell your own story instead of the one the industry wants?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Embracing Growth
1:38 Meet Gina Venier
4:11 A Love for Baseball
5:46 The Anthem at Wrigley Field
12:13 The Power of Connections
19:46 Midwestern Roots
22:38 Identity and Faith
27:40 The American Idol Experience
37:35 The Pressure to Exploit Your Story
45:18 Authentic Connections
49:29 60 Seconds of Curiosity
1:09:39 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 voice and fiddle of Old Crow Medicine Show on trains, Dylan, and tending country's roots

Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com

Ketch Secor, the voice and fiddle of Old Crow Medicine Show, talks about his solo album "Story the Crow Told Me" and his role as a steward of country music's history. He gets into trains and wanderlust, the long story of "Wagon Wheel" and Darius Rucker, and what Ken Burns' documentary stirred up. He is part historian, part trickster. What do you owe the tradition you inherit, and what do you get to reinvent?

🎵 Ketch Secor's latest: Story the Crow Told Me (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 The Power of Music
2:00 The Interview Begins
4:06 Railroad Revival Tour Memories
4:53 The Magic of Trains
11:34 "Wagon Wheel" and Darius Rucker
17:05 60 Seconds of Curiosity
20:28 Nashville's Musical Legacy
25:36 Ken Burns' Country Music
37:03 The Making of "Story the Crow Told Me"
45:27 Legacy and Mentorship
51:20 The Trickster's Wisdom

📊 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

Fourteen number-one hits, and he still calls a great song "magic" he can't fully explain.

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

Roger Murrah moved from an Alabama farm to Music Row in 1972 and spent five decades writing songs you already know, from Alabama's "High Cotton" to Al Jarreau's "We're in This Love Together." At 78, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer and BMI's Songwriter of the Decade for the 1980s, he is still writing and still pitching, including a new one he hopes lands on Alan Jackson's final album. He walks Jason through the line between a good song and an exceptional one, the kind of magic he can recognize but never quite explain, then lets Jason hand him raw lyrics to edit on the spot. What separates a line that is merely good from one that stops you cold?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 → Cold Open: Good Songs vs. Exceptional Ones
2:50 → From an Alabama Farm to Music Row
5:34 → Still Writing at 78, Still Pitching Alan Jackson
7:52 → Selling the Catalog, Keeping the Unheard Songs
9:11 → The Anatomy of Magic
11:34 → Lyric, Melody, and the Hook
13:45 → Fourteen Number Ones and Songwriter of the Decade
18:00 → "High Cotton" and the Autobiographical Lyric
22:21 → "We're in This Love Together" and "Ozark Mountain Jubilee"
25:46 → The Songs He Wishes He'd Written
29:00 → Rick Hall, Muscle Shoals, and the Magic
39:06 → Waylon Jennings and the Audiobiography
42:19 → A Room Full of Icons: "What Are We Doing Here?"
45:44 → Writer or Co-Writer: What Counts
48:02 → Can Songwriting Be Taught?
50:52 → Faith, Divorce, and Where Emotion Comes From
56:16 → Putting the Editing to the Test
1:05:21 → 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: Get the data behind the music. Grab the State of Music summary.

📬 NEWSLETTER: 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

She came back to her grandmother's piano during the pandemic, and the family songs started arriving.

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

Claire Holley sat down at the childhood piano her grandmother made her learn on in third grade, and a record's worth of family stories came back with her. On this episode she talks with Jason English about her new album Where I Lived, the slow patience behind songs that can take fifteen years to finish, and why she stopped trying to move to Nashville and built a creative life in Los Angeles instead. She is candid about inheritance, the kind that runs through cancer and mental illness and also through grace. What do we carry from the people who made us, and what do we get to set down?

🎵 Claire Holley's latest: Where I Lived (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
3:18 Thirty Years and a College Cassette
8:45 Timeless Songs and Hymns
11:43 Family as the Center of Gravity
16:24 Nashville Versus Los Angeles
23:28 Film, Theater, and Faith Out West
28:18 Becoming a Songwriter
31:10 The New Record: "Where I Lived"
34:11 "Beauty School": Dolly and Tammy
38:32 "Night Air" and Letting the Music Lead
43:43 Where She Is, Where She's Headed
48:36 60 Seconds of Curiosity
53:08 Live Performance: "Bluebird"
55:38 Live Performance: "Night Air"

📊 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

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

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

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.

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

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