Curious Goldfish Podcast

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

Performing since 14, writing songs like a journal she's too lazy to keep otherwise

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

Anna Shinholster has been playing professional gigs since she was 14, and now she's a college student at Middle Tennessee State balancing class with a third run at the 30A Songwriters Festival. The Woodstock, Georgia songwriter treats her music like a personal journal, the place she processes a breakup or a stretch of being unsure, and she's honest that most of those songs never leave the notebook. She gets into the story behind "Same Fish," why "Butterflies" is really about the people we lose, and whether she has enough songs for a first album. She closes with both songs live from 30A. What does an artist who started this young still want to figure out?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome
0:45 The Woodstock Connection
1:45 Three Years at the 30A Festival
2:56 A Student at Middle Tennessee State
6:32 Dreaming of Music Full-Time
10:42 Life Outside Music
11:48 Songwriting as a Personal Journal
14:12 Enough Songs for an Album?
14:57 Describing Her Sound
16:21 "Same Fish"
18:05 60 Seconds of Curiosity
22:17 Live Performance: "Same Fish" & "Butterflies"

📊 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 Grammy-winning banjo player on why nothing he does comes naturally.

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

Graham Sharp helped redefine modern bluegrass as the banjo engine of the Grammy-winning Steep Canyon Rangers. On his second solo album, How Did We Do It, he trades the band's high-octane drive for something closer to a porch swing: songs about marriage, endurance, and the unglamorous work behind a creative life. He talks about finding his own voice inside a tradition that rewards repetition, what two decades beside Steve Martin taught him about preparation, and a title track written as a plain love letter to his wife. What does a life in music ask of the people who help build it?

🎵 Graham Sharp's latest: How Did We Do It (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome
1:37 Asheville After Hurricane Helene
6:02 Boulder, eTown, and the Bluegrass Family Tree
7:30 Finding Your Own Voice in a Tradition
9:00 Bluegrass as a Door, Not a Cage
10:30 The Early-2000s Bluegrass Resurgence
14:30 Leading the Band Through Change
18:57 What Steve Martin Taught Him About Work
28:34 The Solo Album: How Did We Do It
30:13 A Love Letter to His Wife
33:32 Songwriting and First Impressions
36:07 Twenty Years of Marriage on the Road
38:31 Empty Nesting and the Next Chapter
41:11 Where He Wants to Be
43:01 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: The state of music in the age of AI and streaming → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity, the stories behind the episodes → 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

For two siblings, love songs are off limits, so they write about loss, faith, and family instead.

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

Ryan Williams and Kaylee Bowling caught up with Jason from opposite coasts, Ryan settled into Nashville's session-player world, Kaylee tucked into Washington's Olympic Peninsula finishing a graduate degree in theological studies. Ten years after their debut, the pair revisited Letters Kept to Ourselves for an anniversary re-release, adding a song they almost left off the record the first time around. They talk through the strange math of sibling harmony, the mother they lost and the song that became a way of carrying her, and the pub session in Ireland that convinced them this could actually be a band. What do you do with a shared history when you're no longer in the same room to write it?

🎵 The Native Sibling's latest: Letters Kept to Ourselves (10th Anniversary Edition, 2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome and New Year Check-In
0:41 Meet Ryan Williams and Kaylee Bowling of The Native Sibling
3:03 Kaylee's Single "Rest Is the Right" and Exploring Faith
4:00 Revisiting Letters Kept to Ourselves for the 10th Anniversary
8:08 Sibling Harmony and the Evolution of Their Voices
10:12 What the Album Means to Them Today
12:52 "Here With Me": A Song Written for Their Mother
16:38 The Challenges and Gifts of Making Music as Siblings
21:00 "Darkest of Night Skies" and the Spirit of Johnny Appleseed
25:49 The Irish Pub Where It All Started
28:55 Current Projects: Session Work and Grad School
33:42 Faith, Doubt, and Finding a Voice Beyond Certainty
42:40 Where They Want to Be as Artists
43:34 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: Get the State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: 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 built a career on heartbreak songs. Then she got happy, and had to find something new to say.

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

Liz Longley sat on her porch and cried through a postpartum depression she never saw coming, then turned it into songs. At the 30A Songwriters Festival, the Berklee-trained writer talks with Jason about going independent, raising six figures from fans to buy her own music back, and what happens to a songwriter who spent years mining her failed love life once she finally finds happiness. Her album New Life traces motherhood, gratitude, and the worry of raising a child in an uncertain world. What does an artist write about when the heartbreak runs out?

🎵 Liz Longley's latest: New Life (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome
0:44 Recharging Around Other Artists at 30A
1:38 The TED Talk in Reno
2:44 How Motherhood Changed Everything
5:03 The New Album, New Life
6:51 What She Worries About for Her Daughter
7:49 Learning to Write at Berklee
9:29 Writing for Connection
10:14 Running Out of Heartbreak Songs
11:39 The Songs She Loves to Sing Live
12:49 Releasing "Wake You Up"
14:35 Kickstarter, Patreon, and the Lizards
17:11 Where She Is as an Artist
17:55 60 Seconds of Curiosity
19:05 AI and the Future of Artistry

📊 FREE REPORT: Read the State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Subscribe free to Chords of Curiosity

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 married duo who recorded their new album onstage, one stitched-together take at a time.

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

Kassie and Ben Wilson have been married fifteen years and make music as Goldpine, a Nashville duo whose harmonies come from a partnership built onstage and off. They talk about writing from raw, unglamorous honesty, playing the Bluebird for an Alive Hospice benefit after Kassie's mother passed, and why they have never wanted a place in the Christian music industry even as faith runs through everything they do. Their new album Three was pieced together from live recordings, a verse from one show and a chorus from another. What holds a marriage and a band together when the plan is to keep changing?

🎵 Goldpine's latest: Three (2025)

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome
0:46 Fifteen Years Married, and What They Admire in Each Other
3:48 Music as Ministry
6:46 Why Not the Christian Music Industry
8:00 Honesty, Shame, and Talking About Addiction
10:52 The Bluebird and an Alive Hospice Benefit
13:34 "Alabama Born" and Growing Up in the Country
17:03 The Pull of Brandi Carlisle
19:59 "Lean Into the Turns" with Radney Foster
21:31 Inside Their Songwriting Process
24:01 "Confessions" and the Cell Phone
25:39 Recording an Album Onstage
27:55 The Three Tour
29:53 Where They Are, and Where They Want to Go
33:00 60 Seconds of Curiosity

📊 FREE REPORT: The State of Music in the Age of AI and Streaming → State of Music summary

📬 NEWSLETTER: Chords of Curiosity, the stories behind the episodes → 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