For Songs

If you’ve ever wondered how much passion, dedication, patience, and determination goes into writing a great song, I give you the Rails. Consisting of James Walbourne and Kami Thompson, the Rails are an English rock duo with three albums to their name since 2014—each one written and recorded under vastly different circumstances. In this episode of For Songs, Kami and James dissect four of their tunes with disarming candor—Grace of God and Borstal from their 2014 debut Fair Warning, and Dictator and Ball and Chain from 2019’s Cancel the Sun. Listen in as they discuss how much they’ve learned from working with such legends as Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Shane MacGowan, Jay Farrar, and many others. Kami and James talk about how their writing style has evolved and and how they’ve come to find a strong place after making a critical lifestyle change. And stay until the end when we get into social media and receive a visit from one of their cats. So all the way from Camden Town in London, here are the Rails…

Eli Cook is a student of music. He’s a sponge, soaking up the elements of the past and putting together a sound that’s even more relevant now. Eli is a brilliant guitar player, inspired by the blues greats of the distant, pre-World War II past. But his voice, his sound, and his songs come from the present. He draws a direct line from the music of the early 1900s with the grunge sound of the 1990s. And it works. His talents have taken him all over the country, opening for such legends as B.B. King and Taj Mahal. His reverence for those blues masters pours out of him when he talks, but his sound is all his own.

In this episode of For Songs, Eli takes me through a musical trip to the past, up the Mississippi River, all the way to Seattle and back to the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. Buckle up, for this a helluva ride.

Yes, music really can change your life. Just ask Lynn Veronneau and Ken Avis of the D.C.-based jazz trio Veronneau. A chance meeting in Switzerland in the early 90s started these two musical nomads down the road that would take them all over the world. The band's story is incredible on it's own--Lynn is a native French speaker from outside Montreal, Ken hails from the North of England, and David Rosenblatt, the incredible guitarist, was raised in Brazil, embracing the music and the language. Lynn can sing comfortably in English, Spanish, Portoguese, and French, allowing the band to explore standards and folk music from all across the globe. But the story behind Lynn and Ken's own relationship is the stuff of movies. Listen in as we explore Veronneau's chart-topping music while getting a glimpse into a unique partnership.

More information about Veronneau is available here: https://www.veronneaumusic.com/

If you're like me, you've probably seen a band or heard a song and thought, man this group is gonna make it! You might follow their career, see them live, and if you happen to write for an online music magazine, you might even feature them on numerous occassions. And then you might scratch your head when this band doesn't get it's break. Because you know they are incredibly talented and perhaps the best band onstage at that festival you attended, way better than some of the headliners. And you wonder, what happened? Are they still at it? In this episode of For Songs, we speak with Kevin Adkins, former co-frontman of the New York Irish rock band Icewagon Flu. The Flu nearly gravitated to the top of the Manhattan scene, getting recurring gigs at some of the most well-known Irish pubs. But it didn't work out. Kevin now co-leads Franklin Gotham, a songwriting duo with no intentions of making it big. Rather, Kevin just wants to write top-quality songs. And he does. This is his story.

For Songs is a podcast about songs and songwriters. We pick four songs from some of our favorite artists and try to get into mindset when they were writing these tunes. How hard is it? Very hard. In our first episode, we talk with renowned Shenandoah Valley, Va.-based singer/songwriter Scott Miller. Scott’s a mainstay on the Mid-Atlantic roots rock/folk rock scene, splitting his time between making music and running his family farm. Between his first band the V-Roys in the mid-90s to his solo career, Scott’s music has taken him all over the world. With his rock n’ roll hard-living days behind him, Miller remains an exquisite songwriter. His humor, dry wit, and stark, cunning observations are second to none, and landed him a few years back into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame. Take a listen as we run through four of Miller’s songs throughout his solo career—Highland County Boy, On a Roll, Claire Marie, and Lo Siento, Spanishburg West Virginia. Get a sense as to his thinking and inspiration behind each one, along with some tricks of the trade. And you won’t want to miss Scott’s plan to save the country!

Info about Scott, these songs, and the albums upon which they appear can be found on his website: http://www.thescottmiller.com