I caught up with Taiwanese-Australian singer-songwriter Kim Yang when she was in Australia briefly to perform at the 2024 National Folk Festival. Kim started writing songs in her mid-twenties partly to articulate important issues in her life. Kim says that, as a shy person, she finds it challenging to initiate conversations but that writing songs can break the ice for her and get her voice heard.

Kim loves the connection with people that songwriting brings and she enjoys collaborating with other musicians. She particularly loves it when the audience sing along at gigs.

She has a disciplined approach to song writing. She often starts with a five-minute brain dump of words related to an idea or story she wants to tell. She then sets herself a time limit, say one hour, to form up the lyrics. The music comes next and the emotional vibe Kim gets from the lyrics influence the music she creates around the story of the song.

Kim performed a new song live in the studio - "All good when I'm with you" which tells the story of musicians helping and lifting the spirits of others through their songs. It's a gentle, beautiful song with plenty of spaces for you to sing along - which you'll want to!

To check out more of Kim's music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kwuujRrUf8BEBpqsruKiW

Kieren and Luke from the band Adventure Street have got to be the most enthusiastic music besties I've ever met! They've known each other and played music together since they were kids and spent many years living next door to each other on (yes you've guessed it) Adventure Street which is a real street in Canberra!

We had a fantastic chat about how Kieren and Luke work with each other to write songs. Interestingly despite their 30 year music partnership they only really started writing and performing original songs together a few years ago. Keiren related how on a summer evening with the windows open he'd hear his neighbour jamming guitar riffs which would inspire him to write lyrics. Then by the time they both got together for a jam, a song would already be half written!

Pivotal to both of them in the songwriting process is collaboration with each other, with other members of Adventure Street and the folk that support their recording sessions and live performances. It's all about the people.

Kieren and Luke performed their song "The Road and Me" live in the studio and even roped me into play bass. It really showcases how Luke's great guitar riffs mesh in with Kieren's vocals and Miles Davis-like trumpet playing.

It was so much fun chatting with these guys. I guarantee it'll put a smile on your dial!

To hear more of Kieren and Luke's music:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2rNXpKZNR3cw4y2L0Bmp5m?si=jngqSRhoTdOU7AL5qbCJhw

AdventureStreetBand

Fiona and Blair have been songwriters and performers in various musical projects for a long time. Fairly recently they pooled their songwriting talents in the band The Lonely Fates. It was a real pleasure to hear how these two talented songwriters collaborate to build songs from the ground up. The offer ideas, they listen, they intuite, they soundboard off each other and they trust each other enough to be able to give frank feedback. The result is soulful indi folk songs that capture you completely.....and their harmonies are breathtaking. I learnt a lot about collaborative songwriting from this discussion.

Blair and Fiona described how they wrote their new song "This is what we do" and played it live in the studio. They were generous enough to stick around to record a couple of other songs too - "Catch Release" and "True North". You can hear both of these just after the end of the closing credits.

Here's where you can find the songs:

This is what we do - 15.15

Catch Release - 30.46

True North - 34.31

To check out The Lonely Fates:

TheLonelyFates

Alec Randles trained as a finger-style guitarist strongly influenced by Celtic and classical music. He then started writing songs, pop songs coming first, and then songs more and more connected to his Celtic and classical training. In our discussion Alec describes how he needs to be inspired by an issue he wants to "say" something about to write a song. He often starts with a guitar melody which conveys an emotional energy and the lyrics build on that. When he shares new songs with his bandmates the songwriting process becomes collaborative and that is always interesting for Alec, sometimes challenging, often funny and always rewarding. He is passionate about the music community he has met and become part of through songwriting.

Alec plays his song "These Days" live in the studio. He wrote the song in 2016 when he was in the USA studying politics - right in the middle of a well-known election campaign! Plenty of emotional energy comes through in the dramatic guitar licks and accompanying lyrics.

It was a pleasure to meet Alec and hear his story about the pivotal role songwriting and performing plays in his life.

To find out more about Alec and hear his music:

https://www.alecrandles.com/about

https://www.facebook.com/alecrandlesmusic/

Bec Taylor's songwriting started with big ambitions when as a 12 year old she and a friend decided to put MacBeth to music! She's written and performed a huge number of songs over the years across just about every genre you can imagine. One of her friends refers to her as the Swiss army knife of songwriting! Bec and I met on the eve of the release of the first single - Photograph - from her forthcoming album - Limbs and All - with Bec Taylor and the Lyrebirds. We discussed how she wrote a rough draft of the song with the other members of the band in mind and then bought them all together to finish it off. The producer of the Lyrebirds album also became part of the songwriting process advising on this song and how all the songs on the new album might fit together. We played a snippet of the new single and then Bec played a beautiful solo acoustic version of the song live in the studio.

For Bec songwriting is a puzzle to be solved and she often processes and organises the elements of a song while driving or walking her dog (who is definitely a great soundboard!). She's also learnt a lot about songwriting teaching students in the music school she founded and ran. Bec has a lot of great advice for new songwriters. It was a real pleasure to chat with Bec and get an insight into her passion and unbridled enthusiasm for songwriting!

To hear more of Bec's music:

Bec Taylor and the LyrebirdsSpotifyhttps://open.spotify.com › artist

bectaylorandthelyrebirds.bandcamp.com

instagram.com/bectaylorlyrebirds

Areta is a songwriter who, through her songwriting, invites us right in to share the things that are important and powerful in her life. She has been writing poems and songs for many years but only started performing them fairly recently. Areta plays live her song "Inconsolable Thoughts" and we discuss how writing the song enabled her to come to terms with and communicate about a key episode in her life. She explains how songwriting breaks down communication barriers in a unique way.

You can check out more of Areta's music at: https://www.instagram.com/untitledoriginal_/?igsh=MTNlZWpvbjRrNmQwaQ%3D%3D

Award-winning folk singer/songwriter Fred Smith has seen many things, written many songs and the world is a better place for it. In this episode Fred talks about how he started off in music playing covers in a restaurant for 20 bucks and a bowl of spaghetti and spent years writing comedy songs. Then his songwriting and work as a diplomat came together as his songs documented the trials, humorous moments and tragedies of the Afghanistan conflict. We discuss and play a recording of his song Derapet which tells the story of the death of an Australian soldier told from the perspective of another soldier. Fred believes you have to see the story you are writing songs about or observe it through the eyes of someone who was there. The stories in Fred's songs are interesting, funny, sad, terrifying - you name it - and it was great to gain a bit of an understanding of how he captures these moments and makes them accessible to others through song.

Hear Fred's music at https://fredsmith.com.au/

His new album, "Look" can be found at https://fredsmith.com.au/album/2516534/look

In this episode my guest is Larissa Swan who writes beautiful songs for and about people who mean a lot to her. Larissa writes songs to help process big issues in her life and has made great connections with people through songwriting. Sometimes the people she writes songs for reciprocate and send her back one of their own compositions which can be pretty special. Larissa recognises that she's got to stop and capture song ideas when she gets them. Sometimes the song can be written in that moment, other times it might take a year or more.

Larissa plays her song "Stars and Streetlamps" live in the studio, written about saying goodbye to a close friend on a cold, dark night. She explains how her friend's musical tastes influenced the way the song was written. Larissa's powerful performance conveys the emotional connection to her friend - it's a beautiful song.

Part 2 of a discussion about a crazy, wonderful week of songwriting. In this episode, Ryland Newstead, Jasmine Fellows, Scott Lennard and I discuss the second part of the seven songs in seven days songwriting challenge that we participated in recently. We discuss how, as the week progressed, it got easier for some and harder for others to write new songs and how we, inspired by what we were hearing from others, experimented outside our songwriting comfort zones. We began to write songs in different genres, using techniques we hadn't embraced before. As the body of work built, we all got a buzz out of listening to others' songs and having our songs listened to. By the end of the week we were exhausted, exhilarated and we definitely thought we'd do it again......maybe after a bit of a break! We all heartily recommend any songwriters who might be interested in an activity like this to give it a go - you won't be sorry! Check out the Easter egg at the end of the episode. Ryland, Jasmine, Scott and I all play our favourite song from the seven we wrote that week and the four of us give our reactions in real time :)

Here's the sample playlist again :

https://soundcloud.com/ryland_n/sets/7-songs-in-7-days-2023?si=a9ea2f05fd6f4df18d89ec893977e94e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Write seven songs in seven days - no way! A songwriter friend of mine organised an online songwriting challenge to write and share in real time an original song every day for a week. 12 songwriters participated and this is the first of a two part account of an amazing, raw, unfiltered and supportive songwriting experience under time pressures but in a safe space. It was an incredible experience, we learnt so much from each other and at the end of the week 59 new songs existed in the world! In this episode, four of the participants, Ryland Newstead, Jasmine Fellows, Scott Lennard and I, talk through how the first part of the week went and we share lots of song snippets from the original songs people composed and shared. Where do the ideas come from? Lyric techniques? Picking up creative sparks from others? Getting it done in a day? Dealing with writers block? Chat GPT - hmmm? All is discussed and revealed. If this episode captures your interest, have a listen to the next episode where we go into the second part of the songwriting week.

Here's a playlist of some of the songs written during the week:

https://soundcloud.com/ryland_n/sets/7-songs-in-7-days-2023?si=a9ea2f05fd6f4df18d89ec893977e94e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing