She’s Liz, he’s Pete, they are Liz & Pete. Liz Cerepanya and Peter Dalton Ronstadt (Michael’s brother) join musical forces to explore material old and new. Liz’s heartfelt voice with Pete’s haunting harmonies and rich guitar arrangements captivate the mind and tug at the heart. After a few passing introductions in their shared music scene, Liz Cerepanya joined Peter Dalton Ronstadt on stage at Monterey Court in Tucson in the fall of 2019. They had had a brief opportunity to work up a couple of songs, including Rodney Crowell’s Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight, and an instant musical match […]

In Aaron & Michael’s first real-life podcast adventure, they take to the high seas in search of whales. What could possibly go wrong? (Hint: almost EVERYTHING goes wrong.) So how do our heroes manage to sully what should be a straightforward whale watch on a beautiful day off the coast of Boston? Tune in as Aaron and Michael recap their adventure, complete with audio from the boat, and reflections on a storyteller’s responsibility to their audience.

This week we are featuring an old friend of mine, Beth Kille, who fronts the Beth Kille Band in Madison, Wisconsin. I lived in Madison in the late 90s until the mid 2000’s, and that’s where I learned the craft of songwriting as a member of the Madison Songwriters Group. It was a group that met monthly at a local brewery, and we sat at a table in the private back room and critiqued each others’ new songs.  We all became a tight-knit bunch, discovering who we were as writers and performers, and supporting one another through our nascent musical […]

We dive deep into the ocean — and the past — to explore whales, Earth’s most fascinating animals, with Dr. Nick Pyenson. He is the curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., as well as author of the acclaimed non-fiction book “Spying on Whales: The Past, Present and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures.”  His work has taken him to every continent, and his scientific discoveries appear frequently in the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Geographic, and more. Along with the highest research awards from the Smithsonian, he has […]

This week we are featuring a good friend of Aaron’s, a very special artist named Meghan Cary. The singer-songwriters in Philadelphia know that Meghan is the sun around which the rest of us planets orbit. She’s an extrovert, a songleader, convener of the tribe, and a wonderful, empathetic soul. The song we feature this week is “River Rock,” off of her 2017 release “Sing Louder.” You can find more information at Meghan’s website. Her music has been hailed as healing, inspiring and infectiously joyful. Named Billboard’s “Critic’s Choice” for her debut EP, the stage actress turned folk rocker engages listeners with masterful […]

Lost in Holland was Michael’s duo with Josh Hisle from 2008 to 2012. “Son of a Roofer” is off Lost in Holland’s new EP, “The Next Great Loss,” their first newly released recorded music in more than a decade. Hisle, a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war, is one of the most honest and passionate songwriters today. His work with Neil Young and Crosby, Stills and Nash in the film “Déjà vu” sped him into a life of honest songwriting and solo performance. Hisle’s work has been reviewed by critics from Rolling Stone, Glide Magazine and Variety. He was […]

Aaron’s song “Sorry, Alan” explores the inspirational and tragic life of Alan Turing, father of computer science and World War II hero. To take a deeper look at Turing, we speak with George Dyson, author of “Turing’s Cathedral: Origins of the Digital Universe.” It’s the story of how in the 1940s and ‘50s, a small group of people gathered in Princeton, New Jersey to build one of the first computers that would realize Turing’s vision of a universal machine. It also tells the story of how the computer and hydrogen bomb were invented at around the same time. Dyson, who […]

The Ronstadt family has been in Tucson, AZ for five generations and the next generation is growing fast! That being said, if we rewind back to 1995, Michael J. Ronstadt, father of cellist Michael G. Ronstadt of the Nathans & Roncast, we find some music that has never seen the digital light of day.  Michael J. Ronstadt (“Papa Mike”) closed down the Ronstadt Pump Company in the early 90’s to take $100 a week playing music at Cragin Elementary school. He sang and played guitar, bringing old cowboy music, Mexican music, Irish lullabies, and kids’ music to all the classrooms. […]

This song by Aaron explores the simple pleasures of a parent playing in the snow with their child. We are pleased to interview Doug Hamilton, whose fiddle plays an important part in the sound of this song. He describes himself as classically trained, but physically drained by years of violin playing. A polymath and veteran of half a century performing in venues from tiny bookstores to arenas, Hamilton is still trying to figure out the purest path to musical truth. In this interview, you’ll hear tales of being on tour as a backing musician to such big names as Reba […]

In this first mini-episode, we feature “My World,” by Michael’s cousin, Bobby Ronstadt. Bobby was born and raised in Tucson, spent some years in Los Angeles until one too many earthquakes brought him back home in 1995. He has since been hosting Monthly Music nights, been featured on numerous recordings and is currently a member of PD Ronstadt and the Company. Bobby brings his own musical reflections of life from juvenile to retrospective and maybe some instrumentals in between.