Mixologist, and self proclaimed "nerdy bartender type," Joey Joyce joins Brian, Matthew Thornton and Steff Koeppen for an Amaro tasting. What is Amaro? What makes Amaros delicious? After a brief history of the spirit, we taste, describe, and rate several tasty Amaros. I hope you find this discussion valuable and now, go get yourself some Amaros. Tasting in order:

1: Amaro Montenegro, Bologna, Italy

2: Averna, Sicily

3: Vecchio Amaro Del Capo, Calabria, Italy

4: Ischia Sapori Rucolino, Ischia Sapori, Italy

5: Ramazzotti, Milan, Italy

6: Cynar, Milan, Italy

7: Bràulio, Lombardy, Italy

8: Amaro Alta Verde, Triveneto, Italy

9: Fernet Branca, Milan, Italy

10: Becherovka, Karlovy Vary, Czechia

11: Amargo-Vallet, Hidalgo, Mexico

Matt and I discuss what to do when you are asked by friends to sit in on their gig. "Come on and play a tune! And make sure its awesome...." Here's what you need to know...

Welcome back Sandi King and Joshua Taylor to the micro-pod. In this episode Sandi shares her love for Robyn's tune "Dancing On My Own." Enjoy!

Matthew Thornton returns and we dissect two Beatles songs "Long and Winding Road" and "A Day in the Life" and why we think these songs are awesome. Enjoy people.

San Diego based husband and wife musical duo Sandi King and Josh Taylor of King Taylor Project stop by to discuss the building blocks of what makes a song awesome.. then we break down, dare I say, an awesome tune. Enjoy!

Kyle Phelan returns to talk about an awesome song... We also talk about his day gig at Warrior Guitar, NAMM in Anaheim and then we break down a Bros. Landreth tune "Vulture Choir" from their North Americana Sessions album. Hope you enjoy the conversation.

In this micro-pod, Matthew Thornton and I dig into our shared love of U2. We pull apart Matt's favorite song "With or Without You" and how it inspired his singing career. Matt had the good fortune of seeing U2 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Lets just say, it changed the game. We also pull up "Mysterious Ways" from Achtung Baby which is my favorite U2 song. Thanks for listening!

Sandi King, San Diego based singer/songwriter stops by for a chat. Heavily influenced by her trumpet playing father, Sandi has been singing from a very early age. From listening to jazz albums while her father rehearsed, to discovering some incredible female singers on the radio in the 90s, to finding her voice in high school. After a couple life turns, she finds music as a full time situation. We talk about her original project King Taylor Project and her latest solo project which is a celebration of the music inspired by her dad. For more information, please visit https://www.kingtaylorproject.com/.

What makes a song awesome for Singer/Songwriter Kyle Phelan? We dissect "Is It Me?" by Bros. Landreth. What is Kyle's vocal warm up? We define snare "gush." Kyle is groove forward, but also a sucker for a killer melody and lyricist. Dig in.

Josh Taylor, singer/songwriter, axe slinger for hire, studio musician stops by for a chat. We start at the beginning of the journey in OKC jamming to Kenny Loggins, to finding guitar, to joining the Navy, to moving to San Diego and becoming an award winning songwriter. We talk about starting out as a working musician, and developing your own style and how other artists can inform your sound. We rap about King Taylor Project, his project with his wife Sandi King, and his solo work. For more information visit https://www.joshuataylormusic.com/