The wonderful Amy Millan of the band Stars joined us for a warm, funny, and candid conversation on the eve of Stars fall tour. You can find Stars at www.youarestars.com

Ben Barnett of the band Blunt Mechanic joins us for some great and lively conversation.

Today we are joined by Casey Rae, communications director of Future of Music Coalition, a national non-profit organization founded in 2000, that focuses on policies at the intersection of music, law, and technology. Casey has written hundreds of articles on the impact of technology on the creative community in scholarly journals and other publications, and is a regular commentator on the impact of technology on artists in media outlets such as NPR, Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Billboard, L.A. Times, Gizmodo, The Hill, Ars Technica, Sirius XM Radio and more. Casey is also a musician and can be found online at The ContrarianMusic.Com and runs The Contrarian Media. Music by Built to Spill and The Contrarian. For more information on the Future of Music Coalition please visit their website for some in depth resources for musicians.

We had the opportunity to talk with singer-songwriter Cory Branan while he was stuck in Chicago traffic. Mississippi native Branan has acheived critical praise for his album 12 Songs, often being likened to John Prine, and has toured with his friends Lucero. Cory is out on tour now playing many dates across the country with Drag the River, with make sure you catch them live.

Angel Deradoorian released a solo album last year during off time with her full-time gig as a member of the Dirty Projectors. She discusses the writing and recording of Mind Raft, her solo EP from 2009, as well as what is going on with Dirty Projectors, working with the likes of David Byrne and Bjork, and playing Madison Square Garden.

Musician and songwriter Kate Nash was kind enough to take time out of her busy day to talk to us on the eve of her world tour. We talk about her new record, My Best Friend is You, growing up in the media and differences between the U.S. and UK audiences, and the disappointment of Lilith Fair 2010. www.katenash.co.uk twitter.com/katenash facebook.com/katenash

This week on Sock Monkey Sound we have Darren Garvey (http://darrengarvey.com) , winner of Guzzardo’s Performance Music’s 2010 Emerging Artist Competition. We discuss Darren’s history with music, his beginnings as a drummer being taught by Wilco’s Glenn Kotche. Darren performs and records with many different bands: Cameron McGill and What Army?, The Andreas Kapsalis Trio, Like Pioneers, Buddy Nuisance, L’Altra, Ernie Hendrickson – Darren brought along tunes from some of these groups to play for Sock Monkey Sound listeners and performs an unreleased gem – First of The Year

Today we have an interview with David Bazan. While controversial to some and always Pedro the Lion to others; he’s just a hard working dude who writes great tunes as far as we’re concerned. Brandon and Patrick discuss everything from what he uses to record, living room concerts vs. bigger venue shows, his writing process; press, media, and fame. Many thanks go out to Dave for taking the time out on the eve of his fall tour.

John Ugolini, founder of Kickstand Productions and the Middlewest Festival, joins us on today’s episode. We talk about how he got his start, dealing with crappy bands who only want to get laid, and the Middlewest Festival. Featuring music by Middlewest performers Murder by Death, P.O.S, Smoking Popes, William Elliott Whitmore, and Owen.

The talented singer+songwriter Kevin Devine took the time out to have a candid conversation about a whole crap load of stuff! Songwriting, touring with bands like Nada Surf, Manchester Orchestra, Brand New; his thoughts on politics and world domination, fan fiction; working with Andy Hull and Manchester Orchestra on the new band, Bad Books. All of it gets covered in this episode of Sock Monkey Sound.