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Songwriting Challenge 2023:...

09.25.2023

Our second batch of listener songs for our songwriting challenge 2023 to write in a mode included a song (mostly) in Phrygian, one definitely in Phrygian, and one with modal interchange. We talked about: The Song Talk Meetup Being sure ...

Song Talk Radio | Songwriting Tips | Lyrics | Arranging | Live Feedback episodes:

09.25.2023 Songwriting Challenge 2023: Listener Songs Volume 2 Our second batch of listener songs for our songwriting challenge 2023 to write in a mode included a song (mostly) in Phrygian, one definitely in Phrygian, and one with modal interchange. We talked about: The Song Talk Meetup Being sure ...
09.18.2023 Writing a multilingual song with Amanie Illfated Amanie Illfated (pronounced: ah-MAH-nee eel-fay-ted) is an award winning South Sudanese born international recording artist. Her music consists of thought-provoking multilingual mixed with a dynamic blend of R&B;, Afropop, Reggae and Trap, all combined with her signature, clear-toned vocals. She ...
09.13.2023 Writing for radio with Kasia Livingston Few things are as exciting as being a teenager with talent and a dream!! Located in the heart of the entertainment industry, the Los Angeles College of Music faculty are currently touring and working with music’s top stars and can ...
09.10.2023 Serving the song with Desiree Dorion Desiree Dorion is an artist fluent in the language of relatable storytelling. With an inherent ability to deliver impactful lyrics that range from emotional to humorous, the decorated singer-songwriter effectively immerses her audiences in her expertly crafted songs with ease. ...
09.07.2023 Songwriting Challenge 2023: Listener Songs Volume 1 Our first batch of listener songs for our songwriting challenge 2023 to write in a mode included a song in Dorian and two songs in Lydian. Lynn Moe shared his song Clean Up Time in D Dorian. Download the lyrics ...
08.28.2023 Phil leans into Lydian for his songwriting challenge answer For our second host-answer episode for our Songwriting Challenge 2023, Phil shared the process behind his answer to the challenge to write a song in the Lydian mode. Our good friend Susan Cattaneo joined in. We talked about: How Phil ...
08.18.2023 Governor Tom is all about that Iambic Pentameter Governor Tom is a singer/songwriter whose indie style blends folk, blues, and jazz with pathos and humor. Sherry Jacoby filled in for Neel, who was busy visiting a galaxy far far away, but not too long ago. Thanks Sherry! Tom ...
08.11.2023 Neel gets all nostalgic for his songwriting challenge answer For our first host-answer episode for our Songwriting Challenge 2023, Neel shared the process behind his answer to the challenge to write a song in a mode. Our good friend Susan Cattaneo joined in – thanks Susan for your awesome ...
08.02.2023 Writing a “hit song” with Greg Wyard Toronto singer/songwriter Greg Wyard is thrilled to announce the release of his latest song, “Suddenly Everything’s All Right.” This track presents a refreshing blend of sounds, reminiscent of Phil Collins infused with the timeless charm of Motown. With its heartfelt ...
07.26.2023 Writing a hard rock song with VILIVANT VILIVANT is a Canadian hard rock artist who started music at the very young age of 3. First with the piano then picking up the guitar and developing her voice along the way, VILIVANT grew a strong liking to rock ...
07.19.2023 Writing a protest song with Ryan Hahn From the bourbon hills of Kentucky to the streets of Los Angeles, Americana/Rock N’ Roll band Ryan Hahn and the Believers craft honest, insightful stories rooted in Americana, roots, and southern rock and roll. With their dynamic sound, Ryan and ...
06.27.2023 Deep Dive: This Guy’s in Love by Burt Bacharach For this special episode, Phil dives deep on the Burt Bacharach / Hal David song This Guy’s in Love With You, made popular in 1968 by Herb Alpert. We talked about: Our Songwriting Challenge for 2023, and thank-you to everyone ...
06.18.2023 The Magic of Songwriting with Econoline Crush’s Trevor Hurst When The Devil Drives is the latest album from Canadian rock veterans Econoline Crush, formed some 30 years ago by frontman Trevor Hurst, now the sole original member. The band’s first full-length album in over a decade, and documentary film, ...
06.11.2023 Songs with odd time signatures For this special episode, Phil joined Neel in his studio to record our first in-person episode since early 2020! We dove deep into songs with odd time signatures and talked about: Our songwriting challenge for 2023 How time signatures work ...
06.04.2023 Conscious songwriting with Meris Gantt Meris Gantt is an Indie Folk singer and songwriter based out of the North Carolina mountains. Meris’ songwriting is honest and to the point; exploring life’s journeys with longing, regret and the silver linings that lie in between. Her songs ...
06.01.2023 Reflecting on the career of Tina Turner We talked about: Tina Turner’s start in the 60s with Ike Turner and her resurgence as a pop/rock star in the 80s List of songs written by Tina Turner – Wikipedia Nutbush City Limits – Wikipedia Singers who hit the ...
05.22.2023 Being open to new collaborations with Jeremy Voltz Burned-out mathematician turned indie-soul artist, Jeremy Voltz’s music is inspired by thinking deeply about the people in his life and what he’d love to have the courage to say to them. Reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Hozier, and Stevie Wonder, he ...
05.07.2023 Revisiting a song ten years later with Neel Modi On this special episode, our very own Neel Modi shared his process of revisiting a song he first wrote over 10 years ago. We were privileged and happy to have singer-songwriter Jacob Moon join us for the conversation. Thanks Jacob! ...
05.05.2023 Pete Eastmure: Writing with Images Pete Eastmure is diving deeper into the Americana/Canadiana genre with his new album “Devil’s Taxi”. The album was created during the “Shutdown” and is a follow up to Pete’s acclaimed album, “Keep Your Love Steady” from 2019. The single “Devil’s ...
05.01.2023 Bringing a 17th Century artist to life with Tina Ross Tina Ross is a New York based Singer Songwriter making up for lost time. On her second act, she just released her debut album, “While I’m Here”. Her vocal delivery brims with the clarity and conviction of a stage actor ...
04.27.2023 Women of the 2000s Draft Show For our first draft game show since the “before times” we flashed back to the 2000s for our favourite songs with female artists. We invited Susan Cattaneo (check out her Instagram for awesome songwriting tips), Sherry Jacoby, and Vanessa Vreeland ...
04.13.2023 Authentic storytelling in song with Jenny Mallard Canadian Country/Folk – Pop artist Jenny Mallard is a celebrated musician and storyteller who is known for her authentic lyrics and impactful storytelling. Fresh off of the heels of releasing her debut album, “Into The Deep”, the St. John’s, NL ...
04.09.2023 Writing a traditional style song in modern times with Gravely James Gravely James, a.k.a Chris Madronich, is an Americana and Folk singer-songwriter based in Niagara, ON. Growing up in Port Colborne, ON, Madronich spent a decade playing trumpet with a variety of jazz bands, which inspired him to incorporate blues, soul, ...
04.02.2023 Poetry meets songwriting with CALICO CALICO, an independent Folk/Americana band based in British Columbia, formed at the start of the pandemic by creatively negotiating the space between personal discovery and cooperative writing. Made up of a group of seasoned professional musicians {Tony Cecchetti (lead vocals ...
03.13.2023 Suburban Rock n’ Roll with Fake Magic Greg Markham and Bryan Paccagnella grew up in the suburbs of Richmond Hill playing a lot of basement rock. In 2005 they moved to Toronto to attend Humber College – Greg for jazz, Bryan for comedy. Greg went on to ...
03.08.2023 Exploring Dorian and Lydian Modes Our 2023 songwriting challenge is to write a song using an unusual mode, or a mode you don’t normally use. For our first episode on this subject, composer and songwriter Jeff Alan Greenway joined us to talk about two specific ...
02.26.2023 Co-writing Nashville style with Sarah Peterson Sarah Peterson is a Minnesota based songwriter and artist carving out her own unique space in the singer songwriter world. Her love of words has pulled her into many co-writes with other songwriters and artists from all around the world. ...
02.21.2023 Susan Cattaneo and two of her favourite songs Award-winning singer-songwriter and music educator Susan Cattaneo joined us to talk about two of her favourite songs and why they’re so great. Sherry Jacoby filled in for Phil Emery as co-host – thanks Sherry! Susan’s choices were Little Green by ...
02.13.2023 Writing in a rock band with Billy Lunn of The Subways Billy Lunn is the singer, guitarist, songwriter, and producer of the UK-based rock band The Subways. The Subways released their debut album Young for Eternity in 2005, and they’ve just released their fifth album, Uncertain Joys, on January 13, 2023. ...
02.07.2023 Writing a long song with Civil Wray Sparkle. It’s exactly what Civil Wray does on her brand-new single, appropriately entitled “Sparkle”. Civil Wray, the nom de plume of Toronto singer songwriter Andrea de Boer, worked with producer Matt DeMatteo (Danko Jones, Big Wreck, Ashley MacIsaac) in creating ...
01.30.2023 McMaster LIVELab Concert Research Study Singer-songwriter Alex Whorms and doctoral researcher Dana Swarbrick met while attending McMaster University. Last year, they collaborated to produce a concert research study at McMaster’s renowned LIVELab, a state of the art performance theatre and research facility, to study social ...
01.23.2023 White-collar folk with Jason Pilling Jason Pilling is a singer-songwriter who draws lyrical content from a lifetime of being a regular nice-guy with a math degree, a nice little nuclear family, and 20 years of white-collar career experience. “I celebrate the nuance of a normal ...
01.16.2023 Happy New Year and some random stuff For our first episode of 2023, Phil and Neel hung out to talk about a bunch of things on our minds. We talked about: Our upcoming songwriting challenge to write in an unusual mode Peter Gabriel is releasing his first ...
12.19.2022 Writing to the big picture with Amanda Sum Canadian artist Amanda Sum has recently released her brand-new debut album “New Age Attitudes” and was quickly featured as one of Exclaim! Magazine’s picks of the week. Blending musical elements of Indie-Pop, Jazz, and Alternative Folk with incredibly thought-provoking lyrics, ...
12.13.2022 Organic songwriting with Bill Bartholomew Bill Bartholomew is a singer/songwriter, musician, podcast and radio host and television journalist based in Providence, RI. He cut his teeth in Brooklyn’s DIY scene, NYC clubs like Mercury Lounge and The Knitting Factory and touring internationally as a solo ...
12.06.2022 Alex Whorms writes her first original Christmas song While some artists work to master their chosen genre and others may even manage to define one, Alex Whorms crafts music that is essentially a genre unto itself. Seated at her beloved keyboard, the young vocalist and composer flows freely ...
11.23.2022 All about bridges with Allister Bradley Allister Bradley, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and technical director of the Song Studio Songwriter’s Workshop in Toronto, and co-host of the Hooks & Ladders youTube show with Blair Packham, joined us to talk about three songs with great bridges. We ...
11.18.2022 Song Talk Radio’s 423rd Episode Spectacular! AKA our 9-year Anniversary! Our ex-co-host Mike Proudfoot joined us to reflect on the awesome year we had on Song Talk Radio. Our highlights included: Working with a Publicist: Bad Parade’s Kari Zalik on what a publicist needs to know ...
11.09.2022 The Laws of Creativity with Joey Cofone Joey Cofone is Founder & CEO of Baronfig and an award-winning designer and entrepreneur. His work has been featured in Fast Company, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, Bon Appétit, Quartz, Mashable, Gizmodo, and Print, among others. Joey was named a New ...
11.03.2022 Writing in a blues band with Bywater Call Filled with incredible vocals and musicianship often compared to the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Canadian Americana/Roots band Bywater Call has made their unprecedented mark on the Canadian and international Blues/Roots scene with their brand-new album, “Remain”. From explosive television performances to ...
10.27.2022 Getting Past Writer’s Block with Susan Cattaneo Singer-songwriter and music educator Susan Cattaneo joined us once again, this time to talk about tips for overcoming writer’s block for songwriters. We talked about: writing in a different mode, on purpose a great video on understanding modes – The ...
10.18.2022 Jerry Sereda on collaborating with Nashville songwriters Canadian musician Jerry Sereda is a decorated Country artist who can’t help but capture music fans everywhere he goes. With his gripping and energetic live performances, Jerry celebrates his Indigenous heritage by weaving personal stories and experiences into his delightfully ...
10.02.2022 Angela Saini on developing songs past their initial ideas Indian-Austrian Canadian country folk-pop artist Angela Saini is all about second chances and empowering others. She uplifts and inspires audiences with sing-alongs and storytelling about courage and finding joy in surprising places. BBC Radio has called the positive and upbeat ...
09.25.2022 Chord Progression Tips with Matt Zaddy With a sound that seamlessly blends folk-rock and modern soul, there’s something for every music fan to love about singer/songwriter Matt Zaddy. A storyteller at heart, his music is filled with tales of life, love, hardship and redemption. As someone ...
09.19.2022 Funky Collaboration with Nabs-D & Teresa Nab-s D & Teresa is a new Toronto-based duo featuring funky basslines and powerful, soulful vocals. They featured their new single On The Run on the podcast this week. We talked about: writing an instrumental bed to support a singer ...
09.13.2022 All about MIDI 2.0 with Mike Kent As part of our ongoing series of episodes about recording in your home studios, we talk to MIDI expert Mike Kent about MIDI 2.0 and the what the future holds. We talked about: Our first episode about MIDI from July ...
09.07.2022 Songwriting Challenge 2022: Listener Songs Volume 4 We continue to receive submissions from our listeners to our songwriting challenge. Thanks to everyone for their contributions! On this bonus listener episode, we feature songs by Andy Vann, Mira Chorik, and Sunny Zaman. We talked about: The Song Talk ...
08.21.2022 Terry Penney: Three Chords and the Truth With over three decades in the music industry, Newfoundland turned BC-based artist Terry Penney is well known for his incredible storytelling and has often been compared to some of the best writers of all time, including Steve Earle and John ...
08.14.2022 Alicia Toner: Songwriting with Emotion and Craft PEI-based artist Alicia Toner has had an explosive year since the release of her sophomore album “Joan”. Alicia brought home a 2022 Canadian Folk Music Award, became the most nominated artist at the Music PEI Awards this year for the ...
08.07.2022 Songwriting Challenge 2022: The Hosts Revisit their Songs We welcomed the return of our ex-co-host Michael Proudfoot, joining us to review our updated answers to the 2022 Songwriting Challenge. We talked about: Our new Songwriting Challenge webpage, featuring the original versions of our songs, plus listener song episodes ...

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Song Talk Radio | Songwriting Tips | Lyrics | Arranging | Live Feedback

What's Song Talk Radio | Songwriting Tips | Lyrics | Arranging | Live Feedback about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Song Talk Radio | Songwriting Tips | Lyrics | Arranging | Live Feedback episodes:

Songwriting Challenge 2023: Listener Songs Volume 2

Writing a multilingual song with Amanie Illfated

Writing for radio with Kasia Livingston

Serving the song with Desiree Dorion

Songwriting Challenge 2023: Listener Songs Volume 1

Phil leans into Lydian for his songwriting challenge answer

Governor Tom is all about that Iambic Pentameter

Neel gets all nostalgic for his songwriting challenge answer

Writing a “hit song” with Greg Wyard

Writing a hard rock song with VILIVANT

Writing a protest song with Ryan Hahn

Deep Dive: This Guy’s in Love by Burt Bacharach

The Magic of Songwriting with Econoline Crush’s Trevor Hurst

Songs with odd time signatures

Conscious songwriting with Meris Gantt

Reflecting on the career of Tina Turner

Being open to new collaborations with Jeremy Voltz

Revisiting a song ten years later with Neel Modi

Pete Eastmure: Writing with Images

Bringing a 17th Century artist to life with Tina Ross

Women of the 2000s Draft Show

Authentic storytelling in song with Jenny Mallard

Writing a traditional style song in modern times with Gravely James

Poetry meets songwriting with CALICO

Suburban Rock n’ Roll with Fake Magic

Exploring Dorian and Lydian Modes

Co-writing Nashville style with Sarah Peterson

Susan Cattaneo and two of her favourite songs

Writing in a rock band with Billy Lunn of The Subways

Writing a long song with Civil Wray

McMaster LIVELab Concert Research Study

White-collar folk with Jason Pilling

Happy New Year and some random stuff

Writing to the big picture with Amanda Sum

Organic songwriting with Bill Bartholomew

Alex Whorms writes her first original Christmas song

All about bridges with Allister Bradley

Song Talk Radio’s 423rd Episode Spectacular!

The Laws of Creativity with Joey Cofone

Writing in a blues band with Bywater Call

Getting Past Writer’s Block with Susan Cattaneo

Jerry Sereda on collaborating with Nashville songwriters

Angela Saini on developing songs past their initial ideas

Chord Progression Tips with Matt Zaddy

Funky Collaboration with Nabs-D & Teresa

All about MIDI 2.0 with Mike Kent

Songwriting Challenge 2022: Listener Songs Volume 4

Terry Penney: Three Chords and the Truth

Alicia Toner: Songwriting with Emotion and Craft

Songwriting Challenge 2022: The Hosts Revisit their Songs