Tasty Brew Music

I was introduced to Jess Jocoy’s music by Graham Jackson, a gentleman actively supporting Americana Music in the UK. I met Graham when he attended a Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City some years ago and introduced me to the UK’s Danni Nicholls, the subject of another episode of this podcast. Graham regularly listens to my radio show online in the UK. We have similar musical tastes and I trust his judgment for music recommendations.

Jess was raised two hours south of Seattle. As you’ll discover in this conversation, she is following her dream of writing and singing country music by relocating to Nashville to attend college and plant her lyrical flag.

Like thousands of others, Jess’ cross-country travels were brought to a stop in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic halted her touring career. At the time, she was riding a wave of critical acclaim for Such a Long Way, a debut album inspired by grief, gratitude, the loss of her father, and the love of creating music. No Depression hailed the record’s “insightful, open-hearted songs” and “smooth blend of traditional country and folk sounds,” while American Songwriter praised the “mournful effervescence” of songs like “The Ballad of Two Lovers.” The iconic radio station WSM, home to the Grand Ole Opry, made Jess their “Artist of the Week,” and her music even made its way onto national television, where she performed “Easy” during an episode of NBC’s Songland. Those childhood dreams of making her mark in the same town as her musical heroes had finally started to come true, only to be postponed by a disease that sent the entire world indoors.

It was an honor and privilege to extend the first opportunity to be interviewed on the radio to Jess. We started the session by launching immediately into a live performance of “Constellations” from her 2021 release “Brighter Eyes.”  Enjoy.

I met Samantha Fish when she was about 19 years old…just starting to play in public at local Kansas City venues and jams. We have stayed in touch and connected over the years and it has been alternately terrifying and gratifying to see her trajectory into the international music stratosphere. Not content to be labelled solely as a “blues” or “rock” artist, she is constantly evolving and experimenting with multiple genres… collaborating with some of the best the music industry has to offer. The Heartland music community is very proud to claim her as one of our own and she is poised for a long and storied career. She remains very humble and willing to help her local community radio station, 90.1 FM KKFI, as she did in this interview during a recent pledge drive. Locked and loaded and back out on the road, Samantha Fish is following her American Dream in support of her newest release "Faster" on Rounder Records.  

Singer/Songwriter Sara Morgan and I go back a ways now…I was the first dj to play her music on the radio circa 2014 or so. We did a Tasty Brew Music podcast episode back in 2019. She has released in the summer of 2021 a very personal project called “Another Nail.” In this conversation, you’ll hear how the process differed with this, her first “Nashville” effort with producer Eric Conn, from her previous self-released records

We take a dive into what the Heartland does well and what it does best to support roots musicians like Sara… she shares her opinion as to the necessity of the “music industry” being here…or not and what she believes are the keys to any success and longevity she may have in the industry.

Sara shares her Summer reading list, present listening habits,  insights garnered from personal contact with industry favorites Loretta Lynn and Radney Foster, biggest surprise of 2021 and plans for the next 5-10 years. It’s all here in this episode of the Tasty Brew Music Podcast with the Heartland’s Sara Morgan.

Iowa troubadour and multi media artist Chad Elliott is back for his second Tasty Brew Music podcast episode. He is one of the most gifted people I’ve ever encountered during my many years of supporting the arts. His songs have been a mainstay of the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show since it’s inception in 2010.

As a reminder… or by way of introduction… Chad has an academic background in the fine arts and is an accomplished painter, sculptor and illustrator. He is a prolific songwriter and accomplished guitar picker. As you’ll hear in this conversation, all of his artistic skills were brought to bear in order to survive and thrive during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chad celebrated the release in May 2021 of his 25thfull length album – “Singing River”…a dream project recorded with some of the original “Swampers” Spooner Oldham and David Hood at the iconic Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama… the place where music legends Etta James, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and many others laid down some of the most renowned songs in popular music.  He traveled to Muscle Shoals with famed Iowa musician and producer Bo Ramsey who lent his signature sound on guitar. The new Americana/roots/blues mix that arose in Singing River is exactly the sound Chad was hoping to create.

Chad believes, as I do, that it is possible to survive and thrive in the Heartland as a creative generative artist. He walks that walk and talks that talk every single day. Enjoy my conversation with my friend … Chad Elliott.

Alisa Jefferson says she has always been very passionate about music and the songs she delivers as a singer/songwriter. She grew up in the Kansas City area with influences from '70s Motown to mostly '80s and '90s rock/pop. She played viola in orchestra before she received her first acoustic guitar at age 13 and she has NOT looked back since.

Alisa and I connected via phone on my radio show that recently moved to Fridays from 10 am to Noon on KKFI.  We had a conversation that covered her musical background, how she has navigated the so-called Kansas City music business as the front woman in a rock and roll band for the last 20+ years and how the Covid-19 pandemic has given her the space and grace to make new inroads in her musical life.

She has written, is recording and plans to release a 10+ track LP this Summer of 2021. As of the air date of this radio show, she has released four singles from this new LP to most major music platforms.  You’ll hear one of those songs, “Million Ways” at the end of the conversation. To discover more of Alisa’s catalogue, check her out at alisajeffersonmusic dot com. Enjoy my conversation with the very talented Alisa Jefferson.

Ryan Manuel is a singer-songwriter based in Lawrence, Kansas. He got his start playing music in his hometown of Sedalia, Missouri after winning the 2011 MO State Fair Idol competition. He has been playing shows around the Midwest, writing and recording music ever since. Ryan has opened for Whiskey Myers, the Randy Rogers Band, William Clark Green, and many others. Since hitting the Kansas City music scene in 2012, he has released a solo album "Kansas" and his band Ryan Manuel and the Getaway released a full length, self-penned album, “On the Run."

Ryan first came to my attention in about 2015 through an introduction by the late Scott Ford who was very instrumental in making me aware of a number of artists in the so called Texas Songwriter and Oklahoma Red Dirt Music Scene. I finally caught a set from Ryan before the pandemic in the summer of 2019 when I was pleasantly surprised to find him on stage when we dropped into the music venue formerly known as Repeal 18th in North Kansas City.

Ryan reached out to me to help him get his newest single “Sold” on the radio here in Kansas City. In this conversation we had on a recent show, I was particularly encouraged by his supportive words of the Heartland music scene and willingness to NOT dismiss or write off the small towns and rural communities that deserve to experience live music. Lend your ears to a troubadour from the Heartland, Ryan Manuel.

Danielle Ate the Sandwich is the stage name of pop-folk songwriter, Danielle Anderson. As you’ll hear in this conversation on my Tasty Brew Music Radio Show, Danielle got her start in Fort Collins, CO, and is now based in Kansas City, MO. Until the pandemic she had been touring nationally since 2009, after cultivating an online following from her homemade videos on Youtube. She has multiple albums of original music and has opened for the likes of Mumford and Sons, Jake Shimabukuro, and Suzanne Vega. She wrote the soundtrack to the Emmy nominated HBO documentary, “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson.”

Her songs are lyrically driven, performed on ukulele and guitar. She finds inspiration from her curiosity about death, science, religion, family dynamics, and her own emotions and experiences. Her songs can be thoughtful and serious, but she’s known for her quirky lyrical twists, and delivering witty and honest stage banter in her live shows.

The Denver Post says, “Danielle Anderson is a tender singer-songwriter, a brazen humorist, a fearless young woman!” Enjoy my conversation with Danielle Ate the Sandwich.

I met Austin singer songwriter Mandy Rowden some years ago when she breezed through Kansas City to meet up with former tour mate Duncan Hill. I quickly became a fan of her music and work ethic. The icing on the cake was she and my dearly departed friend Tom Green were from the same bustling East Texas metropolis of Sulphur Springs. We have stayed in touch over the years and I was so happy to recently have a conversation with her via phone on my Radio Show. We talked about trying to launch a new album via Kickstarter during a pandemic and the Texas 2021 Snowvid castastrophe going days without running water or power.

Kicks butt with her pen.” –Austin Chronicle

In addition to making music of her own, Rowden is dedicated to helping others discover the joy of songwriting, vocal performance and instrument study. That’s why she founded Girl Guitar: a comprehensive rock school for women, bringing music enthusiasts of every skill level into six-week workshops with a rollicking showcase at the end. The Austin-based program introduces beginners to the basics of their chosen craft and encourages intermediate and advanced musicians to further hone their skills, all while surrounded by a supportive female community.

This episode of the Tasty Brew Music Podcast comes from a radio interview I had recently with Julia Othmer…  a "captivating" piano-playing singer/songwriter known for her energetic live performances. She recently relocated back to Kansas City from Los Angeles and we had the opportunity to get updated on some of her current and future plans.

Passionate and engaging, Othmer creates intimate warmth with her audiences regardless of the size of the venue. Using music to connect to people and social issues inspires her. Her most recent project Songs of September, was a 30-day online voter registration drive concert series where she performed songs of change, protest and hope. She then asked listeners to vote on their favorite performances resulting in Seeds: Volume 1 (LIVE) - a listener-curated, democratically-elected collection released in late 2020. Seeds: Volume 2 (LIVE) released March 20, 2021 - on the spring solstice.

Her most recent studio album "SOUND" is a collaboration with UK-based producer/composer James T Lundie and features re-imagined vintage and bespoke equipment. “SOUND sounds so good” writes Elmore Magazine, it has “stunningly sophisticated and dramatic architecture” and is “spellbinding and visceral.” Acclaimed Kansas City music writer Tim Finn describes SOUND as a “self-made record with a big-label sound… rich in space and soaring dynamics and rife with layers and textures and melodies and grooves.” Kansas Public Radio host Bob McWilliams says these “songs are powerful.”

Tracks from Julia's critically acclaimed debut album, Oasis Motel, have been featured in shows like Witches of East End, Switched at Birth, The Lying Game, Army Wives, and DeGrassi: The Next Generation. She received songwriting awards from the Billboard World Song Contest and the International Songwriting Competition. Julia shared the stage with Sarah McLachlan, Emmylou Harris, Heart, Regina Spektor, The Alarm, Amanda Palmer, Lisa Loeb and John Waite among others.

Enjoy this conversation with Kansas City’s own force of nature, Julia Othmer!

My friend Courtney Patton is a storyteller.

She’s also a mother, a wife, a producer, a singer, a songwriter, a tour-van driver and a musician- as well as a world-traveler when she’s out on tour throughout the continental U.S., Canada and Europe. In a musical era in which clichés and bravado are the norm, Courtney is far more brave in peeling back highly personal and emotional open-book songs delivering them with sensitivity and sentiment

Following her previous solo albums, Triggering a Flood (2013) and So This Is Life (2015), and her acoustic collaborative project with her husband and fellow Texas troubadour Jason Eady, Something Together, (2017), Patton has drawn on true life day-to-day autobiographical life experiences released a third album, What It’s Like To Fly Alone.

As you will hear in this recent conversation I had with Courtney on my radio show, she is on the road again after spending a very challenging, but productive year in quarantine, raising her two children while co-founding a new non profit during a pandemic. Hmmm…that sounds familiar.

Provide emergency relief funds for full-time Americana musicians in need.

A group of songwriter friends gathered virtually to participate in an online guitar pull to celebrate Merle Haggard on his birthday. The following week, John Prine passed, and the group again gathered virtually to pay tribute to him. None of the songwriters wanted to stop, and the fans were just as excited, so the weekly tributes continued. Fans started asking about how they could financially support the endeavor. As none of the musicians wanted any kind of compensation for the amount of fun they were having online each week, the idea to start a nonprofit that would benefit songwriters in future financial crisis seemed like the perfect solution.

Next up…the Sequestered Songwriters Festival to be held on October 17, 2021 in Justin, Texas.

Enjoy my conversation with my friend, Courtney Patton!