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Hayes Carll is a Grammy nominated songwriter from Texas, who has appeared on everything from The Tonight Show to Austin City Limits, is championed by The New York Times, Pitchfork and NPR, and has had his songs covered by Kenny Chesney, Lee Ann Womack, Brothers Osborne, Kelly Willis, and the Hard Working Americans. We talk with Hayes about morning routines and self-care on the road, breaking your audience's stereotypes of a former you, journaling, and divesting from outcomes.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Tami Neilson is a New Zealand-based artist who grew up in a family band, before releasing her own music independently - which has garnered acclaimed by Rolling Stone, No Depression, Mojo, and the Guardian, featured duets with Willie Nelson (and tours with him and Dylan), as well as a New Zealand Music Award for Producer of the Year (one of just 3 women to ever win the award, in any category). We have a wide-ranging, and deeply vulnerable conversation about brain injuries and health scares, the astounding resilience of artists, finding your champions, gate keepers, bucking stereotypes, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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The Mammals (Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda, who also have a project called Mike & Ruthy) are a band from the Woodstock area with deep roots in the folk scene and traditions of the area, have worked with Arlo Guthrie, and Pete Seeger (amongst others), are critically acclaimed by LA Times, No Depression, NPR, PopMatters, and run the roots music festival called The Hoot. We talk with them about gratitude for the ability to create art and music, having faith in the low moments, being links in the (musical) chain, square dancing, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Dan Reeder is a singer-songwriter and painter originally from Louisiana, who has lived in Germany for decades, released critically acclaimed records via John Prine's Oh Boy Records (as one of the first artists signed to the label, at almost 50 years old), and is somewhat of a cult folk-hero. Dan has toured very infrequently over his 20+ year music career, and we talk about why and his feelings about the concept of touring in general, his approach to staying creative musically and in his visual art, the connections he sees between painting and recording songs, we get an inside look at synths that he is currently building, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
Become a subscribing member on our Patreon to gain more inside access including exclusive content, workshops, the chance to have your questions answered by our upcoming guests, and more.
The episode in which we ask the expert all the questions about AI and making music, as it stands today: what can AI actually do? What is it going to be able to do next month? Next year? How do we retain rights? How do you ethically train AI models? Is our work safe? Is it protected? Are musicians done? What about AI bands eating up the streaming money? Drew Thurlow is the former SVP of A&R at Sony Masterworks, Director of Artist Partnerships at Pandora, and part of the A&R/marketing team at Nonesuch Records, and is currently the founder of the Lone Wolves Community - a music business and tech community and think tank, is founder of Opening Ceremony Media where he consults on AI strategy and more to companies such as RocNation, and has a book coming out in 2026 titled, “Machine Music: How AI is Transforming Music's Next Act."
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
Become a subscribing member on our Patreon to gain more inside access including exclusive content, workshops, the chance to have your questions answered by our upcoming guests, and more.
Maia Friedman is a solo singer/songwriter, as well as a member of The Dirty Projectors and Coco. We talk with Maia about the ingrained narrative of climbing the endless ladder, mothering while on the road, balancing the needs and the desires of parenthood and career, the economics of touring, navigating schedules in a dual artist-parent household, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
Become a subscribing member on our Patreon to gain more inside access including exclusive content, workshops, the chance to have your questions answered by our upcoming guests, and more.
Leslie Mendelson is a Grammy nominated songwriter from New York City, a favorite of Jackson Browne and Jakob Dylan, she released her first record on RykoDisc before moving to releasing the past 4+ independently. We talk about self sufficiency in the music industry, learning to record yourself, the lack of female representation in the industry especially on the production/engineering end of the spectrum, the gear buying fallacy, combating perfectionism, and more.
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Links:
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
Become a subscribing member on our Patreon to gain more inside access including exclusive content, workshops, the chance to have your questions answered by our upcoming guests, and more.
Tammy Rogers is a founding member of Grammy-winning bluegrass band The SteelDrivers, a founding partner of Dead Reckoning (which is credited as being an early champion of 'americana' music), and is also a storied session musician, touring and recording with the likes of Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, The Jayhawks, Buddy Miller, Matraca Berg, Eric Church, Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider, amongst many others. We talk with Tammy about the importance of the musician's union and collective bargaining, flexibility and rolling with the ups and downs and changes, saying yes to as much as possible early in your career, road versus studio work, collaboration to cover weaknesses, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Carissa Potter is an artist, author, podcast host (Bad at Keeping Secrets), one of AdAges 24 Most Inspiring People of 2021, and is the founder of People I've Loved - which is found in over 600 stores globally and featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Create Magazine, New York Times, Teen Vogue, Real Simple. Carissa has worked with ICA in Boston, BAM/PFA, SFMOMA, De Young Museum, CCA, The Body Shop, Anthropologie, The Color Factory, Urban Outfitters, The Hammer, & Pinterest to name a few. We talk about containing multitudes, social practice, the power of showing up in-person, cultivating through inconvenience, universal basic income and a whole lot more.
Get more access and support this show by subscribing to our Patreon, right here.
Links:
Click here to watch this conversation on YouTube.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
Become a subscribing member on our Patreon to gain more inside access including exclusive content, workshops, the chance to have your questions answered by our upcoming guests, and more.
Johnnyswim, the duo Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez, have been releasing records since 2008, have played The Tonight Show (Leno edition), and the Late Late Show, NPR's Tiny Desk and All Things Considered, their song is the theme to Fixer Upper on HGTV, they've had two TV series chronicling their life (Home on the Road, and The Johnnyswim Show, both on Magnolia Network), they've written and published a book titled "Home Sweet Road: Finding Love, Making Music, and Building a Life One City at a Time", and are currently working on a new creative outlet that we discuss here. We talk with Amanda and Abner about staying curious in our pursuits, creating space for wonder and childlike-ness, how to rejuvenate yourself and your creativity on the run, the blinders of fixation, and a whole lot more.
Get more access and support this show by subscribing to our Patreon, right here.
Links:
Click here to watch this conversation on YouTube.
Social Media:
All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
Become a subscribing member on our Patreon to gain more inside access including exclusive content, workshops, the chance to have your questions answered by our upcoming guests, and more.
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