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Drew Holcomb has released over a dozen records since 2005, independently as well as through Dualtone Records and with Thirty Tigers, on top of popular performances and records with his wife, songwriter Ellie Holcomb, he has toured and written with John Hiatt, Los Lobos, Susan Tedeschi, Avett Brothers, Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby and others, and he started a subscription record store called Magnolia Record Club which he sold to Dualtone in 2018. We talk to Drew about expensive mistakes both he and Michaela have learned through the years, balancing scheduled creative time and spontaneously chasing the muse, while being gentle with yourself when life gets in the way of it working out, getting clear answers (yes OR no), decision points, considering the audience in the creative process, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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J Edward Keyes is a journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, Village Voice, and who is now the Editorial Director at bandcamp. As an online record store, and music magazine (bandcamp daily), bandcamp is a central hub to the independent music industry (they pay out 82% of their revenue, versus less than 70% at Spotify, et al). We talk with J Edward about sustain, advocating, and growing a vibrant independent music industry and the unique lane bandcamp has carved, "record store" trends, the role of journalism and music advocates, we as the question - do artist's even need a publicist?? And a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Greta Morgan is a founding member of The Hush Sound, touring with Fallout Boy when she was still a teenager, releasing records via Fueled By Ramen, before moving on to being a touring member of Vampire Weekend and performing with Jenny Lewis. After contracting long Covid she developed spasmodic dysphonia - a neurological voice disorder characterized by involuntary spasms of the muscles in the voice box. I.E. it is nearly impossible to sing. After writing nearly 350,000 words in journals, she turned her work into a book - "The Lost Voice" (out now via Harper Collins). We talk with Greta about this life altering change, and it's effects on her creativity and creative practice, our evolving identity coming from self, not from others or our output, the worthiness shadow, acceptance, longevity, and more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Major Jackson is a poet, author, and professor who is the recipient of fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Academy of American Poets, Fine Arts works Center in Provincetown, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, he has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and the Witter Bynner foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress, awarded the Pushcart Prize, has been published in American Poetry Review, the New Yorker, Paris Review, Orion Magazine, is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves as the Poetry Editor of The Harvard Review, and is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities and Director of Creative Writing at Vanderbilt University. We touch on stewardship, curiosity being emblematic of being human, art in a time of upheaval, human expression, AI, art monsters, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Seth Walker is singer/songwriter, guitarist, author, and painter who grew up on a commune in North Carolina, has released 12(+) records, has toured and collaborated with The Mavericks, The Wood Brothers, Paul Thorn, and Raul Malo, amongst others, and wrote a book titled 'Your Van is on Fire," about the life of a touring musician. This conversation centers around mindfulness, presence, and awareness, and we touch on his nomadic creativity (having lived in NC, Nashville, Austin, New Orleans, and NYC), listening closely because peace speaks much quieter than anxiety, shedding the energy from the audience after the show, pointing towards the joy, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Caitlyn Smith is a singer and songwriter who has released 3 records via Sony and is now releasing music independently, she has a publishing deal with Universal (UMPG) and her songs have been recorded by Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Meghan Trainor, John Legend, Miley Cirus, Avicii, Lady A, Rascal Flatts, and Chris Isaak amongst others, and she has been nominated or won a Critics Choice Award, ACM and CMT Music Awards. We talk to Caitlyn about not moving from a major label to independence, not believing in writer's block, everyone's horrible first drafts, telling a massive star that they line they came up with just isn't good, and a whole lot about the business of songwriting.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Wilder Woods is the solo project of Bear Rinehart, the lead singer of multi-plantinum, Grammy-nominated, Billboard award winning, multiple Dove award-winning mega rock band NEEDTOBREATHE. We chat with Bear about how his prolific creative output forced his hand on starting Wilder Woods, juggling not only creating but performing with 2 drastically different projects, setting goals and intentions, knowing the path to those goals, internal perception of success and not only allowing things to unfold in their own time but enjoying them for what they are, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Daren Thomas Magee - Real Fun, Wow! - is an illustrator, muralist, and designer based in Ojai California, who has used social media as a creative tool to grow a following (370,000 on instagram currently) and launch a company built on his artwork - selling prints, apparel and housewares of all kinds, and has grown to include multiple employees and collaborations with companies as far reaching as tiles, towels, and candles. We talk with Daren about tuning your instrument to the beauty of life around you, sacrifices you make to live in an inspiring place, play within a system not designed for play, creative inspiration in creating performative social media, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Laurie Berkner has released 15 best-selling records, has performed everywhere from The White House to Carnegie Hall and The Today Show, authored children's books based on her songs, written music and lyrics for 3 different off-Broadway shows, and is one of today's most prominent artist's for kids. We talk to Laurie about her transition from rock bands and 'adult' music, to writing and performing music for kids and the assumptions and stigma around that, self-distributing on a large scale, selling your back catalog, navigating changes in the industry, improvising songs experientially, and a whole lot more.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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Denison Witmer is a singer/songwriter and woodworking from Lancaster PA and longtime collaborator of Sufjan Stevens, who has been releasing records for 20+ years acclaimed by the likes of NPR and Stereogum, and ran a recording studio in Brooklyn before returning to PA. We talk to Denison about the value of creative documentation, leaving behind the external stimulation of the city (Brooklyn) and how returning to relative quiet (Lancaster) shook up his creativity, embracing imperfection, the parallels and contrasts between woodworking and record making, putting systems in place to be the person/artist you want to be, patience, and a whole lot more.
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Links:
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
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