Dayan Kai is one of this podcasts returning champions. He was a guest waaaaaay back in episodes #25 and #26 (with musical pal Steve Uccello), then dropped in with Keith Greeninger in  episodes #85 and #86, and then we caught up with him in solo mode in episodes #129 and episode #162. Dayan's become a really close pal over the years - even coproducing my "Starlite..." and "Hey Karma" records, and a podcast visit is a good excuse to document a nice long talk, and post it for posterity.

If you don't know, Dayan was born in Maui HI but raised locally in San Juan Batista - there's even a wonderful song about it, of course. He moved back to his native Maui seven (yes, seven) years ago, but he makes frequent trips here to the mainland, often teaming up for a west coast run with Keith and mixing in a few solo shows.

His new release is "To Be Free," a wonderful, sparse, but very rootsy and rockin' new album that was engineering by Keith at Wind River Studios. The entire project is just Dayan and his guitar, and is (intentionally) a perfect representation of what you'll get when you go to a solo Dayan. In this interview, we talked about his various music projects, his latest musical adventures ping ponging back and forth to the west coast from Hawaii, and what might be in store for his next musical project (hint: solo ukulele.)

You'll find "To Be Free" (and all of Dayan's records) at dayankai.com, CD Baby, iTunes, and Spotify.

Oh, is THIS going to be a fun one. Carolyn Sills and Gerard Egan, of the The Carolyn Sills Combo, first visited this podcast in 2013 – see “Songs and Stories #131”. We talked about their journey to Santa Cruz, how they ended up at Santa Cruz Guitar Company (who makes the last guitar you’ll ever need – honest), and the process they went through to record their first record as this full band, The Carolyn Sills Combo (a fine band that also features Jimmy Norris on drums, Charlie Wallace on pedal steel, and Sunshine Jackson on harmony vocals and percussion.)

Six years later, they’re back with their third project, and it’s something special: “Return to El Paso” is a five-song EP that takes Marty Robbin’s groundbreaking “El Paso” and builds songs around the characters in the tune, giving them each a bit of backstory and more detail. (Even the getaway horse gets his/her own tune, on the frolicking “Hold Your Horses” near the end of the album. Carolyn says this all started with a single line, “I’m not crying – I just have jalapeno in my eyes,” that she kept writing in her notebooks. She finally asked herself, “who would say this?” Feleena from “El Paso” came to mind. Then she and Gerard realized there was more to it, and this collection of songs were slowly born. “Return to El Paso” is very ambitious and very cool. It works.

Tip: Once you buy the record – and you should – give a close listen to Marty Robbin’s “El Paso” and read this analysis of the story before diving into the Combo’s five songs. It’ll give you an extra appreciation for what they’ve done here. (That Feleena. She was a piece of work.)Since I talked to them about their move to Santa Cruz in our last visit, I wanted to go WAY back this time. In this outing, you’ll learn how they met in college (they were music pals for a year before the romance evolved – it’s a wonderful story) and eventually began playing music together. (Check out their early band, Boss Tweed. It’s also amazing.)

“Return to El Paso” is available as a download, a CD, and a vinyl release at carolynsills.com. As an added bonus, the vinyl release includes three songs from their last record, “Dime Stories Vol. 2” on side two of the record. This podcast includes “Feleena,” from “Return to El Paso” and “Buffalo Bill’s Lament,” from “Dime Stories Vol. 2” (and side two of their new vinyl record.)

Here’s a fun bonus episode for the month. KPIG Radio has always been very kind to me. They’ve played my music, had me on the air to promote my shows, and most recently (in March of this year), I officially joined the crew. I’m a fill-in DJ (with lots of opps to fill in), and I’m maintaining their web site and social media content. Life is good.

Recently, me and most of my New Best Friends band were guests on “Please Stand By,” their live Sunday morning show. We were on to remind folks about our big show at The Ugly Mug cafe later that week. We played live versions of my song “Hey Karma,” a cover of Rodney Crowell’s “Still Learning How to Fly,” and premiered our new holiday tune, “No More Tequila For Santa” on KPIG for the first time.

Fun fact: As of this post, “No More Tequila For Santa” is available for download and streaming on  Spotify, iTunes, Amazon and all your favorite digital platforms.

Big thanks to guest host Eric Parsons, for the great fun interview. We talked in detail about playing solo vs fronting a band, and dug through the ins, outs, and whys of doing a podcast like this. Much appreciated.

Sometimes, the long way around turns out to be the straightest path. Nashville’s Renee Wahl came from a military family and served 12 years in the air force. Then with a physics degree in hand, she eventually became a teacher. But since the age of six, Renee had been playing and writing music. She eventually worked her way to a position near Nashville. Music was always in the background – and in her crosshairs – and rightly so.

These days she’s a full-time, touring songwriter. Renee has a classic country voice, and she’s armed with an admittedly dark sense of humor (which often balances well with her Nashville cowriters). She’s on the road – a lot – either with her full band, the Sworn Secrets, or just her her percussionist David Strayer. (Touring as a duo a drummer as her side person enables them to play either small, intimate rooms, or put some volume behind it for larger venues.)

I met Renee a few months ago when she was a guest on KPIG radio’s live music show “Please Stand By”, and I was cohosting. Renee makes frequent trips to the west coast, so we decided to meet the next time she was in town for a proper, lengthy sitdown chat. In this interview, we chat about touring logistics, how the meaning of a song can change as you’re performing it, and how we as songwriters are in the pursuit of “micro-cents” (a term I just learned) in today’s world of streaming music platforms.

This episode includes “Meds,”, off Renee’s latest release, “Cut To the Bone” and live take on her song “Me Before You”, also off her new record. You can purchase and download Renee’s songs from iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.