The Songwriter's Podcast with Anne Sibley

Meet my friend, the peaceful pianist Michael Martinez.  He is a composer who channels music from deep within the heart.  He performs the title track from one of his new albums called “The Stillness Within” as well as a misplaced and forgotten song he revived called “Goodbye“.\

This podcast is special because he joins my songwriting membership group via Zoom as our guest songwriter so you will hear their questions and comments in the end, as well!

Michael has been on a deep spiritual journey that I believe you will not only hear but feel through his music.  He is a natural teacher that will no doubt bring you a bit deeper into your own music just from listening to this conversation.

Michael mentions Kenny Warner, author of Effortless Mastery and shares an exercise designed to strengthen your creativity muscle and reprogram your mind away from judging: Start playing anything on your instrument, completely relax your body and when your MIND kicks in, take your hands off your instrument. When judgment arises, take your hands off and stop.

We talk about negative musical identity programming from our developmental years and how few people come out of youth without scars.

Michael has a vibrant YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-SVyGwS22rnzhXxf1_nwwg

Visit Michael’s Website: https://www.michaelmartinezmusic.com/

Enjoy Michael’s music here on Spotify and in many other places https://open.spotify.com/artist/5xU9fGVJjEudolpIPCqg4w

Michael and Anne recorded a single in 2022, a cover of Sarah MacLachlan's Angel:
https://open.spotify.com/album/585AJ1nB9hfEoVTNb0atoc

Takeaways:

• When you let go inside something magical happens
• There is a constant river of creativity available to us
• The mind gets in the way of our songwriting
• Don’t mentally grasp at everything 
• Setting goals for yourself and having a deadline can give you a surge of creativity
• Let go inside instead of getting overwhelmed and stressed
• Allow a letting go at a deep level instead of ”this has to be good” and “has to sound like this” because that will be too mechanical
• The need to sound good kicks in a “trying”
• Bring back a playfulness into your music and see what comes through
• Lengthen the stretches of time in between judgements, create spaciousness
• Mindfulness practices will help you catch the undertone of quick, negative emotions
• Attune your body with your instrument

Thanks and don't forget to "FOLLOW" the podcast for weekly new episodes!

A beautiful conversation with the courageous and the deep Sarah Sample.  On today’s episode we talk about everything from co-writing songs to singer-songwriters rallying through motherhood and touring.

Her courage and vulnerability as a musician (and now also as an oncology nurse) is inspirational. She shares with us a newly released single called “Black Sheep” that she co-wrote with her sister about their religious upbringing. She also treats us to “Love Song” about her beloved husband.

We even talk about our dreams of being famous and mourning those dreams as we navigate the reality of our musical careers and lives.

I can’t get these lyrics with their beautiful melody from her chorus on “Black Sheep” out of my head:

I’ll find my own way with God

There is a healing power in Sarah’s lyrics and stories, her deep dive songwriting is courageous and skilled so I hope you enjoy this time I spent with her, I know I did.

Check out Sarah’s Redwing Album, her 6th Studio Album also don’t miss:  ‘Til the Morning, a Lullaby Album with Edie Carey.

-Visit Sarah’s website: https://www.sarahsample.com/

-Watch beautiful music videos here: https://www.sarahsample.com/media-horizon

-Listen to Sarah Sample on Spotify

-YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@sarahsample88

-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahsample

-Instagram: @sarahsample88

Some more Takeaways:  

• Drop your ego and drop in
• You have to respect the writer you are co-writing with!
• Take the pressure off of co-writing sessions
• When you are singing about the hard things, people really connect to your songs through their own stories
• Being famous is “being known” and Sarah is so good at letting us get to know her
• Allow the unknown
• If you dive deep and share from a deep place that is what makes the listeners feel deeply

On today’s mini-episode, I talk about the new song I am working on that is working ME and how to stick with a song that is hard to write because it is so worth it. I also want to hear from you, what are you working on? Do you have a new song? Are you stuck or in a rut? 

For all of us at-home songwriters (some who perform their songs out and so who don't), we need support and inspiration or else we get so busy with life and stuck in our heads.

Here are some things I touch upon in this mini-episode:

How To Stick With A Song That is Hard to Write

-Songs are so worth sticking with even when they are hard

-Sometimes life needs to be experienced more to get the rest of the song

-Songs are gifts for life

-Songwriting is true alchemy: We take all the hard crap from our life and all the messy emotions and writing a song makes meaning from it all, -Our songs can even start to inform our life!

-We are turning pain into beauty

-We know pain, are we willing to know beauty?

-Beauty is seeing something outside of us and how it serves our life

What is keeping you so busy that you are not playing music and writing songs? 

Drop me a line via email or social messaging or visit my website: annesibley.com and sign up for consultation call. I am a singer-songwriter and songwriting coach helping people find their authentic voice and write the songs they need to write for their healing.

**Try writing a permission slip to yourself and post it near your coffee maker! Then take 5 minutes and go play music RIGHT NOW. I promise you won't regret it.

www.annesibley.com

"Promise of Tomorrow" is written by Anne Sibley (C) Peace Mountain Music, BMI

On today’s episode, you’ll meet two passionate musicians and teachers building community! Their annual Yosemite Songwriting Retreat in October is a welcoming community filled with wonderful instructors, delicious food, workshops and beautiful community building (in addition to improving your songwriting!). Gail Dreifus and David Budries are as adorable as they sound! They are leaders in music education and community building - they put instruments into people’s hands, teach songwriting and sound design as well as perform in their community uplifting their neighbors. Gail is a longtime educator and recording artist, having played in Yosemite National Park singing about nature ecology and continues teaching music today.  David has spent forty years teaching sound design and supporting the next generations of creatives including being a Professor at The Yale School of Drama.

-Check out Yosemite Songwriting Retreat, October 6th - 8th, 2023: https://yosemitesongwriting.com/
located in Mariposa, California

-Visit Gail’s website: https://gaillynnemusic.com/about/

-Contact Gail and David about the Retreat: https://gaillynnemusic.com/contact/

-Listen to Gail’s Yosemite Children’s Ecology Albums here: https://gaillynnemusic.com/music/

Follow Yosemite Songwriting Retreat

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1244974329463366

On Instagram: #yosemitesongwritingretreat

Some of my favorite quotes from our conversation: 

-Songwriting craves reflection

-At a retreat each person’s light is like an ember and it sparks another person’s!

-The retreat is all about community building and people stepping up their courage

-During the open mic at the retreat, we just wrap the performer in love!
-Putting instruments in the hands of people who have never played before

Visit my website for the 6-Week Online Songwriting Program plus other songwriting coaching and retreats! https://www.annesibley.com/work-with-me

Thank you to Gail and David!

The Shandies are a married couple and musical duo making beautiful music together. Meet my new friends Natalie Wlodarczyk and Shannon Stine and hear them sing their original songs, “With the Grain” and “I Won’t Be Back” live on this episode of The Songwriter’s Podcast. Afterwards you can stream their brand new album everywhere!

The new album is called “If You Knew Me”and it is their 4th studio album.  Based in Springfield, Missouri, they officially became the Shandies in 2016.  They have a versatile folk-rock-country-pop style. 

Natalie has also been a music therapist for twenty years which always fascinates me! She talks about the incredible power of music to help people in many stages of their lives and to help them heal from traumas.

I think you’ll love their collaborative, harmonies duet!

Listen to The Shandies on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0An31FDkER2A28DeG9vRIv

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxX-NIHIwy06mhDgbS2MLZw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpringfieldShandies/

Instagram: @theshandies

More links for The Shandies: https://linktr.ee/TheShandies

Visit www.musictherapy.org to find out more about music therapy and how to become a therapist!

Molly Venter is a powerful, musical spirit and one of my favorite songwriters. She is a creative vessel who performed to much acclaim with the band Red Molly and continues to make incredible music with Goodnight Moonshine, her duo with husband Eben Pariser.   She performs “Lost and Found” from her Goodnight Moonshine album and a brand new song called “Kitchen Table” on this episode that you can find on her Patreon page.

-Still time to register for Anne’s signature 6-Week Online Songwriting Group Program and get writing again! https://www.annesibley.com/work-with-me Set up a consultation call today if you are interested in applying, space is limited!

-Check out Molly's Music with Goodnight Moonshine: https://www.goodnightmoonshine.com/

-Join Molly’s community with a subscription to her Patreon. Molly shares a new song every week! https://www.patreon.com/mollyventer/posts

- Listen to Molly’s Music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/12mNgTqcQafyLbw1AlyZp8

Instagram:

@mollyventer

@gnightmoonshine

Find her duo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gnightmoonshine

Takeaways from the Episode:

• Building a practice might be more minutes than hours
• It’s not the length of our practice but the depth
• Discipline creates a vessel
• Motherhood can actually deepen our creativity and make our songs richer and more resonant
• “The greatest gift we can give our children is our own happiness” -Thich Nhat Hanh
• Patreon gives artists a purpose and a community
• What do I want to do every week? That’s what I do. Doing what feels good.
• We need everyone to write their songs
• “Just doing my art is the most healing thing I do”  -Molly

A fun gathering with Violet Vonder Haar, a music teacher, singer-songwriter and community leader. She joins my songwriting group and gives us a break-down of her self-imposed songwriting challenge: 30 songs in 30 days!  Listen as she performs two of these original songs, “Ghost on This Street” and “The Introvert’s Lament”. 

Nobody waves hello anymore

We just walk down the sidewalk and try to ignore

What is clearly happening right under our feet

Is it just me or is there a ghost on this street?

-Registration now open for Anne’s signature 6-Week Online Songwriting Group Program, get writing again! https://www.annesibley.com/work-with-me Set up a consultation call right away if you are interested in applying, space is limited!

Don't forget to follow the Podcast wherever you listen and not miss the next episode!

-Become a member of Violet’s Patreon and hear all 30 of her songs from the challenge: https://www.patreon.com/violetvh/

Listen to Violet’s Music: https://violetvonderhaar.bandcamp.com

www.violetvonderhaar.com

On Spotify at Violet and the Undercurrents 

Instagram:

 @violet__sings and @violetandtheundercurrents

Facebook at @violetvonderhaar and @violetandtheundercurrents

-Check out Violet’s Songbird Studio in Columbia, MO: https://centerproject.org/directory_listing/violets-songbird-studio/

Thank you to our SPONSORS:

Kelly Productions, John Kelly: https://www.kellypro.com/

Rocky Mountain Prayer Healing, Leslie Foster: http://www.rockymountainprayerhealing.com/

Takeaways:

If we are writing from an authentic place, sometimes our songs will sound the same, that is okay.

Varying dropped tunings is one way Violet uses to vary what she’s performing

Our songwriting process can evolve

Life creates art and art creates life!

Songwriting is a conversation between two voices (you and your instrument!)

Songwriting is a fun adventure, a mystery of letting the song come through you

We are so hard on ourselves, would I speak to another person like this? I wouldn’t.

It’s a process and a practice and they don’t all have to be hits!

Two things you need to write a song: An audience and a deadline!

A special hangout with songwriter/guitarist John Lowell from Livingston, Montana. John is an exemplary songwriter, king of painting pictures and taking us back in time with his songs. He has won numerous songwriting awards including the grand prize for the 2021 Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest with one of my favorite songs, “Richmond”.  Today you’ll hear him sing "Times Are Getting Harder" and “Richmond” plus share his songwriting process.

Don't forget to click FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast wherever you listen so you don’t miss upcoming episodes!

-Join Anne’s Songwriting Email List for weekly tips and check out her songwriting coaching offerings: https://www.annesibley.com/upcoming-events

- Visit and listen to John's music at his website: https://johnlowell.com/

You can also listen to John on his Growling Old Men and Kane’s River albums

- Listen to John on Spotify:   https://open.spotify.com/artist/5bbIdlBepJbLrLNmpJp2Km

-Follow John on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/johnlowellmt/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090699596238

-Thanks to our sponsor!  Rocky Mountain Prayer Healing, Leslie Foster: http://www.rockymountainprayerhealing.com/

Takeaways:

I take my inner editor and lock that little guy away while writing!  

Write quickly and let the song come out before you let the editor back into the song.

If you come up with the title early on in writing the song it may help inform how the song unfolds.

Write fast, let it come out, and accept mediocrity to unlock your creativity.

In addition to solo writing, try co-writing!

If you say you’re a songwriter, do it daily, it’s a muscle we need to flex.

---If you want to leave a REVIEW for the podcast, that would be awesome! Thanks, Anne---

A joyful conversation with singer-songwriter Beth Wood from Sisters, Oregon.  There is an abundance of powerful beauty in Beth's voice, her guitar playing, and her songwriting. With the heart of a teacher and the infectious smile and spirit of an open-hearted soul, Beth has so much musical energy and inspiration. In this episode, she sings her song "Love is Onto you" from her latest album and "Step Outside."

Don't forget to subscribe to the Podcast wherever you listen! 

-Learn about my Songwriting Workshops & Coaching (Online) or Upcoming Concerts: https://www.annesibley.com/upcoming-events

- Visit and listen to Beth’s music at her website: https://www.bethwoodmusic.com/

- She’s Speaking Project  https://shesspeakingsongs.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/c/ShesSpeaking

-Join Beth’s Patreon community for beautiful poems and song releases:https://www.patreon.com/bethwoodmusic/posts

-Follow Beth on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/bethwoodmusic/

-Thanks to our sponsor: Rocky Mountain Prayer Healing, Leslie Foster: http://www.rockymountainprayerhealing.com/

In addition to releasing fifteen albums, Beth has released three books of poetry, Kazoo Symphonies, Ladder to the Light (2019 finalist for the Oregon Book Award Stafford/Hall award for poetry and 2019 Winner of the Oregon Book Award Readers’ Choice Award) and Believe the Bird (Winner of the San Francisco Book Festival Poetry Award). She has been recognized by the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award, The Sisters Folk Festival Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Award, the Billboard World Song Contest, The Oregon Book Awards, and many more.