Today’s episode is a live recording of a conversation Spotlight On host Lawrence Peryer had in Santa Barbara, at the FestForums conference, with American musical treasure, Jesse Colin Young. 

Jesse Colin Young has been a pioneer of American roots music for more than half a century and has left his unique mark on the intersecting worlds of folk, blues, jazz, country, and rock & roll. 

As the frontman of the Youngbloods, he immortalized the ideals of the Woodstock generation with "Get Together," an international hit that called for peace and brotherhood during the turbulent 1960s. During the decades that followed, Young expanded both his audience and his artistic range, releasing a string of solo albums that mixed socially-conscious lyrics with top-tier guitar skills and gorgeous vocals. An acclaimed songwriter, singer, instrumentalist, producer, label owner, podcast host, and longtime social/environmental activist, he has established a permanent place in America's musical landscape, while continuing to make modern music that's every bit as vital as his work during the counterculture era.

Later in the talk LP and his guest were joined by Jesse’s daughter Jazzie, a performer in her own right.

About Jesse Colin Young | Jazzie Young

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Today, the spotlight shines on the German electronic jazz collective Conic Rose. Their new, self-released debut album Heller Tag (or, Bright Day, in English), is out tomorrow, February 17, worldwide.  

Members of the group who joined our talk included Trumpeter Konstantin Döben, keyboardist Johannes Arzberger, bassist Franziska Aller and guitarist Bertram Burkert. All come from diverse musical backgrounds, with their individual projects including work with artists like arena-filling German pop star Clueso and Jazz icon Joy Denalane.

Conic Rose’s music interweaves electronic elements, cinematic jazz, vibey soundscapes and hints of German art rock. All songs are written, recorded and produced by the group in their own recording studio in Berlin.

Enjoy our talk and check out the new album.

About

Conic Rose

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Today, the spotlight shines on Janishia Jones, CEO & Founder of Fresh 'N Sassy Productions, a holding company whose mission is to empower and create an ecosystem of safe spaces for women of color in the music industry.

Janishia had four main initiatives to tell us about: The Pub Royalty Queen Podcast, The Juke Joint Non-profit Foundation, her consultancy Encore Music Tech Solutions and Market Research Agency A Seat at the Table. 

Each of these projects contributes to Janishia’s mission in its own way, and our guest breaks down exactly how in today’s episode. The discussion lingers longest on A Seat at the Table’s research report, A Perspective on Women of Color in the Music Business, which anyone with an interest in equity and inclusion needs to read. 

Janishia is doing powerful and relevant work and it is an honor to have her as our guest. 

About Janishia Jones 

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Today, the spotlight shines on two companies doing interesting work at the crossroads of music and technology. 

In our first segment, we talk to Adam Hasslert, CEO of online digital audio workstation and beatmaking platform Soundation. Every month, Soundation’s online music studio is used by over 100,000 creatives who produce music directly in their web browsers. Focusing on building the next-generation music software for upcoming music producers with professional ambitions, Soundation offers a collaborative workstation, a vibrant online community, and many learning tools. The company's mission is to facilitate musical creativity around the world.

Next up we have Max Goldberg and Steven Segel of Hotdrop, a new app that addresses the current generational shift underway in music discovery and consumption. 30-second snippets enable rapid discovery, are easily shared with other music superfans, yielding high virality for emerging artists. Hotdrop enables exactly this.

Whether you create, promote or enjoy new music, today’s episode has something that should appeal to you.

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Today, the spotlight shines on musicians Bart Wirtz and Emiel van Rijthoven who perform and record together under the name WAAN (Dutch for ‘Craze’). 

WAAN have a new record, Echo Echo, out on February 24 through the Sonar Kollektiv label. As of this recording three tracks have already appeared on streaming outlets and through the band’s bandcamp page. In fact, just hours before we spoke the final advance track, Omi, dropped. 

If you are a fan of Floating Points, BADBADNOTGOOD, Ezra Collective or any of the other modern artists making jazz more electronic or electronic music more improvisational, WAAN is for you.

More about WAAN

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Today, the spotlight shines on author and educator Michael Kuelker, here to talk about his recent book, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils On Record: A Narrative Discography. Michael is a teacher, writer, and reggae radio DJ in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are an American rock group who first formed in 1972. Hailing from Springfield, Missouri, the band had two major hits, "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" from their debut album in 1974 and a certified smash, "Jackie Blue" from their 1975 follow-up.

Michael’s book uses the framework of their discography as the scaffolding on which to hang not only over 50 years of their story, but to go back further to describe the music and cultural scenes of the Ozark region as well as the various threads of the music business and cultural industries that the band buffeted against over the years. It is a unique mode of storytelling, one worth reading and applying to other artists and scenes. 

Michael joined us to talk about his work on the book and to give us some insight into the band and the world they developed in.

Author Website

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Today, the spotlight shines on the wildly influential post-punk group, That Petrol Emotion. Guitarist and songwriter Raymond Gorman and lead singer Steve Mack joined Spotlight On host Lawrence Peryer to mark the release of the band’s career-spanning box set, Every Beginning Has a Future: An Anthology 1984-1994.

Spawned from the ashes of the Northern Irish pop-punk group, The Undertones, the Petrols synthesized all of the music, culture and politics around them to create something vibrant and new. Across five albums - all given a fresh clean-up and augmented with singles, B-sides and rarities in the new box - the band combined 80’s indie/alt rock, post-punk, garage, dance and hip hop to innovate their way into becoming one of the most important and influential bands of their era. 

Their genre-hopping and political identities came with a cost. While their fanbase was fervent and ever-growing, mainstream success eluded the band, as their sound was too difficult for marketers to pigeonhole and their politics - particularly their identification with Northern Ireland and other liberation struggles, made them untouchable and in some cases censored by the mainstream press of the time. 

But the music and legacy is undeniable. That Petrol Emotion fits neatly on a record shelf with trailblazers like the Clash or Public Image Limited and you would be hard-pressed to imagine a BritPop or the Manchester scene without the path they forged. 

ThatPetrolEmotion.com

Host Lawrence Peryer

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Brigadoon is a global affairs news and information platform for founders + thought leaders with global ambition. 

Brigadoon curates the emerging issues and the independent thinkers shaping commerce + culture. Brigadoon sees this curation as global street smarts. 

The conversation covers the history of technology and innovation in creative fields - specifically music - and highlights the innovations of artists like Franz Liszt, Frank Sinatra and David Bowie.

Born out of personal frustration of spending too much time with the same people thinking the same way, Brigadoon is a simple idea, connect founders + thought leaders who believe in the power of conversation and embrace curiosity. 

Brigadoon organizes powerpoint free discussions, family-style salon dinners, and multi-day excursions that foster deeper knowledge and enable better connections. 

Established in 2013, Brigadoon is produced by Caracal Strategies LLC and curated by Marc A. Ross.

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Saxophonist-composer Jeremy Rose leads a multi-dimensional career spanning a dozen releases of original music with collaborative and solo projects across the world, including The Earshift Orchestra, Jeremy Rose Quartet, and The Vampires. Rose is the founder and director of the Earshift Music record label and festival. Rose has performed at festivals, venues, and concert halls throughout Australia, Europe, and the UK, including recently touring Europe with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and collaborating with Benin-born Blue Note guitarist Lionel Loueke. 

Rose has been described as “one to watch on the Australian jazz scene” (Jazzwise, UK), “one of the most creative and restless musicians in the Australian jazz scene” (Australianjazz.net), “a brilliant jazz composer and instrumentalist, a young man with a social purpose” (The Australian), and “a bold, emerging Aussie voice” (Limelight Magazine).

Rose has received recognition through nominations for the ARIA Awards, three AIR Awards, Australian Music Prize short-listing, two Jazz Bell Awards, the APRA Professional Development Award for Jazz, a four-time finalist for the AMC Art Music Award for Excellence in Jazz, and runner up at the National Jazz Awards saxophone competition. As a label director of Earshift Music, Rose has fostered a community of creative musicians throughout Australasia, which NYC Jazz Records describe as “hell-bent on pushing the very definition of jazz.”

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Markus Reuter is a music producer, composer, performer, and creative educator with international credentials and a vast discography. 

Reuter's work as a recording artist, solo performer, and collaborator spans (and frequently fuses) electrophonic loop music, contemporary classical music, progressive and art rock, industrial music, world jazz, jazz fusion, pop songs, and pure improvisation. Over the course of a two-decade career, he has been a member of multiple bands, ensembles, and projects (including centrozoon, Stick Men, Tuner, The Crimson ProjeKct, and Europa String Choir) as well as a solo artist. Since 2011 Reuter has established himself as a contemporary classical composer, starting with the performance and recording of his large-scale orchestral piece Todmorden 513.

A specialist in touch guitar playing, Reuter became known as a leading player of the Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick during the 1990s and 2000s before developing, adopting, and marketing his own U8 and U10 Touch Guitar instruments. In collaboration with former King Crimson member Trey Gunn, he runs the Touch Guitar Circle, a teaching and support network for touch guitar players.

As well as further collaborations with artists including Tim Bowness, Lee Fletcher, Ian Boddy, and Robert Rich, Reuter has produced records by numerous musicians and released several solo recordings as both performer and composer. He is also part of an artist-owned production consortium that encompasses Iapetus Media, Unsung Productions, and Unsung Records.

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