Tyler Summers talks to Interesting Humans

Derek is a world traveler, musician, and entrepreneur. He's started many businesses and has some wonderful thoughts on getting through fear of failure and the hard work necessary to have success as a self employed person. He currently resides on a beautiful island "Flores" in Indonesia. He's truly travelled and lived taking with him the cultures he experiences.

Kirch is an artist from Ohio who has a beautiful outlook on life. Rose up with two successful bands that have toured the US and landed record deals. His current project is 80's based and bathed in positivity.

More Info - https://www.instagram.com/kirchandstuff/

Professional accordionist and multi-instrumentalist, Jeff Taylor, grew up in Batavia, New York, and began playing accordion and keyboards in his dad’s band when he was 10. He studied classical piano at the Eastman School of Music and was leader of a small jazz/rock group when he was in the Air Force in Ohio. He has lived in Nashville since 1990. Taylor counts among his performing highlights his two years as bandleader at the Ryman auditorium for the musical production Always, Patsy Cline, hundreds of shows as bandleader at Opryland theme park and on the General Jackson showboat, The Skaggs Family Christmas Tour, and many appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, backing numerous artists. He has recorded with Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Harry Connick Jr., Keith and Kristyn Getty, Amy Grant, George Strait, The Chieftains, Martina McBride, Buddy Greene, Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs. He was a featured artist on the Ricky Skagg’s and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals CD that won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Bluegrass Album. Besides excelling on accordion and piano, he also shines on the concertina, penny whistle, mandolin and bouzouki.

Jeff Taylor performs as a member of The Time Jumpers, along with Vince Gill and also some of the best musicians in Nashville. The Time Jumpers are an award winning Western Swing band from Nashville, Tennessee, with two awards from the Association of Western Artists, one from the Western Music Association and two Grammy nominations! This group of Nashville’s studio elite has evolved from casual jam sessions at the Grand Ole Opry to performing on the main stage, and becoming THE Monday night destination in Nashville,.

Their individual recording and performing credits cover virtually the entire history of country music, ranging from Slim Whitman to Carrie Underwood, and their members have recorded extensively with artists in other genres as well, from Barbra Streisand to Megadeth. The Time Jumpers appear, regularily, at The Station Inn, Nashville, Tennessee.

Jeff Taylor, performs on the accordion, along with the great Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers

Christa Wells is an American singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee, with over 15 years experience in the music industry.

As an indie artist, Christa has released five albums, developing a signature alternative-pop sound that is fresh, soulful, and enduring. Her latest project,Velveteen (April 2018) chronicles her own journey through suffering, singing relentless hope across the wide spaces of loss.

In 2013 she also teamed up with fellow singer-songwriter Nicole Witt to create a folk-inspired collection of worship music under band name More Than Rubies.

An award-winning songwriter, Christa has also collaborated with other Nashville artists to write hit songs such as “Held” (Natalie Grant), “Need You Now” + “God Help Me” (Plumb), and “Red Sea Road” (Ellie Holcomb.

Christa is passionate about encouraging + mentoring fellow artists. In addition to devoting regular time to one-on-one songwriting coaching, she also serves one week each summer on staff with Masterpiece Ministries, an arts camp for high school students. Along with Nicole Witt, she co-founded a creative support community called Artist And, which hosts periodic songwriting and creative/spiritual retreats.

http://www.christawellsmusic.com/

Brad Turner is a Canadian jazz trumpeter and pianist. He has won three Juno Awards and six Canadian National Jazz Awards for categories including Jazz Trumpeter of the Year, Jazz Composer of the Year, and Musician of the Year.

Turner graduated from R. E. Mountain Secondary School in 1985, and attended Western Washington University's jazz studies program. A year later he transferred to University of North Texas, and played and composed for the very well known One O'Clock Lab Band. He graduated from UNT in 1992 after finishing his master's degree.

Upon graduation, Turner returned to Vancouver and formed the Brad Turner Quartet, which consisted of Bruno Hubert on piano, André Lachance on bass, and Dylan Van der Schyff on drums. The four have been playing together since, and have established themselves as one of Canada's most respected jazz groups.

Turner was one of the founding members of the jazz fusion group Metalwood which formed in 1997. The members played together until 2003, and had a reunion album released in 2016 entitled Twenty (referring to their 20th anniversary as a group). Later that year, the group went on tour to support the album, which lead them to winning a Juno Award as best group jazz album of the year.

Turner has also performed and recorded with such artists as Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, John Scofield, Michael Moore, Renee Rosnes, Jimmy Greene, Ingrid Jensen, Dylan Van der Schyff, Mike Murley, Seamus Blake, Kenny Werner, and Ernie Watts.

Turner currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is on faculty at Capilano University in North Vancouver, where he has been teaching for over two decades. He has also been the director of Capilano University's A band ensemble since the late 1990s.

Montreal born Josh Trager is one of Canada's most prominent drummers. An alumnus and scholarship recipient of the Berklee College of Music, he is best known as a member of the platinum selling Sam Roberts Band. The band has released five albums, won six Junos, and has performed at Live 8, for the British Royal Family, and at many other high profile events, festivals and TV shows throughout North America and abroad.

Prior to joining the Sam Roberts Band in 2005, Trager performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Montreal Drum Fest, as part of the Yamaha Rising Star showcase (1999). He was a member of Mahogany Rush from 2001-2005, having been personally selected, at the age of 20, by guitar legend Frank Marino. Trager also appeared on numerous stages and recordings with many great artists; most notably: members of Barenaked Ladies, Jack Bruce (Cream) , Uli Roth(Scorpions), French pop star Jacynthe, James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), See Spot Run, Torquil Campbell (Stars) and Jonas (supporting 2004 Van Halen tour).

Trager is also a contributor to Canadian Musician, DRUM!, MD blogs and more recently, Drumeo.

Toronto native, living in Nashville since 2003, Chris has toured with sonicflood, Mat Kearney, Steven Curtis Chapman, Steel Magnolia, Eric Paslay, and many others.

In 2012, Chris joined Thomas Rhett’s band, and has since fulfilled MD, band leading, and recording roles.

When not touring, Chris owns and operates The Brown Owl Studio in Nashville, TN.

For the 2017 Thomas Rhett tour, Chris is using a gold sparkle USA custom Gretsch kit.

Sometimes the most compelling art and spiritually-nourishing songwriting comes after a challenging season, though in the case of consistently thought-provoking troubadour Audrey Assad, it appeared after a gut-wrenching deconstruction of her fundamentalist faith foundation, alongside crippling battles against anxiety. In fact, it was that very maze of emotions, coupled with the inability to write worship songs she felt were genuinely authentic, that resulted in the four years between her last original album and the immensely awaited Evergreen (Fortunate Fall Records/Tone Tree Music), which besides chronicling the no-holds-barred transparency of her struggles, buds with rebirth and hope.

“I wish I could point out a catalytic moment, but my journey out of fundamentalism has been very gradual,” explains Assad. “Actually, I have found that fundamentalism was not just a descriptor for my childhood beliefs, but also a deeply ingrained worldview through which I looked at everything in my life. It has taken far longer to soften the effects of that lens than I had imagined it would when I left my Plymouth Brethren church behind at the age of twenty-one. Even in my mid-thirties now, after having been Catholic for ten years, the residue of fundamentalism remains. I live in a slow, constant process now of encountering the vestiges of fundamentalist thinking as they present themselves, assessing them, and putting them to the side if I am done with them.”

Continues Assad: “I do remember hitting a wall in late 2014 when I was experiencing some serious burnout, and when I finally took some time to breathe and examine my interior state in early 2015, I found scorched earth. I had always struggled to relate to believers who heard the voice of God at every step, but it had gotten even more desolate, and I truly felt no sense of God's presence at all—in my heart or in the universe. I would say that is when I truly began to actively deconstruct the religion I had grown so comfortable with. It seemed very bleak at the time to me, but looking back, it was a really healthy experience of disillusionment that led to greater detachment—I learned to live with open hands around everything, even my belief.”

However, Audrey will be the first to admit there was a point where her sense of belief was practically non-existent, specifically relating to ancestral empathy for those slain in one of the modern world’s most brutal conflicts. Having been raised in an Arab-American household with a father of Syrian descent gave her a laser sharp perspective on the country’s violent civil war, and ultimately, the traumas and tragedies that happen to innocent victims in a state of unrest that’s in process to this day.

“As a younger person, I had been used to scoffing at people who expressed disillusionment or despair at wondering why God lets bad things happen to good people,” recalls Assad as she traces some of the earliest seeds of her Evergreen renewal process. “But when the Syrian civil war broke out, I finally began to understand what they were feeling. My father is a Syrian refugee and so the war hit me in a very tender spot. As the horrors of that brutal conflict unfolded and then kept rolling out year after year, as I saw images of children killed by nerve gas and parents holding their babies who had been pulled dead from the rubble of yet another collapsed school or hospital. I began to feel an anger I had never experienced. I didn't just wonder why God let bad things happen to good people—I truly began to wonder if God existed at all. Really, I think I had always wondered that, but never given myself true permission to ask. The war was revelatory of my underlying doubts, and once those finally had a voice, the clamor was deafening. It was so strange to feel so bitter toward a God I didn't think I believed in. But I didn't know where else to put my emotions, honestly. My prayer life was reduced to a few snarling journal entries every few months.”

As intense as every page in her diary developed, the deeply personal exercise was the genesis of what would become a very public outpouring in the form of Evergreen, or what Assad so aptly summarizes as “a series of journal entries from outposts on the road I traveled to get here.” The idea was actually conceptualized in the summer of 2016 when she reignited her musical friendship with “I Shall Not Want” co-writer Bryan Brown, who co-wrote and co-produced “Evergreen,” the very first song from the sessions that cemented the album’s title.

“I was still learning to let go of my need to fit God inside my head, and I was still really bent out of shape, but I had also begun to see seedlings sprouting through the forest floor in my burned out heart,” notices Assad. “I remember looking up the tree of life and finding out that it was believed in some Jewish traditions to be a sycamore fig tree, which is evergreen. I loved the idea that the tree of life, which I had always naively imagined to be some little backyard fruit tree, was actually a towering, season-less one. It is also said to be the sort of tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus, and that story has been a great comfort to me in this process.”

Along with a consistent round of counseling and prayer, additional weight from panic attacks and even an anxiety-related hand twitching that made it difficult to play piano were lifted after seeing a trauma therapist in 2017. “That movement into therapy was the beginning of the end of the 'crisis' portion of this whole thing,” adds Assad. “I began to look at my emotions with compassion and allow them to exist in harmony or tension (or both) within me, and gradually the panic got better and so did the bitterness. Anger is my companion now and not my enemy. So I guess I still have anger, specifically about injustice and war, but I'm no longer consumed by it. I find that it is a healthy part of who I am.”

At the dawn of 2018 with so much turmoil behind her, Assad is finally ready to unleash Evergreen to the world at large. And considering the multiple Dove Award nominee’s string of critically-lauded albums, collaborating with Chris Tomlin, writing for Christy Nockels, Matt Maher, Meredith Andrews and many others, plus tours alongside Jars Of Clay, Tenth Avenue North and tons more, it’s being met with tremendous anticipation, especially when it comes to her current creative path.

“This album, more than my last few, really is a combination of journal-style personal writing and worship writing, which are very different from each other,” observes Audrey. “There is certainly a pastoral element to writing for corporate worship that doesn't necessarily exist in writing more confessional-style devotional music. I labored over the choice of songs as I desired to put together something that would be cohesive, but diverse in its intent…I have loved Irish music since I was a child, and I know it pops out here and there on Evergreen. I decided to run with that whenever the inspiration struck. I really wanted to create lush soundscapes—to sort of melt everything so the listener could float. In addition, I used mellotron on almost every song in some way—both as a sample and from an actual instrument. I also played drums for the first time on this record (on ‘Unfolding’) — experimentation was the order of the day in some ways. I crafted a lot of the sounds myself, and I did about 2/3 of the vocal engineering and a large part of the production and playing. I think I ended up with something that feels like me.”

Take for instance the lead single “Deliverer,” which hearkens back to her hit-making streak on Sparrow Records, beginning with self-restrained beauty that eventually blossoms into a wall of sound as it speaks of Assad’s attempt to look at the term from fresh angles. “All along I had thought Jesus was my deliverer from God—it turns out that, among other things, Jesus actually delivers me from my worst ideas about God.”

Another standout is the sublime gentleness of the piano ballad “Drawn To You,” which includes a chorus co-written with Maher and the completion of the verses after Assad’s first connection with her trauma therapist. “I wanted to compose something that honored my grief, and the pain in every human heart that might find a refuge in the song,” she shares, which are echoed in the lines “My tears an offering of my highest praise—Your eyes say 'welcome' and I receive Your gaze" taken straight out of her lyric book. “It can be so hard for us to let someone really look at us, into us—even God. That gaze is healing, though. I am always seeking to become better at receiving it.”

There’s also Celtic-flavored stomp of “Wounded Healer,” which was written and co-produced with Ben Shive (Andrew Peterson, Brandon Heath, Colony House) and inspired in part by a book by Henri Nouwen of the same name. “I heard the term first from him, and fell in love with the idea that Jesus rose from the dead still bearing his wounds, and went to heaven with a wounded body. It's something I try to meditate on frequently, to seek out what mysteries God might be revealing about himself in it. I hoped to achieve an Irish sense of melody without a lot of traditional Irish sounds—layering and editing synth samples and pianos to create the sound for the opening line was one of my favorite things I did on the whole project.”

Regardless of a specific song or musical style, Assad is striving for her soul-baring journey to challenge and inspire listeners, while simultaneously speaking into her own recovery process. “I hope that Evergreen is a healing oil in the wounds of whoever comes across it. I am stumbling towards health and wholeness and I desire that for anyone who hears this music. I recognize that some of the themes and stylistic choices are perhaps slightly different than where I have been camping as an artist for the past few years—but I am hopeful that it will be a solace and sanctuary for anyone who needs peace and joy in their lives. It has been a labor of hard-won love, and emerged from the deepest parts of my spirit.”

Jay Jennings is a 3 time Grammy award winning jazz trumpeter with jazz super group Snarky Puppy. His newest project, The YAYennings Quartet, was born upon his move to Los Angeles in 2017. The group consists of Bob Reynolds (Snarky Puppy, John Mayer), Jose Perez (Poncho Sanchez) and Ross Schodek (Poncho Sanchez). It is a chordless quartet with an early 1950’s west coast bebop sound. All compositions written by Jay Jennings.

Jay grew up in the small town of Grapevine, TX. He was lucky to have a piano in the house growing up, which he considers his introduction to music education. Jennings started playing the trumpet at age 11, and by 15 he was already playing professionally. In high school he was selected to the Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble both sophomore and senior years and was selected for the High School Grammy Jazz Ensemble, which performed at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, CA. Jennings auditioned as a college freshman and was selected for a jazz soloist chair in the world renowned One O'clock Lab Band at University of North Texas. When he was 22 he joined the Dallas based, symphonic rock band The Polyphonic Spree. He recorded and toured with them until moving to Brooklyn, NY in 2009. Jennings eventually began touring with capital records artist Eli "Paperboy" Reed in 2010. Over his career, Jay has backed up some of the world's finest artists such as Aretha Franklin, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The O'Jays, David Bowie, Michael McDonald, David Crosby, Lee Fields, James Taylor, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, The Four Tops and many more. Currently, Jay is touring with country music star Toby Keith and is living in Los Angeles, CA. He continues to record and tour with the Grammy Award winning band, Snarky Puppy. Jennings is launching his own solo career with The YAYennings Quartet. Be on the look out for his upcoming release entitled “Scott Ave” set to drop in February of 2019.

Nashville’s Jeremy Lister started connecting with music while growing up in the middle of Mississippi. A son of a preacher, he began singing and learning harmonies in church at the age of two. Lister moved to Nashville in 2003, bringing his first EP, Shooting Star, with him. In 2005, he released his second EP, So Far, followed by the release of his Just One Day EP on Warner Bros. Records. That same year, he was invited to join the Ten Out of Tenn collective of singer/songwriters, which included then up-and-coming artists such as Andrew Belle, K.S. Rhoads, and Gabe Dixon.

In 2010, he joined a cappella group Street Corner Symphony for the second season of NBC’s "The Sing-Off." The group became a fan favorite, eventually claiming the second-place title in the competition. Ben Folds invited them out on the road immediately following their success on the show, which launched their touring career. Street Corner Symphony performs dozens of headlining shows all over the world each year.

Lister released his first solo full-length album, The Bed You Made, in 2011, which featured a duet with Alison Krauss on the song You and I. In 2013, he released the single Set Us Free, which became the theme song for the MTV series "The World Of Jenks." In 2017, he and his brothers, together under the name Lister Brothers, co-wrote and released the album Helium Ocean.

In the 15+ years since he moved to Nashville, Lister has become a Music City staple, known for his prolific songwriting and unequaled vocal range. He has worked with some of Nashville’s biggest names, from Alison Krauss to Amy Grant, Megan Trainor, and Chely Wright. Lister recently launched a YouTube channel where he catalogs new music and collaborations with acoustic videos. His latest release, an EP entitled Sign Language, is due out in 2018.