My guest today is a soul rock singer songwriter, from Schenectady County New York. He’s released six (?) albums since 2018 but to fully appreciate his artistry you’ll need to take a look at his YouTube channel where you’ll also see that he is not just a multi-instrumentalist and performer but a showman, an actor, a director a producer…truly a multiple-hyphenate artist. In 2023 he was featured and mentioned as part of NPR’s Tiny Desk concert with his very meta song about the same “Don’t Quit Your Day Job”.  If there were any level of creative justice in the world he’d be a viral sensation in the best possible way and be able to do just that.

His singing voice is emotive and captivating as-is his artistic voice. I’m so looking forward to a conversation with this super creative guy. Please welcome to Wils Bach’s Song Pod. Bryan Thomas also known as Buggy Jive

We talked about Prince, Joni Mitchell. Prince covering Joni Mitchell, NPRs Tiny Disk concert and why he has Rick James’ passport.

Encyclopedia Black and the Case of You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ov4uqMyp0

How To Write Another Song About the Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqbLCdISCz4&t=1s

Don’t Quit Your Day Job
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_enRruG29Y

My guest today has been playing in various bands in Chicago, Portland and San Diego since the mid-90s, while consistently writing, recording & producing hundreds of songs on her own and In February 2021, she released her debut full-length album, The Restless Dreams of Youth which earned a nomination for Best Pop Album & Album of the Year in the San Diego Music Awards.

She’s been hard at work crafting classic power pop and indie rock songs since then releasing three other albums 2022’s Start at the End which was also nominated for Best Pop Album at the SDMAs, 2023’s Tiny Injuries which got noticed at KCRW and Fader and just last month released her latest full length “Good Times For a Change”

Four full length albums in as many years, I’m not sure how she found the time to sit down for a chat with me but welcome to Wils Bach’s song pod Tamar Berk.

My guest today wears many hats. He’s a lawyer and Law Professor at Indiana University, has been a DJ at Bloomington, Indiana’s community radio station WFHB where his HopeDaddy moniker was born.

He and I crossed paths during my time in Indianapolis, where I knew him as a fellow live-music lover as we were often in the audience of the same clubs. Then in 2021 he took the stage himself as a songwriter and recording artist with the release of his debut album aptly titled Here I Come.

In a bit of a diversion I’m recording this intro AFTER our conversation. We had an interesting conversation about several of the songs from that record, the singles he’s been releasing leading up to its follow up, Songs of the Siren Wires. The Bruce, Johnny Cash, John Prine and other influences he brings to his Americana, roots-rock and to what degree the people around us realize that they can become characters in our songs at any given moment.

I enjoyed this conversation so much that after I stopped the recording we ended up talking for another twenty minutes. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did so with that, please welcome to Wilsbach’s Song Pod recording artist Hopedaddy, also known as Mark Need.

To support my work on this podcast and my musical journey, come join me on Patreon (there’s a free option if your’e cheap or broke): http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach

Holly Long is an actor turned singer songwriter from Los Angeles, CA by way of Evanston, IL who has released four albums since the early 2000s as a solo artist and three with her band “Bullyheart”. Her most recent release, 2023’s Land of the Living is a concept album filled with character studies around murder. Victims, detectives, mediums. That record came with a companion limited-series podcast of the same name and in this world of so many true crime podcasts I can’t believe it wasn’t huge.

She writes and records cinematic, moody pop and rock music that would be at home on the radio in any number of recent decades….and in fact has found its way into the soundtracks of a handful of television shows.

We have a far-reaching chat and end up talking more about creative process and just generally the path of developing oneself as an artist than we do about the specifics of her songs.

I fully enjoyed this conversation and if you like getting in the weeds of creative process, theatre, Shakespeare, chasing cool (or not) the weird videos we end up thumbing through on TikTok and Instagram and why it compels us to still take the Sunday paper; you’ll likely enjoy it too.

You can find Holly and Bullyheart at www.bullyheart.com and all her music and her limited series Podcast Land of the Living everywhere you stream.

Annika Bennett "Universe"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLNS7ZcRGk

To support my work on this podcast and my musical journey, come join me on Patreon (there’s a free option if your’e cheap or broke): http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach

Dominykas Bytautas is the singer, guitar player and primary songwriter for Ugly Side Up a 90s rock band stuck in the 21st century, featuring fast, dancey songs about life's glory and lack thereof. He’s an LA transplant, originally from Galveston Texas.

We two “reasonable geniuses” have a very fun conversation that covers among other things his dislike of eggs, spreadsheets, Richard Pryor in Superman 3, Weezer and River’s Cuomo’s notebooks and whether he would accept a call from Jack Antonoff to produce his next album, or to what degree he’d edit his art to sign with Columbia.

Damon Albarn on Creating Clint Eastwood
https://youtube.com/shorts/kn8ocOsdbEo?si=qlDyuqRS7f1tiX54

To support my work on this podcast and my musical journey, join my Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach

Mike Scully is a singer-songwriter from Southern California although his sound evokes Music Row in Nashville more than Sunset Strip in LA.  Mike doesn't hold back on the emotion he plants into his songs and before you even take note of the lyric you'll be taken in by his beautiful singing voice.  We discuss inspiration and process for a handful of the songs on his most recent release Somewhere Through The Trees.  We also discuss on earlier song he wrote for his late-uncle called Basketball in Heaven that was co-opted by some Kobe fans after his passing.

You can find Mike's music anywhere you stream and at Mikesullymusic.com



If you enjoy the conversations we have here, please consider joining my Patreon.  http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach

Jacqui Gaball, who releases music and performs as Joon Gloom, is a talented singer-songwriter born and raised in a small town just outside of Los Angeles. Renowned for her raw, honest, and emotionally charged songwriting style, Jacqui created the alias Joon Gloom to embody her unique musical persona.

Since her debut as Joon Gloom in 2017, she has released five singles, captivating audiences with her heartfelt lyrics and evocative melodies. In 2023, she unveiled her latest work, the Wildfire EP, further solidifying her presence in the music scene.

Beyond her recorded works, Joon Gloom is an active performer. She hosts a popular weekly open stage in Thousand Oaks, providing a platform for local talent to shine. Additionally, she is a regular participant in Nabu Wines' Sunday Night Live monthly tribute series, where she continues to connect with audiences through her compelling performances of some classic songs.

She was also gracious enough to share her time and talent on my latest release. She sang some beautiful background vocals on Until The Sun Comes Up. Please welcome to Wils Bach’s Song Pod…Jacqui Gaball also known as Joon Gloom.

Joon Gloom

The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron
https://juliacameronlive.com/the-artists-way/

For more on Wils Bach:
Instagram @wils.bach
Join my Patreon:
http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach

My guest today is an award winning songwriter and recipient of the Lionel Richie Songwriting Scholarship and finalist in the Song of the Year, she was also named top a 10 artist by the Denver Daily News. She sang and played keyboard in a backup band on the show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," performed for a live Old Spice campaign, and has songs featured in shows like "Real World/Road Rules," among others. As a session singer, her voice can be heard on national commercials, the movie, "Hot Tub Time Machine Too," and multiple episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and "The League."

An activist as well as musician, Abella created the first Women in Music organization in Colorado in the early 2000's, uniting and bringing visibility to the hardworking female artists in the area.

She currently performs live, hosts the weekly “Open Mic Revival” at the iconic Cinema Bar in Culver City, and When Girls Play at Oldfields in Culver City. In January of this year she released a single Beautiful Things, topping off her three album Discography 2012’s "In Another Life," 2007s "Nice Girl" and 2002s "What Happened to the Girls?" Available everywhere you stream.

Grew up in Richmond Virginia and started playing guitar and writing music at 9 released his first album, ‘Sounds Off,’ in 2000. He moved to Memphis, TN. in the summer of 2001 and from 2003-2009 worked as a tour guide at the famous Sun Studio, where he gave a private tour of Sun to Steve Jobs in the spring of ’09.  Jobs was so impressed with David that he hired him to come work for iTunes which took David to San Jose, CA., in the fall of 2009. After a move to LA in 2019 he’s still with Apple and still making his brand of playful, mostly upbeat power-pop music. An impressive NINE records worth including most recently the Shelby EP.

My guest today is a West Coast singer-songwriter an incredible guitar player and a graduate of Berklee College of Music. His recently released “How to Write a Pop Song” is a well crafted modern pop song that delivers some light-hearted, side-eyed shade about what hits with popular audiences these days. He followed that single up with a cover of a Beatles classic Norwegian Wood.

We go down a songwriterly rabbit hole about lyrical depth (or lack thereof) in modern pop music, the lyrics of John Mayer, Japanese Lo-Fi and Will Ferrell’s performance in Zoolander.

Join my Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/wilsbach

Andrew Huang’s Super Tonic

John Mayer Belief

Pat Pattison