Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats)
Eric D. Johnson is a songwriter, musician and producer. He has been in The Shins, Califone, and his current musical project is Fruit Bats. He’s also a really great guy, and I feel lucky to call him a friend!
In this episode, Eric gives some solid advice to young artists, and tells us why failing (“hopefully not spectacularly”) can be a really good thing.
Hollis Wong-Wear
Hollis Wong-Wear is a songwriter, musician, speaker, and community advocate based in Los Angeles. She is the lead vocalist of the electronic R&B trio The Flavr Blue, and was GRAMMY nominated for Album of the Year for her vocal performance of “White Walls” on The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.
Liza Anne
Liza Anne is a songwriter and musician based in Nashville, TN.
Her latest album is titled “Fine But Dying” and I love how raw and honest every song on that album is. In this episode, we talk a lot about mental health. She explains the duality of being introverted but also wanting to being around people. I really loved how she says getting older is “an eternal homecoming”, and how she describes what small talk feels like (as if everyone is "playing a part”).
Tom Renaud of Lord Huron
Tom Renaud is a member of Lord Huron, based in Los Angeles, CA. He’s also one of my dear friends!
In the episode, Tom tells us how Lord Huron came to be, about curating a taco with his band, and his love of food, cooking, and travel. He also speaks about the post-tour come down that inevitably happens as a touring musician, what he does to manage stress on the road, and the one thing that clears his head.
Heather Maloney
Heather Maloney is a singer-songwriter based in Northampton, MA.
In this episode, Heather shares how going through a bout of depression led her to spending three years at a silent meditation retreat center and how meditation changed her life. I love the simple but profound mantra that came to her during that time “If your heart is aching, let it ache.” We also talk about the power of female friendship and being mirrors to each other, long-distance friendships, being highly sensitive which she so perfectly describes as an “overload of information”, and about being independent in romantic relationships.
Catherine Russell
Catherine (“Cat”) Russell. Backup singer/collaborator to David Bowie, Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Dolly Parton (and many more!), and her legendary father (the late Luis Russell) was Louis Armstrong’s musical director. She is also an incredible Jazz Musician - her sixth album, Harlem On My Mind, received a Grammy Nomination.
Dessa
Dessa is a rapper, singer, and essayist. She has landed on the Billboard Top 200 as a solo artist, as a member of the Doomtree collective, and as a contributor to The Hamilton Mixtape. As an author, her memoir-in-essays entitled My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love was published in September 2018 by Dutton Books.
Steve Varney
Steve Varney is the guitarist for Gregory Alan Isakov and leader of Kid Reverie, a rock band out of Denver, CO.
Anna Tivel
Anna Tivel is a singer, songwriter, and poet based in Portland, OR. Her fourth full-length album is due out Spring 2019.
