Three Song Stories

Lachi Music is a New York City-based recording artist, songwriter, touring performer, record producer, author, and disability culture advocate. She grew up in a Nigerian-American home in Ithaca, New York and was born legally blind.  She’s now released five albums, including her latest, called Magnificent. It’s a children’s album that invites people of all-ages to embrace difference, and understand...

Gene Martin co-hosts the ACMA’s songwriters circle, and he’s leader of a 5 member band called The Floridians…they play clubs, adult day care and rehab centers, retirement homes and hospitals. Four of the five band members are in their 80s. Song 1: “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”...written by Pete Seeger in 1955, this version was recorded by the Kingston Trio and released in 1961.  https://youtu....

Chion Wolf is the host of Audacious on Connecticut Public Radio. It features  conversations with people who have uncommon or misunderstood experiences, conditions, or professions. Audacious is a three time Gracie Award winner - the Gracie Awards recognize exemplary programming created by women, for women and about women in all facets of media and entertainment. She is also the host of Other People...

Stella Cole is a singer who has preformed at Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden, and in 2023, she worked with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, touring the country, as well as Australia and New Zealand. She’s now released two albums independently with Grammy-winning producer Matt Pierson – one called simply “Stella Cole” and the other “Snow!” which featured a duet with Glee TV and Broadway...

Harold Balink - known as Chef Harold to many in SWFL - is a chef and restaurateur who has had a considerable influence on the culinary scene in this part of the world for more than three decades.  In 2002 he opened Harold’s on the Bay in downtown Fort Myers - then he partnered with the late chef and Fort Myers restaurateur Shannon Yates on Cru in the Bell Tower in South Fort Myers. Then, in 2015,...

Anthony Farina is the award-winning author of The Austen Chronicles Series - which he publishes under the moniker A.R. Farina. It’s a modern-day reimagining of Jane Austen’s novels, set in a shared universe, which are published by 4 Horsemen Publications. He’s also the creator, co-editor, and is a contributor to Comic Lit - it’s a collection of essays that delves into the literary merits of comic...

David Mayfield is the front man of The David Mayfield Parade. He's played in Cadillac Sky, and alongside The Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons. David grew up playing bass and touring in a bus with his family’s bluegrass band. He started collecting national awards while still a teen for his dexterity on guitar and mandolin. He has also appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

John McEuen is a banjo, guitar, mandolin, and fiddle player, and a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He has made almost 50 albums, that have earned four platinum and five gold records, multiple Grammy Awards and nominations, CMA, and ACM awards.  John produced Steve Martin’s 2010 album, The Crow, which won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. He was inducted in 2017 to the American Banj...

Erica Rhodes is a comedian and actor who began acting as a young child - she actually performed on A Prairie Home Companion beginning at the age of 12 and did that for years - and she was serious about ballet and cello growing up. Her acting credits include Modern Family and Veep. She also voiced the scene-stealing character of “Dotty” in the hit Netflix animated series, A Tale Dark and Grimm. She...

Griogair Labhruidh is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose distinct musical stylings merge Scottish Gaelic language, music, and cosmology with modern influences like analog boom-bap, hip-hop and soul-inflected jazz, creating a truly unique sound. Griogair has gained international recognition for his voice as a featured soundtrack artist and songwriter on the TV series Out...

Doug Berman is Executive Producer of Car Talk ; and Creator and Benevolent Overlord of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! A two-time Peabody Award-winning producer, Doug began his career in news while still in college, serving as a production assistant for NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. It was at WBUR that Doug met and became friends with Tom & Ray Magliozzi brothers, who were doing...

Theresa Girard crafted her own art education studying early 20th Century contemporary artists and had a career as a color expert and educator for a large manufacturing company. She staged and styled numerous photo shoots, large trade productions, and did program development from coast to coast.  As a painter, Theresa is represented by five galleries, including Gardner Colby Gallery in Naples and J...

Mary Bichner is an orchestral composer with synesthesia - the neurological condition that allows her to “see” splashes of specific colors in her mind’s eye when she hears their corresponding pitches. She recently finished her first full-length opera, called "The Memoirs of Antonina", inspired by Marie Antoinette. Mary stopped by our studio while she was in town for two concerts with the Southwest...

Eric Brown is a photographer based in Eastern North Carolina. He and his family moved there after he spent nearly 20 years traveling the world and working in the music industry out of Nashville. He is often back in Nashville or traveling for work, though his studio is where he spends most days working alongside his family. SONG 1: “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty off of his 1994 album of the same name....

Benjamin Murray is an award-winning maker, how has made short films, commercials, and a few fun movies. 

 Dave Ritter is a founding member of the six-piece Toronto-based, two-time Juno Award winning indie/pop/folk/rock band The Strumbellas . They have put out at least six records over the years, and their song "Spirits" from their 2016 album Hope topped the Billboard Alternative Song chart for two weeks and got mainstream radio play in Canada and Europe, winning Single of the Year at the 2017 JUNO Aw...

Jimmy Keys is a Comedian and Musician who's career began in England in the town of Gravesend, doing band stuff with friends around the age of 12. He hit the road to Germany with friends when he was 20, and toured Europe in the early 70s as part of the backing band who played with many top soul artists from the States including Ben E. King, Eddie Floyd and Percy Sledge. Then he had a band that work...

Dan Navarro is a singer and has been a songwriter for artists including Pat Benatar (he co-wrote “We Belong”) The Bangles, Jackson Browne, The Temptations, Dionne Warwick and more. He's also a voice actor and singer. Most recently, he sang on six Lin-Manuel Miranda songs in the Disney Film Encanto. He’s also done voice work for Family Guy, American Dad, and for video games and TV commercials. Dan’...

Sandra Viktorova is a familiar voice to WGCU listeners and viewers - she joined us here in 2022 on the radio side as a host and then helped launch our TV news magazine program Southwest Florida In Focus as host and senior producer—the show won a regional Emmy in its first year and just recently went from one to five nights a week.  Sandra earned a National Edward R. Murrow award for her documentar...

Gareth Rockliffe is a fine art photographer, filmmaker, songwriter, and creator of the award-winning short-film series called Contemplations, which blend his images and spoken words to explore themes such as love, loss, awareness, and connection. In recent years, that same reflective voice has found its way into his songwriting. SONG 1: Glenn Miller and his orchestra’s “Moonlight Serenade” release...

Robert William Green, Jr. (Mr. Green)  graduated  high school in Shreveport, Louisiana with a full football scholarship to Morris Brown College in Atlanta. He transferred and received a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.  He came to Florida in 2003, and taught 7th grade World G...

J Schwanke is Host & Creator of J Schwanke’s Life in Bloom , on PBS Create channels around the country. He’s been referred to by viewers as “The Bob Ross of Flowers” or even “The Mr. Rogers of Flowers”. He shows how to incorporate flowers into your life and enjoy a “flower lifestyle” - encouraging people to think beyond just arranging with flowers to crafts and recipes and beverages that inclu...

Laureen is a Billboard-charting songwriter with artist cuts across multiple genres. After graduating from Fort Myers High School, she earned her college degree and a master’s degree before moving to Amish country, where she worked as a Teacher of the Deaf. A prolonged personal health crisis ultimately prompted a pivot toward songwriting, leading her to Nashville. The very first song she wrote in N...

Larry Ford (father of episode 75 guest Seth Ford) is a Grammy winning gospel singer who’s found audiences all over the world because of his truly commanding voice. Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Larry’s work has taken him to 49 of the 50 states -- and to as far away as South Korea and South America. He's also sang the National Anthem for the Boston Red Sox or Tampa Bay Lightning.  Larry has attra...

Marlin Miller is publisher of Plain Values, a quarterly magazine dedicated to the notion that faith-centered simple living within community is still possible today. Through it, he and his wife Lisa also operate the nonprofit Room to Bloom - they raise money to help families adopt kids with Down Syndrome and special needs.  They also founded Juneberry Hill Schoolhouse - a multi-age, inclusive homes...