Follow Your Dream - Music And Much More!

Carlos Simon is a Grammy Nominated Classical composer with Gospel and Jazz Roots. He is the Composer-In-Residence of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts; and the holder of the Inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair. His works address themes including migration, belonging and community. His latest work is “Good News Mass” with the LA Philharmonic. My featured song is my v...

Christine Feldman-Barrett is an American Author and Professor living in Australia. She is the author of “A Women’s History Of The Beatles” about how the Beatles shaped and enriched the lives of women, and which also examines the key women in their history. My featured song is “Juliet Dances” from the album East Side Sessions by my band Project Grand Slam . Spotify link . --------------------------...

Robbie Fulks is a Grammy nominated Country, Folk Bluegrass Singer Songwriter. He’s appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, on Prairie Home Companion, with Dr. John, Missy Raines, John Cowan and The Steep Canyon Rangers. My featured song is “New Folk Song” from the album The Queens Carnival by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link . --------------------------------------------- The Follow Your Dream Pod...

This Very Special Episode of the podcast celebrates that we have just passed 3 MILLION DOWNLOADS!  I started the podcast just over four years ago, during the depths of the pandemic. I had no audience and no guests. All I had then was a goal: to inspire and motivate people to follow their dream, just like I had followed my youthful music dream later in life. The podcast has succeeded beyond my wild...

Thelma Houston is a legendary R&B singer. In 1977 she hit the top of the charts with “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, the song which has become her signature. and she won the Grammy for “Best Female R&B Vocal”. She has sung that song on American Idol, America’s Got Talent and The Masked Singer. She has performed on the Golden Globes and the American Music Awards. And she toured Australia in Fame. My fea...

This is an Encore Presentation of my March 2022 interview with Leisa Re, who has been a member of The Ukelele Orchestra Of Great Britain for 15 years. The Ukes - as they are affectionately known - have performed all over the world including for The Queen on the occasion of her 90th birthday. They look like a classical string quartet with their formalwear, but then they rock out playing songs by AC...

This is an Encore Presentation of my March 2022 interview with Patrick Myers, who performs as Freddie Mercury in Killer Queen, the world’s foremost Queen Tribute band. He has been doing this since he formed the band in 1993. His transformation is remarkable in terms of appearance, singing and stage presence. My featured song in this episode is my reimagined version of “Free” by the band Phish. It’...

Paul Muldoon is a Pulitzer Prize winning Irish poet. He’s won several other awards too including the Shakespeare Prize. He’s the author of 15 collections of poetry. He’s the Editor of the 2021 two-volume treatise called “The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present”, that he wrote together with Sir Paul McCartney. It covers 154 of Paul’s songs with the Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist. For over 35 years Pau...

Zainab Salbi is an Iraqi Born Author, Humanitarian and Women’s Rights Activist. She’s the co-founder of “Daughters Of The Earth”, a fund and movement to support women-led climate solutions, and she’s also a founder of “Women For Women International”, an organization which helps women affected by sexual violence and conflict. She was honored by President Bill Clinton as a “21st Century Heroine” and...

Michelle Ross is a celebrated Mizrahi-American classical violinist and composer. She’s a protege of Itzhak Perlman. Her compositions have premiered at the Lucerne Festival and at Tanglewood, and her compositions have been recorded by some of the world’s best chamber musicians. She’s a prolific improviser too. She’s featured on Jon Batiste’s Grammy winning album. And she’s performed as a guest conc...

“MOON SHOT” is my newest single. It’s the second of my four new singles that I’m releasing one per month. Last month’s release was “Rough Rider”. With “Moon Shot” I went back to my Jazz Rock Fusion roots, the music that I loved and began playing in the 1970s. Fusion combines the power of Rock with the complexity and improvisation of Jazz. The track has been called “Firey, Passionate, Smokin!” “Moo...

This is an Encore Presentation of my December 2021 interview with John Lodge, the longtime bassist, vocalist and composer for The Moody Blues. In 2018 he and the band were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He’s written many of their hits including “Ride My See-Saw” and “I’m Just a Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)”.  My featured song in this episode is “The Captain Of Her Heart”, the re...

Mona Golabek is an author, actress and Grammy Nominated concert pianist. She has an important and touching Holocaust related story. It’s about her mother, Lisa Jura, at the time a 14 year old pianist living with her family in Vienna, who escaped from the Nazis to England via the Kindertransport program. Mona has written a book about this called “The Children of Willesden Lane”. She subsequently ad...

JP Jofre is an Argentinian born 2x Grammy Nominated composer and Bandoneon player. His music has been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and by artists like Paquito d’Rivera. He’s appeared as a performer at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Beijing National Theatre. My featured song is “The Gift” my recent collaboration with Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene. Spotify link . --------...

Eleni Katz is a world class bassoonist. She’s a prominent soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. She’s performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Milwaukee, Fort Worth and New World Symphonies. She’s a winner of the Concert Artist Guild Competition and the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition. Her approach to playing the bassoon has been described as “uncannily huma...

Ivor Davis is a renowned journalist, investigative reporter and author. In his long career he has covered music, murder, politics and Hollywood. He travelled with The Beatles on their 1964 American tour and he was the ghostwriter of George Harrison’s column in the London Daily Express. He accompanied them in their meeting with Elvis Presley at Graceland. He covered the Charles Manson cult and murd...

This is an Encore Presentation of my January 2023 interview with iconic rocker Suzi Quatro. She blazed a path as one of the first and one of the best female rock and rollers. She’s a singer, songwriter and bassist. She’s sold over 50 million records. And she’s equally famous for portraying the part of Leather Tuscadero in the hit sitcom “Happy Days”. Plus she’s an author and has an honorary doctor...

Pascal Le Boeuf is a Renaissance man and a Grammy winning pianist, composer and electronic artist. He plays classical, indie and jazz. Improvised music, chamber music and production based technology. He won a Grammy this year for the Best Instrumental Composition. He performs as both a soloist and in groups, including with saxophonist Jeff Coffin and with the Le Boeuf Brothers together with his tw...

Nick Holmsten is the Swedish born former Spotify Global Head of Music and the creator of Spotify Playlists. His latest venture is TSX Entertainment based in Times Square, New York, which connects arts and brands together with fans. My featured song is “Flat Busted” from the album Spring Dance by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link . --------------------------------------------- The Follow You...

Avner Dorman is an Israeli born classical composer. His fans include Pinchas Zuckerman, Zubin Mehta and Andris Nelson. His music has been performed by the Cleveland Orchestra and by the Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco Symphonies. He won Israel’s Prime Minister Award. He earned a doctorate from Juilliard, and he’s currently a Professor of Music. My featured song is “Out Of Tahini” from the al...

This is a SPECIAL EPISODE called “THE IRISH SHOW”. It features four of the incredible Irish artists who have been guests on the podcast. Brendan Graham is Ireland’s most famous lyricist and composer, a 2x Eurovision Contest winner, and the composer of “You Raise Me Up”, one of the most covered songs of all time. Neil Martin is a celebrated Irish composer who grew up in Northern Ireland and has con...

Barry Bales is an acclaimed Bluegrass and Country Music Acoustic Bassist. He’s played with Alison Krauss & Union Station since the 1990s. He’s won multiple Grammys, International Bluegrass Music Association and CMA awards. He’s been voted “Bassist Of The Year” 4 times. And he’s performed with Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, The Chieftains, Dolly Parton and Dwight Yoakum among others. My featured son...

This is an Encore Presentation of my February 2024 episode featuring Bert Berns and Nat Weiss, two giants of the music industry, yet both relatively unknown to the public. Bert Berns was one of the foremost songwriters and producers of pop and rhythm and blues in the ‘60s. His hits include “Twist And Shout”, which The Beatles took to international fame; “Piece Of My Heart”, Janis Joplin’s gigantic...

This is an Encore Presentation of my March 2022 interview with Elliott Randall, one of the greatest guitarists of the Rock era. His solos on Steely Dan’s hit “Reelin’ In The Years” and Irene Cara’s “Fame” are iconic. Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, The Blues Brothers and Toto all asked him to join their bands. He’s been a first-call session musician including jingles.  I'm pleased to say that Ell...

Louis Langree is a celebrated French Conductor. He’s been the Musical DIrector of the Orchestre de Picardie, the Opera National de Lyon, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege, the Camerata Salzburg and the Theatre National de L’Opera-Comique. In the U.S. he’s been the Conductor of the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Cincinnati Symphony. And he was made a Knight of the French Order of Arts and Lette...