For Songs

Time has a funny way of working, right? Some days feel like they last forever, while others are over in a blink of an eye. And the cruel joke is that as you get older, time seems to move even faster. One day you are a bright eyed, bushy tailed 20-something ready to take over the world, and the next, the world has chewed you up and spit you out. Well, maybe it’s not that bad, but you get the point....

It’s a #ForSongs first! Check out my in-person interview with the mighty [Dom Flemons]( www.theamericansongster.com ), singer/songwriter/historian/storyteller/trailblazer. Dom and I chatted about a hour before a mid-August 2021 show just south of Washington. Listen in as Dom discusses the touring life during COVID, what’s changed, and how his connection with his fans is deeper and stronger than ev...

Let me be clear: this is the most important interview I’ve ever done. It is my humbling honor to welcome the amazing singer/songwriter Lisset Diaz of the [Sweet Lizzy Project]( www.sweetlizzyproject.com ) back to For Songs. Lisset and her bandmates emigrated from Havana, Cuba, to Nashville, TN, in 2017 to record their second full-length album Technicolor. Lisset is a frequent guest of the show, bu...

Buckle up folks. This is a special episode of For Songs. My guest is Larry Kirwan, lead singer/songwriter for the seminal Irish-American rock band Black ’47. Black ’47, for a time, was considered New York City’s house band; they had a massive following up and down the East Coast. For folks of a certain age, Larry’s music was their introduction to Irish history, particularly the Northern Ireland co...

Depending on where you live, one could say that we’re going through a bit of a renewal. COVID cases are dropping, people are eating out, and as we’ve chronicled, live music is back! So it’s appropriate, then, that my next guest and his band are going through a rebirth of their own. Berkeley, Ca., based [The Jenny Thing]( www.thejennything.com ) first came to be in 1991. Their music blended 80s syn...

Live music is here! And not just outdoors! But actual music in actual clubs--like it used to be before March 2020! As things open up, though, our favorite bars and clubs don't just flip a switch and go back to normal. Here in DC, many bars and clubs have been closed for a year and half! That's 18 months of no money, no people, no music, no drinks, nothing. It's not just been a slow week or month--...

Most folks don’t have the kind of year singer/songwriter [Maia Sharp]( www.maiasharp.com ) just did. In addition to ending a 20-plus year marriage, she uprooted her life, moved from LA to Nashville and wrapped up the recording of her newest album Mercy Rising in late 2019. But that’s not all. In between a tornado blew through her new neighborhood in March 2020 and during the subsequent recovery an...

After co-leading Minneapolis-based Soul Asylum to stratospheric heights in the 90s, lead guitarist Dan Murphy quit the business cold in 2012. Tired of the grind, Murphy literally hung up his famous Les Paul, seemingly for good. While Soul Asylum carries on with singer/guitarist David Pirner as the only original member, Murphy has focused instead on his online pinup art gallery called Grapefruit Mo...

Take a deep dive into the songwriting process with Berkeley, Ca.-based singer/songwriter Emily Brown. Emily walks us through the making of her latest album A Fish of Earth, which is bursting with lush orchestration, strong melodies, and haunting instrumentation. It is an inspired album, with musical nods to Glen Campbell, Loretta Lynn, and gorgeous musicals like The Sound of Music. The album is ma...

It’s no secret the toll the pandemic is taking on the music industry. Musicians are struggling to get by, they can’t tour, they really can’t play much of anywhere, except their living room. It’s truly become a hand-to-mouth existence. And honestly, the same goes for the independent venue owners too. Being shuttered for more than a year will likely put most out of business; indeed, far too many hav...

It’s been said that late bloomers bloom best. Not sure where I heard that, but it certainly applies to David Childers, the singer/songwriter based outside of Charlotte, NC. David’s one of the sharpest songwriters around, mixing southern wit, imagery, and charm with an Americana feel. His latest album, Interstate Lullaby, covers a broad range of themes from climate change to white supremacy. The ch...

You know what’s cool? Watching a truly innovative and talented musician start getting her due. Yasmin Williams, the brilliant guitarist from Northern Virginia, is getting noticed by some of music’s biggest media outlets—Rolling Stone. NPR. Pitchfork. The Washington Post. Yep, the world is getting to hear what we’ve known all along—that Yasmin Williams is one of music’s most singular young talents....

Some people are born to write songs and play in bands. Knoxville, Tenn.-based singer/songwriter Mic Harrison is one of those people. Music is in his blood, as his Dad gave him a guitar and taught him some early lessons. Then as a member of the influential mid-90s alt.country band The V-Roys with For Songs veteran Scott Miller, Mic came as close as can becoming the Next Big Thing, only to see the b...

Alright everyone, grab your seats. Get your pencils and notebooks out and put on your thinking caps. American music school is in session! Our teacher for this episode of For Songs is Dom Flemons, founding member of the Grammy winning, groundbreaking African-American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Listen and learn how Dom has spent his career unearthing and highlighting the vital role Bl...

I’m sure we all want to give up our day job for our dream job. As tempting as it sounds, it’s fraught with risk. On this episode of For Songs, California-based 3 Pairs of Boots, featuring the real-life married couple Laura Arias and Andrew Stern, talk about how they did just that. After years of balancing work and family life with the arts, Andrew and Laura reached a point where they needed to giv...

Lots of really bad things have come about because of the internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But one good thing is catching up with friends you haven’t seen or heard from in decades. In this episode of For Songs, I speak with singer/songwriter/playwright/author Michael Patrick F. Smith. Michael and I went to elementary school together in the small town of Ijamsville, Md. Not a streetlight or traffic...

It’s not Christmas without Christmas music, right? So for the last episode of For Songs for the year, I wanted to highlight some of the best non-traditional holiday music of the last few years. We’ve got two classic covers—anti-folk/indie-rock legend Paleface’s tender, stripped-down version of the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York and DC-based world-music trio Veronneau’s romantic, evocative take on J...

So it should this should go without saying, but joking with your servers at a restaurant about the #coronavirus is not cool. It sets off a chain reaction resulting in the server and other staff at said establishment needing to get tested and quarantining until they are well, which of course means lost wages. In this catch-up interview with Tony T of For Songs’ sponsor @thepugDC, he tells us why we...

LA-based singer/songwriter Peter Argyropoulos was bored. Getting tired of playing acoustic shows, he called some friends to put together a new rock n’ roll outfit. A few of his friends played with some of the biggest bands in the land—Dave Krusen of Pearl Jam on drums, Adam Kury of Candlebox of bass, just to name a few. Add in guitarists Kevin Haaland and engineer/keyboardist Brina Kabler (also Pe...

Every musician sacrifices something to do what they do. For most, it’s money. I mean, unless you’re already a huge star, the chances of making money in this industry is slim to none. But few artists have sacrificed quite as much as Lisset Diaz and her rock-and-roll band, the Sweet Lizzy Projec t. Lisset and her bandmates emigrated to Nashville from Havana, Cuba, in 2017. So even before the pandemi...

It’s been months since many of us have been out and about, getting a drink at a bar or hearing live music. For me, the last time I went to a club was in early March in Washington, catching the phenomenal Poguetry tour literally days before the world shut down. I detailed this experience in my interview with Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, who opened up for and supported Spider Stacy and C...

What’s the best way to get a critical message across to your listeners? For Emily Barker, the best way is to make it personal. On her latest album A Dark Murmuration of Words, Emily recounts her travels from her native Australia in her early 20s to England to become a singer/songwriter. She uses her personal experience missing home to make a direct plea in her music for combatting our world’s clim...

The #election is here! So let’s dig into some of what I think is the best political songwriting of our day. In this episode, we feature four songs by different artists, each taking on different elements related to politics and these times we live in. We explore racial justice, social justice, and how we can create a better, more humane world. We’ve got three returning guests—Scott Miller, Yasmin W...

Fewer bands in rock history are as human, genuine, and flawed as the Clash, the 70s-80s punk rock band that outgrew its punk roots as it grew in mainstream fame. The band wanted to be one of the biggest in the world, but somehow do so without compromising its politically charged message. Is that possible? In a fascinating book called “We are the Clash,” co-author, music historian, and humanitarian...

Two years ago, pop-leaning singer/songwriter Mackenzie Nicole had hit her rock bottom. With a hit record (2018’s The Edge) at a young age, at a time when she should’ve been on top of the world, she nearly gave up. But after acknowledging and getting help for her mental illness—which she calls “the darkness”—Mackenzie fought back. She catalogued her journey from acceptance to recovery in her 2020 r...