For Songs

Can you remember your last normal night out? For me it was March 7, 2020. We saw @spiderstacy & @rockyoriodan of @poguesofficial on their Mid-Atlantic @poguetrylive tour, backed by the @lostbayouramble. Four days later the world shut down and we’ve been couped up ever since. What was it like to be on tour on those last days? In this episode of For Songs, I chat with Louis Michot, lead singer a...

Songwriting is not for the weak of heart or mind. Just ask Paleface (PF), the indie-rock legend who came of age during New York City’s anti-folk scene in the late 80s. In this episode of For Songs, PF and his partner/drummer Monica “Mo” Samalot talk about their latest album, the self-made, self-produced “Go Forth.” We discuss how the album came to be, why it was self-made, and how PF got bit by th...

When I was in high school learning the guitar, I wanted to be a shredder. I wanted to play as fast as Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Joe Satriani, Hendrix, Steve Vai—you know, the guitar maestros who could tear up the fretboard. No dice. Couldn’t come close. And interestingly enough, Yasmin Williams never wanted to reach those heights. She was influenced by Nirvana and other grunge-rock bands. Then...

If you’ve ever wondered how much passion, dedication, patience, and determination goes into writing a great song, I give you the Rails. Consisting of James Walbourne and Kami Thompson, the Rails are an English rock duo with three albums to their name since 2014—each one written and recorded under vastly different circumstances. In this episode of For Songs, Kami and James dissect four of their tun...

Eli Cook is a student of music. He’s a sponge, soaking up the elements of the past and putting together a sound that’s even more relevant now. Eli is a brilliant guitar player, inspired by the blues greats of the distant, pre-World War II past. But his voice, his sound, and his songs come from the present. He draws a direct line from the music of the early 1900s with the grunge sound of the 1990s....

Yes, music really can change your life. Just ask Lynn Veronneau and Ken Avis of the D.C.-based jazz trio Veronneau. A chance meeting in Switzerland in the early 90s started these two musical nomads down the road that would take them all over the world. The band's story is incredible on it's own--Lynn is a native French speaker from outside Montreal, Ken hails from the North of England, and David R...

If you're like me, you've probably seen a band or heard a song and thought, man this group is gonna make it! You might follow their career, see them live, and if you happen to write for an online music magazine, you might even feature them on numerous occassions. And then you might scratch your head when this band doesn't get it's break. Because you know they are incredibly talented and perhaps th...

For Songs is a podcast about songs and songwriters. We pick four songs from some of our favorite artists and try to get into mindset when they were writing these tunes. How hard is it? Very hard. In our first episode, we talk with renowned Shenandoah Valley, Va.-based singer/songwriter Scott Miller. Scott’s a mainstay on the Mid-Atlantic roots rock/folk rock scene, splitting his time between makin...