#liveandcreate

Heartland country-rocker, Drew Six, is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City and Nashville. He is known for his high-energy stage performances and hopeful sing-along anthems. In today’s episode, Drew shares how his family helps him stay grounded in the crazy world of the music industry. He also unpacks how he built in the skills of networking while being an introvert and how those relations...

Kenny Carter - (Songwriter, producer)Kenny is a songwriter, producer, and artist from Kansas City but based out of Nashville. He’s known for his work in bands such as Trump Dawgs, KLT, Waterdeep, and Chasing 7. He’s, currently, a third of the Nashville acoustic/soul/pop trio, The Magi. Kenny shared his story of how he was musically created through multiple diverse influences and how that spurs on...

086 Brooks Neria (Teacher, Singer/Songwriter/Producer for The Darters)Brooks is a songwriter, producer, guitarist, and one of the singers for a group called The Darters. Brooks originally from Joplin, Missouri, is also now a teacher of English in Madrid. He has spent the last several years living in different places and putting himself in different unique situations that have taught him many valua...

By day, Katerina Jae (aka KJ) works as a psychological science professor at a local university, is the lead researcher of the Advancement of Mental Health Lab, and the author of the January 2023 Sage Publications book Statistics with Humans. By night, this powerhouse vocalist and songstress fronts both the rock band Interstate Run and experimental music collective Ramona Clay. KJ shares her dual j...

Born and raised in the Midwest, Joshua Williams was formerly trained at the Conservatory of Music and Dance in Kansas City Missouri. After touring internationally with different Jazz Legends such as Bobby Watson and others, Josh developed his own writing style and became a film composer infusing a multitude of genres to create his own unique sound. xJ-Will has worked with various different compani...

Bridget Callahan has 21 years in the entertainment industry. What started out as a career in Student Activities at The Pennsylvania College of Technology has turned into a varied career working with Metropolis Management as an agent, conference coordinator, and presenter to working with indie bands such as The States, Battle Circus, and The B2wins routing tours and as part of their creative teams....

Paul is the CEO (chief entertainment officer) of MusiKCisalive, a boutique entertainment agency that offers a unique party band experience: Songwheels. He is also the band leader of Howl At The Moon in downtown Kansas City and manages their dueling pianos around the region. Paul lives in Overland Park, KS with his wife and three children. On today’s episode, we dive into the idea of building an ar...

Storyteller Odd? Rod is a motivational speaker using stories, poetry, and photography to uplift audiences and help individuals overcome the obstacles life brings. Forwarding his journey has earned him fully-funded bachelor's and master's degrees and he's now returned to the stage where he has been recognized as this year's Spoken Word Artist of the Year. He feels that reality must be documented an...

TJ Roberts is a social entrepreneur with a for-profit business who uses coffee as a conduit for good in the inner city of Kansas City, Kansas.. His upbringing and experiences in life have given him many takeaways from growing up with a deformity and being the only black kid in an all-white community AND household. His harsh “reality check” card was dealt with the day he was born but his talents an...

Robert Head is a veteran of the United States Army who served in Iraq from 2003-to 2007. After graduating from Texas A&M he became an activist for veterans and cannabis where he focused on educating the communities about the positive effect cannabis has on the veteran population. Cannabis can help veterans heal and become the person they so desperately want to be. In Today’s episode, Robert sh...

Will is a designer, illustrator (and musician) based in the Kansas City (KS/MO) area. Since 2020, he is the owner of W.Mackey CreativArium, a graphic design, illustration, and creative branding studio offering a unique creative approach that is authentic and strategic. Throughout his almost 20 yr career, he has worked on everything from identity design and full brand development, websites, and app...

Mitch Gray has combined over two decades of experience as a former pastor, life coach, entrepreneur, community developer, and creator to develop a brand of leadership that is at its deepest level- human. Taking his heart for inspiring others and his passion for empowering leaders, Mitch teaches business leaders how to recruit great people, develop top talent, and design empowering culture. Mitch i...

Jeremiah is a producer with BearTrack Recording and artist coach with 1,000 Superfans where they help indie artists grow real fans online so they can get paid and make more music. He's also a songwriter with the project BearFace. He and his family live in Birmingham, Alabama. Jeremiah shares his philosophy of coaching other artists and the pitfalls he’s experienced that can bring great value to ot...

075 Caleb Hurley (Keys player, founding member of Fox Royale)Caleb Hurley is one of the founding members of Fox Royale. He is the keys player and primary background vocalist of the group and has been a part of the touring act since Jr. High. Caleb shares his story of being recruited to his band in Jr. High and ultimately leaving highschool early to hit the road. He also pulls the curtain back to s...

074 Evan Maxon (Chaos Coordinator, Builder, Non-profit small business lender)Evan Maxon is a professional chaos coordinator. By day, he oversees operations and technology for a non-profit small business lender. In his spare time, he’s an aspiring entrepreneur that loves to talk about the mistakes he’s made along the way. Evan shares his story of how the organization he’s part of scaled up their bu...

073 Josh Gleave (Songwriter, Producer, Artists Development)Originally from Kansas City, Joshua Gleave is a Nashville-based songwriter, producer, and podcaster. He spends his workdays writing songs for artists like Chris Young, The Swon Brothers, and Alexandra Kay, as well as developing and producing newer artists like Timmy Brown, Alexis Wilkins, and Stepsons. In his free time, he collects sneaker...

Todd is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with 27 years of service. He is a former enlisted soldier and a West Point graduate. He spent a career as an Armor and Cavalry officer and service as a military diplomat in six European countries (Germany, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia). His time in service included numerous deployments to Afghanistan and one in Koso...

Bret is a musician, music producer, and singer-songwriter who also owns his video production business called Storylight Studios. He is also a husband, father of 2 kids, and lover of all things creative! In today’s episode, we discuss effective tools for time management, how to leverage your creativity as an artist, and the power of a community of artists. Bret also shares his passion to encourage...

Steve Bankey is the songwriter and frontman for Steve Bankey and The Flatlanders. The Flatlanders is a red-dirt country band out of Kansas City, MO. Heavily influenced by the grassroots country music movement originating in southern parts of Texas and Oklahoma. They have opened for Whiskey Myers, Granger Smith, Whitey Morgan, Ray Wiley Hubbard, and Morgan Evans to name a few. They have also played...

Jamie is the guitarist and co-songwriter and producer for the band Stray Local, Stray local is the husband-and-wife indie alt-pop duo of Hannah and Jamie Rowen based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The pair performs a bouquet of indie sounds punctuated by powerful vocal melodies, catchy guitar riffs, and vibey synths woven together with hints of their folk beginnings and pop sensibilities. When the co...

Pat is a Kansas native, with a degree in Engineering. His love of craft beer led him to homebrewing and eventually on to opening Lost Evenings Brewing Company in Lenexa, KS. He lives in Olathe, KS with his wife (and co-brewery owner) Heather, and their two young daughters. On today’s podcast, Pat shares the inspiring story of opening up his brewery during the heart of the pandemic. He also shares...

Mike Lin worked in Tech for 17 years, including being the 43rd employee and second designer at LinkedIn. He also worked at Yahoo! and Zynga. His entrepreneurial pursuits include live streaming virtual concerts, working on his start-up T-Shirts Matter, and dropping Banksy NFTs on 2/22/22.In November of 2015, Mike gathered 50+ Travel and Music scoper's and did a broadcast on 6 continents that travel...

After cutting their teeth on a steady diet of fanfiction in the South-West of England, Esme Symes-Smith wandered north to Wales for their degree in Literature and Creative Writing then promptly migrated to Missouri after meeting their wife on Tumblr. Esme has been a ghostwriter, an editor, a frozen-yogurt seller, a caffeine dealer, and now wrangles preschoolers for a livingOn Today’s episode, Esme...

Former reporter/DJ/sports anchor. He spent 16 years in TV video production. NOw he’s a beer nerd with a podcast bout - you guessed it - Beer. Make sure you check out his podcast Beers with Nigel. In this episode, we talk about changing the world through Beer Karma and Nigel wants you to know that’s a real thing. He shares his story of becoming immersed in the craft beer world and his passion for b...

Trevor Turla is a brass musician, vocalist, composer, and teacher. He believes that creativity is a source of change. Through art, music, literature, and action we can transmute the world we’ve been handed into the one we hope for. The authenticity of self, authenticity with people, and authenticity in love are just a few of the concepts we dive into in this episode. Trevor also shares his story o...