Middle Class Rock Star

“Ameri-kinda.” That’s how Natalie Price describes her music, a combination of catchy melodies and smooth, clear vocals that fit firmly into the Americana genre, with a quirkiness weaved into her lyrics that bends toward indie-folk. During her visit to Nashville last week, Natalie dropped by to chat with me about her self-titled record produced by Mary Bragg (with a slew of other special guests), h...

Goldpine is Kassie and Ben Wilson, a husband and wife duo reminiscent of Shovels and Rope with huge vocals. I first met and became friends with them at Kerrville Folk Festival in 2022. We were both there in attendance as 2021 finalists in the songwriting competition. There's so much that goes in to being an indie artist these days: writing and recording great music, making content, touring, making...

A special holiday episode featuring Sam Robbins and Halley Neal. The musical couple is currently on tour promoting their holiday record, "You and Me on Christmas Eve." It's just beautiful, and we had a fun convo chatting about their first duo release, the economics of holiday music, and their journey back home from Nashville. If you enjoy the podcast, please let others know, subscribe, or write a...

This week, I spoke with Christian drag queen singer-songwriter, Flamy Grant. We first met as Kerrville Finalists back in May of this year, where Flamy ended up being one of the winners. In July, their album, "Bible Belt Baby" and single, "Good Day" went to number 1 on the iTunes Christian charts on the same day. They've also been the feature of two articles in Rolling Stone in the latter half of t...

This weeks episode is a conversation with Schyler Allyn and Mitch Lagge of Big Sky Bonus Tracks. BSBT (based in Red Lodge, MT) films artists singing songs and telling their stories. It's all very high quality, from the filming locations, to the mastered audio, to the video cameras. Since 2022, they've been curating great music from Montana and Wyoming and abroad to build a community out of what th...

My guest this week is keyboardist, Bill McKay. It's impossible not to hear Bill's name when you're a musician in the Denver area. He's everywhere and plays with everyone! McKay first moved to Colorado for college in 1987, and immediately started playing in bands while working on his degree at Colorado College. He toured with "soul 'n roll" outfit, Band Du Jour from 1990-1995 right out of college,...

Katie Boeck is this weeks guest and yet another artist I met through the Kerrville Folk Festival. We were both finalists in the 2023 New Folk Songwriter Competition (Katie was a winner!). Boeck's story is a page turner... she studied theater at UCLA, spent years in her early 20s immersed in the rich Laurel Canyon music scene, toured India, and played the lead in the musical "Spring Awakening" on B...

I first met Jordan at the Durango Songwriters Expo about 10 years ago. We've stayed in touch through the years and even jammed together at the Casio booth at The NAMM Show in Anaheim this past February. During the pandemic, Jordan started calling himself "Piano Jordan" on TikTok. He used the platform to play his favorite songs and invite others to sing with him. This grew him a following of over 6...

After a moving hiatus, Middle Class Rock Star is back this week with Erik Stucky. We're both Colorado boys that are currently calling the greater Nashville area home. Erik came over to the new home studio to record this episode live. I don't get to do them live very often these days! (from Erik's website bio): "Growing up in the rugged mountains of western Colorado, Erik Stucky picked up his first...

I'm a big fan of Sam Burchfield's music. I was first introduced by a friend several months ago, and he's been in regular Spotify rotation since. We had a great conversation about tai chi, being a touring musician who is also present for their family (not just financially), gigs vs shows, and how Spotify actually CAN help an indie artist pay their bills. If you enjoy the podcast, please let others...

Jeremy Facknitz has been entertaining audiences with his lovingly crafted music and high-energy performances for over a quarter century. Since the 2002 break-up of his Detroit-based band "The Ottomans" (they earned a 2001 Detroit Music Award for Best New Alternative Band, beating out "The White Stripes"), Jeremy has performed primarily as a solo act, marrying folk-rock and jazz stylings to showcas...

Joel Ansett moved to Denver, Colorado in 2014 and started playing every local open mic he could find. He has since found fans all over the country with more than 14 million streams online, a song placed in Marvel’s “The Punisher” , and the title of “songwriter to watch” from The Huffington Post. The songs combine folk and R&B to great effect, and beyond the genre, Artist Review wrote: “This music...

"Edward David Anderson is an American songwriter and veteran of the road who spent his formative years fronting the revered Illinois band Backyard Tire Fire. Known for infectious melodies and memorable messages he penned 9 releases for the band and played countless shows across the US and Canada. When BTF went on hiatus in 2011 EDA continued to write and play solo and with his band Black Dirt Revi...

Jackson Emmer is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer from Carbondale, Colorado. His work blends humor with heartache, and tradition with exploration. Emmer’s writing is often compared to that of John Prine and Guy Clark. He has toured the US since 2009, collaborated with Grammy-winners, and co-written 40+ songs with folk music legend, Tom Paxton. Emmer has opened for Robert Earl Keen...

My guest this week is session keyboardist, producer, and founder of the Little Village Foundation, Jim Pugh. His international performing music career spans 40 years and includes multiple Grammy Award, platinum and gold records. He has recorded and performed with a star-studded array of musicians including B.B. King, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, Boz Skaggs, Syl Johnson and Van Morriso...

Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and performer Sunny War is my guest this week. Extreme emotions can make that battle all the more perilous, yet from such trials Sunny has crafted a set of songs that draw on a range of ideas and styles, as though she’s marshaling all her forces to get her ideas across: ecstatic gospel, dusty country blues, thoughtful folk, rip-roaring rock and roll, even avant garde...

My guest this week is Shane Smith of Shane Smith & The Saints. It was great getting to catch up with Shane just a few weeks after my band (modestly titled, Andy Sydow) got to open for his band at a sold out Ogden Theatre in Denver. We first met back in 2018 when I got to do an opening slot for Shane Smith & The Saints at the Bluebird Theatre (also in Denver). I'm glad we've stayed in touch over th...

On the heels of his new album, "A Matter of Time" (Sept 23, 2022), Kalyn Beasley is quickly becoming an established facet of the Wyoming and Montana country music scene. We met and became friends this past summer at the Red Lodge Songwriter Festival in Red Lodge, MT and the Yellowstone Songwriter Festival in his hometown of Cody, WY. Kalyn also holds the distinction of being my only podcast guest...

David Starr keeps a busy schedule between touring and running his own music store (Starr's Guitars) in Cedaredge, CO. He also manages to consistently release music. His 2021 album, "Touchstones" features one original and 11 creatively interpreted cover songs. He released one song per month, following the "new school" path of releasing music. In 2020, Starr released "Beauty and Ruin," a concept alb...

This weeks guests are Sav Buist and Katie Larson from The Accidentals. It's hard to know where to start when talking about the 3-piece Nashville based (by way of Traverse City, MI) punk-folk outfit. They've made an album and toured with a full orchestra, scored a film, received acclaim from NPR and Billboard, and collaborated with the likes of Tom Paxton, Mary Gauthier, Kim Richey, and Dar William...

I met Shane McLaughlin at FARM (Folk Alliance Midwest) just outside of Chicago back in October. I was blown away by the performance of his band, Buffalo Rose. Reminiscent of Nickel Creek or Punch Brothers, the 6-piece group is a feel good, high energy group that puts on a theatrical live performance. On top of releasing a group of songs as a collaboration with Tom Paxton back in February, Buffalo...

It was great to have Jason Grishkoff back on the podcast this week. The last time we talked, (April 2020) the world was just learning about Zoom, which opened me up to the possibility of interviewing people not just outside of my room, but on the other side of the world. Jason, who resides in South Africa, founded Indie Shuffle about 15 years ago as an avid music fan. He used his knowledge as a co...

This week I got to chat with my pal, Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds, who goes by Seven Pound Thesaurus when dealing with all things music, is a Washington based singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. We first met at the Durango Songwriters Expo back in Ventura back in February and immediately hit it off. Bryan is all about the song. From the weave of the lyrics, to the vocal melody, to the producti...

A native of North Louisiana, Ever More Nest’s Kelcy Wilburn (“Kelcy Mae”) is as equally influenced by the gospel, country, and blues of her Bible Belt hometown as she is by the emotional rawness of the artists that consumed her generation: Cranberries, Counting Crows, Tori Amos, Radiohead, et al. At 18, she moved to New Orleans, where open-mindedness and acceptance gave her the freedom to be herse...

My guest this week is Canadian singer-songwriter, Taylor Abrahamse. Our paths first crossed virtually last year when we were both finalists in the Kerrville New Folk Songwriters Competition (Taylor was a winner!). We had the pleasure of meeting in person when he stayed with me and my wife back in August during his pilgrimage west to see South Park at Red Rocks. Our conversation is filled with an a...