Supernova Support

In season two’s first episode, singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown introduce the theme of grief and how songs bridge the gap left by culture’s unwillingness and inability to allow grieving its full depth and breadth. They discuss the current conceptions of the stages of grief and the wide range of losses besides death which are made harder through society’s lack of recognition. P...

In episode eight, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown look into the other side of listening; paying close sonic and emotional attention to what we hear in our own songs and those we love. They address classic pitfalls like self-doubt and judgement and offer the benefits of objectivity and discernment while identifying what makes a song work without falling for t...

In episode seven, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown unpack the fifth and final element of the Supernova Support program: inspiration. They uncover the highly powerful and practical nature of the seemingly fluffy concept, and how cultivating it keeps our creativity flowing in a beautiful cycle that enriches the creators of art as much as those who appreciate it...

In episode six, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown unpack the fourth of five elements that support a joyful, sustainable creative life: support. They explore what happens without it, and the ways we can powerfully combine nurturing ourselves, participating in a creative community, and actively supporting other artists for a more joyful and fulfilling creative l...

In episode five, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown unpack the third element of the Supernova Support program, craft , breaking it into its three parts: song content, technique, and song components. They address how fear and doubt get in the way of attending to growth areas and share a few craft secret weapons. They perform and discuss original songs, Mary and...

In episode four, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown unpack the second of five elements that support a joyful, sustainable creative life: doing the work. They explore the “do the work” list of practices that attend to the work of songwriting craft as well as personal care/growth strategies that free us to access available learning tools and resources. They perfo...

In episode three, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown unpack the first of five elements that support a joyful, sustainable creative life: listening. Practices like morning pages and the artist’s date from Julia Cameron’s widely popular book The Artist’s Way are investigated and clarified by personal examples of how to get past the clutter and listen to the soul....

In episode two, podcast hosts and singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown address the insidious influence of imposter syndrome and perfectionism on creativity. Basic definitions and origins of the term are uncovered and held to the light of scrutiny in the context of sexism, racism, and white supremacy. They explore concrete ways of confronting its debilitating effects both personall...

In this pilot episode, singer-songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown share the origin and inspiration for their podcast and program Supernova Support including times they lost their creative identities and how they began to recover them together.  They discuss the meaning of creative recovery and trace the course of their friendship’s power to revive their love for songwriting in the face...

Songwriters Katie Phillips and Karen Joy Brown introduce their new podcast exploring where creativity and recovery collide. Find out what inspired them and what to expect in the episodes to come, f-bombs and lots of laughter included. IN THE NORTH BAY/SAN FRANCISCO AREA? Join Katie and Karen at Coffee & Moore in Sebastopol for the Not So Open Mic for women performers (and yeah, that means, all wom...