The Unstarving Musician

Glass Hamlet loves the songwriting aspect of music. His big challenge has been finding a community of fellow musicians and music industry mentors. Glass is a native of Moscow, Russia. In the late 90's he moved to New York where be began an education in design and the arts. He's applied his education and creativity to the professional worlds of fashion, acting, modeling, photography, and now songwr...

In this episode Daniel Stidham of Raid the Quarry discusses strategies for releasing a new album. His Raleigh North Carolina bansed band has just released their first full length album, Temporary Cemetery . Episode Highlights The episode begins with Daniel Stidham discussing the launch of Raid the Quarry's new album Temporary Cemetery . Our conversation continues with his thoughts on: Strategies f...

Nashville based singer songwriter Notelle recently made the move from longtime collaborator to solo artist. She's known for heavy messy pop with an electronic edge. In our conversation for this episode, Notelle is forthcoming with lessons she's learning as a solo artist and advice that has served her well. She's also forthcoming about her insecurities. We discuss imposter syndrome, leveraging uniq...

When I started the Unstarving Musician's podcast, I had no idea how rewarding it would be to speak with all of the talented music artists I've met and interviewed over the past few years. I wanted to do something a little different for the 100th episode. A best-of compilation seemed a fitting way to celebrate the podcast's journey over the last two years. The interview segments I chose to feature...

Mark Addison is a big fan of DIY recording, a seasoned music producer, songwriter, and co-creator of the iconic Tips Concerts series of Austin Texas. Topics discussed in this episode Wendy Colonna and the history of Tips Concerts Why Mark loves DIY recording How he goes about selecting his work His collaboration recording project with Jana Pochop The many skills needed to succeed as an independent...

Co-creator of the Profitable Musician Summit Bree Noble makes her third appearance on the podcast. Bree is a singer, songwriter and educator. Her focus as an educator is on empowering musicians to take control of their careers. Now in its 2nd year, Bree's Profitable Musician Summit 2019 is an online conference that's being held from April 22nd through May 1st, 2019. The intent of this virtual even...

In this episode, singer songwriter Chris Taylor shares the secrets behind his creativity. He's a multi-instrumentalist and visual artist with a creative energy that resembles a force of nature. He's also a former guest of the podcast. You can hear his first interview in episode 65 – Creating Music to Discover Who He Is – Chris Taylor . He has two recording projects in the works. One is a collabora...

Benoit Glazer and the Timucua Arts Foundation believe that the visual and performing arts should be accessible to everyone. What started out as house concerts to fill a gap in his music loving heart, has become a mission to present and inspire great music and art in Central Florida. The Timucua Arts Foundation does this through performance and education. Prior to the creation of the Timucua Arts F...

I had the pleasure of speaking with Tess Posner on International Women's Day . This was especially cool, because she released a single to commemorate the day. That song is Supernova , which you will hear at the end of our conversation. Tess has been singing since she was a teenager, but she just released her first album in late 2018. Her Supernova single is the follow-up, and an indication that we...

Creative block is a thing, but it doesn't have to be. In this episode, I share the one tactic for overcoming creative block practiced by most music artists I've interviewed for this podcast. I also share tips for getting out of your own head, which can help you get out of your own way. I spoke with two indie artists earlier this week, each w ith unique situation. Both are on the cusp of big projec...

Jenna and Daniel Watters successfully met a $10k Kickstarter fundraising goal to support the release of their latest album. Most of that money was for a PR hire. In this episode, Jenna and Daniel share how and why their PR hire didn't go well. We also discuss other efforts that went into promoting the release of their album The Watters , including their weekly Wednesdays with the Watters videos ....

Wendy Colonna is a songwriter, performer, recording artist, yogi and mom. She's also co-creator of Tips Concerts, one of the best known house concert series in Austin. This conversation garners insights from Wendy's life coaching practice, her talks with music students of UTA, writing music for advertising, common myths about success in music, and more. The big takeaway? You never know where your...

One of my favorite things about Louisa Hall's latest release Barista Boyfriend is its whimsy. She amplifies that whimsy in the videos created for album, but it doesn't stop there. Louisa also takes her whimsy to the stage for live performances. In this conversation we explore her mindset for releasing Barista Boyfriend in digital and vinyl only (no CDs), relationships, media promotion, being onese...

Justin Trawick is the quintessential DIY musician, but he's just about maxed out his abilities as a one-man army. Among his many projects are his band The Common Good, a podcast, and touring with a songwriter series. These and his other projects obviously require marketing, selling, planning, logistics, coordination, etc. Justin seems highly organized, and he is. But he sees himself as over-extend...

Jana Pochop refers to herself as New Mexican and as a nerd. She's a singer, songwriter, recording artist, performer, and social media consultant for other working musicians. Social media consulting came about through volunteering for another artist she admires (. That volunteer gig included working a march table, tour support, booking, and eventually social media. We discuss her love of marketing,...

Austin based musician Emmanuel Tomes is a singer songwriter of the blues and funk variety. His early inspirations came from Elliott Smith and Ben Harper . It was in fact Ben Harper who inspired him to start writing and recording original material. That inspiration took Emmanuel down the path of his first release October Skies , a project that began as a collaboration with his sister Elyssa. He unf...

Bradford and Kimberly Loomis are of the dynamic duo, married couple variety. Kimberly is highly involved in Bradford's career. Among her contributions are tech support, photography, co-writing, and community management.   Our conversation opens with how Bradford was thrust back into music following economic change and a job loss. It sounds like it's turned out to be the best career choice that's e...

Cam Gillette writes, sings, produces, and performs under the band name Smoke From All The Friction. He and his collaborators meld electronica, pop, and rock to create an elaborate sound with melodic sensibility. Our conversation digs into Cam's approach to finding the perfect band members, working with production collaborators, keeping his own DIY approach in check, serving audiences at live shows...

Tony Harrah and I began our conversation for this episode "off-air." I asked about his website, which is powered by Bandzoogle. This question was for my own market research purposes. There are a couple of areas on his website site, which looks great by the way, that are "under construction." Given that I speak with so many DIY musicians, I was curious to know if he's perhaps struggling to keep up...

Jamie Hill is a producer, musician, and songwriter with a soft spot for vulnerable voices. To clarify, Jamie says he's specifically interested in female voices, gay voices, trans voices, and brown voices. He also prefers socially conscious artists and art over entertainment. He's co host of the podcast Misfit Stars, along side his singing songwriting spouse Shannon Curtis. Jamie says the podcast i...

This is a short holiday message to say thanks, reflect on the good things that happened in 2018, plus a couple of announcements for the New Year 2019. In gratitude... SHOW NOTES Jamie Hill Partner4Leads Conundrum by Groove Camp Sweet Groovalicious Funk Machine  (Brian Crumrine's band) House Concert Tours & Community – Shannon Curtis RESOURCES FOR MUSICIANS The Unstarving Musician's Guide to Gettin...

Lexington Kentucky based songwriter Eric Bolander is a working musician and visual arts teacher. We were introduced by fellow songwriter and artist Abe Partridge, who has also been featured on this podcast. Check out Abe's episode Eric is notably excited about a new relationship with Eastwood Records. Eastwood is working with Eric on the re-release of his 2017 album The Wind . There's plenty to be...

San Antonio based singer songwriter Laura Marie and I were connected by way of mutual friend and former Unstarving Musician's Podcast guest Chris Taylor . I'm very happy with the outcome of this episode! I always enjoy interviewing music artists for this podcast– always . However, sometimes I get a wee bit off-track. I often get lost in conversation. This is the result of having so much fun speaki...

Singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sylvia Rose Novak grew up in Opalika Alabama, a place I'd never heard of before our conversation. I asked her what it was like growing up in the South, and she said it was a little weird. I gathered from some reading that she didn't exactly fit in. She's still based in Alabama, so I know she didn't and doesn't find it a bad place. It's her home. By my ow...

Vicki Ambinder is a Music Performance Coach and Artistic Consultant. She helps musicians and bands of all ages, experience levels and genres improve and enhance their live and studio performance skills. She also helps musicians and bands work toward their artistic goals. Our conversation touches on details of what she provides for clients as a performance coach. She explains what artist developmen...