The Unstarving Musician

This short episode is a holiday message to all my my indie music artist friends, fans of live music, friends and family of Unstarving Musician's Podcast guests. It's also a way for me to take the week off in observance of Thanksgiving. I got permission from music performance coach Vicki Ambinder, who I interviewed this week.  She's a coach, and that's what she does sometimes (gives permission). Yo...

Ian Salazar recently turned 21. He's been playing guitar since he could hold one, probably starting around age six. He plays for two Dallas Fort Worth bands and does a bit of solo work. He's also a recording engineer and producer, working from both his own home studio and Redwood Studio of Denton Texas. Needless to say, he's in search of balance. We're acquainted by way of my friendship with his p...

Austin area native Ginger Leigh is a life long entertainer and performer. She comes from five generations of music biz professionals. Her music is a blend of gritty, sassy rock and blues goodness. In our conversation for this episode 75, Ginger and I talk about touring, marketing, recording, performing, giving and much more. Hear the title track of her latest release Hey Funky You at the end of th...

Shannon Curtis has made house concerts the anchor of her music career since 2011. She tried the traditional route of touring cafes, college shows, and clubs. Her assessment of that traditional route is that it was really a slog. Growth was slow. In 2011 that all changed when a fan invited her to perform in her living room for donations. Shannon told me that performance was a transformative and won...

Lannie Flowers is one of my indie musician pals who resides in the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas. In this second appearance for the podcast, Lannie discusses the long process of making his forthcoming album Home . The project has apparently been wrought with challenges. I had no idea this was the case when I invited him back to the podcast. In fact, I was surprised by the magnitude of obstacles,...

Lance Harvill came onto my radar by way of his recent work with Rex Brown . Some of you will know Rex as a founding member of Pantera. Lance's guitar work was featured on Brown's 2017 solo release Smoke on This . He was also part of the ensuing tour. Lance and I both grew up in the Dallas Fort Worth area, but only recently became acquainted with one another. I went into our conversation interested...

Jon Christopher Davis (aka JCD) is a Dallas-Fort Worth based music artist. He's written songs for the likes of Dolly Parton, Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles, Billy Ray Cyrus, and many other noteworthys. He's recorded for Warner Brothers, Sony and MCA Records. He's been featured on a number of major TV and cable networks. His discography includes work with Vince Gill, Stan Lynch (The Heartbreakers)...

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll call your therapist. That is straight from Lindsay White's bio. She's a songwriting machine, who's been recognized by the likes of the Teullride Bluegrass Festival , Kerrville Folk Festival , Guitar World , and American Songwriter Magazine . In our chat for this episode of the podcast, Lindsay shares that she's had a life long thing with anxiety. I believe she lean...

Setting the Intention to Make Music Full Time – Eli Lev My interview with Eli Lev was recording on Labor Day 2018, the US holiday that commemorates hard working Americans. I like to think it commemorates hard working people everywhere. Eli is definitely among the hard working. He's working hard to figure out what it takes to be a full time musician. It appears he's doing something right. Eli intro...

Lisa Sanders (featured in episode 66 ) made reference to Jason Mraz when she talked about Lee Coulter . She said that the excitement around Lee is similar to the excitement everyone had about Jason Mraz when he first hit the local music scene in San Diego California. Lee is currently on a roll with a #1 single on iTunes in Australia and New Zealand. He's also been featured on Sirius XM's Coffee Ho...

All for his first solo album Danny Wilkerson isn't exactly in the full-time game of music, but for the past five years he's been busy writing and recording songs. He's also been busy recruiting talent and fundraising, all for his first solo album Wilkerson .  The album is a true culmination of passion and persistence. Danny and I grew up in the same area, but are only recently acquainted, thanks t...

Abe Partridge discovered music when he first heard Nirvana's Nevermind. His life would take a few interesting turns before he would begin sharing his music and art.  Abe's life has varied from several years as a preacher to serving with the US Air Force. These experiences and a personal awakening have forever changed his life path and driven him to create art and music. He says he writes songs and...

Lisa Sanders was once signed with an indie label, which gave her the gift of an indie mindset. Her latest release Shiver is her eighth CD.  She's worked alongside The Truckee Brothers, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Rait, Al Green, BB King, and Babyface among others. Our conversation covers the San Diego music scene, touring, the thought process behind her career decisions, tips for fellow artists, her...

Chris Taylor creates music and art like a madman. He's a man of a thousand faces in my eyes. Check out his website to see what I mean. In this episode we talk about why he creates so prolifically, how he's connecting with fans, his latest release, upcoming projects, and much more. His latest album is an acoustic trip through his music catalogue, and a postcard of sorts to his fans. Then there's hi...

Jace Everett and I surely crossed paths in the 90's, a time when we both lived and played music in and around Fort Worth Texas. In fact, we both did some hanging out and performing at Bronco's Sports Bar. This is the same place at which I met Chris Raspante , and it was Chris who recommended I ask Jace to join me for an interview on the Unstarving Musician's Podcast. When I asked Jace how he and C...

Mike Osborn and Music Marketing Music marketing is synonymous with the name Mike Osborn. He's still figuring it out like so many other indie music artists, but Mike has always been heavily invested in how he markets his music and brand. This was evident when I heard him speak at a 2014 musician marketing event that I co-hosted in San Jose California. Mike showed up with notebooks containing market...

I've been fascinated with house concerts for years, but my interest went up recently following my interview with Ezra Vancil for The Unstarving Musician's Podcast. Then Ray Prim made an appearance on the podcast, and shared his experience with house concerts in the Austin area. And then self-proclaimed ambassador of house concerts Tom Meny came on to the podcast. He clued me in to tidbits and reso...

Circus swing is my favorite genre that's been used to label Dean Johanesen. The label comes from Dean's fascination with circus history and a family story that ties it all together. In discussing my fondness of this genre with Dean, he confessed that he's not sure (yet) that he wants to be defined by circus swing indefinitely. At the moment, it appears to be working well for him. This circus swing...

Amy S Killingsworth founded and co-produces Amy & Gary's House Concerts of San Antonio Texas. I'm fascinated with house concerts as of late, and this conversation was an opportunity to get the host perspective. Amy and Gary hosted their first show in April of 2016. Their 25th house concert will happen in July of 2018. Amy's added street cred comes from former Unstarving Musician's Podcast guests R...

Life and songwriting on the road was the underscoring theme of my interview with Crystal & Pete Damore of Ordinary Elephant. We actually discuss a number of topics including how they've grown their Spotify audience, songwriting camps, the daily practice of object writing, music festival showcase gigs, and the importance of their fan newsletter. But all of this is enveloped by a nomadic life on the...

Singer Songwriter Roger Blevins Jr is the driving force of Austin based Mingo Fishtrap . He grew up listening to R&B, soul, funk, metal, hip-hop, and a little rock, but Mingo Fishtrap is known for the sound of Texas soul. In this episode Roger and I discuss a songwriting accountability group that has driven him to set up his perfect home studio. The group has also greatly helped with his productiv...

Singer songwriter Jennifer Vazquez came to me out of the blue, the blue canvas of Twitter. I was checking my alerts, glancing at the feed and there she was, promoting her latest album Rediscovering Me . Jennifer grew up in and around the Bronx of NY. She has spent a good deal of time in LA, but now calls Nashville home. Before we even spoke, I got a sense that Jennifer has a mindset built on givin...

SHAPESCENES is a reference to synesthesia . My guest in this episode is Chase Anderson, lead singer and guitarist for the Austin band SHAPESCENES. Chase says when he was a kid listening to music, he could close his eyes and see notes, tones and chords as specific complex shape and color combinations. He referred to those visuals as shape scenes. With age and expanding music knowledge, this experie...

Brian Wolff is lead singer and guitarist for Austin based rock band Fair City Fire. Our conversation covers Brian's start in the music scene of Binghamton NY to his immersion in the Austin music scene. He shares lessons learned from touring, podcasting, college, business and marketing. His band's latest release is Shake Your Bones (see show notes below). The title track is featured at the end of t...

Singer songwriter Tom Meny considers himself an ambassador for house concerts. He says they're his bread and butter these days. He's so into them that he has a podcast episode devoted to the topic. Among his most recommended resources on the subject is this episode of the DIY Musician Podcast , featuring an interview with house concert expert Shannon Curtis . His other most recommended resource on...