Top Hill Recording Podcast

Zeno Jones takes the old-style blues – delta, river, hill country- and sets them on fire with Kentucky moonshine. After recording and showcasing a more traditional, self-titled country blues album in 2011, Jones returns to the roots revivalist scene with a suitcase drum and an overflow of voltage in his guitar strings. Zeno is the winner of Louisville’s 2021 KBS Blues Challenge and semi-finalist f...

After a last minute cancellation, Neil and Brad invite friends, Brent West and Lee Donohue, to the studio. Conversation touches on learning music, goals, songwriting, bonfire jams, recognizing and respecting progress in playing, Marcus King, The Ryman Auditorium, studio plugins, cataloging songs, memorizing lyrics, friendship, making an album, and more. Plus, two previously unheard original songs....

Brandon Baumann is a singer, song writer, and voice actor who hasn’t let up on the throttle for nearly two decades. Brandon has toured the country with his band Diamond Lane, selling out clubs all over Los Angeles, releasing half a dozen albums, and rocking festival stages. His musical journey started in Seattle, cutting his teeth on Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. After a lifetime in a...

George Stearman grew up in the hills of South Louisville, Kentucky. He loves 80's rock, but his natural country music voice led him down the country music path. George started singing around the house at the same time he learned to talk and considers himself, in his words, "a singer and wanna be songwriter". Like a lot of musicians, George balances a 9 to 5 and a family with kids, with a love of p...

Quite Literally is a swing inspired folk band that captures a “speakeasy” feel. Upbeat music that gathers influences from 40’s Jazz, early blues and roots music, they bring forth a fun and fresh outlook on modern songwriting. A picturesque ensemble, driven by powerful lyrics and decorated with quick-witted instrumentation.

Full Disclosure is an alternative, psychedelic, progressive rock band, from Louisville, KY. August Kingsley (keys), Lance Oliphant (guitar), and Matthew Oney (bass), Mason Beard (vocals), and Luke Stanton (drums) started out playing cover shows in 2018. The band quickly began writing original content and playing shows in the thriving Louisville music scene. They released their first singles Entrop...

Scott T. Smith is a folk/soul singer/songwriter originally from Hurricane, West Virginia, but currently calls Louisville, Kentucky home. Being from West Virginia, he has a deep love for traditional folk music and bluegrass, but in a household where he grew up listening to the soul and R&B greats from past generations, the two worlds collide in his music and in his personality.

Kevin Niehoff is a 23 year-old singer/songwriter from Louisville, KY. With influences from his family, Kevin spent his early childhood listening to classic acts such as The Beatles and more contemporary artists like John Mayer. After rediscovering his appreciation for Mayer in high school, Kevin started learning guitar and writing songs. Following his enrollment at the University of Louisville, Ke...

Darlington Pairs (and Loop Island Hermit Club) is a self described "song machine made of humans that started working in 2016 or so and seems less and less horrified all the time. It has so many songs!" The fact that the band's name is taken from a multi-transistor electronics configuration, along with the fact that the group also performs as alter-ego Loop Island Hermit Club, provides a glimpse in...

Stuart Wicke is a singer/songwriter from Louisville, KY. He pairs thoughtful lyrics, like those of Patty Griffin and Paul Simon, with the careful orchestration of indie rock bands such as Pedro the Lion, Dawes, and Starflyer 59. He has released four albums and two EPs as the Stuart Wicke Band. His new record, "We Never Had Tomorrow Anyway", was recorded in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic....

Jordan Blase is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Louisville, Kentucky. Through song, her lush, velvety voice boasts melodies of an earlier era. Introspective, honest, and intimately vulnerable, her music calls to the deepest, most sacred parts of us all. Melodically, she rides a smooth, melancholy wave that blends elements of jazz, R&B, and sultry soul, creating a truly timeless and unique...

Evan McMillian is a singer/songwriter based out of California, KY. Evan didn't pick up a guitar until after he graduated high school in 2018. In a short period of time, he has garnered a lot of attention writing and singing songs about personal experiences and stories that he has picked up along the way. His debut EP, One Way or Another, was released on March 26.

When physicist Dr. David Tieri moved to Louisville for a job at the local university, he crossed paths with two kindred spirits who shared his love of music, rock climbing and the Grateful Dead. The trio soon became The Houdell Hollers, a name David picked up from his Eastern Kentucky grandpa. The Houdell Hollers are a self-described "blues folk surf psychedelic rock jam band". The Houdell Hollers...

With their intoxicating blend of rock, metal and pop hooks,  South Yorkshire based five-piece Dead Romantic exploded onto the scene in 2021  with debut single ‘Yesterday’ which amassed over 1.5 million YouTube views and over  a quarter of a million streams on Spotify.  Their searing second and third singles ‘Kissed With a Lie’ and ‘Fight Me’ continued  the trend to generat...

Loz Campbell is a fierce, incendiary front woman/guitarist hailing from Yorkshire UK. Known for prowling the stage with her sultry, alluring vocals and spicy guitar riffs, Loz offers a modern take on alternative rock that will have heads swaying in heavy grooves that are familiar, yet unique. Loz and her bandmates, Steve Pickles (bass) and Tom Kirby (drums), are amassing quite a fanbase built on b...

Producing a Kind Generation (PAKG) is a Louisville-based alternative rock four piece, self-described as "post trap garage punk funk". PAKG is "Dre" Smith (vocals, guitar), "Pinky" Clay (guitar), "Ace" Holmes (bass), and Kym Williams (drums). The group has been making music together as part of a larger collective for more than a decade. In 2018, they decided to form PAKG and have quickly garnered a...

Ellie Ruth’s music draws breath from the multitude of experiences she’s had as a working multi-instrumentalist. Born and raised in Kentucky, her path as a string player weaves bluegrass/old time with classical and contemporary style and gives her the unique voice of her violin/viola playing. Having spent time cutting teeth within the Kentucky music scene as well as performing nationally and intern...

The Bad Day Blues Band was our guest back on episode 52. The group has since dropped Blues Band from the name. They are back for Top Hill Recording Podcast's "5 from......" series. The Bad Day exploded onto the scene in 2017, playing Times Square in New York City with double Grammy Award winner Delbert McClinton. This was followed by two critically acclaimed performances at The Isle Of Wight Festi...

With a deep understanding of songwriting as a method for storytelling, Glory Daze creates lyric-driven, cinematic folk tunes that play out like a soundtrack for late nights and long drives.

First active musically as a teenager in Louisville’s underground hardcore scene, Rinehart's first band Flight Nineteen played with seminal underground acts like At The Drive In, Joan of Arc, Avail & By The Grace of God. His first solo album “Memories Are Hunting Horns," released in 2010 under the pseudonym “Saredren Wells”, featured a new and very different direction, situating him alongside o...

Young Romantics is an alternative rock band formed in Bowling Green, KY, in early 2017 when high school friends and Louisville natives Matt Porter (drums) and Griffin Fletcher (vocals) started making music together while studying at Western Kentucky University. The duo began by recording in Porter’s Honda Accord and Fletcher’s bedroom closet with a $100 audio interface, releasing two self-produced...

Andrew Shockley, AKA Delafaye, started recording on a gifted eight track recorder in middle school. Several years down the road, he released his self-recorded, self-produced debut EP "The Hilltop" with, in his own words, "zero expectations". The lead single for "The Hilltop" EP, "Time and Money" (which he recorded on an iPhone) quickly garnered a great deal of attention resulting in regular playli...

Villa Mure is a husband/wife alt/psych songwriting team from Louisville, KY. Rooted as much in 70’s progressive rock as 90's alternative and cultivated by the eclectic "Louisville Indie" music scene, Villa Mure’s music is anchored on the chemistry of textural, flowing guitar work and driving, melodic bass. The group creates an atmosphere that recalls the psychedelic, but presents itself in the sim...

Mixing elements of R&B and soul with their jazz roots, Kiana & the Sun Kings make music that is modern yet timeless, energetic yet contemplative. Their ultimate goal is to create music that is equal in complexity and simplicity, crafting sounds for the jazz player and casual listener alike. The Sun Kings were founded by vocalist Kiana Del as she was searching for a hot group to play her se...

Founded in July 2016 by Kentucky songwriter Billy Swayze, Thunder Sound Studio quickly became one of Kentucky’s premiere destination studios. Thunder Sound is a fully equipped analog and digital complex in the Franklin, Kentucky countryside, just 45 minutes north of Nashville recording studios and Music Row. Seth Pedigo, affectionately called "Paramount Pedigo" by Swayze, is one of many creative h...