VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast

As part of ASCAP's Black History Month celebration, we talk to Amythyst Kiah - the provocative and powerful East Tennessee singer-songwriter and member of the acclaimed Americana supergroup, Our Native Daughters . Last week, Kiah released a new solo recording of her Grammy-nominated song "Black Myself" - and Our Native Daughters has a brand new documentary out on the Smithsonian Channel, called Re...

We talk with Tony Award winners and Oscar and Grammy nominees Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, best known for their Broadway hits, Ragtime and Once On This Island , about their new song "How Can I Tell You?" that was written for the powerful new documentary, NASRIN , and performed by Angelique Kidjo. They also dig deep into their storied career collaborating on projects for the stage and screen a...

Devon Gilfillian grew up in Philadelphia on a steady diet of hip-hop, rock, blues and soul music. While soaking up the sounds of his musician father's favorite music, Gilfillian also developed an appreciation for the beats and vibe of modern rap. He combined it all into his own music and after releasing an electrifying EP in 2016, he got signed to Capitol Records and hit the road performing with t...

One of the most accomplished artists in the music industry, Herb Alpert has sold over 72 million records and co-founded A&M Records, one of the most successful independent music labels in history and home to such artists as The Carpenters, Quincy Jones, Cat Stevens and Peter Frampton.  A brand new documentary, Herb Alpert Is …, directed by John Scheinfeld, provides a passionate and inspiring look...

Songwriter, pianist and rapper  Benjamin Lerner  is the great grandson of Irving Berlin - the songwriter of "God Bless America" and "White Christmas." Lerner has continued his family's musical legacy, first as an award-winning classical pianist, then as a promising rapper who collaborated with Raekwon and Mac Miller. But his hip-hop career was halted when Lerner started using hard drugs, eventuall...

In 2019, the blazingly talented Alejandro Aranda (aka Scarypoolparty) made the finale of  American Idol , and made history by performing more original songs than any previous contestant. It was an amazing achievement for a singer-songwriter-musician who was busking the streets of LA just a year before. Aranda followed it up with a daring debut album,  Exit Form , which captured the many facets of...

ASCAP President Paul Williams talks to the honorable Congressman Adam Schiff of California, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a great champion of music creator rights, about what Congress is doing to include music professionals in coronavirus relief efforts, the need for federal guidelines on restarting live performances at venues, what's at stake in the US Department of Justice's u...

  This past February, Pulitzer Prize winner  Du Yun  premiered her new opera  Sweet Land , an ambitious site-specific work that reflects on the way cultures swallow up, resist and intertwine with one other. Two weeks into  Sweet Land 's initial run, the coronavirus epidemic shut down the production - but not before it was captured on video. Listen to Du Yun talk about this fearlessly creative work...

In celebration of both Black Music Month and Pride Month, we called up the eternally fabulous Honey Davenport - a drag superstar, singer-songwriter and activist who has left an indelible mark on New York's nightlife and beyond. In their decade-plus entertainment career, they've earned 18 pageant crowns, starred in off-Broadway musicals and earned a worldwide audience on  RuPaul's Drag Race  season...

Just a few short months ago, ASCAP presented its 22nd Annual Sundance ASCAP Music Café at the heart of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The Café featured eight days of performances from visionary recording artists and songwriters from across the musical spectrum. At the time, we spoke with all of our performers in the green room about their craft, career, inspirations and more. We th...

Singer-songwriter, artist and actress Techy Fatule has lived almost her whole life in the entertainment industry. The daughter of Dominican showman Carlos Alfredo Fatule and writer and motivational speaker Tania Baez, Techy grew up in Santo Domingo in a home filled with music and love for the arts. She studied piano, guitar and honed her skills as a vocalist with the best teachers in the Dominican...

Jaren Johnston  is a Grammy-nominated country songwriter with hit songs for Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and more. He's also the leader of The Cadillac Three, a great American rock band from Nashville with a new album called  Country Fuzz  full of kick-ass songs that celebrate southern living. ASCAP's very own Evyn Mustoe (who knows Jaren better than most – she's married to the guy) sat down with him a...

Grammy-nominated, Platinum-certified singer-songwriter  Cassadee Pope  first gained acclaim as lead singer for the pop-punk group Hey Monday, then rose to fame as the winner of Season 3 of  The Voice,  before transforming into a #1-selling country artist. Throughout her long and winding career, Pope has never stopped pushing herself creatively. For this special  International Women's Day  episode...

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, is also a historian with a passion for the history of black musicians in America. His acclaimed album, Black Cowboys , pays tribute to the music, culture and complex history of the golden era of the Wild West. It received a GRAMMY nomination for "Best Folk Album," and just last year Fl...

At the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, ASCAP members' music amplified the impact of dozens of official festival selections. In this bonus episode of VERSED, we talk to another talented group of this year's Sundance composers: Anne Nikitin ( Lost Girls , directed by Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus), Dan Romer ( Wendy , directed by Benh Zeitlin), Amanda Jones ( Baldwin Beauty , directed by Thembi Bank...

A great film is a feast for the eyes  and the ears. At this year's Sundance Film Festival, ASCAP members' music amplified the impact of dozens of official festival selections. In this special episode of VERSED (Part 1 of 2), we talk to Nainita Desai, Bear McCreary, Alex Somers and Jay Wadley - four ASCAP film composers whose music graced some of the winning films at this year's Sundance Film Festi...

Anaïs Mitchell is a contemporary folk singer-songwriter with an ever-growing font of solo and collaborative projects. Her best-known triumph: Hadestown, an avant-garde "folk opera" that underwent a 12-year transformation into a Tony-winning, widely acclaimed Broadway musical. On January 24, just days before Mitchell finds out if she can add a Grammy to her mantle, Mitchell releases her first album...

Born and bred in Kentucky, Carly Pearce was destined for a life in Country music. After her debut single "Every Little Thing" reached #1 and put her in the rare company of only three women in the last decade to have accomplished that feat, Pearce is now in the vanguard of top women in country music. We spoke with her on the eve of the 2019 ASCAP Country Awards in Nashville, where she celebrated th...

Nicholas Britell is the Academy Award-nominated composer whose music has graced such films as If Beale Street Could Talk and Best Picture Oscar winners Moonlight and 12 Years a Slave as well as Vice , The Big Short and others. He just won an Emmy for his theme to HBO's critically-acclaimed series Succession and his music can be heard in the new Netflix film The King . He opens up about his educati...

In addition to being a legendary songwriter, Paul Williams is uniquely qualified to speak about how essential health and wellness is to one's music career. Sober for nearly 30 years, Paul is passionate about recovery and works tirelessly to destigmatize alcoholism and addiction. His work in recovery was chronicled in the acclaimed documentary, Paul Williams Still Alive . He is a certified Drug Reh...

In our debut episode we talk with Paul Williams, the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning, Hall of Fame songwriter and President of ASCAP. Paul talks about unexpected opportunities and shares the inspiring story of Phantom of the Paradise , a commercial film flop that evolved into one of the most influential works of his career, and amazingly netted him an Album of the Year Grammy with Daft Punk...

VERSED: THE ASCAP PODCAST  illuminates the heart, soul and power of music with the songwriters and composers whose work makes us feel, sing, dance and want to change the world. Regularly featuring the greatest music creators from a diversity of genres who share the unvarnished truth about their creative life – the struggles, hard work, breakthroughs and paths to success – as well as the wisdom the...