Why Music Matters With Jeff Miers

Hello, music lovers!   Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.   I’m your host, musician and music journalist Jeff Miers.   On today’s episode, I’m joined by drummer, composer and educator John Bacon, Jr.   For several decades, John has been an artist operating at the center of the region’s jazz and new music scenes. Throu...

Hey there, fellow music freaks!   Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.   I’m your host, musician and music journalist Jeff Miers.   For today’s episode, I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend, the musician and music educator Eric Crittenden.   Critt, as he’s known throughout the Buffalo music scene, is a saxop...

Hello, music lovers!  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, musician and music journalist Jeff Miers. Recording today’s episode was a real treat for me. Having Alex Khoury, Cody Tarbox, Seth Bykowski and Colin Gray - who are known collectively as Witty Tarbox - in the studio with me, with instruments in h...

Ep 53: The iconic guitarist and composer talks SatchVai Band, his earliest inspirations, and his plans for the future Hello, music lovers!  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, musician and music journalist Jeff Miers. Today’s guest is one of the most critically lauded and commercially successful rock gu...

Hello, music lovers!   Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.   I’m your host, musician and music journalist Jeff Miers.   Today’s guest is a long over-due one. I’ve known Todd Eberwine for a couple decades by this point, and during that time, I’ve been witness to some purely transcendent moments in concert clubs and bars...

Hello music lovers, and welcome to another edition of Why Music Matters. I’m your host, music journalist and musician Jeff Miers. On today’s episode, I spend some time with Buffalo-born singer Cami Clune.  Many of you will remember Cami from season 19 of NBC’s The Voice, which originally aired in 2020. Cami grabbed headlines with her performance during the season, eventually going on to the semi-f...

Hello music lovers, and welcome to another edition of Why Music Matters. I’m your host, music journalist and musician Jeff Miers.   Today is a special day for the Why Music Matters team - we’re celebrating our 50th episode. And as we do so, I’d like to thank all of you for listening and for your continued support. We’re just getting started, and we’ve got some exciting new ventures planned for the...

Hello music lovers, and welcome to another edition of Why Music Matters. I’m your host, music journalist and musician Jeff Miers. Today, my guests represent a cross-generational journey through the ever-evolving world of jazz.  Alex McArthur is a singer and storyteller whose resume reads like that of a musician three times her age. A winner of multiple JazzBuffalo Vocalist of the Year awards, Alex...

Hey there, music-lovers.  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, I’ve got an old friend stopping by 678Main Studios. I’ve known Greg Klyma for more than three decades. During that time, I’ve watched him evolve from an aspiring songwriter and bandleader performing during Open Mic Nights a...

Hey there, everyone. I’d like to welcome you to a special edition of the podcast - a joint creation between Why Music Matters and The Buffalo History Museum.  This episode, which we’ve named 12/8/80 (In the Name of Love), was created with my good friend Anthony Greco, Director of Exhibits at The Buffalo History Museum, and creator and host of the Museum’s podcast. The episode explores an evening t...

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Today, my guest is Evan Laedke, a musician with an impressively broad skill-set, one that has made him a first-call keyboardist for a wide variety of WNY bands, one-off gigs and sessions.   Currently playing keys for Tsavo Highway, the Little Mountain Ban...

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, my guest is podcaster and Western New York music historian Greg Hennessey.  Through his weekly podcast, In the Flamingo Lounge with Rockabilly Greg, Hennessey shines a necessary light on Buffalo music, celebrating our region’s rich musical history, a...

Hey there, music lovers.  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, I’m excited to welcome back to Why Music Matters my friends Elliott Hunt and Chris Lillis, two fifths of the rising indie-alternative band Letter To Elise.  The last time Elliott and Chris sat down with me here at 678 Main...

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Let’s start today’s podcast with a little anecdote.  The text from my friend Jennifer Brazill, President of the Borderland Festival, arrived about 18 months back.  “Are you interested in producing, mixing and mastering an album for a reggae-based band from...

The iconic independent artist talks about the importance of ‘showing up’ in these unprecedented times Hey there, music lovers.  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today’s episode is a very meaningful one for me, because it features a musician, poet, activist, and independent music icon whos...

Hello, music lovers!  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today’s guests are siblings Maria, Grace and Jarrett Brzykcy, who together perform and record as The Water Dogs.  The Brzykcy siblings are multi-instrumentalists, whose early love of the Beatles and their daily life in a music-loving...

Hello, music lovers!  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. On today’s episode, we’re celebrating the Goo Goo Dolls, and in particular, the 30th anniversary of their mainstream breakthrough album, A Boy Named Goo.  Though the band had already been around for a decade by the time they released...

Hey there, music-lovers.    Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Way back on episode 12 of the podcast, I was joined by my friend, the musicologist, writer, historian and archivist Ray Wawrzyniak. Ray’s main passion in life, aside from his family, is the beloved Canadian progressive music t...

Hey now, music lovers.    Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Today, my guest is the legendary guitarist, performer and band-leader Jamie Holka.    As a musician whose name is mentioned in hushed, reverential tones by his peers, Jamie has earned a reputation as a virtuosic guitarist and a...

Hey there, music-lovers. Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. I’m your host, Jeff Miers. On today’s episode, I’m joined in the studio by two members of a band that has spent the last 30-plus years embodying the very definition of “indie” music. Barry Privett and Terry Clark are two-fifths of Carbon Leaf, the Richmond, V...

Hey there, friends.  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, we’ve got a special “Music Nerd” edition of the podcast, featuring a roundtable discussion with two friends of mine, who also happen to be deeply talented musicians with long tenures in the music business.  During a recent episo...

Hey there, music lovers.  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.   I’m your host, Jeff Miers. My guest to day is the singer/songwriter MarcScibilla.   Born in Buffalo, NY, and raised in a musical environment, Marc packed his belongings and headed south to Nashville, TN, when he was fresh out of high school, with dreams of...

Hey there, music lovers.    Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.    I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Today on the podcast, I’m excited to welcome two members of Letter To Elise, a young indie band that has already left a mark on the Western New York music scene, and is poised to take its soaring, anthemic sound out into the...

Hello, music lovers!  Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, I’m beyond thrilled to welcome a longtime musical hero of mine, the guitarist, bandleader and songwriter Dweezil Zappa. Growing up with the late composer and guitarist supreme Frank Zappa as a father meant that Dweezil was expo...

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Today, my guests are three musicians who seemed destined to end up playing together. Guitarist/vocalist Drew Azzinaro, bassist/vocalist Eamon Rayhn and drummer Ethan Fox all hail from Buffalo, NY, and they met in the music department at the State Universit...