Your Next Favorite Band

I was able to see Disterbenz (the moniker of Gabrielle Sterbenz) perform live a few years back when she opened for Wheatus and was majorly impressed.  She has a powerful voice and a performance that includes looping of her vocals and guitar that really impresses.  And the songwriting is stellar - mostly Americana, but really a sound all her own. You may already know that she is a member of Wheatus...

We had the great honor of spending time with Wheatus to learn all about how they achieve their iconic sound. We had this awesome group of humans on 3 years ago to dive in to their backstory, and we did that on the sidewalk during Wayne Music Fest.  One of our fav episodes for sure! We then hatched the idea to get back together during one of their concerts in Bethlehem to capture their load-in, sou...

When we had Lia Menaker on back in October, we had out traditional episode format planned and ready, but a combination of some things going on in her life that were connected to her recent release "I'm Still Here" and a perfect synergy with guest co-host Galen Deery, we ended up just talking about things like heartbreak and hurt, and processing things.   At about 32 mins in to that...

One of the things we love the most on this show is when an artist grabs two (or more) genres and brings them together brilliantly and just turns your preconceived notions of what to expect in music on it's ear.  When we took a listen to Orillia for the first time, we knew we were on a ride down a new road and were going to enjoy every turn. We're joined by frontman and songwriter Andrew...

There's a good chance you've seen Jacob Givens have a hilarious reaction to a killer track from the 90s, and if you haven't ... you should. He's developed a series of videos that attempt to express what it was like to hear some of the iconic grunge music of the 1990s for the first time and how mind-blowing it was, and we'd never listen to music the same way after. He also...

We've been enjoying the music of KOSER for quite some time now, via Musikfest discovery and the Philly music scene.  Koser is the namesake of the band and is the frontwoman with powerhouse performance chops, and a brilliant flair for melody and finding that hook that has you coming back for more. During last year's Musikfest Daily LIvestreams, the universe did its magic, by having the sc...

Sometimes you just come across music that makes you feel good.  Perfect for those summertime feelz - let's roll in Julez & the Rollerz! I recently discovered this band and their music and know you will love them.  And their videos are amazing!  Can't wait to share it all, and to dive in to their backstory. Don't miss this one! Band Bio After spending years cultivating a distinct...

Early in the year 1976, a young musician was seeking a place to perform where people wanted to listen.  Frustrated by the spaces where you'd play to a crowd that was otherwise distracted, he sought to find and create an environment where the musician and the audience shared the room and the exchange of energy would be something special. The owner of what was then the Lehigh Tavern (nowadays k...

A songstress from the moment she entered the world, Sadie Gust is the type of musician that was born to do it.  And while she's only at the beginning of her journey, she's already garnering praise and earning accolades for her songwriting and performing. Sadie has won the XPN 24-hour songwriting contest, made it to Hollywood on American Idol, and has released 2 EPs and several singles, w...

I became a fan of Weakened Friends straight off of the first listen of their iconic hit "Blue Again" back in 2019 in preparation of Musikfest that summer.  This many years later, and now hosting a podcast, the opportunity came up to be able to interview Sonia Sturino and Annie Hoffman and I jumped at the opportunity. They've just released brand new music, and it is there best stuff...

I had the honor of attending the first Sustainability Summit hosted by Martin Guitar last October and was so inspired by the speakers, the panels, the information and the people I met while I was there. One of the speakers and tabling organizations was Sustain Music & Nature, and met co-founders CEO Betsy Mortensen and Board Chair Harrison Goodale.  I was amazed by their vision and offerings t...

I had the honor of attending the first Sustainability Summit hosted by Martin Guitar last October and was so inspired by the speakers, the panels, the information and the people I met while I was there. One of the speakers and tabling organizations was Symmetry Wood, and met co-founders CEO Gabe Tavas and CSO Tim Keating.  I was so impressed with their inventive approach to replacing the precious...

Check this ep out for all things No Planet B Jamboree this year and then some.  This is our 4th annual event centered around sustainability and conservation within the music industry and beyond. I'll be joined by special guest co-host Aimee Kohler of The Running Kind , who's helping host the 5k Fun Run prior to the music starting for the 2nd year in a row. Together we'll explore the...

I attended a Sustainability Summit for the music industry hosted by Martin Guitar back in the fall of 2025.  It was a great day of panels, Q&A and networking that includes musicians, manufacturers and support organizations all seeking to make the industry a bit more green, sustainable and less negative impact to the earth. While there, I was able to listen to Ben Kogan speak on one of the pane...

For this week's episode, we met Jenny Founds, Jesse Braun and Jon Braun in their rehearsal space, and they fired up the instruments to give us an exclusive performance of 3 songs from the Ruby Dear catalog, one of which is not yet released! They performed: "This Will" "Night Nurse" "Spirit Go" Enjoy! #nextfavband #rubydear #musicdiscovery #musicinterview #livemus...

Back-to-back episodes find Jenny Founds, Jesse Braun and Jon Braun pulling double duty - this week focused on sharing the story and the original music of the killer power trio Ruby Dear.  Bringing some of the most incredibly unique songs and powerful performances. From tracks like "Spirit Go" that belong with the greatest anthems to ever come out of the Lehigh Valley, to "Screwed&qu...

Our Behind the Sound episodes seek to bring us, the concert goer, "backstage" so we can better understand how the iconic sound of a particular band is created.  It has become something of a tradition to do this with a tribute band that does such an incredible job re-creating the sound and visuals of a band that has incredible music, and is someone we can no longer catch a live show of. ...

This week we're honored to spend time with John Hollier and his band The Rêverie. First - it's pronounced "oh - lee - yea".  Second - getchoself ready for a French-Cajun blend of rock-n-roll, heartland grit,  and cinematic storytelling with one foot in the swamp and the other charging ahead. We'll spend time hearing about how John grew up on the crawfish farms in central L...

Here's another compilation episode that includes the next batch of exclusive performances from previous appearance of #nextfavbands! This collection is from October 2024 to this time last year June 2025.  It also includes 2 of the 3 performers from last year's No Planet B Jamboree, 1 of the performers from this past Winter WonderJam, and all 3 of this year's No Planet B Jamboree per...

This episode is special - as it represents the perfect outcome of what this show was build on and all about.  The Vindys were the band at the top of our "must see" list heading in to Musikfest 2025 last summer, and they exceeded expectations with an incredible performance.  Then they were also super nice and agreed to come on the show.  So here we are, sitting down with lead singer and h...

Our 3rd annual Listen to the Dissonance:songs and conversations about mental health event will take place on Friday, February 27th at The IceHouse in Bethlehem, PA.  The show starts at 7pm ET and features brave stories and powerful music from CLOVER, Judah Kim, Barney Cortez and Patty PerShayla.  Each have been on the show previously, so you can check out our interview with any and all of them at...

Before ever even having a show, I had read the book This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel J. Levitin simply because I was fascinated by the magic of music, and it was a wonderful read. Then when I started to have my own show about music discovery, I "shot my shot" and reached out to Dr Levitin to see if he'd be open to coming on as a guest.  And back in Nov of 2022, I had the honor...

Episode 200???  I can't believe it.  When first started doing interviews with musicians I admired, I thought I'd get maybe 10-20 people total to say yes to coming on the show.  And now here we are 200 episodes in, and we're only just warming up. I reached out to the person who was the guest on Episode 1 - Mike Mains.  We chat about that, his personal journey, and how his bravery and...

The topic of streaming services comes up on our show a lot, and one thing we're always hoping to raise awareness on is how little revenue there is in that for the artist.  But what if it wasn't like that?  Coda Music is a new streaming service seeks to offer a more ethical treatment of the musicians who's art is on their platform. We're joined by CEO Randy Fusee and COO Ted And...

Many of our finest institutions are under attach by removing funding and support.  One such pillar is public radio - stations across the country are faced with difficult decisions and intimidating challenges on how to accomplish their missions with drastically reduced or non-existing funding from our government. Stations like WDIY here in the Lehigh Valley that provides so much for our community n...