Trombonist Jeff Albert joins me for a two-part conversation exploring the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech and his multifaceted career. Hear innovative instruments, stories from New Orleans, and insights into improvisation, technology, and experimental music, with all music and links in the show notes. This transcript is linked to both video and podcast versions.

Musician and disability rights advocate Gaelynn Lea returns to discuss her memoir It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect, inclusive music-making, and the power of connection, community, and disability advocacy. This transcript is linked to the podcast, video and show notes. Also: “Crip Camp”, Judy Heumann,  Denis Huna and inclusive music making, the importance of ASL and other sign languages, music education, sexuality in disability community, her next book.  

This interview transcript is linked to the podcast and video versions of this episode: You may know Scott Nygaard from his career as a guitarist in the bluegrass and acoustic scene for more than 30 years, his work as former editor and writer with Acoustic Guitar Magazine, or as one of the co-founders of Peghead Nation. You may not know his novel Evergreen, based on his transformative first year at Evergreen College in 1973. I love a coming of age story, and this is very much a tale musical growth and about the loss of innocence during a time of societal changes . We also explore Scott’s most recent album, Flown South which was recorded after a serious accident, when Scott had to relearn to play guitar.

 You’ll also be hearing music from his wonderful album Rosco with the Swedish guitarist Roger Tollroth, best known as a founding member of Väsen. Another collaboration you’ll be hearing about is Crow Molly, which features mandolinist Joe K. Walsh (a previous guest of this podcast). Scott shared his experiences recording with Chris Thile, touring with Joan Baez, and his move to Chile. I really enjoyed this opportunity to hear Scott’s wise observations on what really matters in a creative and connected life well-lived. 

Discover fiddler, songwriter, and producer Carolyn Kendrick in this in-depth feature. Explore her upcoming podcast “Don’t Call Me Darlin’” with Tristan Scroggins, her project “Each Machine,” and research into the Satanic Panic. Learn songwriting tips, memory techniques, and insights on building a balanced life in music. This transcript is linked to the podcast and video version of this interview!

It was so inspiring to have this conversation with  the multi-talented singer-songwriter and pianist Vienna Teng . This transcript is linked to the podcast and video versions of this interview.

In this episode we’re featuring  the band Few of a Kind’s new album, a beautiful collaboration with Vienna, Brandon Ridenour, Ben Russell, Yousif Sheronick, and Andrew Gutauskas. Vienna takes us inside their creative process with excerpts from each track.  She also  reflects on what truly makes a great song, how her identity evolved with parenthood, and how she has connected with audiences through her climate action workshops. Vienna also shared insights into two other brilliant recent projects, her unique album We’ve Got You and  “The Riversitter” after Dave Eggers’ “The Museum of Rain”.

You’ll hear the charming story of how she actually found her stage name, some  highlights including opening for Joan Baez, performing on the Late Show with David Letterman and especially what it felt like to return to touring and recording after a ten-year hiatus after working in environmental sustainability. 

The trumpet player and composer Nadje Noordhuis joined me  for a wide-ranging conversation about identity, creativity, and carving out a life in music on her own terms. Nadje reflects on her early musical upbringing in Sydney, Australia, and the formative training that led her toward jazz trumpet. She remembers her friend Lois Martin, and Nadje speaks candidly about experiences of sexism in the music world, and the challenges of breaking into the New York jazz scene—financial struggles, years at the Manhattan School of Music, and finding her footing as a woman in jazz.

She reflected on her collaborative project Multitudes with composer James Shipp, and you’ll be hearing clips from that project as well as Gulfoss with Maeve Gilchrist, Full Circle with Fred Hersch.  She talked about being about to record with the legendary engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug, and Nadje encourages all of us to take risks to follow our own paths. 

This transcript is linked to the podcast and video version of the interview.

Guitarist Ben Garnett has released a beautiful new album, Kite’s Keep, and this episode features clips and insights from the project. The record includes collaborations with acoustic music greats familiar to listeners of this podcast, including Darol Anger and Brittany Haas. Ben’s mentor, Chris Eldridge of the Punch Brothers, also appears, and Ben discusses the wisdom he’s gained from other influential musicians in his life, among them his cousin, acclaimed rock guitarist Andy Timmons, the brilliant Julian Lage, and bandleader Missy Raines. He also talks about how playing tuba was helpful, and how he immersed himself in a range of musical styles—studying jazz in university before finding his way into Nashville’s acoustic bluegrass scene. This transcript is linked to the podcast and video version of this episode.

Gaelynn Lea is a violinist, singer-songwriter, disability rights advocate, author, and public speaker. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, Gaelynn began her musical journey with the support of a childhood music teacher and her musical family. This transcript is linked to the podcast and video version as well as show notes. You’ll hear about how her big break happened when she won NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016, which led to a fascinating creative life which in the last few years has included international touring and  scoring Macbeth on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga.  Gaelynn is really open to trying new things, and this really came through as she talked to me about how she’ll never have enough time to explore all her curiosities, reflections on her first compositions and songs, how she collaborated with  mentors Alan Sparhawk, and Charlie Parr, and how she created a new musical fable for the stage called Invisible Fences with disabled storyteller Kevin Kling. 

You’ll be hearing clips from some of  Gaelynn’s albums during the podcast, and her Bandcamp is linked in the show notes for you. We begin with a look at her upcoming memoir—It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect— a warm, funny and deeply-felt exploration of disability, music, and the messy creativity of an artist’s life. I  plan to welcome Gaelynn back  for a future episode focused on that work. You can find the pre-order link in the show notes.

Martha Redbone Interview: A Creative Life Rooted in Afro-Indigenous Identity and Appalachian Traditions

Transcript: podcast, video linked

Martha Redbone is acclaimed for her powerful performances as a singer, as well as her prize-winning song-writing, composition and arranging. For over 30 years she’s been in a successful collaboration with her partner Aaron Whitby and we talked about some of their new theatrical projects including Black Mountain Women, The Sex Variants of 1941, and Guardian Spirit: The Words of bell hooks.  Throughout this episode you’ll be hearing clips from Martha’s powerful album The Garden of Love  which sets the poetry of William Blake to the diverse music of Appalachia, written with Aaron and John McEuen of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Many people think of the music, culture and history of Appalachia in terms of the blend of white settlers in the area, but Martha’s family heritage from Harlan county Tennessee include African-American, Cherokee, and Choctaw. She shared her experiences growing up with her grandparents as part of a coal-mining family, as well as the dramatic changes she has witnessed in Brooklyn over several decades. 

In this wide-ranging episode, you’ll also hear Martha’s great advice for self-care, maintaining boundaries and working collaboratively.  

 We started this conversation with Martha’s collaborations with clarinettist Tasha Warren and cellist Dave Eggar and if you missed my interview with Tasha last year it’s linked

This is the transcript to my interview with Sara Caswell; the podcast and video versions are linked here.

I was honoured to have this opportunity to record this conversation with the phenomenal violinist Sara Caswell, who is a GRAMMY Nominee for the Best Improvised Jazz Solo. We focused on the recent 9 Horses album, Strum with mandolinist and composer Joseph Brent, and she also spoke to me about some of her other collaborators including esperanza spalding, Chuck Owen, Nadje Noordhuis, and mentors including David Baker, Mimi Zweig and Josef Gingold. She shared how she started playing the 10 stringed Hardanger d’amore, her rich early musical life in Bloomington, and how she is grounded and inspired from her family and friends. 

This is the transcript of my interview with Mark Deutsch, who is a brilliant and unique musician who has devoted the last 3 decades of his life to his instrument the Bazantar, which is unique to him. The video and podcast versions are linked here as well. There is only one Bazantar, which is a double bass hybrid with elements of the sitar:  it has 6 main strings, 4 drone strings, and 29 sympathetic strings. Mark grew up as a multi-instrumentalist, but primarily a classical, jazz and rock bass player, and gave up a successful career as a performer to devote himself to the Bazantar. While studying sitar with Ustad Imrat Khan, Mark begin delving into the universal fundamentals of music and its underlying frequency structures. The nonlinear mathematical patterns that exist in sound are found universally in the natural world, includeng seashells, and Mark goes into some of the math of the overtone series in some detail, as well as fascinating specifics of how the Bazantar and his playing of it have evolved.  You’ll hear Mark talk about how he developed his patented engineering solution to construct a separate housing for the sympathetic strings. In this episode, Mark demonstrated live, and also is sharing not only excerpts from previously released recordings, but a preview from an upcoming album. 

This is the transcript of my interview with Joe K. Walsh, an acclaimed master of bluegrass mandolin and a professor at Berklee College. The podcast and video versions are linked here as well. In this episode you’ll hear about many of his inspiring collaborations including with Darol Anger, Mike Block, Grant Gordy, Alex Hargreaves and Mike Marshall. We are also featuring some music from some of his albums inluding “If Not Now, Who?” We talked about Joe’s approach as an educator, the challenges and joys of the touring life, the importance of innovation and taking chances musically. Joe’s love of music and the mandolin shines brightly in this candid conversation. 

Interview with electronice music producer, violinist and educator Bad Snacks. The video and podcast versions are linked here with the show notes; this is the complete transcript of our conversation. We talked about her experience when she went viral on Andrew Huang’s “4 Producers Flip the Same Sample” challenge with over 4.5M views, dealing with online boundaries, with sexism, finding inspiration, and  enjoying the learning process. Bad Snacks is also an educator; she coaches fellow producers privately, runs a successful YouTube channel where she posts content related to music technology and beat breakdowns. Due to her love for cutting-edge music tech, she has worked as a key demonstrator with several of the industry’s largest names like Ableton, Roland,  and Moog. She has also taught as an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music for Electronic Production & Design. We talked about her unique educational path and choices she’s made along the way to carve out a successful career, and in fact what success really means. She spoke thoughtfully about important topics such as music education, developing creativity, imposter syndrome and keeping a healthy perspective.

This is the transcript for this episode; the podcast and video with show-notes are linked here. This special episode celebrates Volume 1 with my improvising ensemble Collected Strands. The other musicians in the group have all been featured previously on this series, and you’ll find the links to those episodes in the show notes with cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne, pianist James McGowan and drummer Mike Essoudry. I’m also delighted that you will get to know the inspiring Australian artist, educator and author Maryanne Moodie who’s woven art graces the cover of this album. You’ll find the links to her work in the show notes as well. I am also releasing the interview with Maryanne as a separate stand-alone bonus episode connected to this episode. I feel that all my listeners who love music and creativity will find that Maryanne’s personal journey and perspectives will resonate strongly with them, and I hope some listeners in the weaving and art world will also be inspired by the musicians!

We are including excerpts from the album during this episode, and you’ll find all the links to buy and stream this music

The transcript of my interview with the trombonist Hillary Simms. The podcast, video and show notes are linked here as well.

Hillary Simms is a virtuosic Canadian trombone player with the esteemed American Brass Quintet and is on faculty at the Julliard School.

Hillary’s warmth and love of music comes through in this candid interview, from her childhood in Newfoundland to playing on the world’s biggest stages, and also the unusual situation she found herself in when  her engagement to her husband became a viral sensation in China. 

As the first woman to join the Amercian Brass Quintet since 1960,  Hillary spoke to me about gender disparity in the brass world and some of her strong female role models.  

 Hillary shares wonderful insights for all of us, whether you pursue music as a career or follow a different path,  of the need to have self-compassion and have an awareness of the big picture of your life. 

Hillary has performed as a soloist a couple of times with my orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and you’ll hear us talk about the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, educator and busy freelancer. We decided to delay the release of this episode slightly in order to include a wonderful recent recording of the Amercian Brass Quintet, a movement from David Biedenbender’s wonderful work Sacred Geometry. This is the first recording of the group with Hillary performing,  and you’ll find more information and links

Interview with pianist Rebeca Omordia focusing on her African Pianism album volume 2, which was just named Editor’s Choice in the Gramophone Magazine, and is a fascinating and beautiful kaleidoscope of piano works from West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and East Africa. Rebeca spoke to me about her extensive research about these composers, varied styles, and the different traditional music traditions which are often at the heart of this music. We talked about her experiences growing up in Romania with a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father. Now based in London, Rebeca spoke to me about The African Concert Series at Wigmore Hall, and many of her collaborations, including Errollyn Wallen whose Piano Concerto, written for Rebeca Omordia is featured in this podcast along with excerpts from several of the works on the African Pianism album, volume 2. This is the complete transcript.

Interview with the award-winning songwriter, singer, author, and entrepreneur Cliff Beach. The podcast and video versions of this interview are linked here with the show notes and links.

The transcript to my interview with British guitarist Edison Herbert. The podcast, video and show notes are linked here as well. We are featuring his compositions from a couple of his albums and you’ll learn about his personal journey in music that has led to his career as a full-time performer. He talked to me about some of his mentors and influences including George Benson, and his perspectives as a Black artist navigating the music scene in the UK. I found him to be warmly engaging and candid and we circled around to topics that impact all of us, such as dealing with self-knowledge, creativity, and the need to be persistent and keep true to what’s important to us .

Chuck Copenace is a Winnipeg-based Ojibway musician from Animakee Wazhing 37. This is the transcript of my interview with him, and the podcast and video links are linked with the shownotes as well. In this episode, we talk about Chuck’s excellent album Oshki Manitou, which expands his work as a trumpet player, arranger, and composer. He’s woven together ceremonial sweat-lodge melodies with jazz, funk, dance and electronica and this episode features tracks from that album. He’s such a powerfully lyrical trumpet player, and you’ll be deeply touched to hear his inspiring story of moving through trauma and addiction to helping others through counseling and music.