Music

Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris

Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris features exclusive conversations with some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, and the recording industry.

From legendary artists and Grammy winners to producers, songwriters, record label executives, and industry innovators, Darrell delivers in-depth interviews and behind-the-scenes stories from the people shaping music today.

With more than 1.5 million downloads across 40+ countries, Music Matters is a trusted destination for music fans, musicians, and industry professionals.

Contact: musicmatterspodcastshow@gmail.com

X/Twitter: @musicmattersDH
Instagram: @musicmatterspodcastofficial

Latest Episodes:

Finnish singing superstar and good friend Jannike Sondstrom reconnects with Darrell Craig Harris on Music Matters Podcast Episode 10 of Season 2 Apr 02, 2021

Show notes

What a pleasure to reconnect with this Finnish Pop superstar, kind and lovely personality. I've travelled to Finland fifteen times now. It's people, the landscape and the energy have a special part that lives within me. Listen in as Jannike shares some fascinating insights about her start in music which is very much a vocation for her. Jannike also shares some updates and whats on her immediate horizon.

Check out her Jannike's website - Jannike Sondstrom- and social media channels -

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

And a Big Shout and thanks for the support of the following: Rodney Hall FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama Shure microphones Affliction clothing and Nigel J. my co-producer and voice over talent, all while running - Music Tribes Unite Media for our Podcast - Productions

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

Actress, singer and show producer – Erin Baltsar is our special guest on Music Matters Podcast on Episode 09 - S2 Mar 28, 2021

Show notes

It's a real pleasure to chat with actress, singer and show producer – Erin Baltsar. This ladies career path has taken her right across both the continental United States, Europe and beyond. Performing in off broadway and regional shows and onto New York. Erin is currently starring in FRIENDS! The Musical Parody which pivots to Paris Las Vegas to continue its successful off-Broadway run that pokes fun at the show we know and love. Erin also formed and manages a Vintage Jazz trio called 'The Swing It! Girls' - performing great music and entertainment to the servicemen and women of the united states armed forces and the general public alike. Erins professional credits include theater, film and television.

Find out more about Erin Baltsar - The Swing It"! Girls and more.

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

Moody Blues keyboardist talks to Music Matters about his Grammy nominated group Alan Hewitt and One Nation & much more - EP.08-S2 Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

Listen in on this episodes with our special guest Alan Hewitt - the Moody Blues keyboardist since 2010. Darrell and Alan chat about Alan's latest grammy nominated group - Alan Hewitt and One Nation. They also chat about Alan playing with Earth Wind and Fire, One Nation, The Moody Blues. Alan was originally a drummer and switched to keyboard when he realised the wide-ranging scope it provided him for composing music. His composing credits cover both film music and TV. They include National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Survivor, MTV, Dancing With The Stars, and is a composer for the Oprah Winfrey shows (including Oprah’s Big Give & Dr Oz). He also has scored the music for Sony/Lionsgate TV series “Tom Holland’s Twisted Tales” and many more.

Alan's list of accolades from the industry continue to grow and includes The Golden Planet, New York International Film Fest Award, San Francisco Ocean Film Fest, both for best music score, 2 Global Music Awards, ESPY Award and 2 triple platinum albums, Warrant’s Cherry Pie and Earth,Wind & Fire’s Best Of Vol 1.

His latest project Alan Hewitt & One Nation has won two Global Music Awards for 2015. “Best Instrumental Album & Best Instrumentalist” Alan’s latest project is a critically acclaimed fusion of great songs combined with great performances.

Alan rounds off this very informative chat offering great advice to new and young aspiring artists hoping to make music a long-term career. Golden Nugget advice from a seasoned talented professional, and all round good guy.

I recommend you go over to Alan's website and checkout ALL there is to know about Alan Hewitt - (this includes all his social media links as well.)

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

International known vocalist, actress & show producer Anne Martinez chats on Music Matters Podcast with Darrell Craig Harris - EP.07 - S2 Mar 16, 2021

Show notes

On this episode 07 - Season 2 of Music Matters Podcast...Darrell Craig Harris guest is Internationally known vocalist, actress, show producer and good friend Anne Martinez. Listen in and hear about the lessons that Anne has learnt along the way to maintain and grow her highly successful career. Working with well known entertainers, producing and creating shows, and working through the corvid lockdown.

Originally from New York, Anne has spent her whole life in the arts and entertainment industry, coming from a talented musical family. As a trained dancer and musician, Anne has travelled the world in constant pursuit of honing her skills. This includes time on the London, UK scene and beyond. For the last eight years Anne has made her home with her husband in Las Vegas. Quickly building up a positive and solid arts performers reputation. Once again this is through Anne's attitude towards treating her craft as a business with an eye for both the detail, the respectful way she interacts with her peer group, growing fan base, and the general public audience.

Anne is happy for you to connect with her if you have industry related question via her social media links below.

- LV Headliner Vocalist Showgirl @fantasyluxor - Bradshaw - @luxorlv, RED PENNY ARCADE

@venetianlasvegas - @bestagencylv - #bazpalazzo https://youtu.be/Fdy5HjeV0wI

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

Supporting World Hearing Day - Founder & President of Sensaphonics - audiologist, Dr Michael Santucci Chats with Darrell on Music Matters Podcast - EP.06 - S2 Mar 02, 2021

Show notes

Our guest today is Dr Michael Santucci an audiologist, president and founder of Sensaphonics a globally known audio company based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Making custom molded in-ear monitors, earplugs, and hearing protection for musicians, sound engineers, industrial use, motor sports and for aircraft pilots and even space shuttle astronauts.

Listen in as audiologist Dr. Michael Santucci chats about the development of good hearing health for musicians, and some valuable technical information which may surprise even seasoned audio industry and musicians when setting up for live concerts and gigs.

Dr. Santucci also heads up the “Listen Safe” initiative as a team member with the World Health Organization. This podcast is published to celebrate all the Great work that the World Health Organization does with experts like Dr Santucci in bringing greater awareness for the need to protect our hearing throughout the course of our lives. Celebrate yours and others hearing on World Hearing Day 2021. March 03, 2021.

#hearathon2021 #worldhearingday #hearingcare #safelistening

Links for Dr Santucci: Sensaphonics & ASI Audio

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

J-pop and K-pop Mega hit songwriter Mayu Wakisaka chats with Darrell on Music Matters Podcast-EP.05 - S2 Feb 23, 2021

Show notes

J-pop and K-pop Mega hit songwriter Mayu Wakisaka chats with Darrell on Music Matters Podcast. Speaking from her home in Tokyo. Mayu and Darrell chat about her tremendous success as a songwriter and as a popular singer.
J-pop and K-pop are very different because of their respective languages, and Mayu explains how things are done. Mayu shares information about Darrell's involvement in the launching of her success songwriting career that he was not aware of. Guess you learning something new everyday :)

Mayu has written for TWICE, Girls Generation, Got7, TXT, OH MY GIRL etc., and its worth checking out her Discography.

Also, Mayu has lots of exciting things on the horizon and you can check it all out through her social media platform links below:
(Please note the recording had some technical connection issues while recording live - we've done our best to clean the audio up and we hope you enjoy this interview.)

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

Modern Drummer magazines editor at large, founding member of Mantus with 3 top ten singles, drummer, and more–Billy Amendola chats on Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris – EP.04 - S2 Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

My special guest on this episode is Billy Amendola, the editor at large of the long-time popular magazine 'Modern Drummer'. Billy graciously shares personal facts for the first time. His growing friendship with Ringo Star since meeting at Saturday Night Live (SNL). His early music career, the forming in 1974 of the New York City based band 'Mantus'. Achieving three top ten dance singles with a worldwide success in the late 70s, and that's just for starters!

We chat about Billy's start at Modern Drummer magazine and the founder, his mentor, dear friend and drummer - Ron Spagnardi. Billy shares what he feels are the important elements needed to be a good writer and what is expected if you wish to submit an article to Modern Drummer.
He goes on to talk about what he's observing about the music industry in its current state with the Covid19 pandemic. How vitally important it is for the music industry to collaborate and notice the prime opportunity we have to make it better and more equitable.

Billy has reinvented himself over and over throughout his sustained and successful career. As a live performer, studio musician, producer/songwriter, and as mentioned his various roles including editor at large for Modern Drummer.
There is not doubt that Billy deeply loves the music industry for its art, and is not in anyway starry-eyed over fame. Billy has supported the launch of many performers as well as advocating for the rights of both established and new artist. He exemplifies the ability and need to reinvent oneself to remain current and he does this with finesse.
He champions comprehensive music licensing reform, most notably The Music Modernization Act, which impacts hundreds of thousands of music creators. Billy Amendola has both consulted and been the co-host for David Fishof’s Rock N' Roll Fantasy Camp, where attendees play, write and record music in professional rehearsal and recording studios alongside music industry legends.

Our time chatting was very enjoyable, insightful and just evaporated far to quickly. As they say 'Time fly's when your having fun' and Billy was a real fun guest.
Please checkout Billy social media pages and please consider subscribing to the Modern Drummer magazine.

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

The famous music documentary - The Wrecking Crew - Executive producer/director - Denny Tedesco is our special guest on Music Matters Podcast-EP.3-S2 Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

It was a real pleasure to chat with Denny....his Dad and Mom inspired and taught me a lot through my interactions with them both at music school in California. So, when I had a chance to chat with Tommy's son Denny about the wonderful film - 'The Wrecking Crew' I couldn't wait to hear about some of the interesting history behind how the film came to life as well as some insight into Denny's own cinematic career.

Listen in as Denny explains why his film about a legendary group of studio musicians took nearly 20 years to make. His film is all about the legendary group of 1960s Los Angeles session musicians who played on everything from Phil Spector classics and "Good Vibrations" to commercial jingles, Denny explains why the name The Wrecking Crew? Back in those early studio days of the 60s turning up for work in a Hawaiian shirt was not the done thing! Far to casual for the establishment - who believed that this group of session musicians would 'wreck' the industry by dressing in a casual manner!

The movie, started in 1996 with a roundtable conversation featuring his father, guitarist Tommy Tedesco (who died in 1997), bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Hal Blaine and saxophonist Plas Johnson. The film premiered in 2008, starting in film festival and you can currently watch it on Amazon Prime. Denny goes onto explain the daunting task of clearing 110 songs with 90 plus of them being top 40 hits.

Imagine paying dozens of musicians, publishers and labels residual royalties for their music to be included in the documentary! Denny never gave up and pitched the documentary to many people, he raised enough money to pay 297 session musicians whose names were on contracts for the songs used in the documentary film. Denny still remains as dedicated as he did in 1996 to telling this very important story about 'The Wrecking Crew' and their invaluable contribution to the music industry told through this insightful and extremely enjoyable documentary film.

We've only really scratched the surface of Denny Tedesco and his own cinematic career - his time at IMAX and his latest documentary in production - 'The Immediate Family', and much, much more...To find out more about Denny Tedesco and connect follow the links below.

'The Wrecking Crew' documentary film on Amazon

Denny Tedesco IMBD

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

Globally known Japanese poet, journalist, filmmaker, and songwriter - Yuri Kageyama chats and performs live with Darrell Craig Harris on Music Matters Podcast - EP.01 - S2 Jan 24, 2021

Show notes

Darrell was introduced to Yuri through Darrell's performance connection with the well-known traditional Bon Daiko drummer Isaku Kageyama.

YURI KAGEYAMA is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, journalist, filmmaker and songwriter of bilingual and bicultural (Japanese and American) upbringing chats with Darrell Craig Harris on Music Matters. Yuri shares her thoughts on current daily life in Tokyo and shares her keen perspectives on how we all need to be personally responsible if we wish for a collective legacy that offers a positive outcome for our succeeding generations.

Yuri talks about her award winning film - “NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA” which has garnered great support as it's premiered in film festivals around the world. Yuri recites her moving poem about the plight of fukushima accompanied by Darrell on his bass guitar in a moving online live performance for us.

This film is a a stark example of lessons we must learn from the under-reported catastrophic failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant which suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The chain of events caused radiation releases from Units 1-4 forcing the evacuation of 83,000 residents from towns around the plant.  The triple meltdown also caused concerns about contamination of food and water supplies, including the 2011 rice harvest, and also the health effects of radiation on workers at the plant. Scientists estimate that the accident released 18 quadrillion becquerels of caesium-137 into the Pacific Ocean, contaminating 150 square miles of the ocean floor.

Website - Yuri Kageyama - and Yuri's social media links:

A Big thanks to our friends at #AudioGeer and the team @shure for their awesome support! #Shure #MV7 #podcast mic!

Please check out our Music Matters podcast on @spotifypodcasts
Hey, also check out the New Music Matters Podcast Website- and Music Matters SWAG

- Please, support, LIKE and helps us grow - check out our Social Media pages:

Music Matters Podcast Trailer Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

Music Matters is a podcast series hosted by globally published music journalist, pro musician, published Getty Images photographer Darrell Craig Harris. Music Matters is based in Las Vegas!

The series is produced by the Music Matters team which includes Darrell Craig Harris and voiceover artist and co-producer Nigel J. at MusicTribesUnite.Media based in the south of France!

The podcast series features guests from all facets of the music industry including globally known artists, musicians, music biz insiders, music-related manufacturers and more!

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