Surviving the Music Industry

Latest Episodes:

A Star Is Born with Natalie Hemby Feb 26, 2019

Show notes

A Star Is Born didn't walk away with the big win at the 2019 Oscars but that's ok. Because for Natalie Hemby, she's already winning life. Cuts from Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Republican Hair, and others. Who needs another piece of gold plated, bathroom art piece? In this preview of my 2019 season, Natalie shares little nuggets of the process of writing with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, and also adapting to the process of film making while creating the music. Hemby also drops a little teaser of what's to come for her in 2019. Be on the lookout for her full episode in April where we talk about her music and career, and follow her @wruckestrike. You might meet Chintzy the anti-selfie model. Check out all her cuts and also her original music from her debut album, Puxico.

Granville Automatic's Love, Death, and The Barber's Wife Feb 14, 2019

Show notes

Granville Automatic merges history with songs. This isn't stuck in the library on a Saturday night kind of music. Imagine more if John Prine was Indiana Jones. These songs do belong in a museum but we're lucky to hear creative takes on some of histories darkest moments. It's no different in their latest record Radio Hymns. Elizabeth Elkins and Vanessa Olivarez are tenured songwriters and artists, together and separately, but together they bring history to life even when we tried to leave these stories buried. For Radio Hymns, you hear some of Nashville's best kept, darkest secrets. Themes of murder, deception, condemnation, redemption, and even Jimi Hendrix are muses for this 13 track history lesson. Again, these are the things you didn't learn in eighth grade Tenessee history.

For this sneak peek of our 2019 season, I thought. Let's share a love story on Valentines Day. It's the story of a Barber, his love, a nut case, and a gun. Visit www.granvilleautomatic.com, download and stream Radio Hymns, and give them a follow @granvilleautomaticband.

Stages with Cassadee Pope Feb 04, 2019

Show notes

In case you don't know...we're recording all-new episodes and you should hear what we've been up to. Cassadee Pope, the most downloaded female country artist of 2018 just released her first full-length record. It marks a time for her in independence, changes, and discovery. In the full episode, we talk about her roots and the journey from pop-punk to her career alternating audition for The Voice. In the meantime, enjoy this bonus look at the songs of her newest record, Stages. Tons of things happening too for Pope. She's on the CMT Next Women of Country Tour and Maren Morris' Girl Tour. Head to www.smipodcast.com or www.cassadeepope.com for extra and exclusive content and follow Cassadee @cassadeepope on all things.

Jonathan Singleton Nov 20, 2018

Show notes

The last fresh episode of 2018 is hit country music songwriter, Jonathan Singleton. He is known for co-writing the songs "Don't" by Billy Currington, "Watching Airplanes" by Gary Allan, "A Guy Walks Into a Bar" by Tyler Farr, "Red Light" and "Let It Rain" by David Nail, "Why Don't We Just Dance" by Josh Turner and "Diamond Rings and Old Barstools" by Tim McGraw. In 2009, the American Society of Composers, Publishers and Authors (ASCAP) awarded Singleton for "Don't," which was one of the most-played country music songs of that year.

Jonathan not only talks about what led him to be an artist/songwriter, but also the trouble of being a songwriter. We discuss the politics and the next steps to just even get your song noticed. He also shares the stories of what happened in the writing room when writing some of his biggest hits.

Luke Dick of Republican Hair, Tatum Allsep of Music Health Alliance, and Castlecomer Nov 13, 2018

Show notes

A taste of home, overhauling healthcare, and dropping verbal bombs with Castlecomer, Tatum Allsep of Music Health Alliance, and Luke Dick of Republican Hair. One song can really change your life. That's at least the origin story for Australian based band Castlecomer. Bede and Neel of the band let us in how touring the states have been going, how their song "Fire Alarm" and 8 shows in 3 days changed their lives. We also dive into the music and how pop sounds are just the palette for lyrics that have deeper meanings. They just released their self-titled album and you have to stream it now. Check out www.castlecomermusic.com for everything about the band and follow them @castlecomer.

We all know healthcare needs an overhaul but rarely do we talk about or even know the current resources that are available to musicians. In steps Tatum Allsep, CEO and founder of Music Health Alliance. Tatum has major street cred before founding non-profits. Her career includes six years with MCA Records, artist management for the legendary Americana band, The Derailers, and the launch of the first-ever Vanderbilt Medical Center/ Children's Hospital Music Industry Relations Department. After years of research and development, Tatum founded Music Health Alliance, a non-profit organization designed to provide solutions to the immense need for affordable healthcare access to the music industry. Tatum and I converse some of the troubles of healthcare and what MHA's response to these situations are. She also shares the stories of why they exist. For everything about this life saving non-profit organization, visit www.musichealthalliance.com if you need help navigating healthcare. Also, follow them @musichealthalliance.

Some will remember Luke Dick from Season 2 as the philosophical, hit songwriter ("Kill A Word" and "Pink Sunglasses"), documentarian, and frontman of Republican Hair. He comes up to the attic to talk where Red Dog (his documentary about his childhood and an infamous strip club in Oklahoma) and what his band is up to. Republican Hair is looking at global domination in 2019 but until then the newest single "Chaotic Good" will have to pacify you. Be on the lookout November 16th for the newest track and video. We do tackle the songwriting process and is it worth solving the puzzle or throw it away. You can follow Luke @lukedick, but everything about the band @republican_hair and www.republicanhair.org.

The Conversation Nov 06, 2018

Show notes

Big props to Belmonts, Curb College of Music for hosting the honest conversation on where women are at in having a chance for equality in music. Recorded live at Columbia Studio A, Cassadee Pope (The Voice and recording artist), Tracy Gershon (artist manager and c0-founder of Change the Conversation), and Leslie Fram (Senior Vice President of Music Strategy for CMT and co-founder of Change the Conversation) all share their feelings on where we are as a community in accepting women as equals in business and in creativity. All three women brought their unique experiences and vocations into the conversation. We start with the purpose of Change the Conversation and the numbers behind the topic at hand. The double standards against women and has it always been like this? Then looking ahead is there a chance for women to not just survive but to truly thrive within music.

Change the Conversation is dedicated to improving the environment for women in music. Their goal is to become obsolete and "to never have this conversation again." In an attempt to turn their frustration into action and help level the playing field, Leslie Fram, Tracy Gershon, and Beverly Keel formed Change the Conversation in late 2014.

Cassadee Pope; singer, song-writer, and musician was the lead vocalist of the rock band Hey Monday then embarked on a season of The Voice and became the first female winner. Her debut solo country album, Frame by Frame, was a top 10 Billboard 200 record and it debuted at No. 1 on Top Country Albums, with 43,000 copies sold in its first week. Today she is releasing new music and working on new material. Recently, she's released "One More Red Light" and "Take You Home" that you can download on Spotify or Apple Music. Be sure to go to www.cassadeepope.com for tour dates, merch, and music and follow here @cassadeepope.

Leslie Fram serves as Senior Vice President of Music Strategy and Talent for CMT, overseeing all music integration within the CMT brand, including original programs, CMT and music video airplay across all screens. Respected for both her hit intuition and hard-driving passion for music, Fram was the first woman to receive the TJ Martell Award in recognition of outstanding performance in the music industry in 2000 and was presented with the NARAS-Atlanta Chapter Heroes Award for her outstanding contributions to music and the music community. In 2009, she was honored as a Lifetime Achievement Inductee in the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. She will also be one of the recipients of the very first 'Innovation In Music' Awards held June 6th in Nashville. Leslie currently serves on the Board of the Academy of Country Music, the Recording Academy/ Nashville Chapter, Board of Directors for The Sports Authority, the Nashville Film Festival Music Committee, and an alum of Leadership Music Class of 2014. Fram is an avid philanthropist and spokesperson, using her voice to support numerous non-profits and causes.

Tracy Gershon is a noted music business professional with a wide-ranging career discovering, nurturing and developing influential talent as an A&R and music publishing executive as well as an artist manager. During her A&R career at Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Gershon signed award-winning platinum-seller Miranda Lambert and help guide the careers of Blake Shelton, Randy Travis, Gretchen Wilson, The Wreckers, Faith Hill , Big & Rich and Lori McKenna. As a creative executive at both Sony Music Publishing and EMI Music, she helped to secure hundreds of cuts while working with writers like Harlan Howard, Gretchen Peters, Tom Douglas, Carlene Carter, and The Mavericks. As head of the Nashville office of Warner Music Publishing, she inked award-winning artist Kacey Musgraves. While at Sony Music she served for two years as an on-air judge and associate producer on the USA Network's "Nashville Star." Gershon recently helmed the A&R department at indie label Rounder Records, where she signed or worked with artists as diverse as Blackberry Smoke, Sean McConnell, and Jerry Douglas. Tracy, in association with Redlight Management, oversees the career of Country artist, Natalie Stovall. Gershon is also consulting the country division for Atlas Music publishing, as well as running One Riot Music. Gershon has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Nashville Business Journal's "Woman in Music City" in 2015, 2016 ,2017, and 2018 as well as Nashville Lifestyles Magazine's top ten "Women In Business" award in 2016.

Alex Hall & Tim Hunze Oct 30, 2018

Show notes

Building a career, managing your career, and all things songs with artist Alex Hall and veteran music publisher Tim Hunze. Alex calls Gainesville, Georgia home but writes songs for himself and other writers in Nashville, TN. He grew up riding horses and playing sports, but music has always been an important part of his life. With encouragement from his middle school choral director, he began focusing specifically on singing. It was the summer before high school when he started playing guitar, singing at the local restaurants and bars and writing songs. We start the conversation when Alex started breaking in music and moving to Nashville. We dive into his newest song "Homesick" and what makes his writing style different than others. Visit www.musicbyalexhall.com for tour dates and to check out all of Alex's music, and follow him @musicbyalexhall

Then respected Nashville music publisher, Tim Hunze, comes in to talk things publishing and some insight into songs that he's learned through his career. Tim started his career by starting his own record label, right after graduating from college. After the label scored a hit video on BET and a charting single, Tim sold his interest and moved into the publishing world. In his first job as archive manager at Hamstein, he got his first cut and when it went to #14 on the Billboard Country chart he was promoted to Creative Director. He stayed with the company as it sold to Mosaic and then to Stage Three where he became General Manager. Under his management, Stage Three had over 15 #1 hits and helped Bobby Pinson become BMI 2009 Writer of the Year and Brett James become 2010 ASCAP Writer of the Year. In 2011, along with JP Williams, Tim started Parallel Music Publishing and in their first 4 years, they scored 5 #1 hits. The hits continue to pile for Tim and company.

Tim shares some memorable moments working with writers like Bobby Pinson, Michael White, Brett James, Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, Lee Miller, and Jon Mabe. He also shares the rollercoaster ride of supporting writers and the ups and downs of what it means to be a publisher. Tim is also the host of the AIMP Nashville Pubcast; a podcast that informs and educates current and future publishers and offers insight for songwriters. Listen to the podcast, check out Parallel Entertainment, and give Time a follow @timhunze.

Matt Urmy and John Craigie Oct 23, 2018

Show notes

Songwriting, stolen weed, and growing your career with John Craigie and Matt Urmy. First, John Craigie jumps in to talk about expectations of connections but a couple of things you should know is that John is a songwriter armed with wit and truth. "the lovechild of John Prine and Mitch Hedberg." describes him perfectly. Recently John released a song with Jack Johnson, "I Wrote Mr. Tamborine Man". We talk about the power of lyrics and the first line, songwriting, and even types of writing songs. In 2018 his studio album Scarecrow was released and hailed as transparent and truthful which is a constant in his life. Be sure to visit www.johncraigiemusic.com for upcoming tour dates including his #KeepItWarm tour and new music, and follow him at @johncraigie.

Matt Urmy talks about his perspective of songwriting, entrepreneurship, and owning your career. When Urmy was four years old his family moved to Nashville, TN, where he lived until college. He graduated with a BA in creative writing from UT, Knoxville, and an MFA in poetry from Spalding University in Louisville, KY. He has also studied traditional healing practices with the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori, for nearly 20 years. Aside from publishing two books of poetry (2007 & 2015), Urmy also released his debut album in 2017, Out Of The Ashes, which was produced by the late, legendary, Cowboy Jack Clement. Rolling Stone Country named Urmy as one 10 artists to watch, and The Nashville Scene called it, "…the most fascinating Nashville album of the last decade…" In 2012, Matt founded the groundbreaking software company, Artist Growth, which he ran as CEO until 2018, raising millions in venture financing and forging deals with the most iconic institutions in the music industry. He now serves as Chief Strategy Officer and has clients ranging from Universal Music Group, Vector Management, Red Light Management, Maverick, C3, Qprime, and countless other labels, artists and management companies.

So in this episode, we capture what Artist Growth is and where is the platform heading for artists and an industry. The platform really is shaking up the industry and making the creator really take ownership of their career. We take a ride on the failure train and because you're failing doesn't mean you're a failure, but rather it's a learning experience for success. For everything about Artist Growth visit www.artistgrowth.com and everything about Matt at www.matturmy.com. Also, follow him at @matturmy and @artistgrowth.

Dustin Burnett/Zayde Wolf and Parish f/t Oct 16, 2018

Show notes

Producing, discoverability in 2018, and new music with Dustin Burnett (aka Zayde Wolf) and Lincoln Parish (aka Parish f/t).

Parish f/t is a record producer, songwriter, and guitarist based in Nashville, TN who has worked with artists including Lissie, The Moxies, Run River North, Rebecca Roubion, American Idol's Paul McDonald and Lucinda Williams. Best known as the lead guitarist for Cage the Elephant, Parish co-wrote and played guitar on their first three albums including the Grammy nominated album Melophobia (RCA) and its No. 1 single "Come A Little Closer". These days Lincoln is producing new music under the name Parish f/t. The "f/t" stands for feature because all the material that is being released features a different vocalist behind his tracks. You can check out Parish's latest releases "What I Need" with Paul McDonald and "Release" with Daphne Willis. We chat about his latest music, life after Cage the Elephant, and influences. Visit www.parishft.com or follow him @parish_ft for his latest music and updates.

Dustin Burnett is a producer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and also the creative genius of Zayde Wolf. Having licensed hundreds of songs, his music is everywhere. With licenses ranging from film trailers, television shows, pro sporting events, and video games, to major domestic and international advertisements on the internet with Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN, MTV, CBS, and TLC networks, it's hard not to run into the sounds of Zayde Wolf. But it didn't start with Zayde with Dustin. He takes us through his experiences of hustling music as an indie unknown artist, figuring out Nashville, and then producing tracks and music for well-known artists. Let's not forget about That Sound, a sound sampling company that specializes in drums and packages the tracks to make producing easier and creating possibilities for producers to take their tracks to the next level. You should visit www.iwantthatsound.com for more information and if you're new. They're offering $5 off your first order. Dustin shares his vision of That Sound and what a producer is.

Then we tackle Zayde Wolf. Is Zayde, Dustin or the other way around? At the helm is Dustin but Zayde is always his Mr. Hyde. Dustin takes us through conception to the present where his creative empire began with one song by accident and has since skyrocketed to include over 489,000 Spotify monthly listeners with 29 million streams, 9 million YouTube views, and 88,000 YouTube subscribers. You can pre-order the deluxe version of Zayde's latest record Modern Alchemy that is being released on October 26th anywhere music is sold but in the meantime visit www.zaydewolf.com for everything and follow Zayde Wolf @zaydewolf

John Oates Oct 09, 2018

Show notes

John Oates talks Hall & Oates, songwriting, and his latest record Arkansas. John was destined to be a musician. Born in New York City, his family moved to a small town outside of Philadelphia, PA in the early 1950s – a move that would change the course of his life. He met Daryl Hall in Philly, hung out with his idols The Temptations, and even discovered folk music. John was influenced by the folk scene, bluegrass, delta blues, and ragtime guitar styles of the 1960's and Daryl was piano, gospel, and classically driven. Soon with the help of legendary producer Arif Mardin (Bee Gees, Diana Ross, Queen, Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin) Hall & Oates became what we know today. With the help of MTV, clever songwriting, and the 80's Hall & Oates solidified their stake in music history as one of the greatest pop acts of the 20th century.

With the help of John's memoir Change of Seasons, we chat about the early days of Hall & Oates, working with Arif, and the music of Philadelphia. We also dive into the 80's and the wild ride of the decade. What made this the decade that made John say, "I'm glad the 80's were over." Then we dive into the newest record Arkansas. John lets us in on his process of songwriting and writing for this record. Arkansas is a bit of an homage to pop music of some of John's biggest musical inspirations. Using the style of the delta blues, mixed with bluegrass and ragtime, Arkansas is a tip of the hat to some of the biggest songs of the 1920's.

Songwriting is also a passion for this pop legend. John shares his insights on how he molds a song. Do you conform to a geographical way of doing things, or do you stick with what works? The insight and his take on crafting may surprise you.

John Oates and The Good Road Band are on tour right now! Check out tour dates at www.johnoates.com and check out all of Johns music on your favorite platform. Follow him @johnoatesofficial.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Surviving the Music Industry

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected