Stay ConnectedWhether you write music, record music, play music…….or just LOVE music, this podcast is for you!
Note: Mix equal parts Top Hill Recording Podcast and bourbon.
Visit “One Shot One Mic One Song” on YouTube to hear artists from this podcast recorded live with a minimalist one mic approach from the past.
Copyright: © Brad Weston/Neil Johnstone
Coot Crabtree's music is about heart and pain, and the joy of life lived along the rough edges and backpages of the Hoosier heartland. He's a poet, he's a punk, he's a hillbilly, a hobo, a folk singer, an outlaw, a bluesman, and most of all, an acolyte of the great truth tellers from all corners of American roots music. It's all in there in the mix, whether he's delivering one of his brilliant original songs, a famous number from the traditional songbook, or a cover of John Prine or Townes Van Zandt. He may rip your heart out with the saddest songs you've ever heard, or he may crack you up with something hilarious, or he may get you clappin' and stompin' like a tent revival. Either way, when you see Coot Crabtree perform, you know you're going to feel something real.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Where the south meets the Midwest. It’s also the best way to describe the music of Kentucky-born Singer/Songwriter Nicholas Johnson; Southern roots meets Midwest rust belt rock. On his first new album in two years, “Back Upstate” puts all of that on display by crafting a mix of heartbreakingly genuine songs and genre-bending rockers in the spirit of songwriting heroes like Tom Petty and Jeff Tweedy.
“Back Upstate” (Ninja Jam Records, 2021) finds him revisiting his debut album “Upstate”. What began as a fun COVID concept, found legs and evolved into fully formed project. He enlisted the help of Producer and multi-instrumentalist, Rich Reuter, to help rearrange and re-record familiar songs in unfamiliar ways and adding a couple of new songs (“I’m a Ghost & “Nashville”). “Back Upstate” does some genre-hopping but it manages to find the sweet spot in each individual song to make it a cohesive album - it dips it’s toe in Brit Pop, Country, Bluegrass, and even a little Psychedelic Rock. In this new album Johnson shows off his evolution as a songwriter and ability to refine and polish old songs.
Dan, Neil, and Brad discuss dedication, commitment, performance anxiety, confidence, competition, and other parallels between athletics and music performance.
Dan Zlotnick has been called the “Americana voice of Westchester [County, NY]”. He writes songs that make any stage feel like your living room. A former independent minor league baseball player, Dan turned to music full-time in 2016 upon the release of his self-titled debut EP. He has built a passionate audience with his subsequent releases, tireless performing, and an earnest drive towards meaningful connections with listeners. Whether he is playing on stages like Tarrytown Music Hall, Paramount Hudson Valley, Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre, or in front of the fireplace at an intimate house concert, Dan’s clever lyrics and heartfelt storytelling leave audience members feeling like they have a new friend.
For more information, visit www.DanZlotnick.com.
Dusty Bo drops by Top Hill to chat about his latest tours. The Kentucky bred Alt-Rock artist delivers passionate performance with edgy riffs, vocal prowess and blues-charged guitar solos. For Dusty, the choice has always been to never stop the pursuit of exploring the terrain in which he expresses best. With influences such as Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd he possesses the heart of a lifer that shines through in his delivery.
Adrian grew up in a single parent household in Anderson, California, a small Northern California valley town. He always knew music was his passion in life. Adrian met his father for the first time at the age of 13 and suddenly understood where he got his drive for music. He went home after that meeting, taught himself guitar, and started writing songs. He grew up on hearing Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Elvis. As he got older, he started listening to artists like Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers. These influences changed his entire writing style.
Adrian played his first bar at the age of 16. Later that same year, he started opening for the house cover band doing hour sets. At 17, the bar gave Adrian his own spot and he was playing 3 hour sets full of covers and originals. He started to hone his sound after the age of 18, falling in love with Americana and Appalachian music. At 21, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky to get his career started opening for artist like Mitchell TenPenny, Thompson Square, and Caylee Hammack, all before releasing his first song. His first song “Drugs, Words, and Feelings”, released Feb 29, 2020, came to him in a dream and was recorded in a semi-truck reefer trailer with a group of friends that wanted to help him out.
Since moving to Louisville he has been working heavily in the studio to release an album and an EP.
Oliver Sayani is a singer songwriter, guitarist, and musician who has carved his unique style out of Appalachian music, jazz and rock n roll. A member of the Heartland Songwriters Association of Kentucky, he has written over 70 songs, recorded multi-instrumentally on several albums, including 3 albums of his original music while managing and fronting the band Blind Feline. In addition he has composed and recorded on other mediums such as short film “Girl in the Red Dress” and Pulitzer Prize winning poetry album “Songs of Bloody Harlan” by Kentucky Poet Laureate Lee Pennington.
He has played close to two hundred shows across Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Georgia in the past four years including performances on Red Barn Radio, Central Park Amphitheater, and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. A graduate of the University of Louisville Jazz program under award winning guitar instructor Craig Wagner, he honed his ears and skills across genres and techniques such as various fingerpicking and flat picking styles in jazz and bluegrass music. His sultry and twangy voice is the ideal medium to deliver meaningful storylines through haunting and lazy melodies wrapped in catchy songs with classic feels. Now pursuing a Masters in Fine Arts at Middle Tennessee State University, he’s studying recording while working as a freelance musician, session player and guitar instructor.
From trio to duo; from being Southern Halo to becoming American Blonde, the Morris sisters have stuck together through thick and thin. With recent rebranding, they are casting off any preconceived notions as to who they should be and are fully embracing who they are - a powerhouse of talent; invigorated, motivated and fully realized. There were several catalysts behind this transformation, but Nata and Tinka decided to reassess their commitment to the band and what they wanted for their futures. After a lot of soul-searching and reflection, the two knew their best path forward lay in their shared past. Their truest love was for the raw, edgier sounds of their musical roots - and it was calling them home. A new producer, artist and songwriter Cliff Downs, was brought in and things started to gel.
As children of the Mississippi Delta, the siblings were raised surrounded by the blues-oriented music of the region. The sounds of The Eagles, B.B. King, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Elvis, Stevie Nicks and more echoed through their home, and the extensive live music scene drew them like magnets to festivals, fairs and fish fries where music was front and center. Entertainers since their pre-teen years, the Morris sisters have literally lived their lives in the spotlight....and loved every minute of it. Their determination and talent earned them a slot competing in the 2014 Texaco Country Showdown, which led to the immediate release of their first EP (produced by Alabama’s Jeff Cook). Two well-received CDs, released in 2015 and 2018 (produced by hit songwriters Gerald O’ Brien and Catt Gravitt) followed. As Southern Halo, they landed three Top 25 hits on the MusicRow Country Breakout Chart with “Anything Is Possible,” “I Think Too Much” and “Don’t Let Another Day Go By.” They toured throughout the U.S. and the U.K., sharing the stage with acts ranging from Maren Morris to Dionne Warwick and making a name for themselves as up-and-coming Pop/Country darlings. With a new name, a new outlook, and a new album, American Blonde is shaking off any strictures of the past and jumping headfirst into the future.
The Musical Imprint embodies the magic of music with the science of brain connectivity in book form. It was inspired by the connection between two seemingly unrelated women: Melissa Bollea Rowe, a songwriter and publisher from Nashville and Dr. Sarah Allen, a Neuropsychologist and speaker from New Jersey. Put them together, and you have stories based on the science and emotion of music - a musical imprint.
In this coffee table compilation of stories, the authors portray their personal connection to songs that directed the course of their lives, connected them to loves, fixed their broken hearts, helped them heal, and helped them find their purpose.
As brain science shows, our memories are formed best through significant emotional experiences. This expertly crafted book takes you on an emotional journey making you feel all the highs and lows of the authors, helping you find your own connection and truth through their stories.
Jacob Head is a Louisville-based multi-instrumentalist, performer, teacher, worship leader, and board-certified music therapist. His abilities in music stem from a young age when he was gifted a set of drums for Christmas. Jacob began learning the violin at the age of 9 and continued to pursue music through the keyboard, guitar, mandolin, and various other stringed instruments. He began leading worship at LifeBridge Christian Church in 2009 while forming the Compass Quartet later that same year. He has taught a variety of instruments at Maxwell’s House of Music since 2016 and has released three albums since 2019. Jacob currently stays busy with over 20 students, a couple of music therapy clients, and a busy home life with wife Kara, son Christopher, and baby brother on the way.
Dylan Weber-Owens is an instrumental folk guitarist from Louisville, KY. Blending techniques and motifs from various guitar styles new and old, he brings forward a mixture that feels at once fresh and careworn, impish and melancholic. By connecting with his audience, their triumphs and troubles, Weber-Owens ultimately hopes that his wordless music can resonate in a way that makes people feel more in touch with their own complex experience.
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