The Songwriting Podcast: songwriters talking about songwriting
Join us for our 2nd Annual Songwriting Challenge!
We invite our listeners to join us for our latest songwriting challenge. This year, we’re challenging ourselves to:
write a song where the chord progression never changes.
Neel, Mike, and Phil each wrote a song for the challenge, and we shared our answers on the January 26, 2021 episode. Replies from our listeners will be shared on the February 16 episode.
So please send us your answer to the songwriting challenge. Send your mp3 and your lyrics to feedback@songtalk.ca by February 9, and we’ll feature your song on February 16.
This week we welcomed five more songwriters who sent us their answers to our latest songwriting challenge, to write a song with a single chord progression throughout. We got two protest songs, a song about social media, a rather tense relationship, and of course, COVID-19. We were so pleased to receive submissions from all over the world; thanks for sharing!
We talked about:
How Phil found a neat way to use a simple looper pedal in his studio
Jellyfish Interrupted is funk with a twist. The band formed when songwriters Paul Vos and Sherry Jacoby merged their styles to create a unique blend of retro disco and modern indie. After recording 5 studio tracks for their debut EP, they joined forces with Neel Modi and Nabil Durzi to record live videos of their groovy tracks. Their debut EP “Groove With You” was released on March 12 and is now available on all streaming platforms! You can follow Jellyfish Interrupted on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram for all the latest updates.
This week SongTalk welcomed John from Tomato Tomato to our virtual studio.
They just might be Atlantic Canada’s most entertaining musical duo. The New Brunswick based pair – John and Lisa McLaggan – have built a reputation on a live show that is as much about their on-stage charisma as their musical multi-tasking and vocal excellence. This compelling mix has seen the duo build audiences and develop friendships across Canada through performances at major venues and festivals; and win over international audiences with repeat visits to Australia and the UK.
Equally well received by critics, the duo have received nominations from ECMA, Music/Musique NB, and the Canadian Folk Music Awards, winning awards for Group Recording of the Year, SOCAN Song of the Year, and a well-deserved Hardest Working Artist award!
For their fifth record, they returned to Nashville in March to record with producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist, Jon Estes, and an amazing group of Nashville based musicians. With most of the record complete, they returned home just in time for lockdown where they recorded their vocals and finished the record.
We are happy to have John and Tomato Tomato’s fresh new recording – a barnstorming new roots / rock record – as a guest on SongTalk Radio.
We had a great conversation with John about:
writing for the perspective of two vocalists, male and female
his journey from jazz musician to folk artist
how playing cover songs will improve your songwriting
the evolution of his lyric-writing
working with the great Nashville musician Matt Combs
We talked about a Pitchfork article on Decolonizing Western Music – Khyam Allami creates recording software that is not constrained by Western Music structures, Check it out.
JUNO Award-winning reggae singer, songwriter, producer and social activist Kirk Diamond shared his new single “Let It Be Done” — available now.
“‘Let It Be Done’ was written in light of the political climate and social unrest that has affected so many worldwide, myself included,” Diamond shares. “That’s directly, indirectly, or psychologically.”
Holding multiple #1 spots on the Canadian Reggae Chart for over 25 collective weeks, it’s no surprise Kirk Diamond has been named one of CBC’s 10 Canadian Reggae Artists You Need To hear. A multi-JUNO nominee, he won for his debut EP, Greater, in 2018. Kirk Diamond and his band The Movement Of Ahryel deliver reggae and dancehall en masse — including opening for Maxi Priest, Third World, Luciano and Etana, and more.
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