Part way through her cross-country tour which began in her hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, singer/songwriter Rebecca Lappa stopped in at the Song Talk Radio studio to share two original songs. She was accompanied on piano by the talented musician Nick Samoil. We talked about:
Patrick Ballantyne stopped by to pull apart two of his fave songs. The open and emotive “Cowboy” by Randy Newman, and “Somewhere” from West Side Story by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein.
We had the pleasure of having the prolific Toronto poet, novelist, and singer/songwriter Robert Priest (with David Hynes on guitar) back in the studio to share a couple of his children’s songs. We talked about…
testing a song on a 6-year old
moving from writing for adults to writing for children on the same day
chord choices for children
writing for younger and older children (the differences)
Paul Novotny (born Peterborough, Ontario, 1958) is a composer, bassist, producer, and engineer. He is the bassist on the international runaway hit video-game, CUPHEAD; over 50,000 sales in 2017.
As a producer, his record label has achieved three Juno nominations and one Juno win for Joe Sealy’s Africville Suite. He has composed music for feature films, commercials and TV including CBC The National, CBC The Hour (G. Stroumboulopoulos) and CBC News Now.
He has a Masters in music composition and in 2017 presented a lecture in Stockholm to the International Art of Record Production conference on music production in immersive multi-channel surround sound.
He owns the independent record label Triplet Records Inc. and audio production company, The Audio Producers Inc. He also works in TV post production as re-mixing/mastering engineer; recently working on Gord Downie’s Secret Path project.
Paul Novotny is endorsed by Universal Audio and HHB Canada.
He will be performing in concert at The Burlington Performing Arts Centre on March 3rd at 7:30 pm with friends Robi Botos-piano, Alison Young-Sax, and Daniel Barnes-Drums.
True to form for Song Talk Radio, the day before Valentine’s Day seemed a good day to talk about break-up songs. So Phil brought “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” by Jim Croce, Neel chose “One More Minute” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bruce performed a new original tune “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, and Vanessa selected “White Blank Page” by the band Mumford & Sons. We talked about:
Blues-rock-soul singer-songwriter Gravely James shares his journey from a trumpet-playing kid to a kickin’ singer-songwriter. He also treated us to two incredibly energetic performances of his songs. We talked about:
Songwriting master Blair Packham stopped by and we gave a deep dive on The Beatles Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. Friend of the show Mike MacInnes sat in for Bruce.
Avery Florence stopped by the studio on the cusp of her first tour. She was excited! “Road trip!” Her songs were a treasure trove of musical delight, and her tips about managing her own career were helpful to anyone trying to make a living as a singer/songwriter.
Canadian and internationally-reaching singer/songwriter Jeffery Straker joined us to talk about his process, collaborations, and great songwriting advice.
We talked about:
Conservatory training vs. ear training
When not to give your chorus a conventional “lift”
Editing your song, even the main title and hook so it brings your idea to a better light
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