conventions

Darrin James sitting in a forest with his acoustic guitar

Writing a non-romantic love song with Darrin James

Darrin James is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, and producer known for his distinctive gravelly voice, thoughtful lyrics, and soulful musicianship. His eclectic production style encompasses a growing range of influences, often fusing gritty, bluesy guitar playing with rustic, acoustic elements of Americana and soul-style Hammond organ and horns. His new album, “See Right Through,” is his …

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Lessons from The Rutles – Songwriting Satire

This week we took a dive into the 1978 mockumentary – The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash – a satire of Beatlemania and the Fab Four. Aside from being one of the first mock-docs, it is also a very funny film featuring some Monty Python alumnae, a few famous faces from early SNL and …

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Phil, Neel, and Mike

Mike Fuller and the Joy and Hard Work of SongWriting

Mike Fuller’s rock and roll roots run deep. The son of a church organist and a cover band singer/rock and roll enthusiast, it seemed only natural Fuller would follow the musical path laid by his parents and find himself writing a collection of uptempo, foot-stomping tunes. Mike spent much of the pandemic like many of …

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Mike, Neel, Chad, and Jeffery

Storytelling In Song with Jeffery Straker

This week SongTalk welcomed Jeffery Straker a Canadian folk/roots singer-songwriter, who is based in Toronto, Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan. His piano-based pop musical style has drawn comparisons to Elton John, Neil Young, Rufus Wainwright, and Kris Kristofferson. Straker grew up listening to country music on his parents Saskatchewan grain farm at the same time he …

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Neel, Phil, Lexie, and Jordana

Voices Only with Jordana Talsky

We have a fascinating show this episode with our special guest, Jordana Talsky. Jordana is a singer, songwriter and vocal looper who fuses multi-genre influences into her own sound. She accompanies herself by voice with a Roland Boss RC505 loop station. Her ethos is to incorporate digital means into live performance in an organic way, …

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