On this episode we are talking about the great John Prine. This American treasure, perhaps a modern day Mark Twain, a peerless songwriter and chronicler of the lives of regular folk sadly passed away recently – one of the many victims of the Covid 19 pandemic. Since his death, many of todays music’s stars have …
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Collecting Your Songs – How To Build An Album with Blair Packham
Song Talk Radio is happy to welcome our good friend Blair Packham to the studio. This episode, Blair is talking about his songwriting and the latest songs that he is working on. In fact, he will preview one of the songs he is considering for his new collection/album. Blair talks about his new songs and …
How to write a good love song with Jesse Parent
Kitchener, Ontario-based singer-songwriter and storyteller Jesse Parent talks about the danger of his song “For a Moment” becoming a conventional love song, and how to avoid that! We talked about: How to do banter well when you’re performing How Jesse went from one-draft songs to editing all the songs “Write with your heart, edit with …
What makes a good Protest Song?
So are people still writing protest songs? How do the protest songs of the ’60-’70s compare to the songs by Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar? When you start songwriting and your goal is a protest song, how do you start? Vanessa stops by to lend her views. We talked about: Do protest songs chart? Abstract …
Throwback Thursday Themeshow: Pride Special
In this throwback, we chatted with musical book writer Stephen Witkin about songs with a pride theme, with song examples. Check out the original show notes.
Be Better At Performing – Tips from Blair Packham
One of our favourite guests drops by to give practical advice on performing. Blair Packham – songwriter, teacher, performer and 80’s hitmaker – talks about the best practices to entertain and present your songs to an audience, live or on-line. Blair also shows off his dulcimer, which is very impressive. Blair is the host and …
Writing a COVID-19 song with Jesse Parent
This week we welcomed Kitchener, Ontario-based singer-songwriter and storyteller Jesse Parent to the show to talk about his COVID-19 pandemic inspired song, Learning to Live Apart. We talked about: Our new podcast format for 30 minute episodes How valuable it is to play and study cover songs Why you should record your ideas right away, …
Throwback Thursday Themeshow: Non-verbal Hooks
Ooh and ahh and doo and doe your way back to 2017, where we talked about songs with non-verbal hooks. Check out the original show post.