Virtuoso harmonica player and singer-songwriter Harpin’ Norm Lucien joined us to talk about two of his songs and why you need many, many harmonicas, ideally on a Batman-style utility belt. Sherry Jacoby filled in for Neel – thanks Sherry! We talked about: how to write simple songs that are also nuanced and have substance starting your …
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Michael Thorner turns a webcast into an album
Toronto singer/songwriter Michael Thorner dropped by the studio for a chat about his music. He brought two catchy tunes from his recent webcast/album release The ehMTee Show; Don’t Let it Go and Point Edward Fair. We talked about: chamber/orchestral pop Point Edward, Ontario church organist at 10! Mouth Congress (Scott Thompson & Paul Bellini) Marker …
Dokter Nomi – writing the pop song
What a pleasure to have Dokter Nomi back in the studio to share his hooky pop tunes. This time, one of them was produced by our very own Neel Modi. During the show we talked about: the songwriting process (melodies first) starting with stories and poetry music scene in Kamloops, BC Louie, Louie how to …
Songs about mental health
It was Canadian Mental Health Week‘s 66th year and we thought we’d put a spotlight on songs that talk about the challenges of maintaining mental health. This year’s hashtag is #getloud. For this special show, we had guest host Adi Aman from Beige Shelter, and four songs that talk about mental health. We talked about: Beige …
Songwriting across nations and cultures with Amanie Illfated
South Sudan-born, Toronto-based indie fusion singer, model and writer Amanie Illfated joined us to talk about her songwriting journeys across nations and cultures. Guest host and singer-songwriter Kayt Lucas filled in for Phil – thanks Kayt! We talked about: Amanie’s journey from Regina to Toronto at age 16 blogging and modelling as they apply to …
Rhyme-a-rama with Blair Packham!
We figured it was time to talk about rhyme; a cornerstone of songwriting. So we invited one of our favourite singer/songwriters – Blair Packham – to take a closer listen to songs with a plethora of rhymes and one with virtually none! We talked about: The songwriter’s personal approach to rhyme Does rhyme distract from …
Songs by the Hosts Special
For this special episode, each of the Song Talk Radio hosts shared one of their own songs for discussion. We talked about: a Gaurdian article about the Hall & Oates song I Can’t Go For That our upcoming show on key modulations Bruce’s experience with his producer an email we got about our Comedy Songs …
Comedy Songs Special (a.k.a. How to be a funny songwriter)
We got our funny on by looking at what makes comedy songs tick. Friend of the show Mike MacInnes “Phil’d” in for Phil. Thanks Mike! And our own tech person, Linda Lavender, treated us to a live comedy song she just wrote – great stuff Linda! We talked about: why Top 40 charts don’t have …