Eric Walker is a singer/songwriter from Toronto and a member of the blakeley walker band. He was a founding member of the Toronto Songwriters Association which has met the second Saturday of the month for the past 17 years. We talked about: playing Harry Belafonte songs on the ukulele writing a song with 47 chords …
writing
Julian Taylor – dual roots and great songs
Julian Taylor is a Canadian singer-songwriter formerly with the band Staggered Crossing. His songs have appeared in television series including Degrassi: The Next Generation. He now fronts the Julian Taylor Band. Julian dropped by the studio with his daughter Ella. We talked about: Skookum Music Festival, Vancouver Basic core band members together for 24 years! Music …
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 …
All about hip hop with iLLvibe
Toronto-based hip hop recording artist iLLvibe dropped by to share his music and his thoughts. Runner up to Drake for Toronto Rapper of the Year in 2016 and winner on “Canada’s Smartest Person” it was indeed an entertaining and informative hour! We talked about: vocal delivery style Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliot, Q-Tip, Grand Master Flash flows, patterns, and rhythms …
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 …
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 …
Robert Priest – how to write songs for children
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 …
How to write a break-up song
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 …