Carter King, singer-guitarist for Athens, Georgia’s Futurebirds, talks about the sea of part-time odds-n-ends he’s taken over the years to fill the music gaps and how Howie Mandel inspired the first song he ever wrote.
Admiral Radio on a Crab Bake-Inspired First Song and the Value of Cover Gigs
Admiral Radio’s Coty Hoover and Becca Smith, a husband-and-wife Americana duo from South Carolina, share their trick for eating well on tour, recall a scare that nearly totaled the band’s touring van outside St. Louis, and talk about the philosophy that’s guided their career since day one.
Lisa Bouchelle on a Big Tour Mistake and Exercising Her ‘Poetic License’
Singer-songwriter Lisa Bouchelle recalls winning a talent contest at just four years old, dressed as an American flag at a family campground — a moment that showed music could bring people together. She shares how a friendship with Blues Traveler’s John Popper began, when he worried about her driving solo while opening for the band on her first tour. Bouchelle also talks about why it’s good to set a goal that’s just beyond the horizon.
Alicia Blue on Tour Salads and Her Painful First Gig
Singer-songwriter Alicia Blue talks about the inspiration behind the first song she ever wrote, the shift from indirectly paying to play to getting paid for it, and the Bob Dylan quote about destiny that shaped how she guards her own focus.
Pieta Brown on Borrowing Iris DeMent’s Van and Listening to Pharoah Sanders
Singer-songwriter Pieta Brown talks about the song she wrote as a kid that’s still part of her live sets today, and describes her makeshift garage rehearsal space, where a neighbor’s chickens and passing trains provide unplanned accompaniment. She adds a hard-won career lesson: people like names they can pronounce.
Chris Pierce on His Old Ford Bronco and His “Lone Wolf” Years
Singer-songwriter Chris Pierce recalls landing his first gig at age 7 or 8 after spotting a classified ad in the L.A. Times, and later working as a music professor during the pandemic. He also talks about stocking up on water while on tour, and the value of building and nurturing relationships in the music business.
The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian on Inflation and Street Gum Wisdom
Eric Bazilian, guitarist and singer-songwriter of The Hooters, recalls how the band’s early rehearsal space, a warehouse in a then-rough part of Philadelphia, became the birthplace of the band’s name and its first songs. He also reveals who between the band and crew gets the nicer tour bus when the Hooters are on the road.
Jesper Lindell on Record Deals and Lyrical Memory
Swedish singer-songwriter Jesper Lindell talks about the moment his tour van’s brake pads flew off just as they pulled into a venue, his years working as a mailman before music took over full-time, and why streaming alone doesn’t sustain artists outside the mainstream.
William Matheny on Tinned Fish and Not Making Artistic Compromises
West Virginia singer-songwriter William Matheny talks about Isaac Asimov, destination dining, and why every US citizen should be drafted into two years of mandatory customer and food service upon turning the age of 18.
Low Cut Connie’s Adam Weiner on Parking Lot Meals and Touring with a 400-Pound Piano
Adam Weiner, pianist and frontman of Low Cut Connie, talks about driving himself to gigs in his own Hyundai while the band and crew travel in a 15-passenger van, rehearsing in a 200-year-old barn in New Jersey, and why he wishes he had learned the business side of music earlier than he did.