Podcasts by Planetary Gig Talk
Host Jefferson Glassie, chief spiritual dude of the Planetary Gigs Society, talks with guests about the power of music and how we can create a better world through music.
Further podcasts by Planetary Gigs Society
Podcast on the topic Musikinterviews
All episodes
#127 Jon David Gorman, bassist, talks about Music Nights from 2021-12-29T05:00
Jon David Gorman has been playing music his entire life. His father was a guitar player and Jon David remembers listening to his dad play when he was very young. His father unfortunately passed ...
Listen#126 Bruce Blaylock, guitarist and raconteur from 2021-10-05T04:00
Bruce Blaylock began piano lessons when he was very young, but he wasn’t that into it because the teacher never asked him what Bruce wanted to play. Later, his friend Chip encouraged him to star...
Listen#125 Rep. Jamie Raskin, Member of Congress, plays piano from 2021-09-28T04:00
Congressman Jamie Raskin is a Member of Congress representing the 8th District in Maryland, the home of the worldwide headquarters of the Planetary Gigs Society, and also plays piano. So, Jeffer...
Listen#124 Peter McClard, musician, software developer, author from 2021-07-07T04:00
Peter McClard was born of the 60's, that time when black and white became color and music exploded. He had a voracious appetite for music even when very young. He took lessons on viola in first ...
Listen#123 Fia, folk pop singer/songwriter of transformational music from 2021-03-31T04:00
Fia was ten years old when she went to a Christmas concert at a cultural school in Sweden and first heard an oboe. “I got so enchanted, I said I want to learn,” and she started taking lessons. S...
Listen#122 Billy Presnell, eclectic musician from 2021-03-17T04:00
Billy Presnell started playing music when he was really young, about five years old. Piano was his first instrument, and he got a guitar when he was eight. Billy says, “Music has always been a p...
Listen#121 Julie Rust, Performing Songwriter/Healing Presenter from 2021-02-03T05:00
Julie Rust grew up in a house where there was a lot of music; her father played trumpet and her mother was a big band singer, and Julie grew up with a piano in her room! She realized that she wa...
Listen#120 Vivienne Aerts, musician, singer, project manager Effortless Mastery Institute from 2021-01-06T05:00
Vivienne Aerts grew up in The Netherlands, and started piano at age 5, and by age 12 was the choir conductor. After performing all over, she got a scholarship from Berklee College of Music, majo...
Listen#119 Qiaoli Wang, producer of the movie Music Monks from 2020-12-30T05:00
Qiaoli Wang remembered the old Buddhist music from growing up in China, but then she had to opportunity to help preserve the music for posterity, and she did it. She listened to the call to make...
Listen#118 Peter de Koning, drummer and creator of Live Earth 2020 from 2020-08-16T04:00
Peter de Koning from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a drummer and also the creator of Live Earth 2020, which will happen on August 29-30, 2020. Peter was only 6 years old when he started tapping...
Listen#117 Anni Beach, founder of Jam Pak Blues 'n' Grass Neighborhood Band from 2020-07-31T04:00
Anni Beach grew up in a musical family; her mother was a harpist, her sisters were musicians, as was her husband. She took piano lessons as a child, but the mandolin really grabbed her at age 50...
Listen#116 Dr. Pramod Kumar, Founder of Devi Music Ashram from 2020-06-03T04:00
Dr. Pramod Kumar is the Founder of the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh India. Dr. Kumar is a philosopher, but his focus is not on metaphysical matters but on solving practical problems. He does n...
Listen#115 Biko Casini, percussionist with Rising Appalachia from 2020-05-27T04:00
Biko Casini is the percussionist with my favorite music group, Rising Appalachia. Biko turned me on to The Music Lesson book by Victor Wooten and that changed my life and led to the founding of ...
Listen#114 Neeti Kumar, of the Devi Music Ashram from 2020-05-13T04:00
I met Neeti Kumar at the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh, India. She teaches classical Indian singing and dance at the ashram. I have been so enamored by the concept of music ashrams; there shoul...
Listen#113 Sandro Shankara, multi-instrumentalist from Brazil, leads spiritual and musical tours from 2020-04-29T04:00
Sandro Shankara is a very spiritual musician from Brazil, who leads musicians, pilgrims, and seekers on tours to sacred places like the Amazon, the mountains of Peru, and India. I met Sandro in ...
Listen#112 Raj Sagonakha, of the Devi Music Ashram from 2020-04-15T04:00
Raj Sagonakha is with the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh, India. I met Raj when I walked into the ashram almost entirely by chance in March 2020. I had gone to Rishikesh to visit the ashram of M...
Listen#111 Ria Marie, singer from 2020-02-12T05:00
Ria Marie’s mother was a singer and voice teacher, and Ria used to listen outside the lesson room at her house. “I was just captivated by singing,” she says. She has always loved powerhouse sing...
Listen#110 Hubert Gonthier-Blouin, Musician from 2020-02-05T05:00
I met Hubert Gonthier-Blouin at the Spirit of Music camp at Wooten Woods and we hit it off right away. Both of Hubert’s parents were musicians, and his mother knew she was going to play piano at...
Listen#109 Allen Holmes, a conversation about the spirit of music from 2020-01-22T05:00
Allen Holmes is an excellent musician and good friend, and was one of the first interviewed for the Planetary Gig Talk podcast. He remembers me saying that Victor Wooten talked about music being...
Listen#108 Brent Paschke, Guitarist from 2020-01-08T05:00
Brent Paschke was co-founder of Spymob and is best known as Pharrell Williams’ guitarist, having worked with Pharrell since 2001. Brent was introduced to me by Linda Helms, who is a friend of Br...
Listen#107 Kevin Roy Kramer, composer, performer, educator from 2019-12-04T05:00
Kevin Roy Kramer has been listening to the Planetary Gig Talk podcasts, has attended Victor Wooten’s camps, and reached out to me so I invited him to do a podcast interview. What a smart, eclect...
Listen#106 Linda Helms, sound bowl practitioner from 2019-11-27T05:00
I met Linda Helms at Victor Wooten’s Theory of Music camp; she’s a sound bowl practitioner. I had brought my sound bowl, so the energies brought us together. She says she always loved music, and...
Listen#105 Val Carter, wants to do podcast on mid-adulting from 2019-11-19T05:00
Val Carter was referred to me because she wants to do a podcast on mid-adulting and asked if I would show her about producing podcasts. So, she came over to Studio 1 of the worldwide headquarter...
Listen#104 Nathan Black, Rhythmist (and financial guy) from 2019-11-13T05:00
I met Nathan at Victor Wooten’s Spirit of Music camp. We were talking about random stuff and Nathan said he runs a research firm and investment fund in which he focuses on volatility to understa...
Listen#103 Dylan Hughes, BassFienD from 2019-10-30T04:00
Great conversation with Dylan Hughes at Victor Wooten’s Spirit of Music Camp!
Dylan’s parents were theater actors and his father really loved music; even named him after Bob Dylan! ...
#102 Chris Anander, Brilliant Bassist from 2019-10-23T04:00
Chris Anander is an amazing musician. His earliest memories are musical memories, such as when he was in a stroller at age two with Tchaikovsky’s B flat piano concerto in his brain. We had a gre...
Listen#101 Stephen Jay, Bassist Composer from 2019-10-16T04:00
Stephen Jay is a fabulous musician, composer, and really smart and spiritual guy! He has played based in Weird Al Yankovic’s band for decades, but also has amazing insights and stories, such as ...
Listen#100 Roy "Futureman" Wooten from 2019-10-09T04:00
Roy “Futureman” Wooten has been playing music with his brothers his entire life. I was fortunate to be able to talk with him for the 100th Planetary Gig Talk podcast at Wooten Woods while there ...
Listen#99 Vance Umphrey, steel pan player from 2019-09-11T04:00
Vance Umphrey says, “Music was there before I can start remembering anything.” His mother was a singer and his grandfather was a choir director. Vance began playing with the family’s electric pi...
Listen#98 Daniel Levitin, musician, neuroscientist, and best selling author from 2019-09-04T04:00
Dan played music at school growing up in California, and was in several bands, but also conducted music. He says music education is very important, like team sports, but it is not competitive, a...
Listen#97 Greg Crossfield, eclectic musician and thinker from 2019-08-28T04:00
Greg Crossfield started with music in church, played trombone from 4th grade through high school, and later came back to music with guitar. He says, "I have a belief about music, that music has ...
Listen#96 Mester Bo and Tina Israni, play singing bowls, gongs, and conduct sound baths from 2019-08-21T04:00
Mester Bo and Tina Israni form the group Ritual Sound in Copenhagen, and conduct sound baths by playing singing bowls, gongs, and the handpan. Their goal is for every home on the planet to have ...
Listen#95 Sara Wood, singer from 2019-08-07T04:00
Singing has been Sara Wood's passion her entire life; she just happens to also be an association executive. She started singing with a children's chorus when she was 11 years old and sang classi...
Listen#94 Chef Daniel Ben-David, passionate about music and food from 2019-07-17T04:00
Chef Daniel Ben-David is currently a chef at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego and has a passion for music, art, and cooking. His father was a chef growing up in South Africa, and music was al...
Listen#93 Dave "Razz" Rasmussen, guitarist from 2019-07-03T04:00
Dave “Razz” Rasmussen grew up in a family that played music around the house all the time. His mother was a pianist who played piano until very late in life. His father played the gut bucket, an...
Listen#92 Zach Simon-Alexander, musician, songwriter from 2019-06-26T04:00
Zach had a lot of music around his house growing up, as his mother is a musician and music teacher. He focused on sports when young, but then his parents got him an acoustic guitar when he gradu...
Listen#91 Tara Linhardt, musician, educator, photographer, event organizer from 2019-06-19T04:00
Tara Linhardt is a musician, educator, photographer, event coordinator, and movie maker. She didn’t have a lot of music in her house growing up, but started playing guitar at seven just because ...
Listen#90 Elijah Wald, writer musician from 2019-06-12T04:00
Elijah Wald is a American folk blues guitarist and music historian, and 2002 Grammy Award winner. He says there was always music around when he was young. He started playing when he was seven an...
Listen#89 Elena Mannes, author, writer, director from 2019-06-05T04:00
Elena Mannes had music in her life "from the womb" and many musicians in her family, so it is no surprise that she is an award-winning author of a book and director of a documentary movie on mus...
Listen#88 Tracy Silverman, electric violinist from 2019-05-29T04:00
Tracy Silverman remembers listening to music with his father as young as 2 or 3 years old and by 5, he had been totally smitten by the violin and started taking lessons. He practiced incessantly...
Listen#87 Dave Welsch, bassist, educator, producer from 2019-05-22T04:00
Dave Welsch says, “I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t music in my life.” His mother played piano, his father played trumpet and had weekend gigs, and Dave’s first performance in front of ...
Listen#86 Bob Perilla and Ira Gitlin, Bluegrass musicians from 2019-05-15T04:00
Both Bob and Ira have been smitten by bluegrass music most of their lives. Bob's band Big Hillbilly Bluegrass played a regular gig at Madam's Organ in DC for about 20 years, and through that mad...
Listen#85 Roddy Barnes, blues and jazz pianist, composer, and consummate entertainer from 2019-05-08T04:00
Roddy Barnes grew up on a farm but knew he wanted to play the piano when he was only three years old. He ended up taking lessons a few years later and got his college degree in classical perform...
Listen#84 Richard Lewellen, music therapist and Barbershop Harmony singer and judge from 2019-05-01T04:00
Richard Lewellen fell in love with music as a toddler, watching movies such as Aladdin, Fantasia, and the Jungle Book, and the amazing music in those films. His mother was a classically trained ...
Listen#83 Will Ackerman, producer, guitarist, founder of Windham Hill Records from 2019-04-24T23:50:19
Will Ackerman plays guitar beautifully and has inspired many people with the heart in his music, including his many records and the artists he produced as founder of Windham Hill Records. He lis...
Listen#82 Paula Bellenoit, pianist and podcast producer from 2019-04-17T04:00
Paula Bellenoit had a lot of music in her life when young, and started taking piano lessons at age six. She took lessons for many years, played in a wedding band at age 16, and then was music di...
Listen#81 Milagros Phillips, singer and healer from 2019-04-10T04:00
Milagros Phillips grew up in a musical family and she says, "Music was always in my life." She was always singing as a child, various eclectic forms of music, but stopped singing in her teens be...
Listen#80 Scott Ainslie, acoustic blues guitarist, singer and songwriter from 2019-04-03T04:00
Scott Ainslie’s mother played piano, and he started learning to play music at the same time he learned to talk, about 3 years old. He played all sorts of instruments, but when he first heard Joh...
Listen#79 Marcus Sims, musician, composer, TaKeTina leader from 2019-03-27T04:00
Marcus Sims started playing music and writing songs early in his life and played with his brothers in a bluegrass band. He says, “Music comes naturally, so you can jump into it.” In this podcast...
Listen#78 David Julian Gray, musician and media technologist from 2019-03-20T04:00
David Julian Gray has been playing music for 60 years; the clarinet chose him to be his main instrument. He remembers hearing music when he was just 4 years old and being profoundly influenced; ...
Listen#77 Arminda Thomas, singer, musician, and host of Music from the Well from 2019-03-13T04:00
Arminda Thomas grew up in Memphis and her parents always had music playing. She sang a lot as a child but didn't really play an instrument, until Guy Davis left a banjo at her house and she star...
Listen#76 Bill Barclay, Director of Music at Shakespeare's Globe, and composer, director, actor, musician from 2019-03-06T05:00
Bill Barclay is Director of Music at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. When he was young, he took piano lessons and sang with folk groups in church, and in middle school was in choirs and o...
Listen#75 Shana Oshiro, Barbershop harmony singer and music therapist from 2019-02-27T05:00
Shana Oshiro had music all around her growing up; her parents met in a band and Shana was always singing and immersed in music. She has degrees in voice and music therapy. She was classically tr...
Listen#74 Pearl Bailes, harmonica player from 2019-02-20T05:00
Pearl Bailes took piano lessons as a child and played the oboe for a while, but later in life she says, "the harmonica chose me." She says when you play that little unique instrument, the sound ...
Listen#73 Christina Lewellen, Barbershop Singer and Past President of Harmony, Inc. from 2019-02-13T05:00
Christina Lewellen grew up with Barbershop singing; her father started when she was just born, and her entire family are Barbershoppers, including her mother, husband, and children. She has won ...
Listen#72 Lyric Hartley, spiritual seeker and musician from 2019-02-06T05:00
Lyric Hartley grew up in Alabama, where participation in the Church of Christ was a big part of his life. The Church had many services, but all were a cappella, without instrumentation, and Lyri...
Listen#71 Compilation Winter 2019 from 2019-01-30T05:00
Enjoy some of the highlights from Planetary Gig Talk podcasts 12-22 with Rev. Kim Capps, Moe Jackson, Erasmus Caffery, Sharon Kneebone, Scott Ballantine, Andra Faye, Nina Casey, Mike Lessin, Jan...
Listen#70 Joe Filisko, harmonica player, teacher, and technician extraordinaire from 2019-01-23T05:00
Joe Filisko is one of the best harmonica players, teachers, and technicians in the world, but he didn't play harmonica when he was young. He started playing guitar in his teens and it "made time...
Listen#69 Gary Allegretto, harmonica player; founder of Harmonikids from 2019-01-16T05:00
Gary's earliest musical inspiration was his mother, who had a terrific voice. When he was four, he saw his grandfather play music and "how happy everyone was." When seven, he received his grandf...
Listen#68 Jason Walker, drummer from 2019-01-09T05:00
Jason Walker was smitten by the drums early in life, and is still playing with some of his childhood friends. He says he has been fortunate to play in a lot of different situations and always wa...
Listen#67 Kanttara Naba, singer from 2019-01-02T05:00
Kanttara Naba has been singing her entire life. She was born in Israel; her mother was from Yemen and her father from Iraq; she has since moved to the United States and recently to Hawaii. She s...
Listen#66 Holiday 2018 Compilation from 2018-12-26T05:00
Planetary Gig Talk host features short highlights from the first eleven podcasts, featuring Eric Weinberg, Steve Little, Allen Holmes, Michael Roudebush, Alison Chase Radcliffe, Barry Warsaw, Gr...
Listen#65 Alexander Sovronsky, musician, actor, composer from 2018-12-19T05:00
Alexander Sovronsky grew up in a very musical family, and fell in love with the violin when he was 2 years old watching Itzhak Perlman play on Sesame Street! He started with Suzuki violin and ha...
Listen#64 Bob Franceschini, saxophonist from 2018-12-12T05:00
Bob has a clear image of when he first remembers music; it was at his grandmother’s home when he was about 3 or 4 years old. He figured out the keyboard and played songs, making up stories in so...
Listen#63 Liz Rabson Schnore, musician and artist from 2018-12-05T05:00
Liz's mother was famous musician Ann Rabson, so Liz had a lot of music around the house growing up. She started on the sax when she was 8, played clarinet and flute too, and began guitar when sh...
Listen#62 Kelley Hunt, singer-songwriter from 2018-11-28T05:00
Kelley Hunt says, "My first musical memory is of my mother's voice." She was an incredible singer and her father played bass; there was always music in the house growing up. Kelley couldn't see ...
Listen#61 Dave Dickens, bassist from 2018-11-21T05:00
Dave Dickens played music on and off throughout his life but got serious when he turned 60 and started focusing on playing bass. He says the power of music is a "freedom you just can't express."...
Listen#60 Andy Noyes, musician, talks about his Tour de Friends from 2018-11-14T05:00
Andy's mother was a piano teacher, and he says the piano was powerful and was an "energy source in the home." He realized early on that he just needed to play music, and that's what he has done ...
Listen#59 Ariane Cap, bassist and teacher from 2018-11-07T05:00
Ariane Cap took classical piano growing up, but a trip to America when she was 18 opened her up to new kinds of music she knew she had to play, eventually picking up the bass guitar. She says, "...
Listen#58 Alixe Landry, bassist from 2018-10-31T04:00
Alixe Landry remembers when she was a child feeling the vibrations of the piano when her mother played. She took lessons and played some guitar, but stopped when she became a mom. Later, she say...
Listen#57 Zig Wajler, Jr., drummer and arts in education artist from 2018-10-24T04:00
Zig listened to records constantly as a kid and knew early on that he wanted to be a drummer. He says, "Being a great listener is the key to music." He played in jazz and other bands in L.A. and...
Listen#56 Rick Franklin, acoustic blues musician from 2018-10-17T04:00
Rick Franklin started playing the trumpet when he was young, then harmonica, and finally found guitar. He played in rock bands, but met Archie Edwards and John Jackson and fell in love with thei...
Listen#55 Michael, cellist from 2018-10-10T04:00
Michael’s mother was an excellent musician, and Michael first sang for people when he was six; by the time he was in 5th grade was a cellist. He played in youth symphonies and later in college b...
Listen#54 Bob Hemenger, musician and naturalist from 2018-10-03T04:00
From an early age, Bob Hemenger was into music (piano at 5 and sax starting in 5th grade) and nature (loving the outdoors since a kid). "My two loves truly are music and nature," he says. He met...
Listen#53 John O'Connor, musician for justice from 2018-09-26T04:00
John O'Connor has been playing music with friends all his life; his main instrument is the bass. He always saw that music had the power to make people happy, but also to make them think, so he w...
Listen#52 Eli Namay, politically active bassist from 2018-09-19T04:00
Eli Namay's parents were both very musical and artistic, he played all sorts of music growing up, and now plays bass in several bands in Chicago. He says, "Music just feels like the right thing ...
Listen#51 Dr. Emily Martinson, audiologist from 2018-09-12T04:00
Emily Martinson is a Doctor of Audiology, who says "the power of sound is tremendous," and when the sound goes away in terms of hearing loss, it is a big concern. She took piano lessons and sang...
Listen#50 Victor Wooten, bassist and author of The Music Lesson, A Spiritual Search for Growth through Music from 2018-09-05T04:00
Victor Wooten is a legendary Grammy award-winning bassist, and also author of the amazing book, The Music Lesson, A Spiritual Search for Growth through Music. He says that he knew music was real...
Listen#49 Eric Schlam, guitar player from 2018-08-29T04:00
Eric started playing the piano when he was 8 years old, but by high school guitar had become his first love. He played with high school mates, and 40 years later, many of them are still playing ...
Listen#48 Jeff Arbor, bassist and Reiki teacher from 2018-08-22T04:00
Jeff Arbor's father played the organ, and Jeff started on sax in 4th grade, moved to guitar, and now plays the bass. He found Reiki ten years ago and is now a certified teacher. Reiki is a unive...
Listen#47 Mark 'Skip' Casale, musician and raconteur from 2018-08-15T04:00
Skip played a lot of drums and guitar in his life until having an epiphany about music. He had an experience of knowing he could play the blues, and he just had to do it. He says surrendering in...
Listen#46 Ben Potok, drummer and entrepreneur from 2018-08-08T04:00
Ben Potock says that music was always part of the fabric of his family and that he always wanted to be a musician. He saw a friend play a drum solo when very young and he told himself, "I want t...
Listen#45 Geoffrey Seals, plays and teaches harmonica from 2018-08-01T04:00
Geoff Seals always liked harmonica, and after playing a lot of standard songs, started playing blues harmonica about 20 years ago. He now teaches blues harp at Archie Edwards Barbershop and at B...
Listen#44 Jay Summerour, harmonica player and whistler extraordinaire! from 2018-07-25T04:00
Jay Summerour's grandmother taught him to whistle, and he has been playing music ever since. He always had a harmonica, while walking, fishing, jamming with people in the backyard, or around in ...
Listen#43 Scott Castonguay, guitarist and teacher from 2018-07-18T04:00
Scott Castonguay first got the "bug of music" when he was around 10, playing the saxophone. He switched to guitar, and now plays and teaches full time. "I love to play and I can teach and make m...
Listen#42 Robert Lighthouse, singer and guitar player from 2018-07-11T04:00
Robert Lighthouse remembers listening to the Beatles when he was very young, got a guitar when he was 12, and loved Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix. He played on the streets of his home town in Sw...
Listen#41 Donna Fletcher, singer, guitarist, and show organizer from 2018-07-04T04:00
Donna Fletcher sang as a child and learned harmony from her mother, and played protest songs in coffee shops when she was young. She started going to Blues Week thirty years ago and learned from...
Listen#40 Deletta Gillespie, Singer from 2018-06-27T04:00
Deletta Gillespie grew up surrounded by music; both of her parents were musicians. She has been singing in churches since she was a child, and is an incredibly powerful blues singer. She says, "...
Listen#39 Rico Amero, Sr., Music Man from 2018-06-20T04:00
Rico Amero, Sr., has been making music since he started teaching himself guitar at age 5. He also plays trumpet and is a sound man, having done sound all around the world, including DC's famous ...
Listen#38 Gentleman Joe Steen from 2018-06-13T04:00
Joe Steen first remembers singing Nat King Cole's song Paper Moon when he was 5 years old. He went on to play in churches for decades, but first played the blues at Archie's Barbershop. He is no...
Listen#37 Miles Spicer, guitarist, songwriter from 2018-06-06T04:00
Miles Spicer got his first guitar when he was 23, first went to Blues Week in 1991, and learned from many masters, including John Cephas, John Jackson, Mike Baytop, and his teacher Paul Bell. Mi...
Listen#36 Jamie Logie, guitar player from 2018-05-30T04:00
Jamie Logie started teaching himself guitar in his early teens. He loves the guitar, which he says is a complex instrument that takes a lot of work to play. Jamie often says, "I just want to pla...
Listen#35 Eleanor Ellis, singer and guitarist from 2018-05-23T04:00
Eleanor Ellis loved to sing as a child and played a lot in New Orleans during college, especially bluegrass. She moved to Maryland and started playing "spiritual and truth" music with Flora Molt...
Listen#34 Gaye Adegbalola Blueswoman and Queen of the Universe from 2018-05-16T04:00
Gaye Adegbalola has been playing music all her life; her father played in a jazz combo and her mother brought her records from the jukebox to listen to as a child. She first started singing on t...
Listen#33 Eric Noden, roots guitarist and songwriter from 2018-05-09T04:00
Eric Noden's father played roots music, and that's what Eric plays now with musical partner Joe Filisko. Eric learned many guitar styles when young, even taking classical guitar, which taught hi...
Listen#32 Shauna Simon, yoga teacher, studio owner, and music lover from 2018-05-02T04:00
Shauna Simon grew up in a musical family and played music all her life, including piano, recorder, and guitar. She lived in an ashram for 20 years where there were chanting meditations, and Shau...
Listen#31 Tom Cox, the quintessential bass player from 2018-04-25T04:00
Tom Cox was first captivated by the bass as a youngster while watching the bassist in a combo playing in a ship crossing the Pacific Ocean. He was mesmerized by the Beatles in 1964; everything c...
Listen#30 Scott Johnson, songwriter and founder of World Singing Day from 2018-04-18T04:00
Scott has been playing music all his life. He says, "Music is therapy for me; it's a lifelong love." He was with Up With People, "which has pure positive energy and gives people a hopeful messag...
Listen#29 Hamilton Belk, plays pedal steel in Colorado from 2018-04-11T04:00
Hamilton Belk has been captured by music since he was 10 years old; he remembers his father playing an old guitar. He says there's always a song in his head. He says, "I don't think there is any...
Listen#28 Stan Orr - Doctor Strum, singer, song-writer, guitarist, co-founder of Planetary Gigs Society from 2018-04-04T04:00
Stan Orr has been playing guitar since sixth grade, when he played "Gloria" a million times in his room! He says music was his outlet and sanctuary, and is a very personal thing. Stan says, "Mus...
Listen#27 Diane Phillips, singer, teacher, and Up With People Alum from 2018-03-28T04:00
Diane Phillips sang with her family from a young age, and loved to perform. After touring with Up With People and performing for years, she realized it was important for her to help others with ...
Listen#26 Willie Leebel, president of Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation and blues guitar player from 2018-03-21T04:00
Willie Leebel is the current president of "Archie's Barbershop," where there are acoustic blues jams every Saturday afternoon, as well as workshops and performances throughout the year. The Barb...
Listen#25 Marianna Previti, singer and music teacher from 2018-03-14T04:00
Marianna Previti knew at a very early age that she wanted to be a singer. There was a lot of music in her family and she has played countless gigs throughout her career. Her master's thesis was ...
Listen#24 James Boberg, plays bass, guitar, and more from 2018-03-07T05:00
James Boberg started playing horns in 5th grade, but since junior year of high school has mainly played bass and guitar. He says he always needed to play music, "it's like food for the soul." It...
Listen#23 Patty Raine, artist, illustrator, musician, and synesthete from 2018-02-28T05:00
Patty Raine has seen colors in people since she was a child. She learned that she has synesthesia, and sees the energetic fields of people in tonal values, i.e., colors and music. She says music...
Listen#22 Adalia Tara, singer/songwriter from 2018-02-21T05:00
The first song that Adalia Tara remembers hearing was John Lennon's Imagine when she was four. She has always been drawn to meaningful music since dancing with her family as a young child. Songw...
Listen#21 Jeffree Heaton, singer, songwriter, guitarist from 2018-02-14T05:00
Jeffree Heaton was adopted, grew up in a commune, and busked the streets of Baltimore, Washington, Seattle, and Portland before moving to Alaska and starting his band, Loose Gravel. He says musi...
Listen#20 Jane Callen, seeker and healer, with Body Tambura from 2018-02-07T05:00
Jane Callen has worked in relief situations around the world, as an EMT, and in hospice; she found out about a wooden stringed instrument used in India called the Body Tambura, which is played d...
Listen#19 Mike Lessin, guitar groovemaster from 2018-01-31T05:00
Mike Lessin taught himself guitar at about age 12. He says music is a place to escape stress and worries of the day, and he always tries to find that place where the music just flows through you...
Listen#18 Nina Casey, singer from 2018-01-24T05:00
Nina Casey had music in her house growing up and always loved singing; then she found the blues and it changed her life. Transformative moments included hearing Joe Filisko perform a train song...
Listen#17 Andra Faye, singer, mandolin and bass player from 2018-01-17T05:00
Andra Faye performed with Saffire, the Uppity Blues Women, for 18 years; they were modern trailblazers of women playing the blues. Andra played music her whole life, and has made great friends ...
Listen#16 Scott Ballantine, fabulous finger-picking guitarist from 2018-01-10T05:00
Scott Ballantine talks about how music gave him a sense of who he was and represents the proudest achievement of his life. Playing music is "the hardest thing I do" and is truly a matter of "ti...
Listen#15 Sharon Kneebone, singer and association CEO from 2018-01-03T05:00
Sharon Kneebone has been singing all her life, and says music is always in her life; music reduces stress, alters mindset, helps one concentrate, allows one to be relaxed, and helps ground her a...
Listen#14 Erasmus Caffery, Fongmaster from 2017-12-27T05:00
Erasmus Caffery is the Fongmaster, who talks about fonging being an ancient art that brings the healing sounds of the universe to humans, sorta like music; it's a little crazy, but ultimately tr...
Listen#13 Moe Jackson, DJ, has been entertaining crowds with music for 17 years from 2017-12-20T05:00
Maurice "Moe" Jackson sees the powerful effects of music on people all the time when he is DJ'ing for weddings, parties, and social events. A DJ has to have lots of music and read the crowd to h...
Listen#12 Rev. Kim Capps, singer-songwriter, with her new CD Together, We Rise from 2017-12-13T05:00
Rev. Kim Capps talks about being drawn to writing songs her whole life, as well as being drawn to ministry. She "came out" as a blues musician during a sermon, and discusses the feelings and em...
Listen#11 Tara Gorman, Goddess of Awesomeness and co-founder of Planetary Gigs Society, Up with People Alumni and founder of We'll Be There Foundation from 2017-12-06T05:00
Tara Gorman talks about how she found Up With People, how her time with the cast singing and dancing for peace around the world was transformative, and how she maintains deep friendships from UW...
Listen#10 Erik Schonher, bass player and music therapist from 2017-11-29T05:00
Erik Schonher is a bass player, who spent years as a music therapist, helping many disabled or autistic patients with music. He talks with us about these things and describes how a recent music ...
Listen#9 Mary Flower, guitar finger picker extraordinaire from 2017-11-22T05:00
Mary Flower grew up in a musical family and was smitten by the guitar. She says music is essential for us, and "can take you away and that's the magic." Mary also says grassroots music and house...
Listen#8 Frank Fotusky "has guitar, will travel!" from 2017-11-15T05:00
Frank Fotusky from Maine is an exceptional guitar player, who grew up around his grandmother's piano. Frank says, "Music is a great conduit to the heart," and that "Music breaks down barriers."...
Listen#7 Grant Dermody harmonica maestro and Shaman from 2017-11-08T05:00
Grant Dermody from Seattle is an amazing harmonica player, as well as Buddhist and Shaman, and he talks about how one note can change your life, how Shamanism is essentially about music and play...
Listen#6 Barry Warsaw, bass player and tai chi guy from 2017-11-01T04:00
Barry Warsaw talks about Victor Wooten's book, The Music Lesson, the elements of tai chi, principles of quantum physics, and how they interrelate.
Listen#5 Alison Chase Radcliffe, artist, singer, and musician from 2017-10-25T04:00
Alison Chase Radcliffe is a fabulous singer, musician, and artist; she talks about the artistic process, why house concerts are her favorite venue, and says more art and music would be better fo...
Listen#4 Michael Roudebush of Up With People from 2017-10-18T04:00
Michael Roudebush of Up With People, traveling around the world with the cast bringing peace through music. Michael says "life without music is a mistake," and that "music is a key to building b...
Listen#3 Allen Holmes, harmonica player and teacher from 2017-10-11T04:00
Allen Holmes, fabulous harmonica player and teacher, talks about how the lessons of music and life are intertwined.
Listen#2 Steve Little, guitarist who plays at retirement homes from 2017-10-04T04:00
With Steve Little, who plays guitar professionally at retirement communities, discusses playing music for older people and a bit about his show, “Dementia Melodies.”<...
Listen#1 Eric Weinberg, guitar teacher and studio guy from 2017-10-01T20:29:53
With Eric Weinberg, music teacher, who says playing music is a “racist free zone.”
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