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Songwriter Christopher Mansfield, better known by his stage name, Fences, remembers playing pool with Ben Haggerty (a.k.a. Macklemore) in a hometown Seattle dive bar. Mansfield also remembers taking the bus often with Josh Tillman (a.k.a. Father John Misty) and ordering a burrito from then-food vendor, Robin Pecknold (the now-lead singer of Fleet Foxes). There are other memories, too: just shooting the breeze with the members of the Head and the Heart and the Lumineers. Indeed, at the turn of the 21st century, Seattle was an especially fertile ground for future chart toppers and Mansfield was at the center of it. Of course, Fences would go on to release prominent songs, including “Arrows” in 2014, which has since garnered nearly 14-million streams on YouTube. This year, Mansfield will release two more records. The first is a re-issue of his contemplative 2019 album, Failure Sculptures, on March 5th and the second is a brand-new, bubblier EP, Wide Eyed Elk Ensemble, out later this spring.

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When songwriter, Muni Long, goes into the studio for a day or two, she’ll often come out with 10 or 15 songs. Long may, in fact, be one of the most prolific songwriters on earth. And she’s definitely one of the most successful. The artist, who splits time between living with her family in Florida and venturing across the country to Los Angeles for creative sessions, has co-written tracks for Rihanna, Madonna, Carrie Underwood, Ariana Grande and Florida Georgia Line, among others. Long, who used to write under her given name, Priscilla Renea, has more recently taken center mark and assumed a stage name with significant meaning (more on that later). Long is writing more and more for herself. In November, she released her cozy EP, Black Like This, and she says she plans to release more work as the new year unfurls, including singles and EPs. For a person who used to play dress-up as a girl with her grandmother’s bed sheets and costume jewelry, Long says that it feels like now she’s living in a film she’s scribed for herself.

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When Panamanian singer-songwriter, Sofía Valdés, was eleven years old, she took out a piece of paper and began to plot out the rest of her life. Somehow, about a decade later, everything seems to be going according to that plan. Lately, Valdés, who grew up in prominent musical family, has begun to set the music world aflame. Recent releases have garnered hundreds of thousands of YouTube views, which, for the songwriter, is especially synchronistic. It was when she discovered the streaming platform at seven years old that her mind exploded with possibility. While her father wouldn’t let her watch things on the website for a few more years, the mere reality that so much music existed outside of the radio was a crucial realization for the burgeoning artist. Today, Valdés fixates on songs, hers and those produced by other musicians, and she brings this meticulous comportment to her forthcoming EP, Ventura, out Friday.

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Missouri-born songwriter, Nathaniel Rateliff, says he knows a lot of people like Eddie Palmer, the fictional main character in the dramatic movie, Palmer, which is out today on Apple TV+. Because he’s personally familiar with people like Palmer (played by Justin Timberlake), Rateliff had a keen point of view from which to start writing the film’s culminating song, “Redemption.” He received the opportunity out of the blue one day on his cell phone, while he was driving long distance to visit his girlfriend. He began humming melodies into a voice recorder as he propelled over long highway stretches. Later, he talked with Timberlake about the essence of the movie and core scenes. The result of Rateliff’s efforts is the new hopeful track, which mends as much as it inspires.

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For Ray Dalton, the Seattle singer with the wood-grain voice, who rose to fame performing the hook for the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis song, “Can’t Hold Us,” it’s a big deal that his sister likes his new single. Dalton jokes that he’s not sure if his sister really likes his music, which of course, is hard to believe. Dalton’s voice seems destined to repeatedly top charts and inspire dance moves in myriad apartment kitchens. But family can be tough critics. Thankfully, for the multi-billion streamed singer, he’s now making inroads there. But Dalton’s sister isn’t the only person taking notice. The crooner released the recent single, “In My Bones,” in November and the track has quickly amassed millions of streams since. For an artist who rose to prominence on hooks, Dalton is now telling his own sonic story.

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Bay Area rapper, Caleborate (born Caleb Jamal Parker), says the choices he makes today and into the future should all be healthy ones. Whereas at times in the past the artist might not have taken the best route or made the most responsible decision, these days, Caleborate aims to promote clarity and sustainability over swifter or more toxic ambitions. But it’s not just about a green juice or carrot smoothie. Health comes in many forms, of course. For Caleborate, that also means financial, mental and community health. These are the thoughts he weaves into his music. The artist, who grew up at the feet of his playwright father, learned the power of language and expression at a young age and he works to breathe life into these every day, as evidenced by the rapper’s forthcoming 16-track LP, Light Hit My Skin, out March 26th and its newest single, “What U Want,” out today.

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Florida-based blues musician, Selwyn Birchwood, likes to hear his stories first-hand. Too often, Birchwood says, artists seem to offer carbon copies—tracings of tracings—to their audience rather than attempting to put forth the most genuine storytelling they can muster. Birchwood, who likes to burry himself in his favorite songs and albums, much prefers a unique voice or an individual point of view, instead of something safe and familiar. He prefers discovering new ground as opposed to the overly trodden. It’s because of this personal perspective, he says, that he spent years crafting the songs for his newest album, Living In A Burning House (review), which is out January 29th. Birchwood worked on the record for three years and spent a fourth (2020) with the songs on the shelf waiting for the right time to release the new music. That time is now.

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Growing up, David Alexander, who is now known as the Swedish electronic music producer, Summer Heart, hated music. He just wanted his musician parents to be “normal.” His mother was a singer and his father was a piano player and the duo would travel around Sweden when Alexander and his younger sister were kids. As a result, the children would often find themselves sleeping on greenroom benches or with their heads down on restaurant tables. It was an unorthodox upbringing that both introduced Alexander to music and, at first, pushed him to want to rebel from it. Later, though, in his teenage years, he discovered the guitar and, a few years later, he discovered software for creating beats and songs. What once seemed abnormal now seemed paramount. Alexander has followed his love of making music ever since. Today, American Songwriter is premiering Summer Heart’s latest single, “Ocean,” which has also inspired the project’s next record release.

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When Kim Thayil, founding member of the famed rock ‘n’ roll band Soundgarden was young, he thought he might be a scientist like his dad. Or maybe he’d grow up to be a baseball player. Later, he wanted to be a comic book or science fiction writer. Though music had a profound impact on him, it wasn’t always the professional priority. As an infant, Thayil would spontaneously laugh or cry during songs on the radio, perplexing his parents. But it was only when he got older that he began to care about making music as an ambition. On the playground, Thayil had a knack for rhymes. It became a bit of a sport between him and his friends, changing lines in television theme songs or popular tunes. A curious, though somewhat underperforming honors student, Thayil got his first guitar at 15 years old. He’d had fantasies of being famous like the Beatles, though it wasn’t very serious. But life works in mysterious ways. About a decade later, Thayil would find himself in Seattle, Washington, set to cofound one of the most important bands of the 20thcentury.

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For Alec Ounsworth, front man and principal songwriter for the indie rock band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the past four years have been beset by turmoil. Some of the reasons for the recent struggles are ones that he shares with many people, including enduring the divisive contemporary American political system and the stifling COVID-19 pandemic. But others are more personal. Recently, Ounsworth went through a difficult divorce. And while many of the details obviously remain private, what the artist does say about the experience is that it mirrored, in some ways, what he’s noticed in the United States of late, namely that something you believed you knew well is not actually what you thought. The catalysts for this dual-pronged epiphany have become the foundation for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s forthcoming album, New Fragility, which is set for release January 29th.

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Acclaimed singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco got her first guitar at nine years old and it quickly became her “best friend.” At that time, DiFranco made the acquaintance of a local musician in Buffalo, New York, where she grew up. He worked in a guitar shop in town and decided to take the young, enthusiastic DiFranco under his wing. It was an important early mentorship for the eventual Grammy winner, helping to set her on her long, creative path. He introduced DiFranco to other working musicians, brought her around to sing with him at gigs, where she soon learned to forgo her feelings of shyness and lean into the scary proposition of singing in public. Today, some four decades later, DiFranco is one of the most recognizable names in songwriting. She’s released dozens of albums and worked at almost every stage of the industry along the way. On January 29th, the New York native will release her newest LP, Revolutionary Love.

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For legendary jazz musician, Wynton Marsalis, upholding democracy is a lot like playing music in a group. The key ingredient to both, he says, is the act of listening. Music is a unique art form in that it can allow any number of people to participate—another voice for the harmony, another violin for the string section—and it is available to people of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels, too. Of course, music is often called the universal language, but it is also a form of communication that requires attention and practice to keep it alive. Like democracy, Marsalis says, the preservation of music is a precarious act. It can feel fragile or even futile at times. But with vigilance and persistence, progress is made and made again. The shape that progress takes as it unfolds, however, is sometimes hard to predict in a given moment. Today, though, for Marsalis, it’s taken the form of his latest release, The Democracy Suite. The album, which is available now to stream free or purchase, is further evidence of Marsalis’ long career and fight for equitable dialogue.

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For Jonathan Russell, front man for the oft-jangly rock band, The Head and the Heart, the conclusion of the band’s 2019 performance atop Seattle’s history Pike Place Market, in many ways, represented the beginning of a new era. In that moment, as he and the group, which formed in Seattle in 2009, looked out at the tens of thousands of audience members from atop the market in the setting summer sun, Russell knew that he and the band had done at least a few things right. But he also wondered about their next chapter. To receive a homecoming like that after significant past internal tumult meant that the music had held true throughout. Looking to his right, Russell saw longtime band member, Charity Thielen, weeping tears of appreciation and joy. But Russell, in some ways, felt confused emotionally. Since then, though, Russell’s perspective as it relates to both the music and the group, have only felt more secure, locked-in.

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Even from the beginning, says the classic rapper, Pharoahe Monch, he was inundated with music. For the emcee, who has worked with Eminem, Mos Def, Nate Dogg and many other world-renowned artists, songs of all kinds were everywhere in his house. His older brother listened to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. His other brother listened to funk. His sister listened to the Jacksons. His mom listened to gospel and his father listened to Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Sonic diversity, therefore, is nothing new to the accomplished musician. And that same eclectic sense is displayed artfully on the forthcoming LP, A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism, from Pharoahe Monch’s new all-star group, th1rt3en, which is set for release January 22nd.

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When prolific composer and broadcaster, John Tesh, put the camera on the audience, instead of himself, his whole perspective changed. Tesh, while working as a correspondent and host for the popular television show, Entertainment Tonight, would go on assignment to interview artists like Sting, Phil Collins and Elton John. Given access to their private sound checks, Tesh noticed that the musicians would often have handheld cameras pointed at them to record their performances to later critique themselves. But Tesh switched it up. He put the lenses on the crowds and he quickly saw what worked about his live shows and what needed improvement. Today, Tesh says, playing live and engaging with the crowd is what he both loves and misses most about being a professional musician. It’s his relationship with his fans that brings him the brightest light as an artist.

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