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Growing up in Olympia, Washington, burgeoning musician, Barrett Martin, who would later go on to play in the famed Seattle rock bands, Skin Yard, Mad Season and Screaming Trees, would noodle around with several “rickety” instruments while accompanying a player piano that his father bought at a garage sale.

The thing had more than 200 piano song rolls. It was capable of playing ragtime, swing, show tunes and even a few movie soundtracks. The exposure to the array of songs, coupled with his grandparents old 78s record collection, taught Martin from an early age to both appreciate myriad styles of music and that he could participate with them, too. That foundation has since taken the artist around the globe with stops in rainforests, monasteries and concert halls. Martin, whose 2020 album, Scattered Diamonds, features players from all over the world, cares deeply about the history of sound and its transformative possibilities.

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For longtime fans of the singer, Mary Lambert, who rocketed to fame in 2012 with the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit, “Same Love,” it may be something of a revelation to hear that she’s doing pretty darn good right now. Lambert, who has been vocal over the years about struggling with past traumas, mental health issues and enduring a violent past, hasn’t always felt safe or comfortable in her own skin. But now, with perhaps a pair of fingers and toes crossed for luck, Lambert feels relatively at ease. The artist, who has seen success in multiple mediums since singing the indelible chorus on love, is poised to release a new holiday album on Friday. She also recently announced a key role in a new Netflix television show, Arlo The Alligator Boy. Now, therefore, is as good a time as ever to celebrate the season with the forthcoming record, Happy Holigays.

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As a teenager, Paul Jason Klein, before he was the front man for the now-powerful rock ‘n’ roll trio, LANY, really wanted a car. He focused just about all his energies and talents towards the aim. He suffered through arduous, laborious piano lessons and the hours of weekly practice they demanded. He worked to get as high a mark as he could on each standardized test. It was all about that damn car. Klein, who’d been thrust into very serious music tutelage beginning at five-years-old, had later made a deal with his parents. If he were to earn a music scholarship from a college or university, then they would have to buy him a car. It was the first major life goal he achieved (earning two scholarships, in the end) but it wouldn’t be the last. And the latest, of course, is LANY’s new LP, Mama’s Boy. The album, released in October, demonstrates the band’s supreme talent for external observation, self-inquisition and hard work.

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Atlanta-based rapper, Sa-Roc (born Assata Perkins), remembers being in the country of Ghana, West Africa, one day at an open mic. It was very early in her professional career – at the time, she says, she doesn’t think she’d even committed to being a musician full-time. Yet, the power and interconnectivity performing offered her in that moment helped to both reassure her and to open her eyes to the vast capabilities of music and her future within it. Sa-Roc, who released her latest LP, The Sharecropper’s Daughter, in October, says she loves the universality that the art form provides. It offers her a way to relate to myriad aspects of the external world as well just about as many internally, too.

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When she was eighteen-years-old, Miranda Zickler, co-founder of the Seattle-based indie band, Kuinka, unexpectedly lost her job. She was working in a café in New York City when the position vanished. So, Zickler did what she’d always wanted to do. She took her guitar down to a nearby subway station and she began to play. And as the days passed, she continued to busk, even making upwards of a few hundred dollars per session. It was around then, too, that the musician met her future band mates – Nathan and Zach Hamer – face-to-face. She’d known them through social media; they were all from the same region in the Pacific Northwest. But it wasn’t until meeting three thousand miles away that they became friends and collaborators. Now, Kuinka, which has gone on to play the prestigious NPR Tiny Desk series, is set to release its new single, “Living Room Floor,” which we’re happy to premiere today.

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When Jason Lytle, front man for the Modesto, California-born indie rock band, Grandaddy, is at home with nothing else to do, nine times out of ten, he says, he’s plunking away at the piano. He calls the instrument his “go-to guilty pleasure” and his favorite to play. So, it wasn’t a difficult stretch for the musician to turn to the piano for his group’s latest LP, a special 20th anniversary re-release of the popular album, Sophtware Slump. For the new record, Lytle dove back into each and every song and rerecorded them with only the piano and his voice. The result is an intimate reimagining that pulls heartstrings and allows the listener to reevaluate lyrics and ideas in ways the buzzy rock record might not have allowed for decades ago. The album, which Lytle fell in love after some early trepidation, is out November 20th.

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The British Columbia-based rapper, Merkules (born Cole Stevenson), hasn’t been getting much sleep lately. Two nights ago, he got maybe two-and-a-half hours. Last night, somewhere around the same. That’s how the prolific artist can get, though, when something important is about to happen. Merkules, who released his latest LP, Apply Pressure, today, has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into his big and burgeoning career. From surviving a violent attack to finding at least some moments of inner peace, Merkules has harnessed his story, his truths, and funneled them into his latest LP, which is a collection of self-aware, at times-dark, at times-jubilant tracks that assuredly won’t disappoint his fans. Above all else, Merkules satisfies a need for honesty.

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For Los Angeles-based rapper, Problem, growing up in Compton wasn’t easy. But to help assuage the often-dark realities, the future emcee kept something special in his metaphorical back pocket. Problem (born Jason L. Martin) spent the first few years of his life in Würzburg, West Germany before moving to Southern California. As a result, he always knew the world was bigger than his house or neighborhood. His mind was always in some ways on something else, reaching, trying to grow proverbial branches elsewhere while keeping roots at home. Today, Problem has achieved these aims. The rapper, who has worked extensively with famed artists like Snoop Dogg and Terrace Martin, will release his latest record, Coffee & Kush Vol 3 (The Finale), and episode two of his documentary series, A Compton Story, before the end of the year.

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For the New York-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter, Emily James, the past few months have been rather productive. Forced, like most people, to stay essentially isolated and indoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, James has worked to make the most of the long string of days. The recently-turned-twenty-one-years-old artist has been writing, producing and recording new songs for a forthcoming February 2021 EP. On top of that, with the help of her mom and a sunny day at the beach, James has made a charming new music video for her most recent single, “Back in the Summer,” which we’re happy to premiere here at American Songwriter Magazine today.

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In the same way generations were once raised by television, today, more and more people have been engaging with the internet for as long as they can remember. One such person is the Oakland-based artist and musician, mxmtoon, known also as Maia. The songwriter, who has played musical instruments since she was six-years-old, has found and taken in countless hours of content online. The 20-year-old artist, who released her latest EP, Dusk, on October 1st, has also put forth her fair share of work into the digital ether. As a result, she has, in a sense, grown up online. Her songs and many of her most vulnerable truths have been laid bare for audiences. But while this could be daunting for an artist with weaker metal, Maia carries with her a strong, reasoned perspective on the dynamic.

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