Jimmy Yeary Cares About the Human Experience, Releases New Single, “Angeline”

Growing up in southeast Ohio, future award-winning songwriter, Jimmy Yeary, wasn’t allowed to listen to country music. In the early years, his was a life of school, family, and church. It was during the worship hours where Yeary would sing gospel. He was raised religiously. His upbringing was strict and hard. For instance, Yeary’s mother was a fan of singer Barbara Mandrell until she heard Mandrell’s 1980 song, “Crackers,” which went: You can eat crackers in my bed anytime, baby. That was it.

Yeary also says he endured some physical abuse, as a kid. But as he got a little older, he began sneaking music he loved into his house and listening to it surreptitiously. When his mom heard the song, “So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed,” in her house she blew her lid. Still, Yeary was undeterred. Once he heard you could move to Nashville to write, he had a plan. Ever since then, that plan to get where he belonged has worked out and Yeary has become one of the most popular songwriters in Music City.

His latest single, “Angeline,” released in October, showcases his love for his wife (famed singer, Sonya Isaacs,) his knack for storytelling and his natural ability to catch an ear hook, line and sinker.

Read More
Acclaimed Songwriter and Performer Jose Feliciano Talks “Feliz Navidad,” Dolly Parton and More

Jose Feliciano is one of the most famous songwriters in the world, even if you can’t recall his name immediately off the top of your head. His words, his spirit, his sunglasses are all cultural touchstones that are worthy of consideration year-round and, of course, especially during the holidays with Feliciano’s legendary hit “Feliz Navidad.

Recently, Feliciano released a version of the track that features 30 artists from around the world, from Lin-Manuel Miranda to the Jonas Brothers. The song came as part of the deluxe reissue of his 2020 album, Behind This Guitar. The reissue also features a duet with the great and powerful Dolly Parton.

American Songwriter caught up with Feliciano to talk about his origins in music, what it was like singing with Parton, how it feels to celebrate “Feliz Navidad” and much more.

Read More
Legendary Producer and Musician Jack Endino Talks New Album, Latin Grammy, and More

Legendary producer Jack Endino has led a life rich with music. The Seattle-based engineer and musician has famously worked with bands like Soundgarden and Nirvana for the seminal label Sub Pop, recording the latter’s debut LP, Bleach, which later went platinum.

But don’t get confused, Endino is not merely a big board operator. He’s also a world-class guitar player, whose ear has helped to define a genre and turn Seattle from a small port city to a major musical metropolis. Wielding the six-string with the formative grunge band Skin Yard, Endino helped to shape what people know as the Seattle sound.

Today, Endino is back with his fourth solo LP, Set Myself On Fire, which he recorded with a handful of folks, including the famed drummer Barrett Martin (of Screaming Trees and solo work fame). American Songwriter caught up with Endino to ask him about his original entry into music, how he’s navigated his career, and how his latest LP is a reflection of his own mortality.

Read More
Kenny G Has Always Put in the Work; Releases New LP, ‘New Standards’

Famed jazz musician Kenny G has released his latest LP New Standards, which is his first solo album release since Brazilian Nights in 2015.

Prior to the release, HBO aired a new documentary about the artist titled Listening to Kenny G, which talks about his polarizing style and his opinions about what he loves about music as an art form to his relationship to his listeners.

Kenny G is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, having sold over 75 million albums. He burst on the scene in 1986 with his LP Duotones, and has been a fixture in culture ever since. He’s released nearly 20 albums to date. American Songwriter caught up with the Seattle-born, 65-year-old to ask him about the genesis of his new record, what goes through his mind the night before a release and what the concept of practice and time spent means to him, as an artist.

Read More
Aimee Mann: A Musical Voice

Legendary songwriter Aimee Mann remembers putting in the extra work for her acting role in the 1998 comedy, The Big Lebowski. She’d been cast in the film after a successful, though light-hearted audition, and she was set to play a German nihilist. Mann says that because the character was a nihilist, she didn’t expect much acting or dialogue. Yet, she pulled one of her scene stars aside and put forth the idea of practicing a little something. So, they got together and worked up a short conversation about the whereabouts of a hotel key, in German. It was a good thing, too. For when it came time to shoot, the director said, “We’re going to zoom in and you guys just talk in German.”

They say the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. In this case, that’s especially true. Mann is always detail-minded; she loves intricacies. It’s the superpower she brings to her songwriting and the music she makes, which is especially so on Mann’s latest LP, Queens of The Summer Hotel, which is out officially on November 5 via Mann’s label, SuperEgo Records.

Read More
The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone Built a Solo Career ‘One Year’ at a Time

At first, Colin Blunstone just wanted to play the guitar. The young burgeoning British-born musician just liked the instrument. He kept it by his side ever since he got his first one around 12 years old. Blunstone, who would later front the rock band, The Zombies, whose hit, “Time of the Season,” is probably being used in a new movie or commercial right this moment, was born into a musical home. He had five brothers who were multi-instrumentalists and a sister who sang and played guitar. Blunstone listened to Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and loved rock ‘n’ roll.

Today, the vocalist is experiencing his own recognition. The Zombies have a big tour and new album set. Blunstone himself is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his debut solo record, One Year, and the discovery of a lost album, That Same Year, which is set to drop on vinyl on Friday (December 10).

Read More
Here’s What the Metaverse Might Look Like

Coined originally by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, the “Metaverse” is simply a term for an alternate digital world — think virtual reality headsets and total computer immersion, a potential successor to the internet and its clunky web browsers. It’s a concept since expanded on by movies and video games such as Second Life, which was just that — a simulated digital second life — and now even tech companies.

Here are seven memorable films that give us a glimpse at what that future could look like.

Read More
EssayJake UittiYamaha
Jason Boland and Shooter Jennings Talk Boland’s New Concept LP, ‘The Light Saw Me’

The first time musicians Jason Boland and Shooter Jennings met was a night to remember.

The two were each set to play with their bands at a show in Wichita Falls, Texas. But Jennings and his crew were delayed. In fact, they’d been picked up for possession of pot when they crossed the Baylor County line on the way to the gig, Jennings explains. They were “thrown in jail” and later released by a judge in time to still make the performance. As Boland remembers, the tardy entrance gave Jennings a whole lot of “cool points” and gave the night a little extra energy. (Jennings chuckles about the experience today.)

Ever since then, the two have been friends. Together, they plan video game sessions as well as musical ones. It’s a relationship born from collaboration—Boland was the first person to ever ask Jennings if he’d produce his record. Today, Jennings has earned Grammys for his production work. And now the two are set to release their latest collab, Jason Boland & The Stragglers’ new conceptual LP, The Light Saw Me, which is out Friday (December 3).

Read More
Acclaimed Producer Pete Rock Talks James Brown, Mentorship and Living Up to His Name

Legendary hip-hop producer, Pete Rock (born Peter Phillips), met the legendary songwriter and performer James Brown when he was 7 years old in Mount Vernon, New York. That moment, coupled with a childhood immersed in music, helped to open Rock’s eyes to the very real idea that he too could be a professional musician. That he too could live a creative life.

When Rock was just 3 years old, he’d realized music was always around. His father was a record collector and DJ and Rock used to listen to his jazz and soul albums (Brown included). At 7, Rock’s mother took him to a show in his hometown of Mount Vernon where Brown was performing. His mother even had the confidence to introduce herself and her son to Brown that night. To this day, Rock, who has since worked with Nas, Kanye, Jay Z and is considered one of the most influential producers ever, says that was one of the greatest days of his life. Now, as the latest judge for the Tracklib Beat Battle Competition (winner announced this Sunday), Rock is taking on the role of mentor to a number of aspiring artists. For Rock, it’s part of paying back what he’d received earlier from people like Brown and others in his more immediate family.

Read More
Jenna Raine Takes Control of Her Future with Hit Single “See You Later (Ten Years)”

Growing up, Jenna Raine played centerfield, the position that sees everything. Despite regularly being the shortest, smallest, and youngest kid on the team, she often shined on the diamond. Raine played softball from about four years old to about 13 and despite being more accomplished at that than anything else, she gave it up to pursue her passion for songwriting.

While no one in Raine’s immediate family had any particular talent for music, she says, it’s something she always knew she wanted to dive into. When she was eight years old, for example, something innately told Raine to enter a talent show. It was then when her mother asked, What’s your talent?

But by playing piano and singing in the competition, Raine showcased the beginning of her future. She began taking vocal lessons at nine—this on top of the YouTube karaoke videos she’d sing along to at home, developing her chops. Now, nearly 10 years later, Raine has worked with some of the world’s biggest names and earned millions of song streams on the very platform she used to obsess over. And her latest release, “See You Later (Ten Years),” continues to portend a bright future for her after it recently hit No. 1 on the Spotify Global and U.S. Viral charts.

Read More
Longtime Nirvana Sound Engineer Craig Montgomery Shares Stories About the Band: “There Was Lots of Laughing. Those Guys Were Hilarious”

When you talk with longtime Seattle-based sound engineer Craig Montgomery a few things become clear quickly. He’s a sweet fellow, gentle-hearted. He’s not out for fame, fortune, or any of those two ugly cousins. Instead, he cares about music, his friends, and the truth of his memories. This is all significant when one considers who Montgomery worked closely with during much of his time in the Emerald City in the ‘90s—Nirvana.

Montgomery began working with the legendary grunge band after the group released its debut LP, Bleach, and he worked with them through the Nevermind release up until In Utero. Montgomery, like others who worked with the famed label Sub Pop at the time, worked quickly, focused, and got along with bands Mudhoney and TAD at the time.

American Songwriter caught up with Montgomery to talk to him about a slew of topics, from his initial meetings with Nirvana and touring across the country in a van to working with them during the height of their popularity as well as what it was like when frontman Kurt Cobain was with his then-wife Courtney Love, and much more. Montgomery will be hopping back on the boards and doing sound at the upcoming 30th-anniversary celebration of Nevermind on December 12 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.

Read More
Relive the Music of Sharon, Lois, and Bram with the Trio’s New Live LP

For those who grew up in the 1980s, the names Sharon, Lois & Bram have a special meaning. The trio, which first rose to fame in their home country of Canada and then later in the United States, created the acclaimed television program The Elephant Show, which featured the three, and an unnamed person inside an elephant costume, playing music and learning life lessons. Think Mr. Rogers with more settings and songs. Thanks to the show, which became a hit in reruns in the U.S. on Nickelodeon after its five seasons aired up north, the three were later made members of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor. (Sadly, Lois Lilienstein died in 2015.) Fans of the trio, both young and old, can now climb into a time machine and enjoy live versions of their biggest hits on the new LP, Sharon, Lois & Bram Best of the Best Live, which is out today (November 19).

Read More
Protest: Moby on the Positive Environmental Impacts of a Plant-Based Diet

If everyone in the world went vegan, says acclaimed musician Moby (real name Richard Melville Hall), then the lives of some 200 billion animals (land and sea) would be saved each year. Beyond that, there are other benefits. According to the singer, a vegan world would diminish carbon and methane emissions by roughly 30-40-percent. Additionally, 90-percent of rainforest deforestation is a product of animal agriculture. Trees are cut to make room for cows and the corn they eat. There are more benefits: 80-percet of antibody resistance in humans is a result of animal agriculture and somewhere around 100-percet of all health pandemics are a result of humans eating animals they shouldn’t. Not to mention, the water saved and the reduction in diabetes and obesity. Why then, some might ask, do people consume so many animals? The answer, the musician says, is often convenience and government subsidization.

Read More
K.Flay Lets the Superego Take Over for New EP, ‘Outside Voices’

Songwriter and performer K.Flay (born Kristine Flaherty) comports herself with consideration. She is not a flippant person. Instead, she is precise and thorough. It’s a position born of an interest in the small, personal revelations that can become big and booming. But these can only be conjured organically or originally if one is intent on observation being a mode of education. And Flay is most assuredly paying attention. She always has been, she’s invested.

That passion comes through in the music she makes and the albums she releases. Take, for example, the EP she released in June, Inside Voices, which harnessed the power of her id, she says. It was the proverbial blurt before the thought. Now, her newest EP, Outside Voices, represents her superego, or the more conscious, societally influenced part of her brain. The records represent a dualism that many (all?) walk around with daily, and one prominently exacerbated over the past few devastating years.

Read More
Nikki Giovanni is Happy; Talks Tupac, Family and New Re-Releases

There are few people in the world as decorated as writer Nikki Giovanni. She’s a Grammy Award-winner, an NAACP Image Award-winner, and was named one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 “Living Legends.” Giovanni, who earned fame and recognition in the 1960s as one of the foremost voices on the Civil Rights Movement, has since gone on to publish numerous books and poems. She has also written children’s books and taught at schools like Rutgers and Ohio State University.

More recently, Giovani with Modern Harmonic has re-released three of her albums from the 1970s—Truth Is On Its Way (1971), Like A Ripple On A Pond (1973), and The Way I Feel (1975). The records feature Giovanni reading her work over rhythmic, melodic music. We caught up with the 78-year-old, Knoxville, Tennessee-born writer, and activist to ask her about these re-releases, how much music itself means to her, and the difference between lyric and verse.

Giovanni will also be releasing new curated musical works with saxophonist Javon Jackson in February 2022.

Read More