Curious Goldfish

A billion streams behind him, and it's the fan dinners that keep the tour out of the red. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Barns Courtney expected his North America...

A freight-train hopper and a Juilliard cellist on staying married by letting each other change. Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Dave and Andrea of Cicada Rhythm met when he ste...

A guitarist's guitarist on chasing craft over fame, and writing a song a week to outrun his inner critic Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) David Ryan Harris is the kind of musici...

A blue-collar cowboy who spent a decade and his own money to earn a debut called 15 Seconds of Fame Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Matthias Lamparter took ten self-funded year...

A plane-crash survivor on loving something that hurts, and keeping AI out of his lyrics Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Barrett Baber built the album "Crittenden County" out of...

Four friends from Mississippi State on the brink of going all-in on the band Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Certainly So, Colby, Tanner, Zach, and Chase, came together through...

She lost a major label deal twenty years ago after being outed. She stayed in the queue Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Shelly Fairchild lost a major-label deal two decades ago...

A Ugandan singer who learned English from songs, played cruise ships, and landed in Austin by chance Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Jon Muq grew up in Uganda learning English ...

A Halloween blackout she can't remember became the bottom that turned her life around Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Caitlynne Curtis talks about her album "You Need Jesus," a...

He almost refused to write "We Belong." At 72, his whole philosophy is just say yes Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Dan Navarro nearly turned down writing "We Belong" during a ...

The Grammy-winning engineer behind "Golden Hour" on vintage gear, fear in the studio, and AI Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Craig Alvin is the Grammy-winning engineer behind K...

Teen siblings who played Red Rocks with Gregory Alan Isakov, thanks to Aunt Brandi Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Caroline and JayJ Carlile are teenage siblings making music t...

She calls her sound "existential indie folk," and her own worst gaslighter her muse Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Recorded at 30A before her run on The Voice, Abigayle Oakley...

A Country Music Hall of Famer who never won a single contest, on starting over more than once Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Jimmy Fortune played Holiday Inn lounges before jo...

Host Jason English welcomes Stella Prince, hailed as the face of Gen Z folk, for a conversation recorded at AmericanaFest after her first official showcase at Nashville’s female-owned venue, Anzie Blue. Prince reflects on growing up in Woodstock, New York, singing as a child with artists like Pete Seeger, and her early drive to work in music, including being a 12-year-old radio DJ spinning 1930s–40s big band and writing music reviews. She discusses making folk mainstream again, the generational appeal of the genre, and inspirations like Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and Judy Collins, plus contemporaries like Laufey. Prince describes building an all-women team, recording her debut EP in Laurel Canyon, and releasing her first sync—a Hallmark film featuring her reimagined “(They Long to Be) Close to You.” She also shares songwriting shaped by Gen Z anxiety, inflation, and newfound independence, and performs “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and her original “Good Luck Is Hard to Find.”00:00 Folk Across Generations00:28 Podcast Intro and Guest Setup02:42 AmericanaFest Milestone04:38 Why Folk Feels Real Now05:34 Making Folk Mainstream Again06:13 Gen Z Jazz Inspiration08:21 Woodstock Roots and Early Magic09:27 Radio DJ and Big Band Years11:00 DIY Hustle to Building a Team13:04 All Women Team and Industry Gaps13:45 Women on the Road14:42 Laurel Canyon Recording Dream15:23 Career First at 2116:26 EP Plans and Hallmark Sync17:57 Songwriting From Independence18:35 Gen Z Pressure and Anxiety20:55 Curiosity and Defining Success23:14 Live Performance Session26:04 Original Song Closing

The face of Gen Z folk on Joni, Woodstock, and being a 12-year-old big-band radio DJ Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Stella Prince, hailed as the face of Gen Z folk, grew up in...

A London-raised, Italy-based cellist who became an accidental filmmaker on the way to Americana. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Janie, who performs as Bird, grew ...

A Dallas financial planner who finally let herself claim the word songwriter Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Stephanie Sammons spends her days as a financial planner in Dallas ...

She called off her wedding and turned the veil into an album cover Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Morgan Myles built her album "Laced" out of the wreckage of a called-off wedd...

A quant-finance mind and songwriter on living in the present, not the glory days Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Pete Muller has built a life across quantitative finance, cross...

A conservatory-trained cellist who traded classical rigor for indie folk Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Lydia Luce trained classically in a conservatory before letting indie f...

A Nashville duo figuring it out, who almost threw away their best song before it became the title track. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Alex and Dave of The Thing...

A 30-year industry vet on why the future belongs to artists who own their work Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Jason Hollis has spent thirty years in the music business, and no...

A member of Certainly So steps out on his own, between band life and a solo voice. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Tanner Lee Gray plays in the rising band Certain...

A Nashville songwriter on faith, the gray areas, and writing from Thistle Farms. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Sammi Accola makes Americana with a gritty edge, a...

An Episcopalian priest who waited a decade to release a rock record Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) John Francis O'Mara is an ordained Episcopalian priest and a rock-and-roll l...

From jazz to Americana, New York to Paris, a singer finally finding home Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Sweet Megg talks about her album "Never Been Home" and the move from ja...

A Kansas fossil museum sparked an album about digging up buried strength Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Lily Vakili built "Oceans of Kansas" around a visit to a fossil museum ...

At fifty, the parts of yourself you only meet in midlife Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Matthew Perryman Jones sits on a Nashville back porch and talks about turning fifty and...

Two North Georgia friends and a sound they call swamp grass Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Logan Simmons and Malachi Mills of The Band Loula talk about how the band came toget...

A Hall of Fame songwriter who set Emily Dickinson's poems to music Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Marcus Hummon wrote "Bless the Broken Road" and "Cowboy Take Me Away," and no...

Too Texan for Mexico, too Mexican for Texas, and finding a way back Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Louie TheSinger grew up in Fort Worth caught between two cultures, and his m...

Twenty years and nine albums in, the goal shifts from surviving to thriving Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers opens up about the band's ninth a...

An Americana legend on aging, sobriety, gratitude, and a record called Hillbilly Speedball. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Webb Wilder has been an Americana fixtu...

A married duo on scheduling creativity, dodging AI, and maybe moving to New Zealand. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Dani and Nick of South for Winter make genre-b...

Memphis's pride returns with new confidence, a new album, and an engagement ring Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Cyrena Wages comes back to the show with more confidence than t...

He left the medical field for Nashville, and wrote about the veteran suicides nobody talks about Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Matt Rogers traded a medical career for a songw...

From American Idol to a Wrigley Field anthem on her own terms Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Gina Venier traces the road from Midwestern roots to Nashville, with a stop at the...

The voice and fiddle of Old Crow Medicine Show on trains, Dylan, and tending country's roots Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Ketch Secor, the voice and fiddle of Old Crow Medic...

Holding onto hope and love in dark times, written on a frozen Canadian coast. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Shayfer James called in from Calgary to talk about a ...

She wrote a song from inside her grandfather's Alzheimer's, in his voice Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Alaina Stacey built a trilogy of EPs, "Dawn, Day, and Dusk," out of the...

An Americana artist on radical honesty, industry ageism, and teaching songwriting behind bars. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Caitlin Cannon doesn't soften much. ...

He lived in a van to chase Nashville. Now Shooter Jennings is producing his record. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Levi Foster moved to Nashville on a whim and ma...

Thirty years into Sister Hazel, and the fire's still lit. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel looks back on thirty years of the band, fro...

They once played a show nobody came to. Now they're selling out Europe. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Brothers Ocie and Wes Crowe grew up playing gospel in churc...

He writes songs beside men in prison, and refuses to call them anything but gentlemen. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Wyatt Espalin grew up on his family's bluegr...

Performing since 14, writing songs like a journal she's too lazy to keep otherwise Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Anna Shinholster has been playing professional g...

She built a career on heartbreak songs. Then she got happy, and had to find something new to say. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Liz Longley sat on her porch and ...

One show stole her confidence. The other gave it back tenfold. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Jacquie Roar wrote her anthem "That's the Spirit" miserable and runn...

He co-wrote Jimmy Buffett's last song while Buffett was sick. Buffett wanted him to be himself. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Will Kimbrough has spent more than ...