Music Is My Life
by Berklee Online
During each episode of this Berklee Online podcast, we talk to a different music industry mover and/or shaker who is making us take note. Our guests walk us through their musical journeys, beginning with their first exposure to music, continuing through their epiphanies and into their current positions, where the subjects can proclaim from the highest mountain, "MUSIC IS MY LIFE!"
Episodes
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070: Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Hornsby, legendary pianist, singer, and songwriter, discusses his humble beginnings in a Grateful Dead cover band and his graduation to a Doobie Brothers acolyte to his mega breakthrough with "The Way It Is" to his time as an actual member of the Grateful Dead and his resurgence, resonating...
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069: Cindy Blackman Santana
Cindy Blackman Santana discusses her journey as a drummer, from the NYC jazz scene, to Lenny Kravitz's band, to performing with her husband, Carlos Santana.
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068: Kira Roessler of Black Flag
Kira Roessler played bass in Black Flag for two years, during which time the legendary hardcore band put out seven(!) records. Now, at the age of 60, she's an Emmy- and Oscar-winning dialogue editor and promoting her self-titled solo debut. In this interview she discusses her new album, being in…
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067: Arooj Aftab
Arooj Aftab began getting notice with a viral cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" more than 15 years ago, but with two Grammy nominations, she has finally arrived (and quit her day job at Genius.com). Her 2021 "Vulture Prince" album is a stunning work that frequently reaches transcendence. In...
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066: Bruce Sudano
Bruce Sudano has written songs that have been sung by Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, and his late wife, Donna Summer. He discusses coming up in Brooklyn and being taken under the wing of Tommy James, and meeting Donna Summer, writing "Bad Girls" and appearing on the album cover as a police…
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065: José González
José González discusses his life in music, beginning with his tenure as a bassist in a hardcore band, through his time with Junip, and up to his latest release, "Local Valley." He also shares his views on secular humanism and how he was able to be more productive with lyric writing.
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064: Colin Blunstone of the Zombies
Colin Blunstone began his career in music as a teenager with the Zombies. After a run of successful singles in the 1960s the group broke up, but not before releasing their masterpiece, "Odessey and Oracle," featuring the mega-hit "Time of the Season." A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Colin and…
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063: Don Letts
Don Letts provides an important lesson in the fact that even if you don't play an instrument, you can still be a part of the music industry, and not just on the business side either. He got his start as a DJ, and is widely credited for introducing reggae into the burgeoning punk rock scene in...
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062: Butch Vig of Garbage
You know Butch Vig as the drummer and producer of Garbage, or you know him as the producer of genre-defining albums from Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, but there is more to him than that. He has been working with most of the people he makes music with for more than 30 years. The new Garbage…
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061: Sly and Robbie—Sly Dunbar
If you've heard any reggae music in your entire life then you've heard Sly Dunbar's drumming, or at the very least, his influence. As one half of Sly and Robbie, he says he's probably played on a million songs. Sly and Robbie got their start as the rhythm section for Peter Tosh in 1976, and after...
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060: Anna Bulbrook
Anna Bulbrook began studying violin at 4. She quit at 21, but a gig with Kanye West changed that. She helped found the Airborne Toxic Event the next week.
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059: Hailu Mergia
Hailu Mergia is a master accordionist and veteran bandleader, arranger, and keyboardist, originally from Ethiopia. He became famous in his homeland in the 1970s, playing with the Walias Band and the Dahlak Band. In the 1980s he defected to the US and did not play in public for decades. But all of...
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058: Margo Nahas and Jay Vigon
Margo Nahas and Jay Vigon are partners in life, love, and business, and have designed classic album covers by iconic acts like Prince, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, and Stevie Wonder.
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057: Kamilah Marshall
Kamilah Marshall is a seasoned Broadway performer whose credits include Rent, Lion King, and Hairspray. From there, she toured with Bette Midler, Matthew Morrison from Glee, and is currently a backup singer for Taylor Swift.
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056: Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis discusses his meteoric rise to fame in the 1980s, his struggles with Ménière's disease, and everything in between (clothes shopping with Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, soccer with Ozzy, etc.) in this wide ranging interview.
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055: Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson has been a part of more than a dozen musical projects and/or bands, most notably Porcupine Tree. After 10 studio albums, they broke up in 2009. Wilson released his sixth solo album, The Future Bites, earlier this year, and he still involves himself in collaborative endeavors,...
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054: Lady A
Lady A (the Seattle-based singer) discusses her life in music, and her ongoing legal battle with Lady A (the Nashville-based trio who formerly called themselves Lady Antebellum).
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053: This is the Kit —Kate Stables
Kate Stables of This is the Kit discusses her new album, Off Off On, having fun with words, touring with the National, and turning her daughter on to Lizzo.
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052: AJR—Jack and Ryan Metzger
AJR are three brothers—Adam, Jack, and Ryan Metzger—who began their music career on New York City streets, where they busked daily for hours at a time. The two brothers who take part in this interview—Ryan and Jack—say that years of trying to get people's attention off the streets was formative…
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051: Gavin Rossdale of Bush
Gavin Rossdale had tracked all of the songs on what would become Bush's multiplatinum debut, but he was still painting dentist's offices. In this wide-ranging interview, he talks sudden (and enduring) success, his favorite Gwen Stefani tunes, and more.
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050: Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry on working with Bob Marley, inventing dub, and a lifetime of being "the Upsetter."
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049: The Go! Team
Ian Parton and Ninja of the Go! Team talk about how to turn a solo kitchen recording project into an energetic live ensemble that stays together for nearly 20 years.
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048: Joe Wong (The Trap Set)
Joe Wong talks to Pat Healy on hosting The Trap Set podcast, creating his solo debut, "Nite Creatures," and scoring for shows like Russian Doll and Master of None. Visit musicismylifepod.com and save $100 on a Berklee Online course.
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047: Molly Tuttle
Molly Tuttle's brand new … but i'd rather be with you is a collection of seemingly disparate cover songs—running the gamut from Rancid to the Grateful Dead—that got the singer through tough times in her life. She recorded the album as a coronavirus lockdown project because everybody else is...
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046: Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and SAD13
Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz on the eve of releasing Haunted Painting, her second album under the SAD13 moniker, discusses her life in music, words, and math. Math? Yes, math!
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045: Martha Reeves
Summer's here and the time is right for taking time to appreciate the legendary Martha Reeves, of "Dancing in the Street" fame! Along with her backing singers, the Vandellas, Martha Reeves recorded other mega Motown hits, including "Jimmy Mack," "Nowhere to Run," and "Love is Like a Heatwave."…
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044: Janet Billig Rich
Janet Billig Rich became interested in music when she first saw the Replacements. After taking in about 100 shows she went on to sell merch at indie rock shows, intern at Caroline Records, and then move on up to manage acts like Nirvana, Hole, and Dinosaur Jr. She's now a music supervisor…
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043: Vanessa Carlton
Vanessa Carlton speaks candidly about the seedy underbelly of the music industry, and why followups to "A Thousand Miles" were more successful than the men on her team wanted her to believe. She discusses how her latest album, Love Is An Art, is a new beginning for her and how eager she is to…
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042: Sam Hales of Jungle Giants
Sam Hales is the songwriter, singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and now the producer of most of Jungle Giants' music. They have released three albums and two EPs, and for the first EP, Sam worked two jobs, one at a convenience store, the other at McDonald's, just to make the money to fund...
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041: Eddy Grant
Eddy Grant shares how a heart problem at the age of 23 led him to quit the Equals and start a career in music production, and then as a solo artist, eventually making some of the biggest hits of his life, like "Electric Avenue" and "I Don't Wanna Dance," by fusing rock, reggae, and elements of...
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040: Lisa Loeb
Lisa Loeb shares how her parents encouraged her and her siblings' musical development, but cautioned them against going into the music industry. But now they are all musicians. She also shares how she wrote her mega-smash, "Stay (I Missed You)" while studying at Berklee. Her latest album, A…
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039: M. Ward
Matt Ward discusses how a closeted $25 guitar and a Beatles book started him on a journey that led him to his latest album, Migration Stories. He also discusses collaborating with Zooey Deschanel in She & Him, songwriting, and how it might be nice if you called him m'lord. Visit...
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038: Black Belt Eagle Scout
Katherine Paul discusses Black Belt Eagle Scout, her youth on the Swinomish reservation, her fondness for her Radical Indigenous Queer Feminist T-shirt, how working as a booker at a club helped her get a deal with Saddle Creek, and more. Visit musicismylifepod.com now.
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037: Ron Pope
Ron Pope wrote "A Drop in the Ocean," a mammoth hit that he had no idea would resonate with an audience so much. Then he wrote "One Grain of Sand" and enjoyed similar astronomical success. He talks to Pat Healy about triumphs and tribulations with major labels and streaming services, as well as...
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036: Spider Stacy of The Pogues
Spider Stacy met Shane MacGowan at a Ramones gig in England when they were both teens. Shortly after, they formed the Pogues, a band that merged folk styling and punk rock delivery with Irish rebel songs. Then Spider learned how to play the tin whistle. He talks to Pat Healy about a new Pogues...
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035: Andy Stack of Wye Oak and Joyero
You may know Andy Stack as one half of the duo Wye Oak, along with Jenn Wasner. But he's also one WHOLE of Joyero, whose debut came out on Merge in 2019. He talks to Pat Healy as Wye Oak assembles for their first tour in years. The difference with the latest tour is that it's more than just Jenn...
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034: The Soul Rebels
Lumar LeBlanc, Julian Gosin, and Marcus Hubbard, three generations of the New Orleans band Soul Rebels discuss how high school marching band was fundamental to their musical development, how the original members started the band more than 30 years ago, and what it was like to collaborate with...
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033: Ritzy Bryan of the Joy Formidable
Ritzy Bryan of the Joy Formidable discusses why her Welsh heritage is so important to her music, how her time on Atlantic Records helped inform her understanding of the music business, and how her guitar acrobatics hurt her Fender as well as the forehead of Joy Formidable bassist Rhydian Dafydd.
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032: Film Orchestrator Jon Kull
Jon Kull has orchestrated more than 100 Hollywood films, including Black Panther, Hunger Games, X-Men Apocalypse, and many more. Here he talks about his life, career, education, and what drives him, as well as Berklee Online's Master of Music in Film Scoring. He also discusses the unlikely turn…
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031: Songwriter Bonnie Hayes
Bonnie Hayes talks songwriting for Bonnie Raitt, touring with Bob Seger, playing keys for Billy Idol, and being blown away by the Sex Pistols in 1978, and how all of that led to her coming to teach at Berklee College of Music and Berklee Online. Her most recent Berklee Online course, Arranging…
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030: Songwriter Chip Taylor ("Wild Thing," "Angel of the Morning," etc.)
With a career that spans more than 60 years, and includes just about as many hits, Chip Taylor doesn't need to write any more songs. But that doesn't mean he's showing any signs of stopping. He releases a new album, The Whiskey Salesman in May, and in this discussion that spans his entire career,...
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029: Evan Dando of the Lemonheads
Evan Dando has been releasing music for more than 30 years, reaching a commercial high point in the early and mid 90s with the Lemonheads albums It's a Shame about Ray and Come on Feel the Lemonheads. Most of the attention came from a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson," which Dando...
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028: TJ Connelly, DJ for the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots
TJ Connelly is an entrepreneur, music curator, and creative technologist, best known for his work as the DJ at Fenway Park for the 2018 World Series Champs, the Boston Red Sox. He's also known for his work at Gillette Stadium, where he's the DJ for the home games of the 2019 Super Bowl champs…
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027: Tony Trischka
Tony Trischka's list of collaborators includes Pete Seeger, Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, and Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, so it's no surprise that he has been called "perhaps the most influential banjo player in the roots music world." His 2007 album Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular...
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026: Darlene Love
Whether you know Darlene Love from her smash hit, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the Phil Spector holiday album, or from her profile in the film, "20 Feet From Stardom," this Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is a force to be reckoned with. In addition to her own work, Darlene Love has sang…
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025: Tanya Donelly
Belly, Breeders, and Muses, oh my! Tanya Donelly takes us through her musical journey, beginning with her step-sister Kristin Hersh in Throwing Muses, through her partnership with Kim Deal in the Breeders to the formation and wild success of Belly to the current reunion that band is enjoying, and...
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024: Ben Vaughn
You may know Ben Vaughn as a producer of artists such as Los Straightjackets, Charlie Feathers, Ween, or the one-off collaboration between Big Star's Alex Chilton and Suicide's Alan Vega, which he talks about in the episode of Berklee Online's Music Is My Life podcast. Ben Vaughn got his start as...
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023: Andrew Joslyn
Andrew Joslyn ditched classical music, joined a band called Handful of Luvin' and made his mark helping Seattle area musicians score their music. His big break came when he scored some of the biggest hits by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Andrew discusses the hard lessons he learned in making sure he...
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022: Taj Mahal
Emerging in the late 1960s as an enthusiast of blues and folk music, Taj Mahal has spent his career bending genres to his own signature style. His work includes moving explorations in jazz, funk, reggae, country, rock 'n' roll, and more. He has worked with everybody from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy...
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021: Marlon Williams
Marlon Williams is a 27-year-old singer from New Zealand whose latest album, Make Way for Love, came out earlier this year. He's well known in his home country for his work with a band called The Unfaithful Ways, and his Secret History of Country Music Songwriting series with Delaney Davidson. In...
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About this show
During each episode of this Berklee Online podcast, we talk to a different music industry mover and/or shaker who is making us take note. Our guests walk us through their musical journeys, beginning with their first exposure to music, continuing through their epiphanies and into their current positions, where the subjects can proclaim from the highest mountain, "MUSIC IS MY LIFE!"
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Berklee Online
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