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Nashville-based singer, songwriter, guitar player and recording artist who is a three-time GRAMMY nominee. She has released two singles so far this year, one of which she performed in her Grand Ole Opry debut back in April. Her voice and songwriting can be heard across all genres including film, television, and musical theatre and she has written songs recorded by Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert, Cassadee Pope, Kellie Pickler, Brian McKnight, and many more. She has shows still to come this year not only in Music City but in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Destin, Florida, Covington, Louisiana, and Morrow Bay, California. This interview was recorded on-location in conjunction with her performing as part of the 2nd Las Vegas Songwriters Festival.

He has been a writer on songs for artists from Tim McGraw to Blake Shelton to Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffet, Hank Williams, Jr., Martina McBride, Lee Brice, George Jones, Faith Hill, Thomas Rhett, and more. Along the way, he has been a writer on songs that did everything from go to number 1 and/or earn nominations for some of the highest awards in country music. He is also prominently featured in the documentary about the fabled Bluebird Café in Nashville. This interview was recorded on location out west, where he was performing as part of the 2nd Las Vegas Songwriters Festival.

She has spent the last 15-plus years electrifying audiences as a Lady Gaga tribute artist. Last December on New Year’s Eve at a casino in Minnesota she debuted Gaga Evolution, her newest production, which takes fans on a journey through the superstar’s career. She is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, content creator, influencer, and producer, plus she has added Married by Gaga, offering couples the opportunity to book their nuptials in the Electric Chapel, something that she debuted in 2024 at the Haus of Gaga Museum at Park MGM. On TikTok she has garnered viral acclaim with her informational and tutorial style videos about her life as a tribute artist, amassing approximately 100 thousand followers on that platform alone, where one of her videos has 9.2 million views. She was a guest on this show close to three-and-a-half years ago on Episode 475.

Vocalist, composer, producer, and pianist who has been nominated for three GRAMMY Awards and won one and just released her fourteenth album on August 7, titled, “A Grand Memoir.” That same day she released a book called, “Put Your Dress Down and Sing: A Memoir.” The projects are being entered into these categories for the upcoming GRAMMYs: Best Audiobook, Narration, and Storytelling and Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album. Her career includes appearances in the “Sister Act” films alongside Whoopi Goldberg, a featured soprano solo in “Yanni Live at the Acropolis,” collaborations with artists including Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney, and contributions to more than 1,000 recordings spanning film, television, albums, and commercials.

The frontman for The Pine Box Boys, who just completed a tour of eleven shows in four states in fifteen days. He is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist for the band, which has released seven albums, starting with their debut release back in 2005. In the past they have also toured in Europe. He also has launched several side projects, some of which have recorded and released music as well. The Pine Box Boys have well over 28 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, where their top five songs alone have a combined total of more than seven-and-a-half million streams.

London-based musician who was the drummer with Adam & the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and, others, having recently unveiled a collaborative project, which sees a new track – each created with a different collaborator – being released once a month into 2027, with an album in the future. To kick that off, the first release came out on June 26. His career has spanned more than four decades, and he has authored two books along the way. He will be performing live in the UK next month, September 20th, at The Fleece in Bristol.

Pop and jazz saxophonist, composer, producer, educator, and philanthropist whose newest album was released in February. His credits include performances alongside Hip-Hop icon Ja Rule, Motown legends the Four Tops, Latin Grammy-winning rock act Diamante Eléctrico, Billboard-charting trumpeter Cindy Bradley, and Modern Drummer Hall of Famer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. In addition, he has served as the featured saxophonist on the series finale of NBC's “Lipstick Jungle,” starring Brooke Shields, headlined New York City's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, and performed at the nationally televised Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. On September 25th he will be performing at the Iridium in New York City. Then in October he’ll perform two shows in China, followed by shows in Spain.

Singer, songwriter, recording artist who has released two singles this year and has an EP coming out next month. That project has been done in collaboration with a Swedish producer as well as a Los Angeles-based producer who has worked with the likes of Jordin Sparks, Shawn Mendes, and Kelly Clarkson. She first gained attention two years ago with her debut album and since then has continued building momentum through a thriving YouTube channel that has well over 400 thousand subscribers and more than 36 million combined video views. Beyond her solo work, she is the songwriter behind Muse: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical, a genre-spanning production debuting in the UK. Her top five songs on Spotify have a combined total of approximately 177 thousand streams and she has almost 14-and-a-half thousand monthly listeners there.

A member of the GRAMMY®-nominated Dallas String Quartet, which bills itself as “Where Bach Meets Bon Jovi” and has charted at Number 1 on Billboard. Less than three weeks ago their newest album was released, titled, “A String Quartet Tribute to Taylor Swift,” which was done alongside a alongside 4x GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, mixer, and producer. They have performed for two presidents and collaborated with artists including Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs, appeared at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and famously performed at the wedding of Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. They are one of the most streamed crossover string groups in the world with over 50 million streams on Spotify, where they have approximately 162 thousand monthly listeners.

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist who in March released his ninth album, fittingly enough, titled, “9 Dreams.” Based south of Los Angeles, he has gotten international airplay and media coverage from Portugal to Canada to the UK and more. He even has his own publishing company and record label. He is already planning his next album, plus he is working with a studio in Los Angeles on various multimedia projects. He was previously a guest on this show more than three years ago on Episode 471.

South Africa-based platinum-selling singer/songwriter and producer whose latest single was released in February as well as an official music video for it. He will be touring extensively in Europe in late October and most of November, doing 16 dates in nine different countries. He has also performed here in the U.S. as well as in Thailand. His third album, released in 2019, earned two South African Music Awards and he had made history in 2013 as the first debut to enter the South Africa iTunes album chart at #1. He has close to half-a-million monthly listeners on Spotify, where his top five songs alone have combined for over 102 million streams. Plus, the videos on his YouTube channel have a combined total of almost 69 million views.

Singer, songwriter, guitar player who just released a new single last month, after having put out a new track the month before and a third at the start of this year – ON New Year’s Day! He has been working with a producer that has won multiple GRAMMY Awards and received numerous GRAMMY nominations. In addition, he had a notable music mentor that he talks about here. His music background even includes a stint with his then band on the VH1 Save The Music Tour. He has more new music on the way, as is discussed during this episode.

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist who has won two GRAMMY Awards. Last year she released three singles and a full-length album. Based in Nashville, she has written songs for, recorded with, and toured with a range of household names in country music. She is signed to Pump House Records, and she has had seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The videos on her official YouTube channel have gotten a combined total of over 7.2 million views, and she has approximately 22 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, where her top five songs alone have a combined total of over four million streams. She will be performing in August at the 2nd Las Vegas Songwriters Festival.

Lead vocalist and guitar player for the rockabilly band Emery Villains. Last year the band did two single releases – putting out a music video for one of them last October – and they have been active performing there in northern California, with more dates next month and even as far out as September. They have even performed up in Washington State and in Oregon. He has also been a member of the heavy metal band Mordred.

He has written songs for artists who are household names in country music, from Lee Brice to Randy Houser to Luke Bryan, Jamey Johnson, Faith Hill, Megan Moroney, and more. Already this year, a song called “6 Months Later” that he co-wrote with Moroney went to number 1. In 2014, he was named SESAC Songwriter of the Year. Six years later he co-founded the independent record label Pump House Records with longtime friend Lee Brice. In 2023 he co-founded Entersong Entertainment with longtime friend Jerrod Niemann. And he is one of the founders of the Las Vegas Songwriters Festival, which comes up this August at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on “The Strip.”

He has had a long career in the music industry, having started off as a musician and songwriter in San Francisco, where he played in several new wave bands and started learning production. He went on to work in Los Angeles at Cherokee Studios and Paramount before becoming an indie producer and moving to Germany where he was signed to BMG as a producer and also ran a small indie record label. He also did artist relations for Shure throughout all of Europe before moving back to L.A. and working for TASCAM. He later started his own PR/marketing company and present day is the chair of AES Los Angeles, host of “Insights in Sound,” co-founder of Artist Brain Collective, and an adjunct professor at UNLV. This interview was recorded on-location in Las Vegas, where he presently lives.

Las Vegas-based vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, film composer, and music producer. Plus, he even teaches music production at UNLV. He was an original band member in the Las Vegas production of Blue Man Group, spanning 18 years and playing five instruments. Previously, he had spent seven years drumming with Wild Colonials, who were on Geffen Records, co-writing and recording three albums, and touring nationally. He has been recording artists for more than twenty years, and is the son of the late jazz legend, Chick Corea.

Music industry professional with decades of experience in recording studio management. She is the Director of Studio Operations at The Hideout in Las Vegas, where this interview was recorded, and started her career at the famed Power Station Studios in New York City. There she met producer, musician, and actor Little Steven Van Zandt, who hired her to work for him as an engineer and as a musician in his band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, going on to work with him for eleven years through many recordings and tours. She later returned to Power Station to become their studio manager and eventually president of the company. She continued as manager of Hit Factory Studios in New York City, overseeing nine studios and 75 employees, before the Palms Casino Resort courted her to Las Vegas to build and operate the Studio at the Palms where she worked for 15 years.

GRAMMY and Juno award-winning bassist, composer, engineer, producer, educator, and artist who last August released an eight-song album. He performs in a variety of traditional and contemporary music ensembles from around the world and is on faculty at Humber College, where he teaches audio production, performance, and composition. As a producer, mix engineer and mastering engineer, he has worked with artists from around the world in a wide range of musical styles. He is endorsed by more than a half dozen audio equipment companies and is a leader in immersive audio production, mixing and mastering Dolby Atmos content for artists worldwide. His official YouTube channel has more than one million combined video views.

Chart-topping songwriter, solo artist, multi-platinum award winner, and soul singer based in Nashville. Last October he released a five-song EP that got approximately three million streams across all platforms. He is renowned for crafting No. 1 country radio hits such as Gary Allan’s “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” and earning prestigious ASCAP Awards and an ACM Song of the Year nomination. He is signed with The Table Entertainment Company and has a publishing deal with Lady Luck Songs. He has had cuts with the likes of Darius Rucker, Bucky Covington, “The Voice” Season 17 winner Jake Hoot, and many more. He is also one of the founders of the Las Vegas Songwriters Festival, which comes up this August at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on “The Strip.”