This podcast is for those who love music but can't write a tune to save their lives. We talk with singer/songwriters of all stripes, professional touring musicians to those who can't quite catch a break. Maybe you'll hear something you'll like. Maybe not. But you will come away with a greater appreciation for the gift of songwriting, and how hard it really is. Now sponsored by @thepugdc!
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I’ve been doing this long enough to say that it’s kind of a big deal to hear a song that stops you dead in your tracks. A song so urgent, fresh and timely that you remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard it. Well, Reckoning by the Havana-by-way-of-Nashville based Sweet Lizzy Project is such a song. In this episode, SLP singer/songwriter Lisset Diaz makes her annual…
Can you believe it! Six years ago I started this podcast at the height of COVID on a complete whim. Never thought I’d be doing this for more than a few weeks let alone six freaking years! And what a way to celebrate by bringing back my first-ever guest, Staunton, Va.-based singer-songwriter Scott Miller. Scott cut his teeth in the mid-90s during the burgeoning alt.country or no-depression or…
“What’s missing…is Shane.” Buckle up for a special episode of For Songs Singles! In this episode, James Fearnley, original accordion player for the legendary Irish/English punk band the Pogues, returns to talk about the band’s recent run of reunion shows celebrating the 40th anniversaries of their first two records, Red Roses for Me and Rum Sodomy and the Lash. Together with founding Pogues…
There are folk records, and then there is the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ debut album Genuine Negro Jig. Released in 2010, Genuine Negro Jig not only blew peoples’ minds, it also laid waste one of the oldest myths in music—that bluegrass and folk were largely played and created by white musicians. In this episode, multi-instrumentalist and Carolina Chocolate Drops founding member Dom Flemons brings…
Live albums can be a tough lot. Too much crowd noise can block out the best parts of your favorite songs. A rough mix can dilute the sound. Slick production can make it seem like the crowd isn’t even there. On so on and so forth. But when you get it right, you’ll never put it down. As is the case with Zydeco master Corey Ledet’s newest album, Live in Alaska. Released in December 2025, Live in…
You know that feeling when you rediscover something—a sound, a feeling—that makes you feel young again? Takes you back 25-plus years? Just hits you right between the eyes? I do, because it happened the second I heard the opening riff of “Irish Goodbye,” the first single from latest album by the Minneapolis-based band the Honeydogs. That jangly guitar took me back to 1996/97, when the so-called…
Sit down everyone as school is back in session. Your teacher for this episode is one of America’s best storytellers, Louisiana-based singer/songwriter/fiddler/guitarist Louis Michot. Louis is truly a national treasure, a student as much as he is teacher. In his "day job" he fronts the multiple Grammy winning traditional Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Here, Louis returns to For Songs to…
Every album is important to every band, but some have greater impact than others. Look no further than the [Sweet Lizzy Project]( www.sweetlizzyproject.com ). The now Nashville-based band’s first album Heaven, was released 10 years ago this year and literally changed their lives. Recorded in a humble studio in Havana, Cuba, Heaven ended up in the hands of Raul Malo, lead singer/songwriter for the…
If nothing else, music is healing. Look no further than my guest on this episode—Dan Murphy, former lead guitarist from the 80s-90s cowpunk band Soul Asylum and the alt.country super group Golden Smog. The Minneapolis-based Murphy, who thought he had quit the music biz for good roughly 13 years ago, is in the midst of an unexpected musical renaissance. In this episode, Dan and I discuss his band…
It’s a For Songs first! Join me in the studio for this fabulous conversation with Kevin and Jarrett from the rock/pop/indie rock trio Franklin Gotham . This interview was recorded at Jarrett’s Mixtape Studios in Alexandria, Va. We talk about the band’s latest EP Good Times, Bad Times, and three brilliant songs: the rock-pop gem Caroline, their brilliant cover of Life in a Northern Town, and then,…
