The world is a bit nuts right now. As a musician – a member of Forest Falls and freelance session violinist – it can be hard to make sense of everything all of the time. For some people, sensory overload is the perfect catalyst for creativity. Not for me. With all that’s going on, I’ve found it very useful to nut out these three tenets of creativity. Exposing myself to these conditions is what fuels my best work, so it’s useful to know what to fall back on when chaos gets the better of me. Tenet 1 – Diversity Like so many musicians, I’ve worked with a great many bands over the years. I’m classically trained as a violinist, but I’m just as home improvising as I am with sheet music. That skill set, thankfully, has lead me into a variety of music-making situations: into the studio with The Smith Street Band, at Sing Sing for an entire weekend with the wonderful Ali E, two weeks of recording with TANTRUMS in Pablo Clements and James Griffith’s (UNKLE) studio in Brighton (UK), and most recently to fiddle up a country noir storm touring high priestess Jemma Nicole’s debut album, My Darkest Hour. It’s a blessing, really, because I’ve had the chance to play in contexts as diverse as they are exhilarating. Being exposed to a variety of creative contexts does wonders for my inspiration. It also makes a lot of sense: I’m a Gemini! When I’m feeling a bit creatively starved, I savor the chance to try something completely different. I might put on an old favorite Against Me! record that I haven’t listed to for years, note down any ideas that spring to mind, then record a new work into the computer. My sound...

Rapper and hip hop recording artist Bag of Tricks Cat just returned from a European tour with Mega Ran, so I was excited to get the opportunity to talk to him about the tour and hit single Dream Girl, which he recorded with Mega Ran and Brandon Michael. I love how the three mixed Bag of Tricks Cat and Mega Ran’s hip hop with Brandon Michael’s singing. I wondered how the three musicians came together for this unique project. Bag of Tricks Cat explained: “It was a great record to make. Brandon is a really talented singer, and I’m a fan of Mega, so for me to record a song with him…it’s awesome! I originally had Willy Northpole on it; he was signed to Ludacris. We recorded a version of the song together, but he wasn’t able to do the video, so I brought Mega in. We all got together in the studio, on my 22nd birthday, and we laid it down. It’s a record about finding that special person.” The video for Dream Girl is so much fun, so I asked him about it. Bag of Tricks Cat smiled when he told me that the making of the video was fun too, but a lot of hard work: “We had to green screen a portion of it for the animated parts. We had sets made for the dream sequence and the warehouse scene. Everyone had a great time. We had a lot of bloopers that you didn’t get to see in the final video.” El-JayBeats produced the song and directed the video. Bag of Tricks Cat talked about how El-JayBeats is a perfectionist: “He made storyboards and ensured everything ran on time. It took 48 hours, two days straight, to film everything. We...

Hip hop and rap recording artist A.J. Martin aka A Dot is a rising star on a worldwide scale. He’s currently balancing a music career with his career in the U.S. Military. Thanks to modern technology and Google+ Hangouts on Air, I was fortunate to interview view A.J. from where he is stationed in Bahrain in the Middle East. A.J. Martin has a new hit single titled Missionary, which talks about his plans for the rap game and his life: “I think rap should be more than a dope beat without substance. I feel that the rap game is missing the substance nowadays. The other side to Missionary is my personal experiences. One of my favorite lines is Doin’ this til the end of me, friends yeah they pretend to be, down til you make it then they forget the memories. This is talking about my friends saying that I’ve changed, when all that really happened is that I’ve grown up. With my music, I only write what I know. It’s an outlet and how I express myself. Missionary really captures that for me.” The single Missionary has an interesting back story. A.J. admits: “Missionary really started with a beat playing for 15-20 seconds and me saying My mission is to get recognition. Then, last year, I actually finished it. And two years later, Missionary becomes a hit. The song shows my growth as a rapper and a lyricist.” I love A.J. Martin’s single Take Over, so I had to learn more about this song: “That was the first song that I recorded professionally, about a year ago. I wasn’t sure about the beat, but I can take any beat and turn it into a hit. The song talks about how I want to...

I have to begin with saying… creativity is my life.  For better or worse, I’ve chosen this path, not because it is what I want to do or be.  It simply is what I am: a creator.  You see, I’m driven to do it at my highest peaks of inspiration, as well as my lowest slumps of depression.  Perhaps I would go so far as saying creativity has saved my life, and it has even forged me into the person that I am today: driven. Art, Music, and Literature are my muses, candidly I might add. They are my lovers and have been for many years.  I can confide in them when there is no one else to trust or talk to.  I can express in depth to them my deepest, innermost intimate thoughts.  And because I listen and pay close attention to them, they have given me my greatest accomplishments in life.  These loves have been inspirations for my newly developed art style called Empathicism, to my stories being brought to book form, to all of my songs and, lastly, to my latest album Articles in the Cellar. This collection of music is a summary of influences, crises and turning points of my life.  I grew up in the South listening to a smorgasbord of music that my parents or older brothers would play. That music inspired the sound for this particular album.  I decided on a more vintage sound, because I truly feel much of the music from the 60’s and 70’s still resonates with so many people today, even the people who didn’t grow up in this era.  The horns, the strings, the rhythm guitars and the raw, realness of the voice unadulterated by modern tricks of technology… These are the...

Singer-songwriter and comedian Olivia Thai is a breath of fresh air on the Hollywood scene. She says what she means and she walks her talk. We picked Olivia Thai as this month’s ReverbNation contest winner because we love her honesty, her lyrics and her moving single #WhyIStayed. Of course the first question that I asked Olivia Thai was to tell me more about #WhyIStayed. Olivia explained: “That song was inspired by domestic violence cases, and it was heavily inspired by the hashtag #WhyIStayed. That was one of the biggest hashtags on Twitter, and women were talking about why they stayed in those relationships. I tried to capture the essence of a victim of domestic violence. That song, in particular, has brought me to the most tears out of all the songs I’ve written.” Olivia Thai records the raw versions of songs while they’re still a work in progress and posts them on YouTube. I love that Olivia brings us along with her on the songwriting journey. I especially adore the single and video for Straight Shooter, so I asked her to tell me the song’s back story. Olivia Thai laughed and told me: “I always introduce this song at my live shows as the song about people who beat around the bush. I don’t understand them, because I’ve always been blatantly honest. I wrote it for people who just can’t figure out how to say things straight on, be straight shooters. What’s funny is, I was having a conversation with a standup comedian and he was telling me a joke about Gabby Giffords. I don’t remember the whole joke, but the punchline is ‘somebody should have been a straight shooter.’ I was like, ‘Huh!’ And then I wrote the song.” I wondered if Olivia...

Early in my Long Island, NY childhood I knew I wanted music to be at the center of my life.  I started piano lessons at age 7 and studied pop and classical music.  My earliest memories include going to live concerts, playing showcases, as well as listening to great music from many different eras. One of the main influences in my dedication to a life of music, however, is my father Pete Antell. I often helped out in his home studio, and I sometimes accompanied him on tour with artists such as The Doobie Brothers and Fleetwood Mac. It was one day when I was standing backstage at a Fleetwood Mac concert (next to Christine McVie’s piano) that I knew with absolute certainty music what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. In college, I was involved not only music but also theater and dance. I took part in everything from stage production to choreography.  The invaluable discipline that I gained back then is a big part of why I constantly push myself to write, record and perform now.  Upon college graduation, I moved to Colorado after landing a singing job at a mountain lodge.  I performed several seasons there and with a few other groups throughout Denver/Boulder. When I started to dabble in songwriting, I moved back East to a friend’s farm in Connecticut, and I really put music front and center.  With a great practice space in a huge barn with hardwood floors and natural acoustics, I spent countless hours writing and recording demos on my old 4-track player.  Eventually, I moved to NYC to fully pursue my singer-songwriter career, working as a legal secretary by day and playing clubs and hitting the recording studio at night. After playing...

I love Danish blues Jake Green Band. They have an amazing blues sound. Their new single Still Hung Up on You is terrific. I interviewed Jake Green last weekend, while he was celebrating his nephew’s seventh birthday at his sister’s summer home. We tried to record the interview outside in the park-like setting, but the internet reception would not cooperate, so we moved indoors. When you watch the video, you’ll notice the change in venue. Of course, the very first question I asked Jake was to tell me more about Still Hung Up on You. Jake told me: “Still Hung Up on You is your basic breakup song. My Dad used to say that if you really love somebody, it never really goes away. That’s pretty much what the song is about. It’s about you still being hung up on the person, even though the relationship didn’t work and you still have feelings, even if they’re still not that strong any longer.” I also adore the Jake Green Band single Broken Love from the Live at Malmo Festival album. The song is so heartfelt. I wondered who the song was about, but Jake would not say: “The song is not about anybody specific. I prefer to write more general, so people can better relate. That’s also why I don’t name names in my songs. The song is about the process of falling in love and getting hurt by love. Actually, the new version of this song on my upcoming album is a little different from the one recorded in 2011. The last verse has a little twist that says you should still put yourself out there and risk getting hurt, and you should still seek out love.” The Jake Green Band has such a...

My name is Davy Lansky aka Black Amser born on the 3rd of July 1989 in Gabon. I’m a 25 years hip-hop recording artist based in South Africa, Pretoria. My passion for music started when I was a kid. My father is passionate about music, so he is the one who made me like it. At my younger age, I was able to memorize and sing everything my father was listening to. As I kept on listening to music, I started to write lyrics for my friends and me. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, because I had to focus on my studies. But nothing is more powerful than music. Music is the only thing that can change your mood. It is the only thing that can come through your mind and do whatever it wants to do without your knowledge, whether you want it or not. When something is aimed to be, it will happen. As I grew up and felt more confident, I started to be more serious about the music industry, and I have decided to continue from where I stopped. My studies don’t have anything to do with my music career, because they don’t really follow the same path. So, at school I am just an ordinary student, and outside I am a musician who is dreaming to reach the highest level and help others. I have been in the professional music industry for years now, working with professional musicians from other countries. I have been taking advice from them, I have been learning from them and I hope that I will find a way to make it in Jesus name. My music is not always focused on myself. I try to touch all the aspects of life, so that older...

We picked Jessica Meuse to be our ReverbNation Featured Artist Contest winner because we love her raw sound, her lyrics and the single Blue-Eyed Lies. So, I just had to know the scoop behind the song. Is it about someone Jessica dated? Jessica admitted, “It’s a true story. Even when bad things happen, sometimes you can get good out of it. I try to do that through my music. I tried to make something wasn’t necessarily great into something productive.” Jessica Meuse recently released her first independent single Done. The song is awesome and I love the YouTube video clip. I just had to learn more about Done and where I could download my own copy. Jessica informed me: “Done is available literally everywhere. It’s on Google Play; it’s on Amazon; it’s on iTunes. The song is about something I’ve been going through the last couple of years, even before American Idol. It’s about another relationship that didn’t really work out and I was just done with it, so I wrote Done. I think I got the point across.” With a big smile, Jessica added, “I’m really, really proud of it. The song was created with the help of my small, small production team of four people in Los Angeles. It’s raw; it’s real; it’s me. I’m much happier with it than anything I could have otherwise put out. We chugged it out and I’m so proud of it.” What does Jessica Meuse look for when she collaborates to produce her music? “I look for our ability to work together and to be in synch. The energy should flow and build and feel good. There should be no destructive or negative energy. It should be easy to work with somebody. You should have ideas...

Singer-songwriter, composer and conductor Karen Marrolli has everyone talking about her new EP called Twilight Songs. All four of the songs are beautifully arranged, and Karen Marrolli’s voice is lovely. I asked Karen to tell me about the making of the EP: “I wanted to document some of my guitar songs. It started out with the idea of recording only one song with someone who knew what they were doing. I went to Frogville Studio here in Santa Fe and worked with Bill Palmer. The project quickly went from one song and grew into a complete work. All four songs are guitar songs with piano. We added cello arrangements and overdubs of background vocals. I’m glad that these songs exist. It’s so wonderful to hear them and have them out in the world. It’s like birthing a baby. I’m really proud and excited.” I wondered if there was a back story to the EP that Karen Marrolli wanted to share. Karen told me: “There’s a line in one of the songs that says, ‘you’re just a twilight song.’ I made that the title of the EP. Three of the songs are very much an example of how songwriting can come out of the ether. I’m not really sure where they came from, but these are songs where my better angels came out to help. I’m sure a lot of songwriters can relate to that feeling that they’re co-creating when they write.” My personal favorite song and video are for the single Sanctuary. The scenery is amazing. It reminds me of the Painted Hills, here in central Oregon, but I assumed the video was filmed in New Mexico, where Karen Marrolli lives: “The song has this idea that there’s somebody out there in the world...