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...

Hi, my name is Ashleigh Sladen. I’m a singer, songwriter and musician from Verneuil-Sur-Seine, a little town near Paris. I currently live in Plymouth for university studies in Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology. My music can be classified as acoustic-pop-rock. I recently released two of my original songs called Hide & Seek and Frost Flower. Like most children, I had piano lessons when I was six, I but wasn’t really into it. I gave up after a few years. I first got really interested in music in 2005, when I auditioned to sing in a school show. I decided to try guitar, and I really got into it when my childhood best friend, my little sister, and me formed this all-girl pop rock band called Ashbagui in 2010. Our first concert was for the anniversary of our school. We entered this music competition called “Emerganza,” where we played a few shows until the semi-finals in Paris. The band parted ways in the last months of 2013, when we knew we couldn’t see each other often with our different timetables and future locations. Since then, I took a break from music to focus on entering university. I started playing music again at Jam House, an event organized every Thursday night by some students. One night, BBC Introducing came to hear original songs by students. I played two original songs and, since then, I do gigs around Plymouth every week. All the music I create is written and composed mainly by me, but some are also co-written and produced by Jared Harding, currently a 3rd year music student at Plymouth University. When recording in studio, the music always starts off with my voice and me playing the acoustic guitar. Afterwards, we suggest ideas on how the...

Jamaican singer-songwriter Da Professor has people all over the world talking about his hit single and video titled I Love Myself. It’s a fantastic, uplifting song. I just had to know more about the song’s back story. Da Professor told me: “This first single from Spiky Records was composed at a time in my life where I was reevaluating everything I had accomplished in my music career. I realized that I needed to embrace loving myself in order to reach the goals I set for myself. It was a turning point.” I Love Myself is the first song in a trilogy that will be released by Da Professor over the next six months. Being from Jamaica, you can definitely hear island influences in Da Professor’s music. When I asked Da Professor about who he considers his major music influences, he gave me an thought-provoking answer: “I listened to a lot of artists growing up, not just Reggae. I think you should give every artist involved with music credit. I listen to both good music and music people say is not good, so I can hear what makes a song successful and hear the mistakes. I pick the goodness out of all of that. I always try to be myself and be original.” There’s an interesting story behind how Da Professor got his artist name: “The name Da Professor was given to me as a nickname by my friends around age 17. I was very mature for my age and always took on leadership roles. I think the name suits me, so I work with it. Da Professor stands for a professor of life, not just music. You can get a lot of inspiration from me and my music.” Da Professor moved to the United...

The Jon Collins Band’s new hit single and video for the breakup song Don’t Believe in You has everyone talking. The video laughingly depicts scenarios in which partners find their significant other cheating on them. Everyone wants to know if any situation in the video is based on Jon’s own personal experiences.  Jon laughed when he told me: “I find that songwriting is always a bit of truth and a bit of fiction. I’ve certainly had a couple of breakups, but this video is a little over the top. I didn’t experience the things in this video, but the song came from some real place, for sure.” The band’s soon-to-be released new single is called Happy Breakup Day, so I’m sensing a theme here. Jon brushed it off saying, “It’s a little bit of a coincidence that these songs came out back-to-back. They’re both breakup songs and they both have a fair bit of humor. You can take this serious topic and you can make the song really serious or you can put a little spin on it. We had fun putting a little spin on this topic. Jon told me that he’s just finishing up the edit on the video for Happy Breakup Day: “In some ways, this video is crazier than the last one. The premise is a guy realizes that his relationship isn’t working, so (to save face) he shows up at his girlfriend’s birthday party and sings her this song.” Members of the Jon Collins band have day job where they are hired by one partner to show up at parties and break up with the other partner. The video takes advantage of their unique occupation: “It was a lot of fun to shoot. We had a 3-day shoot here...

Which images, ideas, or emotions do the two words forest and falls conjure up for you? Let your mind go a little AWOL for a second; there’s no correct answer to that question, by the way. For the six of us in this band, the name Forest Falls epitomizes in a single statement why it is we make music. It’s the embodiment of a journey: from how we met to where we want to go. It’s equal parts history book and travel guide. It’s what inspires us every day, as six equals and six best friends, to write and perform our music. Why did we want to write this blog? Because we’d love to offer you a taste of it too; what it feels like to be following the creative path you were always meant to take. Our music is honest. No facades, lies or cover-ups. We want to share that feeling! Forest Falls is a band born out of a love for collaboration. It’s such a cool idea really, that a whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. Think about what that actually means! We can do in a group what we can’t do on our own. It was this idea that started everything: the imperative for our lead singer, Jon, to create music with others. When he left Perth a few years ago, he piled his life into a Tarago and headed off to Melbourne in a bid to meet other like-minded musicians. Jon met Jamie, who knew Jez, who knew Gabe, who met Shaun, who knew Lucy from Uni. It was almost as if it was meant to happen this way. The evolution of the band which you now see is the evolution which finally feels as if...

Bree Noble is one of the busiest musicians I know. She’s a singer-songwriter, radio and podcast host and founder of the brand new Female Music Academy that launches June 1. Because so many female musicians are struggling to make it in the music industry, I invited Bree Noble to join us and talk about her projects that help female musicians with the business side of music. First, I had to learn more about her new Female Entrepreneur Musician podcast: “I started the podcast in the beginning of April, and we are putting out Episode 8 this week. We talk to female musicians who have been succeeding in the music industry. They’ve succeeded in creating a sustainable income to pursue their passion and make a living doing it. We talk to female industry pros about where they’re working in the music industry and advice that they can give female musicians. It’s been going over really well. I get emails all the time where women tell me they love the show and cannot wait for the next episode. We’ve been at the top of New and Noteworthy on iTunes and on the front page, so that’s been exciting.” The brand new Female Musician Academy is where women can learn, grow and connect with other female musicians. What are the benefits of membership? According to Bree Noble: “We are going to have training every week to help with marketing, connecting with the audience, attracting listeners and special subjects on request, such as songwriting, contracts and lawyers. We want to help musicians put the pieces together to advance their music career.” In addition to the above coursework, the Female Musician Academy will have training from professional industry representatives. The first scheduled industry professional is Dave Kusek from New...

Growing up in Soviet Russia, it was very tough to find different types of music, simply because there wasn’t a lot of variety. Foreign music was off limits. That didn’t stop many people from listening to music from the 50’s and 60’s secretly playing in one lucky person’s home. Friends and family would gather for a listen to the exotic, forbidden overseas rarity called Rock ‘n Roll (American music). As hits such as Hello, Dolly, Volare and Sunny seeped through, I heard the sounds that I have loved ever since. It was a dream come true. I loved American music, anything that I could listen to. I loved singing along. My passion for music spans for decades and knows no language boundaries. I love singing and entertaining people; it brings a smile to my face and warms my heart. I was fortunate enough to have my own TV and radio show that provided me the opportunity to meet wonderful people, music legends and various interesting people that share my passion for the arts. Because I am an entertainer, I learned hundreds of songs in different languages. Having met so many wonderful people, artists that I looked up to, I was truly blessed to record a whole album with these legends called Oleg Frish: Duets With My American Idols. I am most excited now for the official release of my album on May 19, 2015, to see the hard work of myself and so many others involved come to fruition.  Though the work put into this album was hard, it was also utmost enjoyable. I am truly blessed to have wonderful friends who lend their voices and songs to my duets album, friends such as Gary U.S. Bonds, Ben E. King, B.J. Thomas, Lainie Kazan,...

My musical journey over the years has been nothing short of diverse. I’ve jumped from band to band, trying to find the style and genre that fits who I am. I started singing in a metal band when I was in seventh grade, but I slowly matured into a beachier, laid back feel with my friends from Atlanta, Mango Tango. I went to a military boarding school, so we only wrote and performed together through the summer following graduation. I had a blast, but eventually I knew we had to part ways for college. It was a process, acclimating from a rigid military school to a liberal arts college in the heart of Nashville. But in the end, I know attending the Belmont School of Music was right for me. Ever since I was young, I’ve anchored myself through music. It is how I express myself, cope with life’s hardships and connect with the world around me. I base my songs off of my desires or events in my life that shape me. The song could be about a wild day exploring the Tennessee country or articulating the internal struggles I’ve faced through maturing into a young man. Name a topic, and I can write a song about it from a deep, personal level. Song writing and composition are both very important to me, and I don’t know what I would do without them. Music is who I am in every sense of the phrase. Currently, I am a solo artist in Nashville, focused on playing out and recording the many songs I already have in my repertoire. I have one single officially released as well as a collection of free songs from my work in Atlanta. I am also in the works of...