​For me, one of the highest honors in this world is to be mentioned in an album's liner notes. Thank you, Cowboy Mouth.

​Ken Block of clients Sister Hazel: When I wrote some of the songs on “BAM!”, I was still grieving the death of my brother. And I was not yet clean and sober. The song “Sweet Destiny” addresses all of that. It has the lyric “I've been searching all the wrong bars and churches.”

I was looking for spirituality in the bottom of a whiskey bottle or a pill bottle. I was desperately searching for a safe harbor, some understanding, and some peace.

I wrote that song on an acoustic guitar. But if you listen to the beginning, it's basically Ryan taking those chords and just playing harmonics of them. No acoustics, no bass, nothing.

It has some identifiable Sister Hazel fingerprints. It has a storyline that talks about life in a really honest way. Questioning things, challenging things, challenging yourself, who you are to other people, how you act.

It also has these great slide guitar parts that are so hooky. 
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Personally, it’s one of my favorite songs that’s I’ve ever written. A mix of existential dread packaged as an upbeat piece that feels much better than what it says.

In this interview with Jeff Marino, drummer and Music Director for Darius Rucker, we discuss how his relaxed power comes from economy of motion, a minimalist kit, and an obsession with feel. We also talk about the advice Kenny Aronoff gave him years ago that still guides him, the use of tension and release in crafting a set list, and his business developing the live of shows of young artists.

Musicians: Grow your fan base in just one hour a month and never fight with social media again.
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Happy birthday to client Huey Lewis. The song below seemed appropriate.

Since it is the 4th of July. From clients Huey Lewis & The News...

From yesterday’s work session with Huey Lewis. “We really are a band in a very real sense. That was the key to making our records: we all contributed.” 
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Musicians: Grow your fan base in just one hour a month and never fight with social media again.
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Cris Cohen: For the song ’Blues At Bay,’ how did you get that guitar sound that is in the beginning of the recorded version? It is a little different from the guitars on any other Cowboy Mouth songs.

Fred LeBlanc of clients Cowboy Mouth: I was messing around with tunings on my Danelectro guitar. I recorded that around the same time that I did that cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” I was really into those sounds.

​There is an art to creating chapter titles for a book. This one is fantastic. A quote from a conversation in the following pages, it does not shock you. You have already read through some intense moments in the previous 35 chapters. But after seeing that chapter title, you can’t wait to read more. Because after all of the insanity that was covered in the previous 279 pages (paperback edition), you realize these people may have actually outdone themselves… which you did not think was possible.

What is amazing is that this is from a non-fiction book. What is even more amazing is that this counts as work, because tomorrow I am interviewing the musician who is the author.  

From my 1998 interview with Rob Hirst, drummer and lyricist of Midnight Oil, about their album Redneck Wonderland.
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Cris Cohen: From a lyrical point of view, do you feel pressured to live up to your past, if only because your lyrics have been so challenging, so different from just middle of the road fare? Is it tough to keep generating such interesting stuff album after album?

Rob Hirst: Not really. Because Australia has been going through a very fascinating period here.

And the band has always proudly and defiantly written about what’s going on here, which sometimes has had a universal application and people have been able to understand what we’re going on about.

I don’t know whether people will make head or tail of this record, because it is actually, like Diesel and Dust, very local and focused, but probably has an application elsewhere. But we’ve never really given that much thought.

And when some of those records got away in the 80s overseas and did incredibly well, it really caught the band by surprise… who thought that we were making local land rights records in the 80s. A couple of songs got away and then the band suddenly found that all this back catalogue, which we thought would be relegated to the dustbin of cultist collections, was now available and was selling really well. Which was one of the great delights.

But really, there’s a wealth of songwriting stuff here. Perhaps it’s got something to do with still being effectively a young country with a great spirit and optimism in spite of lack of leadership in the political area. There’s still this great spirit of the place, and particularly in Sydney with the Olympics coming up. There is certainly a great spirit of what could be, even though it’s not happening right now.
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Bands To Fans: I help musicians tell their stories.

Kim Wilson of clients The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Making albums years ago, artists road-tested their songs before recording them. Each track was performed live, refined through audience reactions and stage energy, ensuring that when the album finally dropped, it was guaranteed to electrify listeners. The recording process was a dynamic, audience-informed journey.