SONG DIVING - An American Songwriter Podcast

We go Song Diving with Tift Merritt and get into the stories behind songs she’s written, including “Sugar,” “Traveling Alone,” “Mad World,” “Tambourine,” and “Good Hearted Man.”Along the way, we explore the songs and songwriters who shaped how Tift hears and writes songs, from Emmylou Harris and Carole King to Maria McKee, Townes Van Zandt, and Dusty Springfield.And we talk about why vulnerability is rock and roll, how stepping away from the music business helped her rediscover her voice, how songs can become personal manifestos, and why the artists we love can become North Stars that help us find our own path.It’s a conversation about finding your voice, trusting your instincts, and the songs that remind us who we are.
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We go Song Diving with Ketch Secor, singer and songwriter for Old Crow Medicine Show, and get into the stories behind songs he’s written, including “Wagon Wheel,” “I Hear Them All,” “Dearly Departed Friends,” and “My Side of the Mountain.”Along the way, we explore the songwriters who shaped how Ketch hears and writes songs, from Bob Dylan and John Hartford to Don Schlitz, Marty Stuart, and John McCutcheon.And we talk about why Bob Dylan made his “teeth chatter,” why songs are “Greyhound bus tickets of the mind,” what David Rawlings taught him about the mechanics of songwriting, and why every word is an expression of just how much he loves language.It’s a conversation about tradition, storytelling, and finding your own voice within the long conversation of American music.
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We get into the stories behind songs he’s written, including “Good Time,” “American Dreamin’,” and Zac Brown Band’s “Homegrown.”Along the way, we explore the music and voices that shaped how Niko hears and writes songs, from John Prine and Travis Tritt to Outkast and Alan Jackson.And we talk about why positive music became his mission, the dive bar show that changed his life when Zac Brown walked in, why the hardest part of writing a song is finding the first great idea, and how one song can find someone at exactly the moment they need it.It’s a conversation about choosing optimism, finding the idea that unlocks a song, and why music can become the encouragement we carry with us through life.
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We get into the stories behind songs like “Humble and Kind,” “People Get Old,” and “All the Time I’ve Wasted on You.”And we talk about how her limitations became her style, why some of the best lines in a song begin with an alley-oop from another writer, and why the songs that make everyone else want to quit are the ones that excite her most.Along the way, we explore the music and voices that shaped how Lori hears and writes songs, from James Taylor and Suzanne Vega to Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, and the songwriters she discovered through Boston’s college radio stations.It’s a conversation about keeping it simple, writing the song only you can write, and the songs we’ll spend the rest of our lives reaching for.
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We get into the stories behind songs like “Second Chance,” “In Memory,” “Fly from the Inside,” and new songs like “Young Again” and “Searchlight.”And talk about the years-long journey that led to Shinedown, writing hundreds of songs before finally breaking through, and the determination it took to keep going.Along the way, we explore the music and voices that shaped how Brent hears and writes songs, from The Ramones and Soundgarden to Jim Croce and Otis Redding.It’s a conversation about finding your voice, trusting your instincts, and chasing what’s out there.
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