Taylor Phelan was raised within a tight-knit musical family in his home state of Texas and began to play guitar and write his own songs at 16, cutting his teeth at local coffee shops. He started his professional career as the founder and frontman for the Chicago-based alternative band, The Canes. In 2014, Phelan was a favorite contestant on the seventh season of NBC’s hit reality series, The Voice, an experience that revealed his tremendous talent as a solo artist. In 2015, shortly after signing with the indie label, Native Nine Records, Phelan gravitated back to his southern roots and teamed up with Nashville-based producer Joshua D. Niles to work on his first collection of solo material. On June 8th, Phelan released his latest EP, 2 of 2 on June 8th, and here answers his Essential 8+ where he talks about everything from the project to dream venues and collaborators, drinking at gigs and much more!

Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
There were a couple of guys early on that taught me how to play guitar and helped me get comfortable on stage but I wouldn’t say I’ve had a “mentor” since then. Now, I learn the most from the people that are making music that resonates with me. My peers unknowingly mentor me and I learn from those just ahead of me. Those people influences the way I think about the industry to my creative process and musical inspirations.

With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
As a writer, I always second guess myself so it’s tough to say. I would say that “Talk” felt right from the beginning. Josh Niles and I wrote that together. As we fleshed out the lyrics, there were a few tricky lines but overall, I knew it was a keeper.

Is there a story behind your album’s title?
Honestly, no. Haha. At the time of concepting these two halves, I was a big fan of minimalism and keeping things simple. A two part series titled “1” and “2” is about as simple as it gets.

Have you had a lousy day? Ever feel like chucking it all and heading for the hills? Ben Bostick knows where you’re coming from. The Californian country rocker has had a few escape fantasies of his own – visions of ditching the rat race and getting back to the land, reclaiming his primal manhood, or just partying until he drops. Yet Bostick is too smart to think there’s any easy way out of the trap. He’s poured all of his ambivalence, his frustration, and his wild will to get free into a delicious growler called “No Show Blues”, the first cut on the soon-to-be-released Hellfire, a collection of ferocious, uncompromising, brutally honest, and darkly funny outlaw country songs – songs Waylon and Willie would recognize as part of their tradition. Bostick keeps his tales concise, his rhymes tight, and his language bluntly poetic, and sings it all in the parched growl of a desperate man who has been wandering the Mojave for too long. Here, Bostick answers his Essential 8 and talks songwriting, the classics he listens to on the road, struggle and success, and more.

Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination?
I write from all different angles, depending on what kind of song I’m writing. On this album, I’m writing from the perspective of a character who is part of me: the self-loathing, bitter, and resentful part of me that wants to see order crumble and chaos reign. It’s my punk side, my dark side, and the side of me that relates to all the people out there who work their lives away in some crummy job for too little money while the cost of living keeps rising. I wrote this album for people who still smoke cigarettes, who drink whatever is cheapest and strongest, yet who manage to stay at the table despite the lousy cards they’re holding. Always in the hole, always scrambling, but never quitting. It’s an album about hell and self-destruction and persistence. I wrote a lot of songs in the year leading up to this album, and the ones that made the final cut are the ones that fit that feeling.

What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
If you are looking to get rich playing music, quit now. If you are looking for external validation for your incredible talent, quit now. If you are looking to because famous and popular, quit now. If making music is a means to some other end for you, quit now. If none of the above apply and you know that being able to make music for a living is its own precious reward, then you need no advice from me. Make it happen, soldier.

The Smoking Flowers - Kim and Scott Collins - last full length album 2 Guns was raucously brought into existence in a single live recorded takes over about four days. It is a ferocious musical document that eerily proved to be a foreshadowing of a battle the couple was soon to encounter: Kim was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Now in remission due to only using holistic and alternative methods and a raw food diet (no chemotherapy, no radiation, no hormones) and in the wake of this experience, Kim and Scott took life by the reins and hit the road in their vintage Volvo 240 station wagon, touring across America and Canada for three years straight. With this life altering experience to draw upon, and three years of intense touring, the couple tapped deep into their rock, punk and folk roots for the often cinematic Let's Die Together, a raw, real eleven-track collection replete with crunchy guitars, thumping percussion, and powerful storytelling. Here the couple answer their Essential 8 and talk about the album, eating healthy on the road, drinking at gigs, and more.

Is there a story behind your album’s title?
It’s a pretty long story but goes something like this:
Scott and I are a married couple of 19 years, and when I went through a serious battle with breast cancer 6 years ago, he stepped up in another role besides husband that I never thought we would experience. He became my partner in helping me LIVE… another type of “duo”… and we battled the disease together (I chose a holistic approach which made things even more difficult at times).  Out of this triumphant experience the songs started flowing and the song “Let’s Die Together” was born. It’s not a morbid idea, but rather the idea that we are in this together…to the end.  A thought that marriage is traditionally based on, but rarely accomplished. But sometimes it takes something life threatening to give you certain eye-opening gifts or virtues.
~Kim
 
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
Honestly there’s no go-to formula or consistency for inspiration in my songwriting. I tend to be inspired by concepts of love and life that are more positive and divine, so you’ll rarely hear a song from me that is of the negative variety. Definitely no “woe is me” songs.  I am not a victim and will not manifest it through my art.  Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, which is every day for me as I try to breath it all in and live life to the fullest in all facets of life, even if it’s not perfect.  So maybe the little world I’ve created for myself and surround myself with is my biggest inspiration.  Never really thought about that until just now. ~ Kim

Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration.  “I write only when inspiration strikes,” he replied.  “Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”  It doesn’t strike that early in the morning for me (noon is my 9:00 a.m.), but sometimes performing the daily mundane act of sitting down and starting to work can set in motion a mysterious sequence of events that produce inspiration.  A producer and dear friend we have worked with refers to it as “moment mining”.   ~ Scott

Kyle Park continues to make an indelible mark on the Texas country music scene with the release of his sixth studio album, Don’t Forget Where You Come From which was released June 1.  Coming on the heels of back-to-back #1’s on the Texas Regional Radio Report, this new album is a return to Park’s signature neo-traditional country sound brimming with honkytonk-fueled fiddle, pedal steel and searing guitar riffs punctuated by his most honest and contemplative lyrics to date. Recently, Park kindly took the time to speak about the personal nature of the project, share the stories behind the tunes, and more.

Being this is your sixth album, did you approach anything differently this time around?
I produced my last four albums, and I have found that I’m more confident and comfortable in what I do with each successive record. My last album, The Blue Roof Sessions, was more guitar driven rock, which was pretty edgy for me, but Don’t Forget Where You Come From is definitely more country and I think more approachable. It’s lyrically based with stories about my father, the American farmer, rodeo cowboys, and family…it’s who I am.

People love my old stuff and I like my old stuff too, but I think this is my best record to date because of the personal aspect of it. If there is someone out there who doesn’t know me and would give me a chance, this is the album for it. This is who I am and who I’ll always be. I feel like I really found myself on this record.

The album has ten songs, nine of which are originals. How did the songs come together?
I wrote one myself, co-wrote 8, and then have the Merle cover of “If We Make It Through December.” I included that one because Merle is one of my favorites and when he passed away, I felt it was necessary to have one of his songs on the album as a tribute. Others, like "Beer Can” [the solo write] I wrote in about twenty minutes maybe four years ago. I recorded an earlier version for The Blue Roof Sessions, but didn’t like it, so I held onto it for this album. It’s a humorous song that’s been a crowd favorite for a long time. And “Over and Over Again,” I wrote with Cody Johnson about five years ago. That’s another one that I held onto because it didn’t really fit any of my other albums as well.
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It’s definitely a cohesive project. “Beer Can” closes the album out while “Ain’t Nobody Hotter” kicks it off. Was there any particular reason you chose to anchor the album with those tunes?
We placed “Beer Can” last because it had that live feel to it with me, my producer, and engineer making those sounds, which is an idea we got from George Strait’s “Good Time Charlie.” I wanted people to hear the song so that when they came out to a show they were ready to sing along and have good time. “Ain’t Nobody Hotter” was put first because when I put a record on I want you to feel good. I wanted to start it off with something hot, no pun intended (laughing).

A veteran of the ’90s Chicago & Seattle punk scenes, Charlie Smyth’s sound has evolved over time, meandering like a tattered feather on the Southern breeze and settling somewhere beneath the ever-widening shadow of modern Americana. Grand, loose and vibrant, the Nashville-based troubadour’s new solo debut, The Way I Feel, is dusted with strings, mariachi horns and wistful blankets of steel guitar, its loose-lugnut drums propelling the whole beautiful jalopy of a record forward as if the wheels could come off at any minute. The record is a breathtaking statement of creative purpose, imbuing its too-often safe and by-the-numbers genre with an undeniable sense of musical adventure. Ahead of the album's release on July 13th, Smyth answered his Essential 8 and spoke about his musical mentor Doug Ward, Randy Newman, MSG, and more.

Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
​Doug Ward from the Chicago-based punk outfit I.D. Under dragged me to get my first guitar and amp. I had picked up a couple of chords (maybe three) from a roommate of mine. I was hanging out at Doug’s loft in Wicker Park and people were just drinking and making a racket on instruments that were laying around. I played two chords back and forth a bit and Doug said “I didn’t know you could play guitar!” The next day he insisted on driving me out to his hometown suburb to the shop where he bought his gear.  I bought a brand new white Squire Strat and a Crate amp. To his chagrin I put the sticker that came inside G’nR’s Appetite for Destruction on it (it was 1987). Then I had him teach me the chords to “Everything’s Exploding!” by The Flaming Lips. That got me rolling.

What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
I was living in Berlin in 2004 and ended up at Nikki Sudden’s apartment for Christmas dinner (cheese fondue). We were doing the “pass the guitar around after a few drinks” thing and Nikki was enthusiastic about a couple of the songs I wrote. One of them was “Country Girl”, which at the time I was playing rather soft and slow. When I finished playing it he said “Stay bruised, Charlie.” I thought that was very sweet advice from one musician to another. I later learned he had a song by the same title.

Megan Arial may be new to Nashville, but she has been working her way to the Music City for many years.  A Los Angeles, Calif. native, Megan has been performing since childhood.  Even from an early age, every time Megan graced the stage, there was no mistaking that she was right where she was meant to be.  In school, she was active in the musical theater and choir departments.  During this time, she naturally transitioned to songwriting as a way of expressing her feelings.  Little did she know, her songwriting would take her to prominent venues across the country including Disneyland, Carnegie Hall and Universal Studios CityWalk.  Since her move to Nashville, Megan has taken her performances to legendary songwriter spots including, Douglas Corner, The Commodore Grille and The Local.  She caught her biggest break after a final four finish in the popular reality competition, Nashville Rising Star.  Megan gained a loyal following and the opportunity to perform for more than five million people on NBC’s Today Show.  

Recently, she released her debut single, #41 (number 41) which offers a firsthand look at the reality of chasing a dream amongst a city of dreamers and here she answers her Essential 8 and talks about the song, internal struggles, Stagecoach, and more.

With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
I actually had an awesome “ah-ha” moment with my new single “#41”. I started writing “#41” during one of my first nights in Nashville while I was waiting to play at an open mic night. I had a piece of paper with me and I just started writing down everything I saw like the guitars lined up, and people name dropping - so I just listed these things out in my notepad and I just let it stay there for months. I was super sick one day and I decided to go back through one of my notebooks for inspiration. I found what would eventually be “#41” and I started laughing at all the different people and their stories and I thought to myself wow this is Nashville, this is the Nashville dream — which is where the chorus of the song came from. The “ah-ha” moment didn’t come until I had brought the song up a couple months later in a co-write with Jason Hamor. I showed him the song and I just felt that something was missing. It was his suggestion to then just change “It’s the typical Nashville dream...” to “It’s the typical American dream...” and it was just that moment of....YES! That’s it! That little word change brought so much more meaning to the song. Even though the song is about my experience in Nashville, anyone trying to live their own version of the American dream can relate to the feeling of wanting to be #1, but sometimes, just like me, you’re #41. 
 
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
I started writing songs when I was twelve years old because I was struggling. I was being bullied in school and didn’t understand why I didn’t have a lot of friends. Songwriting was a healthy way for me to let out those emotions. To this day, I still think that some of my best written songs come from my experiences in life and the honesty of emotions that come from that. I think it was a little difficult when I first moved to Nashville and first started co-writing to continue this same emotion in the songs.  After a while, I found that if you can revisit the same emotional stages and pull those emotions out in the co-writes.
 
What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
My biggest advice to a new musician starting out would be to love and accept your uniqueness. This is something I struggled with for years when I was growing up because I wanted to sound or look like the people who were on the radio or on TV at the time. Especially as a female artist, it is so easy to be put in a box and categorized as every other singer who you might slightly resemble. For me, when I stopped looking around and I started looking in — that’s where I found what type of artist I wanted to be. My only other piece of advice would be to surround yourself with people who challenge you in every way possible and spend less time with “yes people” who will just tell you what you want to hear. Only those who truly love you will want to push you to succeed to a level you didn’t even know was possible.