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Songwriters in Seattle

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– Eric Tingstad Podcast Posted

Chris Klimecky | October 29, 2012

Eric Tingstad has a long and storied (not to mention successful!) career as a guitarist, instrumental songwriter, and recording artist. From his first release in 1981 to a Grammy award in 2003 to his latest release, Badlands, Eric has carved a unique niche in the “Ambient Americana” genre. Blending country, folk, rock, new age, and Native American sounds, he creates a musical tapestry of his own.

So it was a real pleasure to sit down with this Pacific NW native for insights and stories of his musical journey. Friendly, open, and accessible, Eric has an honest desire for the growth and success of the NW music community and helping up and coming musicians attain their goals. He has been through a lot of changes in the music industry and continues to make music on his own terms, which is a testament to his skill and talent!

BlogPodcast

– Jabi Shriki (aka Tobias the Owl) Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | February 28, 2012

How are you going to spend your one extra day of February this year? Listening to the new Songwriters in Seattle podcast, I would suggest! My guest this month is Jabi Shriki, who brings a great combination of thoughtfulness and emotion to his music and our discussion. His new album, Puzzle Pieces, is out now and has a poetic depth to a pop/rock sound (think echo-y U2 guitars with a mellow tenor voice).

Jabi has a substantial catalog of recorded music and has been playing in bands for a while. For Puzzle Pieces, he played all the instruments and recorded it all himself, so a lot of effort went into it. He’s also a doctor (radiologist) and a book author, which all came into play with the concept of the album. It’s very interesting to hear him describe how he melds the different parts of his life in the expression of his music.

Podcast

SiS Podcast: Charlie Heinemann

Chris Klimecky | January 27, 2012

Americana singer/songwriter Charlie Heinemann is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. Charlie shares songwriting tips, songs from the album with his band The Repeat Offenders, and plays a new song live.

BlogPodcast

– Adena Atkins Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | December 28, 2011

The final podcast of 2011 with my friend and very talented songwriter Adena Atkins is now available for your enjoyment – capping off a fantastic year of getting to know my fellow Songwriters in Seattle! If Adena’s name (and voice) sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve talked about her before as […]

Podcast

SiS Podcast: Adena Atkins

Chris Klimecky | December 27, 2011

Electronica art song singer/songwriter Adena Atkins is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. They dive into the four songs of her EP “The Slowest Curve” and her many art form influences.

BlogPodcast

– TeeWanz Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | October 28, 2011

Whether you call him “The Wanz,” “TeeWanz” or just Michael Wansley, you’ll find that this is a Seattle R&B/Hip Hop/Soul artist with a ton of talent. With a beautiful, smooth singing voice, infectious modern beats, and mature songwriting chops, Wanz has evolved his approach from funk rock bands in the 90’s to a one man non-stop mobile production house these days.

This is a guy with some great stories and an understated sense of humor. What a fun podcast this was! Unfortunately, he has so many stories I had to cut some to get the podcast closer to the 1/2 hour target length. This will no doubt make for some great additional material in the future! But don’t worry – there’s still an overtime’s worth of discussion along with three of his newer tracks to get a taste for his style and substance.

BlogPodcast

– Jessica Lynne Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | October 2, 2011

When Jessica Lynne brought her stunning voice to the Pacific Northwest from Denmark a year ago, little did she know how involved she would become with Songwriters in Seattle. But she quickly jumped right in with both feet and took fast action to kickstart her country music career and connect with other musicians here in the states. What a year it’s been! Her newly minted EP, Spiritual Cowgirl, is a great representation of what Jessica can accomplish and is no doubt the beginning of even bigger and better things to come for her musically.

Podcast

SiS Podcast: Jessica Lynne

Chris Klimecky | October 2, 2011

Jessica Lynne joins Chris in the studio to discuss her move from Denmark to Seattle, being in love with country music in a place where that wasn’t the norm, and her debut EP Spiritual cowgirl. Also, a live performance of “Fallen Angels Don’t Fly.”

BlogPodcast

– Val D’Alessio Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | August 26, 2011

It’s only been a few months since Val D’Alessio started attending events with Songwriters in Seattle, but she’s one of those people who the instant you speak with her and the instant she starts playing music, you know there’s an extremely talented and caring person you’ve got there. While very supportive of SiS, she’s also fairly quiet and humble, so it quickly became a goal of mine to try and get her to tell a little more about herself with a podcast invitation. Lucky for me (and all of you as well), she accepted! During our discussion, Val opens up about her musical and spiritual journey that changed her approach to expressing herself well into adulthood. “Allowing” herself to be a songwriter, and really owning that gift when talking to others has been an obstacle that continually challenges her.

BlogPodcast

– One Year of Podcasting!

Chris Klimecky | August 26, 2011

My 12th podcast for Songwriters in Seattle is now posted! My thanks to Val D’Alessio for capping the first year of the podcast with a great discussion and beautiful music. To account for the larger number of podcasts I now have (and will continue to grow), I’ve re-structured how they are presented on my website, with each getting its own posting. Among other benefits of efficiency, this also allows each podcast to have a unique link and its own set of comments. Also as part of the “one year celebration” I just submitted a working podcast subscription xml link to iTunes (I’ll let you know when it’s available). This will make it easier for people to find it and stay up to date each month. It was also an opportunity for me to properly fill out all the meta-data in the podcast mp3 files, so no matter what platform you’re listening on, you’ll get proper descriptions, file organization, and the SiS logo graphic.

Blog

– Roo Forrest Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | July 27, 2011

It’s the end of July already and time to get to know another member of Songwriters in Seattle! This month my guest is Andy “Roo” Forrest – a creative entreprenuer outside of music, who brings both a clever lyrical and harmonic sense to his songs. He has a great blend of pop, folk, jazz, and country that feels familiar yet is wholly original at the same time. To me, it is really indicative of how creativity crosses boundaries, and influences from other parts of our lives can gel in a songwriter’s music to produce something unique to the individual songwriter.

For the podcast, we dive into Roo’s new, self-titled CD out now (“Roo”) and we play a couple cuts from the disc as well as discuss the many great guest musicians he has on the recording. As an independent businessman, we tackle a little bit of music business discussion as well for a different perspective than one might usually get from a musician. As a grand finale, Roo plays a new song live in the studio – a sweet solo acoustic and vocal piece perfect for the summer(!) called “I Like the Snow.” A little Christmas in July for ya!

Blog

– Weekend Double-Header!

Chris Klimecky | July 11, 2011

I haven’t been performing that much recently due to my current focus on finishing recording of the new album and producing multiple side projects, so it’s a rare coincidence of timing that I would be playing back to back shows on weekend evenings. Both this Saturday and Sunday (July 18th & 19th) I’ll be doing unplugged shows at Soulfood Books in Redmond. I love this place and I love the people there, not to mention these will be two very different shows. First, on Saturday the monthly Songwriters in Seattle showcase will kickoff at 8pm. There will be four performers for the evening and while I host the evening from the beginning and make sure everything is running smoothly, I will be the closer for the night actually performing around 9:30. My setlist for this one is looking like this:

I Can’t Say
Bankrupt Generation
*What Brings People Together
Certainly
*Colored Life
Angels Don’t Hide
*Cider & Roses

Blog

– Thom Schroeder Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | June 27, 2011

The monthly Songwriters in Seattle podcast continues to fascinate and inspire me with the variety of talent and level of musicianship we have in the group. This month symphonic rock pianist Thom Schroeder gives us insight into his classical approach to composition which combines epic forms, extreme dynamics, and modern textures to create a unique sound. Emotional performance and technical virtuosity make for an intense listening experience – you’ve got to hear this!

During our discussion, Thom talks about how he came to this genre, his search for a vocalist, and thinking big! It was a pleasure to have Thom in the studio and thank him for coming by for our 10th podcast to share his music and personal story.

Blog

– Henta Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | May 25, 2011

The incredible talent in Songwriters in Seattle continues to inspire! This month we get to know Grammy nominated artist Henta Ellis in the monthly podcast. What a fascinating story she has of being drawn to Seattle from Engliand due to music collaboration and then flourishing with the music community here. The details of her Grammy experience are also not to be missed!

We are very fortunate to have her be our first keyboard player to do a live performance for the podcast – and what an emotional performance it was. Her song “Rain” from her upcoming album takes on a very different character live than on the studio recording. I always love that we get a unique version of a song for the podcast when someone plays live!

Blog

– Jean Mann Podcast Posted!

Chris Klimecky | April 27, 2011

It’s been a busy month for Jean Mann: preparing the release of a new album (Dream of Goats), a new tour, promotions and an interview schedule, she is gathering momentum on this 4th release that will surely propel her to new heights and popularity both locally and far beyond. I feel extremely lucky and honored to have gotten a slice of her time to discuss her background, her songwriting, and this bit of a whirlwind she’s creating! Not only did we have a great conversation, she brought her ukelele as well as her regular 6-string and played a few songs for us live. Awesome!

So you’ll hear “Memory’s Dusty Road” from the new disc, a solo uke and vocal live version of “Sweet Peas on the Vine” (also fully arranged on the new disc), and a live version of the beautiful “Blue Sky” from her 3rd album Daisies and Fire. Jean has a warmth and sweetness that I know you’ll enjoy, as well as an honest, artistic, and organic songwriting style that has a lot of heart. As she puts it, “…part poetry set to music…storytelling, and a little bit of journal…”

Blog

– Radio Show Guest on The Aquarium

Chris Klimecky | April 26, 2011

It was a beautiful sunny Spring Saturday in the Pacific Northwest (one of the few)…with McChord AF Base on my right and a windshield full of Mt. Rainier in front of me, I soon entered an unassuming Tacoma studio to start my swim in The Aquarium!!! As part of NWCZ Radio (Independent Northwest Music), The Aquarium is a talk show hosted by Ray “King Fish” Hayden and “Big Mike” Renville that highlights singers and songwriters from the Pacific Northwest. “We will focus on getting to know the artists and what drives them to pursue the life of being a songwriter.” In a nutshell, these guys are huge music lovers and supporters of the NW music scene – and they and their crew were not only total professionals, but a great group to hang out with! I had a fantastic time!

Airing Tuesday, April 26th from 7-8pm (then posted later on iTunes), you’ll hear some details of my songwriting and recording history, my current works and promotional endeavors, and my own efforts to support the Northwest music scene through Songwriters in Seattle. Musically, I did a solo acoustic live performance of “Come Back To You” which will be fun to hear back. We also got to goof around a little bit with some Bohemian Rhapsody shenanigans so we’ll see what Ryan the sound engineer comes up with putting that together! So please tune in and check it out.

Blog

– Bill Derry Podcast Posted

Chris Klimecky | March 30, 2011

It’s time for the March Songwriters in Seattle Podcast! This month I spoke with local songwriter Bill Derry, who performs regularly throughout the Pacific Northwest. As he says in the podcast, he just “likes to perform” and has many variations with his band, solo, duo, trio, etc. playing a mix of classic rock, folk, and jazz. To me, he just has a a very laid back and easy to listen to style – no doubt in part due to his smooth, mellow voice.

He has a cd out with his band, entitled “This Old Dog” – which you can get at a live show or on iTunes here:

Bill Derry Band – “This Old Dog” on iTunes

In addition to the song Friday Afternoon that we spin during the podcast, Bill performed 2 new previously unrecorded songs live in the studio. What a treat to be able to broadcast new songs like this!

Blog

– Inspiring Songwriters in Seattle

Chris Klimecky | March 21, 2011

I just got back from the monthly Songwriters in Seattle networking meetup, and I must say “Wow”! The amount of talent in the room was insane – try to imagine a small room with 20 or so musicians packed in, each playing an original song that showed off their personal style. Every one put a smile on my face. It was super-inspiring to look around and think about what a supportive musical community we have.

There were no “hacks” there tonight. Sure people are at different points in their musical journeys – some played their best song, some played a recent song, some played a song to ask the group for feedback, so it’s not necessarily always a “best foot forward” kind of situation. But the variety and energy that came through whether it was live or recorded was phenomenal. If you’re a musician and you can possibly get to one of these events, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

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