Category: Artist Highlights

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Suzanne

Suzanne is from Brookline, MA USA

What do you do during the day?
Well these days I continue to write and record music and also am president of my non profit Artists for Wildlife Conservation. We have fundraisers to support other non profits that help to save endangered species, and we are working hard to create a much bigger community.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?
1-7/ 100

Lyrics:

Shenandoah Girl
by Suzanne Dean

Chorus
Shenandoah Girl!
Tough as nails
Pretty as a pearl
Float tonight
Down this river
Side by side with me

Verse
Way out here Up here high
There’s a moon There’s a sky
There’s a hunger I can’t deny
Come with me We can fly!

Chorus

Verse
Water shines Just like chrome
This old ground I call home
River-deep Righteousness
Found with you my Happiness!

Chorus

Solo on verse and chorus

Verse

We can dive We can dance
Come here my love, take a chance
It’s a wonder A world apart
Drift away With my heart!

Chorus

Listen here:
Click here to listen

Is there anything surprising about your musical taste?
Well I like a lot of different styles of music. I think in another life I'd love to be a percussionist. I love percussion.

What does your songwriting habit look like?
I am always thinking about songwriting or recording. I always have a tune that I'm working on running through my head. I do some form of songwriting or recording on my days off.

Official music page:
https://www.suzannedean.me
https://www.afwildc.org 
Instagram

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?
Joni Mitchell and Bill Evans have been the 2 most musically influential musicians in my life. Joni Mitchell's poetic style of writing and guitar tunings, and Bill Evans melodies and lush, rich beautiful chords. I used to play in a lot of different tunings. I learned more from listening to and studying Bill Evans work than from any piano teacher. Both of their music goes straight into my heart and soul.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?
Just making myself do it more regularly.

Tell us an early memory about a song that woke something up inside you.
I loved I wanna Hold Your Hand by The Beatles. Even in German! I was 10 and began learning guitar that year. Yellow Bird was the first song I learned on guitar. I probably heard it by Harry Belafonte. But I'm sure I loved the Beatles from 1962. I was 8. I couldn't get enough of playing their 45s all the time.

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Jon

Jon is from Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.

What do you do during the day?
I am a Registered Nurse. I work in a Cardiovascular ICU. It is a pretty stressful job but very rewarding. I get to help recover people from open heart surgeries and other problems with their hearts and blood vessels (I'll spare you the unpleasant details). I see people at their absolute worst, but I also get to see them fully recovered which makes it worth the mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting demands. Music was my part time job before becoming a nurse. Now, it is mainly my hobby.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

1-7/ 100

Lyrics:

My Love
by Jon Mentgen

Oh, my love where do you go
My love I got to know
Is there hate in your heart for me
Please, tell me true
Oh, my love I’m so lonely without you

Oh, my love who do you see
Oh my love I know it’s not me
You been fooling around so much
What have you done
Please, stop playing with my love

This foolish heart of mine, it pains me
Until I don’t even know what to do
I know there is nothing that can save me
You said, “you were the one for me.”  
Now I know it ain’t true, my love

My love, you turned cold as ice
My love, you turned day into night
You got what you want from me
Then you threw my love away
Now, I’m drowning in this pain, my love

My love, you may have put the hurt on me
But my love is stronger than you believed
You blew a hole in my heart one day
But, I got it right back like a ricochet
You just can’t kill my love

Listen here:
Click here to listen

Is there anything surprising about your musical taste?
I fell in love with Reggae music when I played in a Reggae band for a couple of years. People don't usually associate me with this musical style. I also have a guilty pleasure with Dub Step music. Love that bass drop. I have such a varied taste in music. I studied jazz in college. I toured with a rock band after college. Played Celtic and Reggae and Bluegrass too. My songwriting reflects my eclectic tastes, I think. Lately, I've been writing in a country/soul/blues genre.

What does your songwriting habit look like?
I am always thinking about songwriting or recording. I always have a tune that I'm working on running through my head. I do some form of songwriting or recording on my days off.

Official music page:
Soundcloud

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?
I'm inspired by brave, honest and smart people. One in particular that inspired me in my early songwriting journey was Cat Stevens. I just love the uniqueness of his voice and songwriting. I also love the interesting life story he has led. Politics and Religion aside, his songwriting is so singular to me.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?
I feel sometimes that I've reached my limits with my guitar in terms of coming up with fresh ideas. Or at least coming up with ideas that aren't cliche. I have been attempting to play piano and that is fun. I also feel that I fall into familiar ideas and phrases, words etc... But, I work to expand my palette and imagination all the time.

Tell us an early memory about a song that woke something up inside you.
There are a few A-ha! moments for me early on. One was in elementary school (maybe 4th grade). I heard Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)" coming from my older brother's bedroom. Vinyl, of course! I remember hearing the chorus of children's voices and thinking it was odd that they were shouting to their teacher. I also found it very cool, probably because I admired my older brother too. Following that, I was introduced to more late 70's and early 80's rock and fell in love with music. I would drift off to sleep at night with my clock radio whispering classic rock music in my ear. I naturally gravitated towards the guitar because my father also played. I was hooked after that.

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Lizanne Richards

Lizanne is from Romsey, Victoria, Australia

What do you do during the day?
I am a full time mother of four. I have 3 in primary school and 1 still in pre-school kindergarten next year. I get the kids up and breakfasted, pack lunches, do the dishes, assist my 9 year old with her piano practice and my 8 year old with her violin practice, then drive them to school or 3 year old kinder. On three days I hang out with my 4 year old Oscar. We go swimming and grocery shopping one day. I play basketball and he does Mini Maestros (a pre-school music program) one day. And Oscar has a dance class and library story time session on another day. There are two mornings that I have that are kid-free. This year is the first year in nearly 10 years that I have had kid-free time during the day. I have tried to dedicate this time to music stuff, as this is what I longed for throughout the last 10 years.

Share a song you wrote during the last 100 DOS challenge:
I wrote the lyrics in March, re-worked them and then recorded it in early November. I was away for the launch of the 100 day challenge so unfortunately felt like I missed the boat. My deadline was to record the song for my friend, who is in hospital, battling cancer. He's heard it and has informed that he intends to hang in there and keep waiting.

Lyrics:

Waiting Room by Lizanne Richards

Sitting a waiting room
Looking at the trash TV
Waitin’ for my number
Who knows when it’ll be?

I heard that you’ve been called
You’re too young but you say
I’ve had a good life
No regrets
Now you’re sitting in a waiting room
Waiting for a place to go
If waiting is the thing we do
I want to wait it out with you

BREAK

Your mother has the hardest road
To watch her grown up baby boy
Be the first to leave
Depart this waiting room

(And I want her to know) Every moment mattered

We’d do it all again
You’re sitting with us
In this waiting room

BREAK

If waiting’s all that’s left to do
Then I’m gonna wait it out with you
Cos’ it’s you that matters most
In this waiting room

There’s waiting and there’s being free
Free from all constraints
No more smashed egos
No small complaints
Sitting in a waiting room
Waiting for a place to go
If waiting is the thing we do
I want to wait it out with you

Listen here:
Click here to listen

Is there anything surprising about your musical taste?
My husband is a Tool fan and I have seen the light. I haven't naturally gravitated towards this style of music, but I have broken through into the realm of appreciating going to live performances of heavy styles of rock music. Concrete Blonde, Queens of the Stone Age and Stephen Wilson are a few artists that I have thoroughly enjoyed being exposed to.

What does your songwriting habit look like?
In the depths of this winter just gone, I started a new routine of getting up half an hour earlier and completing 20 or so minutes of song writing exercises. I followed Pat Pattison's Sonwriting Without Boundaries book. I also joined up with 100 Days of Songwriting online community which has provided me with deadlines and extremely helpful tutorials.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?
Gillian Welch. I discovered her when I was a teacher in London in my early 20's. Her voice is not trying to be anything it isn't. Her lyrics are intelligent and highly crafted. She has something to say. Her instrumentation is sparse and musical. Her sense of rhythm is impeccable. I can think of no other songwriter who has floored me with their craft more than her.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?
Finding and making the time to slot songwriting in is challenging. Working out a new way to work alongside parenthood is challenging. It's all pushing me towards a desk home music studio set up and approach where I work when I can and save the work that I do, to be continued when the next session arises. It is requiring me to step up to the plate of learning software, completing online tuturials and stepping into the role of producer for my own music. It's slow going but it's all actually good stuff.

Tell us an early memory about a song that woke something up inside you.
Roads by Portishead, Dummy album.
I remember being in the Bluetrain Cafe on Southbank in Melbourne. I was with my fiance who would soon become my ex. The song transported me into a beautiful space of longing and loss. It's a timeless recording. Beth Gibbon's vocals sit perfectly atop ethereal sounds, strings and beats. It's sparseness and space makes it.

Check out their work here:
https://www.lizannerichards.com

https://www.instagram.com/lizannerichardsmusic/

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Simon Woodward

Simon is from York, UK

What do you do during the day?
My job now is mostly Engineering Manager. Although my background is electrical engineering, I'm actually doing more mechanical designs for generators. I've been a Production Manager, an Operations Manager, and I once spent 3 years in Wales designing and building a bio-fuel power station.

Share a song you wrote during the last 100 DOS challenge:
I've decided to share a song I wrote late last year, called Another Piece Of Me. After working through the pandemic in not-so-very nice circumstances, I found that it had an effect on peoples' mental health, including my own. Then I was on TikTok and started following a girl who was going through serious issues, to the extent some guys stopped her from jumping off a bridge. Those were real problems that I could never comprehend, but it was her that inspired this, although she actually turned it around and is now pregnant and happy, to the extent that she changed her username, as if she had become someone else.

Lyrics:

Another Piece of Me by Simon York

I've been trying to tell you how I feel inside
But the words just run and hide
In my head I always want to run
Waiting for that starting gun
And as I start to walk away
The strength I need, to live and fight another day

Takes another little piece of me
These chains of doubt, they won't set me free
In my mind I need some sanctity
I want to feel that I hold the key

I've been living in a darkened room
Let you see what I want you to see
A prisoner of my own anxieties
All my fears, cling to me
And as I sit and I hide away
The strength I need, to live and fight another day

Takes another little piece of me
These chains of doubt, they just won't set me free
In my mind there is no sanctity
Now I know, that I won't hold the key

The mask I show you slowly falls away
And inside I get so burnt and torn
Every knock I get just chips away
How I wish that I could be reborn
And as I lie here and I fade away
I have no strength for another day

All the pieces now lie at my feet
Those chains of doubt that constricted me
In my mind there was no sanctity
To late to know that there was no key

Listen here:
Click here to listen

Is there anything surprising about your musical taste?
When I was a teenager and Heavy Metal started its rise, that was the genre I liked the most. However, as I've "matured" I find myself liking every genre except one: sea shanties. My one guilty pleasure used to be....... Barry Manilow. Oh, hang on, Cliff Richards was also quite good.

What does your songwriting habit look like?
My habits vary, but I find that I'm more productive if I have a lyric to work from. I've created 5 songs that did not have lyrics to go with them, but after 4 or 5 years, 2 remain waiting. Voice memo on phones make it a lot easier to get the lyric idea and melody down, so I've used that method quite a bit, and I also once made a complete song in GarageBand on the iPad - including guitar solo - transferred that to a computer and did the vocals.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?
There are a lot of people that inspire me, but the two people most are my wife Anne, who writes stories and is hoping one day to get them published, and the song writer Albert Hammond. I had a various artists tape and he was on it with The Free Electric Band, which inspired me to buy the album. I then find out he wrote When I Need You, that Leo Sayer had a hit with, and also The Air That I Breathe. He's written loads of songs for so many different artists.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?
The biggest challenge I find is always the theme, which is why I'm so pleased at learning the Mozart Method. I'm now wondering if the original letter was about politics, would you write a political song. If it was about war, would you write about war? My one ambition is to write a concept album, as I think that would be the ultimate challenge.

Tell us an early memory about a song that woke something up inside you.
I've been listening to music since I was very young. My father wasn't particularly interested in modern music, but my mother and uncle were, so we had access to all the old Rock 'n' Roll records, which I used to love listening to.

We used to also watch Top of the Pops on TV, and I liked the Glam Rock scene, but the one song that got me was Queen's Tie Your Mother Down. We could hire LPs from the library for a week, and I hired A Day At The Races. When it started, there were these strings, and I'm wondering what the heck it was, but then the riff kicked in. I was hooked from that minute, and just sat there thinking this was my music. I loved everything they did for years.

 Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Curtis

Curtis is from Charlotte, NC, USA

What do you do during the day?

I teach Delta Airlines Ramp techniques to their contractors. Its a dangerous job with loud machines that have their own rhythms. I end up hearing melodies that I often have to leave the ramp to go write down.

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview…

Meet Robin

Robin is from Deming, WA, USA.

What do you do during the day?
I get to work with kids, this year it is 2nd and 3rd graders, mostly on reading skills, but often I get to run music/art classes from a curriculum I have been assembling, and it is always heart-filling. Up until the pandemic, I was in 4 musical groups, now I have only 1 (if that) rehearsal a week, and few gigs. Sigh. But.. silver lining, I joined this community that is really filling me up!

Here is one of our many members who have brought life to our community. We are grateful to see the process and progress our members share with us, and we are honored to give them the spotlight! Their story is our story. Read on to be inspired by our latest Member Highlight interview...

Meet Thomas

Thomas is from Ringsted, Denmark.

What do you do during the day?
I teach classroom music 6 lessons a week, conduct a string ensemble, coach a band and have a large number of guitar students. On weekends, I perform as a sideman in a covers band, sub in other bands, and do the occasional solo performance here and there, either on classical guitar, or in my singer/ songwriter capacity. I am also available for remote session work - mostly on guitar - from my home studio that has steadily grown into quite a capable little operation, and where I have a LOT of fun creating.