RECENT ARTICLES

For Los Angeles-based rapper, Problem, growing up in Compton wasn’t easy. But to help assuage the often-dark realities, the future emcee kept something special in his metaphorical back pocket. Problem (born Jason L. Martin) spent the first few years of his life in Würzburg, West Germany before moving to Southern California. As a result, he always knew the world was bigger than his house or neighborhood. His mind was always in some ways on something else, reaching, trying to grow proverbial branches elsewhere while keeping roots at home. Today, Problem has achieved these aims. The rapper, who has worked extensively with famed artists like Snoop Dogg and Terrace Martin, will release his latest record, Coffee & Kush Vol 3 (The Finale), and episode two of his documentary series, A Compton Story, before the end of the year.

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For the New York-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter, Emily James, the past few months have been rather productive. Forced, like most people, to stay essentially isolated and indoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, James has worked to make the most of the long string of days. The recently-turned-twenty-one-years-old artist has been writing, producing and recording new songs for a forthcoming February 2021 EP. On top of that, with the help of her mom and a sunny day at the beach, James has made a charming new music video for her most recent single, “Back in the Summer,” which we’re happy to premiere here at American Songwriter Magazine today.

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In the same way generations were once raised by television, today, more and more people have been engaging with the internet for as long as they can remember. One such person is the Oakland-based artist and musician, mxmtoon, known also as Maia. The songwriter, who has played musical instruments since she was six-years-old, has found and taken in countless hours of content online. The 20-year-old artist, who released her latest EP, Dusk, on October 1st, has also put forth her fair share of work into the digital ether. As a result, she has, in a sense, grown up online. Her songs and many of her most vulnerable truths have been laid bare for audiences. But while this could be daunting for an artist with weaker metal, Maia carries with her a strong, reasoned perspective on the dynamic.

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Nashville-based singer-songwriter, Ana Cristina Cash, has a theory. Creative people, she says, make what they need at any given time. This is why Cash, who began performing at six-years-old and writing songs not long after, recorded her own version of the classic Hawaiian holiday song, “Mele Kalikimaka,” during the constrictive quarantine. She wanted to transport herself (and her listeners) to a place of sunshine and joy during a cold, stuffy winter season. Cash, who also recorded the song to make her young child smile, recorded the track with her husband, John Carter Cash, in the historic Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee. And we’re happy to premiere the bright music video for the acoustic version of the track here today.

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The art of drag is a centuries’ old form of expression borne from vaudeville, burlesque and a need to experiment with personal appearance, gender orientation and sex. But, more recently, the spotlight on drag seems to grow markedly thanks largely to the hit television show, RuPaul’s Drag Race. Before the show, popular drag queens often had a cap on their potential career achievements (and earnings). One could be a star locally in open-minded cities but thanks to Drag Race, queens can now be internationally famous and celebrated. One such star is Katya (born Brian Joseph McCook), the Russian-themed, (often) hot mess with a sharp tongue and quick wit. Today, Katya, who is one of the world’s most popular drag performers, is set to release her latest work, a five-track EP, Vampire Fitness, out Friday.

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Payge Turner, the Seattle-based singer-songwriter and recent performer on the NBC television show, The Voice, remembers falling in love with music at four-years-old while backstage at her mother’s choir performances. Turner, who grew up in the Caribbean, says music often felt magical, mystical and mysterious. Along with singing and songwriting, Turner has always had a fondness for musicals, which combine both acting and singing. For her, they’re like fairytales. And Turner, thanks to her successful audition on The Voice, is living something of her own fairytale with a new career coach in Gwen Stefani and thousands of new fans ready to watch her evolve and achieve more.

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Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist, Gabbie Hanna, says that, for her, communication is the most important part of being human. For Hanna, who has Billboard­ chart-topping songs and New York Times best selling books to her name to go along with millions of song and music video streams, listening to and comprehending one another is the key to peaceful, productive living. But, if you ask her, Hanna says that while clear communication is essential in all facets of the world, it’s especially important when it comes to interacting with those close with her. Those familial relationships are the roots upon which creativity grows. And they’re the essential aspects to Hanna’s big, ever-burgeoning career.

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Before Shawn James and his Liberty Bell-like singing voice were well known, he remembers sitting behind the studio glass feeling jealous. In his twenties, the Chicago-born singer had studied in college in Florida to be an audio engineer. He’d taken internships in Nashville afterwards, moved there with his wife. But when he was finally offered a job and a permanent position, James remembers feeling his gut sink. He’d sat there twisting nobs and pushing faders but the whole time he’d wanted to be on the other side, performing and singing into the microphone. So, he declined the position and, with the help of his wife, changed his life forever. James, who rose to fame almost overnight (more on this later), released his latest record, The Guardian Collection, last week and the stripped-down LP continues to display his unparalleled vocal power.

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Superstar singer and performer, Leslie Odom Jr., has a favorite Christmas memory. At 10-years-old, the eventual co-lead of the Broadway show, Hamilton, was gifted a double-deck karaoke machine from his parents. He’d already shown interest in music. He’d found his father’s record collection in crates in the basement, and Odom Jr. began listening to it all. His folks saw his interest and wanted to help promote it, so they invested in a portable “Singalodeon.” That investment changed Odom Jr.’s life, helping him to develop the skills and interest that would one day make him a household name. From those early days singing to a Marvin Gaye record or writing his own songs and recording them on the Singalodean, Odom Jr. has developed into an acclaimed recording artist and his next release, The Christmas Album, is out November 6th.

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At five-years-old, Sophia Regina Allison, better known as the singer-songwriter, Soccer Mommy, understood that she wanted music to be in her life always. Allison, who started playing then, saw her dad strum the guitar here and there but he wasn’t a professional musician. A professor, he’d moved their family to Nashville from Switzerland when she was just one-year-old. By pure serendipity, Allison, whose mother was a grade school teacher, was now smack-dab in the center of Music City. She went to a performing arts high school and, later, in college at NYU, studied music business. But instead of graduating, Allison decided to drop out, move back to Nashville and sign a record contract. She’s been releasing popular music under her moniker ever since, including her acclaimed 2020 LP, color theory, and the latest music video for her new single, “crawling in my skin.”

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Growing up, the rapper, Open Mike Eagle, says there were two prominent styles of rhyming in his hometown of Chicago. On the south side, where he was from, the aesthetic was influenced by a more classic New York City style. Whereas, the west side of the city took on touches from down south and Los Angeles. For a while, Eagle says, he adopted the New York City-south side method, rejecting the west side and it’s more melodic approach. But, at some point, a switch flipped. It didn’t have to be one or the other. He could be both. Ever since, in many ways, Eagle’s style has leaned into that truth. He can embrace the many diverse aspects and abilities of his mind. He can have as many interests as exist moments in the day. And this eclectic intellectual bent permeates Eagle’s newest LP, Anime, Trauma and Divorce.

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British-born and Maryland-raised rapper, IDK (aka Jason Aaron Mills), wants the world to understand that music is so much more than an amalgamation of rhythms, melodies and lyrics. For the Los Angeles-based emcee, who released his major label debut LP, Is He Real, a year ago, music is medicinal. It’s a balm, a salve, a prescription, even, that soothes the mind, body soul and heals in the same way therapy, a massage or Aspirin might.

“The thing I love about music is not really publicized,” IDK says. “A lot of people don’t really talk about it or don’t know. Music is almost just as important as a doctor. It can be looked at in the same way as going to see somebody like a therapist. A lot of people without music or the funds to have a therapist probably would be in a way worse place.”

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Musician and performer, Amanda Palmer, has led an eventful life. But, the artist says, it comes with a price. To experience, to be known, to create, to receive adulation, praise and attention requires putting oneself into the world in vulnerable ways. Often an artist will show the recesses of their psyche, as if splaying ideas out on the laundry line for the neighbors and world to see. But Palmer is used to this. At six-years-old, she began singing in church. As a college student, she dressed as an eight-foot statue standing still in the middle of city blocks to earn rent money as onlookers at times berated. And she’s fronted several prominent music projects, including the wildly popular duo, The Dresden Dolls, which is set to release the never-before-seen 2017 live show film, The Dresden Dolls Return To Paradise, on October 31st to celebrate the band members’ first meeting on Halloween two decades ago.

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In an era when information and options seemingly bombard the world’s population at a never-ending assault, Nashville-based songwriter, Molly Parden, aims to be understated. Her work is subtle. It hovers. While so many of her contemporary peers present explosions and songwriting pyrotechnics, Parden prefers a float down the river with a few pals. The artist, who grew up in a suburb outside Atlanta before moving to the metropolis and, later, landed in the Music City, is set to release her latest solo record, Rosemary, on November 13th. For Parden, who is so experienced at working in other people’s projects (more on this later), the forthcoming EP is a rare offering of her solo work in collection. And today we are happy to premiere the video for the EP’s new single, “Who Are We Kiddin’.”

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Whenever 21-time platinum-selling rock ‘n’ roll band, Hootie & the Blowfish, get together to write and record a new album, the group’s lead guitarist, Mark Bryan, usually leaves with enough material for a new solo record. Each of the four core members of Hootie write and so when the band gets together, as it did for its recent 2019 release, some 70-80 songs are composed. From the batch that don’t make the final album, Bryan reuses the favorite ideas he’s found and written, bringing them to his own studio. This was precisely the process for the musician’s forthcoming solo album, Midlife Priceless, which he will release in April 2021. Today, we are happy to premiere the record’s first single, “Wanna Feel Something,” on which Bryan sings about Hootie’s recent successful reunion.

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