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Legendary songwriter Aimee Mann remembers putting in the extra work for her acting role in the 1998 comedy, The Big Lebowski. She’d been cast in the film after a successful, though light-hearted audition, and she was set to play a German nihilist. Mann says that because the character was a nihilist, she didn’t expect much acting or dialogue. Yet, she pulled one of her scene stars aside and put forth the idea of practicing a little something. So, they got together and worked up a short conversation about the whereabouts of a hotel key, in German. It was a good thing, too. For when it came time to shoot, the director said, “We’re going to zoom in and you guys just talk in German.”

They say the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. In this case, that’s especially true. Mann is always detail-minded; she loves intricacies. It’s the superpower she brings to her songwriting and the music she makes, which is especially so on Mann’s latest LP, Queens of The Summer Hotel, which is out officially on November 5 via Mann’s label, SuperEgo Records.

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At first, Colin Blunstone just wanted to play the guitar. The young burgeoning British-born musician just liked the instrument. He kept it by his side ever since he got his first one around 12 years old. Blunstone, who would later front the rock band, The Zombies, whose hit, “Time of the Season,” is probably being used in a new movie or commercial right this moment, was born into a musical home. He had five brothers who were multi-instrumentalists and a sister who sang and played guitar. Blunstone listened to Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and loved rock ‘n’ roll.

Today, the vocalist is experiencing his own recognition. The Zombies have a big tour and new album set. Blunstone himself is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his debut solo record, One Year, and the discovery of a lost album, That Same Year, which is set to drop on vinyl on Friday (December 10).

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Legendary hip-hop producer, Pete Rock (born Peter Phillips), met the legendary songwriter and performer James Brown when he was 7 years old in Mount Vernon, New York. That moment, coupled with a childhood immersed in music, helped to open Rock’s eyes to the very real idea that he too could be a professional musician. That he too could live a creative life.

When Rock was just 3 years old, he’d realized music was always around. His father was a record collector and DJ and Rock used to listen to his jazz and soul albums (Brown included). At 7, Rock’s mother took him to a show in his hometown of Mount Vernon where Brown was performing. His mother even had the confidence to introduce herself and her son to Brown that night. To this day, Rock, who has since worked with Nas, Kanye, Jay Z and is considered one of the most influential producers ever, says that was one of the greatest days of his life. Now, as the latest judge for the Tracklib Beat Battle Competition (winner announced this Sunday), Rock is taking on the role of mentor to a number of aspiring artists. For Rock, it’s part of paying back what he’d received earlier from people like Brown and others in his more immediate family.

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Growing up, Jenna Raine played centerfield, the position that sees everything. Despite regularly being the shortest, smallest, and youngest kid on the team, she often shined on the diamond. Raine played softball from about four years old to about 13 and despite being more accomplished at that than anything else, she gave it up to pursue her passion for songwriting.

While no one in Raine’s immediate family had any particular talent for music, she says, it’s something she always knew she wanted to dive into. When she was eight years old, for example, something innately told Raine to enter a talent show. It was then when her mother asked, “What’s your talent?”

But by playing piano and singing in the competition, Raine showcased the beginning of her future. She began taking vocal lessons at nine—this on top of the YouTube karaoke videos she’d sing along to at home, developing her chops. Now, nearly 10 years later, Raine has worked with some of the world’s biggest names and earned millions of song streams on the very platform she used to obsess over. And her latest release, “See You Later (Ten Years),” continues to portend a bright future for her after it recently hit No. 1 on the Spotify Global and U.S. Viral charts.

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Songwriter and performer K.Flay (born Kristine Flaherty) comports herself with consideration. She is not a flippant person. Instead, she is precise and thorough. It’s a position born of an interest in the small, personal revelations that can become big and booming. But these can only be conjured organically or originally if one is intent on observation being a mode of education. And Flay is most assuredly paying attention. She always has been, she’s invested.

That passion comes through in the music she makes and the albums she releases. Take, for example, the EP she released in June, Inside Voices, which harnessed the power of her id, she says. It was the proverbial blurt before the thought. Now, her newest EP, Outside Voices, represents her superego, or the more conscious, societally influenced part of her brain. The records represent a dualism that many (all?) walk around with daily, and one prominently exacerbated over the past few devastating years.

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Doug Robb, the crystal-clear-voiced, Southern California-born singer, performer, and frontman for the Los Angeles-based rock band Hoobastank remembers dancing in his room in his “tighty-whiteys” at four years old. He and his family lived in a small apartment at the time and Robb can recall his mother listening to what he remembers as lively Salsa music.

The sounds emanated through his bedroom door and, without even thinking about, Robb says he got up and started dancing. “I still remember that,” Robb tells American Songwriter. “Very vividly.” Something about the music got him to jump out of bed and start to move. Ever since then, Robb has existed in music, from early years making up joke songs with friends to releasing platinum records with some of those same pals a decade-plus later. And on Saturday (November 20), Hoobastank will celebrate two full decades since releasing the self-titled LP that changed the members’ lives with a show at the Whisky A Go-Go in L.A.

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Los Angeles-born rock band L.A. Witch began from a dire situation. “This is kind of fucked up,” says the group’s frontwoman and co-founder, Sade Sanchez. After the preface, she continues with the story of a bad relationship. Her then-boyfriend was physically and mentally abusive, she says, to the point that, when Sanchez decided she wanted to start a band, he forbid her from including male members. So, not yet ready to part ways with him, which Sanchez later did, she sought women players for her new group. “That was really hard at the time,” she says.

Now, though, some years later, Sanchez’s group is going strong and so is a burgeoning community of like-minded rockers, including groups like the Coathangers across the country in Atlanta. On November 19, L.A. Witch and the Coathangers will release their new split 7” album on vinyl, which features covers of Blondie’s “One Way Or Another” and The Gun Club’s “Ghost on the Highway.”

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Sometimes when you’re a world-class performer, the difference between focus and failure is all about the small, most minute details. Sure, there are the big things like which hit movie or television series you’re starring in (or set to star in), what is your latest popular song? Those are the headline grabbers. But for the people who work in creative fields day in and day out, there must be smaller, more granular aspects of thinking about things so as to maintain focus and clarity.

For rapper and actor TJ Atoms, who stars in the popular Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga, one bit of crucial minutia that he keyed in on was his name. Born Tyree Adams, the artist wasn’t into his last name, so he changed it to Atoms. Why? He’s all about energy. More than any line or lyric, the energy he puts into work is most essential. Which is why his latest song “Potato Chips,” which Atoms released last month, is so full of verve and vigor.

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For award-winning drag performer BenDeLaCreme (born Benjamin Putnam) music is often the proverbial spoonful of sugar that helps make the medicine go down. For “DeLa,” as she is known, childhood included melodies all the time. Whereas many families might have kept the television going 24/7, in DeLa’s home growing up it was musicals, soundtracks, and artists like Barbara Streisand and Eartha Kitt. As she points out now, it was the perfect soil for a soon-to-be-aspiring drag queen flower.

But soon, DeLa noticed something about the music she heard and musicals she followed, the songs provided the way for a message to sink in. Ever since, the artist has been utilizing this quality music allows. Most recently, she does so with her longtime collaborative partner Jinkx Monsoon on both their planned upcoming 26-city musical tour and new vinyl release earlier this month.

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The way songwriter Baby Tate (born Tate Sequoya Farris) thinks about it, music first came into her world the day she came into the literal world. Tate’s mother, after all, is Dionne Farris (of crossover hit, “I Know,” fame). Her father is a former music producer, though she didn’t have much contact with him growing up. Yet, for Tate, songs were always around. There was no time without them, she says. Her mother could see an interest in her at a young age, and so Tate was enrolled in a performing arts school, from elementary through high school.

Tate is one of those people who has always known what she’s wanted to do. For her, it was never a “doctor” or a “lawyer” when asked about her future. It was always a singer. Now, that supreme focus and dedication have paid off: Tate is a recent signee to Warner Music and today (Nov. 12), the artist has released her newest single, “Dungarees,” from the upcoming soundtrack for the new Halle Berry film, Bruised, which itself also features artists like Cardi B and H.E.R.

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Musician Jake Shimabukuro is probably the most famous ukulele player in the world. His fingers dash like sprinters, his hands strum like torrential winds, and his music emanates from the instrument like dancers. His music videos earn millions of views and he has thousands upon thousands of fans. Yet, Shimabukuro has a very particular relationship to the ukulele, and music, in general.

One might think that someone who takes music and practicing and playing so seriously, might also take the ukulele supremely seriously. Yet, Shimabukuro believes it all should be looked at with joy, not intimidation. When people ask him if it bothers him that people joke or look down on the ukulele as something of a toy, he says not at all. He says all instruments should be considered a joy to approach in this way. And it’s with this same joy that Shimabukuro approached his newest LP, Jake & Friends, which began a number of years ago, but is set to drop on Friday (November 12).

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Throughout his career, soul singer and songwriter Allen Stone admits that he’s suffered from “imposter syndrome.” It’s the feeling that you don’t belong or aren’t good enough. For some, this may be hard to believe given Stone’s other-worldly singing voice. His is a tone like golden light doused with dripping butter. Yet, that doesn’t necessarily alleviate internal feelings of insecurity. In the end, perhaps nothing might. But what Stone has realized over the years is that he can control the smaller things about his craft: showing up, being prepared, trying hard. He’s about the work. The rest—outwardly offered awards and acknowledgment—is for the birds.

As such, Stone is set to release his newest LP APART, an acoustic, stripped-down reimagined collection of some of his best songs over his decade as a professional musician. The record, which showcases both the origins of the songs and Stone’s vocal prowess performing them, is out November 12.

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Globally known songwriter and performer, Netta (born Netta Barzilai), moved with her parents from her native Israel to Nigeria as a three-month-old infant. When she was school-aged, her folks enrolled her in an international school where students had myriad different backgrounds. There were kids from Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, and other nations. As Netta says, there were all sorts of cultures and languages. The principal was American and he always carried a guitar. The place celebrated diversity, not monoculture. Netta remembers the Beatles and African gospel in her airwaves.

Later, though, her parents moved back to Israel when she was 7 and homogeneity kicked in. Suddenly, she was one of 40 ”white kids” in a classroom, and she was immediately just “the fat, uni-browed kid with the accent, who is also very, very sensitive.” This jarring juxtaposition, in a way, fuels every song the artist creates now. For Netta, music became a lifeline, a light source. And this is perhaps most obviously displayed on her newest single, “CEO,” which came out three weeks ago and has already amassed more than two million views.

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