Music In The Minor League – Détails, épisodes et analyse

We're back with a new episode of Music in the Minor League!

Our guest this episode is Carter Felker! Carter was an absolute blast to talk to. He's one of those people you meet and within 5 minutes, it's like you're best friends. His new album entitled Loser is out on Friday! Be sure to check it out!

Carter hails from Calgary, AB! He's our second international guest and our second from Canada. It's also worth noting that he came recommended by our first Canadian guest, Sean Burns! If Sean recommends someone, we're going to give them a listen and, of course, he didn't let us down with this recommendation! Find Carter Felker Online:

https://www.instagram.com/carterefelker - Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/carterfelkermusic/ - Facebook

https://carterfelker.bandcamp.com/ - Bandcamp

Welcome to episode 55 of Music in the Minor League. AKA Episode 4 of season 3! For this episode, we had the privilege of talking with Jewelz Melody! You may recognize her from Shame On Me where she blows minds and melts hearts with season 2 guest Mel Gutierrez. She also is known to sit in with folks like Dem Roots Music and Opie Hendrix. Oh, and she's also working on solo material, some of which she performed on a recent episode of Long River Sessions.

Jewelz's has a rather unique relationship with music and language that makes her path to music one of the most captivating stories we've heard on the podcast thus far. She hears songs, sees them, feels them and can interpret them in many ways. It is truly impressive.

We hope you'll give this one a listen. It's so good!

Also, a special thanks for Masaya Tamegai for sharing a song from Jewelz's Long River Session with us.

Find Jewelz online at:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JewelzMelody

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JewelzMelody

• Other: https://linktr.ee/jewelzmelody

• Jewelz Melody - Long River Session: https://youtu.be/VFcRA5Eu3Wk?si=Pp6Cqk_QVc8gNVMc

• Also visit Shame on Me at:

• Website: https://shameonmetx.com/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shame_on_me_tx/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shame.on.me.mtsp

• Shame On Me - Long River Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cstZyZdB4Bw

We finally found a functional Xfinity hot spot and uploaded this week's episode of Music in the Minor League! This week, we were joined by Masaya Tamegai of Long River Sessions, Visuals by Masaya, Houston Collective and KPFT Sessions. Masaya has become an integral part of documenting the Houston music scene and we were thrilled to get to talk to him. The conversion was full of great information, lots of new bands to check out and lots of laughs. We know y'all will really enjoy this one. The episode kicks off with Shame On Me's Lucky, which Masaya shot a video for. Check out the song in the episode, then go watch the video! Check out Masaya's projects below! https://www.facebook.com/VisualsByMasaya - Facebook https://www.facebook.com/longriversessions - Long River Sessions Facebook https://youtube.com/@longriversessions - Long River Sessions YouTube https://www.instagram.com/long_river_sessions/ - Long River Sessions Instagram https://youtu.be/eHcFB5O9sak?si=h5A-ZuMjuCz8bqHE - "Lucky" by Shame on Me

This week on Music in the Minor League, we were joined by Todd Farrell, Jr.! We first became aware of Todd's music way back in like 2013 when he posted some awesome videos on YouTube for the annual CXCW (Couch by Couchwest) Online Music Festival. Dude did Run to the Hills acoustically!

Over the years, our paths crossed many times and we continued to be fans of his music. Todd has played with so many bands including ⁠Benchmarks⁠, Todd Farrell Jr and the Dirty Birds, ⁠Two Cow Garage⁠, ⁠Electric Python⁠ and many more! From blazing metal solos to dreamy pedal steel to being a front man, Todd can do it all!

We recorded the episode Monday night, so this one is FRESH! We're grateful to Todd for taking the time to talk to us. We got into baseball, why folksy singers like metal, why metal folks like folksy bands, being a touring musician with a family and a job and so much more. It was informative and fun.

Find Todd online at:

https://toddfarrelljr.bandcamp.com/ - Bandcamp

https://www.facebook.com/ToddFarrellJr - Facebook

https://www.instagram.com/toddfarrelljr/ - Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/benchmarksmusic/ - Benchmarks Instragram

https://www.instagram.com/electricpythonband/ - Electric Python Instagram

On this episode, we hooked up with Jeff Perales of Mind Mine, Do It for Chico Records, Sunflower Syndicate, etc to discuss his path to music, his prolific musical career, fun tour stories and much, much more.

We knew Jeff from Mind Mine and his previous band The Daphne Three, but were blown away by the breadth of influences, projects and future musical plans he has going on. It left us genuinely intrigued and awestruck.

For more information on Jeff and his music projects, find him online at:

https://www.mindminetx.com/ - Mind Mine

https://www.doitforchicorecords.com/ - Do It For Chico Records

https://www.instagram.com/mindminetx - Mind Mine Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/mindminetx - Mind Mine Facebook

Chris Edwards, simply put, is a singer-songwriter rooted in the deep Pineywoods of East Texas. With a suitcase full of influences ranging from the old-time folk and country he grew up with (thanks to his grandparents' record collection) to more recent Texas troubadours like Robert Earl Keen into rockier territory like the Old 97's, Chris Edwards' blend of catchy melodies and literate lyrics prove that he is a songwriter, first and foremost, focusing on "just writing good songs."

We enjoyed getting to sit down and have a conversation with Chris via Zoom. We learned a lot about his music, his approach to songwriting, what he loves about music and his new album, Homebrew, which is coming out on June 28th.

To find more info on Chris, visit on the web at:

https://chrisedwardsmusic.com/ - Official Website

https://www.facebook.com/ChrisEdwardsMusic/ - Facebook

https://www.instagram.com/chrisedwardsmusic - Instagram

https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisEdwardsTX - YouTube

A couple of weeks ago, folks started posting an article from The Guardian about the difficulties of touring for mid-level and lower-level indie bands. It covered how much money folks can LOSE while out on tour and how the bands are coping with it. It also covers venue difficulties, etc. The situation definitely parallels what is happening in the United States.

While not being experts on the situation, we have toured rather extensively in our time as a band, as well as our time in other bands. So, we all read the article and had a discussion on the difficulties of touring, the costs, how we do it and various other side conversations that are almost relevant.

This is definitely a look into how every practice starts and why 90 minutes of playing turns into 3 hours of practice with Brightwire. We hope you enjoy!

Check out the article here; https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/25/shocking-truth-money-bands-make-on-tour-taylor-swift

Today we are joined by Bart Roberts, who, as he says, is the Chief Vinyl Officer at Sweet Spot Audio and Records in Webster, TX. Bart came from a background in network television and dove right into another dying industry: physical media! We're joking, of course. Vinyl sales have continually grown over the recent years as people look for something tangible for their musical needs. Plus, variants of releases get the collectors excited to gather each version of selected releases.

One of the really important things for independent artists is finding ways to get your music out, be it Bandcamp, online retailers, streaming networks or social media. It is also great to have independent, local record stores that will carry records from local bands on their shelves. For a lot of people, they will take a chance on an album that is sitting on the shelf in front of them before they will via mail order.

We caught up with Bart the same week as Record Store Day, so that was a topic of discussion, we talked about great record store finds, what led Bart to taking over Sweet Spot and all the drama that goes into having your record pressed as an independent artist. There's a lot of great info in this episode and a lot of fun conversation. We hope you dig it! Visit Sweet Spot Audio and Records at:

https://www.sweetspotaudiorecords.com/ - Official Website

https://www.facebook.com/sweetspotaudiorecords - Facebook

https://www.instagram.com/sweetspotaudiorecords/ - Instagram

This week, we have reached the milestone of 40 episodes and to celebrate, we brought in our friend, Jeff Appleby, to discuss how we can use music to discuss how music an be used to serve your community and the common good.

While Jeff is not a musician, he what we'd call a "Scene Leader". He puts on shows, connects bands with one another and has his finger on the pulse of everything going down on the southside of Houston.

Each year, he throws a huge birthday party at Ronnie's Hog Heaven and, for the past four years, has used it to raise money for Texas EquuSearch. We've played it every year he's done the benefit and really enjoyed seeing the community come together to support a great organization like Texas Equusearch.

Jeff runs Pretty OK BBQ, which cooks up some of the best BBQ you'll ever have. He was also a co-host of the Two Sheet Cookers podcast!

We hope you enjoy listening to our conversation with Jeff as much as we enjoyed recording it!

Visit the Texas Equusearch website to learn more and/or make a donation at: https://texasequusearch.org/

Katherine Paterson is a singer/songwriter based in McKinney, TX. She writes indie-folk music to keep you company. Her debut album, Wake, is available on all streaming platforms.

Paterson started writing songs as gifts. She wrote one of her first songs from the journal entries of a cross-country road trip with a friend. Out of this song grew a passion for writing songs for far-flung companions. This transformed into writing songs as companions for all kinds of life moments.

After moving to Dallas in 2020, Paterson began performing solo and with her bands Doggerland and very good friends.

Paterson released her debut album, Wake, on January 14, 2024. The album lives in the complexity of feeling love, loss, joy, and grief all at the same time. Described as "quite the folksy feat," track four on the album, "Bloom," ventures through reconciliation and arrives at a celebration of how we got where we are.  Find Katherine online at:

https://katherinepatersonmusic.com/ - Website

https://www.instagram.com/kpatmusic - Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553503261016 - Facebook

https://katherinepaterson.bandcamp.com/ - Bandcamp

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3DhB8IZiTwv6mH8aX2VrCL?si=EC6t6nItS7iSBakBmAx0bw- Spotify