The Morse Code Podcast with Korby Lenker Korby Lenker

A great listen for anyone interested in the publishing game in its current iteration. I speak with the Editorial Director of Lake Union, an imprint of Amazon that publishes more than 80 titles a year, generating more than $40 million in yearly revenue. In her influential capacity, Danielle as been responsible for some of the biggest success stories at her firm. We discuss the evolution of book publishing, expectation versus reality in terms of what happens when your book get published, and then we talk about the interesting stuff. Why you should or should not write. And how shame, fear and celebrity worship hold people back from creating in their own lives. 

I talk with three-time grammy winner, multi-instrumental singer songwriter, winner of numerous Native American Music Awards, and acclaimed painter, Bill Miller. Born on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in northern Wisconsin, his big break came when Tori Amos discovered his music and invited him to open her tour for the Under the Pink album. They toured together for over a year. After that it was the same thing with Pearl Jam. If you ever saw Disney’s Pocahontas, you remember the song “Colors of the Wind” sung by Vanessa Williams. Bill's flute playing throughout. That song won a Grammy and both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. I’m really just scratching the surface of what Bill has achieved in his life. I met him when he played on my song “Crow Country”. We’ve since become good friends, sharing shows together, hanging out. I look up to him — as an example of grace and wisdom and a deep sense of honoring the Spirit which animates us all. We talk about his life and perspective on creativity and where it might come from. We discuss the importance of acknowledging loss and setbacks without allowing them to define you. Finally, he let me sit in on a couple of his original songs. It was a great day in the studio.

I talk with Grammy award-winning guitarist and singer Chris “Critter” Eldridge. A regular collaborator of Julian Lage’s, Critter has lent his talents to Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, T-Bone Burnett, Fiona Apple, The War and Treaty and more. We discuss the necessity of discomfort as a prerequisite for growth, and how raising a daughter has opened up new insights about failure and its role in personal development. We also got into some bluegrass stuff, discussing the Murder Ballad in traditional music and whether the time has come to retire it. I have a pretty strong opinion on this. Lastly I sat in with the gifted guitarist on a few songs - his arrangement of Little Sadie, and then we just let one rip with a tune we got from a Norman Blake record - Walking Cane Blues.

I talk with grammy and Emmy-award winning songwriter Drew Ramsey about the challenges and rewards of co-writing songs, which occasionally become hit songs. In this, Drew has decades of experience — his countless collaborations include India.Arie, John Legend, Jonny Lang, and Marc Broussard  — and in his capacity as a songwriting professor at Belmont University in Nashville he’s championed and incubated the next generation of songwriting hopefuls. We talk about Lightbulbs vs Batteries and the importance of discovering which one you are. We talk about the importance of bringing your weird to the songwriting room, and how it much easier to hone a wild idea into a communicable form than to punch up something that isn’t there, and finally we play one together in the studio, his song "Home", the hit he wrote with Marc Broussard.

I speak with singer songwriter Robby Hecht about all things indie-folksinger. He's been making and releasing music since before Spotify was a thing, and in addition to being a multi-award-winning songwriter, his songs have been recorded by more than 60 artists. Robby is currently in the process of releasing his latest album “Not a Number” and he just showcased at SXSW. He's got some hard-earned perspective on what’s changed since the days of selling pressed CDs out of a tweed suitcase. We've co-written a few songs together, and we spend a good chunk of time talking about the unique music mothership that is the international Folk Alliance Conference. Somewhere in there we play a couple songs together from his new record.

I speak with hit songwriter and producer Barry Dean, who, with four #1 hits, many singles, and countless cuts, somehow manages to act like an earnest kid grateful for the chance to take his shot. His songs have been recorded by Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Maren Morris, Alison Krauss, Jon Pardi, Ingrid Michaelson, Brothers Osbourne, and many, many others. In one of the podcast’s most illuminating guests to date, Barry discusses his unusual path to success — he didn’t move to Nashville until he was 38 — and how his approach to collaboration has evolved through the years. He also digs into a couple of the details for some of his best known co-writes, like “Daydrinking” (Little Big Town) and “God and Country Music” (George Straight), and is quick to sing the praises of his frequent collaborators — Lori McKenna, Luke Laird, and Natalie Hemby, among others. This intro doesn’t do justice to the caliber of the conversation we had. Barry is full of insight, wisdom and humility. You just gotta listen.