ifitbeyourwill Podcast

colleyc

“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical process & journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers! Season 6 starts Fall 2025… Looking for indie musicians Please subscribe ❤️ https://ifitbeyourwill.buzzsprout.com/2119718/followmy email: ifthisbeyourwill@gmail.cahttp://www.ifitbeyourwill.cawww.instagram.com/colleycdog

  1. ifitbeyourwill S06E27 • Hand Gestures

    JAN 29

    ifitbeyourwill S06E27 • Hand Gestures

    A packed car pointed west, and a travel-size instrument wedged between sleeping bags—this is how records get made when life is crowded and the need to create won’t wait. We sit down with Brian Russ of Hand Gestures to trace the long arc behind a self-titled album that sounds lived-in, melodic, and unforced. Russ maps a route from college shows in Philadelphia to AmeriCorps on Pine Ridge, then into Brooklyn’s warehouse-show ecosystem, where CMJ weekends blurred into community and bands kept each other afloat. Along the way, he built Campers Rule Records—a micro-label with pragmatic ideals: small cassette runs, break-even math, and hands-on help that gets music over the line. The mechanics matter. Voice memos from a cross-country drive became song kernels; late nights with an interface turned sketches into arrangements; a remote drummer locked in the pulse. Brian tracked guitars, bass, keys, and vocals himself, then sequenced the record for an arc that rewards close listening. There’s life in the margins, too—two teachers, two kids, and a creative practice built one quiet hour at a time. We talk rebuilding a live band post-COVID, why the album title became the band’s name, and how to stay sane about press and reach. For anyone invested in DIY recording, Brooklyn indie circuits, sustainable labels, or the alchemy of turning notes into songs, this conversation offers a clear, hopeful blueprint. Send us a text Support the show linktr.ee/colleyc

    28 min
  2. ifitbeyourwill S06E25 • Jason P. Woodbury

    JAN 18

    ifitbeyourwill S06E25 • Jason P. Woodbury

    A name can work like a north star. Jason P. Woodbury and the Nightbird Singing Quartet points straight toward songs built for company—melody-first, ensemble-minded, rooted in the desert but restless for elsewhere. We sit with Woodbury to trace the long arc from church songleading and clarinet rehearsals to record-store immersion, music journalism, and a self-titled album that wears its influences lightly and its confidence quietly. He talks about the records that calibrated his ear at Zia Records—the open-sky ache of Big Star, the haunted intimacy of Chris Bell’s I Am the Cosmos, Neko Case’s nocturnal drama, Destroyer’s wry sprawl, and the cosmology of Lee Scratch Perry—and how those discoveries rewired his sense of arrangement and feel. We dig into the making of the record itself: some songs arriving whole, others pieced together from Dropbox shards and rehearsal-room patience. The quartet’s chemistry lifts the material into focus—power-pop hooks catching pedal-steel glow, soul-informed details settling into an alt-Americana, desert-rock atmosphere that feels lived-in rather than posed. Beyond the music, Woodbury explains why he launched Always Happening Records—to put this album out on his own terms and build a flexible home for future ideas, from tactile seven-inches to Bandcamp-first releases. It’s a conversation about time, trust, and the strange joy of hearing a band take a song somewhere you couldn’t have planned. If you’re drawn to independent music made in community—records that breathe, shimmer, and tell you where they came from—this one’s for you. Spin it loud, pass it along to a Big Star or Calexico devotee, and tell us the album that first flipped your lid. Send us a text Support the show linktr.ee/colleyc

    30 min
  3. ifitbeyourwill S06E23 • Emily Yacina

    JAN 2

    ifitbeyourwill S06E23 • Emily Yacina

    Snow hushes the streets; songs do the same to the head. We open on a coast-to-coast weather check and drift into a story that starts in Philly basements and only really clicks once Emily Yacina loosens her grip. Confidence, she says, was something the scene lent her early on—small rooms, big hearts. Most songs still arrive as a fragment: a phrase, a melodic flicker. Writing becomes a place to set feelings down when there’s nowhere else to put them. There’s a pivot here—from hardline DIY to letting collaborators leave fingerprints. Control gives way to trust. A pianist widens the frame, a violinist pulls a thread, a great engineer sharpens the picture. Emily talks about the awe of unfamiliar studios and the humbling realization that audio engineering is its own deep craft, not just a means to an end. Then comes release-day whiplash: years of work suddenly gone, the quiet after the drop, the itch to check a feed for proof of life. She’s honest about the pressure to “go viral,” and how she learned to measure success by connection instead of metrics. Touring again—after time away—reset the temperature. Nightly rooms, real conversations, and a sense of abundance replaced scarcity. Move your body, move your ideas. Momentum follows motion. She’s carrying that energy into 2026: more sessions, more collaborators, and a steady aim to make songs feel as alive as the feelings that sparked them. If you’re into indie folk with DIY roots, the mechanics of songwriting, and the quiet courage it takes to share something personal, this conversation sketches a practical map for sustainable creativity. If it hits home, follow the show, pass it to a friend who lives for singer-songwriters, and leave a review—so the right ears can find it. Send us a text Support the show linktr.ee/colleyc

    34 min

About

“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical process & journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers! Season 6 starts Fall 2025… Looking for indie musicians Please subscribe ❤️ https://ifitbeyourwill.buzzsprout.com/2119718/followmy email: ifthisbeyourwill@gmail.cahttp://www.ifitbeyourwill.cawww.instagram.com/colleycdog