A Song and A Friend Podcast Tom Adamson

Our second short-form episode. I was fresh out of college, year 2000, 23 years old, I met Greg in the hall on my first day of teaching at Kankakee Valley Schools. I was holding a viola case, which caused him to strike up a conversation. Greg was, I remember him telling me, a huge music fan and music maker. While showing me to my classroom, he said “We should jam sometime,” as musicians do. Later that year, we did, and I was blown away! He played in circles around me and his writing was both informed by our rural, farm country region, while transcending it with great imaginative license. I learned so much from Greg about how to be a Dad/Teacher/Citizen/Hoosier/Songwriter/Rock Star- all rolled into one. Before anyone was impressed with how I pulled that off back in the day, Greg modeled it for me. For over 20 years now we have had a fruitful musical friendship and I can’t recommend his catalog enough. Check it out! The song in the bed of the 2nd half is Greg’s song “Say It Again.”


https://gregjamesandthepeaches.bandcamp.com/album/greg-james-and-the-peaches


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Great songs often emerge when a song writer has a set of confines to work within and push against. Erik Styles describes a time when he was in a small cabin in rural, southern Indiana, surrounded by friends, a few guitars, no cell phone service, and steady rain. This retreat produced “Indiana Skies,” a song which has followed him to the otherside of the world. Listeners can find the song at erikstyles.bandcamp.com/track/indiana-skies
Erik’s song “Sand Creek” is played under the introduction. Other projects mentioned in the episode: The Odyssey Favor, Rick Dodd and the Dick Rodds, and The Cornersmiths can be found on Spotify. “Glor” is found on The New Old Distillery songwriters collective page newolddistillery.bandcamp.com


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Our first short-form, special episode. Before Walmarts and Meijers and Best Buys, discount retail outlets were humbler in nature. In the 2nd half of the previous century, G.L. Perry was a “Michiana” chain of variety stores with a catchy radio jingle that played on South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana, stations. The song “G.L. Perry” is the new single from Sanchez Agency. It is a “both/and.” It is both a recollection of a bygone era that delights fans of a certain age and it is also a catchy groove that ignites the imaginations of younger listeners who did not grow up in Northern Indiana in the 1980s. (This episode also features an early mix of “Looking For A Guy Named Jeff” by Sanchez Agency in the 2nd half.) Find the whole EP online now.


[sanchezagency.bandcamp.com ]
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Our bodies’ DNA has a double-helix shape. The weaving of two strands, plus the elements they share in common create life. Barton Price helped me write and arrange the song “For Christ Sake.” We talk about the way our life’s trajectories over the last 20 years have moved in a helix-like complimentary way - making it a joy to have Barton as a member of my musical “faculty.” Barton, along with John Drury, who played drums on the session, and Brannon Hancock, who played bass on the session and produced it - all three of these guys- teach at the university level. The perfect team for a heady song that weaves sacred and secular themes in a helix as well. Barton Price teaches popular/rock music history at Purdue Fort Wayne as well as having a PhD in American Religious history, making him the perfect conversation partner for the episode on this song.


Stream or Download Today’s song: tomadamson.bandcamp.com/track/for-christs-sake


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Is there a perfect time in one’s life to start a band? A perfect age? 17? 25? 30? 40? The Sanchez Agency’s motto “Never Too Late!” has many applications to life in general, but it also touches on the biography of frontman/ songwriter B. Jacob Sandock, who wrote songs for 20 years before connecting with veterans of the Indiana indie rock scene forming a formidable band unlike any other.


sanchezagency.bandcamp.com
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Let’s say you hadn’t had a real conversation with an old friend for 15 years. Then you and your friend agree on a time to talk, pick a topic: a song you crafted together; and press record. What you’ll hear today matches that very scenario. Shawn Stonesifer is an entrepreneur living with his wife and children in North Carolina. He has a YouTube channel dedicated to his Accordion covers called “Great Honk.”


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