Performance Anxiety Marc Shea

Today’s guest reminds me that not everyone is born at the right time. My guest is singer/songwriter Stephen Bluhm. To say he is an old soul is an understatement of the highest degree. I mean, the man put a heckelphone on his latest album. Don’t know what that is? Stephen does! And he explains it on the podcast. His latest release, Out Of The Nowhere. Into The Here, throws it WAAAAAY back. It’s a brave album in so many ways and once you give it a shot, you’ll know exactly what I mean. But this album was started several years ago. In fact, he began writing this and his debut album at the same time. But Out Of The Nowhere took awhile to come out. You can probably guess why. 
Stephen is influenced by luminaries like Stephen Sondheim and Nick Cave. And they both find a comfortable place in Stephen’s music. And he said he has no plans of writing the same album twice. If you listen to his first two releases, you can tell he means it. But enough bumpin gums! Go grab Out Of The Nowhere. Into The Here wherever you guys and dolls listen on the virtual ether. Pick it up on Bandcamp or check out stephenbluhm.fun! It won’t be a trip for biscuits! And you can be aces by ponying up some shekels for a cuppa giddyup at ko.fi.com/performanceanxiety. You can also get yer boots on and check out threadless.com/performanceanx for some zooted out threads. And don’t forget to follow us @PerformanceAnx on the socials. Enough frisking the whiskers, check out this real clambake with Stephen Bluhm on Performance Anxiety. Part of the Pantheon Podcast Network.
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Today’s guest reminds me to take my time. Please give a Performance Anxiety welcome to singer/songwriter, Lynn Drury. She has made New Orleans her home but she grew up in what sounds like every little girl’s dream, raising and training quarter horses for the rodeo circuit in Mississippi. And she always loved music but never actually considered pursuing it professionally. That is until she was walking around New Orleans and decided she didn’t want to sell computers anymore; she wanted to play guitar and sing! So that’s what she did!
She took lessons, played wherever she could; sometimes gigging until four in the morning and then getting up to be at work by eight. Lynn and I discover we have some things in common, like insurance. And she tells a story she’s never told before about the horrors of studying abroad. Nothing good comes from insurance sales. And she has spawned an idea I may have to implement from now on: a test for each guest at the end of each episode! That way each show will have a bit of actual performance anxiety to it!
Lynn has changed a few things over the years besides her profession. She’s changed her writing process, her location after Katrina (but that was temporary), and styles of music over the course of ten albums. Her latest is High Tide and is out through Nolamericana music. Go pick it up wherever you get music. Check out lynndrury.com. Also check out her socials @lynndruryrocks for up to date info. 
Our socials are @PerformanceAnx and we’d love for you to follow us. You can also slide us a cup of coffee at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. You get wear us via merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Now check out Lynn Drury on Performance Anxiety, part of the Pantheon Podcast Network.
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Today’s guest makes me feel like royalty. It’s drummer Michael Bland and he has worked with some of the best in the business. But before that, he played in school and found out he had perfect pitch! Finding that out helped solidify his decision to be a musician. But his parents weren’t exactly thrilled about the idea and pushed him to have a backup plan. That is, until Prince called the house looking for Michael. This started a trend of Michael being offered jobs on stage in the middle of jams. Michael was the drummer for The New Power Generation during a time where Prince was reinventing himself. But Prince isn’t the only high profile artist Michael has worked with. There’s Paul Westerberg, Chaka Khan, Maxwell, Nick Jonas, & Soul Asylum. 
Michael relays some behind-the-scenes stories about Prince, Paisley Park, and The Paisley Park Power Trio, among other things. And that ties in to a new project he’s working on with long-time collaborator, Sonny Thompson called (Br)others. They have a single coming out and are playing a show with a lot of The New Power Generation. Check Michael out @michaelblandofficial & @brothersmusic2024 on Instagram. Check out Brothers Forlife on Facebook. And look for Soul Asylum on tour this summer with Our Lady Peace, Live, & Stone Temple Pilots. Look for us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Love us with the gift of coffee at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Or buy something with our logo at performanceanx.threadless.com. I had a wonderful time with Michael Bland on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Check it out.
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Today’s guest makes me appreciate life a bit more. Welcome a woman who has lived the blues, Bex Marshall. She talks about how she always had this absolute need to learn how to play guitar and the huge impact karaoke had on starting her career. She was singing in a band called Blue Murder before she had to press pause on her music career and get a “real” job. But it wasn’t all that bad. She traveled the globe and it was on a flight home from Jakarta when it hit her that music was her calling.
She describes the great support she received from her family, including being given a Gibson Hummingbird guitar at age 11 that she still uses to this day and how street performers helped her raise her own bar. Since then, Bex has taken her time to grow and hone her craft. That not only includes loads of gigs and touring but also by starting a writer’s retreat that was inspired by her late husband, pirate DJ Barry Everett. She also talks about the history of The House of Mercy, a place of rest for traveling musicians. 
Bex’s latest release, Fortuna, began during COVID lockdowns, which turned out to be a tough time for her including the unexpected passing of her bass player. She’s persevered and released the album that includes some of her best work to date. Pick it up wherever you get music or through bexmarshall.com. Follow her on Facebook, X, Instagram, & TikTok. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on X & Instagram. You can help us out with a coffee donation at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety or by buying merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Here’s Bex Marshall on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.Check it out.
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Today’s guest reminds me that not everything is always as it seems. Please welcome Lance Hoppen from the band Orleans. Prior to speaking with Lance, I hadn’t dug very deep into Orleans’ catalog. But when I did I realized that there is a whole lot going on there! The band tends to get lumped into the yacht rock genre but there is so much more to their sound.
Lance gives a history lesson on the band that became the family business. And in true familial style, his big brother, Larry, made him audition to get in the band. But even though he felt like he was hanging on for dear life, at times, he settled in and not only held down the groove with some amazing drummers, but also contributed to the Orleans style of blood harmony. 
Lance also talks about their sophomore album that came out after their fourth album, which contained early versions of their biggest hits. But the label didn’t hear it and dropped them! 
But as their sound fell out of favor, Lance made some tough decisions and took a hard left out of music for a time. But he couldn’t deny his art and eventually came back to music. Orleans has played for a handful of people on a military base and to literally hundreds of thousands at Woodstock ‘94. And it wasn’t always a linear progression. 
Lance is extremely candid about everything here; from the music to his life to the death of his brother Larry. It’s an episode that really did leave me speechless, at times. Orleans is playing a limited number of shows this year but new dates are always being considered. Check them out at orleansonline.net, on Facebook at orleansmusic, and their YouTube channel for all kinds of info. Check us out @PerformanceAnx on social media. You can support the show with a merch purchase at performanceanx.threadless.com or feeding our coffee habit at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And please welcome Lance Hoppen of Orleans on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.
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Today’s guest really makes me want to be more experimental…somehow. It’s Michael Wiener of The Children…(with the ellipses). They have just released what is technically their second album. But good luck finding the first. Michael’s household growing up was not typical. His mother was a pioneering photojournalist and his father was a child Holocaust survivor. And they encouraged his pursuit of the arts and culture, which led him to violin and piano lessons. But his initial professional foray into music was not via a band, but as a critic. This is how he met his future bandmates in The Children… Jim Coleman and Phil Puleo.
The band has a very loose way of creating music. They do a lot of improvising and build their structure on that. Michael also explains how the band writes in layers, the malleability of memory, as well as the difficulties of writing in a band when it’s everybody’s side project. 
The Children…have a new album out called The Craving on Erototox Records and it is…unique. It is delicate, heavy, menacing, and frenetic depending on what you’re listening to. It is a fascinating listen. Get the album on Bandcamp, from Erototox or wherever you get music (make sure you use the ellipses). Check out their Instagram page @thechildren_now. Follow us at @PerformanceAnx. Grab some merch at performanceanx.threadless.com or keep us awake with coffee at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now check out Michael Wiener of The Children…on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network.
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