THE SONGWRITERS

The Songwriters
Each show will feature 3 different Nashville songwriters who will venture out with Jessy and Joseph for a week long camping trip somewhere into the American countryside, locations yet to be determined. Besides bringing their songwriting chops for the new music they’ll create together, they’ll bring songs of their own to present along the way. Every week our audience can look forward to some of the best music Nashville has to offer.
Episode One Writers:
<h2>Peach</h2>
Peach left her home in Cleveland, Ohio at only 17 to make a life for herself in Tennessee. Nashville provided the musical growth she desired and sought after. Her passion had her onstage the first night in Music City and she cannot and will not stop spreading her art to the world. Performing every opportunity she can, shows the true value she holds on her music as an artist.

With influences such as The Flying Burrito Brothers, Jerry Jeff Walker, Karla Bonoff, and Creedence Clearwater Revival has shaped the diversity of Erin’s appeal across the music spectrum. Having the extraordinary opportunity of being taught the basics of songwriting from Chris Hillman of The Byrds opened a door for Erin to explore herself as an original artist. Peach now has the ability to be who she wants with her music; she quotes, “It all just depends on which day of the week it is, but if I had to say, I’d be in the county/rock/blues/folk/easy listening/pop genre.” Her sound has taken traditional country and added a modern blues twist, a love child of Johnny Cash and Grace Potter, if you will. Her one-of-a-kind sound and intriguing storytelling has listeners wanting more with each and every strum of her guitar. Don’t miss the chance to be a part of Peach’s family by joining her make memories each time she picks up her guitar.
<h2>Susie Monick</h2>
…juggles, for relaxation. You and I, we do yoga or watch baseball games. We drink beer, or jog or search YouTube for Meadowlark Lemon videos. That’s what we do, right? But Susie Monick juggles, which is what you and I complain about.

“I’m juggling so much right now,” we say, and we say that to elicit sympathy and convey complication. Monick says that to convey inner peace and relaxation.

She started because she lied on a resume and said one of her talents was juggling. Then she figured she’d better be able to cover the lie, so she learned to juggle. And she found it relaxing. Where we see frenetic activity and feel the fear of failure, she feels rhythm and finds fulfillment.

She also extends the juggling metaphor. As a musician, she plays banjo, mandolin, button accordion, guitar, fiddle, musical saw and sings. She has been featured on the “Grand Ole Opry” and on album with beloved songwriters including Nanci Griffith, Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, Ron Davies and Richard Dobson.

As a visual artist, she does watercolor painting and clay sculpture: Her clay figures are part of the decor at Douglas Corner in Nashville. As an actor, she has appeared 15 times on ABC’s “Nashville” series, playing various roles. She has been a church lady in a Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd film called “The Identical,” and a bank customer in “Boulevard” with Robin Williams. She was a hippie chick in “Anyone’s Ghost” and a hooker in “The Stranger.”

Oh, and she has worked at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens &amp; Museum of Art for 20 years, explaining to mansion visitors about the Cheek family, the family mansion and Maxwell House coffee.

Also, in the early 1970s, she was part of the first all-female touring and recording bluegrass ensemble called Buffalo Gals (according to an exhaustive, scholarly University of Illinois Press book by Murphy Hicks Henry called “Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass”). And she made a jazz banjo album in the 1970s that influenced banjo great Bela Fleck. And she wrote a children’s book called “Susie and Her Banjo” that’s for sale at East Side Story in Nashville.

What Monick had never done in all of her juggling life is to sing lead on an album. She has always been an instrumentalist. Now, after turning 60, she’s aspiring to be a front-person.

“I’m not aspiring to be anything,” she corrects. “I just want to do everything.”
<h2>
Hal Spangler</h2>
After raising his family in Ohio, Hal could no longer deny his musical voices and decided to endeavor another Herculean task: making it in Nashville Tennessee. Like the thousands of others that decide to embark on the same journey every year, Hal moved here and entrenched himself in Music City’s fickle business culture.

With more than Twenty years in he has navigated many of the pitfalls most artists have deal with. His love of woodworking and building things puts food on the table and keep his small indy label afloat – being the consummate artist, he reinvests everything he can into his visual art supplies and getting all the recording done for himself and his artists. For most, success can be elusive in this town, but he still has high hopes.

““Every way you go they got a rough row to hoe, and you’re gonna have to learn the hard way”

Never one to give up, Hal’s Label Rednote Records is set to release two more albums: one is a live recording at the infamous Idle Hour of his long time friend and label mate, Lucky Doug Summers backed up by a great band comprised of some of Nashville’s best. The other, is the debut album of James Harris that has great, great possibilities. Look for more soon.

More to Come for Season One