Play It Like It's Music

080: Chris WhiteGood morning! This is the final (for now) episode of Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening. We’ve got a great guest today to wrap up this phase of the show.On Wednesday, March 24th of 2021 as always, music is not content. It’s connection. I’m thrilled that we made it this far, and this is definitely not goodbye. Just a transition as I lean hard into some of the music projects I’ve got going on over here.Moving forward I’ll still be sending out updates on the email list (in a yet-to-be-determined frequency and format) so make sure you sign up at playitlikeitsmusic.com if you’re not already receiving those. The podcast feed will go to sleep for a bit but if you know me, you know I can’t stop releasing audio. You’ll find new stuff going up on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and my socials, so hit that follow button over on Twitter and Instagram. I still spend as little time as possible over on Facebook, but it can’t hurt to throw a follow over there as well. Meanwhile, today we’re going to meet the man who pretty much started me down this road. The guy who taught me where a 7th chord could be found on a cello and how to walk a bass line on it as well. Based in Ithaca New York, Chris White has been exploring new directions for the cello since the late 1970’s. Whether playing in an intimate duo with piano or guitar, a jazz string quartet or with his groups the Cayuga Jazz Ensemble or the Cloud Chamber Orchestra, Chris’ playing has the vibrancy and the urgency of someone who is excited about what he is communicating.White’s development as a jazz and improvisational cellist has been strongly affected by his guitar studies of folk, rock and jazz during his formative years. These studies were largely self taught, and focused on learning by ear, improvising, experimenting, and studying chords – things which cellists are usually not encouraged to do in traditional study. As he began applying these skills to the cello, he found it to be a wonderfully versatile instrument for playing all kinds of improvised music because he could play melodies, chords, and bass lines.He’s a major figure in our world, as the founder and director of the New Directions Cello Festival for 25 years. He recently passed the baton to the very energetic and talented Jeremy Harman and some other great musicians who are going to keep the thing going, starting this June 26th and 27th.I couldn’t be more honored to put Chris on today’s episode as I wrap up this phase of doing my music podcast. It’s been an incredible run, and one could argue that Chris was the man holding the pistol at the starting line. It’s a great honor to call him a friend and a colleague after all these years doing this crazy thing we do. So let’s say hi.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Chris White.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Chris White for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him on the gram @chrisjazzcello. Go say hi.I can’t believe we did 80 shows! I’m gonna wrap it up here for a bit as I drill down on finishing my next couple of albums and then we’ll see. Who knows what’s going to happen now with the scene, the world, the universe. All I know is that I’m super happy to have shared this time with you for the last couple of years, blessed that you cared to listen and given us your ears.All of these episodes will remain available indefinitely, so if you believe the show deserves a wider audience or you want it to come back in the future, help people find out about it by telling a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental records on bandcamp, and I hope you will. Volume 3 is coming out April 1st.Sign the mailing list on substack to get my music sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

079: Dwight RitcherGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, March 17th of 2021 Music is not content, it’s connection.Glad to be here with you today. As I’ve been mentioning, I’ll be winding the show down for now after next week’s episode (#80). It’s been great and I’m super gratified with the response, but I need to focus on a couple of big projects I’ve got brewing. Make sure you sign up on the mailing list over at playitlikeitsmusic.com so we can stay in touch. I’m not going far, and I’m always reachable.Today we have the honor of hanging out with musician, guitarist, drummer, bandleader, singer and songwriter Dwight Ritcher of Dwight and Nicole. You may remember we got to spend time with his fairer half, Nicole Nelson back in Episode 50. Today we complete the picture.This band is so inspiring on a lot of levels. First, they kill. They can rock in a loud way and also in a super quiet way. They write great, perform consistently and are altogether inspiring in a musical sense. I found this out firsthand when I opened for them at Banjo Jim’s back in the day.Second, they’re a couple! I’m always amazed when you get to see a relationship play out musically in real time, whether it’s these two, Donny and Marie, Captain and Tenille, Sonny and Cher, Ashford and Simpson, Break Out The Crazy or one of the many others working today. It’s rare and beautiful to experience this as a fan.Both Dwight and Nicole possess strong natural voices that stop you dead in your tracks. Whether belting or whispering, their singing commands attention. They are captivating performers, multi-instrumentalists and strong songwriters, standing far out from the slagheap of gutless conformity. Dwight plays a Gibson Flying V guitar – picking up his first one as a teenager in Long Branch NJ – he has never played anything else. It was a great honor to get him on a mic and dig a little bit into his background and into his process.So let’s get into it:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Dwight Ritcher.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Dwight Ritcher for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Dwight and Nicole dot com and follow them online @dwightandnicole.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 79 shows! I’m gonna wrap it up next week at 80 with a very special guest. Still, if you believe this show deserves a wider audience or you want it to come back in the future, please help people find out about it by telling a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental records on bandcamp, and I hope you will. Volume 3 is coming out April 1st.Sign the mailing list on substack to get my music sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

078 Gideon FreudmannGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, March 10th of 2021 music is not content, it’s connection.It’s March Madness! As in, I’m going mad over here. There is so much life-stuff interfering in my musical life right now. It’s a weird feeling when you’re a trained professional in something with solid marketable skills that you’ve always used to live by. And then gradually the market and technology conspire over time to make you out as a hobbyist. What was that degree for again? At least I don’t have loans, but it’s maddening. Not like I need to be a musical factory worker, but more and more these days it’s just a giant neverending free obstacle course you run all the time: sending out emails to strangers, courting likes on the ever growing number of platforms, watching kids run circles around everybody and also get sad because you can’t just go to a club these days. Music feels like a figment of our imagination without the live component, video games are more immersive, netflix is more engaging, sports are more connective and the news will give you a run for your sanity any old time you turn it on. So who - including us - has any time to do music or listen to it anymore?Not trying to be a downer here, we all grow up and no one gets a pass on basic life skills like earning and knowing where to draw lines.I’m grateful for the space I’m in, the health I enjoy all day long, sunshine, sound and creativity which just won’t leave me alone these days. We have a great musician to speak with today.Gideon Freudmann, cellist and composer, has been on the forefront of our instrument's modern creative expansion for more than 30 years.A formal education at the University of Connecticut laid a solid classical foundation for what has become a diverse soundscape encompassing a wide range of musical genres. He’s been at this for way longer than it was trendy. In fact it’s his mission to make the cello hip, modern and fun. He’s toured all over the place, worked in lots of small ensembles, he’s a founding member of the Portland Cello Project and the band Caravan Gogh… he’s one of those guys who, if you’re into the cello you definitely know who he is.And if you’re not, then you’ve probably just heard him a bunch of times without knowing it. His work is all over NPR: All Things Considered, CarTalk, This American Life. Movies too, Good Morning America… everywhere. Gideon lives to Portland, Oregon in the mid-2000s where he is a founding member of the Portland Cello Project. He has also branched into live soundtrack accompaniment to silent films. He’s a great musician, a great cellist, a great guy and I’m very glad to have him on the show.Let’s get to it!Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Gideon Freudmann.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Gideon Freudmann for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at CelloBop dot com and follow him on Facebook @cellobop.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 78 shows! We’re going to put this show on indefinite hiatus after two more interviews. Nevertheless if you believe this show deserves a wider audience or you want it to continue in the future, please help create even more demand by telling a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental records on bandcamp, and I hope you will. Volume 3 is coming out April 1st.Sign the mailing list on substack to get my music sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Episode 77: Announcement! (and some choice rants)Good morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, March 3rd of 2021 music is not content, it’s connection.Saying hi to you from the interwebs in these uncertain times. I’m going to do something different for this episode. Check it out.[What follows is the full transcript of this week’s show. Feel free to press Play and read along if so inclined. I promise it’s more fun with audio, plus there’s some music on there!]Listen in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastI’ve had a number of shifts in my creative life over the last few years, things that knocked me on my ass, things that have made me think/question what this is all for but also which got me digging further into how it all happens, and finally some major openings that brought some beautiful new energy and momentum into my musical process.Some of these changes happened because of doing this podcast and others are separate. But if you listen to this show and you’re engaged with music in some way, one thing you probably know is that the ground is always shifting beneath us. We can’t always think on our feet, sometimes we have to think with our feet. More on that in a minute.Right now I have an announcement.And it has to do with the above. This show in its current form is going to go away for a while. I’ll do a few more episodes with a couple of great people, take it up to Episode 80 and then put it on hiatus.I’m incredibly happy for how it’s gone and this is not a decision I take lightly at all, since I know that many of you tune in each week for the fellowship we get here. It’s exactly the kind of community I feel I was made to serve, but it’s also catalyzed some really important shifts in my creative life which I have to honor.I’m going to lean into the music 100% for a while, which will include reclaiming the handful of hours I put into producing this show every week. The energy is simply too great right now, music is pouring out of me at a rate I can barely keep up with. I want to celebrate this and strike while the iron is hot.I’ll still be sending you emails and sometimes there’ll be sounds with them. But “Play It Like It’s Music” the show is entering a cocoon phase as it finds out what form it wants to take in the future. I’m so thankful that you are all here listening to this process as it unfolds and sharing your own experiences with me. I’m not going anywhere, this is just a metamorphosis.So during this episode today I’m going to go through some of the changes themselves, and what they might mean for some of us who’ve been chasing the muse our whole lives. I think you’ll get something out of it, so let’s dig in.I got my first drum machine in 1987. Yes, I’m that old. It was a Roland TR-505, it had some samples on pads and some basic sequencing on it but it wasn’t much to shake a stick at - or shake a room with.Now tell me if this is you: we put our fingers on an instrument, start getting some cool sounds and then start dreaming of putting a beat together with our sounds, maybe getting a band together and seeing if folks might want to go somewhere and dance to some of our stuff. That was me as a teenager in the 80’s, and it’s still me today.I went on to log a few hundred thousand miles on the road, playing in every kind of bar imaginable. I did a couple of local cover bands as well, but it’s all the same chase. AND! Before you do any bands or put on a show, you gotta have band practice. And because you might not have a drummer lined up right away, you try getting your hands on a drum machine and see if you can make something happen with that. Sound familiar?Honestly some people start there and go pretty far with it, becoming electronic artists, DJ’s and producers. But I’ve never been able to keep my fingers off a set of strings for very long. And it’s dicey, trying to wrangle a beat and play an instrument at the same time. Some folks do just fine with that but it’s a lot of balls to keep in the air.So for little old me the drum machine ends up taking the form of a glorified click track, which is fun for about 25 seconds before you start realizing that a beat isn’t just marking time as it marches by. It’s a living breathing thing, an animal which will take your music to unimagined heights if you treat it right, but will also rip your vibe to shreds if you ignore it or piss it off.So the journey is a long one, and for me it’s been episodic and contentious.I’ve never felt so musically lost than when I was trying to figure my groove out and couldn’t do it.It’s a weird feeling of impotence where your nose is pressed so hard against the glass and you have no idea how to get through. You know something beautiful is there, right on the other side, but you can’t quite get beyond a sketch and it’s getting hard to breathe.I’ve been around the block with it a bunch of times, and the cycle is pretty much the same: I find a line or a riff or a melody or some chords, then I set about looking for combinations with a rhythm or some lyrics. Or I might start with one of those by themselves and look from that angle. Sometimes it works out quickly, other times it leads into a maze. The maze sometimes leads somewhere cool (like my cello style, which I love) and other times it just leads further into the maze.I’ve had insane power struggles with some of the human drummers I’ve worked with, as well as some crazy dysfunctional codependency with most of the drum machines I’ve used and owned in the past. Then, if you get going with computers using something like Ableton Live the thing changes entirely. I like to say that Ableton Live is Excel for music. And I stand by that.And I’m a technically-inclined guy!So I’ve been able to get quite well-versed in the relationship between strings and drums, between live drums and electronic drums, synths and samples, software and hardware. I’ve owned quite a few pieces of gear over the years but I usually let them go because I can find their limitations pretty quickly. And they are quite limiting.Usually it comes down to a question of feel and tempo: if it’s a machine then I’m always craving more variation than the thing will provide inside of its feature set, and with a live drummer (and live musicians in general) there are questions of dynamics and personality that can shortchange the musical payoff if you’re not on the same page.Now a critical point in the process is when you let go of control, watching the elements combine into something greater than the individual parts or preferences. But oftentimes our ego (or egos) will keep us stuck and we don’t give ourselves that chance. Then you end up back at square one, which for me usually takes the form of sitting in a space by myself with a cello, tapping on the surface of it.As long as I don’t have any life complications getting in the way, that is.Music is a beautiful thing.It’s a great way to un-twist ourselves.But the twisting part can also bring you to your knees if you don’t keep your head up.My journey took me off the rails for a while. I burned bridges, lost homes, chased the muse into the weeds far more times than I can count.And I won’t lie: a lot of those trips can definitely make you sound better in the long run. Learning what a musical moment is really worth and connecting with a deep place, each time. But at some point you do have to take charge of your life. I had to stop throwing my well-being out the window and get down to the work at hand of making a true sound, one that would matter to people and bring them together. But I had no idea what that even meant anymore. Personally I had suffered too many losses along the way. I’d come off the road, stopped playing in bars to sell other people’s beer, my mental health was in shreds and I had no joy at the idea of going out to another gig, anywhere. With no idea of what any of it meant anymore, I started this show you’re hearing right now. I needed to talk to my fellow musicians about these questions: Why do we even do this? What separates the pros from the dilettantes and wannabes? What do we need to stay away from? I had no idea, but I knew I could ask my friends. So Play It Like It’s Music was born. I knew that it would lead me somewhere. Probably forward.So two things happened.First, on the day I launched the show the phone stared to ring with clients and I started booking work as a podcast producer. I made like 40 grand in 6 months, which was astonishing.The other thing that happened was I started making music again, and not like before. I was writing and producing too. With joy.There’s something about the very act of hitting Record which will scare a musician back into their shell. The creative process is often not fun, there’s a lot of dread and doubt which can paralyze you. But when it’s your job to produce media for other people - at a high volume with delivery deadlines and so forth - that same act becomes a mere reflex. Suddenly you’re just doing it. You’re thinking with your feet.So while I was making the first episodes of this show (for myself) and producing three other shows (for money), I suddenly found myself also writing songs again, composing instrumentals - and most importantly producing demos of said material at a higher rate and quality. Something was working where it hadn’t been for a long time, which brings me to the third act in this tale.At some point I stumbled upon the live-coding scene.It’s the collision of music and technology at the core level. People tapping directly into the sound and musicmaking capabilities of their computers, bypassing all that front-facing software - the digital audio workstations which are so expensive and mostly just imitate tape machines to begin with.Now there’s nothing wrong with tape machines, I love em. But computers are not tape machines and it’s no use pretending that they are. I mean, DAWs are great but they are not musical instruments! At some point people decided that DAWs and plugins were instruments in and of themselves, but they’re not. They’re just production and composition environments. Computers might be the most powerful musical instrument humankind has ever invented, but the DAW environment is like using 3% of your brain.Here’s a little side rant: Between the twin tectonic shifts of the streaming era and the digital production explosion, not enough attention gets paid to just how toxic the DAW timeline is to a musician's mind. Hear me out. A musical sound is a living organism. We interact with it when playing an instrument or writing a song. Composing on paper is writing notes to it while it lives in the ether - the sound itself manifests out of the process.But when sounds all start and end inside a timeline, it's like raising animals in a cage. Yes, they all move exactly when and where you push them, but freedom and surprise are removed entirely.I don't know about you, but freedom and surprise are exactly what I want MORE of in music, not less.The DAW timeline is an authoritarian environment where the M.O. is to assert total control over the sounds. Ableton Live is almost as thrilling to use as an excel spreadsheet.Now I’ll admit that there’s a part of me gets off on using DAW tools: it's the desperate, lonely part of me who craves certainty and safety. Who can't accept music as fundamentally chaotic and interact with it on those terms.Playing cello, by contrast, is like living with an ostrich. Awkwardness abounds, and surprise is never far away. Control is out of the question, and anyway who would want that? You can collect instruments like animals if you want to, but the real action is out in the wild. Now don't get me wrong: I use my DAW rig every day and love it for what it enables. But it's an adult activity: taking care of business and delivering the goods. The musical animal in me resents the constant funneling-into-certainty that the DAW timeline demands.What's weird though is that my musician self also loves the crap out of computers for the raw chaotic power of the sounds they can make. Because music is where spirit and science mingle. There's a whole scene of folks out there getting dirty with a computer like Jimi Hendrix or something. Check out @yaxu, @hellocatfood and @kindohm:We’re not all just out here making beer commercials. Anyway, back to what I was saying…In live coding, you’re actually playing the computer. You’re not stuck in a grid, mousing around with tempo envelopes or some corny “shuffle” knob. You’re in the machine itself, putting in formulas and rolling the dice on what it’s gonna spit out.Needless to say, the learning curve is intense. But since the same goes for playing the cello, I jumped in and got hooked. Pretty soon all the different parts of my musical mind started coming together and I felt that sonic sense of purpose again.Now I’m not a real computer programmer, so I mostly just tack things together and start playing along with it once my brain gives out and I can’t formulate any more. But that dance has started right here in my studio and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down.So I’ve made two new releases in the first two months of this year, and I’m already working on #3. And I’ve never felt better.So let’s hear some of it, shall we?TRIOS 02: post-cello generations is available.Here is installment #2 of the Trios series. We are getting into some lusher and more melodic territory now, since the cello sound took quite a beating the first time around. We're letting Grandpa breathe a bit here. February is a short month, hence a slightly shorter album. I hope you like these sounds, they are crafted with love and an adventurous spirit. TRIOS 03 will come out on 4/1.Click here to go to the album page.As before, the creative limitation "Trio" in this instance means that there are three live passes: once with the rhythm bits (done directly from the computer using a live coding program called TidalCycles), and then two instrument takes followed by minimal editing and a mix. I’m along for the ride with you.So that’s my story.I have so many people to thank for helping me to believe in this music and actually get the thing done.Many of you (in fact the entire Play It Like It’s Music community) are listed in the release notes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here, and most of all for listening.OK that’s all for this announcement. Thank you so much for being here, please enjoy and share the album.Thanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music, for spending some very generous time with me today. This is episode #77, I’ll be back next week with a new show but we’ll be winding this down after episode 80.Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.So as always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big Love to you and your big ears,Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our musical guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I love: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

076: Eugene FriesenGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, February 24 of 2021 music is not content. It’s connection.I had a crazy performance anxiety dream the other night. In the dream I’m famous enough to get invited to do crazy random things on stage, and they offer me a gig to play Romeo at an outdoor Shakespeare production of Romeo And Juliet. Of course I take it, even though I have no business doing something like that.Meanwhile, also in the dream I’m in the process of buying an old apartment building. So the bulk of the dream is spent visiting the site and going over minutiae like how old the wooden bannisters are and what kind of plumbing needs to be ripped out and what does the landmark commission have to say… I don’t do a single rehearsal for the play.Gig day rolls around and we’re still checking out the property with different real estate agents and managers. I’m riding around in the back of the car - the folks I’m with are completely oblivious to my having taken on a monumental role and they’re just talking about it like I’m going to play songs at a bar or something. Like “that’s so cool that you’re doing this thing tonight”. Meanwhile it dawns on me that I don’t even know a single one of my lines, haven’t even met the cast or the director.They drop me off in front, like half an hour before curtain and I realize that I have to find a sub. No matter what, even though it’s my name on the marquee. I am not gonna be that guy who got dropped right into a Shakespeare play with zero prep. I start looking around and see Willem Dafoe on his way in. We’re not friends in my dream either but he recognizes me and treats me like a friend because it’s like “my big night”. Yeah right.I tell him the situation and offer him the chance to play Romeo at a moments notice. He says thanks, probably not but he might know somebody and starts calling around. I see the real estate agents walking in, start to lose my s**t and…that’s the moment I woke up.Whew.What a fun one! Some ego, some anxiety, a bunch of hubris and the walls all closing in. Maybe it ended well, I don’t know. We’d all like to get bailed out by a superstar at some point in our lives. I’m just so glad it wasn’t real because I do not belong anywhere near a Shakespeare stage.Meanwhile, today on the show:Four-time Grammy Award-winner Eugene Friesen is active internationally as a concert and recording artist, composer, conductor and teacher. Eugene has worked and recorded with such diverse artists as Dave Brubeck, Martin Sexton, Toots Thielemans, Betty Buckley, Dar Williams, Will Ackerman, and Dream Theater.  Eugene's passion for improvised music has been featured in concerts all over the world with the Paul Winter Consort and with Trio Globo (which is Eugene, Howard Levy and Glen Velez). He appeared on "A Prairie Home Companion" playing with superstar soprano Renée Fleming and has performed as a soloist at the International Cello Festival in Manchester, England; the World Cello Congress in Baltimore, Maryland; and the Rio International Cello Encounter in Rio de Janeiro.  He’s a world renowned teacher of new cello techniques and improvisation in the United States, Asia, Europe, Egypt, and South America. Recording credits include five albums of original music, more than 30 CDs with the Paul Winter Consort, and hundreds of tracks featuring his rapturous cello playing on instrumental albums, films, and television scores. Eugene is an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, and on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. It’s an honor to have him on the show.Eugene was one of the very first cellists I ever saw on stage when I was a kid, someone who liberated us from the idea that we had to stay in line and only play the notes on a page with pre-prescribed intent and a general lack of flavor or modern relevance. He took his classical education and helped the cello grow into the modern musical landscape. None of us would be anywhere without people like him. Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Now let’s talk to Eugene![Featured tracks: “Shadowplay” and “First Ride” from The Essential Collection]Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Eugene Friesen.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Maestro Eugene for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Eugene Friesen Music dot com and follow him on the gram @eugene.friesen.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 76 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental record on bandcamp, and I hope you will. Volume 2 is coming out next week.Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

075: Samuel GlazebrookGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, February 17th of 2021 music is not content. It’s connection.I’m making this connection with you now, and I’m making the content too. It’s all happening in 21. So far I haven’t been impeached but only time will tell.Sam Glazebrook is a cinematographer who spends quite a bit of time touring professionally as a musician. I first met him on a gig with Roo Panes, and we got to put in a few thousand miles together. With everything he does, he strives to communicate a positive message of a collective human experience through his work. I wanted to have him on the show because a) he’s a great guy and b) I just love the simultaneous levity and depth of his commitment. The man blazes on multiple instruments, he’s also built the house he lives in and he’s got a prodigious output in the world of media and film. In the pro music world we’re always chasing down a gig or shedding some new lick or trying to hustle the marketing thing. It never ends, and it’s really easy to forget why we bother to do this. I’m guilty of that, even though I deeply love what I do and enjoy it every single day. Walking into the rehearsal room with Sam (and Josh from Episode 47) I was instantly brought back to the infant joy I first felt, before I even became a musician. The band just had so much fun on the road and playing together, and it all just felt so spontaneous. Sam had a lot to do with it. It turns out that he’s got loads of talent, but also was raised by rocknrollers. I’m a bit envious of kids who have musician parents because a lot of the stuff the rest of us have to learn - not just playing but vibes and etiquette too, a feeling of comfort in a musical space - can come naturally to someone who was raised around the stuff. Sam is a beautiful cat and he conducts himself with a naturalness we’d all do well to remember. We get into his musical childhood and the elements of his career, how he’s pieced it together for himself and the general ongoing-ness of it all.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Sam’s dad’s band from the 80’s, Marino The Band:Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Now on with the show!Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Samuel Glazebrook.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Sam for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Samuel Glazebrook dot com and follow him on the gram @samuelglazebrook.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 75 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental record on bandcamp, and I hope you will. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

074: Joey ChangGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, February 10th of 2021 music is not content, it’s connection.Folks are listening to the album and writing in with your opinions, and I love it. Kendra said “This is really wonderful. What a groovy new sound for you.. And CONGRATS on this! So much work to take it from concept to reality.”Shon said “Look at you - tapping your inner Brian Eno. I think this is just the start of a new frontier of music exploration for you. Keep ‘em coming….”And I will definitely keep em coming. I’m working on the second one right now, due out on March 1st. Thank you so much for listening and for sending and tweeting your feedback, it really helps keep me going. Meanwhile, we’ve got a cool guest musician on the show today.Joey Chang aka CelloJoe is an anomaly in the world of cellists. He plays the cello while beatboxing, looping, and singing. He creates fat beats with a cello and his mouth and he does it live! His lyrics weave together sustainability, environmental justice, and social awareness. By beatboxing, throatsinging, singing, plucking and bowing the cello, CelloJoe can mimic many styles of music from dubstep to folk to rock to classical to hip hop. He has also ridden his bike over 10,000 miles, carrying the cello on tour in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. The man has grit as well as a creative spark.We get into some good horror stories about destroying instruments for dumb reasons, the roundabout journey that someone would take to become the kind of musical polymath that makes Cello Joe such a compelling performer, and towards the end Joe even turns the tables for a bit and interviews me a little. This is a fun one.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Now on with the show!Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Cello Joe.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Joey Chang for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Cello Joe dot com and follow him on the gram, Twitch, YouTube and everywhere else @CelloJoe.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 74 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental record on bandcamp, and I hope you will! Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

073: Stephen A. Thomas (aka Sejen Aios)Good morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, February 3 of 2021 music is not content. It’s connection.I’m rockin the new theme music today, which you may recognize from the new record I just put out on Monday. True to my promise, but it was definitely down to the wire. I set the deadline to make a record in January and put it out no matter what on February first. And it happened!Go check it out if you haven’t yet: it’s a bandcamp exclusive for now.Today on the show we have a fascinating musician to hang with. Stephen A. Thomas (aka Sejen Aios) is a drummer and synthesist, bandleader and composer who lives here in Southern California but spent a long part of his upbringing in Mississippi. We get into a whole bunch of stuff around the touring life, a baby’s fascination with spinning turntables, record store culture, deep synthesis and the stupid misconceptions non-southerners tend to have about the South.Synthesists tend to be gearheads and I often find their music to be overly complex or relying more on technical gizmos than emotional expression. This is not the case with Stephen. He’s got a real heart connection with the instruments he plays, and a critical eye and ear for their design. We have a great time here picking apart the intricacies of synths.There’s lots more in here, so let’s jump right in. Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Stephen.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Stephen A. Thomas.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Stephen for spending some very generous time with us. You can find some of his synthesis work in the meditation app Insight Timer and his drum work at Stephen Thomas dot LA.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 73 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my NEW instrumental record on bandcamp, and I hope you will! Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Good day to you all! I have a special announcement to share with you today.TRIOS 01: lo-fi chamber electronica is available today.This is my first release in six years. But if you read my newsletter and listen to the show you probably know that a lot of music has been brewing.I’ve been through a lot of changes: personal, geographical, spiritual and sonic among others. And this new music is definitely a departure from my brand. I’m planting my flag here as an instrumental composer, in parallel to my songwriting and other production work.You can click PLAY above to hear track one, or click here to go to the album page.A bit about the sound: I’m taking the sound and feel of the cello from inside the fiber. People like to mystify “the cello” as this beautiful, resonant, soaring thing but I’m all about the guts of it. Finding the bonkers noises it wants to make when not spotlit on a concerto stage or brooding in the sad part of a film score. The cello is FUN to mess around with and I’d like to share some of that fun with you:A bit about the approach: "Trio" in this instance means that there are three live passes: once with the rhythm bits (done directly from the computer using a fascinating program called TidalCycles), and then two live takes followed by minimal editing and a mix. Production standard is strictly wabi-sabi, meaning I emphasized flavor and personality over fidelity and perfection. There’s plenty of bounce and surprise in the music. I’m along for the ride with you.I have so many people to thank for helping me to believe in this music and actually get the thing done.Many of you (in fact the entire Play It Like It’s Music community) are listed in the release notes. But no one has been so steadfast and supportive as Kerri Kelly, the beautiful force-of-nature with whom I get to share this life. She’s here through it all, even while she moves mountains through her own work. Thank you K, I love you.OK that’s all for this announcement. Thank you so much for being here, please enjoy and share the album, I’ll be back on Wednesday with your regularly scheduled episode.Big Love to you and your big ears,Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our musical guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I love: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

072: Aaron GilmartinGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, January 27th of 2021 music is not content, it’s connection.I’m doing it, I’ve printed the mixes and I’m in the mastering process for this crazy new instrumental album I’ve been talking about. It’ll go up on Bandcamp on February 1 and the chips can fall where they will! It’s an electronic, experimental record with some very lo-fi drum sounds and a lot of lo-fi cello playing. I have got to say that I’m in love with it and also very pleased to be getting some new sounds out in the world.It’s not a song album, it’s not the cello suite. It’s some new stuff that might fit into the “ambient” category if you were to find it in the record bins. I’ll come up with a nice list of hashtags to help with SEO, meanwhile counting on you to check it out and let me know how you like it. I’m nervous! But I’m going through with it. Can’t wait.When you commit to the music life, without picking a lane early on and never ever deviating or getting interested in anything else, you may experience occasional periods of journeyman syndrome. Side effects might include lonely nights and long voyages into the unknown, as well as episodes of feeling lost but can also be accompanied by epiphany, euphoria, extreme dumb luck and transformational catharsis. You may also find friends for life. Aaron Gilmartin is one of mine. He is an award-winning film composer, a songwriter born and raised in DC in a musical family on a diet of American song, blues and poetry. We’ve seen each other through some incredible times, both high and low. And one thread which forever maintains is the inexhaustible grit and curiosity that it takes to stay in this life as a working musician. Aaron started out on recorder, played clarinet and found his musical passion in the string family playing banjo at the age of 10 and then at the age of 12 migrated to the guitar. He’s opened for Dave Mason (from Traffic) and has shared the stage with Winston Watson (Dylan), Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman), Jacob Valenzuela (Calexico) and Phoenix Rivera (Lincoln Center Jazz).In NYC he played in every kind of group from songwriters to latin, country, folk and indie bands. He played flamenco for Ballet Hispanico and dancers in the NY flamenco scene. Aaron created video courses teaching flamenco and bossa nova guitar, and has worked prolifically on the road as a touring musician. He’s been living in LA for many years now where he composes, writes songs, plays guitar and also writes for Film Independent.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Aaron.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Aaron GilmartinOr subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to the amazing Aaron Gilmartin for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Aaron Gilmartin dot com and follow him on IG @aaronsings.And you know what? Go buy his music on Bandcamp!I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 72 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

071: Pyeng ThreadgillGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, January 20th of 2021 music is not content.It’s connection.Big day today. I won’t bore you with my take. Plenty of hot takes out there, for what’s going on. You know? Seriously, the more confusing things get around here, the deeper I’m getting into music. It was probably dumb of me to tell you all that I’m putting out a recording on February 1st. I am having so much fun recording stuff, and I have no idea how I’m gonna get it through to the finish line. But if I’ve learned anything at all from the 6 years I just spent not putting out records, it’s that without a deadline I pretty much don’t exist in public. This stuff is new, it’s messy, it’s totally of-this-moment and not barking up any stylistic tree in particular. I’ve just been in musical development-mode for too long, and through too many major life changes that a bunch of sounds just have to come out. I’ll insist on a modicum of coherence, but there’s a strong emotional undercurrent to it all which I hope transcends the complexity of the music. Today we get blessed with a visit from an incredible artist, singer, writer, bandleader and teacher. I’ve been a fan for longer than I can remember, and the generosity of her sound and her imagination and spirit is thrilling to witness.Pyeng Threadgill has been described as “charmingly eclectic" by St Louis Today. Singing ‘New Porch Music’ she crafts an intimate journey through folk and jazz with Afro-electronic inflections. In her fourth solo album and multimedia project entitled "Head Full of Hair, Heart Full of Song", she shines a light on hair, adornment, ancestry and the political well as spiritual implications of race, hair and identity.Pyeng’s music hits in a place that’s hard to pin down. She comes from a family of artists, grew up surrounded by the legendary downtown scene in New York, but she’s also put in an epic amount of miles - went to Oberlin, studied audio engineering, worked in the office at dance labels… she knew all about the business before she ever set out to make her own records. And it shows, she’s a consummate professional who knows exactly how to run a show, down to the detailsShe’s the kind of artist who doesn’t just put out mere entertainment, she can deliver a compelling story, weave together multiple threads of meaning and also deliver the party. We get into a fascinating chat about how she landed on the album concept, as well as how she goes about developing a project to stand the test of time.It’s a good one.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Pyeng.It’s an honor to have her on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Pyeng ThreadgillOr subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks so much for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to the amazing Pyeng Threadgill for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her at PyengNyc dot com and follow her on IG @pyengthreadgill.And you know what? Go buy her music on Bandcamp!I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 71 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!DID YOU KNOW you can take lessons with me online!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Episode 070: Teddy KumpelGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, January 13 of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.I said it last week and I’ll say it again: I’m going to put up an instrumental album on February 1st. It’s going well: I’m scared shitless and frustrated and sad a lot of the time but I guess those are signals that some vital work is taking place. I’m in it. We’ll see.Non-musicians look at us and think we must have such a charmed existence. So many times I hear folks say things along the lines of “ah you’re a musician, that must be so amazing and so nice and sweet and liberating” yadda yadda etcetera. Like we get to live without fear or any normal kind of life challenges. Or maybe that making music is a balm that somehow makes the loneliness just go away.Well let me tell you something: It’s great to be a musician and it’s an absolutely amazing process to make music. But it comes with great vulnerability. The volume of sheer fear and hopelessness that can sneak up on you at any moment will send you into spirals beyond imagining. The constant degradation of the value of our work in the marketplace will test our dignity in ways that make you want to set things on fire. For me, every day is a miracle. I look at how some people do it - which is dangerous because no two people can ever do it the same. But it’s easy to survey the landscape and conclude either that an easy life is just beyond reach, or that it’s hopeless to pursue it in the first place without first posessing untold truckloads of talent and charisma. In fact, neither are true.Music is the stuff of life, and if it is in fact your lot to live in contact with it in any way… as a maker or listener or dancer or feeler or producer or (god help you) artist’s representative, it’s always appropriate to throw open your arms to the sky and give thanks for this doorway into the infinite. It’s your choice and your chance to receive it. We open ourselves as it opens us. Which can sometimes feel unbearable, but stay in the game. Stay in it.I’m not going to say anything about the assault on the Capitol. Those shows are all out there, this is not one of them. I’m a bit miffed that last week’s episode (with Mai Bloomfield) got totally upstaged by the world cracking open, but creativity lives in the cracks, and we have cracks in abundance right now. All kinds of cracks.So crack open a cold one and settle in to enjoy some time with one of the greats. I’m a huge fan of the guy we’re talking to today, and maybe you are too. Or are about to be. Guy does things with a guitar that might be illegal in some states.Teddy Kumpel was born and raised in Port Jefferson, NY on Long Island, into a musical family. Teddy’s mom was a classical pianist and church organist. His father was a mathematics professor who enjoyed singing, playing piano and ukulele with The Great American Songbook. His family was always playing music together, which inspired Teddy to write his first song at 4 years old. At around the same time, he began playing baritone ukulele as well as playing any instrument his parents had lying around the house…violin, flute, piano, organ and guitar. After Teddy attended the University of Miami, Teddy spent some time on the road with Rare Silk and in New York City (between tours) to study with guitar legends Steve Khan, Dean Brown and Mick Goodrick. He’s spent a lot of time in the trenches, toughing it out with the rest of the NY musicians doing whatever he could to get by. Teddy’s always had a passion for making his own music, and he’s also worked on developing artists with major labels starting in the 90’s and continuing to this day. In 2008 Teddy was creating a funk band with two guitar players, but couldn’t find another guitar player who was happy just playing rhythm guitar. Around this time, the first multi-track looping pedal came out and Teddy spent a couple of years figuring out how to loop with a live trio. This created, LOOPestra which played over 300 gigs at a Monday midnight residence at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC between 2011 and 2018. Those Monday LOOPestra live performances became a NYC institution and community building experience. Full disclosure: I’ve seen a few dozen of those (at least) and I also played on two of them.And oh yeah, Teddy also toured with Joe Jackson between 2015 – 2019. Guy’s got stories for days, we get into a lot of that lineage and plenty else. Good laughs too.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Teddy. It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Teddy KumpelOr subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to maestro Teddy Kumpel for spending some very generous time with us. You can find Teddy at Teddy Kumpel dot com and follow him on IG @teddykumpel.And you know what? Go buy his music on Bandcamp!I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 70 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

069: Mai BloomfieldGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening. I’m glad to be back with you on a new morning, whatever the day brings!On Wednesday, January 6th of 2021 music is not content. More than ever, It’s connection. OK. NEWSFLASH. I’m going to put up an instrumental album on February 1st. I’ve started it, and I’m working on it this month. I promise that it will be good, I’m excited about the toolkit I’ve assembled here and it’s time to stop dicking around. I’m saying it to you in public because otherwise I know I’ll find a million excuses to postpone or just forget about it. I’ll be making many demos and putting them up on my soundcloud page if you’re interested in checking out the process. Keep in mind these are not songs - the song album will take longer than this one will, and is also very much in the works.Wish me luck!(Thanks!)So welcome back to the show here. I took a couple of weeks off at the end of the year and it was so welcome, to just decompress and put that whole 2020 in the rearview. When I put Ann Courtney’s episode up at the top of the year I decided I was serious about doing this. I had been back and forth a bit on the podcast before that but I decided I was not gonna care about the numbers, just focus on making quality connections with quality people. And some cool things happened.I started booking a bunch of production work right off the bat in January, and then it all went away with Covid. But it was definitely a sign - while the world was still ticking - that putting your voice and your self out into the world is totally worth it, it’s the way to ensure your energy takes form. Who it reaches and how are not up to you.Now let me tell you something:The “artist-career/star” model of the music biz is very much a joke at this point. I got started in music because music was boiling in my body, and it still is. Living the dream ain’t bad, but you can make your living any way you want.Now don’t get me wrong: I work in music, that’s a fact. Still, it’s worth taking a moment to specify for yourself exactly which quote-unquote “dream” you’re signing up to live. Because for your life, it should be your own dream and not someone else’s. That image of the star musician killing in on stage in front of thousands of people is one way it can manifest for you, but “dreams” like that are similar in scope to somebody else’s “dream” of reaching the top of mount Everest. It is doable? YES! It is worth doing? Probably? Will you learn a lot? Yes. Will people be psyched for you if you do it? Most definitely! But do you want to live there your whole life? The air can get thin.We have to be real about what a musical life really is. I’m not here to tell you that it is a certain way either, just to remind you that music will empower and enrich your life in ways nothing else can touch. And that this wealth also brings with it an opportunity to choose exactly how you’re gonna spend it. Choose how to direct your energy. Choose what you’re going to believe while you do this work.For myself, I believe the following: that Life is beautiful. Family is a choice. Our relationships are the circuitry of society. We must make the most of the time we have. Humanity does not know our destiny. Beauty is progress, not perfection. Strength is a lifetime quest. There is an artist within each of us. And we belong to this place and this time, so let’s get on with the show.Welcome to next year. We’re in it. And I’ve got a great guest on the show today to send us off.Mai Bloomfield is a singer-songwriter-cellist-guitarist from California. As a solo artist, she has received songwriting awards from the Kerrville, Telluride and Rocky Mountain Folks Festivals. She brings the hits: As a collaborator, she’s worked with various artists including Jason Mraz, Adam Cohen, Sara Bareilles and Willy Porter. She had the honor of playing on Leonard Cohen’s album “You Want It Darker.” Along with her bandmates of 15 years in Raining Jane she co-wrote Jason Mraz’s chart-topping album “Yes!” (2014) as well as his 2018 hit single “Have It All.” She’s toured the world with Mraz in venues ranging from coffee shops to the Royal Albert Hall.Mai also has a drive for civic engagement: In 2010 she helped start the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles, a non-profit dedicated to empowering girls through music, where she teaches songwriting and serves as Art Director year-round. Her songs often speak of the pursuit of finding the light inside the dark – a theme that was magnified in her own life when she became a breast cancer survivor. She is currently working on a book about that experience and the insights that came through it, and hopes her story will inspire and encourage others on their creative paths.I met Mai in a classic road encounter between cellists: I was on tour and had just found my own cello to have been destroyed by baggage handlers. Gigs were ongoing and needed to call in a favor QUICK to complete my obligations for the tour. Luckily our mutual friend Emily Hope Price (from Episode 1) decided we should know each other. Mai lent me her cello sight unseen for the show in LA and we’ve been connected ever since. I’ve never met such a kind, abundantly talented and generous musician on the road as Mai Bloomfield, and it’s a privilege to present our conversation to you now.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Mai. (Here’s a track called Running Out Of Time)It’s an honor to have her on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Mai Bloomfield.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Mai Bloomfield for spending some very generous time with us. You can find Mai at Mai Bloomfield dot com and follow her on Facebook and IG @maibloomfield.Here’s a link to her latest release, “Three Little Words”.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 69 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience in 2021, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

068: Yousef BassirpourGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, December 16th of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.Yousef Bassirpour is working under the name Big Blind, and the music is heavy, spacious and beautiful. He’s a fixture on the Atwater scene here in LA.Big Blind is an Industrial / Post-Rock project that draws influence from traditional Middle Eastern music. The lyrics are mostly English and occasionally Farsi.I listen to this guy and I’m hearing a clear voice, sonorous arrangements, deep feeling and melodies that bring me to a variety of different places. Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Yousef.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Yousef of Big Blind.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Yousef Bassirpour for spending some very generous time with us. You can find the Bid Blind album on Spotify and follow him on IG @big_blind_.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 68 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

067: George CrottyGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, December 9th of 2020 Music is not content, it’s connection.I’m glad to be talking with you today, over this amazing little pop-up radio thingy we call podcasting. There are a million shows, so thanks for tuning into this one. It’s about music. Could you tell?Folks have no idea what music is, least of all the people who make it and listen to it. We care about it, but no two people will define Music in the same way. It’s just this thing that we either can’t turn away from for love or money, or the thing we have to get away from at any cost. Depends on the moment of course, and the band.I’m pleased to announce that I got a big chunk of work done on my studio, so stay tuned for some videos and some streaming coming up very soon. Keep an eye out there. On the topic of personal media development, someone who’s given me quite a bit of guidance over the years is a previous guest on the show, Todd Reynolds (@digifiddler). He’s a dear friend who happens to be one of the biggest gearheads on earth (at least as far as string players go). He’s been helping a lot of people get their stuff in gear for recording, improvising with electronics, video streaming. I’m gonna plug his online workshop this weekend, it’s totally free and just the ticket if you’re curious about getting your rig tight.If that’s you, click the link!Register for Level Up Your Virtual Presence with Todd Reynolds, a free 2-day online workshop, Dec 12 & 13.[Photo by Shjaane Glover]Canadian cellist George Crotty follows the path of many diverse cello forebears, filtering an inquisitive eclecticism through a vibrant sonic imagination. His approach introduces nimble fiddle-derived chording and ornamentation, agile one-finger gestures from Indian classical music, electric guitar-esque manoeuvres, and good old standup jazz bass. He sounds pretty damn decent if you ask me.He leads a trio as a vehicle for his unique vocabulary on the cello and his compositional sensibility. Their music has a dynamism and conversational interplay that makes you listen. [Photo by Shjaane Glover]George and I go back a bit, I’ve checked out his bands live and had some good hangs at certain music festivals. He’s got a lot to say about the world he’s navigating as a young graduate of the Berklee School of Music, working on the road and then off of it too, because covid…He’s got a new single being released this week on his Bandcamp page, check out Prayer Dance as our segue music. It’s a Brooklyn Raga Massive commission.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s George Crotty.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with George Crotty.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to George Crotty for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at George Crotty dot com. Go buy his music at Bandcamp and follow him on IG @georgeqrious.(Mentioned in this episode: “Don't play the butter notes!”)I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 67 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

066: Nathan GillisGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, December 2 of 2020 Music is not content! It’s connection.I skipped a week last week. Did you notice? We were too busy cooking food over here (that we’re still eating since it was a tiny gathering).I’m gonna make this quick today. I’ve got some work going down over here, and I’m also getting ready for an interesting gig I’ve got online tomorrow so there’s not much to say except I’ve got some walls to paint and am looking forward to getting that done.We will soon be streaming some video, and I hope to eventually get it to look halfway decent. I’m pretty happy with the sound lately.I was recently on a songwriter zoom call where Angela Parrish (from Ep. 37) convened some of her favorite writers. This guy Nathan Gillis blew us all away, just dropped timeless gem after timeless gem - he reminds a lot of people of Prine and for good reason.I just couldn’t get him out of my head - the level of craft that this guy brings in Colorado Springs is a marvel. I had to reach out for an interview.He was kind enough to share some rough demos of a couple songs, there’s no album polish but the muse is there in full effect. I’m just gonna duck out here and let him tell us a little something about what music means to him. This man is a true inspiration.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Without further ado, here’s Nathan Gillis.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Nathan Gillis.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Nathan Gillis for spending some very generous time with us. You can find his band on Facebook, other than that there’s no web presence to speak of. Which fits!I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 66 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...Do you like this stuff? Please help it grow by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

065: AJ NocitoGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, November 18th of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.It's just as hard to find musical partners as it is to find romantic partners. Some people can make it look easy, but finding someone to share the real burdens, who really understands the world the way you do and is brave enough to commit to a project - that part is never easy.[photo by @shvwnfvckingcooper]AJ Nocito is a man on a mission, and his energy will infect any room he walks into. I've seen him in quite a few contexts: percussionist at The Get Down, road manager on a tour we were both on and also front man of the hardcore metal band Christopher Walkin On Sunshine. Strap in, this dude is a live wire. A thrilling man to have in your life.Today we're going to hear the tale of a band in the making and in the breaking: sleeping on the floor with all the gear and just willing the music into being. The story will take some turns because life does: there are a couple of different bands that weave in and out, as well as a heartbreaking tragedy that will stop you in your tracks. AJ has survived a major musician's nightmare, and he's here to tell us about it. There is redemption within.Ok, soNot a lot of metalheads listen to my show and I get it, but sound is sound and spirit is spirit. The various facets of the metal and punk scenes which I've visited are some of the most inspiring and committed anywhere, and I confess to some envy alongside my admiration from the 'conservatory' perch I was brought up in. The energy is unmatched. I'm proud to have the few friends I do in there, and AJ is a brother of mine for life."I'm gonna start hearing things that my hands can't do."[photo by @linkreturns][photo by Sasha Bianca]Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with AJ Nocito.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to AJ for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him and follow him on IG and chase him around. Also: buy their demo on bandcamp.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 65 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out there.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

064: Kent KlinemanGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, November the 11th of 2020 music is not content, it’s connection.I don’t know about you but I’m really struggling to hold it together mentally this week. After all the goings on and the buildup and whatnot, nerves are fried and it appears the Big Conversation is just going to keep getting more and more perverse for all parties involved. Not like it’s that unusual, things are perpetually unchained if you look in the right places. But let me tell you, I did something yesterday that gave me an unusual amount of energy and inspiration: I brought my stuff over to a guy’s house and we played some music together. In the same room. Woah let me tell you.Bananas, right? I brought out the cello and the bass and plugged it all in. He had an array of drum machines and synths all wired up and we just went from scratch. YO! We didn’t stop for like an hour and a half. It was weird, just showing up to play. Like for fun. But that’s what it was: FUN.Who knows when this pandemic is ever gonna ease off - people are still catching it and those numbers aren’t going down like you might wish. But for us musicians it’s a total killer. We totally had our masks on and sat real far apart like sane people will, but it felt pretty rebellious just to be doing it at all. Which is a problem.Music is the thing we’re supposed to be able to do to heal ourselves, to get connected, to feel whole and all the rest of it. Folks haven’t really been able to play properly for over six months now and man does that lack take a toll. I remember going for little dryspells in between gigs, then playing and having my body just remember and exhale and want to go back and do it all over again. There’s some somatic signal that makes everything ok for a little while, like a feeling of “this is what you’re here to do”. Know what I mean?Here’s hoping we can all get back to doing what we’re here to do, sooner rather than later.Today on the show we have Kent Klineman of Blind Pony, a great character actor who you might have seen in TV shows like “The Practice” or “Better Things”. He also acted with Brian Dennehy in “Death Of A Salesman”. Guy’s a veteran, and he happens to also be a musician and songwriter.I was happy to catch up with him for an engaging chat about his upbringing and approach and attitude to all things music and art. He’s a fantastic dude and it was an honor to have him on the show this week.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Kent Klineman.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Kent Klineman for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him on Spotify, Youtube, IMDB and on Wikipedia.The book Kent mentioned is called "Start Your Own Band" by Marty Jourard, keyboard player for The Motels.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 64 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out there.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

063: Mike BlockGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, November 4th of 2020, MORE THAN EVER Music is not content, it’s connection.I’m recording this on Tuesday afternoon, so the voice you’re listening to right now is still on the previous side of whatever corner has been turned by the time you’re hearing this. So you know something I don’t. Or maybe you don’t. But at least things are moving somewhere.Today we have the one and only Mike Block on the show. He’s a good friend, a world renowned cellist and teacher and also a songwriter and bandleader who puts out an astonishing amount of records. His work ethic just won't quit.He's also Yo Yo Ma's go-to arranger, a role which has developed in the wake of his long association with the Silk Road ensemble. We get into that. He’s got a new album out this month called The Edge Of The Atmosphere and you can find links to it (and all of his music) in the shownotes [below].Yes that’s right, we are doing a two week run of great cellists with great new albums. Last week’s interview with Nesrine was a real joy, and this one with Mike is another - if you’re into cellists.He’s truly industrious: In 2010 he founded the Mike Block String Camp. Mike is also the founding Director of Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop (GMW), designed to foster a community of globally minded musicians. He teaches hundreds of cello students online through his Multi-Style Cello School at ArtistWorks.com, he’s an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music, and in 2018 also joined the faculty of New England Conservatory through the Contemporary Improvisation program. BUT that’s not all. As an innovator, Mike is among the first wave of cellists to adopt a strap in order to stand and move while playing. He patented an original design, The Block Strap, and then became the first standing cellist to perform at Carnegie Hall. The NY Times characterized the performance as, "Breathless ... Half dance, half dare." So yeah, he’s a complete badass. But also a humble and generous dude with a great heart. Let’s hang out with Mike.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Mike Block.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Mike Block for spending some very generous time with us. You can find his work at Mike Block Music dot com and also on IG @blockcello. His new album “The Edge of the Atmosphere” is out now, give it a listen on all the streamers and on bandcamp.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 63 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out there.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

062: Nesrine BelmokhGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, October 28th of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.I voted this past weekend. Have you? Are you planning to? Good idea to get it done early when you can. Especially with how charged everything is now. Because who knows what kind of drama is gonna get thrown at us next week.Today on the show we’re talking with someone all the way over in Barcelona, Spain. I was captivated by today’s musician the moment I first came across one of her performances on YouTube. As you know, I keep an eye out for singing cellists. But that can be a pretty mixed bag and a lot of second-rate stuff gets put out in the name of novelty. But French-Algerian Nesrine Belmokh (whose stage act goes by just her first name) is bringing it on a lot of levels: she kills it with the cello in all the traditional ways, but she adds to that with a great vocal delivery, bandleading and songwriting chops which are nothing to sniff at by themselves. It all comes together in a mesmerizing show.Nesrine’s musical world is without borders; the combination of cello with her powerful voice and the interaction of her North African roots with her European present are irresistible. There is an economy of expression here, and the poise and culture of clas- sical music are juxtaposed with rhythms coming from both pop and jazz – it is a fascinating and constantly shifting blend. Her brand new self-titled album comes out this Friday, so follow the links here in the show notes and grab a full listen. In the meantime, here’s a bit of music and conversation with the amazing Nesrine.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:It’s an honor to have her on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Nesrine.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Nesrine for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her work at Nesrine Music dot com and also on IG @nesrinemusic. Her new album comes out on Friday, but in the meantime here’s a link to the single.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 62 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly onSpotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

061: Ed MarshallGood Morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, October 21st of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.Today’s conversation is a wild ride, I’d say it’s fitting for the times we’re in too.Is there life after a dedicated music career? What happens if you decide to quit? I’m not talking about retreating to being a hobbyist - what happens when you actually choose to stop doing it?It’s not that much fun to think about, and you and I all know there are as many answers to that as there are people. But life has its twists and turns, and we don’t get to hold on to everything. In today’s case, however, there’s an interesting twist. [Last Days of CBGB's - photo by Ed Marshall]I’ve always been fascinated by house music. How’s about you?Photographer Ed Marshall made some house tracks in the 90’s, then life happened and he took off and forgot about it… and as they like to say, you won’t believe what happened next! One day in 2017 a couple of DJs tracked him down, and it turns out that copies of his old vinyl pressings were a much sought-after item in Ibiza and around the house scene. Like worldwide, man. Folks were throwing down $500 for a copy on eBay. I s**t you not. And Ed didn’t believe it either.[The Noisettes, The Fillmore, NYC - photo by Ed Marshall]Soon enough, Ari Goldman of World Building Records reached out to him about the re-release, and it came back out properly in 2018. We get to hear the origin story of that work, but because Ed and I are friends we get deep into some other crazy important stuff about family, community, spirituality and commitment. Nowadays Ed is a pretty well-known and celebrated photographer. But as you’ll hear, it all comes from, and eventually arrives back at music. Like life.[DirtBombs, Fort Greene, Brooklyn - photo by Ed Marshall]Folks who know Ed understand that he’s bringing a lot of layers of awareness and wisdom to every interaction. Just checking out his photography will reveal that he has an incredibly perceptive eye. He doesn’t always hold forth about what’s in his mind though, so this is a real privilege to get him on the show here today. Talking with him is always an eye-opener and this conversation was a great example of that.Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:It’s an honor to have the man on the show.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Ed Marshall.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Ed Marshall for spending some very generous time with us. You can find his work at Ed Marshall Photography NYC dot com and also on IG @edmarshallphotographynyc. Additionally he has a beautiful book of photographs you can get on Amazon. [Game Rebellion (NY), Last Days of CBGB's - photo by Ed Marshall]Downloads of the now-classic “Dreamscape: Welcome to our New Age House” are available for purchase at bandcamp and you can get the fresh vinyl at EarCave dot com, for a reasonable price.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 61 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly onSpotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

060: Jenna MoynihanGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, October 14th of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.Day in, day out we have to reckon with our surroundings and with the moment we’re in. Losing Eddie Van Halen, listening in on a friend’s pre-pre-release party for her debut EP, wondering when (not if) my neighborhood is gonna burn down and all the while just loving all the new music I’m hearing all around me… everything is a reminder that the passing moments of our life are precious and definitely worth spending on something that lights you up.Today we have a musician on the show who will do just that:Quick ask: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Too often artists view tradition as a towering monolith to be either conquered or cowed by, but young Scottish fiddler and experimentalist Jenna Moynihan knows that tradition is meant to be a starting point for great inspiration, not a wall. She just released a new EP called Five Songs, which you can get right now on bandcamp and all the streaming platforms.She’s got a melodic touch that just slays me. And I’m a tough sell for the violin (as I mentioned to her). It was a real treat to speak with Jenna. She's remarkably subtle at drawing out the melody of a tune, and at recognizing how each tune fits best into the groove of her fiddle.Jenna’s well on her way to becoming one of the best traditional fiddlers of her generation, teaching now at multiple fiddle camps across the US and touring internationally. She performs in a duo with Scottish harpist, Mairi Chaimbeul and has performed with The Milk Carton Kids, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards Darol Anger & The Furies and as a soloist at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops.It’s an honor to have her on the show.Press PLAY above to ear my conversation with Jenna Moynihan.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Jenna Moynihan for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her music at Jenna Moynihan dot com. Her new EP is available for purchase now and you can also follow her on IG @jennamoynihan.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 60 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out here.But as Eddie always said, you gotta keep playing:We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (updated regularly on Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

059: Shareef ClaytonGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, October 7th of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.Last weekend I got to spend a day at the beach chopping it up with a good friend. We’ve been friends since our 20’s, which is cool. Because on some level we get to be the same people we were back then. But we also get to share some of the ways we’ve both grown since our 20’s and consequently feel so much smarter than we used to. It was a trip, and it was also a beautiful day. We laughed about how we’ve both been reading some very heavy stuff lately, stuff we’d probably not have even thought to check out before. I told my friend how I’ve been reading a bunch of economic theory, and my friend told be how they’ve been reading some 13th and 14th Century history. It seems to be a common coping device for a lot of us: when you’re feeling powerless in the face of what’s going on in the world around you, knowledge is a form of power that remains more accessible than ever. So in between bouts of “taking action” we can seize a thick book and try to widen our lens. Away from constantly feeling the acuteness of our current array of crises.Cop a bit of perspective.So yeah, I’ve been reading up on some economic theory. Not because I hope to deeply understand it, but because I’m fascinated by the quest to understand things, and by how something you think you know for a fact can be seen in an entirely different light by someone just as smart as you or perhaps smarter. Finding out why can sometimes turn your world upside down in a good way.I’m lucky because I get to have this experience a lot. Very smart people like to tell me things, and I like to listen. I’m also super slow to understand things, including music. Folks laugh at how long it took me to start loving grunge, punk, hiphop, bluegrass etc. Before we learn to embrace sounds that come from beyond our own level of comprehension, it can feel like we’re drowning in information that doesn’t compute. For some of us, Music is not a sport. It’s a quest. We’re on it for our whole lives, and it keeps bringing us to new places. But in the meantime:Play me a melody that’s gonna open my heart. Hit me with a beat and a bass line that’ll move my ass. Everyone hears at their own speed.Our guest today is a supersonic musician.(Cat also likes to read.)Shareef Clayton is a jazz trumpeter, a native of Miami, FL and one of the most exciting and creative musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. The sound and feel of his music is intense, with a repertoire that includes jazz, r&b, Afro­Cuban, funk and soul. He’s appeared with Macy Gray, Melody Gardot, Bobby Sanabria, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Michael Mcdonald, Ruben Blades, and many more. Once you see what this guy can do, you can never un-see it. He brings an incredible polish and showmanship to his performances, but the sophistication and personality underneath it all makes for a really satisfying trip. I’m glad to know the man, and to know about him. You will be as well.We get some of the story, but also go deep on the quest and some of the questioning that goes on when you reach new heights while also facing the same struggles year after year. The music life - no matter who you’re looking at - is full of curveballs. But Shareef is another example of a player who knows how to keep developing your talent while learning the mechanics of life and always moving forward.It’s an honor to have him on the show.Press PLAY above to ear my conversation with Shareef Clayton.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Shareef Clayton for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him and his music at Shareef Clayton dot com.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 59 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

058: Tamara FullerGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, September 30th of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.We’ve heard plenty about how musicians are handling the pandemic time away from being able to play in clubs and otherwise make their living playing gigs. But what about the venue owners who also make their living putting on said gigs?How do you keep the lights on when everyone’s afraid to come out? It’s easy to forget the rest of the supply chain, but today we’re going to branch out and speak with a great proprietor and hear how she got her place up and running, why she does it and how things are working out through the craziness. It’s a great chat and I can’t wait for you to hear it.This journey we go on, there are so many different paths. We don’t just make different choices along the way: different paths are open to different people in different ways at different times. There are different scenes to be a part of. You can be jealous of the boomers who went to woodstock, wonder what might have happened if you’d stuck with those piano lessons or wish you were around to go to Low End Theory in the early days of the LA beat scene, but the reality is that every single moment of your life represents an opportunity to clarify and deepen your relationship to music and the people around you.I like to stay home and make stuff, but what motivates me to do that is the knowledge that I’m working toward opening up the door. Bringing it out to show people when it’s ready. Otherwise what am I doing?Likewise, we go out to hear each other just to witness each other. Listen to the environment, connect, maybe play together. These are all things we could take for granted before the ‘rona, our ability to do them only depended on our energy level, location, commitment to the scene, what have you. There are always different reasons we’ll find ourselves out looking for that connection. But all bets seem to be off these days. So in order to make it work, we fall back on those circuits within the musical mind which fire on the problems at hand in surprising ways. It’s one of the best things about music: it helps your brain connect to its surroundings and find a way through. You’ll know when you’re home, how your apart, where to travel, why to get back, what to do about stuff. If music is the lens through which we comprehend the world, we forge onward. I knew Tamara Fuller on the scene in New York, but it was just before we both left town. Later I found out she’d opened up The Velvet Note in - of all places - Alpharetta, Georgia. And before I knew it, I was traveling through the area in style, knowing there was a great place to play where the musicians got treated fairly and the folks get it.She’ll tell us all about the how and why, coming right up. But first let’s mention just how great it is to have people like Tamara on the scene, keeping the fire burning for when the fog clears and we can all meet on the bandstand once again.Let’s get into it:Press PLAY above to ear my conversation with Tamara Fuller.Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastSince she’s not a working musician, I asked Tamara to provide a track with which I could bookend the interview. She gave us Kate McGarry’s version of the Miles Davis classic, “Blue In Green”. When I asked her why, she gave me the story behind her choice. She goes: “Well, when I started The Velvet Note, I made an aspirational list of the artists I would most like to book, and the songs I would want them to perform. They had to be artists who were so compelling that they could captivate a small room with no bells, no fireworks. Kate was on my list. I called her directly, out of the blue. I told her I was starting a jazz club. At this time, we had nothing...not even a location or a signed lease. She didn’t laugh at me. She didn’t act like I was crazy. She was kind and supportive and thoughtful. 9 years later, she has performed five or six times at The Velvet Note, including a joint performance with the great Tierney Sutton, during which they dedicated a song to me, “Blue In Green”.So thanks to Kate for that, I’ll try to get her here on an episode of her own as soon as I can.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Tamara Fuller for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her wearing the hats at The Velvet Note dot com, and if you’re too far away to visit in person, the club always posts complete live sets on their YouTube channel.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 58 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Vibe out, here are 200 songs I like: (Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons with me online!Hire me to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

057: Emily RiceGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, the 23rd of September of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.Hell of week we’re having, right? Let’s make it better.Emily Rice is a British born composer for film and TV, who started her musical life as a cellist playing in orchestras and rock bands. She has recorded and conducted her work at Warner Brothers, Capitol Records and The Wiltern – with members of the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra. She is stacking up credits, busy as hell and I’m very grateful that she made the time to speak with us. I became a fan when I saw the popular online film Mr. Malcolm’s List and I’ve been spotting her all over the place ever since. She recently scored the Netflix series The I-Land as well as the documentaries 100 Years From Home, Self-Taught and For The Love Of Rutland, as well as narrative feature Miss Juneteenth which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. (You should all watch that one on Amazon, it’s great.)Recognized as an emerging talent early on in her career, Emily was the first composer to be awarded a scholarship from BAFTA Los Angeles. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of York, a graduate certificate in film scoring from USC, and is also an alumna of the prestigious Sundance Institute Film Music & Sound Design Lab. She spent some time early on assisting several elite film composers including Brian Tyler, James Newton Howard and Laura Karpman, and was a writing assistant to Junkie XL. She has contributed music to Hollywood blockbusters such as Tomb Raider and Alita: Battle Angel and done orchestrations for The Mummy, Altered Carbon and Star Trek: Discovery. So yeah, big time! I’m psyched to bring her on the show, we’re going to hear some of her story and of course we got off on the good foot talking about what else.. the cello. That thing has its own language. It’s an honor to have her here, so without further ado, meet Emily Rice.Press PLAY above to ear my conversation with Emily RiceOr subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Emily Rice for spending some very generous time with us. You can find Emily at Emily Rice Music dot com, follow her on IG and Twitter @emrice music and definitely keep an eye out for new projects as they happen.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 57 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails:​ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

056: Aaron WhitbyGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, September 16th of 2020 Music is not content, it’s connection.Today we are blessed to have Aaron Whitby with us. But first here’s a random thought: Music used to be important. And it was a haven for the self important. It still sort of is, but musicians no longer make the same level of impact economically or culturally.It’s not quite running on fumes, but nowadays most of us would be happy for musicmaking to be merely sustainable. Some might even say that being sustainable is better than being important. But guess what? Back in that golden age when music was quote “really important”, it was not sustainable then either. What I mean is that we take our literal life in our hands when we choose to set about making music. It’s a risk, man. We’re actually getting closer to sustainability now, you could say it’s a beautiful time (aside from it being the apocalypse). Most of the time music works out ok if you work hard enough, make decent choices and keep your priorities more or less in line. But it’s not a magic ticket to some rarefied kind of existence where you get to hold yourself above other people. I mean, in America you can run your business however you see fit, but there are two sides to this coin: you find the fan who worships at the altar of the musician they love, and the musician who sometimes seems like they might just be seeking to be worshiped above all else - whose ego may be running the show.I won’t name any of them, but you know the trope. You probably also know that it’s not that simple.Not all musicians are provocateurs, serial abusers, pedophiles, womanizers, drug smugglers, tax cheaters or general get-somethin-for-nuthin types. Nor are we all deadbeats, addicts, vagrants and underearners. Most of the time we start out just wanting to play. Not knowing where the train is actually going, we chose to follow the energy and inspiration to wherever it may lead.But when an artist gets a little traction and starts working with investors (and that’ll be most of the artists you’ve heard of, barring almost none), oftentimes the investor will only stay happy if the artist continually generates energy around themselves, in order to generate attention for the music and get the numbers up so that the investor can profit. It’s not just a label or what have you, but it’s all the members of the artist’s team whose livelihood (and future) depends on those same numbers. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle: artist “just wants to make music”, gets some help in the form of a band, production team, label etcetera. Then the pressure starts to multiply. Every person added to the team is a new set of mouths to feed and before you know it, the artist has to become a factory of attention-getting tactics. Only some of which are related to creating excellent and satisfying music. They have to meet those numbers or the show falls apart.It’s an obligation entirely separate from the creative process. Folks wonder “where everything went wrong” but it’s part of the design. Basically, the music business will turn you into a pirate, and if you don’t want that to happen then you’re probably better off digging into what you’re really after and why. And if what you want is quote-unquote “real music” then keep listening because today we’re talking to a live one.(Which is good, because I’m about talked out here. )The point is Music is literally the most important thing for us here at the show. You just have to take the music seriously and not take yourself too seriously. The folks on here tend to really bring it.[Photo by Michael Weintrob]So. Aaron Whitby:is an award-winning record producer, composer/songwriter, pianist, engineer and educator born and raised in London, England and a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York.Whitby is best known for his work with longtime collaborator Martha Redbone, who we heard from last week. Whitby and Redbone are recipients of many awards and are currently developing a musical commissioned by the Public Theater in NYC.[Photo by Molly Magnusson]Mentored by Ohio Player/Funkadelic Walter ‘Junie’ Morrison, Whitby has recorded with; Natalie Cole, George Clinton, Randy Brecker, Lisa Fischer, Tony Trischka, John McEuen, Raul Midon, Neil Sedaka and Rodney Holmes among many others. He has performed with Nona Hendryx, Brian Jackson, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Ben Sollee, Mino Cinelu and Brooklyn Raga Massive among many others.He and Martha have been stacking up awards and commissions. That’s ongoing.But with Cousin From Another Planet, his debut album as a frontman, Whitby comes full circle to his jazz and funk roots pulling together an amazing cast of friends to realize his musical vision, as described by Greg Tate, “a funk-da-fied jam session feel undergirding tight, knotty jazz-smart progressions”. With tunes inspired by the animated energy and profound innocence of his young son, humorous lyrics that celebrate empathy and empowerment and musicians given the freedom to take the music wherever it feels good. According to Tate, this album is “one of this era’s hardiest re-dedications and festival-tent revival of soulful and exploratory jam-gnocity.” Cousin From Another Planet live onstage is a music and visual experience accompanied by a video artshow by VJ Lady Firefly (who has also worked with Dave Chappelle and The Roots) to capture the colorful, cartoonish and movement-inspired worldview.Like I said, we got a live one here. Check out Aaron Whitby.Press PLAY above to ear my conversation with Aaron WhitbyOr subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify- Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Aaron Whitby and Martha Redbone for spending some very generous time with us on these last two episodes. You can find Aaron at Cousin From Another Planet Dot Com, follow him on IG @cousinfromanotherplanet and definitely pick up the new album on Bandcamp. It’s out on Ropeadope Records.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 56 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

055: Martha Redbone[Photo by Christine Jean Chambers]Good Morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, September 9th of 2020 Music Is Not Content. It’s connection.It’s summertime and love is in the air. Actually, love is always in the air if you know where to smell. (Whomp whomp. )But for real, you may have been noticing a pattern with my episodes so far this year: there have been several couples in the lineup lately. It’s a thing, definitely. I am fascinated by couples who create music together professionally. I’m fascinated by the dynamics, and I am fascinated by the amazing music they make both together and independently of each other.We are about to continue this trend, and I’m happy to lean into it for this moment while we’re all in quarantine, getting cozy, weathering the storm… sometimes maybe getting a little too close for comfort or perhaps blowing the occasional gasket. Because believe me, there is nobody more intense than musicians. In general and especially in relationship. (That’s a claim you may be able to fact check yourself. I’ll leave it right here in the open.)We have heard from several artists who are also in couples: you can check out our episodes with Katya and Chris from Break Out The Crazy, Celia and Simon from PettyChavez, more recently we had Mark Marshall and Abby Ahmad… and I’m still working on getting some others done with Kieran O’Hare who works and lives with Liz Knowles, Dwight Richter from Dwight and Nicole and a few others we’ve had in the lineup.[photo by Molly Magnusson]Today we’re going to hear from the one and only Martha Redbone, and next week we will hear from the one and only Aaron Whitby. Both of them are stellar musicians: she’s a legit superstar and he’s an incredible pianist, artist and bandleader who also happens to be Martha’s M.D. (That’s M.D. in the musical - not medical - sense. Musical Director. Martha and Aaron create everything together, and when they’re not taking care of business they can be found raising their family in Brooklyn.)[Martha Redbone at the Met Museum Cherokee Day, photo by Don Pollard]But let me take a stab at why I find musical couples so fascinating, because they are. I’m going to hit you with a quote from Peter Thiel*:“The best thing I did as a manager at PayPal was to make every person in the company responsible for doing just one thing…. Most fights inside a company happen when colleagues compete for the same responsibilities.”That’s from his book, Zero To One. *Now don’t bite my head off because I get it, people hate Peter Thiel. They hate him for being a Trump guy, they hate him for pulling the strings all over big tech, spying on everybody, they hate him specifically for taking out Gawker and in general for being a notably cutthroat capitalist. That’s fine, but he’s also pretty interesting and he’s so good at debating that he can usually elucidate his opponent’s point of view better than they can. Anyway, I’m talking about Love and Music, so let’s stick with that. The point is that music is a hustler’s game. Finding love is hard, you all know that. There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of scary choices to make. Finding success in music, I’ll submit, might be even harder. More moving parts! Scarier choices! And many, many “similar responsibilities” for people in close quarters to compete over: you have writing, producing, booking, PR, art direction, day-to-day management… all kinds of stuff, 24-7 that can turn loyal bandmates into a simmering cauldron of discontent. All of that, with no PayPal fortune to fight over either.So the fact that there are people in this world who do both things at once, Love and Music, together is just flat-out amazing to me. I love sharing these moments with members of couples who work in music. One thing that sticks out is how good they are at both supporting each other and staying out of each other’s way. So take that, Peter Thiel.Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, now let’s talk about Martha Redbone.[photo by Ebru Yildiz]Martha Redbone is a Native & African-American vocalist/songwriter/composer/educator. She is known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues and gospel from her childhood in Harlan County, Kentucky infused with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting the powerful vocal range of her gospel-singing African American father and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Cherokee/Shawnee/Choctaw culture, she broadens the boundaries of American Roots music. With songs and storytelling that share her life experience as a Native and Black woman and mother in the new millennium, Martha gives voice to issues of social justice, bridging traditions from past to present, connecting cultures, and celebrating the human spirit. “The Garden of Love” is her most recent album. It’s an absolutely stunning project that puts the poetry of William Blake to music. She just won a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music in a Play (beating out the legendary Steve Earle) with an original score in the revival of “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf” at the Public Theater, NYC.She and Aaron have also just been announced as part of this season’s Artistic Instigators series, to develop new original work at the NY Theater Workshop.And in case that’s not enough, Martha Redbone is currently in development with her own new work “Black Mountain Women” at The Public Theater. It is a timely musical about the ongoing environmental destruction of her ancestral homeland in Appalachia told through the lives of 4 generations of women in her matriarchal Cherokee family. I find Martha’s music and performances to be just incredible. I’ve been a fan since the first album and check in on their show as regularly as I can. Her voice is huge and her stage presence is both classy and energetic. She’s powerful in that way where you just feel lucky to be walking on the same planet. Today she’s sharing an amazing and sensitive story about the first time she was ever called upon to sing in a studio, it’s the literal beginning of her career and I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Check it out:Press PLAY above to hear my convo with Martha Redbone. Or subscribe in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - Pocketcast[Photo by Michael Weintrob]Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Martha Redbone for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her at Martha Redbone Roots Dot Com, follow her on IG @martharedbone and definitely pick up her albums on Bandcamp.Come back next week and we will hang with the amazing Aaron Whitby.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 55 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Subscribe to the show directly in your podcast app: Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Stitcher - TuneIn - Overcast - PocketcastHear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

054: Abby AhmadGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, September 2 of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.Glad to be here with you as 2020 enters its final third. What’s gonna happen now? Who the hell knows, I for one am all soft eyes and open ears. If there’s anything you’re still taking for granted about this life, I recommend you examine why that might be the case and think about what you may do instead. Time slows down for no one.Except for me, because I’m on vacation this week. Nothing special, just up the road a bit at an airbnb. Still pretty much in quarantine, but claiming a little sanity too. I have a great guest for you here today though, so let’s talk about her.ABBY AHMAD is an acclaimed singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor, and voice/yoga teacher residing in Brooklyn, NY. And her music is as passionate as it is profound. Abby has recorded and toured internationally as a solo artist, backup singer, and with her band Fife & Drom which she fronts with her husband, Mark Marshall who you may remember from last week’s episode. Her original music has been featured in a major motion picture (The Guardian) as well as being honored on multiple occasions by the Independent Music Awards.She is also a trained actor, we get into that a bit and talk a little about the interplay between the two disciplines. As a voice and guitar teacher, Abby has been a trusted source of guidance and inspiration for both young and professional students over the years. Her vocal coaching and unique exercises have been utilized by major artists in preparation for going on things like Coachella and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.Once again, if you like the show and you think it deserves a wider audience, do us a solid and share the link with a friend:Or better yet: listen to the Playlist we just started that has all the guests and pass that around too. It’s a musical community you can take with you wherever you go: Find it on Apple Music | SpotifyWe are here to connect the dots with you. Halfway through our chat, I mentioned a book which I’ll link you to here in our show notes. I’ve talked about it before, maybe we’ll get this guy on our show sometime. It’s Music: A Subversive History by Ted Gioia. If you’re looking for liberation and you know how to read, this one’ll scrape the sand out of your ears.I’ve known Abby for a long time, she’s got a very cool way of playing guitar in addition to her amazing voice. I’ve had a great time watching her perform both solo and rockin out blues with Fife and Drom. She can really take over a room. I love the sound of her voice, and her delivery is super powerful. She’s a force, check out our conversation.Press PLAY above to hear my convo with Abby Ahmad.Artist’s tracks all come from our guest, check out Abby’s solo work and also Fife and Drom on BandcampThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Abby Ahmad for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her at Abby Ahmad dot com and follow her on IG @abbyahmadmusic.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 54 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

053: Mark MarshallGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, August 26th of 2020 Music is not content! It’s connection.A quick note: last week’s episode may not have reached you since there was a big traffic burst here on Substack and the whole thing got gummed up for a day, which happened to be the same day I was sending you my regular Wednesday edition. In case you did not get the email, you can still look at the post and listen to the episode, it’s right up on the site where it should be. And the podcast is also in your player’s feed like normal. I put together a great chat with Daniel Wright, and it’s really worth hearing.[photo by Abby Ahmad]I’m in California here with the rolling brownouts and the heat storm, it’s been in the low 100’s here for a week straight. Hard at work on multiple projects as usual, but I think I’m settling into a good groove here. It’s a trip to hold myself to account with everything I start, but I’m getting better at completing the things I start. And it’s partly because I’m really liking some of the stuff I come up with.There’s this thing I’ve been alluding to here and there called the Lazy Cello Suite, which isn’t an entirely original work but I think it’s safe to call it a remix. I basically took the chord changes of the Bach G Major cello suite and made my own notes, played in the way I like to play. It’s lazy-sounding in a good way, a way that doesn’t make you work too hard as a listener. I’m going to make a recording of it soon on my porch and put that out on Bandcamp.I’m also working on some production prototypes for an album which is moving forward. I’m working with last week’s guest, Daniel Wright. It’s still in a very early stage but the energetic read is good on the thing, so stay tuned for more on both of those projects as they develop.Today I’m happy to share my conversation with Mark Marshall. He’s a great guitarist, and very much a connoisseur of guitar tone. In fact, he has an entire website dedicated to the Anatomy of Guitar Tone, which you can find at anatomyofguitartone.com. But he’s much more than a mere gearhead. I’ve worked with him as a producer and in bands, I’ve also admired his work on stage for many years. He’s got that certain presence, one of total focus where you can just tell he’s taking exquisite care with his sounds, and we the listeners benefit tremendously.He’s not just a local cat. He’s logged tens of thousands of miles on the road with the likes of Amy Helm and Sister Sparrow. He collaborates with his wife Abby Ahmad in a great rock/blues band called Fife & Drom, and he’s got his own power guitar trio with Adam Minkoff and Tony Leone called Future Relics.We hear about what it was like growing up in rural Pennsylvania near Scranton / Wilkes-Barre. Mark had to take a long journey through darkness into the light, navigating issues with an overbearing collaborator who also happened to be his father. The man had to move mountains to get to where he is today, and just before the Pandemic hit he was hitting the gas on his composition work, so we’ll get a taste of that as well.Once again, if you like the show and you think it deserves a wider audience, do us a solid and share the link with a friend:Or better yet: listen to the Playlist we just started with all the guests and pass that around too. It’s a musical community you can take with you wherever you go: Find it on Apple Music | SpotifyWe are here to connect the dots with you. Now let’s dive into my conversation with Mark Marshall:Press PLAY above to hear my convo with guitarist Mark Marshall.Artist’s tracks all come from our guest, check out his bands Fife and Drom and Future Relics on BandcampThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to guitarist Mark Marshall for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Anatomy Of Guitar Tone dot com and follow him on IG @guitarist_mark_marshall.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 53 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

052: Daniel WrightGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.[photo by Josh Soskin]On Wednesday, August 19th of 2020 Music is not content, it’s connection.And some of you will remember when I picked that tag line out. It was a few months ago, soon after I had restarted this podcast up in January. It came to me in a flash, but I’ve been meditating on it every week with you and saying it out loud as often as the subject comes up in conversation, which is often.The meaning of it will be obvious to most of you, and you may be able to detect a thread of longing underneath it as well. A lot of us, myself definitely included, will pursue a life in music without really understanding what it is we’re after. After many years of trying to play by some set of “rules”, then giving that up in order to heal my heart, then deciding to just try and be transactional and make a simple living at it, then giving that up and taking on this narrowcasting project which you’re listening to now - I’m utterly convinced that we don’t just need music, we need to find each other inside of the music. It’s not about your personal taste, although your taste matters. I had an invigorating email and text marathon as I reached out to all of our previous 50 guests on the show so we could celebrate that milestone together. I got to catch back up with those dozens of accomplished musicians and I got so inspired that I had to make a playlist.Because I get it, we don’t always have the nose to listen to a podcast. Sometimes we want to feel the connection without following a conversation. The audience for this show is small but dedicated, and I keep getting very heartfelt feedback from you listeners that the show is helping you in some way. So I hear that something might be working for you, and I now present to you:“Playlist It Like It’s Music”:a music community you can carry with you wherever you go.Find it on Apple Music | SpotifyPut this thing on shuffle! I grabbed a song (give or take) from each artist we’ve had on the show, so you can dig deeper and also skip around to find your groove. Pass it to your friends, help the people find each other inside the music. If you decide you like somebody, go listen to their episode and buy their album. It’s up to us, and I’m here to try and connect the dots with you. I’ll keep adding to it each week.Everybody is on there, either as an artist or as a producer or contributing player. We’ve got Dope Sagittarius, Daniel Sadownick, Krystle Warren, Angela Parrish, Mother Feather, Kevin Chown, Artyom, Cremaine, Shana Tucker… call it Evening Becomes Eclectic or some such. It’s quite a mix. Enjoy!Today on the show we’re lucky to have with us a wonderful Songwriter and Producer, living in Ojai, CA.[photo by Josh Soskin]Daniel Wright is a former member of Song Preservation Society, currently fronts Radio Skies and is the owner and manager at Echo Magic.Echo Magic is a group of producers, songwriters, musicians, and sound designers who love making records and bringing visual storytelling to life through sound. They are a collective, a studio, a house band, a creative think tank, and most importantly they are friends obsessed with creating music and sound.[Cover Design by Aaron Taylor-Waldman, Portrait by Brendan Willing James]Daniel has just put out a gorgeous, simmering collection of new songs on an album called Wild House. It features performances and contributions from close friends and collaborators including Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco, Scott Hirsch of Hiss Golden Messenger, Karl Hunter of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Eric Sullivan of Lissie.He’s wonderful to work with (I can attest) and he’s also a great interview. I love hanging out with folks who get it, and who also can back it all up with great work. So let’s get to it:Press PLAY above to hear my convo with Daniel Wright.Artist’s tracks all come from Daniel’s new album, “Wild House” which you can buy on BandcampThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Daniel Wright for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Echo Dash Magic dot com and follow him on IG @dannyboywright.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 52 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear all of our guests in rotation on “Playlist It Like It’s Music” (Apple/Spotify)Hear my songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Apple/Spotify)Sign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

051: Avram FeferGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday August 12 of 2020 Music is not content, it’s connection.[photo by Rene Thomas]A while back (like 20 years or something back) I put on a joint birthday party with a good friend named Celine at a spot in Alphabet City. For the most part our two groups of friends mixed well, everybody was happy but Celine had cooler musician friends than I did. I spotted her out on the sidewalk talking to this crazy looking dude. Weird glasses, athletic energy, hair everywhere. I had to know this guy, I knew he was into some weird s**t… and sure enough he is. You’ll get to find out today as we spend some time with the very same man, Avram Fefer.He’s always up to some madness.[photo by Nina Roberts]I’ve seen this guy play his horn all over town, from the dustiest unknown free jazz improv spots to the Old Office at the Knit, burning it down at the coolest restaurants and even working with sculptors in high society art galleries. He always has amazing players in tow as well with a list of collaborators to make even the most jaded snob take notice. We’ve been friends for a while and I remember visiting him at his old walkup on Ludlow St for years before he moved into my old neighborhood, Prospect Heights. Now what is it about Avram? Folks on here are into all kinds of music, some of us are focused on mental and technical aspects, others dwell in the emotional areas of great melody and songwriting, Some people are about the message, others all about that booty. We take all kinds. But when you witness a performance that just owns on every level those distinctions just fly out the window. You see someone who commits and delivers, leaving it all on the bandstand and making sure the folks in the room know that a musical animal has wandered through your life. Avram is one of those cats. He takes full possession of the proceedings with full physicality, melody, heart and sophistication. I’ve seen the guy perform dozens of times and he never disappoints. Music is a contact sport to people like Avram and I’m very glad to bring him to you today.His latest album TESTAMENT has received "Best Albums of 2019" honors from Rolling Stone, NPR, Downbeat, Bandcamp, Cadence, Jazz Magazine. It features Marc Ribot, Eric Revis and Chad Taylor. Link for that is in the show notes.Let’s not waste any more time, check out Avram Fefer:Press PLAY above to hear my convo with Avram Fefer.Artist’s tracks all composed by Avram Fefer, provided by the artist:“Loss (for Flo)” from the album “Calling All Spirits” feat. Eric Revis and Igal Foni“Essaouira” - from the album “Avram Fefer's Big Picture Holiday”Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Avram Fefer for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Avram Fefer dot com and check out his albums on Bandcamp.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 51 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Hi there. No interview today! I’ve got many more coming, but since we hit that milestone of episode 50 last week I’ve been living much more in the music space. I figured it might be nice to put together a little check-in piece for you all, and run down a bit of music instead. It’s quick, so mash that play button.THANKS FOR BEING HERE!I can’t believe we got to 50 shows. As I said, more are on the way BUT: if you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend about it:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

050: Nicole NelsonGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday July 29th of 2020 music is not content, it’s connection. This is episode 50.[photo by Thom Adorney]Every now and then, if you get around to clubs and stuff to hear people (remember?), you come across a sound and a vibe so stunning that you never forget it.I’ve become a fan of so many artists, and oftentimes the fanhood is based on nothing more than the memory I have in my senses of the first time I heard their “it”. Whatever it is that makes them them. I’ll keep turning them on and going out to see them for years, sometimes with just the hope that I’ll catch another moment like that first one.It was like a portal opened up and boom, there was this musical spirit just lifting the dust out of the cracks right in front of you. I remember moments like that every time I used to go see Tony Scherr’s trio every Monday. I remember that moment when I was on the gig with Bisan here in the Canyon. Krystle Warren is a never-ending moment like that, pretty much every time she makes a sound. Further back, I got to see the Gil Evans orchestra on a Monday night in Sweet Basil, I saw Radiohead turn the world around in New Jersey about a month before 9/11, I’ve been to Jazz Fest in New Orleans… hell I’ve just walked around the streets of New Orleans. These are all landmark moments of my musical life.Today is Episode 50 of this show, and I couldn’t be more blessed than to have another stellar artist and performer to speak with. Yesterday was my birthday, today we have episode 50, we’re pushing two straight months of Black Lives Matter protests all over the nation, James McBride’s new book is tearing it up on Oprah and Michelle Obama just launched her podcast. Given that there’s so much going on, now and perpetually, I’m extremely grateful for your ears and your attention and your fellowship and your celebration of our shared musical experience. This show is for you, in those moments when we are most alone and doing out hardest work in the shadows, far from the stage. It’s here for you whenever you need it and I’m honored to have you listening. Thanks to all the guests we’ve already had on here and thanks to all who are yet to come on, you mean the world to me.So… onward:[photo by Eric Antoniou]The first time I heard the band called Dwight and Nicole was on a night when I was opening for them at Banjo Jim’s, and I walked out a changed man. Forever grateful to them for the sound they brought. Sure enough, that portal opened right up. It was just the two of them on stage but the guitar and the tambourine and the voices sat just right in the coziest pocket you’ve ever witnessed. The groove wouldn’t quit and by the time they were done, folks in the audience were all ready to make babies. They are incredible, and today we’re speaking with Nicole Nelson.Like I said, I couldn’t be happier. Not only has she got the voice for the band, but she went on The Voice and nearly took the thing. We get to hear her whole background today and get a taste of what it feels like to know you have the talent and the genius and the grit to get up there, and then hear some of the plot twists that happened along the way. I’ll cut to the chase at this point, since I know you came for the gold. Let’s meet Nicole.Press PLAY above to hear my convo with Nicole Nelson.[photo by Rick Levinson]Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Nicole Nelson for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her band at Dwight and Nicole dot com and check her out on socials @nicolenelsong.I can’t believe we’ve gotten to 50 shows! If you believe this show deserves a wider audience, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

049: Adam LevyGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, July 22 of 2020 music is not content, it’s connection.If you like this show, please tell a friend!We have a great one for you today with world-renowned guitarist and songwriter Adam Levy.[photo by B.E. Bixby]I’ve always admired Adam’s work. His vibe, his bandleading style and his playing all convey a core enjoyment and honesty in the craft. It’s hard to pin down, there’s just real joy and respect and soul and knowledge… all visible and audible and wrapped into a cohesive American style. I find great comfort and inspiration in the man’s music.Levy was born in Encino, California. His grandfather worked for The Andy Williams Show and The Flip Wilson Show as music director. He played in bands growing up, then moved to San Francisco in 1990. He played with Tracy Chapman for a little while (that’s his guitar you can hear on Gimme One Reason). But he also spent quite a while moving between SF and New York, infiltrating the legendary downtown scene and playing with Joey Baron, Steve Cardenas, Tony Scherr… all up in it with those cats. And then he met Norah Jones. [photo by Todd Chalfant]Adam became a member of her band at the beginning of her career and stayed on through that first set of bestselling albums. You could say he’s best known for that gig, but he has also played with Rosanne Cash, Amos Lee, and Lisa Loeb and continues to put out lots of his own great work. His trio is called the Mint Imperials. This conversation gets around, we touch on the origins, the journeys and his current output. What does it take to keep it together in this very delicate life we’ve chosen? Adam is someone with a lot of wisdom to shed on these eternal questions, and we can all call ourselves lucky to be sharing some time with him today. Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Adam Levy[photo by B.E. Bixby]Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Adam Levy for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Adam Levy Dot Com and learn from him at Guitar Tips Pro dot com. He used to have social media accounts, but chose to shut em all down recently. I admire that. More people should do that. I should do that. If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

048: Liz KnowlesGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, July 15th of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.We are nearing 50 episodes of my precious little show, and I’ve got some great interviews in the can here moving forward. Thank you all for staying with us during this monumental crisis, I’m committed to continuing to show up for you when you need a little bit of that musical fellowship to get you through.Me? I’ve been getting deeper and deeper into sound design, playing through my cello suite and getting ready for an album production. Still writing it but we are gathering resources for the big push to track and publish my first album in about 6 years. It’s been quite the hiatus but it’s also time.Today on the show, an amazing fiddler: Liz Knowles. Who will knock you flat![photo by Marianne Mangan]Liz Knowles has brought her distinctive sound—the fire and finesse of Irish fiddle music combined with the tonal richness of the classical violin—to concert stages and festivals across the world. She first distinguished herself as a classical violinist, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and on Broadway, then she stepped out with Marcus Roberts, the Bang-on-a-Can Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Paula Cole, Steve Reich, and Don Henley among others. Bu it was in New York that she discovered her true passion for Irish music. Soon she was working in Riverdance and as soloist on the soundtrack for the film ‘Michael Collins’ and it was onward and upward from there. She’s a global force.[photo by Earl Richardson]Her trio Open the Door for Three with Kieran O'Hare and Pat Broaders was touring widely (before COVID). After spending nearly four years traveling together overseas, this trio is a well-oiled machine of crafted arrangements and powerful music, gracing the stages of many irish festivals and concert series across the country.We’ve known each other for over 20 years, so this one rolls along. Enjoy my conversation with Liz Knowles, a great musical mind:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Liz Knowles[photo by Earl Richardson]Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Liz Knowles for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her at Liz Knowles dot com and follow her on IG @lizknowlesmusic.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on twitter @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

047: Josh FlowersGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, July 8 of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection. Opening thread (click through for my elaboration):And now the main event.My humble show continues on virtually as we continually adjust to the wonders of Coronaworld. I’m checked in with my friends who are mourning new losses, folks who are navigating the disease itself, family who are raising tiny children with none of the resources they need and artists who are trying to tread water financially with hands tied and no gigs on the horizon. As ever, music - either the practice or the consumption of it - is getting people through their days in ways so basic that it defies acknowledgement. Let alone proper remuneration.Me? I’m composing some instrumentals for the album. Of course you’ll get to hear them soon, but today I’m saving for a very delicious chat with a great writer and friend, Josh Flowers.I went on a tour a couple of years ago which changed my life, but I can’t exactly describe how.Like any road run it had its share of ups and downs. I had to contend with personal tragedy about halfway through when my cello was destroyed by baggage handlers on the way to LAX, but the gigs themselves we did were of the revelatory sort. As was the company we managed to keep.The artist in this case was named Roo Panes, and I’m sure I’ll be inviting him on for an episode soon. But the band and crew, small as our group was, bonded in that singular way which imprints the memory of our brief travels together as a small slice of eternity in our shared memory. If you’ve ever lived on the road, you’ll know it can go either way. In this case, the way was good.But reminiscing about fun times in a van doesn’t necessarily merit an episode of this show. As it turns out, Josh is a first-class songwriter. The kind who, after zapping you with a cheery first impression proceeds to reveal more layers with each listen. You’re about to spend some time with a beautifully cultivated, soft-spoken craftsman who I’m very lucky to call a friend.Come for the tunes, stay for the gems. Guys and gals, Josh Flowers:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Josh Flowers.Oh, and also watch this video. Released today, filmed in my old apartment on 23rd St in the beforetimes.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Josh Flowers for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him and follow him on IG @imjoshflowers and also @echobabyband for the project with Juliana Zachariou.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

046: Blake MorganGood morning! This is Play It Like It's Music, I'm Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, July 1st of 2020 music is not content, it's connection.I did it, folks. I sold my drum machine. My beloved MPC 1000 went off to a lucky buyer in Texas this week and I now have much more breathing room around here in the studio, both architecturally and musically. I don't know, something about having one of those things around made me feel so much pressure, it's like a hyper click track. Some people need their music to feel super clocked in, I get that. There's also the magic of sampling and chopping, but I'm not one of the people who work that way. There are some real geniuses out there doing the beatmaking thing, but am I going to compete with that? Hell no. I had my fun with it, now it's someone else's turn. Over here it's back to making my cello music. Which is going great! Thanks for asking. The album is coming along nicely, and the thing that usually happens around this time in the process for me (when it's mostly all written but I still haven't recorded one single note) is happening again too. Basically, I start hearing three, four albums ahead in the future. My brain starts tempting me with future projects that haven't even been conceived yet. It can be a distraction but mostly it's a motivator. That little voice saying, "PSST... keep going, and you'll get to do these other things!"[photo credit: Taylor Ballantyne]So glad to have music in my life. Glad to have you listening to this show, incredibly lucky to be living in a time where I can just make something like this and bring it to you each week. Our conversation with today's guest is going to touch on some things that I find incredibly painful to talk about, yet unavoidable. It's the money thing, and Blake Morgan is a powerful voice of reason in a way that gives me hope that even if things don't look like they'll be changing any time soon, at least I'm not crazy and/or alone in thinking them.Blake is the originator of the #irespectmusic hashtag. He's also a pretty damn good musician, singer and producer. He's a friend, collaborator and has a wild collection of stories to share on the pod today. Now let me level with you, I go back and forth on how exactly to proceed in this life project we like to call "music". I can't tell you how many times I've tried to quit it altogether in frustration, but it won't let me go. It's love, that's all there is to it. I've stopped trying to quit now, but there are mean forces out there at every turn trying to make you feel unworthy, or ashamed to even try to make a noise of your own. They come back again and again, but the one which never goes away is the eternal thorn of trying to make a living in music. Blake is a lifer, and as an entrepreneurial type he took charge of his career at an early stage by starting his own label. As the owner of his work and that of other artists, he takes his responsibility seriously. To represent and protect the work of those who trust him with their art. And in the early days of streaming, he didn't like what he saw on those royalty statements. He took things into his own hands, and you'll hear him describe how that went down for him.[photo credit: PicOwner620 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]All of us out here owe a major debt of gratitude to Blake Morgan for calling out the new naked Emperor which is the cabal of streaming services, big radio and the major labels which have hijacked our core source of income for barely a pittance. He's a voice of sanity in this uncertain and threatening landscape, and it's time we heard what he has to say. Strap in, let's meet Blake.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Blake Morgan.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Blake Morgan for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him and follow him on all the socials @TheBlakeMorgan.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Episode 045: Tasha BlankGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, June 24 of 2020 Music is not content. It’s connection.Let’s take a break from the cello, shall we. Let’s dance. On the show today is one of my favorite DJ’s, Tasha Blank. While we’re all forced to distance from each other while we watch the slow-motion car crash that is our society’s reckoning with itself under quarantine, Tasha’s an expert in cultivating that animal connection between bodies and souls in the context of that much maligned and mysterious of venues: the club.The dance club, that is. And yes, her parties have instruments too - in the form of brass bands and live percussion and a variety of other players. Hell, I’ve gigged with her on cello. Musicians look down their noses at DJs, but the real truth is that musicians need to dance more. [Photo by Jeffrey Packard]Here’s a chat with a real human DJ. She’s not hiding behind some neon logo or dropping taste bombs from the top of a skyscraper. She’s incredibly adept at not only celebrating a full-body musical experience but also creating a real sense of togetherness. [Photo by Jeffrey Packard]It ain’t lonely at all. Tasha and I get into her upbringing and musical origins, her various transformations and her incredible journey of building this pulsing human mass that is The Get Down.Let’s tune in.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Tasha Blank.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to Tasha Blank for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her music at Tasha Blank dot com, get down at The Get Down NYC dot com and follow her on all the socials @tashablank and @thegetdownparty.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

044: Cremaine Booker a.k.a. ThatCelloGuyGood morning! It’s Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, June 17th music is not content, it’s connection. We are going 3-for-3 this month with the cellists, and I’m super happy about it. We will pivot back to more variety next week, I do have a bunch of great interviews coming your way so stick with it. Meanwhile, today we have a chat with one of my favorite - not only cellists - musicians around today.Cremaine Booker, aka That Cello Guy, is a cellist who hails from Dallas, TX. He lives in Nashville and currently serves as principal cello for the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra. He has played with Black Violin, Hans Zimmer, Michael McDonald, Sheryl Crow, Nelly, Chris Stapleton, Mike Hicks, Chantae Cann, Kelly Clarkson, LeAnn Rhimes and a variety of other acts, but most of his fans know him for his steady output of amazingly well-produced and performed videos that you can find online, totaling many millions of views.I find this guy so inspiring, the commitment, the beauty of his sound and the straight up love he brings to the practice. And he takes charge as a producer too, he doesn’t need to outsource the arranging or the recording. He does it all. I’ve been wanting to speak with Cremaine for quite some time. Maybe you are also a fan like I am. If not, then you’re about to be. Take a listen:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Cremaine Booker.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks so much to That Cello Guy, Cremaine Booker for spending some very generous time with us. You can find his music at That Cello Guy dot com and follow him on all the socials @ThatCelloGuy15If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

043 Marika HughesThis is Play It Like It's Music, I'm Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, June 10 of 2020 music is not content, it's connection.To play the cello requires a smattering of cleverness and precision on the part of the player. The finger mechanics are complex, the alchemy of the bow is mystifying. On top of it all, gigs require an incredible fitness of nerves and preparation beyond that of many much more renumerative professions. However, mere cleverness and precision do not a complete musician make. Many cellists hit all the marks on their instrument but fail to make an artistic impact, and I feel for them because just playing the cello decently takes a huge amount of effort. Why pile on things like visual aesthetics or political awareness, or god forbid writing, verbal and administrative skills? Singing? Songwriting? Bandleading? Gimme a break.Fortunately, today we have as our guest a musician who brings it on every one of those levels. Marika Hughes is a native New Yorker, a cellist, singer, a storyteller on The Moth. She grew up in a musical family – Marika’s grandfather was the great cellist Emanuel Feuermann, and her parents owned a jazz club, Burgundy, on the Upper West Side. As children, she and her younger brother were both regulars on Sesame Street. She went to Barnard College and the Juilliard School, graduating with BAs in political science and cello performance, respectively.Marika has worked with Whitney Houston, Lou Reed, Anthony Braxton, David Byrne, Adele, Henry Threadgill, D’Angelo, Idina Menzel, Nels Cline, Somi and Taylor Mac, among many others. She was a founding member of the Bay Area-based bands 2 Foot Yard and Red Pocket. She is a master teacher and director for Young Arts and a teaching-artist at Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project. Before COVID she was holding down the cello chair at the Broadway show, Hadestown, and we hope they'll pick it back up. Marika puts out a vibe that just won't quit, leading her bands Bottom Heavy and The New String Quartet and as the co-founder and co-director of Looking Glass Arts, an artist residency and youth education program in upstate New York. We get into it: her legendary granddad, growing up and finding her own way in the Bay area, her initial band experiences. We're kindred spirits and I know you're going to love this conversation with Marika. Check it out:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Marika Hughes.music selections:Chapter 4 - Marika Hughes & Bottom Heavy, New York Nostalgia 2016, ASCAP Hopscotch Dreams *written by Marikasnippet: Borrowed Arms - 2 Foot Yard (Borrowed Arms 2008, Yard Work ASCAP) *written by 2 Foot YardFor Nico - Marika Hughes (The Simplest Thing, 2010, Hopscotch Dreams ASCAP) *written by Marika.Band: Kyle Sanna gtr, Todd Sickafoose bass, Matthias Kunstli drums, Shahzad Ismaily gtrThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Marika Hughes for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her music at Marika Hughes dot com and follow her on all the socials @marikahughes.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

042: Bruce MackGood morning! This is Play It Like It's Music, I'm Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, June 3rd of 2020 music is not content, it's connection. And I've been bothered about everything going on this week, glued to the news just like a lot of you. We went out and marched down at the Grove in LA, which was lovely because we left right before before the cops broke it up with tear gas. It turns out Beverly Hills doesn't take kindly to marchers. But up until that moment it was a literal walk in the park with a committed group of peaceably assembled people. Peaceful isn't the right word to describe something like that. More like it was harmonious, beautiful, honest. Justified criticism of something so obviously wrong like the routine state-sanctioned murder of innocent people shouldn't need to have "peacefulness" imposed on it from outside by anyone, let alone the targets of the criticism...But this is a show about music. You know, people like to argue about how much music and politics should mix but I personally don't believe there's a legit argument to be had, because if you really understand music then you know that there really is no line between music and life. Music is everywhere and it's a part of every living experience we have, not just when we choose to sing about it. Likewise, there's no line between politics and life. Sometimes you turn the politics on, sometimes it turns on you. But don't pretend there's a line there where it stops existing or being relevant. You'd only be blinding yourself. Like where is the line between politics and human rights? Show me where that line is and then I'll believe someone who says a musician can't also be political.But let's talk about Black music for a second. For my part I don't have anything to say about black music except "thank you". And then make my own musical offering in return. We can see that a musician of any race is always engaged in hot pursuit of the infinite, and most musicians on the whole understand that cooperating with each other across lines helps move the whole endeavor forward. But it's not always up to musicians. We know that plenty of people - collaborators and customers alike - line up to take advantage, both of the hard work we do and also of the cultural contributions people bring. Black musicians in particular have historically gotten ripped off by the music industry, even as their compositions, performances, innovations and energy has dominated in public. Follow the money and you'll be shocked at where it doesn't go, especially those of you who believe the hype. It's not just that people have a right to be mad, but they have a right to organize to change things. Today on the show I'm lucky to have Bruce Mack who is a board member and former president of the Black Rock Coalition to talk to us about growing up in New York City during the 70's and 80's, and how some of the artists of that time chose to show up to the scene with more than just a song.Bruce is a be-bop style vocalist who incorporates vocal improvisation into funk and other forms of music. B-Mack also plays several instruments, including keyboards, electric bass, percussion and drum set. He performs and contributes original music to multiple ensembles, most notably Burnt Sugar, Melvin Van Peebles wid/ Laxative and Nubian Messengers.The Black Rock Coalition is well-known to fans of the many bands that make up its membership - a few of which are Living Colour, Meshell Ndegeocello, 24-7 Spyz, Chocolate Genius, Don Byron and Nona Hendryx. An iconic organization that remains vital to this day, the BRC is a collective of artists, writers, producers, publicists, activists and music fans assembled to maximize exposure and provide resources for Black artists who defy convention.We've heard from members previously on this show: check out episode 2 with Luqman Brown of Dope Saggitarius and episode 4 with Mazz Swift. Today it's all about native New Yorker, Bruce Mack aka B-Mack (the artist, the band). Settle in and let's listen:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Bruce Mack.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Bruce Mack for spending some very generous time with us. You can find his music at b-mack.bandcamp.com and at Reverb Nation, Facebook, IG and Twitter.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Episode 041: Shana TuckerThis is Play It Like It's Music, I'm Trevor, thanks for listening.[photos all by Jannelle Blackman]On Wednesday, May 27 of 2020 Music is not content, it's connection. The quarantine wears on, the death toll climbs and the life toll sits in limbo. I am here with another conversation today, and I'm super thankful that those of you players I know who listen to the show keep telling me you get so much out of this. It can be a damn lonely life*, but it doesn't have to be.*For cellists, especially! But not today, because I'm blessed to have Shana Tucker on the show.She's a cellist, singer-songwriter, arts advocate, teaching artist, collaborator and all-around cultural conduit. Shana is a builder-of-connections, whether she’s associating STEM concepts with backbeats or engaging a packed house through candid song-storytelling in performance. And she can really play! As a cello/singer guy I can't help but smile: Shana's unique genre of ChamberSoul™ weaves jazz, roots, folk, acoustic pop, and a touch of R&B into melodies that echo in your head for days. Plus, there's polish. She keeps busy on the road and in the studio, working with Bennie Maupin, Nicole Mitchell and The Foreign Exchange. She also worked in Cirque du Soleil, which we don't talk about at all. Why would we?She's got a band of her own. Shana is also a front-line advocate for arts education, as well as a recipient of several arts council grant awards for her exemplary work as a Performing Artist. She serves on review panels and advisory committees for arts organizations across the country.These are all big accomplishments, but what amazes me is how good she is at creating relationship around her work. We all need to get better at this, and I think Shana is a leader. She knows how to be a star and how to blend. This was so much fun, let's cut right to it.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Shana Tucker.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Shana for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her music at Shana Tucker dot com and on all the socials.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

Episode 040: Chris HierroIt’s a good day to hear that, IMOOn Wednesday, March 20 of 2020 music is not content, it’s connection. Welcome to the show. This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.Break Out The Crazy has been releasing original music since 2016 but is really just getting started. I had the honor of speaking with them at their home studio in Brooklyn. Last week you heard Katya, this week is Chris Hierro. Keyboardist, producer and singer. It’s a treat, he’s a pro through-and-through.But first let me tell you:I’ve been in this pandemic, going through the solitude and the fear and the anxiety. I have heard from folks dealing directly with the disease and I’ve heard from folks dealing with economic disease. I want to say this again: at the lowest, most vulnerable and scary points of my life I turned to music and it saved me from making my own situation worse. It’s not a palliative (though you can use it like that too). When I lived through excruciatingly difficult times like getting run over by a truck, having no home after 2008, carrying a broken heart around et cetera, I always felt a little saner, a little better at breathing and focusing after working on some music. I do music with the same rationale and commitment as a surfer, ball player or rock climber. It’s worth staying connected to in and of itself, there’s no contest and you don’t have to try to be a star. You show up for it and it’ll show up for you. That’s my story, but Chris’s story today is more about the method and heart. You can hear the commitment, but you can also hear what he’s built in a career where he’s cultivated a reputation for consistency and steady growth. I come to Break Out The Crazy’s music as a fan, a friend and as a listener and I marvel at the conduct of these two stellar partners in music. Chris will tell you his own story, but he grew up in Washington Heights the son of a bandleader and producer during an important era of the music business and in touch with the ways it binds people together in art and in commerce. One of the ways I admire Chris is that the art and the commerce are one and the same. We talk about all of this, and much more. Check it out:Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Chris Hierro.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Chris for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him and Katya’s music at Break Out The Crazy dot com and on all the socials.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

039: Katya DiazWelcome back! This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, May 13 of 2020 music is not content, it’s connection.I’m super psyched for this week’s guest, and also next week’s. They come as a pair. Welcome to the two-parter for Break Out The Crazy, the amazing duo of Katya Diaz and Chris Hierro. This week, it’s all about Katya.Quarantine continues on here at rancho trevorio, I’m still making the cello do weird things and taking the random production call. Anything to avoid reading the news and staying in touch with my friends. This would be something to write home about if I didn’t already get to FaceTime with home. No need for the written word anymore, we are not cave people.Creative people have to walk the line between genius and oblivion every day anyway, so here we are. This conversation should fuel your process a little bit. Katya is a world class pro.KATYA DIAZ has toured Europe, America and Mexico singing background and/or dancing for numerous artists including Passion Pit, Thalia, Alejandro Sanz and Beyoncé. She also sang background on that amazing Lalah Hathaway performance with Snarky Puppy a few years back which won a grammy. You know the one where she sings a triad all by herself? Katya's right on stage with her.As a writer Katya has written jingles for JC Penny and collaborated with acclaimed writers such as Itaal Shur and Stuart Matthewman from Sade.About 6 years ago she formed a musical group with Chris Hierro named Break Out The Crazy with the intention of being a production/songwriter team. Katya and Chris are the power couple on Play It Like It's Music this month, we're gonna hear from Chris on his own episode next week, and they are quite the team.Break Out The Crazy has been releasing original music since 2016 but is really just getting started. I had the honor of speaking with them at their home studio in Brooklyn.Press PLAY above to hear my conversation with Katya Diaz.Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Katya for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her at Break Out The Crazy dot com and on all the socials.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

038: Time Travel with Artie Shaw[PRESS PLAY]Good morning! On Wednesday, May 6th of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.Today I want to try something different, it's a continuation of the thing we did last week with Carmen McRae and I want to start doing more of it. We are gonna check out some raw tape of Artie Shaw, the big band legend.And yes, it’s posthumous. Mr. Shaw is no longer with us. We should be learning as much as we can from not just the music of the past but also these figures who have so much to remind us of.It’s spicy! There's a good bit of ranting and namedropping, but there's also a huge amount of perspective and wisdom. I’m gonna take you through it. There’s the early years, learning to become a bandleader, trying to grow as a musician while navigating huge public success, getting blacklisted, living in exile… you’re gonna eat it up.Meanwhile I don’t know what to say. The world is nuts! I’ve been bunkering down at the spot, the mosquitoes are coming out and we are trying to ration our beer and our composure. It’s going ok, I feel like I’m doing way than I deserve this time around and I’ll take it since after 9/11 and 2008 I went into a couple of tailspins that left me homeless and took me years to recover. Having said that, people are still dying for no good reason. It doesn’t have to be happening. Please refer to my other podcast for the political rants… oh wait I canceled it. Let’s get on with the show!Let’s get with Artie Shaw.The following is a collage, a sizzle reel if you will. It is not the uncut interview. I've organized it by theme and then cut pieces together so that you can get the sense of a certain subject and also the energy behind it, no hesitations or asides. I'll be introducing each piece too.The two men talking are Joe Smith and Artie Shaw, both legends in the business. And with two veterans cutting to the chase there's no need to sugarcoat anything. It's an unvarnished look behind the scenes at what a music life can really be like. I'd love to put some of Artie's music on here as a soundtrack like I usually do, but I'm not gonna risk the licensing and copyright issues. The Library of Congress has authorized fair use of the interview, but labels play hardball with people who use tracks even for educational purposes, so I encourage you to go listen to some of his music. Again, I have taken a lot of liberty editing these segments, putting things in a sequence that doesn't follow the actual chronology of the interview. There is so much gold in the archive and I'm here to distill the bits most relevant to our conversation for this show. I've included a link to the original if you'd like to go deeper: www.loc.gov.Now let's meet Artie Shaw. This was recorded in the late 1980's. He was 50 years past his so-called "prime" but very much alive and with lots to say. Joe Smith is the first voice you'll hear.Press PLAY above to hear my crazy edit of this Artie Shaw interview.Thanks to the generosity of Joe Smith and the Library of Congress, the archive is available to use, and I’ve gone through it to find my favorite bits. The LOC Joe Smith Collection: https://www.loc.gov/collections/joe-smith/Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to the Library of Congress for these tapes from the Joe Smith Collection. You can find more at LOC dot GOV and type in Joe Smith.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

037: Angela ParrishShe came to LA and lived in her car. But now she's a renowned, busily prolific singer, writer and producer. I’m very honored to have Angela Parrish on the show today.[photos by Shervin Lainez]This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, April 29th of 2020, music is not content! It’s connection.I couldn’t be happier to present this show to you today. It’s a two-parter. We have a great interview with a great musician (which is standard if you’ve been listening) and then I have a special treat for you at the end, where I dig into some archival tape and we’ll hear a bit of very candid talk by Carmen McRae. So stay tuned for that.Angela Parrish likes to describe her stuff as “new music for old souls” and it fits. She’s originally from Newton, Kansas, where she started early with piano and viola lessons, children’s chorus and high school choir, later graduating from Wichita State University and has a master’s degree in jazz piano from the University of Northern Colorado.Then she showed up in LA with $700 in her pocket, where she stuck it out from sleeping in her car to singing the opening lines of the movie La La Land. We get into all the layers of her story in the interview, and her songwriting is just incredible. Stay tuned for tastes of that underneath.Click PLAY above to hear my interview with Angela ParrishALSO: want to have a zoom meeting with her? Go here.BONUS SECTION:Carmen McRae should need no introduction, if she does, then watch this video. She’s immortal among jazz singers:I’m gonna try something new here, please let me know what you think of it by writing in as you so often do. I envision this show as a weekly dose of connection and inspiring music talk, and we have an amazing population of contemporaries who I’ll never ever get through the supply of.But back in 1989 Joe Smith, who had been president of three major labels, published a book called "Off The Record" which was an oral history of the music business featuring over 200 interviews with iconic singers, musicians and industry figures to talk about their lives and their music. The book came out, everyone said it was great. It's an amazing artifact. But then in 2012 he took it up a notch and donated his entire set of unedited sound recordings to the Library of Congress.You can go check out the Joe Smith Collection (link in the show notes) and be a fly on the wall as Joe hangs with all the greats and boy does he get them to open up. All types of popular music are represented — it's a who's who from rock ‘n' roll, jazz, rhythm & blues and pop to big-band, heavy metal, folk and country-western. Thanks to the generosity of Joe Smith and the Library of Congress, the archive is available to use, and I’ve gone through it to find my favorite bits. I’m gonna let them all play in a row here for you at the end of the show. So let’s spend a little time with Carmen McRae. We need to know and remember our musical ancestors. There's a little chop in the tape where it skips a bit where she's mentioning Ronny Milsap... but you’ll catch on. It's an incredible story about how she resigned in protest from NARAS which runs the grammys, but did it TWICE. Two years in a row. There’s all kinds of other juice about how she toured, how she came together as an artist… I won’t tell you everything. Just listen. The questions all come from Joe Smith and I’ve tightened it up quite a bit for you so they get right to the point.The LOC Joe Smith Collection: https://www.loc.gov/collections/joe-smith/Press PLAY above to hear the whole episodeThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Angela for spending some very generous time with us. You can find her at Angela Parrish dot com as well as on all the socials @songsbyangela.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

036: Joe MatzzieGood morning! This is Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, April 22 of 2020 music is not content! It’s connection.photo by Judith Ann WarrenStill here, still playing. Trying to stay sane in all of this, and for me that means lots of cello. Meanwhile, we have a great guest today on the show.Joe Matzzie is a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. Joe grew up in the post-industrial comic book that is Pittsburgh. He lived in New York City and is now based in LA.He's not just a songwriter, he's a master of diverse genres as well as a few different instruments. Over the years he has played in Renaissance, Medieval, Traditional Celtic, Bluegrass, Gypsy Jazz, Old Time Fiddle Music, Macedonian Gypsy Folk and Hawaiian outfits as well as scoring for film and TV.We get into it all, and go on a bit of a tour through his myriad influences. And we don't shy away from some real talk about the lived experience of a gigging musician with the ups and downs you're used to hearing about on the show.The guy gigs on guitar, ukulele, hammer dulcimer among other things, and we get to hear him play on mic later in the show. He's a really incredible writer, keep an ear open for his music underneath our chat as well as some live performance as we kick it at his space. We do this in my traditional verité style: ou'll hear creaking chairs and picking up water glasses. NPR I am not, but it's like you're really there in the room with him, so welcome to the world of Joe Matzzie.Press PLAY above to hear my interview with Joe MatzzieThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Joe for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Joe Matzzie dot com as well as on all the socials.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go round.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

035: Tommy FieldsGood morning! It’s Play It Like It’s Music, I’m Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, April 15th of 2020 music is not content. It’s connection.I’m so glad you’re here, we are good here where I live. Thanks for asking. People are really suffering out there and I’ve been hearing stories from folks I know, folks I love, folks who know folks I know… For the ones out there affected by this, either getting Covid themselves or getting hit by the ridiculous ripple effects that are bringing down the mighty in gangs and gaggles, hang in there and let your people know that you love them. We gotta keep showing up, the fight isn’t gonna win itself. You know where to look, whether it’s in your own backyard or on your block or at the store or your forgotten job or the whiter-than-ever white house… don’t let the b******s get you down. This s**t will pass. It’s gonna for sure take some meat off before it does, but that’s humanity for you. I’m sending you my love, and I’ve got another bit of audio for you here today.This is going to by my interview with intrepid rock star and film composer Tommy Fields. You heard that, he’s both. He's threading a rare needle. You'll hear rock tracks today, film cues, chill tracks, folk songs. He's an incredible talent. We had a great time talking, just before the gates closed on hanging out with our friends in person.**Speaking of which, I’m going to have to find a way to do these remotely. The zest of the conversation really happens in person, I like just showing up for a player and not making them do any work. But now it’s gonna shift. Stay tuned for how that ends up happening.Tommy is capable of producing an amazing variety of music, and respectably. He grew up in Indiana, played trombone in the orchestra and just went with it. And then he kept going, and going. We get into quite a bit here, so settle in. The rock and roll projects, the nuts and bolts of film scoring, career management. Tommy is a powerful musician, check him out.Press PLAY above to hear my interview with Tommy FieldsThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Tommy for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Tommy Fields Music dot com as well as on all the socials.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a catastrophic global pandemic and plenty of other noise out there in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello, teach you lessons, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go around.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

034: Simon PettyGood morning. This is Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening. On Wednesday, April 8th of 2020 music is NOT content. It's connection.I'm here with the rest of planet Earth in the Club Quarantine with DJ @dnice, who you can hear in the background. I'm gonna make this quick: today in the booth I'm honored to be speaking with Simon Petty.Simon is an English singer-songwriter, born in Manchester to traditional English parents and currently based in Los Angeles. His voice hits somewhere between Nick Cave and Nick Drake, he's put out several solo albums - tracks from which you'll hear underneath us talking.These days he's focusing on the absolutely magical collaboration with Celia Chavez (who I spoke to in Episode 031) creatively named Petty Chavez. They are finishing a full length album called One Last Look At the Stars, planned for release later this year.Simon is a man driven by music from a young age. Simon and his band MINIBAR got signed to Universal and brought to LA from London in the early 2000s. They recorded their debut album with T Bone Burnett and went on to tour the USA extensively, eventually putting in a LOT of road miles with Pete Yorn.Write from the heart, sing as often as you can, play music with the people you love. — Simon Petty.Press PLAY above to hear my interview with Simon PettyThanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Simon for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Simon Petty dot com and you can find Petty Chavez at Petty Chavez Music dot com as well as on all the socials.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a potentially catastrophic global pandemic and a lot of noise out there in the culture.But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello overdubs, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go around.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

033: Steve JenkinsHey all you cool cats and kittens, it’s Play It Like It’s Music. I’m Trevor, thanks for listening.On Wednesday, the Day formerly known as April Fools’, music is not content! It’s connection.Today on the show we have this man: Steve Jenkins. Bass player.Steve gets us off to a great start by saying Music is “the power that we all draw upon, the way that we dance through life".” And there’s a lot more where it came from, coming right up.Steve has played with a few of my heroes, was in Screaming Headless Torsos with Dave Fiuzynski and one of our previous guests, Daniel Sadownick from Ep # 013, he’s worked a bunch with Vernon Reid from Living Coulour. Bad ass.I’m fascinated by watching really good players play, and he’s one of them. As we all sit at home trying to make use of the time and stay safe, some quality time with a quality player always goes down well.Steve is part of the new wave of modern electric bass players. In addition to his mind-blowing technical prowess, his musicianship has allowed him to fit into a diverse range of musical situations that have run the gamut from face-melting prog-metal to experimental microtonal jazz-funk to dubbed-out electronica bass lines to classic sounding r&b grooves--sometimes all within the framework of one song. He also has a strong grasp of using effects and technology which makes him a true sonic force to be reckoned with. This episode pairs well with Steve's album Coaxial Flutter, which is available on bandcamp. You'll also hear a bunch of his music while we're talking, as per usual. We get deep into the bass, the focus and single-mindedness required to survive as a bass player. Steve lives and dies by the choices he makes on the bass, so this is a good person to learn from.I’m glad to have you here.As usual we have one single ask: if you like the show, please tell someone about it. Don’t be a podcast hoarder!Alright let’s say hi to Steve.Press PLAY above to hear my visit with Steve JenkinsThanks!Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Steve for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Steve Jenkins bass dot com as well as on Instagram @stevejenkins.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a potentially catastrophic global pandemic and a lot of noise out there in the culture. But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello overdubs, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go around.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like this stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com

032: Rich HinmanGood Morning, we're back. This is Play It Like It's Music, I'm Trevor. Thanks for listening.On Wednesday, March 25th of 2020 music is not content! It’s connection.Do we need it now more than ever? You tell me. After you get your masks and your bleach wipes and your cans of beans, let me know.[photo by Robbie Jeffers]Seriously, I am ready for everything… to be normal again. Not happening, of course, but I’ve never felt readier! Those old things I used to worry about, I’d love to keep worrying about those things! So delicious, such quaint little worries. Ah, they seem so distant but in fact they’re just buried under a new load of worries.**Maybe you heard?I feel like we’re all standing in the middle of this rope bridge, all 8 billion of us. Everybody knows the thing’s about to break, nobody has anywhere to run. Scary stuff, some people might get a soft landing, others might have everything they ever wanted and still not make it. Really makes you wonder what’s really important.I said this last week and I’ll say it again in a different way: If I’m going down, I’m gonna go down playing. Those musicians on the deck of the Titanic didn’t really have anything else to do, though we all do have to keep on the lookout for ways we can help.For now, make the music. Put it out there. Forget the fear, wondering where it all goes. For all you know this is the best time.I make music to be less afraid. I produce it, teach it, perform it. And it works.Today’s guest is the amazing Rich Hinman. Composer, producer, guitar and pedal steel player living in Los Angeles. He has worked most memorably with Sara Bareilles, kd lang, Rosanne Cash, St. Vincent, Vulfpeck, Brett Dennen and many others. You can pick him out from a mile away.In this episode we get a tour of the pedal steel guitar along with Rich’s backstory, his origins and the usual assortment of reflections on life and craft that make this show what it is. I’m glad to have you here.As usual we have one single ask: if you like the show, please tell someone about it. Don’t be a podcast hoarder!Alright let’s say hi to Rich.Press PLAY above to hear my visit with Rich Hinman.Thanks!Thanks for listening to Play It Like It’s Music. Thanks to Rich for spending some very generous time with us. You can find him at Rich Hinman dot com as well as on Instagram @richhinman.If you like this show, please tell a friend:Follow me on social media @trevorexter and talk to me on there if you have thoughts about the show.We're all contending with a mutating professional landscape, jacked revenue streams, a potentially catastrophic global pandemic and a lot of noise out there in the culture. But you gotta keep playing.We don't draw any lines here between scenes or styles.As always, thank you for listening and remember to play it like its music.You can check out my music on bandcamp and other places. It’s all at my website, trevorexter.com. Sign the mailing list on substack to get this show sent right to you the very moment it comes out. Consider hiring me to score your piece, do some cello overdubs, produce your show or back you up onstage. Music is a beautiful thing and it makes the world go around.Big love to your ears.Trevor(Did you press play yet?)...If you like my stuff, help it spread by sharing it!Hear songs: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” on SpotifySign the mailing list!Take lessons from me online!Hire me remotely for cello overdubs or to score your piece.Or to produce your podcast.Follow me on IG TW FBMore @trevorexter.compsst… sign up for emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playitlikeitsmusic.substack.com