Before Your Very Ears

On the second episode of Before Your Very Ears, west coast folk musician and songwriting powerhouse Madison Cunningham engages in some anger management.Along with hosts Sean Watkins and Peter Harper, Cunningham, whose 2022 record Revealer won the Grammy for Best Folk Album, digs into the nature of artistry and truth-telling: What are the social and professional costs of telling it like it is, or simply sticking to your artistic guns instead of appealing to the masses? Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot got them dropped from their label—then it went on to become their most celebrated record. Who’s to say?Invoking her upbringing in the church and subsequent alienation from it, in part thanks to the ostracizing that came from questioning the rules, Cunningham leads the group on a writing session rooted in expressing anger and frustrating. “I write because I’m trying to hit something instead of someone,” Cunningham quips. What takes form is a folk-rock “rage song” about transmitters and receivers, about the incessant flow of information and the resonance, dissonance, and white noise that we’re all hooked up to. It’s also an expert lesson in subtlety and the expression of complex ideas: “Talk about the summer, passing the time/Your guess about Jesus is as good as mine,” Cunningham conjures on the verse.This episode is sponsored by Berklee Online: https://online.berklee.edu/Join our Patreon: http://patreon.com/beforeyourveryears

While plenty of songwriters are happy to give a post-mortem review of how they write a song, the actual process happens behind closed doors. What goes through their heads while they decide on a specific word choice? Who hasn’t wished to be a fly on the wall while professional musicians hack together the pieces that make our favorite songs?That’s the experience of Before Your Very Ears, a new podcast hosted by guitarists Sean Watkins and Peter Harper. On each episode, Watkins and Harper are joined by a different guest musician, and together, the three of them have one goal before the mics stop rolling: They have to write an original song. Before Your Very Ears is a fun, insightful exploration of the mysterious, ever-elusive “Songwriting Process,” and a real-time demonstration of the twists and turns that result in the music we love.This debut episode features Vulfpeck founder and guitarist Theo Katzman. The trio starts with a gentle acoustic idea, envisioned as a sleepy-time lullaby. But as each player introduces their perspective on the concept, it soon turns into a profound, heart-felt meditation on death and grief, and what it means to lose someone.Step right up, and witness the creative brain in motion Before Your Very Ears!This episode is sponsored by Berklee Online: https://online.berklee.edu/Join our Patreon: http://patreon.com/beforeyourveryears

There's only one rule: Finish the song. Join Sean Watkins and Pete Harper as they meet up with their favorite songwriters, set up some mics, and write a song—in real time. Head over to our Patreon at http://patreon.com/beforeyourveryears for TONS of bonus content, early access to episodes, and much more.