Episode 64: Celebrating the Life of Barry Lynch: A Conversation with Hannah Lynch

01/13/24 • 44 min

Lest anyone doubt the power of music, I give you the life of Barry Lynch. I met Barry while on vacation in May 2012 at a small pub in the small town of Moy, Northern Ireland, after he led a brilliant Irish session in which he sang and played just about every stringed instrument known to man. I finally brought him onto this show in July 2022 to discuss an album he’d just produced by a band called the Armagh Rhymers. Sadly, Barry passed away suddenly in Spring 2023. In this episode, Barry’s daughter Hannah Lynch joins me to discuss her Dad’s life and musical journey. Barry’s belief that music can connect people and change the world took him all over the globe. As a teacher in a divided area of Northern Ireland, Barry used music to bring opposing sides together, an effort that took him to the White House and the United Nations as the Belfast Peace Accords were being negotiated. We discuss a 2013 album he recorded with family (including Hannah and her sister Jane) and lifelong friends John Devlin and others under the nom de plume of The Monday Men. Join me in learning from Hannah about Barry’s commitment to music, family, peace, and how music can literally change the world.

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Episode 63: For Songs Singles! Dawning, Yasmin Williams

When we last caught up with Yasmin Williams, her life was just about to change. It was February 2021, the pandemic was slowly but surely starting to ease, and the DC-based acoustic guitar maestro released her groundbreaking album Urban Driftwood. Full of spellbinding, mesmerizing, uplifting acoustic-guitar driven instrumentals, Urban Driftwood took Yasmin from her parent’s house to all around the globe, playing festivals, selling out clubs, and doing gigs with some of her heroes. It’s been a whirlwind—and two-plus years later, Yasmin is back. In this episode of For Songs Singles, we talk about Yasmin’s latest breathtaking tune Dawning. As hypnotic as anything she’s written, Dawning is a revelation. It signals a re-awakening of life after a catastrophic pandemic, new love, hope, and, well, pretty much whatever you want. Yasmin had help for this one, including Grammy winning singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan. Yasmin gushes over Aoife’s magical, soaring vocals and reveals just how much her life is different from just two years ago. So sit back, listen and let the amazing Yasmin Williams take you away.

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Episode 65: For Songs Singles! I Can't Seem to Drink Her Off My Mind, Ian Jones

If there’s been one constant chronicled on this podcast, it’s that no one knows the future of the music industry. Hell, no one even knows what the next few days are going to be like in the industry. Certainly my next guest, Seattle-based singer/songwriter Ian Jones, is doing all he can to crack the code. Ian is making his third appearance on this show, this time to discuss his latest single, I Can’t Seem to Drink Her Off My Mind. The song is a throwback to Merle Haggard, David Allen Coe, Buck Owens—a true drown-in-your-beer country tune that sounds like it was recorded in Bakersfield 50 or 60 years ago. Interesting, Ian is taking a kitchen-sink approach to marketing the song, as the album it will eventually be on is still being record. Not only that, he released a live version of the song before anyone’s heard the studio version. Will it work? Who knows! And that’s the point—there’s no blueprint, so why the hell not? It’s a fantastic, booze soaked lament that will keep your toes tapping and eyes watering. So sit back and listen in as Ian gives a frank assessment of the industry and how the song came together.