What Dreamers Do
Carla Gover
Hi, I’m Carla Gover, an Appalachian musician, flatfoot dancer, mama, and DREAMER from Kentucky. I'm on a mission to share fierce love, good humor, and inspiration to help you live a life of creative freedom. I decided to start the What Dreamers Do Podcast to help answer the question: How can we use our gifts and talents to build a better world, and have fun along the way? You’ll also find musings about Appalachia as well as interesting conversations with songwriters, poets, dancers, educators, world-changers, social justice warriors, and other people like you who are working to make a difference using their art, their skills, or just the way they live their lives. On every episode, you’ll hear ideas, conversations, and actionable items to help you unlock your creativity and live your purpose. Grab a mason jar full of sweet tea (or something a little stronger) and pull up a chair, cause it’s time to get YOUR dream on!
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Top 10 What Dreamers Do Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best What Dreamers Do episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to What Dreamers Do for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite What Dreamers Do episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Appalachian Artivism: An Interview with Sam Gleaves Part 1
What Dreamers Do
03/11/22 • 38 min
Our interview guest for this week is multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, and Appalachian Music Professor Sam Gleaves, who was born and raised in Wytheville, Virginia. Rooted in Appalachian sounds, Gleaves’ songwriting sings of contemporary rural life and social issues. In 2015, Gleaves collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Cathy Fink and released a debut record of original songs, titled “Ain’t We Brothers,” which has been featured by The Guardian, National Public Radio, and No Depression. A passionate teaching artist, Gleaves has shared Appalachian traditions at numerous music camps, colleges, universities, and public schools. He currently serves as a traditional music instructor and director of the Bluegrass Ensemble at Berea College.
In our chat this week, we discuss how Sam got started as a young musician growing up in the hills of Appalachia, the mentors who encouraged him, and his various influences from pop icons to local legends.
Sam also opens up about how impostor syndrome shows up for him, how he started adding original songs to his repertoire of traditional music, the mentors who made a difference in his life, and why he considers himself an "artivist" rather than an "activist."
We get to hear his original tune "Ain't We Brothers", accompanied by West Virginia legend Tim O'Brien, chronicling the story of a gay coal miner and his plea for simple dignity and acceptance.
Artists/Links mentioned in show:
Sam Gleaves Website
Sam Gleaves on Facebook
Forked Deer as fiddled by Roger Cooper
Kentucky Author Silas House
Kentucky Author Jason Kyle Howard
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The Brilliant Biz & Life of Artist Leonie Dawson
What Dreamers Do
08/31/24 • 55 min
In this episode of "What Dreamers Do," Leonie Dawson, the vibrant and successful artist, writer, poet, and illustrator from Australia, opens up about her unique journey as a creative entrepreneur.
From her time in the Australian government to her inspiring million-dollar online business and Brilliant Biz and Life Academy, you'll discover how Leonie seamlessly blends creativity with business without compromising her values and integrity.
Show Highlights:
- The beginnings of her career back in the early days of chat and message boards
- Overcoming physical health challenges while flourishing in her business and art
- Running the Brilliant Biz and Life Academy with 5,000 dedicated members
- Advocating for integrity and supporting artists and women to take up space and share their art
- Creating invaluable resources and free content on her website
- Leonie's deep admiration for the inspiring artist Sark
- Shifting mindset towards self-worth, imposter syndrome, and joy in creation
- Streamlining business and valuing happiness and work-life balance
- The power of money in creating positive change and redistribution to nonprofits
Tune in to be inspired by Leonie's radical approach to business and creativity, self-care and motherhood. Discover how she challenges self-doubt and gender limitations, shining a light for people carving their own paths in entrepreneurship and art.
Leonie Dawson is a reminder that success can be cultivated with authenticity, joy, and unwavering dedication.
Leonie Dawson is a self-taught artist, writer, and poet who knew from a young age that she wanted to make a difference in the world through her creativity. Despite growing up in a pragmatic farming family, she pursued her passion and has since become a successful and influential figure in the art and writing community. Leonie's determination and talent have allowed her to achieve her childhood dream of changing the world through her art and words.
Links from the Show
Brilliant Biz & Life Academy
Leonie's Free Resources
Website for the artist SARK
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04/28/22 • 78 min
Appalachian Author/Yogi Kelli Hansel Haywood's life and practice is firmly rooted in the soil of her native East Kentucky. In this interview, she speaks about home, art, motherhood, healing, and her artistic processes.
Some of the things we talk about include:
- The way her knowledge of her kin and extended family has informed her identity provided a lifelong sense of groundedness.
- Her feelings of not quite fitting in outside East Kentucky, but ironically not fitting in fully there, either.
- How having children changed her artistic process, and allowed her to realize that inspiration is always there for her.
- The sensation when your kids model your examples and start becoming artists themselves.
- The seemingly-paradoxical fact that there is a lot of rhetoric in Appalachia about men being the leaders of home and church, but that strong women uphold the communities and families.
- Her style of feminism and her conflicted feelings about changing her name after marriage.
- What she wants folks from outside Appalachia to know about the region.
- Why Appalachian ways of knowing the world are sometimes discriminated against.
- How a mountain accent does NOT signal a low IQ
- How she got a book deal from consistently posting on Instagram, and how she used her own healing and transformation to create the content that became the book.
- The way knowledge has become wisdom over the course of her life.
- Personal Alchemy and Jungian shadow work
- The special gifts that artists have to share with the world, and which should NEVER be taken for granted.
Links Mentioned:
www.kellihansel.com
Kelli's book Sacred Catharsis
IG: @darkmoon_kelli
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Love Is a Living Thing: How I Gave Up and Found Love
What Dreamers Do
02/10/22 • 27 min
I love a good love story, so I decided to share the improbable story of how I met my true companion a bit later in life. (Even though we'd met as kids when my search for baklava in a town we'd both just moved to landed me in his dad's bakery!)
I get candid about my own struggles to find harmony in the realm of romance, in spite of most things in my life going pretty well.
I also talk about the dance of how how I made what I thought was an impossible list of characteristics I was looking for in a companion and vowed not to date anyone who didn't meet them ALL, how my partner and I got to know each other when we were both a bit "gun-shy", and a mystical moment when I first started to believe we could have something truly special together!
I also share three of the qualities that I believe comprise a great relationship, and what makes this one so different (and fulfilling) for me.
Thanks for listening to my stories, and please feel free to share yours with me---I'd love to hear what you're dreaming of in love or a tale of how you met YOUR sweetie! Contact me at [email protected] or over on the 'gram @kentuckycarla
Links Mentioned
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
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03/24/22 • 65 min
How moving beyond fear and connecting with your intuition helps every area of your life.
Are you someone who is drawn to growth, transformation, and living your most authentic, soulful life? If so, you’re going to LOVE this week’s guest.
Her name is Deepshikha Sairam, and she’s a Priestess of the Divine Feminine and spiritual mentor to high-achieving women entrepreneurs and leaders.
She is also the creator of The Path to Self Mastery, a revolutionary self discovery framework rooted in ancient wisdom, science backed methodologies and spiritual tools & rituals, designed to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, so that you can live a more creative, joyful and meaningful life.
Deepshikha has helped me expand my own thinking about what I’m capable of achieving, and the meditations and exercises I’ve done with her have helped me not only understand myself better, but connect more deeply with my own inner spiritual guidance system.
And if that weren’t enough, I have had some powerful energy clearing sessions where we worked together to clear my body and subconscious mind of some of the past traumas, failures, and frustrations that I didn’t even know were buried there, but which were holding me back.
We had such a deep and meaningful conversation that I know you’ll want to listen to the whole interview, but here is a sneak peek of some of the topics we address:
>>Why she changed her career focus when she was at the top of her game and earning multiple six figures each year.
>>How she has been pushed by spirit her whole life to step into the role she is finding now.
>>How each stage of our development and awareness has a shadow and a gift.
>>How creativity is our birthright.
>>The paradigm shifts that have helped her become more intuitive in her life.
I hope you love this interview as much as I did, and take away some strategies for living more creatively, intuitively, and from your soul.
Episode Links
Deepshikha on Instagram
Infinite Possibilities Meditation
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In Defense of Daydreaming: An Interview with Silas House
What Dreamers Do
09/24/24 • 34 min
Join host Carla Gover and Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House as they discuss the creative life. The episode explores the fears and resistance writers face, the importance of honesty in storytelling, and the impact of cultural and religious conditioning on self-expression. Silas shares his journey, experiences, and thoughts on creativity, including his thoughts on representing marginalized groups, collaborating with other artists, and much more. This candid discussion is filled with wisdom, humility, and encouragement for all aspiring artists.
Key Points Discussed:
Fear and Resistance in Writing:
- The challenges of writer's block and distractions like social media.
- Importance of honesty and writing stories or poems you want to read.
- Fear as an engine that drives the creative process.
Cultural and Religious Conditioning:
- Expressing oneself fully despite cultural and religious backgrounds.
- Working on a novel addressing strict cultural backgrounds, faith, and desire.
Representation and Responsibility:
- Importance of representing marginalized groups like gay Kentuckians.
- Impact of Silas's work on young queer individuals.
- Being conscientious and authentic on social media.
Impostor Syndrome and Humility:
- Challenges of feeling inadequate in elite literary settings.
- Maintaining a down-to-earth attitude despite high-profile connections.
- Personal validation from readers vs. professional awards.
Balancing Tasks and Self-Care:
- Juggling various activities using checklists and prioritizing tasks.
- Importance of self-care and knowing personal limits.
- Psychological approach to to-do lists and rewarding oneself.
Thoughts on Creativity and Art:
- Creativity as a constant state of being.
- Daydreaming as an essential part of the creative process.
- The complexity and multidimensionality of personal identity.
Projects and Future Works:
- Upcoming picture book "That Dog Won't Hunt."
- New novel set in the early 1900s focusing on environmental issues.
Connect with Silas
Website
Instagram
Facebook
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The Posh Tea Tour: On Traveling With the Band in Europe
What Dreamers Do
11/12/22 • 16 min
Welcome back for season two of What Dreamers Do!
I kick this episode off by recapping my summer travels with the band, sharing some fun and memorable moments from the UK, Ireland, Serbia, and Greece, and my takeaways about the insights we can gain from traveling. (Including my suggestion for applying the insights when we're back home!)
Links Mentioned
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Appalachian Frolic Dance Weekend December 9-11, 2022, Berea, KY
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06/03/22 • 43 min
In this juicy interview, we chat with Singer/Songwriter/Producer Rosie Bans, who writes, performs, ad collaborates with other artists and activists to create change for women and other marginalized groups, AND has an innovative support group and course for songwriters who want to give their creativity and motivation a boost.
We also discuss her free songwriting challenge, and how she helps songwriters spur themselves to get out of their own way to write more and more freely.
Links
Be Radical Make Music Facebook Group
Rosie on Instagram
Songwriting Website
Rosie's Podcast
Songwriting Challenge
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05/20/22 • 17 min
This is part of my meandering summer episode series, which don't necessarily come out each Thursday, but rather when inspiration strikes. I might be in a cool café in London or an East Kentucky Holler when I record, or maybe just in my cozy living room drinking a cup of tea as I was for this episode.
I begin with a reflection on tours past and future, and share one of my zaniest tour stories from the road.
I then share my monologue from a project we've been sprucing up lately, the Cornbread & Tortillas Folk Opera. It's about all the things my Granny taught me, including how to make cornbread.
I finish with a sneak peak from the new CornMaiz Stringband album, and a toast to all my friends!
Links
CornMaiz String Band
Cornbread & Tortillas Folk Opera
Appalachian Flatfooting & Clogging Academy
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Appalachian Artivism (Part 2): An Interview with Sam Gleaves
What Dreamers Do
03/17/22 • 31 min
This week I'm continuing my chat with musician/songwriter/educator/Appalachian Artivist Sam Gleaves about a bevy of subjects dear to our hearts and our work in Kentucky and beyond.
He talks about how his work with cultural organizations such as the Appalshop, The Highlander Center, and Berea College have deepened his activism in the mountains.
He also shares more about the educational work he does with Berea College in teaching traditional ad bluegrass music to students there from many cultures and places.
We discuss the tightrope that artists living and working in traditional art forms sometimes face in trying to convey our authentic truths while maintaining awareness that sometimes our audiences have vastly different sociopolitical or religious beliefs than we do.
Sam also shares more about navigating the traditional music world as a queer man, how his music has changed as he has embodied his personal truth, and the importance of singers as storytellers who have the power to help shape new narratives of the world. (And how they're MORE than just entertainers!)
And when asked about coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, anxiety, and despair around world events, his biggest exhortation is.....SING!
Artists/Links mentioned in show:
Sam Gleaves Website
Sam Gleaves on Facebook
Appalshop Cultural Organization
Highlander Center
The STAY Project
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Reel World String Band
My Singing Bird by Sam Gleaves
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FAQ
How many episodes does What Dreamers Do have?
What Dreamers Do currently has 36 episodes available.
What topics does What Dreamers Do cover?
The podcast is about Change, Creativity, Music, Justice, Podcasts, Inspiration, Freedom, Songwriting, Arts, Music Interviews and Performing Arts.
What is the most popular episode on What Dreamers Do?
The episode title 'Be Radical, Make Music: An Interview with Feminist Scottish Musician Rosie Bans' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on What Dreamers Do?
The average episode length on What Dreamers Do is 34 minutes.
How often are episodes of What Dreamers Do released?
Episodes of What Dreamers Do are typically released every 7 days, 9 hours.
When was the first episode of What Dreamers Do?
The first episode of What Dreamers Do was released on Sep 10, 2021.
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