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She is a singer, songwriter, producer, and guitar player who has toured with four-time GRAMMY winner Gary Clark, Jr. She has gotten airplay on SiriusXM, performed with Carlos Santana, and accompanied Gwen Stefani for NBC’s New Year’s Eve special and “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” special. She also counts Ronnie Spector among her personal mentors. He is a drummer who has toured nationwide and internationally. Since the pandemic he has been the in-house drum tech AND has been playing on sessions at a studio in Connecticut. He also operates a home studio, is an educator, and last fall started his own shop, called Music Box Vintage.

Notable Guest Quotes

(Brian) "Me and Fiona are still literally upstairs above this amazing recording studio and it's pretty great."

(Brian) "We were playing probably six to eight hours a day, recording a lot of that, writing music."

(Fiona) "I only thought I was gonna be here for, like, a week, maybe two if I were lucky.  And now it's almost a year later and the studio owners are like family."

(Brian) "They put together this event called Save The Scene NYC and we ended up raising a lot of money that is going to -- and may have already -- benefitted small venues and independent artists."

(Fiona) "That's kind of one of the other creative joys I have is -- and I guess that could be totally related to music, it could be really related to any art form -- is like, the idea, to me, of, sort of, creating a whole world for someone to step into."

(Fiona) "The song was one level of participating in, reflecting on the year (2020), but the video was really another level of it because I think a lot more was said visually that wasn't said through the lyrics, or as pointedly."

(Fiona) "I love a lot of different kinds of music, but I'm really, maybe, like, a secret love of mine is 50's and 60's doo wop and old school pop music."

(Fiona) "It's a delicate balance with covers, for sure.  I think you have to make it your own, otherwise why do it at all?  The song already exists.  So, if you can't bring something different to it, then, it's probably not the song for you."

(Fiona) "It's kinda rare in the industry that an independent artist like myself gets an opportunity like that because there's a lot of red tape between agencies and labels and what not."

(Brian) "It's the hustle, ya' know everyone talks about the hustle.  And networking has always come very easily to me and I really enjoy making connections, whether it be for myself or for other people.  It's super satisfying when you're able to be that cog that initiates something."

(Brian) "I'm always paying attention and trying to listen and learn from any situation that I find myself in.  So, whether that be hanging out at the hang after a show or being at a studio session or just hanging out with a group of friends, I'm always kind of taking notes on what's happening and seeing if I can make connections of some sort."

(Brian) "If you really apply yourself and you look for the opportunities, things will come eventually."

(Fiona) "I don't think that there's one formula that makes a great song.  And I think that that's maybe a misconception... that there's this formula for a pop hit.  A great song is just a song that you have an emotional connection to that moves you in some way."

Songs on this episode

"2020"
"Dark Blue"