May 6, 2025 • 26 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you a songwriter? Are you looking to turn your
songwriting passion into a full time gigig? Whether you are
just at the start of your songwriting journey or a
seasoned industry professional, this show is made for you. You we
would welcome to the Songwriter Show, bringing together songwriting, news, interviews,
and communitating. Now welcome your houst Srontos.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, and thank you for tuning in to the Songwriter Show.
I'm Soronto's, your humble host and fellow songwriter with a
passion for crafting stories through song. As someone who's been
writing lyrics for as long as I can remember, I
know how every song holds its own unique story. That's
what brings us together here tonight and every week to
celebrate the voices behind the music we love. I'm so
(00:47):
happy to have on the show tonight. Greg Stone Greg
is a singer, songwriter, and retired educator who's been fortunate
enough to share his extensive repertoire with many live and
virtual audiences and serves as a cocator of the Nashville
Songwriters Association Internationalist Pittsburgh Chapter. He writes, performs, and produces
music in a wide array of genres, but his favorite
(01:10):
is the Americana Style Story.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Songs and now welcome this week's special guest.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Welcome to show.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
How are you very good? Thank you? How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm doing well. I'm trying to enjoy the weather here
in Chicago, but hopefully you're out in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Right, yes, and I'm sure we have similar weather, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So tell us a little bit about your history here.
Seems like you like being a songwriter, and you've done
a few live performances, right.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh, yeah, several live performances, and it's been an interesting life.
As you've already said, I'm retired, which will give you
an idea that I'm not a spring chicken. But my
life is interesting in that I started writing songs as
a teenager and performed and wrote songs all the way
through college until life happened and I basically just didn't
(02:01):
have time to perform or write songs anymore. And so
there was like a thirty five year period where I
didn't do anything at all. But then in my mid fifties,
when work started to become a little more let's say, cumbersome,
I decided I needed something cathartic to get me through
days of tension and whatever, and so I started writing again.
(02:22):
And so for the past ten or twelve years, I've
been writing way more prolifically than I did as a teenager.
And I've enjoyed it very much. And I love, as
you mentioned, I love writing songs that tell stories and
have a lot of imagery.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Wonderful. And what instruments do you play?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I play acoustic guitar. I have an ovation, a couple
of ovations, actually in a couple of Martins, one of
which was my mother's. My mother was a country music
singer and that's how I got my start as a teenager.
She sat me down and taught me the basics on
her nineteen fifty three D twenty eight Martin guitar, which
I still have. She handed it down to me. So
(03:01):
I have several acoustic guitars, some acoustic electrics, some just acoustic.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Who was the first tune you learned how to play
when you were younger?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh? Boy, h probably Falsom Prism Blues by Johnny cash.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Love Johnny cash Man, Oh my god man in black.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It was a ring of Fire. It was one of
those two.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that's awesome. Well that leads me into the next question,
dead or alive, which musician would you love to be
in a room with?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And why? Oh boy, I've been fortunate enough to meet
most all of the songwriters that I have admired the most,
probably the one I haven't met yet that i'd like
to is a man named James mccartry. James and Kirrtry
is a current singer songwriter who your listeners may or
may not be aware of, who tells a lot of
(03:49):
great story songs and has wonderful imagery and talks about
the kind of the seedier side of life a lot
of times. But he's a wonderful songwriter and I'd love
to just pick his brain.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Tell us a little bit about you've done a few
a bit of performing, do you get nervous for a
performance or not anymore?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's funny, I never did when I was young. My mother,
as I said, was a country singer, and she played
at you know, all the county fairs and carnivals and
things like that. And she also was a disc jockey,
and so she opened for, or interviewed or whatever the
likes of Johnny Cash and Buck Owens and all those
(04:27):
country stars from the nineteen sixties and at the same time,
when she would do carnivals and fairs, had to, you know,
be personable around the people who came out to those shows,
who could be, you know, just very common people. And
being around her and being around that as a youngster
made me comfortable around people in general. And then I
(04:48):
was fortunate enough to be for a while a child actor,
and I just I guess I was too young to
be nervous about being on stage at the time, and
so I've never really been I've never had stage right
in my life. I guess I'm lucky that way.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, awesome. Tell us about your songwriting process. How does
the magic happen for you?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Well, it varies, you know, I often get you know,
the standard question is what comes first the music of
the lyrics. For me, it's about a fifty to fifty split.
Sometimes I'll come up with lyrics and then have to
figure out a melody and chord progression to go with it.
And other times I'll have some music in mind and
I'll play some things out and just put them on
(05:30):
my phone or whatever, and I'll start to produce them,
and if I decide they could use lyrics, I'll put
lyrics to them. If not, they'll just be instrumentals, and
I've written a lot of instrumentals, especially over the last
few years.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Is there any kind of education or training that you
recommend to people to do kind of what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I have a lot of faith in NSAI, which you mentioned.
I was a member of the National Songwriters Association International.
If you are interested actually and really looking at your
music and not just throwing something out there, but really
tweaking it and revisiting it and working with it more
(06:12):
in a directed fashion. As a member of NSAI, I've
been able to do that with a lot of my
music and some things. You know, I'll take suggestions and
not take all suggestions, but it's been it's been a
good thing for me to do. I think belonging to
that organization it's been very helpful. I'm not a big
(06:33):
fan of books on songwriting and things like that. It's
sort of like I play golf too, and it's sort
of like taking golf lessons. I think that's the worst
thing that ever happened in my golf game. Yeah, was
taking golf lessons.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Tell us about this song that we're going to hear.
What inspired it?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well? I mentioned James McMurtry, and I really like his
style and the type of music he plays. I write
a lot of songs that aren't the happiest kind of songs,
but they our story song so with a lot of
imagery and whatever. The very first artist I ever heard
that made me want to be a songwriter intensely was
Guy Clark. Guy Clark was a singer songwriter out of Boston,
(07:13):
Texas who wrote La Freeway and Desk broad Is Waiting
for a Train and all kinds of other songs that
were hits by other people. But James V. Bertie writes
songs about, you know, just the darker side of Americana.
This song I wanted to write as being something that
was in that vein, but having a positive spin on
(07:33):
it kind of, so I refer to it as a
story about an outlaw who commits a good deed.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Tell us a little bit about what you have going
on for the rest of the year, anything exciting for
the fans.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
The biggest thing I have coming up that I'm excited
about is I've decided to Along with all the live
stuff that I do, I get invited to several you know,
singer songwriter showcases and things like that. But I've decided
to in my retirement to g back a little bit
by offering my services as a songwriter and to help
(08:05):
aspiring songwriters to do presentations at local libraries and here
in western Pennsylvania. And I'm going to be doing several
of these throughout the year. What I'll do is it'll
be a kind of a combination of talking about the
songwriting process, how I go about it, what my inspirations are.
It's called the presentations called inspiration. Everywhere, I will give
(08:27):
some examples and then play some of my songs as
examples of some of the things that I do and
where the inspiration comes from.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Okay, that's pretty cool. Tell you what. Let's take a
list and then we'll come back and talk tomorre. Okay, great, great, thanks,
all right, check this out, everybody.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Here we go.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Turned off the main road to a small little.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Town, one church, an old pub, and no lights.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Pulled up to the bar, left his keys in the car,
and brushed off the lonely old night. He cart arrived
and decided to move to an empty stool next to
her seat.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
He asked her her name.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
She said, it's all the same as whatever you wanted
to be.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
He wasn't searching for an angel to be.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Saved, but he found one just the same in a
town too small. Foreign name. She told him that.
Speaker 6 (10:02):
She had a small room upstairs and they could have
a drink there.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Where the dim light revealed what her dress had concealed,
the marks of what leader.
Speaker 7 (10:16):
So scared, he offered her to help.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Told her run to my car and ride with me
to the next town. She laughed through.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Her tears, and she said, my poor dear, there's no
weather in town with me sight.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
So back in the car, he left all alone, just
like when he got there before. Fifteen bucks lighter enough
to provide her.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Left it there inside her door, made his way back
to the highway again, a smoking gun on his back seat.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
She couldn't come long, but he righted or wrongs as
her fears laid dead in the street. Yeah, her fears
well laid dead in the street.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
He wasn't searching.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
For an angel to be saved, but.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
He found on just the satan in a town too
small for Anae.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You've probably met a lot of people in your years
in the industry and in all your live gigs. Any
other influences you want to share.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, besides Sky Clark, who I also got to meet,
Unfortunately he passed away some years ago. People like Ian Hunter,
of all people, for those of you who can't remember
that far back, Ian Hunter was the lead singer for
Matta Hoopel, which was a big band who had a
song called All the Young Dudes, which ironically he didn't write.
(12:38):
But I got to meet Ian and talk to him
a bit. I've seen him a few times. I never
met Mark Knopfler. Mark Knopfler is another one who I
have a lot of admiration for great story songs like
Romeo and Juliet and Wild West End and of course
Sultan's a Swing. And one man in particular who's no
longer with us, named Chris Whittler, who I admired not
(13:02):
because I really emulate his style so much, but that
he showed me how important it is to take risks
and think outside the box when it comes to songwriting
and not necessarily follow the rules that everybody puts out
there for you know what's radio friendly quote unquote. And
I always admired his style, especially because I could never
(13:22):
when I tried to talk about him to other people,
I could never really put my finger on exactly what
it was. When they asked me what kind of music
it was that he played. It was kind of blues,
it was kind of Americana, it was kind of rock.
It was kind of who knows what. But he was
a I thought he was a genius. And I actually
got to spend quite a few times with Chris Whitley.
(13:44):
He did some soundtrack work. He was on the Flman
Louis soundtrack. He was on the So I Married an
Axe Murderer sound Oh my.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
God, I remember that movie with Mike Myers.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
That was funny. Yes, yeah, well I.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Would have blast in the past. Yeah, Okay. Do you
have any advice on touring?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
No, not really, because I'm kind of a I have
a kind of a steely Dan approach. I'm more of
a studio musician and singer songwriter than I am playing
out as it were. I did a lot of coffee
houses and things like that throughout the college years, and
now I will play. I play about once a week,
and I don't do it to be out there all
(14:22):
the time. Most of my sharing of my music is
done through streaming. I have several releases that are on
all the major streaming sources through discro Kid, I play out.
I enjoy playing out, especially when it's with other songwriters,
because I think we all learned from each other and
pick up things here and there. I picked up a
chord progression from one of the other songwriters here in Pittsburgh,
(14:45):
and I told him I stole his progression, and he said, well,
don't worry about it. I stole it from Jimmy Hendrix. Yeah.
I enjoy playing out more so for the camaraderie and
just you know, the feel for the eye in some
things like that. And it's taught me to play different
things for different venues. You know. I've written well over
(15:07):
two hundred three hundred songs, and some are better to
play in bars than they are in coffeehouses or showcases
or what have you.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
You know, people are always experimenting when they're songwriters. Is
there something you're experimenting with, You're dabbling in, trying to
do something you've ever done before.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I do most of my production here at home, and
I use garage band, and I use something called band
in a Box. And Band in a Box is an
app that allows you to It's very sophisticated. It allows
you to just put in a chord progression that you
come up with and then set it to whatever genre
you want, and a different kind of band will play
(15:46):
it out for you. And what that's allowed me to
do is expand into other genres that I normally don't
write in because I can't. For example, I can't play bluegrass,
but I love bluegrass, and there's a bluegrass there are
a couple of bluegrass options on Band in a Box,
and so I've been able to write some bluegrass songs.
(16:07):
I love mainstream jazz and have been able to write
some jazz tunes instrumentals thanks to Band in a Box.
So using some of the technology that I have available
to me, which isn't expensive at all, Chris Garage. Band
is free if you have an Apple product and Band
in a Box I think I paid one hundred bucks
for and it's amazing what it can do for you.
(16:29):
And you can, you know, take instruments out, put them in,
you know, bring them up and down and what have you.
And so's it's allowed me to really experiment with some
things that I haven't been able to do otherwise.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
What's your most unexpected source of inspiration for a song?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
I think chance meetings of people and all kinds of
people from all kinds of different walks of life and
things that they say and listening to their you know
where they come from. I love talking to people. If
I if I'm in a taxi or an uber, I
make sure I strike up a conversation with the driver
because I'm always learning about them and things that are
(17:08):
important to them. People on planes. I used to have
to travel a lot for the last job that I had.
I found myself having a lot of conversations with people
on planes. Those are great ways to get inspiration. Probably
the most unique thing for me that I've gotten inspiration
from is certain works of art. There's a song that
(17:29):
I wrote called Happy and Helene. It's about a clown
and a high wire act female that have this love
affair that goes sour. And it came about from looking
at a photograph of nineteen fifty seven by a photographer
named Bruce Davidson, and it was this very stark photograph
of a rainy circus area with a tent to the
(17:52):
side and a clown holding a bouquet of flowers and
smoking a cigarette, and it just looked it's kind of pathetic,
and I thought there's kind of be a story in
this picture, and so since I wrote that song, I've
been seeking out other photos and works of art that
helped me get inspiration as well.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, awesome, So tell us a little bit about your website,
your platforms where people can buy and stream your stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
If you just look for Greg Stone on any of
the major streaming services, you'll see several, both lyric based
and instrumental releases. The song that you heard is a
single that was released in January, and I've enjoyed doing
that just streaming things out. I'm going to be spreading
(18:42):
out the word more on this single, especially a Town
too Small for a Name, to radio stations. I'm going
to go old school and go away from streaming for
something and release this to radio stations that I have
a very long list of that play Americana and country
based music, that are non commercial stations, especially that have
(19:04):
a little bit more open mind when it comes to
their playlist, and have them enjoy the music and share
it with their listeners as well. What I do is
I have a web based mobile app. Actually, the last
job I had was working with a mobile app company
that taught students how to build mobile apps, and so
I took that technology to build a mobile app that
(19:25):
can be based online. And I actually hand out business
cards when I play out in clubs and what have
you with a QR code on it, and people access
my site through the QR code. Otherwise it's a pretty
complicated URL to come across. But if you just look
for Greg Stone on any of the streaming services, that's
Greg with two g's three altogether, you'll find my stuff awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I want to thank you so much for being on
the show tonight.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I appreciate you having me. I've enjoyed it very much.
You ask great questions and I look forward to sharing
this with everybody.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Thank you, Thank you so much, and thank you to
everyone out there tonight. Thank you for spending a little
bit of your precious time with us. If you're a
songwriter with a story to share, we'd love to hear
from you. Go over to songwritershow dot com and submit
the interview requests for him to all the listeners. We
hope this episode has inspired you to explore your own
stories through music. My name is Tomantos. Please join me
(20:21):
every single Tuesday evening to your other awesome artists share
They're fascinating behind the scenes stories right here at The
Songwriter Show on Reality Radio one oh one. Have a
great night, everybody, love y'all.
Speaker 8 (20:51):
Long upon time, na too long?
Speaker 9 (20:57):
Goods were lighting up? Your touch was all I know?
Speaker 4 (21:04):
You sail a dreamer? Did you figure that?
Speaker 8 (21:13):
Was it being by us?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Wasn't that passion in my heart? You say a dreamer?
Speaker 9 (21:26):
We would be okay, Eve and wed? I'm hot, my
love will always stay. I'll never break your heart.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
You say a dreamer? Did you figure that.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Was it been looking by us?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Wasn't that passion in my heart?
Speaker 8 (21:56):
You say a dreamer?
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Can I such a dreamer? Just because I need that?
Speaker 8 (22:29):
You say a dreamer.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I'm glad you.
Speaker 10 (22:34):
Figure Dad, when you look into bus, you can see
what a dreaming about. Sometimes I like to dream about
that type line where you and I can't be unspec guys,
(23:20):
just listen.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Thank you for listening to The Songwriter Show. To keep
the momental going, head over to www. Dot songwriter show
dot com and join our free music community of artists, songwriters,
and producers. That's www. Dot songwriter Show dot com.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
Any anything you no no no no no no no
(25:10):
no no no no no ming hanging hang
Speaker 4 (26:01):
No I have, I have
Are you a songwriter? Are you looking to turn your
songwriting passion into a full time gigig? Whether you are
just at the start of your songwriting journey or a
seasoned industry professional, this show is made for you. You we
would welcome to the Songwriter Show, bringing together songwriting, news, interviews,
and communitating. Now welcome your houst Srontos.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, and thank you for tuning in to the Songwriter Show.
I'm Soronto's, your humble host and fellow songwriter with a
passion for crafting stories through song. As someone who's been
writing lyrics for as long as I can remember, I
know how every song holds its own unique story. That's
what brings us together here tonight and every week to
celebrate the voices behind the music we love. I'm so
(00:47):
happy to have on the show tonight. Greg Stone Greg
is a singer, songwriter, and retired educator who's been fortunate
enough to share his extensive repertoire with many live and
virtual audiences and serves as a cocator of the Nashville
Songwriters Association Internationalist Pittsburgh Chapter. He writes, performs, and produces
music in a wide array of genres, but his favorite
(01:10):
is the Americana Style Story.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Songs and now welcome this week's special guest.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Welcome to show.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
How are you very good? Thank you? How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm doing well. I'm trying to enjoy the weather here
in Chicago, but hopefully you're out in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Right, yes, and I'm sure we have similar weather, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So tell us a little bit about your history here.
Seems like you like being a songwriter, and you've done
a few live performances, right.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh, yeah, several live performances, and it's been an interesting life.
As you've already said, I'm retired, which will give you
an idea that I'm not a spring chicken. But my
life is interesting in that I started writing songs as
a teenager and performed and wrote songs all the way
through college until life happened and I basically just didn't
(02:01):
have time to perform or write songs anymore. And so
there was like a thirty five year period where I
didn't do anything at all. But then in my mid fifties,
when work started to become a little more let's say, cumbersome,
I decided I needed something cathartic to get me through
days of tension and whatever, and so I started writing again.
(02:22):
And so for the past ten or twelve years, I've
been writing way more prolifically than I did as a teenager.
And I've enjoyed it very much. And I love, as
you mentioned, I love writing songs that tell stories and
have a lot of imagery.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Wonderful. And what instruments do you play?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I play acoustic guitar. I have an ovation, a couple
of ovations, actually in a couple of Martins, one of
which was my mother's. My mother was a country music
singer and that's how I got my start as a teenager.
She sat me down and taught me the basics on
her nineteen fifty three D twenty eight Martin guitar, which
I still have. She handed it down to me. So
(03:01):
I have several acoustic guitars, some acoustic electrics, some just acoustic.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Who was the first tune you learned how to play
when you were younger?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh? Boy, h probably Falsom Prism Blues by Johnny cash.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Love Johnny cash Man, Oh my god man in black.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It was a ring of Fire. It was one of
those two.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that's awesome. Well that leads me into the next question,
dead or alive, which musician would you love to be
in a room with?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And why? Oh boy, I've been fortunate enough to meet
most all of the songwriters that I have admired the most,
probably the one I haven't met yet that i'd like
to is a man named James mccartry. James and Kirrtry
is a current singer songwriter who your listeners may or
may not be aware of, who tells a lot of
(03:49):
great story songs and has wonderful imagery and talks about
the kind of the seedier side of life a lot
of times. But he's a wonderful songwriter and I'd love
to just pick his brain.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Tell us a little bit about you've done a few
a bit of performing, do you get nervous for a
performance or not anymore?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's funny, I never did when I was young. My mother,
as I said, was a country singer, and she played
at you know, all the county fairs and carnivals and
things like that. And she also was a disc jockey,
and so she opened for, or interviewed or whatever the
likes of Johnny Cash and Buck Owens and all those
(04:27):
country stars from the nineteen sixties and at the same time,
when she would do carnivals and fairs, had to, you know,
be personable around the people who came out to those shows,
who could be, you know, just very common people. And
being around her and being around that as a youngster
made me comfortable around people in general. And then I
(04:48):
was fortunate enough to be for a while a child actor,
and I just I guess I was too young to
be nervous about being on stage at the time, and
so I've never really been I've never had stage right
in my life. I guess I'm lucky that way.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, awesome. Tell us about your songwriting process. How does
the magic happen for you?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Well, it varies, you know, I often get you know,
the standard question is what comes first the music of
the lyrics. For me, it's about a fifty to fifty split.
Sometimes I'll come up with lyrics and then have to
figure out a melody and chord progression to go with it.
And other times I'll have some music in mind and
I'll play some things out and just put them on
(05:30):
my phone or whatever, and I'll start to produce them,
and if I decide they could use lyrics, I'll put
lyrics to them. If not, they'll just be instrumentals, and
I've written a lot of instrumentals, especially over the last
few years.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Is there any kind of education or training that you
recommend to people to do kind of what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I have a lot of faith in NSAI, which you mentioned.
I was a member of the National Songwriters Association International.
If you are interested actually and really looking at your
music and not just throwing something out there, but really
tweaking it and revisiting it and working with it more
(06:12):
in a directed fashion. As a member of NSAI, I've
been able to do that with a lot of my
music and some things. You know, I'll take suggestions and
not take all suggestions, but it's been it's been a
good thing for me to do. I think belonging to
that organization it's been very helpful. I'm not a big
(06:33):
fan of books on songwriting and things like that. It's
sort of like I play golf too, and it's sort
of like taking golf lessons. I think that's the worst
thing that ever happened in my golf game. Yeah, was
taking golf lessons.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Tell us about this song that we're going to hear.
What inspired it?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well? I mentioned James McMurtry, and I really like his
style and the type of music he plays. I write
a lot of songs that aren't the happiest kind of songs,
but they our story song so with a lot of
imagery and whatever. The very first artist I ever heard
that made me want to be a songwriter intensely was
Guy Clark. Guy Clark was a singer songwriter out of Boston,
(07:13):
Texas who wrote La Freeway and Desk broad Is Waiting
for a Train and all kinds of other songs that
were hits by other people. But James V. Bertie writes
songs about, you know, just the darker side of Americana.
This song I wanted to write as being something that
was in that vein, but having a positive spin on
(07:33):
it kind of, so I refer to it as a
story about an outlaw who commits a good deed.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Tell us a little bit about what you have going
on for the rest of the year, anything exciting for
the fans.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
The biggest thing I have coming up that I'm excited
about is I've decided to Along with all the live
stuff that I do, I get invited to several you know,
singer songwriter showcases and things like that. But I've decided
to in my retirement to g back a little bit
by offering my services as a songwriter and to help
(08:05):
aspiring songwriters to do presentations at local libraries and here
in western Pennsylvania. And I'm going to be doing several
of these throughout the year. What I'll do is it'll
be a kind of a combination of talking about the
songwriting process, how I go about it, what my inspirations are.
It's called the presentations called inspiration. Everywhere, I will give
(08:27):
some examples and then play some of my songs as
examples of some of the things that I do and
where the inspiration comes from.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Okay, that's pretty cool. Tell you what. Let's take a
list and then we'll come back and talk tomorre. Okay, great, great, thanks,
all right, check this out, everybody.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Here we go.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Turned off the main road to a small little.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Town, one church, an old pub, and no lights.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Pulled up to the bar, left his keys in the car,
and brushed off the lonely old night. He cart arrived
and decided to move to an empty stool next to
her seat.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
He asked her her name.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
She said, it's all the same as whatever you wanted
to be.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
He wasn't searching for an angel to be.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Saved, but he found one just the same in a
town too small. Foreign name. She told him that.
Speaker 6 (10:02):
She had a small room upstairs and they could have
a drink there.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Where the dim light revealed what her dress had concealed,
the marks of what leader.
Speaker 7 (10:16):
So scared, he offered her to help.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Told her run to my car and ride with me
to the next town. She laughed through.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Her tears, and she said, my poor dear, there's no
weather in town with me sight.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
So back in the car, he left all alone, just
like when he got there before. Fifteen bucks lighter enough
to provide her.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Left it there inside her door, made his way back
to the highway again, a smoking gun on his back seat.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
She couldn't come long, but he righted or wrongs as
her fears laid dead in the street. Yeah, her fears
well laid dead in the street.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
He wasn't searching.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
For an angel to be saved, but.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
He found on just the satan in a town too
small for Anae.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You've probably met a lot of people in your years
in the industry and in all your live gigs. Any
other influences you want to share.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, besides Sky Clark, who I also got to meet,
Unfortunately he passed away some years ago. People like Ian Hunter,
of all people, for those of you who can't remember
that far back, Ian Hunter was the lead singer for
Matta Hoopel, which was a big band who had a
song called All the Young Dudes, which ironically he didn't write.
(12:38):
But I got to meet Ian and talk to him
a bit. I've seen him a few times. I never
met Mark Knopfler. Mark Knopfler is another one who I
have a lot of admiration for great story songs like
Romeo and Juliet and Wild West End and of course
Sultan's a Swing. And one man in particular who's no
longer with us, named Chris Whittler, who I admired not
(13:02):
because I really emulate his style so much, but that
he showed me how important it is to take risks
and think outside the box when it comes to songwriting
and not necessarily follow the rules that everybody puts out
there for you know what's radio friendly quote unquote. And
I always admired his style, especially because I could never
(13:22):
when I tried to talk about him to other people,
I could never really put my finger on exactly what
it was. When they asked me what kind of music
it was that he played. It was kind of blues,
it was kind of Americana, it was kind of rock.
It was kind of who knows what. But he was
a I thought he was a genius. And I actually
got to spend quite a few times with Chris Whitley.
(13:44):
He did some soundtrack work. He was on the Flman
Louis soundtrack. He was on the So I Married an
Axe Murderer sound Oh my.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
God, I remember that movie with Mike Myers.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
That was funny. Yes, yeah, well I.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Would have blast in the past. Yeah, Okay. Do you
have any advice on touring?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
No, not really, because I'm kind of a I have
a kind of a steely Dan approach. I'm more of
a studio musician and singer songwriter than I am playing
out as it were. I did a lot of coffee
houses and things like that throughout the college years, and
now I will play. I play about once a week,
and I don't do it to be out there all
(14:22):
the time. Most of my sharing of my music is
done through streaming. I have several releases that are on
all the major streaming sources through discro Kid, I play out.
I enjoy playing out, especially when it's with other songwriters,
because I think we all learned from each other and
pick up things here and there. I picked up a
chord progression from one of the other songwriters here in Pittsburgh,
(14:45):
and I told him I stole his progression, and he said, well,
don't worry about it. I stole it from Jimmy Hendrix. Yeah.
I enjoy playing out more so for the camaraderie and
just you know, the feel for the eye in some
things like that. And it's taught me to play different
things for different venues. You know. I've written well over
(15:07):
two hundred three hundred songs, and some are better to
play in bars than they are in coffeehouses or showcases
or what have you.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
You know, people are always experimenting when they're songwriters. Is
there something you're experimenting with, You're dabbling in, trying to
do something you've ever done before.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I do most of my production here at home, and
I use garage band, and I use something called band
in a Box. And Band in a Box is an
app that allows you to It's very sophisticated. It allows
you to just put in a chord progression that you
come up with and then set it to whatever genre
you want, and a different kind of band will play
(15:46):
it out for you. And what that's allowed me to
do is expand into other genres that I normally don't
write in because I can't. For example, I can't play bluegrass,
but I love bluegrass, and there's a bluegrass there are
a couple of bluegrass options on Band in a Box,
and so I've been able to write some bluegrass songs.
(16:07):
I love mainstream jazz and have been able to write
some jazz tunes instrumentals thanks to Band in a Box.
So using some of the technology that I have available
to me, which isn't expensive at all, Chris Garage. Band
is free if you have an Apple product and Band
in a Box I think I paid one hundred bucks
for and it's amazing what it can do for you.
(16:29):
And you can, you know, take instruments out, put them in,
you know, bring them up and down and what have you.
And so's it's allowed me to really experiment with some
things that I haven't been able to do otherwise.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
What's your most unexpected source of inspiration for a song?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
I think chance meetings of people and all kinds of
people from all kinds of different walks of life and
things that they say and listening to their you know
where they come from. I love talking to people. If
I if I'm in a taxi or an uber, I
make sure I strike up a conversation with the driver
because I'm always learning about them and things that are
(17:08):
important to them. People on planes. I used to have
to travel a lot for the last job that I had.
I found myself having a lot of conversations with people
on planes. Those are great ways to get inspiration. Probably
the most unique thing for me that I've gotten inspiration
from is certain works of art. There's a song that
(17:29):
I wrote called Happy and Helene. It's about a clown
and a high wire act female that have this love
affair that goes sour. And it came about from looking
at a photograph of nineteen fifty seven by a photographer
named Bruce Davidson, and it was this very stark photograph
of a rainy circus area with a tent to the
(17:52):
side and a clown holding a bouquet of flowers and
smoking a cigarette, and it just looked it's kind of pathetic,
and I thought there's kind of be a story in
this picture, and so since I wrote that song, I've
been seeking out other photos and works of art that
helped me get inspiration as well.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, awesome, So tell us a little bit about your website,
your platforms where people can buy and stream your stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
If you just look for Greg Stone on any of
the major streaming services, you'll see several, both lyric based
and instrumental releases. The song that you heard is a
single that was released in January, and I've enjoyed doing
that just streaming things out. I'm going to be spreading
(18:42):
out the word more on this single, especially a Town
too Small for a Name, to radio stations. I'm going
to go old school and go away from streaming for
something and release this to radio stations that I have
a very long list of that play Americana and country
based music, that are non commercial stations, especially that have
(19:04):
a little bit more open mind when it comes to
their playlist, and have them enjoy the music and share
it with their listeners as well. What I do is
I have a web based mobile app. Actually, the last
job I had was working with a mobile app company
that taught students how to build mobile apps, and so
I took that technology to build a mobile app that
(19:25):
can be based online. And I actually hand out business
cards when I play out in clubs and what have
you with a QR code on it, and people access
my site through the QR code. Otherwise it's a pretty
complicated URL to come across. But if you just look
for Greg Stone on any of the streaming services, that's
Greg with two g's three altogether, you'll find my stuff awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I want to thank you so much for being on
the show tonight.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I appreciate you having me. I've enjoyed it very much.
You ask great questions and I look forward to sharing
this with everybody.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Thank you, Thank you so much, and thank you to
everyone out there tonight. Thank you for spending a little
bit of your precious time with us. If you're a
songwriter with a story to share, we'd love to hear
from you. Go over to songwritershow dot com and submit
the interview requests for him to all the listeners. We
hope this episode has inspired you to explore your own
stories through music. My name is Tomantos. Please join me
(20:21):
every single Tuesday evening to your other awesome artists share
They're fascinating behind the scenes stories right here at The
Songwriter Show on Reality Radio one oh one. Have a
great night, everybody, love y'all.
Speaker 8 (20:51):
Long upon time, na too long?
Speaker 9 (20:57):
Goods were lighting up? Your touch was all I know?
Speaker 4 (21:04):
You sail a dreamer? Did you figure that?
Speaker 8 (21:13):
Was it being by us?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Wasn't that passion in my heart? You say a dreamer?
Speaker 9 (21:26):
We would be okay, Eve and wed? I'm hot, my
love will always stay. I'll never break your heart.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
You say a dreamer? Did you figure that.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
Was it been looking by us?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Wasn't that passion in my heart?
Speaker 8 (21:56):
You say a dreamer?
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Can I such a dreamer? Just because I need that?
Speaker 8 (22:29):
You say a dreamer.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I'm glad you.
Speaker 10 (22:34):
Figure Dad, when you look into bus, you can see
what a dreaming about. Sometimes I like to dream about
that type line where you and I can't be unspec guys,
(23:20):
just listen.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Thank you for listening to The Songwriter Show. To keep
the momental going, head over to www. Dot songwriter show
dot com and join our free music community of artists, songwriters,
and producers. That's www. Dot songwriter Show dot com.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
Any anything you no no no no no no no
(25:10):
no no no no no ming hanging hang
Speaker 4 (26:01):
No I have, I have
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