Curious Goldfish Podcast

Curious Goldfish Podcast

Curious Goldfish is a podcast about independent music and the people who make it. The name comes from two Ted Lasso episodes. In one, Ted tells a struggling player that the happiest animal on earth is a goldfish, because it has a 10-second memory. The lesson: forget the mistake and move forward. In another, Ted quotes Walt Whitman before a dart match: "Be curious, not judgmental." Both stuck with me. I can't sing. I don't play an instrument. But I've spent years being genuinely curious about people who write something honest and then perform it for strangers. How they do it. Why they keep doing it. What it costs. The guests are Americana, folk, roots, rock, and country artists who aren't on the radio and probably won't be. Some have 500 monthly listeners. Some have 100,000. The common thread is that they chose the independent path and they're figuring it out in real time. We cover songwriting, the business of music, the touring life, and the moments that made an artist who they are. The conversations keep getting better.

Episodes

August 5, 2026 46 mins
He spent 38 years pitching Nashville's legends. Almost none of them knew he wrote songs too. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Lance Cowan spent close to four decade...
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She wrote her funniest song while crying in a grocery store. A songwriter with a PhD in breakups. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Anna May got the breakup text on ...
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Seventeen records in, she is not sure the eighteenth is worth making. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Michelle Malone got signed to Arista out of Atlanta in the la...
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Rhett Miller got the lifetime achievement award. He almost dreaded the speech. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Rhett Miller has fronted the Old 97's for 33 years w...
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They turned down the record deals their families begged them to sign. Twenty years later, still here. Get the stories behind the episodes -> https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Dwight Ritscher...
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He wrote a song about loss. Months later, his brother died. The song already knew. Get the stories behind the episodes -> https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Chris Trapper grew up the sixth of...
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A billion streams behind him, and it's the fan dinners that keep the tour out of the red. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Barns Courtney expected his North America...
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A freight-train hopper and a Juilliard cellist on staying married by letting each other change. Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Dave and Andrea of Cicada Rhythm met when he ste...
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A guitarist's guitarist on chasing craft over fame, and writing a song a week to outrun his inner critic Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) David Ryan Harris is the kind of musici...
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A blue-collar cowboy who spent a decade and his own money to earn a debut called 15 Seconds of Fame Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Matthias Lamparter took ten self-funded year...
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A plane-crash survivor on loving something that hurts, and keeping AI out of his lyrics Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Barrett Baber built the album "Crittenden County" out of...
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Four friends from Mississippi State on the brink of going all-in on the band Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Certainly So, Colby, Tanner, Zach, and Chase, came together through...
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June 11, 2026 60 mins
She lost a major label deal twenty years ago after being outed. She stayed in the queue Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Shelly Fairchild lost a major-label deal two decades ago...
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A Ugandan singer who learned English from songs, played cruise ships, and landed in Austin by chance Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Jon Muq grew up in Uganda learning English ...
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A Halloween blackout she can't remember became the bottom that turned her life around Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Caitlynne Curtis talks about her album "You Need Jesus," a...
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He almost refused to write "We Belong." At 72, his whole philosophy is just say yes Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Dan Navarro nearly turned down writing "We Belong" during a ...
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The Grammy-winning engineer behind "Golden Hour" on vintage gear, fear in the studio, and AI Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Craig Alvin is the Grammy-winning engineer behind K...
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Teen siblings who played Red Rocks with Gregory Alan Isakov, thanks to Aunt Brandi Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Caroline and JayJ Carlile are teenage siblings making music t...
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She calls her sound "existential indie folk," and her own worst gaslighter her muse Get the stories behind the episodes → curiousgoldfish.com ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Recorded at 30A before her run on The Voice, Abigayle Oakley...
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Tyler Halverson wants enough cows to tell the world to get lost. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Tyler Halverson called in from his kitchen table in Nashville, gui...
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