Tabitha Meeks moved to Nashville from West Palm Beach with a folk band and a voice she’d been told five or six times wasn’t strong enough. The band didn’t last. One of her first Nashville experiences was getting fired as a backup singer 30 minutes into rehearsal. The guy who fired her said she’d have plenty of time for opportunities like this — she was, what, 21, 22? She was 28.

That could have been the end of the story. Instead, Tabitha got a gig at a bar called Sambuca during COVID, where nobody was around and she was forced to be the lead singer for the first time. That’s where she found her voice. She released 30 or 40 songs over the next few years — different tempos, different moods, different sides of herself — and watched to see what people responded to. The retro pop thing hit. Nancy Sinatra meets Nora Jones, she calls it. Happy energy, piano solos, not taking life too seriously.

We talked about the Pitch Meeting show she co-founded with her now-husband (and Morse Code Alum) Eric Fortlaza, building a social media following by posting nothing but live performance videos, the sync placements that are starting to pay off (including a Hulu show she can’t name yet), living in a shitty house so she could follow her dreams, the two voices in every artist’s head, and why couples therapy is non-negotiable. Then she played ”Waiting For My Day” on piano — a song about patiently trusting that your day is coming.

She actually played two songs in the studio. I picked Waiting For My Day to be the standalone because it showed a more tender version of the Tabitha I know. But this girl has serious chops as a pianist! For eveidence here is a link to the moment in the main conversation where she plays her (much flashier) set piece “Life of the Party” Watch it.

🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube

🎸 Watch Tabitha perform “Waiting For My Day”

Korby talks with Chris Capozzoli — musician, meme-maker, and the man behind Phony Rice Unit — about his Instagram bluegrass memes, the spirit animal dogs carousel, the Harris Teeter years, Vanderbilt, a history degree he can't use, jazz piano and Randy Newman, getting fired from ASCAP, the escape fire metaphor from Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire, Hillsborough Village as a lost Greenwich Village, the Largo years, Anglo-Saxon history, the Rest Is History podcast, Terry Gross and Dick Cavett, 9/11 and growing up in New Jersey, the impermanence of existence at 14, fatherhood, staying awake to life, and the universe as your friend if you let it be. Chris performs "Hard Work" (exclusive) and "Blue Ridge Hills Far Away" live.

Korby talks with singer-songwriter Tim Easton about his new album fIREHORSE, his sister Susan Easton's painting that inspired the record, the Chinese zodiac Year of the Fire Horse, busking in Europe, getting a record deal with New West, a publishing deal with Madonna's Maverick Music, recording with members of Wilco, tours with Lucinda Williams and John Hiatt, the hand-painted vinyl that got him dropped, opening for Townes Van Zandt in his last year, the promoter who asked "is this the way you want to live your life?", sobriety, fatherhood, the romance of the Kerouac fantasy, making records with Laney Wilson's band, Nashville's music business ecosystem, the Largo years in LA, managing envy, the troubadour lifestyle vs. building a home base, Liz Longley's merch table hustle, the folk spot in Nebraska, and thinking in albums. Tim performs "River" live.

Korby talks with Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll about his 10th record We're Only Human, writing intentionally for an album as a piece for the first time, the two-phase creative process of free creation and editing, catching lightning bolts vs. honing craft, the monkey mind, journaling, The Artist's Way morning pages, growing up a latchkey kid in The Woodlands, the Kenny Rogers greatest hits tape, hearing Dylan at the Unitarian Church at 15, Crystal Beach dive bars, Bob's Sports Bar, the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, Townes Van Zandt, the fear of being defined by a funny song, Todd Snider and Ray Wiley Hubbard's advice, humor and vulnerability in songwriting, midlife reassessment, scaling down ambitions, sobriety and stillness, Milan Kundera, Captain James Cook, social media anxiety, the handprint man story, and co-writing with MC Taylor. Hayes performs "I Think I'll Stay Here a While" live.

The Brook and the Bluff members Joseph Settine and Alec Bolton came over to talk about Werewolf, their new record - and a conscious departure from the studio experimentation of their last few releases. After years of working with producer Micah Tawlks - chasing sounds, layering tracks, driving a mobile studio into the mountains of north Georgia - they went back to the room. Five guys plugged in, reacting to each other live. Joseph calls it getting back to that 15-year-old teaching himself guitar in his bedroom. Alec calls it the thing that made it worth playing in the first place.

The conversation also covers how drummer John Canada saved the band by showing up with his Type A brain and a question nobody else had thought to ask, why Birmingham is a sneaky music town, the tension between experimentation and identity, and Alec’s observation that the live show might be the last place where a group of people are fully present with each other. Then the full band played ”Can’t Figure It Out” and baby Zuzu got so amped she did the Arsenio arm from across the room.

🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube

🎸 Watch the Brook and the Bluff perform “Can’t Figure It Out

AFTER THE CONVERSATION

After the Conversation is my paid essay series where I keep thinking after the microphones are off. This week it's a short story loosely based on real life, that ends with a thought I think most musicians have had at least once: someday I will be glad I did this. I'll take a shower tomorrow.

Korby talks with Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods about his new album Squander Your Gifts, the deliberate restraint in his songwriting, growing up around reticent men, the reluctant narrator, words-first writing process, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, leaving small-town Ontario to be an actor in Toronto, the Canadian grant system, why he won't learn production or improve at guitar, the specialist vs. generalist path, James McMurtry, recovery and uniting your two halves, divorce, co-parenting, conflict as the source of language, poetry, and Seamus Heaney. Donovan performs "I Talk About You" live on acoustic guitar.

Korby talks with Travis Book and Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters about their 20-year history, the new 20-song album, the shift from searching to coming home in their sound, being elder statesmen of progressive bluegrass, IBMA and the bluegrass support system, the democratic process of running a five-person band, self-promotion, the business side of music, the Black Keys documentary, basic decency on a tour bus, cover songs and context, Travis on fatherhood and sacrifice, honoring a calling versus chasing a dream, and the Telluride Troubadour contest. The full 5 peice band performs "Working Man Blues" live.

Korby Lenker talks with singer-songwriter and Zac Brown Band member Caroline Jones about her new album Good Omen, growing up in Connecticut and discovering country music at the Bluebird, the tension between privilege and credibility, the craft of collaboration, Nashville session players, finding her co-writing tribe, the pursuit of instrumental mastery, flat-picking, Zac Brown as a "people collector," releasing her first major label record, navigating motherhood and touring, and the moral courage behind "No Tellin'." Caroline performs "No Tellin'" live on acoustic guitar.