Performance Anxiety

Today’s guest schooled me…about NAMM, the North American Music Merchants. Welcome NAMM President and CEO, John Mlynczak. Before we get into the meat of what NAMM is and does, John talks about his musical history. Music and music education have always been an important part of his life. He pursued that path from Virginia all the way to LSU; but I won’t hold that against him. He talks about creating the first music technology curricula in the state of Louisiana and how that led him to a job with PreSonus, who make music software, monitors, mixers, and more. That led to a great opportunity with music publishing company, Hal Leonard.  John also talks about the very long process of becoming the President and CEO of NAMM. But before that, he gives a little history of NAMM and shares some of his own experiences at NAMM shows, before he started working there. I learned what goes into planning each NAMM show, what to expect if you go, and how NAMM is expanding to include content creators and influencers. NAMM is an industry show, and John talks about how they’ve evolved over the years. John explains what NAMM offers its members at the show and throughout the year. He also tells me about NAMM Next and the amazing NAMM archives. John also talks about how COVID affected them, how it made them innovate, and how NAMM is bouncing back, better than ever. Go to NAMM.org to get information about what they do and how to attend the 2025 NAMM show. Follow them @thenammshow on social media. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on social media. Merch is available at performanceanx.threadless.com. You can send us money to get to NAMM at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And now please welcome John Mlynczak of NAMM on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This guest is not what I expected. Welcome jazz saxophonist Chris Greene to the podcast. I was worried that he’d be a jazz snob but he was the exact opposite. He was happy to teach me what he could in an hour podcast. And that included learning how he got into jazz. It all started to make sense to Chris in high school. He went on to study jazz at Indiana, which is where he started playing in bands outside of school for the first time.He formed Chris Greene & New Perspective. He had some definite ideas and plans for that group. He talks about what worked and what didn’t. He also talks about how that band ended and the Chris Greene Quartet began. And he avoided playing tenor sax for quite a long time and for a specific reason. But he eventually succumbed to its draw. Chris and I talk about why jazz seems to be open to doing unusual cover songs and some of the unusual ones that he’s done. He was also influenced by some very unusual covers by some jazz heavyweights. Chris talks about how the quartet goes about songwriting and the story behind the title of their second album. They have a new album out called Conversance. He discusses that name and the music on the album, including a special song with a connection to his son. We also talk about the writing process which includes road testing their songs. Check out Conversance on Pravda Records. It’s their very first jazz release ever! Pick it up through them or wherever you get music. Follow Chris on the socials @chrisgreenejazz. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab our merch at performanceanx.threadless.com or send coffee money through ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. I’ve managed to steer clear of all jazz puns so far. Let’s keep that going with Chris Greene on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest should be musically jetlagged. But she’s not. Welcome the mononymous Tartie to the podcast. She’s from Melbourne and has recently collaborated with Binnie Klein out of Connecticut for a project called In These Trees. It’s an emotional journey of an album. But before that happened, Tartie went through a whole lot of other phases. She taught herself piano at age six. She also started writing original music early on. She eventually studied music in college and played some unusual early gigs.  Tartie discusses her early music, which is definitely more pop than more recent work. She tells me about the Melbourne music scene and how she started going by the name Tartie. She switched things up during the pandemic, as Melbourne had some of the tightest restrictions. So she found creative, musical ways to fill her time. Tartie tells how she met her future collaborator, Binnie Klein, and how their partnership started. In These Trees began as a completely different project than the way it wrapped up. And in the time it took to finish the album, Tartie had two babies! She reveals a few stories behind select songs and the difficulties of touring an album when the collaborators are over 10,000 miles apart. Go to inthesetrees.com for links to buy the album and social links for the project. Visit @tartiemusic to check out what she’s up to. Check out @PerformanceAnx to check out what we’re up to. Merch is at performanceanx.threadless.com. Send us coffee money through ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And now we go international on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This guest has reignited my love for the blues. Meet Boone Froggett from Otis. Boone is the guitarist, singer, and founding member of the band. We get disconnected a couple of times in the beginning, but we push through and have a wonderful conversation.He grew up in the same town as The Kentucky Headhunters. That band was hugely influential, not just musically, but attitudinally, if that’s a word. They showed Boone that you could be successful without moving to L.A. or Nashville. We talk about how he grew up performing, learning drums, guitar, singing, and sitar. When Otis formed, they decided to do things their way. They stayed at home, played what they wanted, like their debut album, which is a tribute album that Billy Gibbons bootlegged to give to people like Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck. Boone is also a cancer survivor. He opens up about what he went through and how he’s doing now. The band has released a couple of top notch singles and are poised to release more new music soon. And hopefully they'll be hitting the road, too. So follow Otis @otisbandofficial on Instagram and they’re on Facebook. Check out theotisband.com for all their links. Follow us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Grab merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Send us coffee money at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Now let's get into this great chat with Boone Froggett of Otis on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices