Recent Interviews
WFMC Jams
WFMC Jams is an online internet radio station committed to bringing you original music as well as your favorite classics from a variety of local artists in the area. The station was founded on June 24, 2012 right after the Third Annual Fam Jam music festival in Manchester, TN. The idea came up as a way to continue to give back to the local and regional songwriters and performers in the area year round by promoting their music.
Grinder House Productions presents "Ground N The Round" with host Jamie Adamson. Every month, Jamie will make the expedition up the Plateau and will introduce us to some of the best writers in all of Tennessee. He has shared stages with some and written songs with many. The stories are enthralling, tapestries woven into song. So intimate, it's like being in your own living room. This month Jamie Adamson host Emcee of Ground N The Round is joined by guests Dreyden Gordon and Colton Sturtz.
Dreyden Gordon is 18 years old, and a native to eastern kentucky. Dreyden has been appearing onstage since the ripe old age of two when he began clogging and his mentor and hero Melvin Goins would invite him onstage. Dreyden continued clogging but around the age of 7 he began to take an interest in singing. Since that time Dreyden has taught himself to also play guitar. He has performed onstage with many of his heroes in the business including, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Ralph Stanley II, Larry Sparks, Melvin Goins, Marty Raybon (of Shenandoah), Larry Cordle, James King, Joe Mullins, Dave Evans and several others. Dreyden has performed on national and internationally syndicated television and radio shows. He has even been commissioned a colonel by the state of Kentucky, the states highest civilian honor. Dreyden is also proud to announce that he has released 11 songs total and is currently signed to "Nashville Entertainment Weekly Records." Dreyden is currently keeping a full touring schedule but is always looking to expand and add your venue to his schedule. |
Colton Sturtz is a Singer, Songwriter, and musician hailing originally from Ohio. He has recently performed in various venues in Nashville and will be joining the stage with Dreyden and Jamie as part of the Ground N The Round in Crossville, TN. His recent single "Things I Shouldn't Do" is available for purchase and listen on all major platforms. |
Jamie Adamson began playing guitar at the age of 13 and like his Grandfather soon was making music on stage. Jamie began playing a snare and hi hat in church along side Ray Thompson from Mobile Alabama and developed that itch that all musicians get! By the time he turned 19 Jamie was playing locally in Mobile at local clubs like Austin's Country Palace, The Wild Wild West, other venues around the south. It wasn't long Jamie was packing his bags and heading north to Nashville where he spent the next 19 years developing his style, his voice, and his writing skills. Jamie shared a stage with greats like Steve Cropper, Jerry Waddell, Blind Mississippi Morris, Mark Collie, Terry Lee Burns, and Steve Saunders. All these talented individuals shared their love for music with Jamie and helped him build a solid foundation that will carry him through the rest of his career. So, if you love music, real honest music, with heartfelt lyrics, just take a listen and you will hear the difference. |
"In the House" at the Grinder House is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Saturday from 6-8pm central.
10/27/2022 - 6pm - "In the House" at The Grinder House - The Heels and Sonny Luca
There’s a sound that isn’t heard enough on Country radio—the sound of organic, three-part female harmonies, offering stories that speak the language of modern women everywhere. Add in some good-natured brash and sassy attitude and you’ve got Canada’s pop-country queens, The Heels.
That title is now undisputed with the release of the trio’s sophomore album I Am, the follow-up to their warmly received 2018 debut, Love, Heels. Although Bobbi Smith, Brittni Dominelli and Kyla Rawlins have spent much of these past three years winning over audiences with a dynamic live show that showcases each of their distinctive voices and personalities, they also found time to write over 100 songs during several trips to Nashville—and at their home base in Vancouver—from which I Am’s 16 tracks were chosen.
Even pandemic restrictions couldn’t slow them down; most of the recording was completed by producer Anthony Fiddler at his Fiddler Productions Vancouver studio, with The Heels’s trusty band contributing their parts remotely. Given such unexpected circumstances, the double meaning of the group’s name took on sharper focus as the process went on.
“Being in a band has been so healing in itself,” Brittni says. “Learning the ins and outs of the music industry and everything it takes physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually to be a part of it has given our goals and dreams a whole new meaning and healed parts of me I didn’t even know existed. Since we released our first album, we’ve learned so many new things about how to work as a team, and how to share space in all ways with each other on the road. It’s the most vulnerable and valuable experience I could have imagined and I’m so grateful every day.”
That all shines through in the songs on I Am, perhaps especially on the title track, which was actually conceived in the immediate aftermath of the tragic 2017 Las Vegas country music festival shooting. However, the song’s message of hope and recovery seemed even more appropriate in 2020, prompting The Heels to make “I Am” the new album’s centrepiece, with the aim to raise a listener’s “love frequency” to the highest level, and create a ripple effect with those vibrations.
Other themes of empowerment are shared on the standout tracks “High Heels On,” “Fools Gold” and the playfully sexy “Hush Money,” while the ups and downs of love are explored on “Symptoms,” “Happy After You,” and “Fixer Upper.” As Bobbi explains, “We like to be bold and outspoken, and for this album it was important to us that we share more love songs of all tempos and feels. We recognize each other’s inner child; we know what it’s like to want the same dreams. This is a musical sisterhood. We came together all in need of some self-care, and harmonies eventually healed us.”
The Heels’s story began at a North Vancouver café co-owned by Kyla, and where Brittni worked behind the counter. Bobbi was a regular customer, and the three soon decided it would be more rewarding artistically and emotionally to join forces rather than pursue individual solo careers. Momentum steadily built from there with their debut single “Come Around” hitting radio in 2017 and performances at the Calgary Stampede and the Sunfest Country Music Festival further raising their profile in western Canada. It all propelled Love, Heels to garner six B.C. Country Music Award nominations in 2018, with an additional slew of nominations coming the following year.
But rather than coast on that success, The Heels took it as an opportunity to expand their sound by incorporating influences that ranged from classic country, gospel and Motown, through to powerful contemporary female artists such as Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood and Whitney Houston. Add to that a growing attention to detail in the studio, and the end result of I Am is an album that, although it may be categorized as country, displays a unique musical vision that transcends the genre.
As Kyla says, “I am inspired by people and music that make me feel good, and I want to do the same for others. I need to feel that I am getting better, stronger, healthier, happier and more vivacious day by day, and that’s what I get from being in this incredible group. Every morning I wake up thinking, ‘What are we going to create or accomplish today?’ or ‘Who are we going to inspire today?’ Being in The Heels makes me truly feel like I won the life lottery.”
Bobbi, Brittni and Kyla still get a kick whenever someone assumes they’re sisters. They know it’s not just because of their seamless “family blend” harmony, but because of the obvious personal chemistry they share. And when that chemistry comes down to spreading positive energy, as they do unabashedly with I Am, there is just no limit to how high The Heels will lift us.
SONNY LUCA
Sonny Luca's debut 5-song EP, My My My, is an act of self-discovery and a return to Luca's roots after spending about a decade teaching in inner-city schools in Chicago and having a family. Luca never anticipated becoming an educator, in fact, when Luca began writing and performing at a young age he always dreamed of a career in music. He was raised in the Pacific Northwest by his father, a full-time classical guitarist and poet, and his mother, a roller rink operator and jazz vocalist. This surreal culture and music fusion left an imprint on Sonny’s musical expression and style.
After spending 8 years teaching on the southside of Chicago, Sonny supported and empowered his wife in founding a school for individuals with dyslexia. Luca worked as the Creative Director and also a supporting teacher, using music in his classroom to enrich the learning environment for kids of all ages. He balanced this job with helping care for their three kids. But in 2019, the school was stable and growing, the kids were old enough, and Sonny was ready to return to his first love: music.
Luca founded Studio Pastorale in the Fine Arts Building, downtown Chicago. Within Studio Pastorale, Luca began the process of reinventing his sound while giving a nod to his childhood context, resulting in a diverse EP incorporating alt-rock, pop and world genres. “The process that brought these songs into existence was one of belabored self-discovery.” The first single, “Last Night,” releases on May 1st, 2020.
"In the House" at the Grinder House is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Saturday from 6-8pm central.
10/22/2022 - 6pm - "In the House" at The Grinder House - Kayley Bishop
Singing ever since she could speak, Kayley feels like music chose her and not the other way around. Her scope of musical inspiration starts with Brooks and Dunn, when their music prompted her to dance around the living room as a little girl, and spreads as far as Gershwin dared to venture with those melodies of his that she sang while at The Boston Conservatory. The time spent singing all the harmony lines to Relient K albums, snapping her fingers to Michael Buble, and wondering how Alison Krauss and Union Station could make music sound so good were all precious moments helping her to understand how she wanted to deliver her own sound.
When listening to Kayley's music, you'll be able to sense the impact of rootsy bluegrass and rockabilly, you'll gather lyrics reflecting Dolly Parton and Miranda Lambert, and you will experience a sassy yet inviting vocal that will leave you wanting more.
"In the House" at the Grinder House is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Saturday from 6-8pm central.
Grinder House Coffee Shop is an intimate live music "Listening Room", focused on showcasing and promoting the artist, singer songwriters. "It all begins with the Song" The Grinder House has grown to become the downtown mecca. A place as diverse as the guest who share the experience and the difference found at the Grinder House. Upscale coffee house and made to order restaurant during the week, and transformed to a premier “Live” acoustic Listen Room every Saturday Night with the “In the House” International Singer Songwriter Show.
Visit The Grinder House website for more details on future events. |
10/15/2022 - 6pm - "In the House" at The Grinder House - Melissa Ellis
"In the House" at the Grinder House is broadcast live on WFMC Jams every Saturday from 6-8pm central.