Episode 005 - Fiona Luray

Boise singer-songwriter Fiona Luray is the focus of episode 005. She talks about her love of musicals growing up (with a side helping of jazz) and about her beginnings as a songwriter.

Along the way, she discusses her songwriting process and her songwriting influences. Fiona also talks about how the music scene in Boise has changed since she started out in 2010. And we talk about what Fiona would want with her if she was stranded on a desert island.

In-between, we talk about changes in her songwriting since her last album in 2012, and we discuss the progress on her third album, due out this year. Finally, Fiona talks about the one thing she'd like to do that she has not yet done. (Hint: It has to do with music.)

In this episode, Fiona shares three of her songs: "Birds," "Night Walker," and "Where Goes The Light" from her upcoming album.

Follow Fiona Luray on Facebook, listen to some of her music on Soundcloud (she's also on iTunes and Spotify, and keep track of upcoming performances.

Episode 005 on Track / New Cards

Working on Episode 005 this week, my conversation with Fiona Luray. Some good stuff there. Plus she'll share a few of her songs, including one from her upcoming album. Episode 005 drops Friday. I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think.

I also recently finalized a design and ordered business cards for the podcast from GotPrint.com. Those cards are now winging their way here and should arrive Friday. Here's a sneak peek:

Thanks for listening!

Episode 004 - Red Light Challenge, Part 2

This time around, a continuation of my conversation with Sean and Kyle Luster of Red Light Challenge.

In this episode, the brothers talk about what it's like to be brothers performing together. We'll get their thoughts on the music scene and what it's like developing their craft in Boise as opposed to some better known music city, such as Austin, Los Angeles, or Nashville.


Sean and Kyle talk about the goals for the summer and also talk about their ideas about recording. They'll also talk about the importance of and their use of social media.

We discuss the evolution of their songwriting, their use of harmonies, and about how Hawaiian music influenced those harmonies without them even knowing. Finally, Sean and Kyle will talk about the development of the presence on stage and their rapport with their audiences.

I've also remixed episode three so as to improve the audio a bit. It has since be uploaded again

Follow Red Light Challenge on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and check out their web page.

Layout change

I found a way to embed a podcast player or the RSS feed right at the top of the blog page. So whenever you come to the blog, the player will be there, featuring the latest episode of Measured Voices.

Please let me know what you think. Should I keep the player at the top or just embed it in new posts when I publish new episodes? Should I use the RSS feed instead?

It does not appear to have the same behavior in the mobile layout, so I'd especially like to hear from anyone using a mobile device to access the blog.

Site Update

I just updated the blog to include a mobile version of the layout. That will hopefully help any of you who check in from your phones or even your tablets.

A tip I picked up is to have the player easily available on the blog. So, going forward, I plan to embed the player with the latest episode in each post I make. It won't be much to navigate past, and it should make things easier for mobile users.

Counting Down, Planning Ahead

Only three days until Episode Four drops. I'll give it one more listen between now and then to make sure the sound is as good as it can be, but I think I figured out and corrected some of the issue I had in episode three (at least to the extent I can).

Just lined up an Idaho legend to talk about his music, and I'm super excited about that. I'm also working to line a few instrumental songwriters for the podcast. I want to develop a nice diversity to the range of guests on Measured Voices, so reach out if there is an instrumentalist-songwriter you think I should talk with.

In the future, I'd like to expand the conversation to include "amateur" songwriters who also work in other arts (such as sculpture, painting, etc.) to discuss the intersections between their art and their music. If I can plan enough interviews far enough in advance, I'm hopeful of moving to more of a weekly format, though that remains to be determined.

Still no indication yet as to whether the podcast has been added to Spotify. In the meantime, I have also asked to be added to the TuneIn roster of podcasts. I will hopefully hear back on that in the next few days. Stay tuned!