The Jay Franze Show: Music - News | Reviews | Interviews

One email, a few MIDI files, and a shared obsession with atmosphere can turn into a finished single that sounds huge. We sit down with Ohio singer-songwriter Kate Stanton to talk about “Rise,” a track inspired by the Greek idea of mania, the kind of love that looks a lot like limerence and fixation. Kate walks us through how the song came together, from early synth sketches to deep vocal layering, and why making music t...

Empty seats can cancel a tour faster than bad reviews, yet rock touring is still printing money. We start with a rapid-fire rundown of newly announced rock and metal tours and quickly end up doing what real fans do: clicking past the headline to check official artist sites, compare dates, and figure out whether these runs are truly “fall tours” or just a handful of shows with a catchy label.

From there, we dig in...

You can learn signal flow in a classroom, but you only learn touring when the bus doors close and the clock never stops. We sit down with Jerry Hines, a Tennessee-based tour manager turned artist manager, to unpack the behind-the-scenes reality of building a career in live music production and artist development. Jerry shares how a single phone call in 2004 launched him from side jobs into the deep end as a monitor engineer, then i...

Rock mythology is fun, but what does a real working career look like after the posters come down? We’re joined by guitarist Paul Sidoti for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with the exact moment KISS flipped a switch in his five-year-old brain and stretches all the way to the day he can email his heroes and actually get a reply. Along the way, Paul shares what those early influences gave him: the drive to learn parts b...

Nashville during CMA Fest is a choose-your-own-adventure where every decision has a cost: stand in a line, catch a set, make a meeting, or follow a last-minute invite that turns into the best story of the week. We take you with us from the “question of the day” energy to the real CMA Fest play-by-play, including what it’s like navigating Broadway crowds, building a schedule with the CMA Fest app, and still getting...

You can feel it when a band isn’t just playing songs, they’re building a world. Johnny from The Dreamboats joins us to explain how a modern rock and roll revival band takes 1950s and 1960s oldies covers and turns them into a full-throttle live performance people cannot stop filming. We talk about the real difference between touring Canada versus the United States, from endless drives between small markets to packed sche...

Three hours. That’s the kind of clock Nashville can put on a recording session, and it forces you to learn fast or get left behind. We sit down with country music recording artist Stephen Quinn to unpack what it really felt like to walk into a Nashville studio for the first time to cut “Get It Girl” with seasoned session musicians and a producer who actually cared about getting it right. If you’ve ever wonde...

A leaky heart valve. A brand-new piece of medical tech called a Harmony valve. And a country singer who’s back on Broadway faster than most of us would return to the gym. We’re joined by Tennessee recording artist Stephanie Rabus, and she tells the full story, from being born with a serious heart murmur and having open-heart surgery at 11 to facing pulmonary regurgitation decades later and choosing a transcatheter pulmo...

Ella Langley didn’t just have a good ACM Awards night, she turned it into a full-on statement. We’re breaking down the 61st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards from Las Vegas with Shania Twain hosting, Cody Johnson grabbing Entertainer of the Year, and a wave of winners that makes you ask what country music is rewarding right now. We talk through the biggest moments, the funniest bits, and the kinds of wins that feel...

One great co-write can change a career, but only if you understand what actually happened in the room. We sit down with Louisiana country music recording artist Karen Waldrop to get specific about the songwriting process behind “Me Again,” including what it was like writing with hit writer Danny Wells, how the melody and structure came together, and why the best collaborators know when to lead and when to get out of the...

You know that feeling when the “opening act” walks onstage and suddenly the headliner has a problem? We chase that exact moment from every angle, starting with a listener question that turns into a pile of concert stories, strong opinions, and a few names that surprised us. If you’ve ever left a show talking more about the first band than the main one, you’re going to have a list by the time we’re done...

Nearly perfect albums are a trap and we walked straight into it. We go down a punchy list of 1980s rock staples and actually argue the hard part: what makes a classic rock record feel flawless from top to bottom, and what makes it feel “too polished” even when the songs are huge. From Back In Black to Appetite For Destruction to Purple Rain, we swap favorites, call out the moments where bands start chasing the mainstrea...

The ACM Awards are coming, and we’re not treating it like background noise. We lay out what to expect from the show in Las Vegas, how to watch on Amazon Prime, and what it means that Shania Twain is hosting for the first time. Then we make our ACM predictions with zero fluff, debating what “Entertainer of the Year” should actually reward, and why the new-vs-established “rivalry” narrative feels more li...

You know that moment when you realize the thing you’ve worshipped as a fan is now your actual job? That’s where this conversation with guitarist and recording artist Kieran Robinson begins, and it only gets wilder from there. We talk through how a young musician goes from growing up on Queensrÿche and classic rock to performing alongside Geoff Tate, learning songs with serious technical weight, and walking the tightrope...

Broadway looks like a dream from the sidewalk, but the reality is closer to a high-speed stress test. We sit down with Nashville performer and “View From Nashville” creator Jay Bragg to get honest about what’s happening on Lower Broadway right now, why tourism shifts are rattling working players, and how new entertainment districts could stretch an already thin scene even further. Jay breaks down why Broadway can ...

Some artists sound dangerous onstage and turn out to be the kindest people you’ll ever meet, and that contrast kicks off a wide-ranging music conversation we can’t stop thinking about. We dig into a list of rock musicians known for having genuinely good reputations, then swap stories about what “nice” looks like when the lights are off and the backstage pass is real. Along the way we talk about why fans reme...

She’s 14, she’s already cutting records in Nashville, and she’s learning the music business in real time. We sit down with country recording artist Josie Sal to talk about the jump from “posting covers” to building a true career with a team, a release plan, and the kind of relationships that open doors fast.

We get into how she connected with producer Brandon Hood, what it’s like walking i...

A great song can start as a joke, a brand name, or a bad travel day then turn into something listeners wear like a memory. RJ Preston joins us from Florida to explain how his country rock style took shape, why he leans toward edge and storytelling over pop-country trends, and how “Tropically Impaired” came from the very real feeling of being stuck up north wishing you were back in the sun.

We get into the nuts an...

Twenty-three seasons of American Idol later, a weird question still cuts through the noise: how many winners do we actually remember? We put “most memorable” on trial and rank every champion from the names that vanish the second the confetti falls to the artists who still feel like cultural landmarks. Along the way, we talk about why “winning” and “lasting” are two different skills, how contracts...