Why Music Matters With Jeff Miers

Why Music Matters With Jeff Miers

Welcome to the Why Music Matters podcast. I’m your host, music journalist and musician Jeff Miers. Throughout my life in and around music, I’ve often asked myself the question - Why does music matter? This podcast attempts to answer that question, with the help of musicians, members of the music industry, and music-lovers like you. Join us!

Episodes

December 8, 2025 23 mins

Hey there, everyone.

I’d like to welcome you to a special edition of the podcast - a joint creation between Why Music Matters and The Buffalo History Museum. 

This episode, which we’ve named 12/8/80 (In the Name of Love), was created with my good friend Anthony Greco, Director of Exhibits at The Buffalo History Museum, and creator and host of the Museum’s podcast.

The episode explores an evening that changed the world for the worse...

Mark as Played

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Today, my guest is Evan Laedke, a musician with an impressively broad skill-set, one that has made him a first-call keyboardist for a wide variety of WNY bands, one-off gigs and sessions.   Currently playing keys for Tsavo Highway, the Little Mountain Band, and others, Evan somehow found t...

Mark as Played

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today, my guest is podcaster and Western New York music historian Greg Hennessey. 

Through his weekly podcast, In the Flamingo Lounge with Rockabilly Greg, Hennessey shines a necessary light on Buffalo music, celebrating our region’s rich musical history, and honoring the best of the current...

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November 5, 2025 59 mins

Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today, I’m excited to welcome back to Why Music Matters my friends Elliott Hunt and Chris Lillis, two fifths of the rising indie-alternative band Letter To Elise. 

The last time Elliott and Chris sat down with me here at 678 Main Studio, we talked about their earli...

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Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers. Let’s start today’s podcast with a little anecdote. 

The text from my friend Jennifer Brazill, President of the Borderland Festival, arrived about 18 months back. 

“Are you interested in producing, mixing and mastering an album for a reggae-based band from Micronesia, through a grant from N...

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The iconic independent artist talks about the importance of ‘showing up’ in these unprecedented times

Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today’s episode is a very meaningful one for me, because it features a musician, poet, activist, and independent music icon whose life’s work was an inspiration fo...

Mark as Played
August 7, 2025 43 mins

Hello, music lovers! 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today’s guests are siblings Maria, Grace and Jarrett Brzykcy, who together perform and record as The Water Dogs. 

The Brzykcy siblings are multi-instrumentalists, whose ...

Mark as Played

Hello, music lovers! 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

On today’s episode, we’re celebrating the Goo Goo Dolls, and in particular, the 30th anniversary of their mainstream breakthrough album, A Boy Named Goo. 

Though the band had already been around for a decade by the time they released this album, which would go on to re...

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June 25, 2025 46 mins

Hey there, music-lovers.    Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Way back on episode 12 of the podcast, I was joined by my friend, the musicologist, writer, historian and archivist Ray Wawrzyniak. Ray’s main passion in life, aside from his family, is the beloved Canadian progressive music trio Rush.    As fellow Rush freaks,...

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Hey now, music lovers.    Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Today, my guest is the legendary guitarist, performer and band-leader Jamie Holka.    As a musician whose name is mentioned in hushed, reverential tones by his peers, Jamie has earned a reputation as a virtuosic guitarist and a fearless improvisor, whether he’s p...

Mark as Played

Hey there, music-lovers. Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

On today’s episode, I’m joined in the studio by two members of a band that has spent the last 30-plus years embodying the very definition of “indie” music.

Barry Privett and Terry Clark are two-fifths of Carbon Leaf, the Richmond, VA band that has spent the past t...

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Hey there, friends. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today, we’ve got a special “Music Nerd” edition of the podcast, featuring a roundtable discussion with two friends of mine, who also happen to be deep...

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Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.  

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

My guest to day is the singer/songwriter MarcScibilla.  

Born in Buffalo, NY, and raised in a musical environment, Marc packed his belongings and headed south to Na...

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Hey there, music lovers.    Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives.    I’m your host, Jeff Miers.   Today on the podcast, I’m excited to welcome two members of Letter To Elise, a young indie band that has already left a mark on the Western New York music scene, and is poised to take its soaring, anthemic sound out into the broader world.   Vocalist, songwri...

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March 13, 2025 63 mins

Hello, music lovers! 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today, I’m beyond thrilled to welcome a longtime musical hero of mine, the guitarist, bandleader and songwriter Dweezil Zappa.

Growing up with the late composer and guit...

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February 13, 2025 51 mins

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today, my guests are three musicians who seemed destined to end up playing together. Guitarist/vocalist Drew Azzinaro, bassist/vocalist Eamon Rayhn and drummer Ethan Fox all hail from Buffalo, NY, and they met in the music departme...

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Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today on the podcast, I’m lucky enough to spend some time with my friend Sam Marabella, a musician, songwriter, local music advocate, and co-owner of the legendary Buffalo, NY, live mus...

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Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

 I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today on the podcast, I’m happy to welcome former Congressman and current President of Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY, Brian Higgins. 

After growing up in Buffalo, and graduating from Buffalo State College and Harvard University, Brian worked his way...

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Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

More than a decade back, I hopped on the bus as an embedded reporter, covering a Northeast jaunt for then up-and-coming indie band Aqueous. 

I’d never met any of the...

Mark as Played

Hey there, music lovers. 

Welcome to Why Music Matters, a podcast where we examine the power and influence that music can wield in our lives. 

I’m your host, Jeff Miers.

Today on the podcast, I’m psyched to welcome a cutting edge artist whose work represents a major step forward for both Buffalo hip-hop in particular, and contemporary national hip-hop i...

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