Sometimes all it takes is one song. Whether it is a melody, arrangement, lyrics or a voice. Or in the case of Peter Doran’s Clockwork (off his sixth album All ...
Twenty years in, and John Smith still carries himself like someone who has something to prove. Not to anyone or anything other than to the songs themselves. The British singer, ...
A week and a half ago, on Saturday November 1st, I once again made the trip North to the TakeRoot festival in Groningen, to film sessions with musicians on the ...
About a year ago already, I had a brilliant day in De Groeverij – a small record store in Houten, where four musicians recorded a session. The first was Katherine ...
Life is funny sometimes. When I was planning the sessions at Kilkenny Roots, I reached out and asked if Joshua Burnside would be able to make his way south from ...
The Influences is launching a special project: a musical tribute to Michiel Flamman, better known as Solo. In response to his serious illness, the idea arose to support him through ...
I’ve said it before: there are some musicians I will never stop filming, as long as they’ll have me. Actually, there’s quite a few. One of them is The Influences ...
When certain artists I admire are coming through my area, there’s no way I’m missing the chance to film them if I can make time. We had planned to shoot ...
To be completely honest, even after seventeen years of running The Influences, still there are times when I’m surprised by things I get to do and experience. Pretty often really. ...
I first knew Dutch-Frisian indie folk songwriter Immen simply as one of the employees of my favourite record store Plato in Utrecht. Little did I know she writes some of ...
Kohei Kondo describes Chima’s music as something out of a fairy tale; soft-spoken yet layered with emotion. Watching them perform together, it’s clear how their crafts complement each other: Chima’s ...
Andrea von Kampen’s music felt like a secret discovery, a while ago, when I first heard her work. Like she’s singing and playing just for you. And although plenty modern ...
Early James is a folk and blues musician based in Birmingham, Alabama. Back in November, he was the last session we filmed at the TakeRoot festival in Groningen. And it ...
He walked into Bridie’s Bar & General Store carrying nothing. Not an instrument or a bag, not even a cup of coffee. Upstairs, he picked up two of my friend ...
Tom Cunliffe’s record ‘Template For Love’ is great, so we met up in Utrecht to film Bruce Springsteen and Paul Anka covers and two originals.
Learning and development are recurring themes in my conversation with Sofie Winterson. As a songwriter she continously seeks new methods and inspiration. That is probably what makes her music so ...
I’ve been fascinated by Courtney Marie Andrews’ talent as a songwriter and a singer since the instant classic ‘Honest Life’. Now, with her equally daring and striking new record ‘May ...
Born and raised in Texas, but now a resident of Nashville, it is no surprise Cale Tyson sings country songs. But, he does it very very well.
Aaron Livingston can hear the different places he’s lived in his songs and he doesn’t shy away from political topics, although written from his personal perspective. The LP has very ...