The first season has 12 episodes with further plans to compile the songs written for the podcast into an album.
Today, Clem Snide (moniker of Nashville singer-songwriter Eef Barzelay) shared the first two episodes of his new podcast series, A Life In Song, distributed by acclaimed studio Double Elvis (Disgraceland, Badlands).
Born of the idea that everybody has a story to tell, and everyone deserves a song, each 15 minute episode begins with an ordinary person sharing an incredible, heartbreaking and often life-changing experience and culminates with an original song inspired by the story by Clem Snide. The first season has 12 episodes with further plans to compile the songs written for the podcast into an album.
"It was sometime around quarantine when I had a vision," says Barzelay, explaining the inspiration behind the podcast. "I could see us sitting around the fire pit late into the night. The silence broken only by a cracklin' breeze. Then you generously share with me the most incredible, heartbreaking, transformative experience of your life, and I make a song out of it."
He continues, "Well It's been years in the making but my vision has been realized. I've gathered up some pretty amazing stories along with 12 new songs and it's all tenderly folded into a podcast with a new episode every Thursday."
The first episodes tell stories of meeting a holistic healer in the Himalayas and an ex-Mormon's experience coming out as queer. The resulting songs hail the miracle of human existence and the importance of being your authentic self.
Barzelay's musical project, Clem Snide, first emerged from Boston as a three-piece in the early 1990's and would go on to become a cult and critical favorite, picking up high profile fans from Bon Iver to Ben Folds to Sarah Silverman over the course of three decades and more than a dozen studio albums.
NPR highlighted the Israeli-born Barzelay as "the most underrated songwriter in the business today, with a sneakily firm grasp on poignancy and humor," while Rolling Stone hailed his songwriting as "soulful and incisive," and The New Yorker praised his music's "soothing melodies and candid wit."
His latest release, Forever Just Beyond (listen), was produced by Scott Avett (of The Avett Brothers) and released on Ramseur Records in March 2020 to high praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Associated Press, No Depression, American Songwriter and more!
Tune in every Thursday for a new episode of A Life In Song.
Listen to the first episode here:
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