Bassist To The Stars – Paul Frazier

Paul Frazier is truly the bassist to the stars, as well as a sought after music producer. In this post, Paul shares a thrilling story about working with a legend…

The Interview: J. Aaron Boykin of Duwendé

J. Aaron Boykin, singer-songwriter and front man of famed a cappella band Duwendé, talks songwriting, making a career in music, and saying YES with Hookist co -founder Meredith Collins, Moosiko…

Crash Test Dummies Brad Roberts On Songwriting: Lyrics or Music First?

Brad Roberts, the 3x Grammy nominated, 13x platinum selling inimitable lead singer-songwriter of  Crash Test Dummies,  shares some of the secrets behind the writing of his MEGA hit songs! Songwriting:…

Writing Your First Song: A Guide for Beginner Songwriters

Dan Mascola is the founder of Moosiko, a music edtech platform helping the world learn an instrument and write their own songs. Moosiko combines Dan‘s passion for writing and playing…

The Case For Cheesy Lyrics

Dr. Sarah Gulish is co-founder of Songwriting for Music Educators and runs the music ed publishing company, F-flat Books. She writes & records music with various groups and has had…

Touched By Grace, My Time With Jeff Buckley

Dubbed “The Thinking Man’s Guitar Hero” by The New Yorker and “a modern guitar miracle” by Rolling Stone, Gary Lucas, of Gods & Monsters and Captain Beefheart, is a Grammy…

Jack Tempchin’s “Go Write One” Songwriting Series

Legendary Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin is the composer of not just one, but TWO iconic and universally beloved songs: “Peaceful Easy Feeling” & “Already Gone”. Jack’s songs have gone platinum an unbelievable 42…

Writing The Song In The Room: How Clay Mills & Darius Rucker Wrote A Hit Together

Clay Mills is a 2x Grammy nominee and 16x ASCAP Award-winning songwriter. Clay has written 6 #1 songs, including Darius Rucker‘s huge hit, “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”…

The great Darden Smith Talks Songwriting & Collaboration

Master songwriter & SongwritingWith:Soldiers founder Darden Smith sings some of the gorgeous song he wrote with Hookist Nation & talks a bit about songwriting and the power of collaboration! Now…

Copyright 101: Do You Know the 6 Legal Rights of a Song Creator?

Cheryl Potts is a Copyright & Royalty Administrator for independent record labels and music publishers. She is also the founder of Cleerkut Royalty, a do-it-yourself copyright & royalty platform for…

Biff Watson’s 5 “T”s for studio work

Biff Watson is a master guitarist & an acclaimed music producer. He has produced #1 albums & singles and is one of the most sought-after & recorded guitarists in Nashville….

3 Steps To Prevent Vocal Damage

Famed singing teacher, Sally Morgan, is back at Hookist to teach YOU how to protect your voice, while singing your heart out!  Sally literally wrote the book on contemporary vocal…

“Moments Of Creation”

Alvaro Alencar is a 12-time Latin Grammy winning producer and mixer with 30 Grammy nominations and multiple gold and platinum awards. He has over 100 credits for albums, movies and TV tracks for Brazilian, Latin, US and European markets and has extensive live recording experience for TV and DVD projects.

Ready To Go Into The Studio

Terry Derkach is a 20+ year recording industry veteran and whether recording and producing multi-platinum artists, talented up and comers, composing music for film, working as a session guitarist or…

Voice Training Without Sounding Trained

Sally Morgan literally wrote the book on contemporary vocal technique – Sing Like You Speak™. SLYS™ is specifically designed to restore the effortless singing that is natural to all people-making…

Hookist Supports Get Lit!

Hookist Supports Get Lit because we love what they do! Get Lit fuses spoken word & classic poetry to increase teen literacy and cultivate enthusiastic learners emboldened to inspire social…

Tod Hughes Makes Music Magic at Hookist

Nashville Music Guide called Tod Hughes “a storyteller, a sage, a word man. He’s a magical bard… Roots music at it’s best.”  Tod is one of the original Hookist songwriters…

Four Things to Try on Your Next Co-Write

Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, session musician, engineer, author and owner of recording studios in Nashville, TN and Sonoma, CA. Once you’ve begun co-writing your songs and have a…

Singing in the Groove on the Beat

Sally Morgan literally wrote the book on contemporary vocal technique – Sing Like You Speak™. SLYS™ is specifically designed to restore the effortless singing that is natural to all people-making…

“6 Tips for Successfully Crowdfunding Your Next Music Project”

Brian Meece plays a mean ukulele and is the CEO of RocketHub, one of the world’s top crowdfunding platforms. He has lectured on crowdsourced funding at SXSW, TEDxBrooklyn, Columbia University, Makers Faire, among other colleges, conferences and institutions.

Ronnie & the Stones

Chesher Cat is a rock’n’roll photographer and the author of two books – Starart, featuring the fine art of musicians Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Klaus Voormann, Ron Wood, Cat Stevens…

The Velvet Underground Played At My High School

Over his 30+ year career, award-winning cinematographer and music aficionado, Tony Janelli, has worked with the best of the best.  He is a long-time collaborator with such iconic directors as…

How To Combat Stage Fright

Linda Glick is an actress and singer (AEA, SAG, AFTRA) who has been teaching Voice and Vocal Production for over 25 years. She is the founder of LGlickVoiceworks, devoted to…

200 Hours!?!?!?!

Terry Derkach is a 20+ year recording industry veteran and whether recording and producing multi-platinum artists, talented up and comers, composing music for film, working as a session guitarist or…

“The world was turning…

Patrick Seacor – aka (Paddy Boom Boom) – original Scissor Sisters’ drummer and currently singer/songwriter for “Manitou” his new project featuring an all-star line-up with members of Bowie, Byrne and…

A Tribute to Booker T…

Roger Deller is a master technician with 30 years experience supporting many Grammy winning engineers at world class studios. He has been Chief Tech at Electric Lady Studios for the…

Backing a Legend…

Brian C. Mendes is a professional drummer and the owner of Colossal Cable in Austin, TX. Brian has toured all over the U.S. and Europe backing top artists for years until…

“A Friend Stops By…”

11-time Latin Grammy winning Producer and Mixer with 28 Grammy nominations and multiple gold and platinum awards.

Learning to Mix

Silas Hite is an Emmy winning composer and visual artist working from his studio in Los Angeles, California. His commercial scores have earned him an Emmy, a Grand Clio, a…

“Music and golf…escape, emotion, healing.”

Jamie Winslow co-founded Salute Military Golf Association in 2006 with childhood friend and former PGA Tour player Jim Estes.  As life-long golf buddies, the two recognized the therapeutic and rehabilitative power of…

“On Film Scoring”

Ernie Mannix is a music composer, producer, music supervisor, music editor and author. He has scored music for several feature films including: The Deli, Men Lie, The Cottonwood, How to…

“Performing with Springsteen at LOD in Asbury Park”

Alex has recorded and performed with Nile Rodgers, Phil Ramone, Chrissie Hynde, Sheryl Crowe, Ornette Coleman, Eminem, Chaka Kahn,

“Why is your voice so deep? The answer that stuck: “3 testicles”

3x Grammy nominated, 10x platinum selling inimitable lead singer and founder of the Crash Test Dummies.

“John Who????”

George Belanger is the acclaimed singer and songwriter for the Canadian rock band Harlequin. He and the band have received numerous music awards including most recently Socan’s Classic Award for…

“Scissor Sisters in Barcelona”

Patrick Seacor – aka (Paddy Boom Boom) – original Scissor Sisters’ drummer and currently singer/songwriter for “Manitou” his new project featuring an all-star line-up with members of Bowie, Byrne and…

“Flannel – check, Docs or Fluevogs – check”…

Demos – K-Rock and Sirius XM is a professional DJ and visual artist splitting his time between being an on air personality and painter. Powerful female artists that get alternative…

Dan Herman Goes A Cappella!

Check out Dan Herman’s awesome a cappella version of our #Song4Humanity! Rock on, Dan!   We’re collaborating here, so if you have an idea for music, reach out to Dan!…

Pekkepop’s Killer Version of #Song4Humanity

Check out this rockin’ version of our #Song4Humanity, written by Hookist extraordinaire, Pekkepop! Such a cool take!  Love it, Pekkepop! Show Pekkepop some love in the comments below & log in…