Singer-Songwriter-Activist Holly Near: I Am Open, and I Am Willing

Holly Near has had a legendary performing career spanning over 50 years, that has taken her from Hollywood to Broadway to marches and rallies and concert halls all over the world. One of the most powerful, consistent, and outspoken singers and songwriters of our time, her music elevates spirits and inspires activism. Some of the topics touched on in this lively and wide-ranging interview are her childhood on a California ranch, her life-changing experience on the Free The Army Tour during the Vietnam War, her songwriting process, her collaborations with artists such as Ronnie Gilbert and Emma’s Revolution, what it means to her to be an elder, and what she’s been up to during the pandemic. The interview is interwoven with snippets of Holly’s music from the seventies to the present.

Music, Songwriting, ActivismTanya ShafferDecember 16, 2021music, musician, women's music, feminism, activism, Singer-Songwriter Comments

Singer-Songwriter Noe Venable: Pilgrim at Creativity’s Spring

Singer-songwriter Noe Venable has been called “a homegrown, full-blown musical visionary” (Puremusic.com). Her gorgeously layered songs, rich in myth and poetry, speak to the wilderness in each of our souls. Although she’s still young, she’s already had a rich and varied career, releasing the first of her eight albums when she was just twenty years old. In this conversation, intercut with excerpts from Noe’s diverse musical catalog, host Tanya Shaffer talks with Noe about the mysterious give and take of the creative process, the ways the stages of her life have impacted the evolution of her musical style, why she left a thriving musical career to attend divinity school, and what brought her back to the creative life.f her musical style, why she left music and attended divinity school, and what brought her back to the creative life.

Music, SongwritingTanya ShafferJuly 9, 2020music, musician, Singer-Songwriter, Songwriting, creativity, arts, performing arts, spiritualityComment

Singer-Songwriter-Climate Change Activist Vienna Teng: Following A Spirit's Whisper

Vienna Teng is a powerhouse. Her 2013 album AIMS received four independent music awards, including best adult contemporary album, the most any artist has ever received in a given year. Throughout her twenty-year career, she has released five studio albums and two live albums. She also collaborated with Off-Leash Arts host Tanya Shaffer on the musical The Fourth Messenger and sang the role of Mama Sid on the album. During that period, she also received an MB/MS from the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan and went on to work as Global Director for Sustainable Communities at McKinsey.org. She’s also a new mom. In this episode, host Tanya and Vienna don’t just talk about creativity, they dive into it when Tanya asks Vienna to play around with setting a poem created by the participants in one of her writing workshops to music.

Off-Leash Writing