Madison Cunningham talks sincerity in music, learning guitar, and Chris Thile and Jacob Collier

Grammy award winner, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Madison Cunningham folds together Folk, Americana, and Indie influences in her soulful music. She tells David about how she blends her voice with the guitar, reflects on how she physically held a full-size Taylor guitar at age six, and considers the first time she affected someone with her music and what that meant to her. Madison discusses the importance of sincerity in music vs. technical perfection, what it was like to direct a choir where the members were more than three times her age, and why being introduced to the music of the Beatles at age seventeen for the first time (and not earlier) was a gift. To finish out the episode, Madison talks about one of her "life highlights," a performance earlier this past year in New York City with Jacob Collier and Chris Thile.

If you loved this interview, don't miss this episode: Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, and pianist Regina Spektor is an indie-pop icon with two albums that debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart. The Russian-born American musician tells David how difficult it was to leave behind her beloved childhood piano when her family immigrated to America, how she found her first piano teacher in the United States through a chance encounter between her father and a stranger on a train, and why she practiced on an imaginary piano. Regina reminisces about a trip to Israel when she was sixteen that sparked her career as a songwriter, reflects on a Carnegie Hall performance following her father's death, and reveals what she loves most about The Metropolitan Opera. To close it out, David and Regina compare notes about meeting celebrated soprano Renée Fleming!    • Regina Spektor on a childhood piano, ...  

And be sure to catch this interview: Two-time Grammy Award winner, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, and folk artist Rhiannon Giddens is a musical polymath. Defying the odds, Rhiannon enrolled at Oberlin College to study opera without being able to read music, nor having seen a live performance. Rhiannon credits her formal training at conservatory and an apprenticeship with Black string musician Joe Thompson for her success, and sees music as her most powerful vehicle. The Artistic Director of the Silkroad Ensemble talks about her recent collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Francesco Turrisi, love of the banjo, and mission to reclaim American musical traditions.    • Rhiannon Giddens talks music, opera, ...  

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman.

Photograph of Madison courtesy of Todd Owyoung / NBC.

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.