Joining us for Episode 53 of The Music Chat Podcast is Mike Mattison. During the intro to this episode, you were listening to the song "Deadbeat" from Mike's latest album Afterglow. I caught up with Mike a few weeks ago, before things started getting crazy in the world and particularly in the world of live music.

If you are not familiar with Mike, he has built a successful career as a songwriter and vocalist, beginning with his early days fronting Scrapomatic and The Derek Trucks Band, and currently with Tedeschi Trucks Band. He has won two Grammy Awards, and contributed highly acclaimed material as a songwriter on the tracks Bound for Glory and Midnight in Harlem with TTB. Mike's new album finds him exploring different genres of American music including country, soul, and Americana with varying vocal styles.

During this episode, Mike and I discuss how he became a lead vocalist after starting as a bass player, his musical influences, and what it is like to be a part of one of the hardest-working, most talented live acts in the country with Tedeschi Trucks.

I would like to thank Mike for being our guest for this episode. Please check out Mike's new album Afterglow, and if you would like to keep up with the latest events for Mike, you can check out his website: www.mikemattison.com.

As always please remember to subscribe to the podcast, and also leave a rating and review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear.

Welcome to Episode 51 of The Music Chat Podcast. This episode starts with a clip of the song OG Philosophy by the guest for this episode, Che Smith a.k.a. Rhymefest. The song features appearances by Black Thought of The Roots and Raheem DeVaughn, and is produced by Symbolyc One (S1). This song is part of Rhymefest's upcoming project, which includes a book entitled Love Lessons Pt. 1, and an album entitled Love Lessons Pt. 2.

For those of you not familiar with our guest, he has accomplished much, including two Grammy Awards - one as co-writer for Jesus Walks with Kanye West and the other as co-writer for the song Glory with Common and John Legend (which also landed him an Academy Award). He has released solo albums as a hip hop artist, been the subject of a documentary about his life (In My Father's House), and acted in a feature film directed by Emilio Estevez (The Public).

Even with all of these accomplishments, after speaking with Che and listening to his experiences, I feel like this episode was more about philosophy than specific events. Throughout the episode Che shares his perspective on music, giving back to the community, artistic collaboration, and many other topics as well. I really enjoyed speaking with Che, and more importantly listening to what he had to say. I hope you will as well.

If you would like to learn more about Che, you can follow him on Instagram, where his profile is @rhymefest or take a look at his website which is www.cheworldwide.com.

As always please remember to subscribe to the podcast, and also leave a rating and review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear.