Don't Stifle Me Podcast With Jacob Stiefel

BJ Golden is a guitarist and utility musician for country artist Brantley Gilbert. He and Jacob talk music, school, coffee, Jazz, Classical instruments, Lyle Lovett, beards and more. At the end BJ plays some guitar for you. Enjoy!

Tim and Jacob sit and chat at Tim’s Hendersonville, TN, home. Tim has been playing fiddle and singing, both in live shows and recordings, in Nashville for over 30 years. He’s played with artists such as Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Bill Monroe, Keith Whitley, Kid Rock, and many many more, in addition to hosting his own successful live show at Opryland and on the General Jackson Showboat in Nashville for over 25 years. Jacob and Tim finish up the talk with a fiddle and acoustic guitar jam. Enjoy!

Chris Canterbury is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, born and raised in Louisiana. Chris stops by Jacob’s house for some coffee and conversation about making the jump from Louisiana to Music City, writing and recording original music, left-handed guitars, and more. Chris finishes the talk off with an acoustic performance of “Back to You”, a song off his recent release, “Refinery Town”. Enjoy!

Jimmy Nutt is a Grammy award-winning audio engineer, record producer and owns/runs his studio, The Nutthouse Recording Studio, in Sheffield, AL, just down the road from Muscle Shoals. Jacob stops by the Nutthouse to chat with Jimmy about his life in music, going from performing on stage to engineering to producing and ultimately owning his studio where he now gets to do all those things. Jimmy and Jacob close out the episode with a guitar and harmonica jam.

Soul-singin’ Bonnie Bishop stops by to talk with Jacob about her life in music, growing up in Texas and Mississippi, and her most recent album release “Ain’t Who I Was”. They also discuss her experiences working for and learning from her step-father, football coach Jackie Sherrill, and much much more. Then Bonnie plays and sings out the episode. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode, Jacob takes a few minutes to look back at episodes 001-022, giving a brief description of each guest. He finishes off the episode with a song. New guests starting back next week with Episode 024.

Longtime bassist for Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Jimbo Hart sits down with Jacob and guest co-host Chance Gray for a visit in an Austin, TX, hotel room. Jimbo discusses growing up in the greater Muscle Shoals, AL, area, how he got started in music, meeting Jason Isbell at early high school ages, the rough road that is the music business, and much more. Enjoy!

Chad welcomes Jacob into his home near Fort Worth, TX, to sit down with a bottle, two glasses, and two microphones, to discuss how he got to where he is. Call him a comedian, a motivational speaker, an “internet sensation”, call him whatever you want. He’s a passionate man who loves what he does and loves entertaining and inspiring people. Jacob and Chad have a great conversation and play a little music for you at the end. Thanks for listening! Enjoy, and share if you do!

Rio, John, Justin and Mike, of the band Copper Chief stopped by for a chat and some chips & salsa. They discussed how the band formed, how they each got their start in music, the trials and tribulations of starting a band, from booking to merchandise-handling to recording and much more. After their show that night, they all came back over and had a late night jam session with Jacob, some of which you can hear at the end of the episode… Hold on tight and enjoy!

Visual artist Eric Breish sits down with Jacob in San Antonio, where he lives, and talks about his path from school to the Marines to the Corporate world and his “epiphany” of realizing his life’s passion, and then acting on it and chasing it down. He and his mentor have a style of contemporary abstract art that is best consumed by seeing the art in person, but there are examples on the show notes page at dontstifleme.com/019. Enjoy the talk! Then go find something you love and do it.

Formerly of Matt Begley & Bitter Whiskey, now front man of Steel Penny, Matt sits down with Jacob in New Braunfels, TX, and they chat about Matt’s life growing up in East Texas, how he got into music, where his awesome goofy-ass hat came from, and more. They also do some pickin’ and grinnin’ at the end of the episode. Enjoy and go check out Steel Penny! www.steelpennyband.com

Johnny Hayes, who you might know from The Voice Season 12, stops by Jacob’s office after a show in Nashville to chat about music, life, writing used car commercial jingles, his experience with “The Voice”, what’s going on with him now and more. Johnny finishes the episode with an acoustic rendition of his recent single release, “Slow Dance”.

The duo Towne stops by to chat with Jacob. They discuss backgrounds, how they started in music, who was good at school and who wasn't, and how Jon has striking similarities to Forrest Gump. There's some good laughs in here, and Towne wraps it up with a killer live acoustic performance at the end. Enjoy!

You may know him as Jerry Lee Lewis from the movie “Walk the Line”. He’s also son of famed country singer Sammi Smith and Jody Payne (Willie Nelson’s long time guitar player), but beyond all that, Waylon Payne is a fantastic songwriter, singer, just a true artist, and a down to earth great guy to be around. He and Jacob discuss life growing up in Texas, the trials, tribulations and demons we all face in some way or another, and much more. Listen and soak it in.

Tour Manager for comic Ralphie May along with various managing roles for country artists Brent Cobb and Dave Kennedy, not to mention former tour manager for country artist Drake White, Ben Ratliff usually chooses to just say “I work in the music business” instead of going into the many details of “managing”. He and Jacob talk about a whole lot of them here, and much more. Listen how Ben got to where he is, currently working in both the music and stand-up comedy worlds, and who knows what else might come up along the way.

Guitar player for country artist Lee Brice since 2007, Travis Bettis stops by to talk with Jacob about his life and path in music. They chat about growing up in the Texas blues scene, making the move to Nashville, getting kicked out of Belmont University, meeting & joining Lee's band and much more, before ending with a good ol' acoustic guitar jam. Enjoy! And have a great day!

Musicians On Call is an organization that helps improve the lives of hospital patients, their family, the hospital staff, and anyone else they can, through the power of music. Nicole, a representative/employee of M.O.C., stops by to chat with Jacob about the organization, her role and experience with them, and some memories and stories from along the way.

Muscle Shoals session guitar player and former Bonnie Raitt band member, Will McFarlane stops by to talk with Jacob. They discuss Will's life growing up a Navy brat, learning and chasing his passion in music, some great stories of life in Bonnie Raitt's band in the late 1970s, and life since then. Will even plays a little guitar for you at the end. See what you think about it!

Jerry Phillips is the son of Sam Phillips (Memphis record producer who discovered Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and more…). Halley is Jerry’s daughter. The two of them sit down with Jacob to discuss Sam, the beginning days of rock&roll, Jerry’s life growing up around all that, and how Jerry and Halley are continuing the Phillips family legacy. Jerry jams with Jacob on guitar at the end to close out the great talk. Check it out and pass it on!

Americana singer-songwriter Don Gallardo stops by Jacob’s house for some coffee and to talk about life, music, cereal, snorkeling, and growing up in Northern California. They discuss chasing passions and dreams and different paths and obstacles along the way. Don closes the podcast with a new song, while Jacob picks along in the background. Enjoy Episode 009!