Monthly Archives

September 2021

Sep 29
Love1

Alannah McCready

By Music No Comments

In This Episode:

  • Alannah Discusses Whether She’s Really Been Cheated On Three Times
  • The Benefits and Lessons of Having Dated the Wrong Men
  • Alannah’s Hockey Days as a Goalie
  • What It Was Like Doing PR for NFL Players
  • How Alannah Got Started In Music and How Her College Journals Became Her First Album

Quotations:

“We had to blow-dry our hair in the locker room before leaving because you cannot go outside with wet hair, it will break off.” – Alannah McCready

“I just, over the years, have picked a few of the wrong men.” – Alannah McCready

“I moved to New York and I did PR for a sports management company, we basically ran the day to day lives of like thirty NFL players.” – Alannah McCready

“When I did decide to finally start doing music full time, all of that journaling and stuff through college ended up being the majority of my first album.” – Alannah McCready
“Being a girl in this industry that I’m in, it is very hard. Everyone has something to say about how you should look, how you should sound, what you should be doing in order to, you know, get famous.” – Alannah McCready

Guest’s Bio:

Alannah McCready has made a lifelong habit out of pouring her heart and soul into every task she puts her mind to. 

Growing up in Minnesota and getting her first pair of skates at the age of three, it was inevitable that McCready was going to become a hockey star. “It’s called the state of hockey for a reason,” she notes.  The Minneapolis native discovered her expertise as a hockey goalie at skating camp at the age of 10 when she stopped all but two shots from entering the net, proudly telling her father, “I think I might be good at that.” But it was her mother who imprinted her with a love of country music that she grew up on in Oklahoma, the young McCready learning how to sing by watching the techniques of Trisha Yearwood and Martina McBride. “These individuals exemplified who I wanted to be, and that’s when I knew what I wanted to do,” McCready praises of the country icons. In between rounds on the ice, McCready spent her childhood days offering free concerts to her family, her mother often finding her four-year-old daughter in the bathroom at weddings entertaining the guests. “Everything was a song. When I was talking, I would just start singing what I was talking,” McCready describes of making every moment a musical one, a habit she admittedly has yet to break. 

But McCready was just as sharp vocally as she was on the ice. Throughout her youth, McCready maintained her skills in both music and hockey, going so far as to overload her schedule in high school to accommodate both passions, her days starting at 5 a.m. for goalie training, followed by school, team practice, homework, and bed – repeat. The ambitious student would even go such lengths as singing all of her parts at a choral concert to get credit for choir class before jetting off to a hockey game that same night. “I was the only person in middle school and high school who was in choir and played a sport. Everyone thought it was so weird. Everyone always did one or the other and I refused to just pick one,” McCready recalls. “I would sing the National Anthem in my equipment before games and then skate to the net and play.”

After high school, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was part of two NCAA Women’s Hockey National Championships. On top of her intense schedule on the ice, McCready was also balancing a hefty workload as a sociology and communications major, which taught her the value of a strict schedule and time management, McCready crediting her athletic background for providing her with an unwavering steadfastness toward her dreams. “I think having to be disciplined at an early age when you’re playing a sport and being pushed and tested like that, carries over,” she observes. “An athletic mentality is something that only athletes really have. Now I’m finding being an independent artist and a singer-songwriter, you have to have the same mindset and the same work ethic because just like in sports and music, no one’s going to want it more for you than you have to.” 

After graduating from college, McCready headed to New York and launched a career in sports public relations for a sports management company, running the daily lives of nearly 20 NFL players. But as much as the job came naturally to the multi-faceted talent, music remained heavy on her heart until one day she had an epiphany that it was now or never to pursue music professionally. “It’s that looming fear of ‘if I don’t do this for myself, I’m never going to reach these goals. No one’s going to pick me up and put me there,’” McCready realized at the time. “’If I don’t give everything to my music now, I might not ever, so I just need to do it.’” With a sense of urgency in place, McCready made the leap and turned her attention to music full-time. She soon headed south, devoting several months to recording her first album Love Hangover in Nashville, which came in the aftermath of years of tumultuous relationships that left her feeling hungover. During one of the recording sessions, McCready arrived at a crossroads, asking publisher Dan Hodges point-blank if he believed she had what it took to be an artist. “I sat down with him. I’m like ‘I need you to be really honest with me. Do you think that I should be doing this for a living? I think I should, but I don’t want to be biased. I really want you to be honest with me and frank with me, do you think that this is something that I could be successful at as a career because it’s what I want.’ He’s like ‘yeah, I think so.’ I’m like ‘ok, done deal.’ I’ve had my foot to the pedal to the metal since then and I started doing music full-time from that point forward,” McCready recalls of the life-changing moment.

Love Hangover and follow-up album Ricochet Heart set McCready on the path that’s led her to her upcoming EP. “Since it’s been three years since Ricochet Heart, I’ve been through more things and I know more about myself, and I think that’s why I’m so excited about the new music because I think both of those albums culminated into exactly what I wanted to do and didn’t want to do in my music anymore. I was in a different headspace when I was writing these and more of a comfortability in who I am and what I want to say in my music,” she explains of the process for the upcoming project that embodies “a lot of feeling.” “I think it’s the most relatable project I’ve ever done.” She sets this tone with the lead single “Something Like That,” an easy-listening, pop-country bop where McCready lays down some unfiltered truths in the first few lines, divulging that she’s been cheated on three times and didn’t recognize her self-worth. But she’s since shed the innocence of the past, finding strength in her mistakes and knowing now that what she truly needs is a nurturing and loving partner. “I think a lot of people are afraid to be okay with the simple things,” she ponders. “I feel like it gets to a point where the song ended up, ‘I want these simple things from someone that shouldn’t be that difficult to give to someone that you’re supposed to care about, and if you can’t give me something like that, then I don’t have time for it.’”

The five-song project continues to dive deep below the surface as McCready relays the feeling of having her life flash before her eyes on the morning she turned 30 in the tear-inducing “On My Own,” to offering her perspective on the modern world of online dating in the cautionary “Take it Slow.” She rounds out the EP with the girl-power anthem “Back to Me” while empathizing with couples who have to communicate long-distance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the tender-hearted “Can I Call.” “This new music, I feel like I’m finally in the lane that I should be in,” McCready says of the album that took a decade to be ready for and allows her to feel “completely confident and solid in knowing that this is my lane I want to be in and this is how I want to sound and how I want people to see me as an artist.” 

McCready also views the EP as claiming space in the country music landscape while also offering a source of healing – an element she hopes translates to those who experience it. “I think that music is the most healing thing on earth and I think that the majority of people use music as an emotional healing pathway. Music has healed me so much and writing all three of my projects has healed me in some way or helped me through something just by getting them out and singing it. Writing and singing these things helped me process things in my life, so I just hope that it’s relatable,” she expresses. “I think country music is ready for me at this point. I feel like I’ve been ready for it for a while, but I feel like now we’re moving to a space where it’s finally ready for me.”

Guest’s Contact Info:

https://www.alannahmccready.com/

Sep 22
Love0

Dr. Susan Landers

By Author, Personal Growth No Comments

In This Episode:

  • SCC Football
  • Sexismn and When Dr. Susan Landers Realized That She Could Have a Career In Medicine
  • Parenting When Both You and Your Spouse Work
  • Being An Older Parent
  • What a Neonatologist Is 
  • The Scary Thing That Took Place After the Birth of Gary’s Son and the Miracle That Happened
  • Postpartum Depression and How Dr. Susan Landers Dealt With Burn Out
  • Dr. Susan Landers’s Book “So Many Babies”

Quotations:

“She said, ‘You can do whatever you want to do, this is the 70s, do whatever you want.” – Dr. Susan Landers

“She was telling people to go into stereotypical fields.” – Dr. Susan Landers

“He didn’t want kids, I had to talk him into it.” – Dr. Susan Landers 

“Any baby that’s not a normal healthy newborn after delivery goes to the neonatal intensive care unit and that’s what I did for a living.” – Dr. Susan Landers

“I had a really difficult time being a mom, being confident in being a mom, because I was struggling.” – Dr. Susan Landers

Guest’s Bio:

Dr. Landers graduated from Auburn University, in Auburn, Alabama, with BS degrees in Biology and Chemistry. At Auburn, she was elected to Mortar Board, the National Women’s Honorary. In 1977, she received her MD degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston, South Carolina. There she was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the National Medical Honorary. After graduation from medical school, she completed a pediatrics residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School hospitals in Dallas, Texas, in 1980. She completed her neonatology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine hospitals, in Houston, Texas, in 1983.

Dr. Landers practiced academic neonatology for fourteen years and served on the faculty of two medical schools – Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, in Little Rock. In this role, she conducted clinical research, published twenty-three peer-reviewed papers, and taught medical students, residents, and fellows. While caring for patients in private practice, she served as a speaker for the Texas Department of State Health Services from 1997 to 1998. She was Medical Director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin, from 2000 to 2004, and served on the milk bank’s board of directors from 2006 to 2009.

Even though she practiced full-time, Dr. Landers continued to publish papers and work for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). She was an expert in breastfeeding medicine and became a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (FABM) in 2002. She served as a physician educator at AAP and ABM national meetings for a decade. She served on the Executive Committee of the Section on Breastfeeding in the AAP from 2008 until 2014. In that capacity, she contributed to AAP policy statements and clinical guidelines and wrote four more peer-reviewed publications and a book chapter. In 2008, she was recognized by Pediatrix Medical Group with a national award for “Outstanding Accomplishments in Quality Improvement.”

Together with her husband, Dr. Phillip Berry, she raised three children, one son, and two daughters, each to young adulthood. David, thirty-six, is a cinematographer, living and working in Los Angeles, CA; he is married to Alissa. Anne, thirty-four, is a pediatric intensive care unit nurse at Dell Children’s Medical Center, in Austin, TX; she is married to Joe. Laura, thirty, lives and works in Austin, TX.

Guest’s Contact Info:

https://susanlandersmd.com/

Sep 15
Love0

Dr. Ellen Snee

By Author, Personal Growth No Comments

In This Episode:

  • The Biggest Thing She Learned From Being a Nun for Eighteen Years and Why She Stopped
  • Why Women Don’t Have To Act Like Men To Lead
  • How To Trust Your Inner Voice, A Good Way To Go About Making Big Decisions
  • The Difference Between Coaches and Therapists
  • How Employee Reviews Should Be Approached and the Best Way To Terminate An Employee
  • Post Pandemic Workplace Predictions and the Need For Childcare For Employees In the Workplace
  • Dr. Snee Discusses Her Book “Lead” and How To Harness Your Personal Power

Quotations:

“I have tried to change the world, one woman, at a time.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

“I had the opportunity to see that there wasn’t one style of leadership for women, that every kind of woman could be a leader.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

“Most therapists kind of sit and listen and I knew I couldn’t do that, I wanna get in there and solve problems.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

“Listening is a real skill and not everyone has that skill.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

“Well, I’m actually very anxious about how the changes post-pandemic are going to impact women.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

“I also worry that childcare responsibilities will fall on women if child care opportunities do not open up.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

“We have a power that we can name and claim or we can let voices in our head rob us of it or we can let other people rob us of it if we’re not careful.” – Dr. Ellen Snee

Guest’s Bio:

Ellen Snee has been at the forefront of women’s leadership for more than 25 years. Dr. Snee brings strategy, research, and executive experience to global companies and their top female talent. Her original research at Harvard University on women’s experience in roles of authority formed the foundation of her consulting and coaching work with Fortune 500 companies such as Cisco, Goodyear, Marriott, Pfizer, and Schwab.

Later, as the Global VP of Leadership Development at VMware, she launched the company’s groundbreaking business initiative, VMwomen, designed to attract, develop, advance, and retain talented women. Her new book Lead: How Women in Charge Claim Their Authority makes her wisdom and experience accessible to all women seeking to accelerate their careers. Dr. Snee lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she continues to coach and advise women leaders and executives worldwide and frequently speaks to companies and conferences.

Guest’s Contact Info:

https://www.ellensnee.com/

Sep 08
Love0

Richard Sterban

By Music No Comments

In This Episode:

  • The Difference Between Singing a Low Tone and Singing A Quality Note
  • Why Singers Should Sing They’re Best No Matter The Crowd Size
  • The Common Ground Between Country Music and Baseball
  • What Is Was Like Having Conway Twitty as a Neighbor
  • What Made Richard Leave Elvis To Join the Oak Ridge Boys
  • Richard Speaks About Whether The Oak Ridge Boys Will Retire Soon and Their New Album “Front Porch Singing”

Quotations:

“So what I did, I just basically followed my heart and I made the decision to leave Elvis and to join the Oak Ridge Boys.” – Richard Sterban

“Just about 3 or 4 weeks ago we were able to be booked at the Opera for the first show that they allowed 100% capacity and what a great night that was.” – Richard Sterban

“There’s a certain psychology to bass singing.” – Richard Sterban

“Elvis was kind of a strange person.” – Richard Sterban

“I remember being in the studio recording ‘Elvira’ and it felt like a hit, you know, the musicians were smiling and everyone was having a good time.” – Richard Sterban

Guest’s Bio:

Richard Anthony Sterban (born April 24, 1943) is an American singer. He was born in Camden, New Jersey. He joined the country and gospel quartet The Oak Ridge Boys in 1972.

Sterban grew up in Collingswood, New Jersey,[1] After graduating from Collingswood High School, Sterban attended Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey).[2]

He lives in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with his wife, Donna, and two daughters. Richard also has three sons from a previous marriage and several grandchildren.

Prior to joining The Oak Ridge Boys, Sterban toured with J. D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, who were singing backup for Elvis Presley at that time. Sterban ultimately became best known for his “oom-pa-pa-oom-pa-pa-oom-pa-pa-mow-mow” bass solo in the Oak Ridge Boys’ 1981 single “Elvira” and sang lead vocals on a select few of the group’s songs, including a cover of The Righteous Brothers’ hit “Dream On“, which was a top-ten hit.

Sterban has recorded public service announcements for NOAA Weather Radio. He served as the voice of The Roadhouse, the classic country Sirius Satellite Radio channel. Sterban, along with entrepreneur Larry Schmittou and other country music stars, such as Conway Twitty, Larry Gatlin, and Cal Smith, was a minority owner of the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team from 1978 to 2008.[3]

(Bio from Wikipedia)

Guest’s Contact Info:

oakridgeboys.com