Headliner Radio

2020 has been a mega year for London-based singer-songwriter Arlo Parks, who wrote and recorded most of her latest album, Collapsed In Sunbeams, during lockdown. Here she discusses how poetry has influenced her songwriting process, her broad range of musical influences, and why she feels making music is such a fun and liberating process.

Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer Nick van de Wall’s tremendous reputation precedes him no end. Best known as Afrojack, he came in at number seven in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ poll this year, and has been using the lockdown period to focus on and revive his once-dormant house and techno alias Kapuchon. Here, the superstar DJ tells us why he’s getting back to his musical roots, why human relationships are so important, and reveals the production techniques through which he has made such a name for himself.

Despite over a decade of hard work in Music City, country musician and singer-songwriter Hailey Whitters was only recently able to take a step back to reassess why she started this journey in the first place: to create music that she loves on her own terms. Here, “Nashville’s newest unsigned star” explains how she’s been staying connected with her fans throughout lockdown, and how things have finally come full circle on her latest album release, The Dream.

Academy Award-nominated composer Hauschka lives two lives; as the solo artist known for his pioneering of the prepared piano and wildly succesful albums, and more recently as Volker Bertelmann (his given name), the film composer behind the scores of Lion, The Old Guard and Summerland. We talk pitting his eccentric artistry against a traditional upbringing in West Germany, his arduous journey to success, and his prolific film scoring partnership with Dustin O’Halloran.

ACM and CMA Award winner Lee Brice is in the middle of a record-breaking career run with his latest album, Hey World, and shows no signs of slowing down. Here, the country superstar tells us about some of the pivotal moments in his career and how some of his incredible collaborations have come together over the years.

Irwin Sparkes delves into the making of White Tail Falls’ debut album, Age Of Entitlement, and the protracted: ‘How did I end up here?’ moment that inspired its creation. Sparkes reveals the toll that chasing approval in the music industry takes, and explains how this record was a raw return to the initial reason he bothered to pick up a guitar as a child.

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sam Eagle explains how recent single, Like This, came to him overnight, and how his lyrics have evolved over time. Sam’s new EP, Something Out Of Nothing, sees him take on a bigger and more focused sound whilst also channelling his lyrical content inwards, and he explains why a big part of the process of writing and recording the new EP involved him completely losing his way.

Although she began singing and gigging at only 14, Hope Winter's maturity in her songwriting, vocal performances, arrangements and production make her 21 years of age quite a shock. She chats about her slick new jazzy number and empowerment tune, I'm Gonna Love Me, hitting 100k subscribers on YouTube, and her work with The Ivors Academy.

British composer Harry Escott, whose composition resume includes Shame and Hard Candy, delves into how he created the score for new BBC One political thriller, Roadkill, by going against the trend of subtle underscoring, instead creating distinctive, attention-grabbing musical themes.

Canadian country-rock artist, Manny Blu, explains why his latest EP, New Ink straddles the worlds of rock and country, and how the influence of outlaw country is new territory for him. Manny reflects on his journey to become an artist, and reveals that before that, he almost became an MMA fighter.