Headliner Radio

In this Headliner Radio podcast, Tony Moore catches up with hit songwriter, Jamie Hartman, whose credits are as eclectic as they are long. He started playing piano when he was 14, wrote his first song for a girl he liked (her friend enjoyed it, which was something), which was enough to give him the bug. After a stretch of busking stints across London, Hartman started performing his original songs weekly in the back of a juice bar on Portobello Road called The Living Room, and six weeks later, an A&R guy rolled in, liked what he saw, and offered him his first publishing deal a month later. Skip to present day, and Hartman has written for a huge array of artists: Backstreet Boys, Birdy, James Bay, Kylie, Rag 'N Bone Man, and most recently Celeste, whose debut record is currently at #1 on the UK Albums Chart. 

BAFTA Award-winning and Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory reveals how he composed the score for open-world action-adventure video game The Pathless. He explains how he created a score which feels like a “playable mythology” by recording over 100 musicians from around the world, resulting in music with an unplaceable sound seeming to come from some timeless, non-existent mythical people.

Having accumulated 30 million streams and completed a huge arena tour supporting Dermot Kennedy, Lilla Vargen is one of Ireland’s fastest rising new talents. She shares how the pain of emotional devastation was channelled into heartbreaking pop ballad for the ages, Blueprints.

Get Musicians Working is a UK wide project to provide work for struggling musicians through the Covid-19 pandemic. Run by The Emery Foundation, Get Musicians Working seeks to provide grants to musicians who are in need, and in return they create inspirational content. Conductor, pianist and record producer Robert Emery discusses the project, why one third of  professional musicians have not been able to access emergency support, and the key issue of insurance that live events organisers are facing in the pandemic.

He's had a substantial career in the ultra-successful indie-folk outfit The Lumineers of Denver, Colorado. But multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites suddenly finds himself with a cancelled 18 month tour, moving to Turin, Italy and releasing an album of minimalist piano instrumental music. We chat with Jeremiah about this eyebrow-raising turn of events, and his stunning new album, Piano Piano.

Singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen has staked his claim as country music’s next superstar with over 3.4 billion streams, multi-platinum certifications, and four consecutive chart-toppers to his name. He chats about appearing on The Voice, becoming one of the first artists to sign to Big Loud Records, and why he feels like his honesty is appreciated by his army of loyal fans.

Julie Miles, professional vocal coach and founder of Vocal Ovation has rapidly become one of the UK’s most highly rated and sought-after vocal coaches, and has worked on The X Factor, America’s Got Talent and The Voice. She shares how to achieve the perfect audition, adapting to new methods during lockdown, why production skills are key to success as a performer in this ‘new normal’, and reveals her favourite ever audition.

Canadian record producer and songwriter Stint — mostly known for producing the likes of Gallant, MØ, Demi Lovato, NAO, Zara Larsson and more — discusses his Grammy nomination for Gallant’s debut album, why Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has served as a massive influence, and how he uses oeksound’s soothe2 plugin on vocals.

NYC-based multi-platinum record producer, mixer, and engineer Chris Tabron has worked on records by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Mary J. Blige, Common, The Strokes, Erykah Badu, and many more. We discuss how he first started out in music production working closely with Tony Maserati, why it’s important to not be limited by genre, and his impressive knowledge of Waves plugins.

Australian singer-songwriter Ziggy Alberts’ genuine grassroots story and captivating live performances have built him a career as one of Australia’s leading independent artists. Fresh off the back of a bunch of new singles, Ziggy reveals how he’s gearing up for live shows and teases what to expect from his forthcoming album, Searching for Freedom.