Joining me on the show all the way from the beautiful Hudson Valley is MK Burnell.

Burnell was formerly the host of a show that aired at Radio Woodstock. She’s also the founder of ‘Locally Grown’, a program at Radio Woodstock that helps feature and promote independent and emerging artists from the Hudson Valley.

She was dropped as part of the budget cuts that Radio Woodstock was trying to implement due to Covid19. Instead of throwing in the towel and regretting how things turned out, Burnell took her laying off as an opportunity to set up her own recording studio at home and start a podcast.

More Music Please – Quarantine Beat is the name of her new podcast, where Burnell interviews professionals from across the music industry about anything they’d love to discuss.
She enjoys performing with different bands, hiking, practicing the trumpet, and learning new languages.

Performing with Different bands.

Burnell is currently a member of 4 different bands. These include Uncle Dad – An all-female group that consists of four ladies. They all have different songwriting techniques, all of which mash-up really great to produce funky songs.

Local Freak – Burnell’s longest-running band project. They perform a mix of covers and originals. They also love dancing and having a good time.

Cold Flair Repair – A local Hudson Valley band that consists of Andy Gladding, Dave Chapman, Chris Machia, and Brad Kelly where they enjoy playing yacht rock and funky soul.

Trailer Swift – Self evocative, Trailer Swift is a band where Burnell and the band members enjoy doing Taylor Swift covers while wearing torn up flannel.

International Relations
Originally an International Relations major at SUNY New Paltz, Burnell found her purpose in working with indie artists.
Burnell majored in IR while at college as she had an interest in learning more about the world and was optimistic about traveling around the world while working.

She’s however very grateful for having gotten the opportunity to work with and learn from different artists while working as a radio host.

Locally Grown.
When she started working at Radio Woodstock 5 years ago, Burnell bugged the radio station to let her do her own show where she’d host local-grown talent.

When granted the opportunity, Burnell began to feature local bands, some of which she had the pleasure of working and performing with when starting out as a young indie artist.
Burnell saw Locally Grown as an opportunity to give back to the community that had once supported her. Locally Grown was also Burnell’s way of improving Radio Woodstock’s brand of featuring and promoting local and independent music.

Starting a new podcast.
Burnell has always had an interest in podcasts. She loves listening to them and always dreamt of starting one. The only obstacle at the time was lack of time and mental energy – because of her full-time work as a music director and radio host.

After losing her job when Corona struck, Burnell jumped at the opportunity of starting her new podcast.

She’s really enjoyed the experience of podcasting so far and loves that she can conduct interviews in her own style and without a time limit – this of course, in contrast to working as a radio host. For instance, in her very first interview with John Ferrara, the duo discussed Midnight gospel – an animated web series featured on Netflix.

Burnell is grateful for the opportunity she got to work at Radio Woodstock, however, she’s found the experience of going fully independent very exciting and hopes to continue being in control of her own projects and ditching the 9-5.

Timestamps
02:58 Enjoying nature
05:04 Practicing with the steel mace
06:42 Different bands that Burnell has worked with
10:24 The gig scene in Hudson Valley
11:34 Experience studying IR
14:46 Burnell’s early music experience
18:22 Reminiscing the good old music
20:02 Locally grown
22:34 Burnell’s new podcast
27:31 Focusing on her podcast
28:52 How I produce my shows
33:11 Burnell’s aspirations.
38:20 Listen to Connected.

Quotes
I learned a lot while studying IR. Having focused on South American politics, I found it very interesting how America meddled with so much of the South American political framework, and its contribution to their political, social, and economic instability.

Music has and will always evolve at a very fast pace. And I love that it does. I love connecting to all genres of music, including next-generation music which I don’t naturally feel attracted to.

Links and mentions.
Blondie
Joan Baez
Brian Wilson
Led Zeppelin
Steely Dan
Timothy Schmidt
Donald Fagan
John Ferrara

The Midnight Gospel
Steel Mace Training
Radio Woodstock

Connect with MK Burnell
Podcast
More Music Please Podcast
Facebook
@moremusic.podcast
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rVtdgA9yCWP75y0Z_NUBw/featured?disable_polymer=1
Email
moremusicpodcast@gmail.com

The Song “Connected” by James Kevin O’Connor

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