Nelson: I don’t like being on the computer.
I don’t like screens. I guess I have to
develop an Instagram presence.
Sherman: And Dwight, what do you see in
the stars?
Ritcher: Definitely some more touring.
Definitely a lot more studio work. I’m ex-
cited about music. And so the more music
I can play, the more excited I’ll be.
Sherman: We’ve really focused a lot on
your biography, but we really didn’t talk
about your process. You told me that
you’ve got hundreds of songs that you’ve
written. What usually inspires you to write
a song? Do you start with the words? Do
you hear the music? Do you collaborate
together or write individually? Talk about
the actual process of building a song.
Ritcher: So the start of the song could be
a lot of different things. It could be a mel-
ody first. It could be trying to explore an
answer to a question that I can’t figure out
on my own. There are so many different
things that inspire me to write songs. My
phone—that’s my go to. I have all my mu-
sical ideas on that. And then I stick that on
the computer, but I approach songs a lot of
different ways. After a while, you get this
sense that you’re onto something, because
you can follow the action. The excitement
of it. If you still feel the excitement as
you’re drafting things you start to see it.
The vision becomes clearer to me.
Sherman: Nicole, is your process similar
to Dwight’s?
Nelson: No, very different. So, it’s the op-
posite of Dwight’s. He is prolific. He’s writ-
ing all the time. I will have, like, a moment
where a song falls into my body and then I
write it. And it’s almost done. It’s really like
that. Once a month at the most—usually
less. It depends on what I’ve got going on.
If I have some free time, they start coming
in. They start flowing in. But when I’m
hectic, it happens like once every three
months, even sometimes only two or three
times a year where I’ll get a download of a
song. I don’t always have all the lyrics right
away, but sometimes I do. And I’ll hear the
drums. And I’ll hear the bass. And I’ll hear
piano parts. I’ll hear background vocals.
M USIC L OVERS E VERYWHERE……..
Whether it’s Classical, Pop, Rap, New Age, Musical Theater, Electronic,
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T HE I NDIE C OLLABORATIVE
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Next Stop: C ARNEGIE H ALL
GRANT MALOY SMITH AND EILEEN SHERMAN
P R E S E N T
The Indie Collaborative
C elebrating e arth D ay in S ong
Featuring Award-Winning Artists Across Musical Genres
GRANT MALOY SMITH THE BLUESTONE SISTERS CHRISTIAN FABIAN LETI GARZA DAVID S. GOLDMAN MIKE GREENLY
SONYA HENSLEY GARETH LAFFELY BENJAMIN LERNER KEVIN LUCAS DAVID MALDONADO MLN
NOSHIR MODY ALEX OTEY RICKY PERSAUD, JR. MONIKA RYAN TANIA STAVREVA ALAN STOREYGARD
ALSO FEATURING RYAN VANDENBOOM & MORE GREAT SINGERS, DANCERS & ARTISTS
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April 22, 2020 8:00 PM (doors open @ 7:30 PM)
Tickets $60
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AFTER-PARTY
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Please order all tickets on-line at
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