This special summer episode explores what it means to find, use, and keep our brave voices in service of living our truest stories. Mostly recorded at Brave Voice: Writing & Singing For Your Life, the 17th annual retreat I lead with singer-songwriting Kelley Hunt, in May of 2022, this episode features a bevy of visionary, wise, and insightful people discussing brave boundaries, brave presences, the voice of silence (for good and bad), and how those of us who grew up having to ignore our voices sometimes turn into "a combination of trained dog and wild horse." Come listen to the brave voices here, including:

• Nancy Hubble, outsider artist and writer
• Julanne Patrick, singer, writer, and grandmother extraordinaire
• Loel Lewis, writer, blogger, and retired educator
• Jane Vogel, musician, songwriter, and businesswoman
• Kathryn Lorenzen, career and creativity coach, and my co-leader in Your Right Livelihood
• George Thompson, writer, psychiatrist, and chief medical officer of a drop-in mental health clinic
• Kitra Cooper, writer and retired outreach/public relations director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Susan Hancock, jazz singer by night and state administrator and leader by day
• Elaine McMilian, singer-songwriter and community uplifter
• Robin Reed, musician, writer, and retire physician
• Deborah Altus, educator, scholar, and writer

As Lorel Lewis reminds those of us who grew up being told we were "too much," our job now "is to be much muchier."

Kelley Hunt is a quadruple threat – an exquisite songwriter, virtuoso pianist and guitar player, astonishing singer, and also an amazing arranger of her music, whether for solo concerts or an 8-piece band and several vocalists creating entwined and soaring harmonies and magic together. She’s also a vocal, songwriting, and music coach and educator, and she’s my co-conspirator for Brave Voice: Writing & Singing for Your Life, an annual retreat we’ve been rocking forth since 2006.

Kelley often uses the word soulful because that’s what she embodies in her music, writing, and simply the way she moves through this life. I’ve always been drawn to her music for its innate healing qualities, whether I’m listening at home or sitting in one of the coveted seats at her concerts or just buddying up to her at the piano while we write another song. Yes, one of the greatest gifts in my life is getting to co-write songs with Kelley.

One of her albums and songs is called “Inspiration,” and that she is. Throughout the worst of the pandemic, Kelley, with her manager (and husband) Al Berman, put out weekly Connection Concerts, free for anyone to attend via Facebook Live, to let us know we weren’t alone in our distance.

The songs we talked about today included: “Freedom Day,” “Music Was the Thread,” “The Beautiful Bones,” “Miracle,” “Love,” “That’s What Makes You Strong” (by Jesse Winchester), "Mercy,” “Stand Up" (which you can download for free on her home page), “Bright Lights" (not yet recorded), and "Love Heals" (not recorded). Please support this artist by buying some music, sheet music, or other merch at her website (where you can also find out when she's performing live or over the interwebs).

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Kevin Willmott – where do we even begin? How about at the beginning: Kevin grew up in Junction City, Kansas, a place aptly named because it’s a junction of cultures and histories. Because of the nearby army base, Fort Riley, Junction City mosaicked brown, black, and indigenous peoples as well as families from around the world in a swirl of Kansas hospitality, although it was surrounded by largely white communities where families rooted back generations. He said Junction City was and is “the America that the fight is over now” as a multi-racial democracy.

That influenced Kevin mightily as well as the injustices he experienced and witnessed, prompting him to work as an organizer right out of college in Junction, helping the homeless while also forcing the integration of some long-standing segregated institutions. But theater and film were always some of his big loves, and after graduating from the NYU Tisch School fo the Arts, he found his groove as a screenwriter as well as as actor, director, producer, and professor at the University of Kansas. Thanks to that last gig and his love of Lawrence, he lives here, aka Center of the Universe (where I also live).

Some of of Kevin’s films include The Confederate State of America, a daring and disturbing parody on what if the south won the Civil War. He’s also written Ninth Street, an independent film starring Martin Sheen and Isaac Hayes, about his growing up in Junction City. His other films are pretty vast, but here’s a sampling: The Battle for Bunker Hill, The Only Good Indian (starting Wes Studi), William Allen White: What’s the Matter with Kansas?, Jayhawkers, Destination Planet Negro, and a bunch of films he collaborated on with Spike Lee, including Chi-Raq, Da 5 Bloods, and KKKlansman, which won him an Oscar and thrilled our community and all who know him.

Kevin is a good man, a great guy, a generous soul who lifts up other artists, writers, musicians and activists in hundreds of small, quiet acts. He’s a family man with in love with his wife, grown kids, and his first grandson. He’s also kind enough to sit down for this interview with me. More on Kevin in IMDB and the University of Kansas.

Please support my podcast by becoming a patron (for as little as $3/month), plus you'll get weekly care packages for a creative life, cool perks, a writing guide, and more. More here.

Please subscribe to my podcast by following me here. You can also find “Tell Me Your Truest Story” on Instagram and Facebook.