Musicians are the most fascinating people. I never grow tired of reading about them, listening to them, and hearing their work. Here are a few you’ll enjoy knowing.

Marcus Hummon

Grammy-winning songwriter and musical theater artist Marcus Hummon is best known as the writer of “Bless the Broken Road” (Rascal Flatts), “Cowboy Take Me Away” and “Ready to Run” (Dixie Chicks), “Born to Fly” (Sara Evans), “One of These Days” (Tim McGraw), and “Only Love” (Wynonna).

Next weekend, Nashville Opera is premiering his new opera, Favorite Son. Here’s a link to a good interview with Marcus and John Hoomes, artistic director of Nashville Opera. And here are links to the websites of Marcus Hummon and Nashville Opera.

Zach Manzi

Recently I stumbled across a blog by a young clarinetist named Zach Manzi, about his adventures in the world of classical music.

I was initially drawn in by the title of his most recent post, “This Is Why I Ended My Career in Classical Music.” Then I lingered to read earlier posts on audience experience, marketing, and live streaming. Finally I watched his TEDx Talk, “I’m Not Talking About Classical Music.”

Here’s his blog. And here’s his TEDx Talk. See what you think.

Anthony Plog

I highly recommend the podcast Anthony Plog on Music. Tony, besides being a renowned composer and brass guru, is my good friend and musical collaborator.

Here's the podcast homepage, which shows a list of his guests.