Super excited to announce next guest, Daniel Keim, to The Story!

From Central PA, Daniel started playing piano at 10, then guitar at 11 and eventually moved onto bass and ukulele. Daniel was homeschooled until 10th grade, and spent most of his days in junior high playing guitar, learning his favorite musicians' songs while writing his own. When Daniel was 14, he turned a small storage closet in his parents' basement into a make-shift recording studio. When Daniel made the switch to public school, he was excited to find out they had a Sound Engineering class where he learned a lot about music production. As he got older, life brought on hardships and responsibilities that drastically cut down his available time for music, but Daniel still kept his passion. In 2018, he decided he wanted to start my own podcast.

It started out as just an open conversation forum for anybody that had something they were educated in speaking on, but having so many friends within the local music community, it quickly shifted into a music based podcast. Today, Daniel can be found running his own podcast Darker With Daniel and hosting the Central Pennsylvania Music Podcast - CPMP

You can find Daniel and his projects here:

Website: http://darkerwithdaniel.com/

Central Pennsylvania Music Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/cpmpodcast/

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to announce new guest, Matt Freedman, to The Story!

Before opening and supporting major country acts like Miranda Lambert, Brantley Gilbert, Brett Young, Chris Young and other country legends, Singer/Songwriter Matt Freedman was playing his hometown Bucks County PA circuit. Freedman is a 20 year award winning songwriter who’s style ranges from big rock anthems to soulful rootsy ballads. A former HS and Collegiate quarterback, Freedman was on the rise until a career ending knee injury pushed him into music. In his early twenties, Freedman grew up playing in rock and acoustic acts throughout PA, NJ, Delaware and NYC. Today, Freedman and his band The HERD are fresh off of their 2022 National American Sun Tour, highlighting Nashville's CMA Fest and other iconic venues. His first single "Good Love" was picked up and spun by over 90 country radio stations and has received almost 1 million streams.

Freedman blends acoustic country drawing roots from the likes of Chris Stapleton, Eric Church and Zac Brown, mixed with today’s modern country like Dustin Lynch and Thomas Sam Hunt. His first radio single “Good Love” caught fire with several of Spotify’s top country playlists like Wild Country, Next from Nashville and New Country Friday.

You can find Matt and his projects here:

Website: https://www.mattfreedmanmusic.com/

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to welcome back returning guest, Jess Zimmerman, to The Story!

The Jess Zimmerman Band is a Country Rock Band formed in 2015 and based in Southeastern PA. Jess's love for country music combined with rock influences from musicians/artists like Halestorm, Underwood, Van Halen, Gaga, Benatar, and McBride, The Jess Zimmerman Band is a sweet cocktail of country and rock music adding in variety of other genres providing an exciting and entertaining live show. Jess Zimmerman was nominated and won the 2019 "Best Female Vocalist" in the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame Awards and The Jess Zimmerman Band was awarded "Best Country Band" in 2021 at the CPMA's most recent awards show.

The band is up for three awards in the 2023 Nashville Josie Music Awards. The nominations include, “Group of the Year“ (Country Rock/Southern Rock), “Vocalist of the Year” (Country Rock/Southern Rock) and “Song Achievement Award - Song: (Be The Light)

In the year 2022, the band was nominated for five awards this year at the JMAs Show. Including: "Entertainer of the Year", "Best Rock Singer" (Jess). "Album of the Year" (Breathe), "Video of the Year" (The Old Me), and "Fans Choice Award". The band, took home, Country Rock Album of the Year (Breathe) in the year 2022. The 2023 Awards show is set to take place October 22,2023 at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, TN.

The band has written and recorded four records at OmniSound Studios, Nashville with more to come! Their fourth studio album, Be The Light, to be released May 21,2023 at Mickey’s Black Box, located on the grounds of Rock Lititz Campus, in Lititz, PA. Be The Light is a bright, bold, feel good record with deep meaning. The Jess Zimmerman’s 10 track album, Be The Light, can now be found on all streaming platforms. The bands first EP “The Jess Zimmerman Band” was released in 2016, followed by “Red” in 2018. Their first full length album “Breathe” debuted in 2021 and won “Best Country Rock Album Of The Year” at the Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry in 2022.

The Jess Zimmerman Band is set to share the stage with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshal Tucker Band and more on May 19,2023 in Bushkill, PA for the Lost Highway Motorcycle Fest & Concert.

Festivals are a the top do the list of things the JZBand loves to do. This June, the band is set to play Barefoot Country Music Festival, in Wildwood, NJ along with 40 + Artists.

The JZBand won the 1st Citadel Palooza Rising Star Contest and has been playing the Citadel Country Spirit USA Festival every year since. The band has opened shows and shared the stage with a list of monumental artists such as Hunter Hayes, Little Big Town, Toby Keith and Trace Atkins to name a few.

The JZ Band has worked with BOB 94.9 FM iHeart Country Radio and has kicked off shows for Kane Brown, Jimmie Allen, High Valley, and Drew Baldridge. The band tours nationally and has performed at multiple NASCAR Tracks for race fans while also honoring veterans and first responders along the way. Stops have been Homestead-Miami Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Watkin-Glen, Bristol Motor Speedway and many other festivals, state fairs and events.

Jess and the band have worked at helping to keep LIVE Country Music Alive with WITF, PBS Kids and The American Music Theatre. The band performed and showcased in presenting, "Country Music" a Film by Ken Burns hosted at the American Music Theatre in 2019.

You can find Jess and her projects here:

Webpage: https://www.jzband.org/

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to announce new guest, D-Bo!, to The Story!

Originally from Harrisburg Pennsylvania, Delonne “D-Bo!” Wilbourn has been singing, producing, writing, and composing all his music for over 10 years. D-Bo! and his band will captivate any crowd or venue. The band’s diversity in musical selection creates a one-of-a-kind experience with award-winning original music and cover songs in the genres of R&B/Soul, Funk, Blues, Neo Soul, Jazz, Alternative, Reggae, Rock, Pop, Metal, and even Country.

D-Bo! has been featured on American Idol and The Voice, and has won many awards and accolades including Hard Rock Rising Battle of the Bands Finalist (Hard Rock Café), Touchtunes Breakout Band Winner, Akadamia Award Winner for Best Album, 2021 Central Pennsylvania Music Award (CPMA) Winner for Song of the Year, and 2023 CPMA Winner for Best R&B Artist and Best Dressed. D-Bo! has also earned over 12 Featured Artist Spotlights on ReverbNation Crowd Picks and has ranked #1 in the World on ReverbNation's R&B Artist charts.

You can even hear his music featured in the AMC film “An American In Hollywood”. With past performances at the Hard Rock Café Baltimore, Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, PA), Hollywood Casino Penn National, Hollywood Casino York, Live! Casino, Club XL, and venues from Nashville to Cape May, the grand stage is nothing new for D-Bo!. D-Bo! is also a frequent festival headliner including Kipona (Harrisburg, PA), Gettysburg Wine Festival, In The Streets Festival (Frederick, MD), Temple University Homecoming, and the Blues & Brews Festival (Cape May, NJ).

His four award-winning albums are available on Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, Google Play, eMusic, Deezer, Tidal, and other digital platforms.

You can find D-Bo! and his projects here:

Website: http://d-bomusic.com

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to announce new guest, Ani Mae, to The Story!

Ani Mae, is a small town singer/songwriter! She grew up writing short stories and poems and that quickly transformed into songwriting. Ani always held a place in her heart for writing because it is the one place she can be her most vulnerable. "I feel safe to share my feelings & emotions without consequence. it’s kind of like magic."

You can find Ani Mae and her projects here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2L1UTJsYXkMDXZi4FyysdR...

Insta: https://instagram.com/animaemusic?igshid=NzAzN2Q1NTE=

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to announce new guest, Maria Corley, to The Story!

Maria Thompson Corley (BM, University of Alberta; MM, DMA, The Juilliard School) was born in Jamaica and raised in Canada. She has performed internationally, as both as a solo and collaborative artist, at venues including the Smithsonian Museum of African American History, Epidaurus Festival, Liszt Academy, Carnegie Recital Hall, and Aaron Davis Hall. Among her collaborators are Metropolitan Opera soprano Priscilla Baskerville, Juno Award-winning clarinetist James Campbell, Grammy-winning clarinetist Doris Hall-Gulati, Grammy-nominated baritone Randall Scarlata, renowned countertenor Darryl Taylor, and members of the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras. Her engagements as a soloist with orchestra include the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gunther Schuller. She and cellist Sara Male formed Duo Chiaroscuro in 2011; among their passions is performing concerts for people whose special needs prevent strict observance of concert protocols. Dr. Corley has recorded CD's for Naxos, Albany, MSR Classical, Navona, and independent labels. Excerpts from her discs have been featured on radio and digital platforms, nationally and internationally. Her recordings of selections from Valerie Capers’ Portraits in Jazz were included in the HBO special, “Kebreeya’s Salad Days,” her recording of Leslie Adams’s “Etude in C Sharp Minor” was included in award-winning director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’s documentary, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, and her performance of “Mother’s Sacrifice” by L. Viola Kinney was selected for ABC’s Women of the Movement: Mamie Till.

A sought-after composer and arranger, her solo piano piece, “Lucid Dreaming,” was a semi-finalist in the 2021 international Fidelio competition, and her piece for trumpet and piano, “Helicity,” was the winner of the 2021 AMSONIA international competition’s instrumental division. That same year, she was a co-recipient, with librettist Diana Solomon-Glover, of an Opera America IDEA grant. Her music has been commissioned, performed and/or recorded by several universities, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Canadian Art Song Project, Renaissance Winds, tubist Daniel Rowland, countertenor Darryl Taylor, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, sopranos Nadine Benjamin, Sequina Dubose, Louise Toppin and Randye Jones, among others. She is published by Walton, North Star, Classical Vocal Reprints, and NoteNova. Her song cycle Grasping Water was added to the curricula at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Jackdaws Music Education Trust in the U.K., and University of California (Irvine). Her debut mini-opera, The Sky Where You Are, with a libretto by Jenny O’Connell, was part of the award-winning Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales from a Safe Distance. Her second mini-opera, The Place, with a libretto by Sandra Oyinloye, was written for DOC’s subsequent production, Heroes. She is the librettist and composer of The Fox and the Cookie, a children’s opera about The Golden Rule that world-premiered in 2023 at University of Texas El Paso.

You can find Maria and her projects here:

Website: https://mariacorley.com/

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to announce next guest, Chris Strayer, to The Story!

Chris Strayer grew up in Lititz, where he could be found hustling-- shoveling snow or sweeping floors to raise money for his first stage lighting purchase. His live event production career began at WJTL, where he produced local concerts and helped administer music festivals. With a passion for community service, Chris served as Chief on the Lancaster Haz-Mat team for several years, and continues to support community initiatives through volunteerism and services through his company, Stray Production Services. Stray is based on the Rock Lititz campus, and offers a full complement of audio visual, lighting and event design needs as well as a division focused on permanent systems integration. Chris lives in Lititz with his wife, three daughters, four chickens, three goats, one labrador, and one pet rabbit.

You can find Chris and his projects here:

Website: https://straypro.com/

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts

Super excited to announce new guest, Rachael Sage, to The Story!

Since founding her own label MPress Records two decades ago, NYC-based alt-pop artist Rachael Sage has steadily released a slew of vibrant, dynamic albums described by Goldmine Magazine as "mesmerizing...thoughtful, pensive and flush with an emotional flourish, all carefully and adeptly executed."

She has toured with an eclectic list of artists including Ani DiFranco, Beth Hart, Howard Jones, and Grammy winners Shawn Colvin and Judy Collins – with whom she also recorded a critically-acclaimed duet of Neil Young's "Helpless.”

In addition to being a six-time Independent Music Award-winning musician and producer, Sage is also a John Lennon Contest Grand Prize winner who has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, SXSW, and toured globally from Japan to Berlin with her band, The Sequins. Sage is also a visual artist and former ballet dancer who performed with the New York City Ballet. She is additionally a philanthropic advocate who has raised money for a wide range of causes, including WHY Hunger, American Refugee Committee, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital and National Network For Youth (NN4Y).

Her 2020 album Character yielded the Billboard-charting single "Blue Sky Days"; her latest project Poetica, an adventurous fusion of poetry with jazz, classical and Americana musical elements in the vein of Leonard Cohen and Laurie Anderson debuted in October 2021. Her current single “Whistle Blow” is out now and her next full-length album The Other Side is due in 2023.

You can find Rachael and her projects here:

Website: http://rachaelsage.com/

Find The Story Podcast here: coryrosenproductions.com/podcasts