Interviews

Hit songwriter Jesse Lee tells the story behind Kelsea Ballerini's "Peter Pan" and gives some wit and wisdom for newbie songwriters.

When Menken began film-scoring at Disney nearly 20 years ago, the tuneful magic had almost disappeared from the Magic Kingdom. “When I came aboard at Disney, Howard Ashman and I reintroduced that style,” Menken says. “We said, ‘Here are some things that are intrinsic to Disney.’ ”

He talks about his writing process, being mistaken for Beto O’Rourke and how he uses Garageband for everything.

"Since I began writing songs that are political and social songs, they have always been accompanied by some of my personal songs," confesses the slight 60-year-old musician. It is not an apology or a compromise, but the state-as he's seen it-of truly working from his deepest places.

What was a momentum-killer then, now more than holds up in modern light. An operatic take on downtown street life, it examined complexities of lust and obsession, jealousy and addiction's bottomless pit.

As for the late Donald Gardner, his stroke of genius happened back in 1944 while he was teaching a class of "almost toothless" youngsters at Smithtown Elementary School in Long Island, New York.

Written by: David Starr and John OatesRecorded by: David StarrLet’s start off with a few lowballs! What comes first for you - the music or...

photos by Julia DavisFor the full text of this interview, please go to Drinks With: Phoenix.During the past 12 months, the band Phoenix has made one of the more proper, and satisfying, foreign invasions on American music in recent...

There's really no other songwriter whose work touches the places Taylor's does.

“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” Written by: Jörgen Elofsson, Ali Tamposi, David Gamson, Greg Kurstin Recorded by: Kelly Clarkson Peak Chart Position: No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 Walk us through a typical Day in the life of Ali Tamposi. Ali Tamposi: I wake up,...