Season Nine Is Calling

A season closes, the band tunes up, and the curtain rises on something bigger. We’re taking the gratitude and grit of season eight and channeling it into a music-forward season nine—without losing the range that made this community special. From testimony services and cat rescues to authors who turned pain into pages, the last run proved that honest stories travel farther than hype. Now we’re turning the spotlight toward musicians and multi-hyphenates who write, play, sing, produce, and perform—and we’re asking them to bring the process, not just the polish.

You’ll hear about a gifted young pianist and vocalist we can’t wait to reveal, plus the return of a longtime collaborator—once known as Dr. John Thomas, now performing as Nathaniel —releasing a new song and opening up about identity, resilience, and craft. We’re also inviting ministers, evangelists, business owners, authors, and even a few civic voices to widen the lens. The goal is simple: surface the moments where a voice is found, lost, and found again, and map how community, faith, and work keep people moving forward.

We talk platform strategy with candor—why iHeartRadio and BuzzSprout fit our growth—and give flowers to the creatives who shape the visuals and reels that extend the show’s reach. Health and sustainability weave through the plan as well, with vegan experts sharing practical swaps and daily habits. And yes, the heartbeat stays the same: Reaching for the Stars by Chris Murphy Elliott remains our cue to stretch, to honor craft, and to show up for each other.

If you’ve been listening, sharing, or subscribing, you’re part of this sound. Hit follow, send this to a friend who loves music and real stories, and drop a review with the guest or topic you want to hear next—who should take the mic?

Music

Show end

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open And Sinatra Joke
• 3:44 Season Eight Gratitude
• 6:24 Standout Guests And Moments
• 10:05 Pivoting Into Season Nine
• 12:29 Platforms, Growth, And Fit
• 15:19 Shoutouts To Creative Collaborators
• 19:29 Returning Guests And New Stories

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:49

That's how we got too freed.

SPEAKER_01: 1:55

I'm reaching the sword. That song is in my mind. I was thinking about Pranks andatra today and it just um I don't know, just think about sometimes I think about uh stars like I love the stars of the fifties and forties and the thirties and the twenties. And sometimes I think about them and I just start just thinking about them and I go watch their movies or whatever, but I was thinking about Pranks Sinatra today and it just like crossed my mind and my guy. It's like you're pranking Sinatra. So I I hope you understand what I'm saying. I wouldn't talk too fast. If somebody said, Don't do your Pamela Anderson I'm not trying to do Pamela Anderson, guys. But I come here today to talk about season nine, yay, of my podcast. And um I'm really truly excited about that. Who's excited about that besides me? Season nine is right up on us. Yay. In the background you hear my theme song Reaching for the Stars created, composed beautifully by Chris Murphy Elliott. What a talented individual. I hope I can get him on my podcast in season nine. I'm hoping. All of my fingers are crossed. Anyways, I'm gonna talk about season eight, how wonderful it was. Um, we have come to the end of season eight. Um, and it was such a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful season with great artists and singers, musicians, uh, preachers, ministers. Um, and I'm so thankful to every guest that was a part of my show in season eight. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I had such a great time with the authors, um Andrea Mohammed and uh Murphy Elliott talking about his life over time and just different things. And it was just really beautiful. And the ministers that came on, uh um Elder Leonard Davis and his um his team, you know, they they did a testimony service and then we had uh Dunamas Power come on and speak and preach and pray. And it was just uh beautiful. This entire season was amazing. We had um Gerada Taylor come on and she spoke about in one of the episodes she spoke about her mother, and she talked about um in one of the episodes she talked about love because she's married now. So um I'm really excited the way the season has gone. We had some, like I said, we had wonderful guests, we had uh the amazing Jerry Clay Hayes with our Rescue Cats um Incorporated, and many, many more. We had many others, but I just want to thank those who were part of season eight. Now I'm stepping into season nine, where there would be uh multitudes of musicians in this one. Once upon a time I used to just um cater to all the musicians, but I'd never left them out, so I didn't know how that sounds, but I never left the musicians out. Yeah. Always, always, always there. Always. So the musicians will be a great big part of season nine. Um I got a young man who is multi-talented, gifted on piano, and he can sing, he can write, he can dance. I mean he's really amazing. I am not gonna give it out and give it away just yet. I'm gonna wait till I start promoting it. So because I know a lot of people waiting, like who's she talking about? Okay. Anyway, anyway, anyway, I'm gonna promote it at that time. But yeah, anyway, promise then. Um so I'm really excited about stepping into season nine. I plan to talk to more ministers, more um evangelists, more politicians, more business owners, more authors, more singers, musicians, composers, producers, you name it. I want to bring that story of people of all walks of life because that's what my podcast is about. This was always been about. Uh, for many years I did it solo. I just talked about stories from all walks of life, but now I'm bringing you people and their stories from all walks of life, so really and truly very excited. So Julie joined me for season nine, uh, starting I think the third week of um February. Uh we may decide to start it um Valentine's week. I'm not sure yet, but you would definitely know like ahead of time. I'm truly excited about it. I am thankful to iHeartRadio, where my podcast is hitting hitting very, very big, is doing really great things up, very great numbers, and um so thankful to BuzzSprout as well. And um because for many years I had my podcast over Spotify, and I don't knock Spotify at all. They're a great um platform, but it's just that iHeartRadio, BuzzSprout, iHeartRadio has been um a better choice for my for my podcast. I know that I hope that makes sense because sometimes you have to go with what fits better. It's like trying on shoes. You know, some's gonna fit, some's gonna be too big. Some's gonna be too far too small. And my feet is a size five, so um that's five and a half. Five and a half. So I'm so thankful to everyone who's been a part of my podcast. I want to thank the people who are in the background, uh, not necessarily in the background, but I want to thank Murphy Elliott, who has been on my show, uh, who's created some beautiful paintings and drawings of me from my real pictures. So if people are wondering, oh those are real pictures, those are actually my real pictures. And he made the most beautiful drawings. He's so talented, oh my god. Um we then we got um Stephen Paul, who uh actually down through the years I've known him for um since 2004, I believe. I've known Stephen Paul for a very long time. We used to talk when he was a painter. I used to call him. I said, Are you going to work now? I used to call him flirt with him. I'm sorry, I just gotta tell the truth. And um so um, anyways, we've been known each other for a very long time, Stephen Paul and I. Um, and I thank him for just creating so many beautiful pictures, uh, using my pictures to create more beautiful pictures. And he did a great job over the years. I wanna thank my friend in England, Stephen Erskine. Erskine. Now, Stephen, if I don't have your name right, please, please call me. We'll talk about it. You gotta tell me the proper way to pronounce your last name because I'm gonna be talking about you a lot. And I thank you so much. You see those beautiful reels from my podcast? Steven Erskine. Oh my god. Did I bump your name again? I'm sorry. Um he is uh uh responsible for those beautiful reels that you see. He's responsible for the posters. Great job, great job, Steven, Steve. Another Steve! So thank you so much. You do a great job, and I appreciate you so much. Um, he always check in with me to see how I'm doing, and he checked in with me to see what do I need anything. We got a great working relationship, and I want to continue to keep that because you know I love that so much. You know, to have someone that I can just call on and say, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. And all the guys I just mentioned, they've just been wonderful. Now there are other people in the background that did not want their name out there because they're in the background, they want to stay in the background. So that's cool. And uh some of them are pretty well known, so I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna call your name. I know you're sitting in watching, I know you're listening. I know you're listening, I'm not gonna say your name, okay? I promise I'm not gonna say your name. But um they're in the background and they just do things for me and to help me, and I appreciate them as well very much. Um, I gotta be thankful for everything and everybody. I thank um my brother Elder Davis for his prayers, and I am so thankful not just to him for his prayers, but I got other people who are praying for me, because we got people that pray sincerely for you, you gotta be very thankful to for that. So season nine, we're stepping into season nine, guys. I hope you are ready because I have musicians. I have some musicians, I will have some people who has been on the show in season eight. They're going to return to talk about some other uh projects that they have. So uh you guys enjoyed uh Andrea Andrea Mohammed. Andrea Mohammed. You guys enjoyed her talking about her book, uh, how she lost her voice. Oh my god, it was so strong. Um, I have some more great authors and musicians talking about similar things, you know, and she said in her interview that it's not just guys that I mean girls that women that go through what she went through, she said guys like that out there too. And it's so true. So I have such a person that went through the same thing that Andrea Mohammed went through, it's just a guy, and it's someone that I've worked very closely with over the years um as a producer. And uh he worked on our last record, as a matter of fact, uh he went by the name Dr. John Thomas, but he now goes by the name Nasaniel, and he just uh recorded a beautiful song. Uh he's releasing it, and he's gonna be one of my very first guests. So I'm really excited to bring you season nine. I hope you guys are ready. I'm ready, I'm ready, as ready can be. Um, I do receive a lot of emails for people that want to be on the podcast. Um with my team, we go through and say, okay, let's let's let's call this person, let's call that person, let's reach out to this person. And sometimes we'll see people online that really inspire me. Their music may inspire me, like Haley Jones, the gospel uh singer. Uh the music inspired me so much that I reach out to um their team to see if I uh get them on the podcast. So thank you all so much again for um being a support to my podcast. If you are a subscriber, a monthly subscriber, I do thank you. I will be having special things just for you and then coming up, very special things coming up for the ones who are subscribers, because you you deserve something really wonderful. You really do, you really do, if you subscribe to my podcast. But if you listen to it, if you listen to my podcast, if you support it by sharing it with other people, if you support it by I mean, again, just listening means a lot to me. People just don't know when you listen to something, it means a whole whole lot. So I think thank you so much. Um I do have some professionals who know what they're talking about coming on talking about um vegan products because I'm vegan, I've been vegan since 2001. It was a health decision that I made that that that choice was made due through a health decision. I don't judge other people on what they eat. I I can't tell you what to put into your body. I just know what's best for me and what I like putting into my body, so um, but when people want chips or what have you, I I I'm ready to uh share my tips with people, you know? And there's a lot of people that always want my tips say, hey, can you tell me how to make such and such? So can you tell me how to make this or that or and I tell them my favorite thing, I drink a little bit of pineapple juice every single day. I love it, it's so good. There's two things that I drink, three things that I drink every single day. Water, number one, and we all know we gotta have water. I I love cucumbers. I make cucumber juice. I love cucumber juice, I really do. Sometimes I I'll I'll juice a cucumber and and make it, and I love cucumbers on my salad, and I do, I do, and I love celery juice as well, but my favorite juice I have to say is pineapple juice. And someone told me one day they say this way when you but kissing on your cheeks, you're so sweet. I thought it was so funny. But I mean sc I don't know people that eat crazy things like that, but anyways, yeah, we'll be talking to some people who are vegans and they are will be sharing some of their tips and recipes and for people that are as interested in just um trying a vegan dish for one week or one day. So thank you so much. I do appreciate everyone who's supported me through my journey. I thank Chris Murphy Elliott for writing that beautiful song, Reaching for the Stars. Oh my god, that song is is my podcast. I'll say it forever. Reaching for the Stars is my podcast. You know that when people hear that, they're like, Alright, here it is, here comes Routine of Swords podcast coming on. So gotta thank Chris for that. So thanks again. I hope you all are safe and being safe out there, and join me as we step into season nine uh mid February. Have a great day. God bless you, and thanks once again,