# Finding Your Voice : Shrimpnose/Riley Smithson on Stuttering, Survival and The Sound that Set Him Free-Encore

An episode of [Music Saved Me Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1703080557), 1 Jul 2026, 24 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/ee29bc0a-f712-47d6-a49c-b25700f0582e/d78a8282-b739-4660-911f-b476011c3528/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=dfceda02-3624-42c7-b522-b25700f0584c

What happens when the thing you struggle with most becomes the very thing that saves you? In this encore episode, host Lynn Hoffman sits down with Riley Smithson — the LA-based electronic and hip-hop producer known as Shrimpnose — for a raw, unforgettable conversation about music as medicine, identity, and transformation. This Music Saved Me episode is a testament to the healing power of music. Riley Smithson grew up navigating the world with a stutter, a condition that shaped how he moved through life, how he connected with others, and ultimately, how he found his voice — not through words, but through sound. He opens up about the profound emotional weight of feeling unheard and how producing music became a form of self-expression that language alone couldn’t offer. What emerged from that struggle is a sonic identity that is entirely his own: innovative, genre-blending, and deeply human. In this episode, Riley Smithson and Lynn Hoffman explore the moment music shifted from a passion to a lifeline, the creative process behind his distinctive style, and why the healing power of music is never really about perfection — it’s about release. Whether you’re a longtime fan of Shrimpnose’s work or hearing his music saved me story for the first time, this conversation is a powerful reminder that our greatest challenges can become our most defining gifts. Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Music Saved Me.
[0:01] Speaker 2: We have to be a vessel for the music more
[0:06] Speaker 2: more than anything, because it's really easy to get stuck
[0:11] Speaker 2: and kind of hate what you're doing if it becomes
[0:15] Speaker 2: more of an intellectual thing than a feeling thing.
[0:17] Speaker 3: I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to another episode of the
[0:20] Speaker 3: Music Save Me Podcast, where we dig deep into the
[0:23] Speaker 3: healing forces of music. Today, we are so excited to
[0:27] Speaker 3: be joined by a producer and an incredible instrumentalist, Riley Smithson,
[0:33] Speaker 3: also known as aka shrimp Knows. Now.
[0:37] Speaker 1: Shrimp Knows knows the.
[0:38] Speaker 3: Healing power of music up close and personal from a
[0:40] Speaker 3: very young age, and we're so grateful that he's here
[0:43] Speaker 3: to share his story with us on Music Save Me.
[0:46] Speaker 3: Shrimp Knows, Welcome to the show. It's great to have
[0:48] Speaker 3: you here.
[0:49] Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here now.
[0:52] Speaker 3: First I want to offer some congratulations because you just
[0:54] Speaker 3: performed it one of Canada's biggest electronic music festivals. I
[0:58] Speaker 3: believe it's called Shambala.
[1:00] Speaker 2: Yep, that's the one.
[1:01] Speaker 3: And also I think a little magazine called DJ Magazine
[1:05] Speaker 3: just named you the up and coming emerging artist to
[1:08] Speaker 3: watch for. So thank you for being here at the
[1:11] Speaker 3: custank you so much just blowing up.
[1:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's all the stuff i'd take in stride.
[1:20] Speaker 2: I'm thankful for it, but try not to get too
[1:25] Speaker 2: hyped up for myself about things.
[1:28] Speaker 1: You need to fit through the doorway.
[1:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
[1:32] Speaker 3: Well, I read that you started playing the drums at
[1:36] Speaker 3: the age of five, and it was more so a
[1:40] Speaker 3: means for you to be able to communicate, which I
[1:43] Speaker 3: think is really interesting. It wasn't necessarily just because you
[1:45] Speaker 3: loved to play the drums. Can you sort of connect
[1:50] Speaker 3: us with a little bit about that time and what
[1:52] Speaker 3: brought you to connecting with music?
[1:56] Speaker 2: Sure, of course. So my dad got me a drum
[1:59] Speaker 2: kit when I was about about four or five, and
[2:03] Speaker 2: at the same time I developed a speach impediment that
[2:08] Speaker 2: I still have. It's improved quite a bit the last
[2:12] Speaker 2: few years, but growing up it was pretty hard in
[2:15] Speaker 2: school and making friends and stuff like that. And my
[2:21] Speaker 2: mom and dad are both in a band together and
[2:24] Speaker 2: have have been my whole life, and they play with
[2:29] Speaker 2: the band on the weekends. So growing up I would
[2:33] Speaker 2: often be at home alone without much to do other
[2:37] Speaker 2: than play instruments and kind of teach myself how to
[2:41] Speaker 2: play instruments, and yeah, that was always felt like a
[2:46] Speaker 2: language I could be fluent in a lot more easily,
[2:50] Speaker 2: you know it? There, How do I put this? I
[2:56] Speaker 2: didn't have blocks or obstacles in my way when I
[3:00] Speaker 2: was playing drums or playing guitar or whatever it was,
[3:04] Speaker 2: which kind of made me fall in love with that
[3:09] Speaker 2: so to speak.
[3:10] Speaker 3: Do you think that, basically, when you look back at
[3:13] Speaker 3: that time in your life, that that was the moment
[3:15] Speaker 3: that you realized how powerful it was? I mean, were
[3:17] Speaker 3: you even did you comprehend that even at that early age?
[3:22] Speaker 2: It Since I was a little kid, it's always been
[3:24] Speaker 2: what I've wanted to do. To be honest, I had
[3:27] Speaker 2: other interests also, I wanted to you know, I liked
[3:32] Speaker 2: paleontology when I was a little kid. Yeah, complete opposite,
[3:39] Speaker 2: but yeah, it was always the thing that made me
[3:43] Speaker 2: feel good and felt natural and was something I felt
[3:47] Speaker 2: good at without having to try too hard. And it's
[3:53] Speaker 2: having something that made me feel expressed was important growing
[3:59] Speaker 2: up when I couldn't verbally express myself all the time
[4:02] Speaker 2: the way that I wanted to. That's right.
[4:03] Speaker 3: I read that you there were times that you couldn't
[4:06] Speaker 3: talk at all, that you just couldn't express anything. That
[4:10] Speaker 3: must have been extremely frustrating, especially as a kid growing up.
[4:15] Speaker 2: And yeah, yeah, and the hard thing too, was in school.
[4:19] Speaker 2: A lot of teachers even didn't understand what I was
[4:22] Speaker 2: going through. And the speech pathologists at the school I
[4:25] Speaker 2: went to weren't good people. Frankly, they the methods that
[4:32] Speaker 2: they were teaching me didn't They weren't for me, didn't
[4:35] Speaker 2: make me feel good. And yeah, it was just incredibly
[4:40] Speaker 2: frustrating not being able to say how I was feeling.
[4:44] Speaker 2: And it really led to me struggling a lot with
[4:48] Speaker 2: my self esteem and anxiety. You know, a lot of
[4:52] Speaker 2: people think that having a stutter stems from anxiety, but
[4:57] Speaker 2: really it's the other way around. Like I'll I'll get
[5:00] Speaker 2: caught up on a word and that's why I'm anxious.
[5:03] Speaker 2: I'm not. It's not like I feel anxious first and
[5:06] Speaker 2: then I get stuck on a word. You know. It's
[5:09] Speaker 2: it's kind of interesting.
[5:10] Speaker 3: Yeah, you would definitely not think that it would be
[5:13] Speaker 3: the backwards.
[5:14] Speaker 1: Yeah, incredible.
[5:16] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very much so like a neurological thing. It
[5:20] Speaker 2: shares a lot of the same neurological pathways.
[5:23] Speaker 1: Is herrets interesting?
[5:31] Speaker 3: Is there any connection with that and maybe dyslexia as well.
[5:37] Speaker 2: I don't know. I actually don't know. That's that's a
[5:39] Speaker 2: good question to ask.
[5:41] Speaker 3: That's what I have continuously fought with my whole life,
[5:45] Speaker 3: and I wonder.
[5:45] Speaker 1: If that's that's connected. That's I'm going to look into that.
[5:48] Speaker 1: I'll let you know what I find out.
[5:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody's smarter than I might might have an answer.
[5:55] Speaker 1: You have.
[5:56] Speaker 3: You talked about being at home and learning about how
[5:59] Speaker 3: to play instruments, or rather learning how to play instruments
[6:03] Speaker 3: on your own, and that's that sent and of itself
[6:06] Speaker 3: something very special. What was what was the thing that
[6:10] Speaker 3: drove you to want to play so many instruments? I mean,
[6:14] Speaker 3: you play a lot of instruments.
[6:18] Speaker 2: That one just availability they were. I had drums and
[6:23] Speaker 2: guitars and the bass guitar and all that at home,
[6:26] Speaker 2: So it was around and wanting to have a fuller
[6:32] Speaker 2: spectrum of expression. I suppose one thing that's kind of interesting.
[6:37] Speaker 2: I'm left handed, and I play all my instruments backwards.
[6:42] Speaker 2: Like a lot of people, if they're left handed, they'll
[6:46] Speaker 2: buy a left handed guitar or those string of guitar
[6:53] Speaker 2: backwards so they can play it that way. But I
[6:56] Speaker 2: just flip it upside down and play it upside down.
[6:59] Speaker 2: It's kind of not super common. Basically, any guitar teacher
[7:05] Speaker 2: would tell you not to do.
[7:06] Speaker 3: That, Yeah, that's for sure. But then again, they would
[7:08] Speaker 3: tell you that you have to read music.
[7:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, which I also don't know how to do right.
[7:13] Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's not necessary to make music. Yeah, although
[7:17] Speaker 3: we're probably making people cringe right now.
[7:22] Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I don't know. There's a lot of
[7:25] Speaker 2: professionally trained musicians and instrumentalists that can write music and
[7:30] Speaker 2: play music really perfectly, but can't write music or you
[7:34] Speaker 2: know what I mean. They have a hard time improvising.
[7:37] Speaker 2: I don't know. I would much prefer being able to
[7:40] Speaker 2: improvise to be to being able to read charts.
[7:44] Speaker 1: I agree. I agree.
[7:45] Speaker 3: It's like being a good chef. You just take you experiment. Yeah,
[7:49] Speaker 3: and it's more fun that way. What significance did Garage Band,
[7:52] Speaker 3: one of my favorite all time games of all time,
[7:55] Speaker 3: have in play a role in your journey.
[8:00] Speaker 2: In gosh In probably seventh or eighth grade, I was
[8:06] Speaker 2: pretty young. I used it to make like a class
[8:11] Speaker 2: project I made. I had never recorded or produced anything before,
[8:19] Speaker 2: but I made like a song for a video for
[8:22] Speaker 2: a class project, and I realized how I could make
[8:28] Speaker 2: music on a computer and how cool that could be.
[8:31] Speaker 2: I didn't really get into production production until a couple
[8:35] Speaker 2: years later, in my senior year, I got my first
[8:39] Speaker 2: computer and took it a little more seriously. But yeah,
[8:44] Speaker 2: I guess a class project was what made me start
[8:47] Speaker 2: to experiment in that realm.
[8:48] Speaker 1: That's really cool.
[8:49] Speaker 3: On a side note, I have to tell you I
[8:51] Speaker 3: had a class project when I was young as well,
[8:53] Speaker 3: and I brought in music as an example. But this
[8:57] Speaker 3: is going way back because I'm old, and I brought
[9:00] Speaker 3: in a copy of the song Frankenstein, the rock song
[9:05] Speaker 3: I'm not even going to tell you because it's so old.
[9:09] Speaker 3: And I played the whole thing just because it had
[9:12] Speaker 3: the very first time they used synthesizers and music.
[9:15] Speaker 1: That's how cool.
[9:17] Speaker 3: And I had to make the whole class wait for
[9:20] Speaker 3: the synthesizers to play, which didn't happen to the end
[9:22] Speaker 3: of the song. Teacher, I remember, she just looked baffled,
[9:26] Speaker 3: like that was very interesting.
[9:28] Speaker 1: Thanks for show and tell today. I've never told that story.
[9:32] Speaker 1: I just had to tell you because it was so similar.
[9:35] Speaker 2: I love it.
[9:35] Speaker 3: But back to you do you recall what exactly or
[9:40] Speaker 3: when you found this incredible strength within yourself to be
[9:44] Speaker 3: secure and embracing your imperfections.
[9:48] Speaker 2: Great question. I don't know. I think just going through
[9:54] Speaker 2: the tumults of being an adult, a young adult, a
[9:58] Speaker 2: twenty you know, eighty in the twenty five year old.
[10:02] Speaker 2: There's a lot of personal stuff that people go through
[10:07] Speaker 2: that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to
[10:10] Speaker 2: relationships and friends passing and you know, things like that.
[10:15] Speaker 2: And I don't know. I think I'm I won't say
[10:20] Speaker 2: I'm the most confident person in the world, but when
[10:23] Speaker 2: it comes to music, I try to not get in
[10:27] Speaker 2: my own way too much. I kind of I think
[10:29] Speaker 2: it's important to let If I write a song, I
[10:34] Speaker 2: try to let it be what it wants to be,
[10:36] Speaker 2: and I try not to overcontextualize it too much or
[10:40] Speaker 2: think about how it could be better. You know, I
[10:43] Speaker 2: try more so to feel how it could be better
[10:45] Speaker 2: than think how it could be better, because I can
[10:48] Speaker 2: get in my own way if I think about it
[10:50] Speaker 2: too much.
[10:50] Speaker 3: Yes, because being a good producer is really cut into
[10:54] Speaker 3: the meat of it, as opposed to because you could
[10:56] Speaker 3: linger for you're birthing a child. Basically you're like your
[11:00] Speaker 3: inner thoughts and personal feelings out through music exactly.
[11:05] Speaker 2: It's not an easy thing, not at all. Yeah, I think, yeah,
[11:09] Speaker 2: we have to be a vessel for the music more
[11:13] Speaker 2: than more than anything, because it's really easy to get
[11:19] Speaker 2: stuck and kind of hate what you're doing if it
[11:22] Speaker 2: becomes more of an intellectual thing than a feeling thing.
[11:26] Speaker 1: That's for sure.
[11:28] Speaker 3: Tell us about some of the artists who to this
[11:30] Speaker 3: day have made a connection to you and who have
[11:32] Speaker 3: helped you through some of the tough times.
[11:36] Speaker 2: Absolutely, Gosh, I could go on and on about this.
[11:41] Speaker 2: God I would say. I would say the producer Shlomo
[11:46] Speaker 2: was the first, first one I got really really obsessed with,
[11:50] Speaker 2: and in that vein also gold Panda, Flying Lotus. But
[11:58] Speaker 2: in the last couple of years I've gone down more
[12:01] Speaker 2: of a folk route. I got pretty big into Bony
[12:07] Speaker 2: Ver and Elliott Smith and Alex g and just kind
[12:12] Speaker 2: of like the indie semi electronic folk route has kind
[12:19] Speaker 2: of hit the spot for me a lot more the
[12:21] Speaker 2: last couple of years.
[12:22] Speaker 3: I've been hearing a lot of it lately too, and
[12:25] Speaker 3: there's a lot of great stations now that are playing.
[12:29] Speaker 3: It's really my go to music now is electronic. Do
[12:33] Speaker 3: you find that happening a lot with people that you
[12:35] Speaker 3: talked to of all ages?
[12:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think the cool thing now is
[12:41] Speaker 2: that there used to be like a kind of a
[12:45] Speaker 2: connotation with electronic stuff that it was maybe just dubstep
[12:51] Speaker 2: or just house music, or it was very like genre focused.
[12:56] Speaker 2: But I think we're at a point now where it's
[13:01] Speaker 2: like listening music. It's it's a less genre and more feeling,
[13:06] Speaker 2: which I am excited about.
[13:08] Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to ask you about that. I talk
[13:10] Speaker 3: to a lot of artists, musicians, writers, but this new
[13:15] Speaker 3: form and I say new because it's not so new,
[13:18] Speaker 3: but it really is new for mainstream. Would you agree?
[13:23] Speaker 3: What is what is the quality of electronic music in
[13:29] Speaker 3: terms of how it strikes emotion even without like a
[13:33] Speaker 3: word song or spoken Yeah, what do you think it is?
[13:39] Speaker 2: Well? I think part of it now is that we're
[13:42] Speaker 2: at the point where we are trying to blend influences
[13:47] Speaker 2: and just me specifically, I in my music, I tend
[13:53] Speaker 2: to incorporate a lot of acoustic guitar, which is maybe
[13:58] Speaker 2: a little untraditional for most electronic artists, but it is
[14:04] Speaker 2: it's a very emotive instrument. You know you can. You
[14:09] Speaker 2: can really get a lot out of it and kind
[14:11] Speaker 2: of tell the listener what to feel, so to say,
[14:15] Speaker 2: I think that makes for an interesting route now that
[14:20] Speaker 2: we're trying to blend influences and take it in a
[14:24] Speaker 2: direction things haven't gone before.
[14:26] Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't always put your finger on it, but
[14:28] Speaker 3: there's there's just something special about it, and I mostly
[14:33] Speaker 3: do find myself listening to that, especially in the car.
[14:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really cool.
[14:39] Speaker 3: Can you describe how it feels when a fan shares
[14:42] Speaker 3: with you the positive impact that your music has had
[14:45] Speaker 3: on them and what it means to them?
[14:48] Speaker 2: Of course? Yeah, at first it was a little overwhelming. Honestly,
[14:52] Speaker 2: I didn't quite know how to receive it at first,
[14:56] Speaker 2: But now I definitely and very flattered anytime somebody has
[15:02] Speaker 2: something to say. People have told me songs of mine
[15:05] Speaker 2: have just saved their life. Somebody met their fiance through
[15:11] Speaker 2: a song of mine.
[15:13] Speaker 1: Can you tell that story real quick?
[15:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, So somebody was in a yoga class and a
[15:22] Speaker 2: song of mine was playing in the yoga class, and
[15:26] Speaker 2: after the class they went up to the teacher and
[15:28] Speaker 2: was like, Hey, what song was that was playing? And
[15:30] Speaker 2: it happened to be my song Cherish and they have
[15:35] Speaker 2: been in a loving relationship ever since.
[15:38] Speaker 1: Just because you went to ask the teacher the name
[15:41] Speaker 1: of that.
[15:42] Speaker 3: That's great, I know, right, Yeah, it just takes one
[15:46] Speaker 3: one thing and music is a big part of that.
[15:50] Speaker 3: And speaking of music, the World Pushed Against You is
[15:53] Speaker 3: your newest project. Can you tell us about the process
[15:56] Speaker 3: of creating it and some of your favorite songs that
[15:59] Speaker 3: we should be listening for.
[16:01] Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is a very I don't know if
[16:06] Speaker 2: like it's a dancier project than most of the stuff
[16:10] Speaker 2: I've released in the past for a couple of reasons. One,
[16:15] Speaker 2: I like performing quite a bit, and a lot of
[16:19] Speaker 2: my music in the past wasn't super performance oriented, so
[16:23] Speaker 2: I would find myself in this place where I would
[16:25] Speaker 2: have to make a bunch of music just to perform
[16:28] Speaker 2: and then not really have a way to release it
[16:31] Speaker 2: because it was like two worlds that I didn't know
[16:33] Speaker 2: how to bring together. But this is like my first
[16:36] Speaker 2: real attempt at trying to release an album that I
[16:40] Speaker 2: can play out, that other DJs can play out if
[16:43] Speaker 2: they want to. And I wanted it to be still
[16:47] Speaker 2: authentic and still like emotional music and still feel like me.
[16:52] Speaker 2: But yeah, it was. It was a great exercise in
[16:56] Speaker 2: trying to incorporate all my same elements but have it
[17:00] Speaker 2: be more dance floor. I guess appropriate. I would say
[17:07] Speaker 2: one song I'm particularly excited about on it is Destroyer
[17:13] Speaker 2: featuring gold Banda. He's he was one of the first
[17:18] Speaker 2: artists I got really into when I got into electronic stuff.
[17:23] Speaker 2: I toured with him last year a little bit, and
[17:27] Speaker 2: he's just a sweet guy and he sent me a
[17:31] Speaker 2: couple of modular loops and I kind of took over
[17:36] Speaker 2: the Collapse. I kind of just went crazy on it
[17:40] Speaker 2: because I was excited about it, and it ended up
[17:44] Speaker 2: being like a very cerebral, like seven minute long. It's
[17:49] Speaker 2: the longest song I've ever made. It's like a the
[17:52] Speaker 2: bpm on it starts slow, and throughout basically the whole song,
[17:55] Speaker 2: it speeds up slowly, so it's like kind of this
[17:58] Speaker 2: natural crescendo type thing. And yeah, I don't know, I
[18:03] Speaker 2: just felt like a creatively. It's something I'm proud of
[18:07] Speaker 2: because it's, uh, it pushes all the boundaries that I
[18:12] Speaker 2: like to push. It's maybe a little It's definitely not
[18:15] Speaker 2: a pop song, you know what I mean. It's not
[18:16] Speaker 2: something that would be on the radio. It's it's pretty weird,
[18:20] Speaker 2: but it's a personal favorite of mine.
[18:23] Speaker 3: More a little more upbeat than typically what visceral versus
[18:29] Speaker 3: like a visceral brooding dark sort of. This would be
[18:31] Speaker 3: a little more opposite of that.
[18:34] Speaker 2: It's still brooding. Sure it's a little bit in there
[18:38] Speaker 2: you go, but yeah, it's uh, it's just a journey.
[18:44] Speaker 2: I guess that sounds a little cliche to use that word,
[18:46] Speaker 2: but that's the best word I can think of.
[18:50] Speaker 3: I don't think it's cliche at all. But you know,
[18:52] Speaker 3: I do need to ask you something because I'm sure
[18:54] Speaker 3: there are some listening who are just learning about you
[18:57] Speaker 3: now and they want to know, like myself, you have
[19:01] Speaker 3: a beautiful nose. Where did the name shrimp nos come from?
[19:06] Speaker 1: Please explain?
[19:07] Speaker 3: Of course, there's a few people, just you know, I
[19:10] Speaker 3: can think of just two that pop in my head
[19:12] Speaker 3: that have a name like that. One would be meat
[19:14] Speaker 3: loaf and the other jelly roll. So nice, shrimp roll,
[19:19] Speaker 3: shrimp roll.
[19:20] Speaker 1: Shrimp nose is a very unique name.
[19:24] Speaker 2: So in high school, I had this really good friend Brandon.
[19:28] Speaker 2: He was a very eccentric guy. He would always be
[19:32] Speaker 2: saying eccentric, weird, stuff. And one day, as I was
[19:38] Speaker 2: pretty new into producing, maybe like a year or so in,
[19:42] Speaker 2: I was recording some clips of him to maybe use
[19:45] Speaker 2: in a song, just him being a goofy guy, and
[19:50] Speaker 2: out of nowhere he screams John shrimp nose. It used
[19:56] Speaker 2: to be John shrimp Nose. I cut the John off
[19:58] Speaker 2: a couple of years ago.
[20:01] Speaker 1: I love that and that and it just stuck from there.
[20:04] Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard it and I loved it immediately. It
[20:06] Speaker 2: was it doesn't mean anything, which I like. It doesn't
[20:10] Speaker 2: take itself too seriously, you.
[20:12] Speaker 1: Know, but it's catchy.
[20:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's catchy, simple, and it makes.
[20:18] Speaker 3: People want to come see you, just to see I hope.
[20:23] Speaker 3: So I have to say I was a little curious too.
[20:29] Speaker 3: You always wonder where people get their names from. But
[20:31] Speaker 3: I think that's really cool, and I think you're really cool.
[20:35] Speaker 3: Thank you for our listeners. Now, can you tell us
[20:38] Speaker 3: how music can lift you up and give whoever's listening
[20:42] Speaker 3: a greater confidence in their own life? Because you know
[20:46] Speaker 3: what you're what you struggle with on a daily basis,
[20:49] Speaker 3: it's sort of unimaginable that you could turn it around
[20:52] Speaker 3: and not only produce and create such amazing music that
[20:55] Speaker 3: helps others, but also get on stage and perform it
[20:58] Speaker 3: in front of them too. I mean that's huge in
[21:01] Speaker 3: and of itself. So what kind of advice would you
[21:04] Speaker 3: give to anyone listening right now?
[21:07] Speaker 2: Sure? Of course, So with my speech, I've struggled quite
[21:11] Speaker 2: a bit. It affects basically every part of my life.
[21:15] Speaker 2: It was the reason I dropped out of college. I
[21:18] Speaker 2: was having a really hard time participating in classes and
[21:22] Speaker 2: it affected my self esteem quite a bit. It affects
[21:25] Speaker 2: me ordering a cheeseburger at McDonald's, It affects stating, It
[21:31] Speaker 2: affects making friends at parties or meeting people professionally at shows.
[21:39] Speaker 2: Not to be too woe is me right now, But
[21:43] Speaker 2: my point is music has been one thing that I
[21:47] Speaker 2: can be in control of that brings me confidence through that,
[21:51] Speaker 2: And I think that's the really beautiful thing about it,
[21:56] Speaker 2: in the sense that the key to SICSS is just
[22:03] Speaker 2: consistency over time basically, so if you just commit yourself
[22:09] Speaker 2: to something, it will reward you the longer that you
[22:14] Speaker 2: commit yourself to it. And make music that makes me
[22:18] Speaker 2: feel good and I hope makes other people feel good.
[22:22] Speaker 2: I do make it primarily for myself. I know a
[22:24] Speaker 2: lot of artists try to make music for other people.
[22:28] Speaker 2: But I have no shame in saying I'm selfish and
[22:31] Speaker 2: I make it for myself because I like it.
[22:34] Speaker 1: I think that's the best stuff ever. I think that's
[22:37] Speaker 1: such great advice.
[22:38] Speaker 3: You should do what's good for you, and then if
[22:42] Speaker 3: it resonates with others, that only gives you more fuel
[22:44] Speaker 3: for the fire to keep going, as opposed to trying
[22:47] Speaker 3: to figure out what everyone wants to hear or see.
[22:51] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, if you want confidence through music, you gotta
[22:56] Speaker 2: primarily do it for yourself. You know, you got to
[22:59] Speaker 2: make what you want to here. You got to know
[23:01] Speaker 2: what you like and what you don't like. You know,
[23:04] Speaker 2: don't go along with something that's popular and that you
[23:07] Speaker 2: don't like. I can be, what's the word, pretty picky musically.
[23:12] Speaker 2: There's a lot that I don't like, But me knowing
[23:16] Speaker 2: that I don't like it informs me as to what
[23:19] Speaker 2: I do like, and you know, helps, it helps the process.
[23:23] Speaker 2: So just be be sure of what you like and
[23:26] Speaker 2: what you don't like, and try to make things that
[23:29] Speaker 2: you do like. I suppose no, and what.
[23:31] Speaker 3: You said nails it hard work. I mean, just keep
[23:33] Speaker 3: working at it, keep doing it. The more prolific you are,
[23:37] Speaker 3: eventually it does pan out.
[23:40] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[23:40] Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's great advice, and thank you so much for
[23:44] Speaker 3: sharing your power. It's a very powerful story that you
[23:48] Speaker 3: have to share with people, and I think it's it's
[23:50] Speaker 3: an amazing story and I'm so happy for you, and
[23:52] Speaker 3: I'm so glad that you want to wanted to come
[23:54] Speaker 3: on Music Save Me to share your story. Riley Smithson
[23:58] Speaker 3: Shrimp Knows come back and visit us again on Music
[24:01] Speaker 3: Save Me.
[24:02] Speaker 2: Will do. Yeah, absolutely, good.
[24:04] Speaker 3: Luck with everything you have going on. You are the
[24:06] Speaker 3: one to watch, so we'll be watching you.
[24:08] Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you,

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.