• subscribe
  • Search
  • Balancing Dreams and Reality: A Folk Debate on Ambition
    Sign Up For Weekly Dispatch
    Get the best of BGS delivered to your inbox.
    We Respect Your Privacy
Roots Culture Redefined

Header Main

Place Ads

Balancing Dreams and Reality: A Folk Debate on Ambition

Sep 12, 2024

Balancing Dreams and Reality: A Folk Debate on Ambition

Welcome to another edition of Folk Debate Club, our occasional debate series! To discuss ambition vs. acceptance, we welcome our panel: music journalist Kim Ruehl, Basic Folk boss Cindy Howes, and yours truly Lizzie No. We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our special guests singer-songwriter Michaela Anne and producer Aaron Shafer-Haiss, also hosts of The Other 22 Hours podcast. In our lively conversation we work through thoughts and feelings about the definition of ambition: a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. We take the approach from a music industry, folk music and even dive into the audience perspective of how fans might feel about an artist’s ambition.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

It is no surprise that capitalism gets rung right out as a reason that ambition goes wrong for artists. As Kim says, “​Art ​is ​like ​the ​nervous ​system ​of ​humanity,” and mixing creation with ambition-gone-wrong is a dangerous game that a lot (most?) professional musicians play with at some point in their careers. This episode has everything: navigating our way out of toxic work environments, messy reactions to unpopular yet important political stances and how to not throw away the people who disagree with you. Listen along and enjoy the ride.


Photo Credit: Lizzie No by Cole Neilson; Cindy Howes by Liz Dutton; Michaela Anne and producer Aaron Shafer-Haiss; Kim Ruehl by Rich Amory

Suggested Reads


Sitewide Footer Banner

Balancing Dreams and Reality: A Folk Debate on Ambition
Balancing Dreams and Reality: A Folk Debate on Ambition