Da’ Healerz — fronted by Nashville-based emcees Lord Goldie and Foundation Mecca — have just been accepted into Music to Life‘s Juried Artist program, a nationwide program “dedicated to cultivating and empowering a network of musician change agents.”
A national non-profit founded by 60’s civil rights icon Noel Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul & Mary), Music to Life provides Juried Artists with opportunities to promote their work, train as a change agent through their Musician Changemaker Accelerator program, and engage in theirNational Changemaker Network of like-minded artists and collaborators.
The news comes on the heels of a successful 2025 for Da’ Healerz — one which saw the duo celebrate the release of their Heal Talk EP by hosting live Heal Talk Experience performance and talkback sessions, launching Da’ Healerz Circle podcast, and performing across the Southeast, with notable stops at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) and NOLA MusiCon.
Learn more about Da’ Healerz — Music to Life’s newest Juried Artist — at musictolife.org.
In any sense, leadership begins with an example. The best leaders are those who are willing to make the first effort. They’re often the first to arrive, and the last to leave. When they communicate expectations, they are willing and able to follow up with a demonstration. True leaders will never ask someone to do something they wouldn’t. Leaders understand the operation and can step in whenever needed… but they know when and what to delegate, and empower those around them to seize opportunities.
True leaders are not threatened by your growth. Instead, they encourage it, because they know that the success of any community rests on their ability to develop prominent, capable, impactful leaders.
Leaders don’t gatekeep; they open doors to new possibilities.
Leaders don’t dictate; they communicate.
Leaders don’t micromanage; they guide.
Leaders listen and encourage healthy discussion, and remain calm and measured when delivering feedback. Leaders hold others *and* themselves accountable to the same standards. In times of conflict, leaders work toward solutions that make all involved parties better.
Leaders build and participate in a community in order to understand its needs, and to determine how they are best equipped to serve those needs. Leaders are not interested in power, but in doing their part as tone-setters to produce impact at the collective and individual levels. To accomplish this, leaders must have good judgment as to when and how to get involved – and sometimes, that means stepping back from the spotlight to let others shine. Leaders don’t need credit for your accomplishments. Seeing you achieve is credit enough, as it signals your emergence from the stable, nurturing environment they have helped produce.
Leadership is not a trait or a title bestowed upon us from somebody else. It’s an intrinsic understanding of the challenges facing our communities, and our ability to produce solutions.
Regardless of title, experience level, or one’s station in life, there is a leader inside each of us.
We find that leader by first getting in touch with our own values, utilizing our experiences and the perspectives gained to inform our idea of a better world. We adopt the consistent actions that align with those values, and make it our mission to address anything standing in the way. From there, our vision takes shape. What does that better world look like? Sound like? Feel like? What impact is brought about by the change we create, and who benefits?
How is that impact bigger than any one individual’s success?
Once we’ve answered that question, it becomes much easier to attract and build alongside our fellow builders. We offer each other support, accountability, and guidance. We approach each other with humility and respect for the unique perspectives, traits, and abilities that each individual possesses. All the while, each individual’s sword is sharpened by the growing sense of community. As we continue leading ourselves to do our part, the example we set inspires those around us to develop the leader within.
Leaders produce more leaders, and leaders grow together.
P.S.: We’re growing our own international community of leaders – artists and creatives alike – as we re-define the music industry. If this piece resonated with you, consider becoming an UnderDog!
Over the course of his career, Joel Kaiser has worn a number of creative hats: songwriter, performer, graphic designer, brand expert, festival organizer, and more. Now, he steps into the music tech space as the co-founder of First Rule, a ‘human-first’ company that employs AI to give artists control over how their Musical Essence is used throughout the ecosystem.
Joel joins us for an in-depth conversation on the state of art, creativity, and technology, while previewing the first annual Music City Make-a-Thon, taking place in Nashville from March 23-28.
This episode of The Quinn Spinn was recorded and produced at The Russell, a historic East Nashville church converted into a boutique hotel:https://russellnashville.com
We met Austin Breckenridge of The A&R Foundation last year during SXSW. We loved their mission, and we knew we had to work together.
Just about a year later, we’re bringing their Music Business Accelerator program to Nashville for the first time — and it’s an exclusive offering for the UnderDogs!
With 2026 now in full swing, different levels bring different devils. A new year means new challenges and opportunities, and that means digging in and doing the work as the story unfolds.
There will be highs. There will be lows. There are lessons in both. It’s all a part of the process…
For independent creatives, producing art is just one piece of the puzzle. To build a fully functioning creative ecosystem — and turn it into a viable career — there comes a time when we must all get down to business.
That means leaning into a world that may be entirely new, and learning a whole bunch of things that you don’t yet know. Once it becomes business, things get serious. The pitfalls in this strange wilderness seem to multiply. The question of “what if I fail?” becomes more prevalent.
Scary, isn’t it?
It doesn’t have to be. In fact, we’re teaming up with The A&R Foundation based out of Austin, TX to make it feel like a breeze. We’re excited to offer their Music Business Accelerator cohort for the first time ever in Nashville — and it’s free to all current UnderDogs members!
Music Business Accelerator is a 12-week program tailored for performing musicians and creative arts businesses within the music ecosystem who are looking to strengthen business acumen and build sustainable, long-term creative ventures.
The program is divided into two core tracks:
Entrepreneurial Fundamentals: Covering the foundations of starting, structuring, and operating a creative business.
Music Business Essentials: Diving into industry specific topics, real world application, and developing a healthier, more intentional relationship with money.
Throughout the program, you will gain practical tools, frameworks, and guidance you can immediately apply to your careers, whether you are just getting started or looking to level up an existing project.
The Music Business Accelerator is offered for FREE. The only two requirements to apply are that 1) you live in the greater Nashville area (because sessions take place in-person) and 2) you are a current UnderDogs member. You can learn more about how to join here.
Once you become an UnderDog, you can apply to be considered any time between now and Friday, March 6 at 11:59 p.m. CT. Selected applicants will be notified no later than March 11, 2026, and the program is scheduled to begin on April 4, 2026 for orientation and end on June 27, 2026. A tentative graduation celebration is scheduled for July 18, 2026.
About The A&R Foundation The A&R Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Texas nonprofit entity dedicated to transforming creative passions into sustainable businesses, by providing independent musicians and creative arts businesses with tools, resources, and education on entrepreneurship.
You already know that we’re planning to make a return trip to the beautiful Canadian province of Ontario for this year’s Gussapolooza. Canada’s premier indie music festival will take place this year August 21-23 at the Georgian Bay Steam Show Grounds in Cookstown, just an hour or so north of Toronto. Three days of camping, community, arts, culture, and incredible live music will ensue.
About that “incredible live music” part: you still have a chance to be a part of this year’s Gussapolooza lineup — but only if you apply by this Saturday, January 31 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
After that, submissions will be closed, and the festival braintrust will begin crafting this year’s lineup. If you want to be a part of the magic with us and the whole Gussapolooza family, we encourage you to apply here!
This past Sunday, January 18 marked 10 years since we officially launched.
Things looked a bit different back then. For one thing, Nashville was not yet a twinkle in our eyes. We were based in Bethlehem, PA, where we opened our digital doors to little fanfare as the plucky upstart, Lehigh Valley Underground.
I had just moved back to Bethlehem, my college town, the previous spring. I had worked as Event Staff for ArtsQuest since Musikfest 2014, and secured a PR & Marketing Coordinator job right next door at PBS39 by year’s end. After relocating from New Jersey in May 2015, The Quinn Spinn had gone into hibernation, and our entire fledgling platform faced an uncertain future, amid my and the group’s collective life changes.
I knew that I wanted to keep going, but I felt like the show would function better as part of a greater whole. That’s when I decided to try my hand at starting a music review blog. The first iteration was a short-lived Tumblr blog under The Quinn Spinn banner.
Then, after a night out on the scene in early September, it clicked.
I looked around at my surroundings. Bethlehem — and the Lehigh Valley as a whole — has long had a talent-rich music scene. And, with ArtsQuest playing host to the nation’s largest free, ungated music festival since 1984, it even had more industry infrastructure than most markets its size. There were even a handful of independent media outlets promoting local happenings. It felt like the right time to add a new voice to the region’s music landscape.
The following week, I began brainstorming. It didn’t take me long to come up with the name; we were in the Lehigh Valley, and we’d be giving shine to the original (i.e.; Underground) music scene. I went to work on a logo, and the early sketches involved designing the letters “LVU” entirely out of sewer pipes. You know… because pipes run underground.
Fortunately, I wasn’t a talented enough graphic designer to pull that off, so the idea never gained steam. I needed something simpler and text-based, and it needed to be gritty. So, I opened up Illustrator and, lo and behold, found the perfect typeface — Almaq Rough. From there, I pulled up a stock image of an acoustic guitar, put a sketch filter over it, and we had THIS beaut…
…which I immediately recognized looked terrible and was difficult to read. So, I changed the text to all white against the grey backdrop.
Still not my prettiest work to date, but it would do!
I would spend the next couple months building the backend of the website — yes, this very site that you’re currently visiting! I started contacting artists whom we had featured throughout The Quinn Spinn’s run, offering them the opportunity to be among the first featured on our new blog. I also decided to hold off on our official launch until January. After all, the holidays aren’t typically the best time to launch a new thing, and I was just beginning to process the sudden loss of my mother that September. I had spent much of the fall easing back into everyday life, and wanted to be sure that I didn’t overload myself. Work on the project resumed in November, after the Cubs had been eliminated from the playoffs in quick and hilarious fashion by the Mets in the NLCS. I no longer had a distraction, so it was once again time for an outlet.
Finally, on January 18 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day, because I had the full day off from work — I lifted the veil. We published our first features. Lehigh Valley Underground was live!
Immediately, I started venturing out onto the scene. I started connecting with artists and independent other media outlets. I also began observing the climate of the local ecosystem and one of its landmark events, the Lehigh Valley Music Awards (LVMAs). I worked the 2016 event in my Event Staff role at ArtsQuest, and I came away impressed with the production. However, I was disappointed with the behavior of those who came up short that night, who let their vitriol fly in seemingly every comment section in the region after the show.
So, I did what any complete unknown with a six-week-old music blog would do.
I took a deep breath before hitting “Publish,” knowing that one of two things would happen: it would establish LVU as an emerging voice in the local music landscape, or it would get us blacklisted from everywhere.
To my delight, it was the former. The LVMAs shared the post and, a few months later, invited us to take part in their official showcase at Musikfest. I started to hear my co-workers and the leadership team at ArtsQuest begin to talk about this new Lehigh Valley Underground thing. The region’s prominent artists began submitting their music and inviting us to cover their gigs. I found myself at more events all over the Valley, I continued improving as a photographer, and all of a sudden, we had a local music movement on our hands.
The rest, as they say, is history — and I’m excited to take a deeper look at that entire history throughout UMC’s 10th Anniversary year.
In the spirit of everyone on the internet talking about 2016, there’s no better time to look back on our roots. They tell the story of where we’ve been, and hold many important keys that we’ll need on the road ahead. 2016 marked a new beginning, and those early days, the lessons learned, and a decade’s worth of twists and turns have led us to the point where we’re still standing, 10 years later, and once again ready to travel the world, as we work to connect independent creatives everywhere.
We hope you enjoy the ride alongside us. 10 years of The Blog, and we’re still just getting started.
A weekend trip to the Smoky Mountains has resulted in the latest collaboration between UnderDogs.
Nicólas Soul teamed up with fellow hip hop artist and UMC Academy Faculty member Foundation Mecca on “smoky blues,” from the former’s latest full-length project, RISE OF THE LOST. Last weekend, the duo drove to eastern Tennessee to bless us with some visuals to go alongside the contemplative single.
“smoky blues” is dedicated to the memory of Bryce Evans, whose body was found in a remote location within Smoky Mountain National Park after going missing for five days. The verses recall the ways we experience and cope with pain in today’s society — whether through the news, or in our everyday lives. Through it all, the message is clear: every single one of us has scars. The bravest among us face them once they are brought to light.
“smoky blues” was produced by mangiiia, with the chorus performed by vocalists Shelby Conquest and Gianni Cashtro. Watch the video below!
UPDATE: As of press time, Foundation Mecca’s other most recent collaboration with Stefan Heuer on “I’ve Done Wrong” has eclipsed 44,000 streams across platforms, less than two weeks after release. In addition, Foundation’s monthly Spotify listener count has skyrocketed to more than 24,000 since release.
Pictured: The Toronto skyline from the top floor of Hotel X — one of the many places we traveled throughout 2025 as a result of trusting the process.
True depth and meaning cannot be manufactured. It must be developed in the process.
The process of creating. The process of being. The process of experiencing life with no attachment to outcomes. When we try to force the meaning, or control the result of each moment and interaction, we lose something very important: the opportunity for a beautiful, unique story to weave itself out of the ether and into the fabric of our existence.
Think about moments when things have gone well. Did you take those moments in stride, as positive feedback that the journey you’re on is the right one? That the process you’ve put into place is working? Or, did you see those moments as the ultimate triumph; the finish line you’ve been waiting to cross, only to find that life still goes on, with or without us.
Even in moments when our dreams come true, the sun still rises the next day. Don’t get caught dreaming too long, or you’ll miss what’s next.
The same goes for our unfavorable outcomes. Do you dwell on them? Do you resent people, places, or situations for not giving you what you want? Were you so attached to the outcome that you forgot to savor the experience or learn the lesson? Or, did you take *those* moments in stride as evidence that it might be time to try something different?
Did you regret trying those different things, or did they lead to cherished memories, aligned and supportive new relationships, and amazing experiences — all of which you’d never have had, had you gotten what you wanted in the first place?
No matter the outcome, there is beauty we can only see once we’ve learned to trust the process.
