Carl WiserThe founder of Songfacts, Carl was a radio disc jockey in Hartford, Connecticut who compiled a database of song information in the mid-'90s to use on the air. This database went online as Songfacts.com in 1999, and has grown considerably since. Carl is the managing editor of Songfacts and conducts some of the interviews.
Shawna OrtegaAn ace transcriptionist, Shawna learned interview technique from listening to hundreds of interviews as part of her job. A talented writer and music enthusiast from Phoenix, Arizona, she does many of the Songfacts interviews.
Ed PearceFrom Ashford, Kent, England, Ed is a published author (Food for Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World) and an actor, appearing as everything from a pallbearer to a punter in various BBC productions, commercials and movies. As a child Ed was not allowed to be in his school choir, a rejection which could have turned him against music for the rest of his life. However, in his early teens he fell in love with the beats and melodies of '70s glam rock, but fortunately not the fashion. Since then he has maintained an interest and appreciation of most forms of music, with a few blind spots such as death metal, opera and Joni Mitchell. Ed does a great deal of writing and research for the database.
Amanda FlinnerAmanda is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a degree in English/Writing from Geneva College (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania). She first started working for Songfacts as a trivia writer and moved on to researching songs, writing features and conducting interviews. When she's not listening to jazz and pop standards from the '40s and '50s, she's obsessing over classic movies. She has no musical ability whatsoever except for a short stint as a saxophone player in the sixth grade.
Dan MacIntoshDan is a freelance writer from Norwalk, California with a big fancy degree in Communications from California State University, Fullerton. Specializing in Country and Contemporary Christian music, Dan does some of our interviews on Songfacts. He's also written for Popmatters and Spin.com. In the Songfacts band, he would play guitar, but so far record companies have not come calling.
Bruce PollockBruce is a prolific music author from Connecticut whose books include By the Time We Got to Woodstock: The Great Rock 'n' Roll Revolution of 1969 and Working Musicians: Defining Moments from the Road, the Studio, and the Stage. Bruce writes the Songfacts column They're Playing My Song, where he asks songwriters and musicians about the one song that had the greatest impact on their careers.
Jess GrantJess is a music journalist based just outside of London, England. When she was just 15 years old, she started writing record reviews for her local newspaper, and nowadays Jess scribes for numerous arts publications, both online and in print. A fully-fledged guitar geek, Jess plays music when she's not writing about it.
Trevor MorelliA music nerd with a Communications degree from the University of Calgary, Trevor makes his home an hour away from the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Calgary, Alberta. At 14, he started writing music, movie, and video game reviews for The Calgary Sun and has since written feature stories for Chart Magazine (Toronto) and its affiliate, Chartattack.com.
Trevor loves '90s alt-rock and considers his in-person Songfacts interview with Our Lady Peace in 2012 to be the highlight of his writing career. He also writes features and conducts research for us and he says he's happy to part of such a great rock 'n roll team.
Jeff SuwakJeff Suwak is a writer and editor living in the Pacific Northwest. His publishing experience ranges from the sciences to fiction to music journalism. In addition to his traditional and formal publications, he publishes a lot of creative writing on Medium. His latest book, Hidden History of Amelia Island, is available now from Arcadia Publishing.
Greg PratoA journalist and published author from Long Island, New York, Greg takes his rock n' roll very seriously. Some of the books that Greg has authored include A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon, Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music, and MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video.
Greg is at high risk for Metal Neck, but has thus far retained his cognition. Some of his interview subjects include Judas Priest, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols/PiL.
For more info about Greg's books is on this Amazon page. You can also follow Greg on X.
April FoxApril is a freelance writer from Asheville, North Carolina. Family legend says that before she could even stand on her own, she would dance in her walker to the sound of bands like Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd. Her dancing skills have not improved since then, but she has maintained a healthy love for good, loud music, with her tastes running mostly toward grunge, punk, psychedelic rock, and most things with alt- in front of them. With a talent for writing and little interest in much else, music writing seemed the only reasonable path when it came time for her to enter the workforce.
April writes a little bit of everything at Songfacts, from trivia to interviews. The Legendary Shack Shakers' JD Wilkes described her, when they met, as "that hermit who lives up on the mountain." It's a fairly accurate assessment, and when she does venture out, it's usually to catch some live music - the closer to the stage, the better. If she isn't watching, listening to, or writing about music, she's most likely being lazy with her husband and kids, drinking coffee (sweet, to hide the coffee taste), and working on her upcoming book, a collection of bizarrely inspirational essays and rants. Her previous books, Object Permanence and Spine, are available on Amazon.
Roger CatlinBorn in Detroit, Roger covered rock as an entertainment writer for the Omaha World-Herald before becoming rock critic for the Hartford Courant for 12 years. In that time, he got to interview Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Ray Davies, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards, Ray Charles and Brian Wilson.
He's reviewed Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones in clubs, saw The Ramones at CBGB's and may have been the first to report the fraud of Milli Vanilli when their tape broke in concert he was covering in Bristol, Connecticut.
He is currently a freelance arts writer for the Washington Post, writes largely about TV on his blog rogercatlin.com and is on X @rcatlin.
Leslie Michele DerroughHaving discovered rock and roll at a very, very, very young age, it has never strayed very far away from Leslie's everyday existence. A concert photographer and music journalist, Leslie likes to explore the lives and careers of those who make the world a better place with their words and melodies. Also writing regularly for Glide Magazine and Hittin' The Note, you can follow her on X @LeslieDerrough.
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