Listen to the song

• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hickVDiW8k0
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/6ZBeRXjadHvBk9VYSnoO0R
• Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/song/you-dont-mess-around-with-jim/1674575644
• Amazon - https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0DZVD77DQ?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_MGVmgH42gWddvoDScPKQIAkC5&trackAsin=B0DZVFQ96F

• “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” is a story song that cleverly shifts from the crowd narrative of warning people away from a city boy bully to celebrating Slim, the country boy who overcomes
• Trist and Elaine delve into the musical and lyrical elements of the song, covering storytelling, orchestration, and usage of pop culture references
• In the mailbag portion, Trist and Elaine discuss creativity and whether or not it’s influenced by the time of day, or if it’s just a personal rhythm and discipline that must be mastered

Trist Curless is a Los Angeles-based vocalist, educator, and sound engineer. As a performer, Trist has toured worldwide as a co-founder of the pop-jazz vocal group m-pact and a 10 year member of the Grammy-award winning The Manhattan Transfer. In addition to these two vocal powerhouse groups, he’s also performed with Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, New York Voices, Vox Audio, Naturally 7, and The Swingle Singers. His latest venture, The LHR Project, is a new vocal group collective celebrating legendary jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.

As an audio engineer, Trist has toured nationally with several vocal groups and bands in a large variety of venues, working for Grammy award winners Pentatonix and Take 6, as well as prominent a cappella vocal groups Straight No Chaser, VoicePlay, and Accent.

Elaine Chao, M.Ed is a San Francisco Bay Area-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, vocal percussionist, and songwriter whose career spans a cappella, contemporary worship, and classical music. She has leveraged her training in classical and choral music over the course of her contemporary performance, including in orchestras for musical theatre and in sacred spaces. In addition to music, she also is a martial artist and published author. She currently leads a product management team at a major software company dedicated to creative expression. All statements in this podcast are her own and do not reflect the opinions of her employer.