Episode 65: Alex Volz

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Heather welcomes Chattanooga singer-songwriter Alex Volz to the studio. Over the last few years, Volz has been making the rounds in town and gaining a following for the acoustic expansiveness of both his children’s songs and for the more adult-oriented work of his alter ego Burly Temple. Relying on clever wordplay and a knack for surprising and complicated melodies, he spins stories that address weighty topics that children might come across in their young lives. With topics ranging from reproduction to materialism and time travel, his songs are filled with humorous narratives and striking insight into what makes all of us human, and how we can deal with those often elusive revelations.

Volz grew up in Chattanooga but moved to New York to get a degree in film and TV from NYU. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles (where he lived for 15 years) to write but found the work to be mostly devoid of any sense of individualism and creativity. After a time, his spouse and he began to talk about having a baby, and so they moved back to Chattanooga to raise a family. Since then, Volz has been sharing his love of guitar-driven rhythms and an astute lyrical wit with anyone within earshot. He also records as Burly Temple, although those songs aren’t ones you’re going to want to share with your children. But if you’re looking for songs that possess an equal influence from the daily events of a stay-at-home dad and the latest movie in the Terminator franchise, then Volz is your guy.

Thank you to Joshua Pickard for the summary of this episode.