Sound Pathways with Karen Olson Ph.D.

About Sound Pathways with Karen Olson Ph.D.

Sound Pathways is an inspiring and groundbreaking journey into the healing power of sound, creativity, and connection, exploring the profound link between Mind, Body, and Spirit. Hosted by Karen Olson, Ph.D., the show features captivating conversations with composers, musicians, sound healers, and inspirational thought leaders who share pioneering insights into how creativity and vibration shape our lives. Each episode invites you to explore the magic of sound and energy as powerful tools for healing, self-discovery, and achieving your dreams. With special guests, uplifting stories, live call-ins for personalized sound healings, and unique teachings, Sound Pathways inspires you to tune in, align with your inner self, and elevate your life.

Publisher

Karen Olson Ph.D.

Category

arts · health & fitness · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Mar 2025

Latest episode

17 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

32 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   17 Sept 2026

   Sound Pathways, September 16, 2026

   Sound Pathways with Karen Olson Ph.D. Finding Her Voice: Jazz, The Devil I Knew, and the Ladder to Dreams with Nicole Zuraitis Two-time Grammy winner Nicole Zuraitis joins Dr. Karen Olson to trace her path from a shy childhood singer to a celebrated jazz artist, talking about her new album The Devil I Knew, her marriage to drummer Dan Pugach, and her advocacy for musicians and rescue animals. Welcome and a Warm Introduction Dr. Karen Olson opens Sound Pathways by dedicating the episode to her late mother, Dorothy Olson, and welcoming two-time Grammy winner and six-time nominee Nicole Zuraitis as her guest. Olson describes Zuraitis as a singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, bandleader and advocate who is shaping a modern songbook within jazz, and she speaks with emotion about witnessing Zuraitis's artistry firsthand, especially on her new album, The Devil I Knew. She calls the record deep, intricate and original, admitting she wants to keep learning from it. Zuraitis, visibly moved, jokes that Olson is making her cry before the conversation even begins, and the two quickly settle into what they call a mutual admiration society. Olson notes the wonder of Zuraitis's constantly touring life, connecting it playfully to the show's own theme of sound pathways, before asking her guest to take listeners back to the very beginning of her musical life. Finding Her Voice Zuraitis explains that her parents first noticed her singing harmony to the television before she could hold a full conversation, even though no one else in the family was a musician. She was too shy to perform for them directly and sang only alone until she was eleven, when she surprised everyone at a school talent show with a recorded piano track of Don't Cry for Me Argentina from Evita. She wanted to sing Whitney Houston but says she simply did not yet have the voice for it. From there she moved through classical voice training, opera and trombone before jazz found her again after college, when she realized she wanted to create rather than only interpret. Learning the language and tradition of jazz took roughly six years, and she says she did not feel she had anything genuine to say as a jazz artist until she was twenty-nine, calling herself, cheerfully, a late bloomer. Making Her Own Spoon Olson reflects on the unseen years of practice rooms and rejection behind any artist's polish, and Zuraitis agrees, warning young musicians against expecting instant stardom. She says there was no silver spoon handed to her, so she had to make her own spoon through years of searching. The turning point came when her husband, Grammy-winning drummer and composer Dan Pugach, urged her to apply for a Herb Alpert Young Jazz ASCAP Award just before she turned thirty, despite her own doubts about being a real jazz singer. Winning it, followed later by recognition in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, began chipping away at her imposter syndrome. During those years she also built a songwriting practice through residencies at New York rooms including the 55 Bar, Rockwood, Toshi's Living Room and the Sugar Bar, playing original material for live audiences and treating each gig as a gift rather than an obligation. Stages, Crowds, and Why She Sings Olson shares her own history playing in an Atlantic City house band behind Rat Pack headliners including Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and later performing with the New York Pops, prompting a conversation about what it is like to move between electric full houses and quieter, less attentive rooms. Zuraitis describes selling out a two-thousand-seat theater in Taiwan she never expected to visit, while struggling to fill a small California venue, and says touring keeps teaching her to adjust and keep growing. Asked why she chose music as a career, she traces it to watching the towers fall on 9/11 as a high school sophomore and then watching the Concert for New York soon after, in tears, real

2. 

   3 Sept 2026

   Sound Pathways, September 2, 2026

   Sound Pathways with Dr. Karen Olson DIGGING DEEP with Chuck Leah The Man, the Stories and the Music Chuck's Website: https://www.chuckleahfyc.com/ Texas troubadour, songwriter, storyteller and paleontologist Chuck Leah has built alife—and a body of music—around digging beneath the surface. His songs weave history, imagination, lived experience and richly detailed stories into worlds that feel remarkably real. On this episode of Sound Pathways, Karen Olson goes Digging Deep with Chuck to explore what first drew him to music, where those captivating stories come from, and how seemingly different chapters of our lives can overlap, inspire one another and ultimately become part of our creative voice. At the heart of the conversation is Chuck’s new release, A Necessary Evil, emerging from a profound chapter in his life that he has publicly described as a near-death experience. Together, Karen and Chuck explore creativity, survival, resilience and renewal—and how what we live through can become inspiration for what we create next. And perhaps the digging comes full circle when what an artist uncovers and gives meaning through music is shared with others—allowing listeners to discover their own meaning in the song, and perhaps something meaningful in their own lives as well. Draw from life. Dig into inspiration. Create what comes next. From the Crossroads to Coyote: Survival, Storytelling, and the Making of A Necessary Evil Summary The Meaning Behind A Necessary Evil Chuck Leah explains that the concept for A Necessary Evil grew out of his longstanding fascination with the Robert Johnson crossroads legend and his own reflections on the difficult compromises people make in ordinary life. He interprets "necessary evil" less as a supernatural bargain and more as the jobs, hardships, responsibilities, and circumstances people endure in order to take care of family and move forward. His own serious medical crisis gave the phrase a more personal meaning because he had to accept help when he was accustomed to being the person who helped others. He describes the record as a concept album built from his own stories, with gospel voices, harmony, symbolism, and a recurring tension between good and bad. The host connects this idea to transformation through hardship, and Leah agrees that difficult experiences can make a person stronger, more resilient, and less afraid. The album's title therefore becomes a framework for understanding survival, sacrifice, and the creative meaning that can emerge from adversity. A Childhood Built Around Sound and Experimentation Leah traces his musical life back to early childhood, when his father's garage band, broad listening tastes, and small cassette recorder introduced him to both performance and experimentation. He says he first picked up a three-quarter-size bass after the band's bass player died and felt almost immediately as though he already knew how to play. Although he had little formal instruction and did not study music theory until later, he became absorbed in making music and recording ideas. A small Sony recorder and a large boombox led him to invent a primitive overdubbing method, layering instruments by recording from one machine into another through a single microphone. He remembers arranging instruments physically around the room and thinking like a producer long before entering a professional studio. His earliest songwriting also came through experimentation, beginning with songs he admired and gradually changing melodies and lyrics until the material became his own. Storytelling, Memory, and the Coyote Experience The conversation turns to Leah's storytelling instinct and the way his songs blur lived experience, memory, and imagination. He says he learned from great storytellers and values voices that communicate truth even when they are not conventionally pretty. Inspiration, for him, can come from almost anything: a stranger, a smile, nature, h

3. 

   20 Aug 2026

   Sound Pathways, August 19, 2026

   Sound Pathways with Dr. Karen Olson Guest: Donald Newsom Donald and Douglas Newsom are the visionary twin brothers behind BBS Radio TV, a pioneering live, interactive internet radio and television network dedicated to giving people, ideas, and conversations that matter a professional global platform. Donald Newsom is the founder of BBS Radio TV, an accomplished entrepreneur, innovator, and man of deep faith who began building businesses at a young age. His extensive experience spans emerging technology, internet media, manufacturing, corporate development, financing, natural resources, and business operations. His commitment to service, love, compassion, joy, and meaningful change inspired the original vision for BBS and continues to guide its purpose. Douglas Newsom is co-founder and CEO of BBS Network, Inc. An entrepreneur, writer, poet, creative thinker, and information connector, he brings decades of experience in business development, corporate finance, communications, technology, and building companies from concept through successful operation. A profound spiritual awakening in 2004 deepened his commitment to consciousness, creativity, kindness, and what he calls “soul wealth.” Together, Donald and Douglas have combined their complementary gifts, resilience, technological insight, and generous spirits to create a welcoming platform where hosts and guests can share authentic voices, meaningful information, inspiration, entertainment, and new possibilities with listeners around the world. From Loss to Soul Wealth: Rebuilding, Service, Creativity, and the Future of Independent Media Summary Lessons in Resilience and Reinvention Dr. Karen Olson welcomes Donald Newsom for a conversation about resilience, creativity, faith, and service. Newsom describes an early life in Canada marked by dramatic swings between wealth and financial hardship as his father pursued ranching, timber, mining, and other ventures. He credits both parents with teaching him different but complementary lessons about intelligence, hard work, kindness, risk, and perseverance. He recalls watching his family lose substantial wealth and then rebuild, experiences that shaped his willingness to begin again. He also discusses working with his twin brother, Doug, while they were young and learning through costly mistakes. The discussion frames hardship not as the end of a story but as part of an ongoing process of rebuilding and reinvention. Losing Possessions and Learning to Let Go Newsom describes losing valuable personal collections and family materials in devastating events, including fires and a flood, and says he has lost nearly everything multiple times. He explains that some of the loss still affects him emotionally, particularly because items he had hoped to pass to his children disappeared. At the same time, he says repeated loss taught him not to dwell indefinitely on the past or place too much importance on money and possessions. He contrasts his own experience with people who lost lives, family members, pets, and homes in disasters and expresses gratitude that he still had family support and the ability to start over. He describes letting go as a lesson he is still learning rather than something he mastered immediately. Gratitude and forgiveness emerge later in the episode as the spiritual principles he believes help transform painful losses into growth. From Spiritual Searching to Independent Broadcasting Newsom says a period of financial and personal loss pushed him into deeper spiritual inquiry, self-reflection, reading, and experiences he describes as paranormal. He says he met people with information and perspectives he believed were not being discussed openly in mainstream media. That desire for an uncensored forum led to what became BBS Radio, which he describes as growing from an early “Blog in Service” concept into “Blog and Broadcasting Service.” He recounts experimenting with internet broadcasti

Who has been a guest on Sound Pathways with Karen Olson Ph.D.

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Robert Atkinson
• Dr Dravon James
• Charu Suri
• Grant Maloy Smith
• Ricky Kej

Podcast Authority Score: 16 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

32

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0