Showing Up with Andy Grammer

Andy sits down with Rainn PLUS the release of his new podcast!

Thanks for Showing Up, Soul Boomlets!

This week on the Soul Boom podcast, Rainn sat down with Andy Grammer—the chart-topping, heart-lifting singer-songwriter who turned years of street busking into a global career, and who has quietly built a body of work rooted in something deeper than hits: service.

What unfolds is a shared meditation on showing up—for your craft, for your community, and for the mystery that lives somewhere between effort and grace.

Rainn and Andy trace the long arc of Andy’s journey: growing up in a home filled with music and meaning, learning songwriting at the dinner table, and then stepping into the crucible of the street—where no one owes you their attention, and truth arrives quickly. For four years, Andy sang to passersby who mostly kept walking. And in that silence, something essential took shape.

They talk about the shift that changes everything: when art stops being about proving yourself—and starts becoming about serving others. Not in a performative way. Not by chasing trends or trying to reverse-engineer what people want. But by getting quiet enough to discover what is most true within you—and then honing your craft until you can show up in a way that actually meets people where they are.

That spirit carries directly into Andy’s new podcast—part of the Companion family—which he and Rainn also explore in the episode. It’s a funny, raw, and deeply human exploration of what it means to show up: for ourselves, for each other, and for the world.

The first episode brings that question into one of life’s most profound thresholds. Andy sits down with one of Julie McFadden, better known as Hospice Nurse Julie—a hospice nurse, online educator, and author—to talk about the great and ultimate unknown: death. You might remember Julie from her appearance on Soul Boom.

Together, she and Andy explore the resistance, beauty, joy, and sincerity in embracing the process. For Andy, this conversation is deeply personal. Having lost his mother at 25, facing the realities of death has become a quiet but powerful passion in his life. What emerges is not just a conversation about dying, but about how we live—how we accompany one another, how we face what we fear, and how we show up when it matters most.

To round it all out, we have a very short but very lovely piece from Andy’s dad—the Grammy-nominated children’s singer-songwriter Red Grammer, whose music has quietly shaped generations with messages of kindness, connection, and joy. As you’ll soon read, Red, like his son, is all about showing up.

We’re so glad you’re here,

The Soul Boom Team

The Art of Showing Up

by Red Grammer

There’s no greater delight than watching your children grow into decent, caring, thoughtful human beings. I’ve had that pleasure with both of my sons, Dave and Andy. As Andy launches this new podcast, I’ve been reflecting on how he has always been attentive to those around him—consistently looking for ways to help others shine a little brighter. He is deeply inspired by people who do the same. So it makes perfect sense that he would create a podcast called Showing Up, where he interviews, learns from, and celebrates those who have made service a cornerstone of their lives.

The Grammer family, many moons ago. From left to right: Dave (Andy’s big brother), Red (his dad), and the late Kathy Grammer (his mom), and of course Millie, the very sweet family dog.

I am moved by the many ways people show up for each other, often quietly and without fanfare: the volunteer who delivers Meals on Wheels to homebound seniors and stays for a bit of a chat at the door, knowing that for some it will be their only face-to-face contact that week; the one who shows up to nurse a friend during a long and difficult illness; the family that instantly takes in their friends and children after a fire; the high school and college students who spend time each week helping younger youth find their balance and their voice in a confusing world, and who carry out acts of service with them in their neighborhoods.

Big or small, what all acts of service teach us is the power of connection. They make visible the very real interconnectedness of us all—a powerful blessing for everyone involved. They are acts of spirit that illuminate the material world our souls move through.

In showing up, we learn humility, for we have so much to understand about loving well. We learn discernment, listening to the quiet voice within that lets us know whether a particular area of service is ours to pursue. It calls forth courage, stamina, selflessness, a commitment to listen, and a willingness to learn and to change. That’s a lot. It’s not done lightly, though the decision to show up is often quickly made. Money and recognition may be strong motivators to act, but showing up requires something entirely different. It is a matter of the heart.

The Grammer family, on the Bahá’í pilgrimage.

There is a line Andy heard often growing up in a Bahá’í home, where Bahá’u’lláh says, “The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds…” He has taken that to heart and demonstrates it in his life every day.

We all want to make the world a better place, but we don’t always know where to begin. I’m grateful to Andy and Companion for creating a space that helps point the way—and invites each of us to find our own way of showing up.

Red Grammer is a beloved singer, songwriter, and educator whose work has been nurturing the hearts and spirits of children and families for decades. Widely regarded as one of the leading voices in children’s music, he creates songs that are playful, joyful, and rooted in the belief that each of us carries something fundamentally good within. His recordings—recognized with a Grammy nomination and multiple Parents’ Choice honors—are widely used by educators and families to teach themes such as empathy, cooperation, and respect for diversity. His album Teaching Peace was named one of the top children’s recordings of all time by The All Music Guide.

In addition to recording and performing internationally, Red is a frequent speaker at educational conferences, where he focuses on the role of music in supporting child development and community building. By the way—we really love his new album, Hooray for the World!