Mad Tunes: Music, Emotions & Mental Health

In Mad Tunes, Rai Waddingham - a singer/songwriter who hears voices, sees visions and has ongoing conversations with the nature of reality - invites other songwriters to explore the connection between music and mental health. Each episode features up to three songs that act as a launchpad, providing a window into some of the things that go on in and around our head when writing or performing music. This isn't just a mental health podcast - it's about people, stories and the way creativity can be as essential to life as breathing.

Last refreshed: June 29th, 2025 at 2:34 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

A Little Raw Around The Edges

In this week’s episode I’m trying something a little different. Rather than invite a guest to share their tunes, I’m marking my fifth episode by reflecting on my own songwriting journey. I explore how writing a cappella songs to the rhythm of my footsteps helped me process some of the traumas I had survived whilst allowing the deeper meanings to remain hidden in plain sight. I simply didn’t, fully, know what I was writing about. I talk about how this world has, often, been painful to live in … w...

Feb 07, 2022•41 min•Ep. 5

We're All Here to Learn and it's Messy

In this week’s episode I’m joined by Gemma Kirk as we listen to songs from her indie-folk band - Lost Chimes. Having first met in Sheffield, we talk about how she got in to songwriting and found her voice. We explore how, sometimes, painful (and, sometimes, abusive) relationships can weave in and around more upbeat songs and how - ultimately - life is messy and all we can do is live it and try to learn as we go. We talk life, death and growing confidence. We share thoughts on how it is to find o...

Jan 24, 2022•48 min•Ep. 4

How Much I Hide in Plain Sight

In this week’s episode I’m joined by Kevin Hewick as we listen to songs from his albums ‘Never Give Up On A Song’ and “Driven by Love, Driven by Hate’. Together, we explore the disconnection of depression and the emotional impact of performing songs that are connected with specific memories. We talk about grief, loss and how these painful and traumatic experiences impacted on his songwriting - moving him to dig deeper. We talk about the joy of writing and performing songs, of entertaining people...

Jan 10, 2022•41 min•Ep. 3

The Right Song Could Save Somebody’s Life One Night

In this week’s episode I’m joined by Kenton Hall as we listen to songs from his former band - ist - and his solo project Kenton Hall & The Necessary Measures. We talk about the highs and lows of being a touring musician, filmmaker and human being. We explore songwriting; processing grief; bipolar; hitting rock bottom and finding a way through. Oh, and how the right song can save someone’s life one night - so it’s worth putting the effort in. Art matters. Now living and working without the hi...

Dec 27, 2021•59 min•Ep. 2

What I Was Trying to Avoid by Writing the Other Songs

In this week's episode I'm joined by Doll Normal as we listen to tunes from her album 'Dreams' and explore the different ways she has processed a difficult time in her life through songwriting. From the quirky and fun 'Take My Picture' to the intensity of 'That Night', we talk about how songwriting can capture a moment or slice in time ... crystallising both the precious and the painful aspects of our memories. We talk about how choices around the style of the song can make it more or less easy ...

Dec 13, 2021•48 min•Ep. 1

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