Surviving to Thriving...What's Around the Corner...

The hardest part of growth is admitting you can’t keep living on adrenaline. After two seasons built on raw stories of trauma, PTSD, loss, and resilience, I’m back to launch season three of Murders to Music with a different kind of promise: we’re not pretending the past didn’t happen, but we’re also not living there anymore. If you’ve ever felt like your rearview mirror takes up more space than your windshield, this season is for you.  

I break down what’s changing and why. Season three shifts from “what we survived” to “what we do with it”, with more practical life lessons about purpose, relationships, marriage, fatherhood, leadership, faith, and yes, music. You’ll still hear real talk from a retired homicide detective, including lessons shaped by serious crime and human behavior, but the point is always the takeaway you can apply in your own life.  

You’ll also hear new formats: shorter solo Erin episodes, guest interviews called Conversations That Matter, listener-driven Ask Erin Q and A, quick Snapshots, and From the Detective’s Chair where the lesson matters more than the crime story. I also share why I stepped away for a few months, what burnout really looked like, and how rest created space for family, work, and a clearer mission.  

New episodes drop every Thursday. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a reset, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What question do you want me to tackle next?

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Welcome Back And The Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Murders to Music Podcast. My name is Aaron. I'm your host, and thank you guys so much for joining me in season three of this show. Now, as you know, my name is Aaron. I'm a retired police officer. My final 11 years was spent as a homicide detective in a major metropolitan area. And, you know, I started this show off way back when, and this show's been around for it's going on its third year, and I have about 170 episodes. But I started this show off to tell my story about where I had been and what I had been through and the trauma and maybe the twists and turns that come in a career of law enforcement, or really, if you think about it, any career in life, any phase of life, any family in life, there's twists and turns that we really never know about. And they we don't know about them until they pop up and smack us in the face. And then when they do, we don't want to talk about them. We want to pretend they didn't happen, and we definitely don't want to expose our weakness, our underbelly, our soft side to the world. Well, the Murders to Music podcast flipped that whole thing on its head, and that's exactly what we did. We talk about all of the things in life that go wrong, or maybe tragedy, or maybe trauma, or maybe PTSD, or maybe where we fail or where we're weak, we talk about those things and expose them. Because I have found that I am not the only person dealing with that problem. In fact, when I expose those things, or when my guests expose their underbelly and their soft side, we just find we gain more people in this world, literally across the entire world listening to this podcast, that come to me and say, you know what? I thought I was the only one that felt that way. I thought I was the only one that ever experienced X, Y, or Z. I had no idea somebody else out there had been through that. I thought I was alone. And we're here to tell you you're not alone. That is what season one and season two of this show is all about. We encourage people to tell their stories and to help other people. And if you're a new listener, I want to thank you for joining me. If you are have been a listener since day one and you've listened to every episode, God bless you. Thank you so much. Season one and two was about everything I've spoken about so far. Season three, again, is going to turn that on its head. And while those stories of

Why Vulnerability Helped People Heal

SPEAKER_00 3:05

survival are important and we're not going to completely stray from them, season three is really going to focus on not where we have been, but where are we going and what is the life we are leading. That is what season three is going to be all about. There is a reason that season three took some time to develop. And I had to take a couple of months off, which I'll get into in just a moment as to why I did that. But season three, it had to take a couple of months off in order for me to wrap my mind around this new concept. You know, like I said, season one and season two were largely built around long-form personal stories and interviews. And many of those conversations dealt with topics like trauma, loss, law enforcement, PTSD, you know, surviving the tragedy in life that we never thought we could survive, but we did, and we live to tell our story. And then we focused on the healing and the resiliency, what happens after those major life events and those major life-changing experiences. We spoke about all of that. And if you haven't listened to them, go back and listen because there are some great stories that are told with honesty, truth, and vulnerability. More times than not, I am crying on the microphone. My guests are crying. We are showing emotion in situations that need it. And that soft side is really, I think, what hit the hearts of the listeners and the true followers of this podcast. Because there's so much fluff and bullshit in this world that people don't really want to tell the truth because they don't want to be judged. But on this show, we get down to the brass tacks of the truth about life. Those stories mattered, and they still matter today. They have helped people heal. I know this podcast has saved lives. I've heard the stories. People have found Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior in this podcast. Now, this is not a faith-based podcast, but I'll tell you, I don't shy away from my faith when I speak to my guests or when I just have general conversation. This podcast has helped people feel less alone and has created conversations that needed to happen in the moments where they needed to be. It has helped keep families together. And I can tell you that part of Murders to Music is not disappearing. But I have also realized this: that helping people doesn't always mean returning to the darkest moments of our lives. Think about that for a minute. Helping people doesn't mean that we have to exploit or explore the drama or the trauma that has happened to us. Now, I won't steer away from those conversations if they come up in season three, but that is not going to be the core focus of the message. Season three is changing because there comes a point when healing can't be only about looking backwards. I still want this podcast to help people, and that hasn't changed. But helping people doesn't always require living in the past. So it's not about what we survived. This podcast, season three, is about what we do with everything that life has taught us. I said it early on, and I said it constantly through seasons one and two, that I felt like my rear view mirror was larger than my windshield. You know, and that is not a line that I came up with. That is a jelly roll line that he said on national television. But I felt my rear, and I could relate to him, my rear view mirror was bigger than my windshield. That's

Season Three Shifts Toward Thriving

SPEAKER_00 6:55

how I was coming out of that traumatic past. Everything that had happened to me and to a lot of my guests took up so much of my view that it was so easy to get stuck just looking backwards in life. And today I am blessed to say that my windshield is bigger and clearer, and I'm able to see what's ahead in my walk, in my world, in my life. And I that is such a blessing for me to be there. Now, it doesn't mean that the rear view mirror is not still there. It's always going to be there. I'll still look at it from time to time, I'll still learn from it, but now it's proportional. It's no longer blocking my view as to what lies ahead in my path. And that is really what season three is all about. The first two seasons that were about what happened. Season three is about what we choose to do with it. When we talk about from surviving to thriving, season three doesn't abandon the original mission of Murders to Music, it expands it. It's what we spent a lot of time talking about survival. Now I want to put that into the context as to what comes next. And I think that is an important part of everybody's conversation. What has happened to us and what lessons can we learn from that? And in season three, we're going to talk to a various amount of people, not just celebrities, not just law enforcement, not just trauma survivors. We're going to talk to people who are living well, who have purpose, faith, relationships. We're going to talk about marriage. We're going to talk about family, fatherhood, leadership, music. This is called the Murders to Music podcast. We're going to explore music, maybe careers, businesses. There's a whole list of things that we're going to talk about. Second chances. We did a turning point series last season. And in that season, we spoke about the turning point in people's lives. This the time in life where they recognized that their life had changed, turnaround, it was going a new direction. And that is exactly what we're going to continue on this season. Now, we're going to talk to a much wider range of people. I want you guys to be excited. We're going to talk to musicians, entrepreneurs, business owners, first responders, some pastors. I have actual Hollywood actress, film star. You're all going to know who this person is when you hear them and meet them on the show. We're going to interview that person. It's going to be pretty, pretty awesome. I'm excited about that. The people that I'm going to interview don't have to be famous, but it is not about what they have survived some unbelievable tragedy. It's what does this person know about living well that the rest of us can learn from? That's where we're at. And at the end of this, remember, everything in the Murders to Music podcast is educational, entertaining, or provides value. And we do it with honesty, integrity, and vulnerability. That is what makes this show different than any other show that you're going to listen to, is we cut the fluff and we get to the emotional heart of the level. What I want listeners to take away from season three is I still want them to hear great stories. I want more laughter. I want more lighthearted. And this is going to be some difficult conversations, but they're conversations that are worth having. Every episode is going to contain something we can take with us. The goal for season three isn't simply to finish an episode thinking, man, that was an interesting story. I want listeners to occasionally turn off an episode and think, man, that made me think differently about my life, about my situation, about where I am in today's moment. That is an overall encompassing idea as to what season three is all about. And I hope you guys are as excited about it as I am. You know, the overall structure. So

The Guests And Topics Expanding

SPEAKER_00 10:45

seasons one and two were a lot of long form content. And by that I mean they would average somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour and a half. And occasionally be shorter ones, occasionally be longer ones. That long form format is good for certain things. In season three, I think you're going to see less of that. I believe you're going to see more episodes that are ranging from that 20 to 40 minute range. It's where I really want to target. Now it doesn't mean some aren't going to go long. It just means that I'm going to target that 20 to 40 minute range when we do these interviews. You're still going to get an episode every week. I'll be releasing on Thursdays. Thursdays, every week, a new episode is going to come out. But every week won't look the same or sound the same. Different types of episodes are going to rotate through the season. So that is going to give us variety while still keeping everything connected to the same mission. And because I know ahead of time, the type of episode that I'm going to be releasing, it allows me to be intentional when I schedule guests or when I schedule conversations versus feeling just like a random mismatch of information. That is what I want to get away from. So let me explain to you what some of these episodes are going to look like. First, there's going to be the Erin episodes. The Erin episodes are going to be shorter solo episodes with yours truly. They could last somewhere between 15 minutes and 30 minutes, maybe 40 minutes max, but probably 15 to 30. And it's literally going to be one microphone, one primary topic or idea. Some of the things I might talk about are mistakes that I've made or things that I'm learning right now, ordinary moments that cause me to think differently. Now, the Eren episodes are not intended to be heavily scripted podcast episodes or heavily scripted. These are going to be the Eren that you have come to know and love, the Eren that just rolls off of the chest, off of the mind, off of the heart, and sometimes loses his composure because emotions get the best of him. But that's what makes this real and honest. These episodes should feel like you and I sat down together at a coffee shop and are having a conversation. And speaking of conversations, the next type of episode that we have that we're going to rotate through is going to be called Conversations That Matter. And these are going to be the guest episodes. These episodes can come from completely different backgrounds or walks of life. Like I said, some of these people might be entrepreneurs, they might be pastors, they might be actors, they might be actresses, they might be musicians, they could be just a father, they could be somebody that's been married 72 years, and they want to tell their story

Shorter Episodes And Thursday Releases

SPEAKER_00 13:30

as to how they survived that, how they got through that, and how they lasted, you know, so many years in marriage, right? Because I think that's important. And again, it doesn't have to be sensationalized. It just has to be a story or a conversation or a life lesson that somebody else can carry away with them. During these conversations, I'm going to ask things like, what have you learned? What mistakes have you made? What matters to you now? What has changed your perspective? What do you think you might have wanted to understand earlier? And what can the rest of us learn from your life? That is the type of questions we're going to get in these conversations that matter. But again, the people are going to be, they're going to have a story. They're going to have something about them that makes them interesting to listen to. It's about the life lessons that have been learned. And that is why we're having this conversation. I really want in season three my listeners to get more involved in this conversation. I want to get more questions. I want to have guest interviews. I want to have callers on the show. I want to have people, guests, come on, listeners come onto the show and talk about and tell their stories and explain or just ask questions. And let's just get on this and have a conversation. All this can be done remotely from the privacy of your living room. I just want to have these conversations. And that's another type of episode you're going to hear. It's called Ask Erin. These are going to be regular listeners that drive the episodes. I want listeners to submit questions. I want them to call in. I want them to be a part of this conversation. And nothing has to fit into one narrow category. Questions might involve law enforcement, homicide investigations, murder, music, relationships, business, anything that I'm involved in, or even stuff that I'm not, because I'm not an expert really in a whole lot of anything, but I just want to have that listener conversation and really get some honest answers. And I want a chance for the audience to become a part of the conversation and give some real feedback as to what their life is all about. Because everybody has a story to tell. You guys are going to continue to hear snapshots. For those of you who are new listeners, a snapshot is 10 minutes or less of something interesting, entertaining, value-worthy, or maybe just nonsense that I want to get off my chest. I want to tell you about it. It could be something funny, it could be something sad, it could be who knows what it is. But it's just 10 minutes of something to keep you interested, to keep you engaged throughout the week and ready to come back for those moments on Thursdays when the big episodes release. A new style of conversation we're going to have is called From the Detective's Chair. And in that is going to be short lessons from my years of investigated homicides and serious crimes. Now, I know that there are many listeners on this podcast who listen because of my true crime or my background in law enforcement.

The New Segment Lineup Explained

SPEAKER_00 17:28

And I don't want to deflect from that so much or ignore that or bury that part of my life. There was a period of time when I wanted nothing to do with my law enforcement background. I saw it in that rear view mirror as a big negative. And I'm starting to come around and recognize that I helped a lot of people along the way, and there were a lot of lessons learned. So this segment is not going to be just another crime story. It's not the crime isn't the point. The lesson learned is the point. And those lessons might include things like forgiveness or choices or regret or anger, ego, family, relationships, consequences, human behavior, the stuff that actually matters, and those lessons. And that is from the detective's chair. You're going to hear these sprinkled in, kind of like snapshots, maybe midweek. And it's just going to be a different point of view about something we all deal with. So, with all that being said, the two main pillars of season three, conversations that matter and the Aaron episodes. Conversations that matter, everybody has wisdom worth sharing. And season three is going to bring together all of those people from musicians, first responders, veterans, everybody. And they're going to tell there's something valuable they've learned in their life. And how are they living well? Every conversation should leave listeners with a practical lesson, something they can apply in their own lives. It's real conversations with real people living real life. The Erin episodes are going to be short, meaningful conversations that don't require a guest. These are honest, personal reflections, life lessons from a career, life lessons from life, years behind a microphone, hundreds of weddings, fatherhood, faith, retirement, all kinds of stuff. Losing my identity, there's no script, there's no pretending. It's just going to be real conversation. That is what you guys can expect in season three. Hopefully you guys are excited for this. But you guys haven't heard me and my voice for a few months. So let's talk about where I've been over the summer, right? So life has been super, super busy. And at some point back around May or June, I recognized that every single day was filled from morning, noon, and night. And when it was filled up so much, I needed to take time off. I felt like I was imploding. This is some of that honesty I was talking about. I felt like I wasn't doing the podcast well, I wasn't doing work well. Wedding season was coming up. I had all this stuff going on, and I just felt like I was imploding from the inside. That was hard for me to recognize. It was even harder to admit, and it was the hardest to accept that I needed to take a break. Because for so many years, and the ingrained errand in me says, I don't need help. I don't need to take a break. Sleep is a crutch. I'll eat later. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Just go, go, go, go, go. That is what I know best. But I could feel myself getting back into that same stress that I felt when I was in law enforcement, where I was going 24-7, where the sympathetic brain was just going 100 miles an hour and I wasn't slowing down. I could feel my blood pressure. I could feel my pulse rate was super high. My stress level was growing and I needed to do something different. I could feel myself getting burned out just a little bit, but burnout doesn't happen because our lives are filled with terrible things. Sometimes it happens because we're exhausted trying to carry too many good things at the same time. And I feel that's where I was. And eventually something had to give. And if I didn't give myself a break, then my body was going to shut down and I was going to end up regressing all the therapy and a lot of the stuff that I've worked on over the last few years. So taking a break from Murderous Music was very hard for me. This show had become a part of my routine and truly a part of my identity. Most importantly, it had become a connection with people who were listening, emails that I were getting every week, text messages I was getting, phone calls, all of those things were a part of my day-to-day. And when I considered stopping, there was a guilt. There was a guilt associated with stopping because I knew people were listening. I knew people expected another episode. I knew that my show was helping people. I had built momentum. I was watching the numbers. I knew I was getting a thousand downloads a week. I mean, these are things that I'm watching, these different matrixes that I'm watching that tell me, man, if you quit now, you're going to lose everything that you've invested. But in that moment, I realized that if I didn't quit now and take a break, I was going to lose everything that I had invested. But continuing simply because I was afraid to stop wasn't the answer. So by taking a break, I created something that I didn't realize how badly I needed, and that was space. Space to rest, space to think, space to live, space for me, space for my family. And time for me to reflect on what do I really want this show to become. I acted on it. And in May, June, I took that break. And now September 1st, I'm releasing the first episode of season three. And during my time off, a lot of things happened. And related to the show specifically, it was a time for restoration. A time for growth, new life, and a renewed spirit. The desire to podcast came back to me, but it was different. Instead of thinking, man, I have to record another episode. I began thinking and contemplating, wrap my mind around this new idea, this new season, and began to wonder what I'm gonna talk to people about and how I can share their positive life stories. How often is my experience a part of your world? How often is my experience where you have so much going and everything is going, yeah, maybe good, maybe mid. I don't know. Maybe it's the job, maybe it's the life, maybe it's the hobbies, maybe it's the church group, maybe it's the Monday Night Bible studies, whatever it may be. Everything is mid, mid, mid, but you feel like, man, I'm just in this routine. I'm guilty. People are expecting me. They're expecting me to do XYZ. Uh, I'm I am helping people do this. I've built some momentum here. Whatever it may be, we're telling ourselves, but the whole time there's that other voice on the other shoulder saying, You've got to take a break, you gotta slow down, you're gonna kill yourself. This isn't worth it. And you're

Burnout, Guilt, And Choosing Rest

SPEAKER_00 23:58

not giving your heart and love to any one of those things, they become routine, they become a part of checking the box, they become something you just do because you do. And that is not a good place to be. So I encourage you, if you're in that space in your world, take a break. You've got to say no at some point. And it's so hard for so many of us to say no. Other people don't even care. They just say no without even thinking. But the rest of us, it's hard to say no, especially if we're a people pleaser or we want to help others. We oft I will oftentimes load up my plate with so much and then uh hate myself at the end because I'm exhausted when I lay down. And I think, man, I didn't even have a weekend because I was going, going, going. We have to say no sometime. So that is what I learned, and that's what I encourage you to do. Say no, take a breath, rest, relax, and at the end of the day, come back with restoration, come back with a renewed life, renewed spirit, energy, and you'll be that much better to everybody around you. So let's talk about the summer real quick, and then I'm gonna wrap this up. My summer, since I last spoke to you guys, has been so busy. It's wedding season. And as you know, I own Streamlined Events and Entertainment. And we are a live music, DJ, lighting and sound production company that specializes in high-end weddings and corporate events. That means I take about 12 to 15 weddings per summer. That's a lot of production, a lot of, and it's not just playing music. I help produce the event from start to finish. So everything from walking down the aisle to the last dance is part of my purview when I do these weddings. And I think one that sets me apart, but it also stacks up the amount of stress because you're participating in somebody's best day. The cool part about that is I get to do it with my family. So this summer I have at a lot of weddings. My son Keegan, my 20-year-old son, he is with me at 90% of them. And when he's not there, my wife Stacy is there helping me. So I get to work with family all the time. And in those weddings, working alongside Keegan and Stacy, I they get to be a part of somebody else's special day. And they get to hear the vows and they get to hear the music and celebrate the moments of first dances. And it's not about the parts and pieces of the wedding. Nobody remembers what you fed them at a wedding. They remember the way that environment made them feel, your guests. How did the guests feel in those moments? That is where we come in and that is what we do. And that is what is so special about this summer doing weddings. Taking some time off allowed me to grow my business, allowed me to grow and spend time investing back in the business and business development and all the stuff that happens behind the scenes, where if I didn't take time off, I would have never had time to do that. I have been traveling so much for my other job. And this year I've put on 62,000 miles of airline miles. And for me, having a family, having a podcast, having a business, having a real 40-hour week job, everything that I'm involved in to fly 62,000 miles is a lot of airline miles. It's a lot of travel. I got to travel with Stacy, my wife, quite a bit. She got to go on some of these events with me, which was super cool. I got a lot of family time. I got some time with my kids and with their boyfriends and girlfriends, and some family dinners and just time to kind of relax and enjoy the things that God gave me in life that He told me to enjoy. Now, what I did enjoy is the yard work, but I got to do some of that. Um I have a side by side, so we get

Summer Work, Weddings, And Family Time

SPEAKER_00 27:48

to go ride that like a can and Maverick side by side in the woods. That's pretty cool. Another story for another day, but I took it to a shop, they rolled it, and uh now it's broken, and they have to replace it, so I'm waiting on getting my new one. But that's another story, I'll tell a different day. So my summer was super busy, but super great, super fun, and I am blessed to be back here on this show. What do I want from season three? Season three should not just simply be me deciding what other people hear. I want you guys to be a part of the conversation. I want you to help shape these conversations. As you guys know, you can email me at murderstomusic at gmail.com. Murdersthenumber two music at gmail.com. In those emails, feel free to tell me anything you want. You can also send me fan mail. I don't call it fan mail, that's what it's called. I think it's on Spotify or Apple Music. Click the little button, it'll send me an email. Remember, on that one though, I don't get your return emails. So you have to put your email in there if you want me to reach back out to you. But in those, I want you guys to ask me questions. I want some guest recommendations, interesting people that I should meet. If you've got an interesting story, want to be on the show, by all means reach out to me. If you guys have topics for the errand episodes, questions about previous episodes, things you might be struggling with, things that you think I can help out on, anything that occurs to you that you're like, you know what, maybe this would be interesting. I'm open to your ideas. I want you guys to think outside the box. I'm not just looking for celebrities. I'm not looking for just your law enforcement or, you know, NASA astronauts. I'm looking for interesting people with something worth saying. The promise of season three is this murders to music isn't forgetting where we came from. It's not. But what it is, is difficult stories still matter, and the past still matters, and the people who trusted me with their stories still matter. And there will still be some difficult conversations that come up over season three. But I don't want to live in that space. I want my rear view mirror to stay proportional to my windshield. There's a lot of road ahead in the Murders to Music podcast. The first two seasons were about what happened to us, and season three is about what we choose to do with it. So that's part of season three. We're gonna laugh more, we're gonna explore more, we're gonna meet some fascinating people. We're gonna have conversations about music and life and relationships and business and family and failure and success and a bunch of other stuff that I probably haven't even

Send Questions And Shape The Show

SPEAKER_00 30:17

thought about yet. But that is where we're headed. And yes, we're still gonna have those difficult conversations that many of you like, but we're not going to live in the darkness anymore. So, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for listening to all 33 minutes of this podcast. This is Tuesday, September 1st. On Thursday of this week, I am releasing the next episode. And then you can expect an episode every Thursday from there on out. Ladies and gentlemen, whether this is your first episode or whether this is your 180th episode, I thank you for being here. I love you. I missed you guys. I'm happy to be back. Email me murders2music at gmail.com. And ladies and gentlemen, that is a Murders2 Music podcast.