Grant Glad, host of the music podcast Glad You’re Here, is trying to highlight a particular tier of local artists.

“I’ve been trying to find the artists that some people know and other people might not know and try to shine a spotlight on them. And then not have that spotlight be useless because you’re shining it on everybody,” Glad said.

Glad began hosting his show in 2021 on the online radio station Happy Productions before releasing it as a streaming podcast in 2023. Since its launch, Glad has interviewed numerous local musicians on their journey, process and more, and invited them to play a song or two live. Guests such as Kyle Orla, Clare Doyle and The Penny Peaches appear on the compilation album “Glad You’re Here” – On Air: Vol. 1, releasing Jan. 23.

Glad is a singer/songwriter himself, and fell into hosting “Glad You’re Here” when he was interviewed by Shawn Sullivan of “The Happy Trucker Show”. Photo courtesy of grantgladmusic.com.

The album is made up of songs performed on the show, which Glad saw as stand-out examples of the musicians at their best. He wants to use his platform to highlight talented artists and give listeners a higher-quality auditory experience.

“If I can do that for anybody who might be missing out on this, it would be cool,” he said. “And then when I started going through those recordings I realized there’s a lot of really good stuff here — why not put it together and put it out?”

When Glad contacted artists with his idea, he got mixed responses. Some were excited, but others were unsure, especially those who had grown as artists since their appearance on the show.

“They’ve kind of blossomed into new artists and they’re like, ‘I don’t know if that’s gonna be good, Grant. Like, that’s from two years ago and I’m much better now,’” Glad said. But when he sent over the audio recordings, artists were pleasantly surprised with their past work.

After receiving permission, it was time for Glad to get to work. He spent around six months picking songs, ordering them and trimming them down to just nine tracks.

To begin choosing songs, Glad thought back on which songs made him emotional upon hearing them live.

“There were a lot of them that I remember tearing up when they played them in the studio and so I just started there,” he said.

He went through past episodes, where he found many great songs he’d forgotten about.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is a hidden gem.’ I forgot it happened, right? You talk to so many people, you forget little things happen,” he said.

Glad’s friend Tony Williamette did all the mixing and mastering on the songs, lightly shaping the live recordings to make them suitable for an album.

Then came the task of arranging the tracks. At first, Glad grouped all of the sadder songs near the beginning. “I wanted to start with what I felt were the ones that made me the most emotional in the moment, and I wanted to put those on the front of the album,” Glad said. But he realized it was too much back to back, and started breaking them up.

“It was like putting a puzzle together and whatever starts sounding good after a while,” he said.

Glad chose to bookend the album with covers: Kelley Smith’s cover of “Annabelle” by Gillian Welch opens the album, and Drew Peterson’s cover of “Souvenirs” by John Prine closes it.

“They just felt fitting with the vibe and they’re great songs and they’re both great songwriters in their own right, but they have a sense of mortality,” Glad said.

On his podcast, Glad often talks about how different artists might write and sing about the same theme, but each artist produces different results.

This emerged on On Air: Vol 1, too. The album touches on mortality, chasing your dreams, being an artist and staying in your hometown, with each artist putting their own touch and emotion on the topic.

“It’s the same core idea, but then the way that they interpret it and go and write it, you get such different results,” Glad said.

Between the influx of new music being uploaded to streaming services every day, and the same songs being played on the radio over and over, “I think there’s just a devaluing of music that’s happening in our society,” Glad said. “There’s always gotta be some sort of middle ground to the two options, right? I want to try to shine a light on that middle. That’s my idea.”

On Air: Vol 1 releases Jan. 23 on all streaming platforms.