Performance Neurology with Josh Turknett, MD

Bryan Sutton is a three-time Grammy winner and one of the most-recorded session guitarists in Nashville, with credits from Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift to Dolly Parton and Doc Watson. Yet, he's driven home from sessions convinced he'd never work in the town again.

In this conversation we get into how he built his playing growing up immersed in the mountain music of Western North Carolina, why performing under pressure is a completely separate skill from playing well, and the mental shift he uses to get out of his own way.
Links:
Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com 
Take the Pressure Profile: PerformanceNeurology.institute/pressure-profile
Bryan Sutton at ArtistWorks: ArtistWorks.com/Bryan-Sutton  
Bryan on Instagram: @bryansutton28
Josh on Instagram: @brainjojosh

In this Genius Arc breakdown, Dr. Josh Turknett takes the story of Nelson Dellis — 6× USA Memory Champion and author of Everyday Genius — and runs it through the Genius and Impostor framework from his forthcoming book. You'll see how a man who says he "truly would have said my memory is average" built a championship-level skill from scratch, why five titles still couldn't stop his body from going into revolt before the sixth, and the reset that let him step on stage as "the most chill version of myself I've ever been." It's a clear, worked example of how capability is built, how pressure hijacks it, and how you get it back.
Take the free Pressure Profile assessment (3 min): https://performanceneurology.institute/pressure-profile
Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: https://GeniusAndImpostor.com
Read Brains, Banjos and Beyond: https://joshturknett.substack.com
Nelson Dellis's book Everyday Genius: nelsondellis.com/everyday-genius
Follow on Instagram: @brainjojosh
Links: 
Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com
Nelson's Instagram: @nelzor
Josh's Instagram: @brainjojosh
Music by Jullienne Ellen (@julienneellencomposes)

Nelson Dellis can memorize a shuffled deck of cards in under 30 seconds, and he's won the USA Memory Championship six times. But he didn't start with a special memory. He built it from scratch, and he's adamant that nobody wins a memory competition on natural talent.

In this conversation we get into how he actually trains, how watching his grandmother's decline from Alzheimer's set him on this path, and what it would take for you to build a memory like his.
Links: 
Nelson Dellis's book Everyday Genius: nelsondellis.com/everyday-genius
Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com
Nelson's Instagram: @nelzor
Josh's Instagram: @brainjojosh
Music by Jullienne Ellen (@julienneellencomposes)

Dr. Josh Turknett — neurologist and author of The Genius and the Impostor — introduces the show, the framework, and the two characters living inside your brain that determine whether you rise to the moment or fall apart.
In this episode:
What performance neurology is and how it differs from clinical neurology
What's happening in your brain when you collapse under pressure
Meet the Genius and the Impostor — two systems in your brain fighting for control
What to expect from this podcast
Links: 
Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor (August 2026): GeniusAndImpostor.com
Learn more about Performance Neurology at performanceneurology.institute
Subscribe to the newsletter: Brains, Banjos and Beyond on Substack
Instagram: @brainjojosh

For more on how to apply neuroscience to practice smarter, check out the book "Anyone Can Play Music: Unlock Your Musical Potential with the Laws of Brainjo"
To learn more about music courses based on The Brainjo Method, head to brainjo.academy