Trumpeter Keyon Harrold on his record Foreverland, how a series of losses in his life ultimately led him to make “something beautiful, something positive, something inspiring,” and his reflections on the early days of his career as part of a community of like minded musicians who were “always open.”
Read MoreSinger songwriter Lau Noah on her artful life, the journey that led her out of Spain and onto the world stage, how struggling with agoraphobia as a teenager helped her to become an artist, why adversity creates community, her adventures in babysitting, being comfortable as the “odd one” in any situation, and making her new record A Dos.
Read MoreAni DiFranco on how she sees her work today (“my job is connecting with people”), her early career (“it was relentless”), avoiding being labeled or boxed in (“I feel like a survivor of labels”), her idea of success (“successful artists are not necessarily the best selling”), raising children in an era of performative identity, practicing revolutionary love and why it’s easier to tell the truth than to hide yourself.
Read MoreGuitarist, composer, engineer brad allen williams on his album œconomy and the creative process that he used to make it. Also a bit of Memphis music history, a meditation on the merits of music with “layered emotions”, a conversation about relationship between suffering and art, connecting the threads of noise rock and bebop, specialization vs broad knowledge, the value of vulnerability in music, and why he doesn’t capitalize his name.
Read MoreEngineer, producer and label owner Pete Min about his early development on the east coast, how moving to Los Angeles gave him the space to reinvent himself musically, starting his Colorfield Records label and its “sculpted chaos” approach.
Read MoreClyde and Gracie Lawrence on the overnight success that was a decade in the making, running their band like a business, taking matters into their own hands, writing songs with “epic messaging and specificity”, and how their experience as an independent touring band led to real meaningful change in the music industry.
Read MorePianist Joey Alexander on his journey out of Bali and onto the bandstand, what it was like for him to be thrust into the limelight at a young age (he was 10 when he started), what he hopes for the future, and his new record Continuance.
Read MoreBassist and composer Todd Sickafoose on his multifaceted career, working on the hit Broadway musical Hadestown and the process of putting together a Broadway show, working with Ani DiFranco, his new record Bear Proof, releasing music in today’s world, why bass players make good producers, and how a skin cancer diagnosis influenced his life personally and professionally.
Read MoreAlan Lightman is a physicist, writer (of novels, essays, memoir and science texts), and social entrepreneur. For this unusual episode, his interview served as inspiration for an original song. Made in collaboration with the Podsongs podcast, this conversation covers his career at the intersection of science and humanities, mortality, success, the cosmos, technology, consciousness, writing fiction, embracing ambiguity, out of body experiences, and the idea that there are no answers to profound questions.
Read MoreDrummer Greg Hutchinson on growing up in Brooklyn, playing drums as a boy, his mentors, the importance of personal style and of friendship among musicians, his next phase (“this is Hutch 3.0”) his favorite drummers, and his new album Da Bang.
Read MoreJohn “J.R.” Robinson is one of the most recorded drummers in history. Here he talks about growing up in Iowa, falling in love with “groove music”, his incredible career, the stories behind some of his most celebrated recordings, what it means to have “contemporary time”, and his new band SRT.
Read MoreWriter Jake Lamar talks about growing up in the Bronx, his lifelong love affair with writing, moving to France in the 90s, his career as a novelist, playwright, and cultural critic in Paris, and his new book Viper’s Dream, a Jazz Noir crime novel set in the jazz world of Harlem between 1936 and 1961.
Read MoreMusician and writer Warren Zanes about his personal journey, his thoughts on stardom, work, The Beach Boys, family, addiction, songwriting, betrayal, college towns, fatherhood, Taylor Swift, working with machines, The Kinks, drummers, Booker T. and the M.G.s, Garth Brooks, artificial intelligence, Joseph Campbell, and his book Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
Read MoreSinger songwriter Prateek Kuhad on his journey from economics grad student at NYU to superstar songwriter (he is one of the most popular singer songwriters in India), the differences between writing in English and Hindi, the universality of romance music, and how no one was more surprised by his success than him.
Read MoreFor the fifth consecutive year I interviewed my father on his birthday. This year he’s turning 80 and I surprised him with reflections and anecdotes by friends and colleagues from throughout his career, including Jeff Greenfield, Boz Scaggs, Jann Wenner, Michael Cuscuna, Glyn Johns, Phil Upchurch, Georgie Fame, Gil Goldstein, Janis Siegel, Jorge Drexler and many more!
Read MoreSinger, songwriter and pianist Laila Biali on her career, what it’s like being married to her closest collaborator, motherhood, loyalty, leaving New York to return to her native Canada, leaning into limitations, and how the pandemic led her to renew her “vows to music.”
Read MoreConversations on community, artificial intelligence, identity, fan engagement, healthy living, life on the road and more, recorded at the 2023 Montreal International Jazz Festival. Featuring Michael League, Nate Smith, Carlos Homs, Julius Rodriguez, Benny Benack III, Emmet Cohen, Stacey Kent, AI Herbie Hancock and others.
Read MoreHarpist Brandee Younger on her new record Brand New Life, her journey from orchestra girl to emerging icon, the challenges of playing the harp in a contemporary context, and why she’s done running from the harp police and the jazz police.
Read MoreMulti instrumentalist singer-songwriter Theo Katzman (known for his work with the funk band Vulfpeck) bought a van from a teenager in California and drove across the country, settling in the woods of Michigan where he set up a studio, started a label, and got down to the business of writing a new record.
Along the way, he discovered the Wim Hof breathing and ice bathing techniques and came out with a transformed idea of “the self” and his own motivations, and decided that he wanted to make records with as few technological interventions as possible.
The result of this journey is his latest record Be The Wheel which he released recently on his 10 Good Songs label. Here he talks about the process of making that record, as well as thoughts on artificial intelligence, psilocybin, social media, touring, and honesty in songwriting.
Read MoreSaxophonist Ben Wendel on his new record All One, his desire to connect and to belong, his ongoing negotiation with technology, and how his personal experience during the pandemic influenced his music. Plus, learning the ineffable wisdom of his elders in the music.
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