Producer, songwriter, musician John Fields on making hits, working fast, the importance of the second verse, why the artist is often right, how he finds work, what it means to write pop music today, why he has such big downbeats and if the first thought really is the best thought. 

5 time Grammy winning musician, producer, songwriter, and recording engineer John Leventhal on why his initial, preanalytical ideas are the good ones, why taking chances are so important, and why there “really is no daddy”.

Award winning feature film editor, producer and writer Mary Sweeney on producing, screenwriting, parenting, Paris, Cairo, pie baking, the Catholic Church, “staying tethered to what’s meaningful” and working in an intensely creative partnership with David Lynch for over 20 years. 

Jazz writer and critic Nate Chinen on his new book Playing Changes, jazz criticism, displaced backbeats, the importance of live music, and the trouble with trying to define what music should and shouldn’t be. This is a conversation I’ve waited a long time to have and it was absolutely worth the wait. 

Sociologist and musician Howard S. Becker on deviance, studying piano with Lennie Tristano, how in his day live music was a function of geography, strong union leadership, and cheap beer. Plus why jazz is like philosophy (the only money is teaching).

Guitarist Lage Lund on who influenced him, where he’s looking when he plays, when he discovered that guitar doesn’t suck, how musicians communicate, what happened to swing, and why jazz musicians drink natural wine.

Ben Wikler (Washington director of MoveOn.Org), Anat Shenker-Osorio (writer, researcher and communications specialist) and Dan Kaufman (musician and journalist) on the impact of the Madison-state-of-mind on their lives, careers and general point of view. Plus what it means to be in the business of "messaging" today. 

Brendan B. Brown (Wheatus) on the power and responsibility of writing a hit song, what it’s like to have your dreams come true, and what happens when they don’t.

Joe came to the Third Story headquarters recently to explain what it means to be a “modern bard”, how to keep material fresh after playing it hundreds of times, and why the personal really is universal. “In trying to make music for everybody you wind up making it for nobody.”

Singer-songwriter Donovan woods on writing songs that feel like real life, the big scam of success (“by the time you get the thing you always wanted, you feel like you deserve it”), how to make it in Nashville, and why Wisconsin is the state most like Canada.

Multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood on why screwing around is so important to creativity, what’s so special about 83bpm as a tempo, what ever happened to swing, and that ongoing Third Story question: should I move to LA? Because he’s so multifaceted, this interview is filled with Nate saying “but that’s a whole other conversation….”

Record producer Larry Klein on the art and craft of record production, what is and isn’t the real s*%t, why he often works with female artists, and the importance of good coffee. Plus stories of working with Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux.

Rapper, singer, spoken word artist, writer, and science nerd Dessa on sharing secrets, brain plasticity, hip hop culture, Dorothy Parker, social media, choosing beats, collective composition, and about a hundred other subjects. 

Writer Lorrie Moore on a lifetime of writing, how she thinks about teaching, what makes music the ultimate art form, and why fiction writers make bad liars.

Four years and 100 episodes later, I’m still going. What a trip. This week, I take a moment to reflect with one of the most surprising and flattering guest hosts I’ve ever had: my wife, Amanda.

To call Larry “Ratso” Sloman a writer is not at all inaccurate - he is a writer. But he’s so much more. Sloman perfected the art of hanging out and he turned that art into a career. Here he talks about how studying sociology influenced his thinking and gave him a way to be inside the revolution and outside at the same time.

Singer Achinoam Nini (Noa) and guitarist Gil Dor on their nearly 30 year long creative partnership, how popular culture has developed in Israel, how they handle the responsibility of their success in such a politicized and charged atmosphere.

Multi instrumentalist Louis Cato on the difference between making music in church and playing secular music, what it means to “learn what you already know” and how surviving a terrible tour-bus accident changed his outlook on life and music. 

Drummer Liberty DeVitto on on his journey from restless funny kid to veteran hit maker, what makes him a “New York style drummer”, and what it was like to play on every Billy Joel hit. Plus we raise the important questions, like do we choose to be musicians because we’re nuts, or does becoming a musician makes us nuts?