A Positive Jam cover art

A Positive Jam

A Positive Jam

By: Shortman Studios
Listen for free

About this listen

A Positive Jam breaks great albums down track by track to find out what makes the music great, what goes into the songs, and why these albums matter. The second season covers The Hold Steady's breakthrough second album, Separation Sunday, an ambitious follow-up that saw the band refine their sound, their style, and their narrative approach, and which put them on the map with the wider music-listening audience. Season 2 is hosted by Shawn Westfall, with Mike Taylor and Daniel Shvartsman alongside. It will feature a variety of guests while focusing on the key lyrical themes of the concept album, its resonance with classic works in both rock and roll and beyond, and the way it built on The Hold Steady's debut album, Almost Killed Me (subject of Season 1 on A Positive Jam) in almost every meaningful facet.Copyright 2020 All rights reserved. Music
Episodes
  • Season 2 Bonus Episode 2: A Reading Of The Wasteland
    Apr 7 2021

    As listeners will know, A Positive Jam Season 2 host Shawn Westfall has called Separation Sunday our generation's The Wasteland, and so our final bonus episode of the season puts that to the test. We read T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland in a Craig Finn-inspired voice. We think and hope you will enjoy it as another lens on the wisdom of The Hold Steady.

    You can follow along here: https://poets.org/poem/waste-land

    This wraps up season 2. Get in touch with us on Twitter at @shawnwestfall, @mbrookstaylor, or @danielshortman, or @shortmanstudios.

    Email us at mail@shortmanstudios.com.

    And hold steady.

    Show More Show Less
    28 mins
  • Season 2 Bonus Episode 1: Dictating Doxologies With Father Christian Raab
    Mar 31 2021

    In our first of two bonus episodes for Season 2, we welcome Father Christian Raab, a Catholic Priest and scholar who also has a musical and Midwestern background, which gives him quite the perspective on Separation Sunday. We talk about beauty, man and God searching for each other, female mystics, the strings of baptism, other St. Theresas, and, somehow, Evelyn Waugh.

    Stay turned for our second and final bonus episode of Season 2 next week.

    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
  • Season 2 Track 11: How A Resurrection Really Feels
    Mar 24 2021

    We're crashing the Easter mass, hair done up in broken glass, and despite what the mural says up on East 13th (which one?) we're going to walk on back.

    For the last track of Separation Sunday, we do one of our closest readings, wondering about video booths and redemption, amen cadences and calm and collected priests. Somehow we span from Wilco to Mighty Max to crying in the shower. But maybe as you hear this you'll hear us say we love you too.

    (Also, bonus episodes coming starting next week!)

    Show More Show Less
    52 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.