Episodes

  • Lawrence Gowan of Styx - 2025 Interview

    Lawrence Gowan of Styx - 2025 Interview
    Jul 14 2025
    I interviewed Lawrence Gowan of Styx. We discussed:
    • Their new album, Circling From Above.
    • When the listener is nervous to hear the new album because they loved the last album.
    • The challenge of giving yourself only three days to write and record a song.
    • The melody idea that would not leave him alone.
    • Their continuing embrace of song vignettes.
    • When the final version of a song is even better than the initial idea.
    • Creating conflict and resolution within the span of one song.
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    39 mins
  • Kenneth Nixon of Framing Hanley

    Kenneth Nixon of Framing Hanley
    Jun 13 2025
    “When I gravitated back to music, it was for the right reasons.” I interviewed Kenneth Nixon of Framing Hanley. We discussed:
    • Their new song, "Mean It".
    • The influence of Walt Whitman's "The Poet's Purpose".
    • The advantage of growing up across the street from the library.
    • Developing song ideas through humming.
    • Why he stepped away from music for a few years.
    • Persevering despite how the social media / streaming companies work to prevent musicians from connecting with their fans
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    45 mins
  • Secret Monkey Weekend

    Secret Monkey Weekend
    Jun 6 2025
    I interviewed the band Secret Monkey Weekend -- Ella (bass), Lila (drums), Jefferson (guitar). From their bio - "Ella and Lila’s father Matt, a prominent area drummer who’d toured with Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart, passed suddenly in 2012, when his daughters were aged just 4 and 9. Matt had played in bands with Jefferson and, after his friend’s passing, Jefferson started teaching Ella guitar. A relationship with their mom, Laura, slowly blossomed." What began as a hobby / therapy evolved into a family band.
    We discussed:
    - Their new album, "Lemon Drop Hammer"
    - Starting so young, how Ella and Lila have adapted their playing as they have physically grown
    - The song "So Much Joy" and its gritty happiness
    - The quirky, fun title track
    - The great lyric "walking between raindrops"
    - How the music community embraced them after their dad died
    - The job title I have never seen in album liner notes before
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    44 mins
  • The Wandering Hearts

    The Wandering Hearts
    May 16 2025
    I spoke with AJ Dean of The Wandering Hearts. We discussed:
    • Deja Vu (We've All Been Here Before), their reimagining of the album by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
    • The rare thunderstorms that bookended their recording sessions in the California desert.
    • Veering away from the obvious choice of who should sing lead on a song.
    • And more.
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    38 mins
  • Sister Hazel

    Sister Hazel
    Apr 25 2025
    I spoke with the band Sister Hazel, specifically Ken Block, Drew Copeland, Jett Beres, and Ryan Newell. (Drummer Mark Trojanowski was warming up because they were about to go on stage.) We discussed:
    - Their new album... Sand, Sea & Crash Debris
    - Co-writing a song with Emerson Hart of Tonic
    - Ken co-writing a song with his daughter
    - Which member of the band is "the unwriter"
    - The songs "Hole In Your Life," "All Goes By So Fast," and "Lay Your Worry Down"
    - And more
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    19 mins
  • Vulnerability with volume. Kelsy Karter - interview excerpt

    Vulnerability with volume. Kelsy Karter - interview excerpt
    Apr 20 2025
    Vulnerability with volume. Talking about the song "Wild" with Kelsy Karter.
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    40 mins
  • Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon (excerpt) - "The Echoes of Angels That Won't Return"

    Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon (excerpt) - "The Echoes of Angels That Won't Return"
    Apr 20 2025
    Talking with Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon about the song "Everything You Want"
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    3 mins
  • Peter Holsapple and The Face of 68

    Peter Holsapple and The Face of 68
    Apr 16 2025
    I interviewed Peter Holsapple, best known for his bands The dB's and the Continental Drifters, as well as his work with groups like REM and Hootie and The Blowfish. Topics and pull quotes:
    • His new album, The Face of 68.
    • "You want to kind of go for feral performances if you can. You want it to jump out of the grooves of the record."
    • "There's the human jukebox that's running from the second I get up to the instant I fall asleep that I can't turn off."
    • "It's got conversation that I'm having with him beyond the pale. I need that. I need to grieve somehow."
    • And he proves he is an even a bigger music geek than I am.
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    59 mins