Crossed Channels with Tony Fletcher and Dan Epstein cover art

Crossed Channels with Tony Fletcher and Dan Epstein

Crossed Channels with Tony Fletcher and Dan Epstein

By: A monthly podcast on which a Yank and a Brit clash and connect over music from both sides of "the pond".
Listen for free

About this listen

 Join music journalists/biographers/musicians/Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) as they debate and discuss the different ways that certain major bands and artists from their respective homelands have been received on the other side of the pond. In the process, Dan and Tony compare and contrast their own experiences as obsessive music fans growing up in the US and the UK.

tonyfletcher.substack.comTony Fletcher Art Entertainment & Performing Arts Music
Episodes
  • Keeping The Faith: Crossed Channels Goes Northern Soul

    Keeping The Faith: Crossed Channels Goes Northern Soul
    Oct 9 2025
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit tonyfletcher.substack.comWelcome to the 21th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.This time out, we truly straddle the Atlantic with an energetic discussion of Northern Soul, the long-running British dance movement fired by the uptempo sounds of (mostly) obscure soul and R&B singles from American cities like Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.Growing out of the British mod scene and legendary 1960s venues like Manchester’s Twisted Wheel and Sheffield’s King Mojo, the Northern Soul scene exploded in the early 1970s, with thousands of young working-class people crowding hot spots like the Wigan Casino and Blackpool Mecca’s Highland Room to enjoy the social connection and euphoric uplift of dancing the night away to their favorite songs. These songs weren’t the pop hits of the day, however — Northern Soul DJs would typically spin older US soul and R&B songs, many of which bore a decided Motown influence, and most of which had never charted or even been released in the UK.Though both the Casino and the Mecca had shut their doors by 1981, the Northern Soul scene continued to morph and grow, with its music influencing a number of British artists of the 1980s, including Dexys Midnight Runners, The Jam, Orange Juice and Soft Cell. Indeed, the Northern Soul scene grooves on to this day, with young and old devotees alike still “keeping the faith” at all-nighters modeled upon the original dancefloor gatherings of the 1960s and 70s. In this episode, Tony talks about his own experiences at Northern Soul nights from Southport to Hull to London.The movement has inspired several documentaries (including 1977’s Tony Palmer-directed Wigan Casino episode of the ITV series This England, which gave many British viewers their first real look at the Northern Soul scene), a feature film (2014’s Northern Soul, directed by Elaine Constantine), numerous books, and countless compilations of Northern Soul dance favorites.Northern Soul is a deep, complex and fascinating subject, one with tendrils extending in myriad directions, and arguments over what constitutes “proper” Northern Soul sounds (and fashions, dance moves, etc.) rage to this day in every corner of the internet. We make no claims to being Northern Soul experts, and this discussion is in no way intended as a “definitive” summation of the movement. We both love the music, however — so much so that we talk about its genesis for best part of a full hour, after which we conclude the episode by pulling out and discussing 10 of our favorite Northern Soul singles, which our paid subscribers can here on our special YouTube playlist, linked below the fold.(And while it doesn’t exactly qualify as Northern Soul, there’s an undeniably soulful element to our podcast’s current theme song, “Put It Down” by Tony’s transatlantic band THE DEAR BOYS. Released last month, you can find it on Bandcamp and all good streaming services.)As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available above for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them!CROSSED CHANNELS can be heard both here on our Substack pages or via your preferred podcast app: just follow the links and instructions on the right. In addition to the podcast, Jagged Time Lapse and Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith regularly serve up previously unpublished interviews and other exclusive content to our paid subscribers.To those of you who have already shelled out for paid subscriptions to either or both Substacks, we’d like to express our deepest thanks for continuing to support our work. And if you have some favorite Northern Soul songs or memories that you’d like to share with us, please feel free to do so in the Comments section below!
    Show More Show Less
    11 mins
  • From Asbury to Hammersmith: How "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle" Set the Stage for Bruce Springsteen's Crossed Channels Breakthrough

    From Asbury to Hammersmith: How "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle" Set the Stage for Bruce Springsteen's Crossed Channels Breakthrough
    Sep 11 2025
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit tonyfletcher.substack.com

    Welcome to the 20th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

    For our big 2-0, we’re back on American shores — the Jersey Shore, to be specific. Bruce Springsteen is someone whose work is extremely dear to both of us — though because of our slight difference in age and the fact that we grew up on opposite sides of the Atlantic, our experiences were quite different when it came to discovering his music. We compare notes on the “origin stories” of our Bruce fandom in this episode, while also taking a closer look at a Springsteen album that didn’t chart in either the US or the UK at the time of its release: 1973’s The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle.

    Released just 11 months after the acoustic-oriented Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen’s ambitious second album found him plugging in his electric guitar to record seven songs — four of which ran seven minutes or longer — with a full band, while drawing upon a much wider range of musical styles and influences. The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle was an incredibly important stepping stone in Springsteen’s career, once which put him and the E Street Band on course to create Born to Run and to play their first shows in the UK and Europe, including their now-legendary appearance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on November 18, 1975.

    We talk about that incredible performance in this episode, along with why Wild/Innocent is still such a compelling listen, Bruce’s knack for myth-making, the time Tony interviewed Bruce for his book with Eddie Floyd, Knock! Knock! Knock! on Wood: My Life in Soul, and a whole lot more!

    As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them!

    Music on this episode: "Put It Down" by The Dear Boys. More info at https://thedearboys.bandcamp.com/album/put-it-down
    Show More Show Less
    12 mins
  • The Who Take on US and Win, 1967-69

    The Who Take on US and Win, 1967-69
    Aug 14 2025
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit tonyfletcher.substack.comWelcome to the 19th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.After making an appearance in our previous episode on The Beach Boys and their influence upon the UK pop scene, The Who finally make their long-overdue appearance on this podcast. The band has loomed exceedingly large for both Dan and Tony — the latter of whom authored the best-selling biography Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon, published in the US as Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend — and now they are about to embark on their North American Farewell Tour, a 17-date trek with stops at such massive venues as Boston’s Fenway Park, Chicago’s United Center and New York’s Madison Square Garden.But in this episode of CROSSED CHANNELS, we flash back to 1967, the year The Who played their first North American gigs. The band’s inaugural US performance took place on March 26, 1967, where they promoted “Happy Jack” — their first real US hit — with a brief but brutal set as one of a dozen or so attractions on Murray the K’s “Music in the Fifth Dimension” show at midtown Manhattan’s RKO Theater.Dan and Tony discuss how The Who’s burgeoning popularity in the US not only helped to keep the band afloat during this uncertain period, but also set the stage for their breakthrough 1969 album Tommy and the band’s legendary appearance at Woodstock. “If it wasn’t for America there would be no Who,” says Max Ker-Seymer, a friend of the podcast who has seen The Who in concert over a longer period than anyone still attending their shows, and we’re very much inclined to agree.As The Who’s 1967-1969 visits to North America also included such infamous incidents as Pete Townshend’s bad acid trip on the flight home from Monterey, Keith Moon’s raucous 21st birthday party at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan, and the concert with The Doors at New York’s Singer Bowl that inspired Townshend to write “Sally Simpson,” there was no shortage of material for our esteemed hosts (and diehard Who fans) to touch upon; indeed, with the help of only a few pints, this nearly 90-minute episode could have easily stretched to nine hours.As always, this full CROSSED CHANNELS episode is only available to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and/or Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available above for all to listen to. To hear this episode in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one of our Substacks — or, better yet, sign up for both of them! CROSSED CHANNELS can be heard both here on our Substack pages or via your preferred podcast app: just follow the links and instructions on the right. In addition to the podcast, Jagged Time Lapse and Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith regularly serve up previously unpublished interviews and other exclusive content to our paid subscribers.
    Show More Show Less
    12 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.