Big Yellow Podcast

Well, this is another milestone for Big Yellow Podcast: our first guest who has sold out Madison Square Garden.

My guest today is the exceptionally talented Lizzy McAlpine, who is scheduled to play MSG in June of 2027, but that’s frankly just one bit of her incredible resume. She’s also acted on Broadway and she just recently released her fourth studio album, Angel, which is much of the focus of our conversation here.

She’s also, of course, a huge fan of Joni’s, as you’ll be able to tell from our chat and from listening to Angel, which was inspired heavily by albums like Blue and Hejira.

But I’ll let Lizzy do that explaining! More information about Lizzy’s music and her tour can be found on her website.

As always, thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

I must thank my friend Matthew Ingate for getting me connecting with Naomi in Blue, my guest for this episode. I can’t emphasize enough how grateful I am that many of you out there have helped point me in the right direction in terms of incredible interview guests.

The British-Chilean singer-songwriter Naomi in Blue — she’ll explain her stage name in this episode, fear not — has released her debut (!!) album, Is This Body Mine? and it’s an wonderfully visceral piece of work. She draws from Joni, but you’ll also here essences of people like Patti Smith, Fiona Apple and Nico here.

More on Naomi’s music on her Bandcamp page.

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

We’re on a bit of a roll here at Big Yellow Pod. Today I present you with a wonderful conversation I had with Brianna Falcone, a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles — I stumbled across a video of her covering Joni on Instagram of all things.

As we note in the show, Brianna has a new song coming out on September 12th, which she recorded live, outside under a tree. But there’s plenty more of her work to explore via her website if you should choose.

As always, thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to another Big Yellow Podcast interview episode! Today’s guest is Violet Grohl, a singer-songwriter out of Los Angeles who released her debut album, Be Sweet to Me, in May of this year.

If you listen to Be Sweet to Me, and I hope that you do, you’ll hear its most prominent influences — acts like the Breeders, L7 and other punk rock sorts. (You can probably guess where that came from if you think just a little bit about her last name…)

But Joni, Violet tells me, is a foundational influence for her, as you’ll hear in this episode. (And if you want more on Violet, check out her website, where she’s got a whole bunch of tour dates listed for this year.)

As always, thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

We’re wrapping up the final four of Joni’s studio albums today: ‘Taming the Tiger’ (1998), ‘Both Sides Now’ (2000), ‘Travelogue’ (2002) and ‘Shine’ (2007).

As I mention in this episode…full transparency here: I’m not totally sure where this show will go from here. There likely won’t be consistent guests, but trust me when I say I’m always hearing about new people that I think would make excellent guests, the kind that are carrying similar artistic torches to the one Joni did and still is. If anyone out there has recommendations, I’m always ears.

As always, thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Wildly enough, this is episode 50 (!!!) of Big Yellow Podcast. For that, I must express my gratitude to all you listeners for being so supportive and excited about this show. This show is truly a passion project and I’m so glad others have found the same joy in it. Thank you, endlessly, for that.

But without further adieu…here is episode 50, featuring the Grammy-nominated and all around wonderful human being Courtney Barnett. Her new album, Creature of Habit, was released on March 27, and she’ll be touring this year behind it. All the details on that can be found on her website.

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

I first learned of Courtney Marie Andrews, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, via an album of Tom Waits covers called Women Sing Waits. That title speaks for itself, and Courtney does a brilliant version of “Downtown Train" on it.

Personally, I love Courtney’s 2020 album Old Flowers, especially “Burlap String.” It was on repeat often during the early post-pandemic months when there still wasn’t much to do except take walks around the park.

That’s all to say: I’m a fan. So it was a wonderful treat when she agreed to meet me in person at a bar in the East Village to talk about her brand new album Valentine, which comes out January 16, plus the ever-shifting influence of Joni Mitchell on her work. Courtney is as lovely to speak with as it is to listen to her music and I’m quite grateful to have spent a bit of solo time with her. Highly recommend checking out the new album and keeping an eye on her website — she’ll be touring behind the album this year!

I hope you’ll excuse the extra background noise/music in this episode. It’s a bit distracting, but it’s the sound of two gals in a New York City bar talkin’ about Joni.

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

We’re moving right along here through Joni’s 90s albums. This one might be my favorite of the decade: 1994’s Turbulent Indigo.

Thanks for listening — wishing you a happy and healthy start to the holiday season x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the ‘90s era of Joni Mitchell! You may find some relief here from the over-produced sheen that was the ‘80s, but you will find music no less challenging on 1991’s Night Ride Home.

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Firstly, a big thank you for your patience these last few weeks. Life has been chaotic, in a word, but here I am with a new episode, Today’s focus is one of my personal favorites…

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe