After forming in 1978, the New York City based band The dB’s would, by the next year, begin recording material at Blue Rock Studio in Manhattan. The end result would become a seminal classic. In Episode 58, Peter Holsapple and Will Rigby tell the story of their band’s 1981 debut full-length Stands for deciBels. Recounting their formation and the recording of the album, the two bandmates detail their long history of playing music together which first began during their youth in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In the Spring of 2022, singer-songwriter Milan McAlevey would begin to develop the material that would make up his 3rd solo release. Working in his home studio in South Portland, Maine, the songs would start to move in a specific direction while still maintaining the same darkness, humor, and sincerity of his past works. In Episode 57, McAlevey tells the story of his 2024 album Bucksport Motel, discussing its lyrical inspirations, the influence country music had over its musical direction, and the people that would help color the finished product.

After a day spent searching for a place to make a record, members of the Richmond, VA by way of Redlands, CA band Cracker would decide to make a detour and get something to eat at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. It was there that everything would seemingly fall into place. In Episode 56, Cracker’s David Lowery tells the story of his band's 1993 sophomore effort Kerosene Hat. Recorded with producer Don Smith in Pioneertown, Lowery touches on the band’s experience making the album in an old barn that once served as a soundstage and the unexpected commercial success that would follow its release.

In the summer of 2000/2001, Melbourne, Australia's The Lucksmiths would enter Audrey Studios in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond to record with producer Craig Pilkington. When the sessions were complete, the band would emerge with an ambitious new album. In Episode 55, The Lucksmiths’ Marty Donald and Mark Monnone tell the story of their 2001 indie pop classic Why That Doesn’t Surprise Me. Detailing the events and experiences that led to its creation, the bandmates discuss the writing and recording process as well as the people that helped shape the album’s direction and sound.

After experiencing some success with the release of his band’s fifth album Nixon and quitting his long standing job with a flooring company, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner would take advantage of the momentum and extra time by working on the songs that would make up the band’s next album. In Episode 54, Wagner tells the story of Lambchop’s 2002 album Is a Woman. Recorded with frequent collaborator Mark Nevers in their home base of Nashville, Tennessee, the band’s leader recounts the process of shaping the record’s sonic direction and the positive outcomes that occurred as a result of its creation.

Having been based in Upstate New York for a time, Widowspeak’s Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas would make the decision in 2020 to return to the place where their band had first begun, Brooklyn, New York. Unfortunately, their return to the city would coincide with the entire world being shut down. It is under these abnormal circumstances that Hamilton and Thomas would begin to build the world in which their sixth album would exist. In Episode 53, the members of Widowspeak tell the story of their 2022 album The Jacket. Recounting the events that led to its creation, Hamilton and Thomas touch on the album’s concept and inspirations as well as their experience working with co-producer Homer Steinwiess at The Diamond Mine in Queens, New York. 

While on tour in Japan with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, musician Russell Simins would meet Japanese expatriates Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda of the New York City based band Cibo Matto. Once all three were back in New York, they would form the band Butter 08 with Skeleton Key’s Rick Lee and graphic designer/ filmmaker Mike Mills. In Episode 52, Simins tells the story of how the band’s only record, 1996’s Butter, came to be. Recorded primarily at Greene Street Recordings in Manhattan, Simins delves into the experience of working there and producing the effort alongside Honda as well as the inspirations, both sonically and lyrically, behind the album’s tracks.  

In the fall of 1968, Bell Records would release singer-songwriter Margo Guryan’s debut full-length Take a Picture. Initially, the album would fail to garner much attention due to the Guryan’s reluctance to perform and promote the record. Many years later, Take a Picture would begin to gain a cult following, leading to a reissue in the early 2000s and some long overdue acclaim. In Episode 51, Guryan’s stepson Jon Rosner and Take a Picture’s producer John Hill tell the story of the late songwriter’s lone studio album, touching on her early life in Far Rockaway, Queens, her transition from the world of jazz into pop, and the magical discovery that was made after double tracking her vocals.

By the 1990s, the Atlanta mill village known as Cabbagetown had become a haven for artistic types due to its location and cheap rent. It is in this rich environment that The Rock*A*Teens would form and become the pride of the neighborhood’s musical community. In Episode 50 of In Loving Recollection, The Rock*A*Teens’ Chris Lopez tells the story of how the band’s 1999 album Golden Time came to be.

Formed during the halcyon days of the late 90s/ early 2000s Athens, GA music scene, Masters of the Hemisphere would become the quintessential indie pop act of beloved local label Kindercore Records. In Episode 49, Adrian Finch, Jeff Griggs, Bren Mead, and Sean Rawls tell the story of their 2002 album Protest a Dark Anniversary. Recounting the events that led to the record’s creation, the members of the Masters touch on their experience recording at World as Myth Studio and the sense of an impending transition that permeated the whole proceeding.