We caught up with Rolling Stone Senior Research Editor Jonathan Bernstein about his recent interview with Lucinda Williams on her (and Dylan's) take on "the female Bob Dylan" label. Then we ponder the concept and construction of "the singer-songwriter" and go off the rails a little as we grapple with the role and efficacy of protest songs in our current political hellscape. In the mix: Tiktok-ification, mass movements (and the loss thereof), hopelessness and hope, the violence of the state, and the songs of the people. 

Special thanks to Ian Lynch and Lankum for the use of "Rocks of Palestine." We highly recommend Ian's excellent podcast Fire Draw Near: https://campsite.bio/firedrawnear

Special thanks also to our guest Jonathan Bernstein. Read his article, “Lucinda Williams on Trump Bashing, New Album: ‘Should I Be Afraid?’” in Rolling Stone and check out his new book What Do You Do When You're Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle: https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/jonathan-bernstein/what-do-you-do-when-youre-lonesome/9780306833274/

We talk with Julia Greenberg, co-director of the excellent 2024 documentary, Dory Previn: On My Way to Where. The film recounts Dory's far-flung creative life at the intersection of classic Hollywood, pop music, and Laurel Canyon bohemia. As a close friend of Dory's, a performer of her music, and one of the carriers of her legacy (and her microphone !), Julia shares stories of Dory's painting and needlepointing in her Berkshire farmhouse, Frank Sinatra's deaf cat, and plans for the Dory Previn archive.

Learn more about Dory Previn: On My Way to Where at https://www.doryprevindoc.com/

The outro music on this episode is "Quiet Day" by Julia Greenberg

Paying our respects to lyricist, truth-teller, and style icon Dory Previn (1925-2012). Previn was an accomplished songwriter for film and TV for years before pivoting to the spotlight as a cult-famous singer-songwriter in her 40s. We deep dive into her writing and the way she translates emotion and experience into song, detouring to talk mental health advocacy, Valley of the Dolls, Catholicism, and more. As a wise man (Sarah Bachman) once said, you will love Dory Previn if you've ever really snapped. Hop on into the Gorgon Revelator 240 Coupe with us, we're blasting "Twenty-Mile Zone"....

Detroit music writer and film buff Ana Gavrilovska joins us on our podcast time machine to revisit the 2013 Coen Brothers' anti-biopic Inside Llewyn Davis. We discuss the film's moody representation of the Greenwich Village folk scene and the flattened renderings of its women, the protagonist's "bleak circle of failure," and the hero's journey of the cat Ulysses—and consider where it ranks on our "golden dulcimer" scale of folk music films. 

Catch us ugly crying in the car to the late great Karen Dalton! We chat about who and how she was “in her own time”: a sublime, confident folk musician and interpreter who made everything she played—trad, pop, blues—sound like a Karen Dalton song. Also a renowned cooker of beans, apparent Michael Hurley adapter, and early feminist who liked hangin out with weird people (Cheech Marin among them). 

We also welcome our new “sponsor,” the shadowy yet inventive Peppermill Goose Farm and Chemical Manufacturing Plant. 

They’re Back and They’re PISSED: The Female Bob Dylan Season 2!

*New Bits & Rants*

*New Female Bob Dylans*

*New Corporate Sponsor*

Put on the kettle, grab that heirloom quilt and pull it up over your head cause it’s time for ROUND 2!  Episode 1 drops 9/29

We're back to review the new Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (**SPOILER ALERT**). We discuss Hollywood-ifying the cultural and political tensions of Dylan going electric, who's represented, misrepresented (Toshi Seeger, Alan Lomax) & left out entirely (Jean Ritchie, Harry Smith), Timothée Chalamet's press tour, and our yearning for the Nosferatu of the folk revival.

In our last official episode of the season, we celebrate the brilliant, iconoclastic life of singer, guitarist, and activist, Odetta. We talk interpreters & inheritors, Black music & Black history, and Odetta's role as a connector between the folk revival & the civil rights movement. We also redeem theater kids and confess our brushes with Unitarianism.

Our Last Waltz Thanksgiving Special! While Sophie rests her voice, our friend Kana Zink steps in to help us rate the performances in Martin Scorsese's documentary of The Band's 1976 farewell show on a scale from "superior" to "madness or genius?" We also discuss Levon Helm's thousand yard stare, visit Garth Hudson's mulch factory, and consider the correlation (or causation?) between V-neck depth and ego.

We bring one of our favorite songwriters and theme song artist Lou Turner on the pod to discuss Joni’s road album Hejira and Lou’s not-on-the-road album Microcosmos (2022). We also talk Nashville’s weird music underbelly, try hard troubadours, and that Wolf Eyes side project “Crazy Labrador.”