The Paul Leslie Hour

Larry Bastian has lived a storied life. Farming, being a cowboy, working as a biologist are all a part of the tale. His family had farmed the San Joaquin Valley in California since the late 1800s. Larry Bastian is known for his songs. Legendary recording artists like George Jones, Buck Owens, Tammy Wynette, and Conway Twitty have recorded his songs. Bastian is heavily associated with Garth Brooks who has covered and co-written songs with him.

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Bruce Cockburn is a prolific Canadian singer-songwriter and recording artist with more than 300 songs in his catalog. His songs have been recorded by the likes of Dan Fogelberg, the Jerry Garcia Band, Barenaked Ladies, Ani DiFranco, Jimmy Buffett, k.d. lang and many others. This interview discussed many things including his most recent 33rd album "Bone on Bone."

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Hey. It's Me. A great singer cannot be limited to a singular style, like jazz or country. Singer, recording artist and actress Renee Olstead is an example of this. Known by many for nostalgic interpretations of American Songbook standards, the Texas-born Olstead is exploring the emotional sounds of country music. Her latest single "Help Me Make It Through the Night" is generating considerable excitement on the internet.

The thing that is intriguing about Renee Olstead is how versatile she is. You could imagine her fitting in effortlessly on the set of a movie in LA, behind the microphone at a jazz club or a smoky Honky-tonk. Well, we're just glad she thought she'd fit in here on The Paul Leslie Hour.

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Barbara Gaines, the longtime Executive Producer of David Letterman's late night show checks in and gives an honest and compelling behind the scenes look at the wildly popular comedy/talk show. We talk about her background, the predecessor to "Late Night with David Letterman": the morning show "The David Letterman Show." We're joined by a very special surprise guest who adds incredible insight.

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Nashville singer-songwriter Amanda Colleen Williams is inspiring and for the first time ever tells her entire story. A compelling performing and recording artist in her own right, her songs have also been recorded by the likes of Garth Brooks and George Jones.

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Fats Domino was on my mind all day. The legendary Fats Domino passed away yesterday at 89 years old. He sold more than 70 million records and is credited as being one of the founding fathers of Rock 'n Roll. This interview from 2009 showed him to be a simple and down home kind of guy. He liked to play his piano and cook.

Here is my interview and recollections of meeting Fats Domino in person at his home.

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Bill Scheft has written jokes for some of the most well known people: Actors, Comedians, and even a United States President. He's written several novels including: The Ringer, Time Won't Let Me, Everything Hurts and Shrink Thyself. Bill Scheft was a writer for David Letterman from 1991 to 2015.

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Author Lawrence Grobel is interviewed about his life as a journalist who has spoken in-depth with people like Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and Barbra Streisand.

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For lovers of traditional country music (that’s me) it just doesn’t get any better than Charley Pride. I recall taking a friend of mine to see Charley Pride in concert and at one point looking over and seeing tears of joy streaming down his face. That’s not an exaggeration, but as Pride says in this interview he’s “in the business of feelings, lyrics and emotions.” If that’s what Charley Pride is selling, he can consider himself a successful salesman because of the gusto with which people consume his music.

Charley Pride is honest and down-to-earth in this interview and we talk about his latest album Music in My Heart, featuring 13 new recordings and the man behind the music. It’s all here folks. Welcome to it.

Natalie Goldberg is the author of many books, the most recent being The Great Spring: Writing, Zen and This Zig Zag Life. She is most known for her book Writing Down the Bones, which changed the way we look at writing. The book sold more than a million copies and has been translated into 14 languages.

Her recent book The Great Spring: Writing, Zen and This Zig Zag Life is a collection of short essays and is one of the topics of conversation in this interview. Her documentary film Tangled Up in Bob is also discussed, which is about her travels to Bob Dylan's hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota to find out about the singer-songwriter's early years. All of this is an excuse to try to get to know the author better and her perspectives may change your perspectives on "writing as a practice."