The Record Player

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Libby Cudmore was our first guest on The Record Player. Sort of.

Here's the thing -- as we were batting around the ideas for the podcast which became this one, we made up a spreadsheet and started writing down albums that we wanted to discuss. Then we began to think about people who would be fun to discuss those albums with.

We reached out to Libby in November of 2021 and quickly had her committed to discuss a particular album. Flash forward more than a year and we're here to discuss a completely different album with Libby.

It was such a thrill to discuss Zoot Suit Riot: The Swingin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies with Libby and she came armed and ready times one thousand. She made us a playlist, Consider the Daddies, which we are linking here for your listening pleasure. It was everything, as your ears will reveal to you after you're finished listening.

Quick disclaimer: We just kind of logged in and all started talking. A proper intro of Libby arrives about 10 minutes or so into our discussion. If you can imagine that you walked into a local establishment and we were already there deep in conversation, that's kind how this one unfolded.

However you think you feel about the Daddies right now, leave those feelings at the door. Listen to Libby's playlist, listen to this episode and get yourself a new favorite band.

As far as today's episode, we dig through a lot of topics -- including how Libby's own writing was inspired by the Daddies. We had a blast and look forward to our next round with Team Cudmore. Thanks as always for listening!

By the way, if you enjoy these episodes, how 'bout checking out our Patreon? We appreciate it and we'd love to have you as a member of the club!

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Fellow music nerds who love harmony will know a thing or three about the Roches. But you might not be aware of an album that came before the group.

Maggie and Terre Roche's Seductive Reasoning arrived in 1975 and helped to lay the groundwork for the Roches' debut that emerged four years later in 1979.

Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls joins Jeff and Matt to share the importance of Seductive Reasoning -- and how the Roches influenced her own musical path.

We discuss a wide range of topics, including Amy's newest solo album, If It All Goes South. Fans will get a chance to hear songs from the record live as Amy heads out on the road with her band starting in early February for a month's worth of dates.

The tour begins in Dallas and includes a stop at Nashville historic Ryman Auditorium, where Amy will be opening for Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Along the way, she'll play a number of other headlining dates, wrapping things up in Georgia with gigs in Athens and Atlanta. Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin will be sharing the bill for all of the dates except Nashville.

P.S. Matt is getting over a cold and apologizes for the bit of coughing in the intro. Happy New Year!

P.S.S. It's the one year anniversary of The Record Player. We talk about that a bit.

Additional Stuff:

Read Amy's interview with The Big Takeover that we reference during today's podcast.

Listen to the great Indigo Girls interview on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast.

Yes, there's an Indigo Girls documentary coming this year! We can't wait to see It's Only Life After All, which premieres at the upcoming Sundance Festival.

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This week marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's Incesticide.

Liz Barker joins Jeff and Matt to discuss seeing the Seattle legends when she was 15, the personal impact of Incesticide  and why it remains a favorite for her as a music fan.

We discuss a number of subjects, including the interesting encounters and bonding experiences at concerts, plus how the members of Nirvana used their platform to speak important truths.

If you're like us, you've heard the radio hits by Nirvana a lot. Maybe you never need to hear them again. You might enjoy taking a quick trip off the usual beaten path by listening to Incesticide.

Check out Liz's excellent newsletter, it was fun till he started getting serious.

Read the Incesticide liner notes by Kurt Cobain.

How about some books? We'd suggest Danny Goldberg's 2019 memoir about his time working with Kurt and Nirvana, Serving the Servant. There's also a book that centers its discussion around Incesticide. and that one is called Dark Slivers: Seeing Nirvana in the Shards of Incesticide.

Thanks as always for listening! Please check out our Patreon if you enjoy these episodes. We'd love to have you as a member of our Record Club. There are over 100 exclusive posts for members.

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As Starship prepared to release their third album, 1989's Love Among the Cannibals, a lot had changed. Grace Slick had departed from the lineup - severing the last link to the original Jefferson Airplane crew. But vocalist Mickey Thomas, a veteran of six albums with Jefferson Starship and Starship, was there to guide the ship forward vocally. Guitarist Craig Chaquico and drummer Donny Baldwin were also still on board. On the heels of two successful hit albums, it seemed reasonable that they were poised to continue the streak.

So what happened? That's one of the questions that Jeff and Matt seek to answer with today's discussion. They also talk about the long and complicated saga of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship and how it compares to other similarly complex group dynamics.

As mentioned in the episode, music fans who enjoy a good rock book that doesn't hold back on the dirt and brutal quotes are encouraged to seek out a copy of Jeff Tamarkin's book. Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane is a crucial trip for all who enjoy this episode.

Thanks for listening and please consider supporting our Patreon if you enjoy these episodes! Join our Record Club, dammit! We appreciate your patronage and your dedicated ears!

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It's hard to believe that it's been 25 years since Kenny Wayne Shepherd took over rock radio with songs like "Slow Ride" and "Blue on Black," but time flies when you're playing rock and roll, right?

Kenny Wayne joins Matt to discuss Trouble Is...25, his new multimedia project which features fresh recordings of the songs from Trouble Is... recorded with original album producer (and previous podcast guest) Jerry Harrison. A bonus DVD or Blu-ray adds a documentary that goes deep into the history of the album, plus a full live performance of Trouble Is... recorded live in Kenny Wayne's hometown of Shreveport.

You can purchase autographed copies at Kenny Wayne's website and if you loved the original album, this is one you're not going to want to miss.

Please rate and review this podcast wherever you're listening.

If you enjoy these episodes, please consider joining our Patreon. Become a remember of our Record Club and access a ton of bonus material released to the podcast. We appreciate your support!

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Today's Bonus Track is one for fans of progressive music. The band VOLA formed in Copenhagen in 2006 and they blend their love of electronic music with progressive pop metal to create their own unique thing, drawing on influences including Opeth, Meshuggah, Soilwork, Porcupine Tree and many others.

I spoke with Asger of Vola as the band was getting ready to launch their first-ever tour of the United States and Canada which begins on Saturday, November 12th in Boston at the Middle East. Several of the shows are already sold out and you can find the complete tour schedule right here.

Their current album Witness has received numerous accolades, including being named the 17th best album of 2021 by Loudwire and they have a recent live album, Live from the Pool, which was recorded inside a swimming pool at an abandoned military camp in New Zealand.

Asger handles lead vocals and guitar for the group and we talk about how the band has evolved, songwriting, what it’s like to record a live album inside a swimming pool and his love for Metallica, just to name a few things.

Thanks for listening to our podcast. If you dig these episodes, consider joining our Patreon to receive early access and bonus interviews, plus a wealth of additional material related to these programs. We appreciate your support and look forward to welcoming you as a member of our Record Club!

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Daniel Lanois is our guest for this latest Bonus Track. The legendary producer, artist and songwriter joins Matt to discuss his newest solo album, Player, Piano, which is available now.

The album features a series of exotic instrumental piano performances and was recorded at Lanois’ studio in Toronto with the help of co-producer Dangerous Wayne Lorenz.

“Making this record transported me at a time when I couldn’t go anywhere,” Lanois reflects. “I got to travel to Cuba and Mexico and Jamaica. I got to visit with the ghosts of Erik Satie and Oscar Peterson and Harold Budd. I got to go back in time to my work with Brian Eno and Kate Bush and Emmylou Harris. All without ever leaving my studio.”

In order to achieve the timeless-sounding recordings on Player, Piano, Lanois and Lorenz set about transforming each of the three pianos in the studio, dampening the strings with tea towels and dulling the percussive impact of the hammers by adding small felt pads to the heads. When it came time to record, they used vintage ribbon mics and arranged them behind the instruments rather than in front in an effort to further soften the sound. “I decided that if I was going to make a piano record, I wanted it to sound like recordings from the ‘40s and ’50s, back when the piano was soft and beautiful,” explains Lanois.

As one of the most acclaimed and influential producers of the modern era, he’s helmed iconic albums for everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to U2 and Peter Gabriel. As a prolific and critically acclaimed songwriter, he’s composed scores for Oscar-winning films and blockbuster video games in addition to releasing more than a dozen genre-bending solo records. Rolling Stone declared that his “unmistakable fingerprints are all over an entire wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” (think The Joshua Tree, Wrecking Ball, Time Out Of Mind), while NPR lauded him as the author of his own “brilliant albums of heartfelt songs.”

Player, Piano follows the 2021 release of Lanois’ album Heavy Sun, which received wide acclaim from outlets such as SPIN, World Cafe, No Depression and American Songwriter and more.

Each song on Player, Piano is a portal, an invitation to lose yourself in the moment and disappear into a world of imagination and memory. Melodies unfold slowly with patience and grace; ethereal arrangements drift around them like fog rolling through the mountains. More than just an album, Player, Piano is a gateway into a cinematic sonic universe full of mystery and wonder, a place where the lines between reality and fantasy blur and deep truths and desires reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways.

It was a joy to speak with Daniel and he shared some great stories from his past work, including experiences with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers and more.

If you dig what we're doing with the podcast, check out our Patreon for bonus material related to these episodes, plus additional interviews and other fun stuff. Join our Record Club to gain access to all of it!

Thanks for listening! Please rate and review this podcast wherever you're finding us. We appreciate it!

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Author Grady Hendrix dropped in on The Record Player for what became one of our favorite chats to date. Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson is the album that Grady brought along to discuss with Jeff and Matt.

Released in 1990, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye features an all-star cast including R.E.M., the Jesus and Mary Chain, Poi Dog Pondering, John Wesley Harding, Julian Cope, ZZ Top, Bongwater, Butthole Surfers and many others.

They all pooled their musical talents in support of Austin singer-songwriter Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators) who was dealing with hard times. The album helped to spark a renaissance for his career, with Erickson eventually making his return to recording and playing live.

Producer Bill Bentley revisited his experiences of working on Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye in a 2017 article celebrating a vinyl release of the compilation. He went on to mount a second tribute to Erickson which was released on Light in the Attic in 2021.

About Grady:

Grady Hendrix used to be a journalist, which means that he was completely irrelevant and could be killed and turned into food at any time. He is one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival, but he is not responsible for the bad parts of it. For years he was a regular film critic for the New York Sun but then it went out of business. He has written for Playboy Magazine, Slate, The Village Voice, the New York Post, Film Comment, and Variety. He has a hard time making up his mind.

He is very, very beautiful, but if you ever meet him, please do not let this make you uncomfortable. He does not judge.

The New Yorker once ran a short profile of him, and this means that when the time comes and they are lining people up for the Space Arks he will be guaranteed a seat ahead of you.

Okay, so you can read everything in full at Grady's website. He’s a funny guy. A number of his books have been optioned for movies and television, including My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which you can now watch on Amazon Prime and he’s got a new book coming in early 2023, which we discuss briefly in our conversation.

The Record Player:

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If you're enjoying these episodes, please consider joining our Patreon. Become a member of the Record Club to receive early access to our conversations, plus bonus interviews and additional materials related to the program. Thanks so much for your support!

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Our latest Bonus Track features a conversation with author David Leaf who joins Matt to discuss  God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys and the California Myth, his newest book.

Originally published in 1978 as The Beach Boys and the California Myth, this groundbreaking study was both the first full-length book on the band and the first to recognize Brian Wilson as one of the most significant and influential artists of the 20th century. Covering the turbulent family strife and internal conflicts as well as giving proper attention to the remarkable music, the book was an instant classic.

An intimate look at Brian’s rollercoaster of a life and career, it’s told through the eyes of those who were there during Wilson’s most legendary productions including Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations.

Revised and updated (and now double the size of the original book), God Only Knows covers the decades since the 1985 edition, including Brian’s first acclaimed solo album, his startling return to live performing, the landmark Pet Sounds tour, the “All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson” (which Leaf wrote and produced) and the triumphant and miraculous Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE world premiere in London.

Filled with surprising revelations, insight and behind-the-scenes detail, this indispensable book written by renowned Brian Wilson expert David Leaf also features forewords by Sir Paul McCartney, the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb, Jimmy Webb and Melinda Wilson, Brian’s wife.

It was fun to dig into the book a bit with David, who also shared some stories about his experiences working on the original book in the '70s and how he gained access to some of the Beach Boys/associates that he interviewed at that time.

Purchase God Only Knows here where it's available as a physical book or ebook depending on your preference!

Please rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this episode.

If you enjoy our podcast, we invite you to join our Patreon and become a member of the Record Club. You'll receive advance access to our episodes as well as a wealth of additional interviews and bonus material related to these shows. Thanks so much for your support!

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Nashville songwriter Fred Wilhelm (Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Little Big Town) is with us to discuss Bruce Springsteen's classic Tunnel of Love album.  As his Instagram bio says, "I'm a songwriter. I make stuff up." We think he's being modest.

Fred shares his personal connection with Tunnel of Love and tells us why he still maintains such a strong connection with the album. We also discuss the life of a songwriter (named Fred) in Nashville.

Please rate and review this podcast wherever you're listening. If you enjoy these episodes, consider joining our Patreon. Become a member of our Record Club to receive access to bonus episodes and interviews, plus a wealth of additional content related to the show. Thanks for your support!

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