The Track Star Podcast

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer joins The Track Star Podcast for a conversation that moves from Motown to modern Detroit, using music as a way into the state she represents.

Through artists like Madonna, Aretha Franklin, and Eminem, Whitmer reflects on growing up in Michigan, the state’s deep musical lineage, and how Detroit became a global center for sound, from the Motown assembly line to rock and hip-hop.

The conversation also opens up into something broader: how listening shapes leadership, why asking questions matters more than having answers, and how the small, often invisible systems of everyday life, from roads to water to schools, shape whether people have the space to create at all.

Listen to this episode’s extended playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday.

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Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann joins The Track Star Podcast to talk about Elvis Presley and what made his music and live performances so powerful. Using songs from the new concert film Elvis: The King in Concert, Baz and Jack explore what made Elvis a singular entertainer, from the raw power of “Polk Salad Annie” to the emotional weight of songs like “In the Ghetto.” 

The conversation traces Elvis’s upbringing in the American South, the unlikely path that led him from Hollywood movie star to Las Vegas showman, and why the physicality of his performances, his voice, his body, and his connection to the band and the audience still feels unmatched. Along the way, Baz explains how lost archival footage, recovered audio recordings, and modern restoration techniques helped bring Elvis’s performances back to life.

Listen to this episode’s extended playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday.

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

Academy Award–winning filmmaker Morgan Neville joins The Track Star Podcast for a deep dive into Paul McCartney’s most misunderstood era: the decade after the Beatles’ breakup.

Centered around McCartney, Ram, and the rise of Wings, the conversation traces how Paul rebuilt his identity after the collapse of the biggest band in history, examining the backlash he faced in the early ’70s, Linda’s role in shaping the sound of Wings, and why albums once dismissed by critics are now seen as some of his most inventive work.

Neville also reflects on the making of his documentary Man on the Run, what it was like conducting intimate audio-only interviews with Paul, and how archival footage and handmade animation helped reframe a period long overshadowed by Beatlemania.

Listen to this episode’s extended playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday.

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

Two of the best-performing Track Star contestants of all time return to settle a big question: Is Gen X the greatest music generation ever? Writer, comedian, and self-described “man about town” Robert George and New York City SoulCycle instructor Sue Molnar join Jack for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up with radio, MTV, and a musical landscape that fractured into punk, new wave, hip-hop, industrial, and grunge all at once.

Through artists like Blondie, Prince, and Nirvana, the episode traces a shared musical world of radio countdowns (Casey Kasem and American Top 40), MTV premieres, and albums meant to be heard from front to back.

The conversation moves easily between personal memory and cultural history, returning to the idea that Gen X didn’t just inherit great music, but learned how to listen across styles and scenes at a moment when everything still lived together on the same dial, before music became fully on-demand.

Listen to this episode’s extended playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast drop every Wednesday.

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

Justin Peck joins The Track Star Podcast to talk about how music turns into movement. From the stage at Lincoln Center, the New York City Ballet choreographer in residence explains why a ballet begins with a score, how melody guides the body, and how choreography is shaped by collaboration with real dancers.

Through a playlist curated by Jack, Peck reflects on the classical canon, including Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and the Balanchine tradition, and on his work on Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, where the camera became part of the dance itself. The episode also features FKA twigs on building the world of Eusexua, and a short history of the Rite of Spring premiere and its aftershocks.

Listen to our extended playlist for this episode: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday.

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro joins The Track Star Podcast for a conversation that uses music to get somewhere politics usually can’t.

Through a playlist curated by Jack, Shapiro reflects on how music has followed him from growing up in suburban Philadelphia to knocking 18,000 doors on his first campaign, and into the moments that have defined his time as governor. He talks about the changing identity of Pennsylvania cities, how Meek Mill’s probation case reshaped his view of the justice system, and why certain songs have stayed with him through the pressures of public life.

Along the way, he opens up about faith, bipartisanship, and the emotional side of being a parent, offering advice to a very nervous first-time dad just days before delivery.

Listen to this episode’s extended playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday.

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

More Track Star content:

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Lucinda Williams joins The Track Star Podcast for a conversation about the music that shaped her, from Highway 61 and Delta blues to Muscle Shoals soul and Brill Building pop.

Through voices like Bob Dylan, Howlin’ Wolf, and Aretha Franklin, Lucinda reflects on discovering songwriting as a teenager, the artists that taught her what honesty sounds like, and how instinct and feeling have guided her own records. She also reacts to hearing a cover of her song “Greenville” for the first time, and reflects on how songs travel from one voice to another.

Listen to our extended playlist for this episode: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday!

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

More Track Star* content:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@track-star-show

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@trackstarshow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trackstarshow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trackstarshow/

Tom Freston, one of the founding executives behind MTV, joins The Track Star Podcast to talk through how the channel was built and what it became. Through a chronological run of songs and moments, he traces MTV’s evolution from a small startup into a platform that transformed how music was presented and discovered.

Along the way, he explains why Live Aid marked a turning point for the network, how Michael Jackson helped turn music video premieres into shared cultural events, and how MTV brought hip-hop into middle American living rooms. He also breaks down the move from nonstop videos into the VMAs, Unplugged, Yo! MTV Raps, Total Request Live, and reality television, and reflects on how Comedy Central grew out of the same creative environment.

Listen to our extended MTV playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday!

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

More Track Star* content:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@track-star-show

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@trackstarshow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trackstarshow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trackstarshow/

The Track Star Podcast continues our CBGB series with hardcore historian Steven Blush, tracing how the club transformed in the early 1980s from punk’s downtown art scene into the chaotic, all-ages world of New York hardcore. Blush breaks down the rise of the matinees, the birth of slam dancing and stage-diving, and the anti-fashion ethos that defined the scene, while connecting CBGB’s hardcore explosion to the wider national movement beyond Manhattan.

Listen to our extended CBGB playlist:  Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast every Wednesday!

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

More Track Star* content:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@track-star-show

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@trackstarshow

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trackstarshow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trackstarshow/

Iconic photographer Roberta Bayley breaks down how the CBGB scene formed in the mid-1970s, before anyone agreed on the word “punk,” and the room was still mostly bands, friends, and a $2 cover.

Through songs by the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Blondie, and more, Bayley walks through the early CBGB ecosystem: what the club felt like night to night, how Punk magazine helped give the scene a name most of the artists didn’t even want, and how that label quickly spread beyond New York. She also tells the story behind her iconic Ramones photo becoming their debut album cover, shares road stories from the Sex Pistols’ chaotic U.S. tour, and reflects on documenting Blondie during their mainstream breakthrough.

Along the way, Bayley traces her path to New York: seeing the Beatles as a teenage superfan, coming of age in the San Francisco counterculture rock scene, living in London during the years leading up to punk, and arriving in New York just as CBGB became the center of a new musical underground.

Special thanks to Punk magazine and Ki Smith Gallery for hosting this interview. Ki Smith Gallery (170 Forsyth) is currently presenting a special Punk magazine exhibit featuring several of Roberta’s iconic photos, on view through January 18.

https://www.instagram.com/kismithgallery/?hl=en

Listen to this episode’s extended playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music

New episodes of The Track Star Podcast drop every Wednesday.

[Video available on Spotify and YouTube]

More Track Star* content:

YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@track-star-show⁠

TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@trackstarshow⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/trackstarshow⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/trackstarshow/