Songs can serve as musical touchstones that we return to when we want to remind ourselves what we want music to be. For White Denim’s James Petralli, that song is the Grateful Dead’s “That’s It For the Other One,” which helped him realize how he wanted to approach both the guitar and recording. With the song as a starting point, Petralli goes on to explain why drummers are the most important members of the band, why all musical expression is valid and what it was like to record the bands’s new record “Stiff” with Ethan Johns.

Then Bayonne explores how The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”   showed him how powerful openness and vulnerability in music could be and  explains how he approached his new record “Primitives” with that same openness.

Watch White Denim perform “Ha Ha Ha Ha Yeah” on VuHaus

Check out White Denim’s Tour Dates

Watch Bayonne, who previously went by the name Roger Sellers, perform “Waves” from him new record “Primitives” Live in Studio 1A.

Check out Bayonne’s Tour Dates

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Listen to the songs featured in episode 33 of This Song.

The post This Song: James Petralli of White Denim // Bayonne appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.