What Am I Making Podcast

My dear friend and bandmate Jeffery Gower and I recently returned from a splendid three week tour of the American southeast. While Jeff and I had toured together before on long weekends in our band, the Stick Arounds, this was the first time where Jeff would be gone longer than just a few days. And, while I have toured like this several times in the past as a solo performer, I have never done so with a companion at my side.

During our adventure, Jeff and I visited historic sites, legendary musical spaces, and saw untamed natural beauty. If you have been paying attention to this space in recent weeks, you’ll likely have seen some of the Tour Diary posts that I have shared details of some of the time that Jeff and I spent together on the road. This chat is a supplement of sorts to those posts.

Over the course of our discussion, Jeff and I cover a few highlights of the tour including some of our favorite shows and stops, a few of our favorite culinary delights, and the bevy of amazing people that we encountered. Because I lived this experience and because Jeff is such a great friend, this is a pretty poor interview in the technical sense of that word. Still, I hope this chat gives you some insight about touring as two friends share some of their favorite stories from the road.

Cheers,

Matty C

Mary Chapin Carpenter was working at a temp job in her late twenties one day when the phone rang. After an exchange of hellos, the voice on the other end of the line asked Mary Chapin if she was sitting down. Once she had taken a seat, Mary Chapin Carpenter was told that she was being offered a recording contract with Columbia Records. The news came like a bolt of lightning. For years, Carpenter had been working temp jobs and playing her songs in small bars and clubs around the Washington DC corridor. Now, she was about to be launched into the musical cosmos.

Many songwriters would have crumbled under the pressure, but Carpenter thrived. With a batch of terrific songs and a marvelous voice, Mary Chapin released her debut album, Hometown Girl in 1987. In 1992, her fourth album Come On Come On, went on to feature seven songs that hit the Billboard Country singles chart, sold more than two million copies and turned Mary Chapin Carpenter a household name in country music.

Unlike many country singers who had success in the 90s, Carpenter has continued to write and record new music with great success. In 2025 alone, she released a pair of albums. In January, she unveiled Looking For The Thread, a record she made in collaboration with Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart, a pair of Scottish folk musicians. Then, in June of 2025 she unveiled a set of her own original songs on the album, Personal History.

In addition to a verdant recording career, Carpenter still tours regularly. I had the pleasure of seeing her with my mother this past summer at the beautiful Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, MI. Mary Chapin and I discuss the ups and downs of touring in the modern age, and we go deep on a pair of the folks in her backing band. Jon Carroll, Mary Chapin’s keyboard player, is a longtime friend and also a previous guest on this show. Don Dixon, who has also been on the show, and is perhaps best known for co-producing R.E.M.’s first two records, is Carpenter’s bass player. Mary Chapin shares her unabiding love for the duo, and she waxes poetic about the bonds created out on the road together.

In addition to her varied and fascinating life in music, Mary Chapin and I discuss the amazing travel experiences of her youth, and the myriad lessons that exploring the world can teach us. We talk about the bravery of the artistic act, and how crucial it is in the world we are currently living in. Mary Chapin provides a wonderful lesson about self-awareness and knowing our own limitations. And, we get to discuss the drug-like sensation of singing with other people.

It’s a wide ranging talk with a one of a kind talent. Let’s get into it.

Cheers,

Matty C

Chris Slusarenko is a modern day indie rock Zelig. Over the course of more than thirty five years Slusarenko has channeled his unstoppable verve and enthusiasm to propel him to remarkable places. Chris has played in Guided By Voices and in the Bob Pollard side project, Boston Spaceships. For more than 20 years, he owned Clinton Street Video, an independent video store in Portland, Oregon. Chris is now currently in the great power pop outfit Eyelids, a band he formed with fellow Portlander, John Moen of The Decemberists and The Jicks. And as if those accomplishments were not enough bona fides, Chris is also the host of the Revolutions Per Movie podcast where he discusses music documentaries with musicians and other creatives.

Love for rock and roll came early for Chris, and by his teenage years he had struck up a pen pal relationship with R.E.M., his favorite band. When the band came to play Portland for the first time, they even made sure to welcome Chris and his family to the show for free and invited the family to come backstage for a meet and greet with the band. The encounter only furthered Slusarenko’s deep and unabiding dedication to the power of rock and roll.

As a teenager, Chris was also soaking up independent and world cinema thanks to an amazingly generous bike shop owner who loaned out arthouse and foreign films to curious kids at no cost. This opened a window for Chris that led him to find and fall in love with great filmmakers like Tarkovsky, Herzog, and others. Eventually, that initial crush on cinema led to the opening of Clinton Street Video, a shop that Slusarenko ran for 22 years. At Clinton Street, Chris hoped to create a culture that was free of shame. Although the inventory at the shop was littered with obscure and often difficult to find films, Chris strove not to have clerks laden with esoteric knowledge and a series of harsh opinions, but rather cultivated employees at the shop who were simply excited about film.

In recent years, Chris has created a podcast empire through his terrific show, Revolutions Per Movie, a pod where he and a guest break down a music documentary. The show is both a deep dive into a musical film, and a wonderful ruse for deep and thought provoking discussions about art and life. The show is the anchor of a larger network of pods that Slusarenko and a host of contributors have created that are only available to Patreon subscribers. Much like yours truly, Chris Slusarenko is a man who is always making something.

As if all of that were not enough, Slusarenko is also a member of the great indie-rock/power pop band, Eyelids. Slusarenko formed the band a number of years ago with John Moen, a fellow Portlander known for his work in The Decemberists and Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks. Since 2014, the band have released a quintet of albums, including albums which were produced by Chris’ old pen pal, Peter Buck of R.E.M.

During the course of our chat, Chris and I manage to cover a surprisingly large amount of his resumè, which of course leads to some fascinating discussion. Chris shares his experience of being in Guided By Voices and working with Robert Pollard, a man who has been a huge influence on both of us. As we discuss Chris’ natural excitement for music and film, we cover the concept of bringing unabashed enthusiasm back to criticism and curation. Chris even talks a bit about how he got some of his favorite musicians, including Yoko Ono, Cyndi Lauper, and even Stephen Colbert to appear on his concept record.

This is a wild ride of an episode with a whirlwind of a human being, and I loved every second of it. Bring your enthusiasm and hold on to your hat. Here’s me with the one and only, Chris Slusarenko.

Cheers,

Matty C

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Thanks so much to Chris for joining me. You can find the Revolutions Per Movie pod wherever you get your podcasts or you can support RPM directly via their Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/cw/RevolutionsPerMovie

You can also find the Eyelids terrific catalog wherever you get your music.

The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. 

Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin

You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. 

Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show.

You can email the show anytime at [email protected]. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking

Michael Schulman started a record label without even intending to. While part of a vibrant scene of bands in the greater Washington, DC area, Michael found himself as a member of a cadre of seven musicians playing in a combination of four different bands. Knowing that the momentum behind these bands and the individual people involved could shift at any time, Schulman sought to document what was happening at the moment. The resultant EP was pressed to 7 inch and slowly, Slumberland was born.

Since 1989, Slumberland has been releasing a stream of some of the best and most beloved indie pop of the modern era. What began with Schulman’s own band Black Tambourine, and early acts like Velocity Girl, Big Jesus Trash Can, and Powderburns soon brought on acts like Stereolab, The Aislers Set, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Bats, Papercuts, Veronica Falls, and Boyracer just to name a few. To look at Slumberland’s catalog of more than 300 releases is to witness an evolution of the indie and twee-pop movements over the last four decades.

Schulman found himself intrigued when he first discovered punk and New Wave on a local DC free-form station, but it was The Jesus & Mary Chain that made him feel the urge to start his own band. Without any musical knowledge or lessons, Schulman and a childhood friend set to learning how to be in a band. His initial excitement over the debut Jesus & Mary Chain record, Psychocandy was the first in a series of dominoes that led to Schulman owning and running an indie label for 36 years.

Obviously, during Slumberland’s run, the world, the musical economy, and Schulman himself have all changed. Mike and I discuss how difficult it is to find coverage for bands in a shrinking musical ecosystem. We also both wax a bit poetic about the power that was once wielded by the music press and college radio. Mike and I also wonder if the actual power and influence of music is waning in our modern culture.

Mike and I discussed the amazing variety and quality of the music that was dubbed “alternative” or “college rock” in the days before the Grunge boom. We talk about the challenges of owning and running a label in 2025, and the changing nature of where Schulman’s focus and priorities are in relation to Slumberland and its future output. We also acknowledge that every creative work is a political act, especially in today’s uber-fractured America. Simply putting out a record or releasing a podcast into the world can be seen as an act of artistic defiance for the rest of modern American life.

Come join me and Mike Schulman for a wonderful chat about an accidental life in the music business. Let’s get into it.

Cheers,

Matty C

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You can find Slumberland’s catalog wherever you get your music and you can support them with direct purchases on their Bandcamp page at https://slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com/

Buy tickets for our Live Recording Event at the Robin Theater on Dec. 3. http://therobintheatre.com

The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. 

Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin

You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. 

Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. 

You can email the show anytime at [email protected]. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking

Ian Anderson is nothing short of a legend. As the visionary flutist, frontman behind the famed English band, Jethro Tull, Anderson has been making groundbreaking music for six full decades. Jethro Tull first emerged on to the UK pop scene in the mid-to-late 1960s as part of the enormous wave of bands seeking to find fame in the wake of the massive success of the Beatles and the Stones. Throughout a winding, explorative career, Jethro Tull has amassed one of the most unique and varied catalogs in the annals of rock history.

Growing up in Scotland and Northern England in the years immediately following World War Two, Anderson’s childhood was littered with the after effects of the world’s deadliest ever conflict. As a youngster, Anderson soaked up the cultural impact of the war through comics and cartoons. Later, in his teenage years, he would come to learn about the horrific treatment of minorities in America through the records he would soak up that came into his port city from across the pond.

Energized by a young, vibrant Elvis Presley, Anderson dove headlong into the world of music.At first, he used the blues as a way to understand the possibilities of music, and then was gobsmacked by a pair of seminal psych records from the summer of 1967.

In that same summer of 1967, Jethro Tull were part of a seminal moment in English music history. Along with The Pink Floyd, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Roy Harper, Jethro Tull would play the very first iteration of the Hyde Park Summer Concert Series in London. This famed concert series has been home to some of the most legendary acts in rock history, and Jethro Tull was there to Christen the event on its opening night.

Ian Anderson describes his life in music as a sort of expeditionary force that is at sea on a perilous, artistic voyage. There is something almost perfect about the nautical analogy of deep exploration through the wilds of a writer’s own imagination and talents. To paraphrase our recent guest Josh Ritter, each record is like a postcard back home from that exploration. Anderson, for his part, has been sailing these creative seas for some sixty years now and shows no signs of slowing down.

Here is a riveting, and relatively short conversation with a man that can only be described as a true legend.

Cheers,

Matty C

Josh Ritter describes making a record as a sonic postcard home from the world of living as an artist. As a performer and singer/songwriter, Ritter has seen a great swath of the world has to offer, and he has lived a life outside the normal confines of modern life. Living as an artist forces one to live a life of openness, and vulnerability. A songwriter’s job is to broadcast myriad often, subtle observations on the human condition that are able to make the listener feel that they have been seen, heard, and understood. It is within the connections that Josh Ritter mines for gold.

In Ritter’s mind, a finished album is the tangible result of one portion of the never-ending journey for an artist. A set of songs is a snapshot into the mind of the artist at the moment the record was made, but it’s also a direct response and representation to the world that is going on around us.

When an artist releases a record, it no longer belongs to just the people that made it. It becomes a living, breathing organism when strangers interact with it and are moved by it in some way. The listener is allowed, and even encouraged to insert his or her own perspectives and experiences into the song or the record, to make the finished work that much greater.

Ritter describes songwriting as a sort of hallway in which he installs a variety of doors and a little bit of architectural framework around the hallway, allowing listeners to pass through the doors and connect with Josh and his songs even for just a few minutes at a time in that imaginary space.

During this riveting discussion, Josh shares his perspectives on songwriting, sharing art, and why we should all be knocking on the door of joy every day of our lives. Over the course of a career that has stretched on for the last 25 years, Ritter has beautifully woven together words and music to create a catalog of songs focused on the beauty of human connection.

We also hit upon the great Roger Miller, the empathetic bravery of artists that is so often overlooked, my theory on why artists are like Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men, and so much more.

Let’s get into it.

Cheers,

Matty C

As a youngster in Little Rock, Arkansas, Ben Nichols wasn’t really sure what to do with himself. His brother Jeff had begun acting in the local children’s theatre at the age of ten, and by high school seemed destined for a life in and around the movies. With an innate curiosity and an eye for literature, Ben considered an English degree after high school, but he failed to find his calling in the prickly tedium of dissecting fiction. He turned instead to the world of reality, obtaining a history degree from a small college in his home state.

Throughout his academic exploits, Ben worked at the craft of writing songs. He’d first been moved to start a band in high school, inspired by local kids who put on makeshift shows at the riverside pavilion in Little Rock. Ben loved playing in bands, but he found his true calling in the dirty work of songwriting. He became obsessive about each word, each punctuation mark, and every minute detail.

By his early 20s, Ben had formed Lucero, and began touring with the band almost constantly. During their more than 25 year run, Lucero have played stages around the world, and amassed a vast, and varied catalog of music that is centered around the songs of Ben Nichols. Lucero’s tunes are often, in the words of Nichols, “about whiskey and heartbreak”, but they are also steeped in personal experience, and even family history.

Ben and I spend much of the early portion of our interview talking about the terrific Lucero tune, ‘The War’ which tells the story of a young man’s experience in World War Two. The song is littered with many of the real life experiences that Ben’s own grandfather endured from D-Day through to the end of the War. While the tune is filled with personal touches and moments of history, it is also deeply resonant with themes of sacrifice, faith, and fear.

At the relatively late age of 42, Ben became a father. We discuss how that massive life change has affected his songwriting, his touring, and his outlook on life. Ben also shares the ways that the economic landscape has changed significantly for Lucero since the pandemic fell upon us. Costs have risen, ticket sales have shrunk, and Ben isn’t sure what this all means for the band he has fronted for almost thirty years.

Ben will also be out on a solo tour in the western part of the US starting on Nov. 5 with a fiddle player and pedal steel player in support of his recent solo album, In The Heart Of The Mountain. It was terrific to catch up with one of my favorite songwriters right before we both hit the road at opposite ends of the country.

Let’s get into it.

Cheers,

Matty C

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Be sure to catch me on the road during most of November with my dear friend, Jeffery Gower. You can find a full list of dates and even get the chance to have us play a concert at your place at https://www.phonophorerecords.com/sheddiointhesouth

The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. 

Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin

You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. 

Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. 

You can email the show anytime at [email protected]. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking

In 2017, music writer John McKie sat down to pen an in-depth piece focused on the greatness of Prince’s 1987 album, Sign O’ The Times. McKie describes the finished essay as an honorable failure. It was good enough for the moment, but he was left cold by the uncharted territory not covered in the piece. John longed to trace the path of Prince from his beginnings as an artist through his impressive catalog to excavate how an artist like Prince could conceive of an album like Sign O’ The Times.

In March of 2020, John lost his Dad, and within a matter of days, he found the world shuttered in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. With time on his hands and the influence of his Dad’s death, John set to work researching Prince’s history. He interviewed dozens of people involved in one way or another with Prince’s work and life. Through this vast research, McKie began to form a picture of a supremely talented individual fueled by self-doubt, and a profound desire to prove his own worth.

John shares the story of Prince’s legendary gigs at the famed Ritz in Los Angeles, which were attended by some of the biggest stars of the era. These mythic shows helped Prince to land a pair of opening slots for the Rolling Stones at the massive LA Coliseum. Unfortunately, the Stones’ audience were none too kind to the young, black, funk performer from the Upper Midwest. McKie explains how this traumatic experience might have been the fuel that powered an artistic explosion that would play out over the next seven years of Prince’s career.

During our chat, John and I look at Prince’s maniacal artistic pace, and the pressure that he put upon the musicians and crew-people that worked for him. We explore the artistic and financial motivations behind Prince’s switch from his own name to a logo; another move that may have been influenced by The Rolling Stones.

This is a fascinating conversation about a man who is one of the few musicians that could accurately be described as a truly visionary artist. During our chat John manages to humanize Prince, and allows us to see some of the humanity behind the myth. You’re sure to find something to love within this discussion even if you’re a Prince agnostic.

Cheers,

Matty C

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Thanks so much to John for joining me. You can find his new book, Prince: A Sign Of The Times at UKbookshop.org or wherever you get your books.

Be sure to catch me on the road during most of November with my dear friend, Jeffery Gower. You can find a full list of dates and even get the chance to have us play a concert at your place at https://www.phonophorerecords.com/sheddiointhesouth

The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. 

Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin

You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. 

Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. 

You can email the show anytime at [email protected]. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking

If you have paid much attention to the worlds of indie rock, freak folk, and independent film in the last four decades, it’s likely that you have encountered some of the work of singer, songwriter, and actor Will Oldham. Oldham was born into a Louisville, KY family that was home to a robust record collection, and a deep regard for art and music.

As a teenager, Oldham began acting in the Lousiville theater scene and quickly landed a role as a feisty young preacher in the John Sayles film, Matewan. The experience helped him to understand the ingredients for healthy artistic collaboration. The experience also set the bar pretty high in Oldham’s mind as to what could be achieved when a group of artists and craftspeople all pull in unison in one artistic direction.

By the time he had finished high school, his parents had gifted him a guitar and he’d begun to learn to play familiar songs and quickly began writing his own. With his brothers, he formed a nascent band they dubbed Palace Flophouse. Will, and his brothers with varying degrees of input would make records under a variety of monikers like Palace Music, Palace Bros., or even simply Palace throughout much of the 1990s.

By the late 90’s, Oldham had settled upon the moniker of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, releasing a string of critically acclaimed records that featured songs that were eventually covered by a series of massive artists including Johnny Cash, who recorded a version of the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy tune, ‘I See A Darkness’.

In addition to an extensive catalog of releases centered around his own songs, Oldham is a supreme interpreter of other songwriters as well. He’s made a series of recordings that feature terrific cover versions, including a pair of records done in tribute to the Everly Brothers and Merle Haggard respectively.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy continues to record and tour with regularity. As Will and I discussed in our chat, he had just been booking hotel rooms for a show in Indiana the afternoon that we sat down together. And while he has learned to truly harness the joy of live performance, something that came to him later in his career, Will has grave concerns about the state of the music business, and the way fans are currently investing in and engaging with the music they enjoy.

This is a roving and riveting discussion with a truly visionary, and one of a kind artist. Will shares how human relationships have always been at the core of his work, and talks about the ways that he and his band use as much local crew as possible at their tour stops to connect with local music communities in a more foundational way. We explore the artistic endeavor of being an audience member, and we take a look at how letting your guard down leads to the most magical moments of all.

Cheers,

Matty C

Emily White describes herself as a Music Technologist. Fresh out of college and in the early years of the rise of digital streaming, Emily landed a job at Billboard magazine where she saw first hand the ways that these new technologies were quickly and drastically changing the music industry. She describes her time at Billboard as something like getting a degree in the music business.

During her Billboard stint, Emily became ever more deeply fascinated by the ways that technology changes the ways that we interact with and relate to music. Even in those nascent years of digital streaming, Emily could see that the world was changing its relationship to music in seismic ways.

Fascinated by the user experience, the potential of digital streaming and the art of product development, Emily then went to work at Spotify as a founding member of the team that would go on to create the Spotify For Artists app, a resource for musicians to better harness the power of digital streaming for the benefit of their career. Emily uses her extensive experience at Spotify to offer a fascinating perspective on the biggest player in the digital streaming space. We discuss the challenges for artists in a world where music has become ubiquitous and extremely affordable.

Emily does her very best to explain the complicated math behind the royalties being paid out to artists via streaming. It is a byzantine system that is based on play counts, streaming shares, user account details, and other nebulous and often confusing factors. Emily points out that it’s almost impossible to know a definitive per song streaming rate from any of the digital service providers, and she reckons there is probably not much difference between what one provider is paying over another.

As Emily points out, Spotify is a really good product for the end user. It works with any smart phone, requires no storage or downloads, and provides the overwhelming majority of recorded music on the go for just a few bucks a month. For all of the complications that streaming is causing within the musical ecosystem, it’s going to take more than goodwill and a morally upright message for musicians to begin to get paid appropriately for their recorded work.

This is another strand in the story of art versus economics. Consumers right now are winning, while artists lose out on proper compensation. As artists have struggled to make ends meet with those diminishing streaming royalties, we have seen a significant bump in the cost of concert tickets, which leads to Emily and I discussing the recent comments by Michael Rapino, the CEO of LiveNation, wherein he claimed that concert tickets were too reasonably priced compared to other live events like sports and theater. It is just another sign that the corporate jackals circling the music industry have zero interest in art and are instead laser focused on the cash grab.

In her work as a music and technology writer, Emily has recently been focused on the resurgence of college radio. Emily has watched as student engagement has soared at stations across the country, with some seeing their participation rate doubling within the last few years. Students across the country are using these stations as third spaces on campus, creating community and connection as well as playing music and doing local reporting. In many ways, it is also a generational refutation from a growing number of students that have grown disaffected by the temporal nature of the digital world in which they have been raised.

This is a captivating conversation with a brilliant writer and thinker who has seen how the digital sausage is made. Come join me and Emily White as we dive into the world of technology, music, and art vs. economics. Let’s get into it.

Cheers,Matty C