Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Today we’re revisiting a conversation with R&B great Raphael Saadiq. Since this conversation aired, Raphael’s brother and bandmate in trio Tony! Toni! Toné!, D’Wayne Wiggins, passed away. In this episode we revisit some of the early days and recordings sessions of Tony! Toni! Toné!, their reunion tour and D’Wayne’s early involvement with Destiny’s Child. We also dive deep into Raphael’s solo career which has seen him release five albums starting with 2002’s Instant Vintage. His most recent album, Jimmy Lee, is a collection of very personal songs about the real traumas he and his family experienced growing up in Oakland, CA. Raphael’s also done some amazing work behind the board. He’s produced and written for the likes of D’Angelo, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Solange, Earth Wind and Fire and just recently he worked on a handful of songs on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. He’s also earned an Academy Award nomination for his work as a film composer. Justin Richmond talks with Raphael Saadiq from his studio in Los Angeles…

Australian singer-songwriter Grace Cummings has one of those voices that’s hard to forget. It’s raw, powerful and deeply expressive, capable of moving from a delicate whisper to a full-throated roar. Broken Record host Justin Richmond first discovered Grace in 2019, when her debut album, Refuge Cove, was released on Flightless Records, the label founded by members of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. With its stripped-down arrangements, plaintive songwriting and commanding vocals, the album quickly became one of Justin’s favorites. Since then, Grace has expanded her sound considerably. For her two most recent albums, 2024’s Ramona and this year’s Bloodhorse!, she teamed up with Topanga Canyon-based producer Jonathan Wilson, who has worked with artists including Angel Olsen, Father John Misty and Margo Price. Together, they’ve moved beyond the spare acoustic sound of her early recordings, building lush, dramatic arrangements around Grace’s unmistakable voice and deeply personal songs. On today’s episode,…

Broken Record re-wind: Today we’re throwing it back to a conversation Malcolm Gladwell had with the one and only Patti Smith. Patti is the consummate downtown NYC artist. Her 1975 debut album Horses is credited as one of the masterpieces of its time. It also cemented her as one of rock n roll’s great lyricists. But her writing extends far beyond music. Her 2010 memoir, Just Kids, won the National Book Award for its brilliant portrayal of the ‘70s bohemian art scene in New York, and Patti’s experience living in the Chelsea Hotel with the famed photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. Today Patti publishes near-daily offerings of poems, songs and serialized fiction on her Substack newsletter. It’s a journal of sorts that she started during the solitary days of the pandemic. On today’s episode, Malcolm Gladwell talks to Patti about her writing in the studio Jimi Hendrix built, Electric Lady. It was there, she tells Malcolm, that she met Hendrix in 1970—just weeks before he passed away. Patti also talks about hanging…

Susanna Hoffs rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and guitarist of the Bangles, the Los Angeles band behind hits like “Manic Monday,” “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame.” Inspired by the Beatles, the Byrds and the melodic pop of the 1960s, the Bangles brought jangling guitars and rich vocal harmonies to a decade dominated by synthesizers. Hoffs' distinctive voice and gift for melody helped give the band its signature sound. Since the Bangles' heyday, Hoffs has continued to explore her musical influences through solo records and collaborations, while also branching out into fiction with her bestselling debut novel, This Bird Has Flown. Now she's returning with The List, a deeply personal collection of original songs that grew out of informal writing sessions with producer and multi-instrumentalist C.J. Camerieri and a group of collaborators. Drawing on stories from her own life, the album explores love, loneliness, memory and the passage of time, pairing Hoffs' unmistakable voice with the…

The United States has far more homicides than any of its peers around the world. Why? In his new audiobook book, The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic, Malcolm Gladwell explores the American “peculiarity” — how the world’s wealthiest country came to suffer from a problem typically only seen in the world’s poorest countries. Drawing on original interviews, archival and social science research, and his trademark insight, Gladwell approaches the American paradox through a series of stories. What can we learn from the miracle of a young gunshot victim in Washington, D.C.? How have the legal troubles of a seventeenth-century English knight influenced American attempts at gun control? Why would a European police chief be baffled by the graduation ceremony at any American police academy? In a sweeping narrative, Gladwell travels from a shooting range in North Carolina, to the South Side of Chicago, to an old plantation house in Alabama, painting a picture of a country that does not understand…

Elvis Costello seemed to arrive fully formed with his 1977 debut, My Aim Is True. The look, the voice, the wordplay and the attitude were already there, along with songs like “Alison,” “Watching the Detectives” and “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” that helped establish him as one of the most distinctive songwriters of his generation. But behind that seemingly sudden arrival were years spent absorbing everything from Motown and country to Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and the California folk-rock of the late ’60s and early ’70s, as Costello worked to find a musical language of his own. Now, nearly 50 years later, Costello is revisiting that evolution with an expansive new anniversary edition of My Aim Is True. The collection reaches back to songs and demos he recorded before the album, tracing his early experiments as a songwriter through the sessions with producer Nick Lowe and the American band Clover, and eventually to the formation of the Attractions. On today’s episode, Bruce Headlam talks with Elvis…

Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo helped transform the possibilities of the electric guitar at a time when its role in rock music could seem well established. He came of age in New York City’s downtown No Wave art scene in the late 1970s before co-founding Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon in 1981. Over the next three decades, the band became an artistically and critically important act in American rock, serving as a conduit between the underground and the mainstream. Since Sonic Youth’s dissolution in 2011, Ranaldo has continued to work prolifically as a solo artist and collaborator, moving freely between noise, folk, drone, and spoken word. His work reflects a restless curiosity that has made him a genuine musical polymath. On today’s episode, Justin Richmond talks with Lee Ranaldo about his life and work, including the recent release of The System, a soundtrack he composed for Dutch filmmaker Joris Postema’s documentary about three climate activists working to imagine a different world. You can hear…

Brandon Flowers’ new album, Thrasher, is a beautifully written ode to the Southwest where he grew up. It’s a deeply personal record, shining a light on the people close to him, the lives they’ve lived, and the difficulties they’ve navigated between his childhood in Henderson, Nevada, and Payson, Utah. It also explores some of the dead ends Brandon himself might have easily gone down had he not found another path. Of course, that path led to extraordinary success with the Killers and a sound Brandon describes as a mix of Britpop and British post-punk. But the music that surrounded him growing up was country. His dad and his neighbors played Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and other country greats. It was a sound Brandon never quite left behind, and one he developed a deeper connection to over the years. So for Thrasher, he went to Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio A, where he recorded with some of the great musicians in the genre: Charlie McCoy, who played on Bob Dylan’s legendary Nashville sessions; Bruce…

Tom Morello arrived in Los Angeles from Libertyville, Illinois, in the mid-1980s with a Harvard political science degree in his pocket and a guitar slung across his back, determined to become the next great guitarist on the scene. Instead, he found himself locked out of the glam-rock world that had taken over the Sunset Strip. By day, he worked as a secretary to a state senator; by night, he played clubs, searching for a way in. Then, in 1991, Morello co-founded Rage Against the Machine with Zack de la Rocha—and everything changed. The band fused hip-hop, punk, metal, and politics into something entirely new, becoming one of the biggest rock bands of the 1990s. Rage has been on and off over the past 25 years, but Morello has rarely stood still. He formed Audioslave, recorded folk protest songs as The Nightwatchman, toured as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, and collaborated with artists ranging from Chuck D and B-Real to Johnny Cash. Now, for the first time in his decades-long career, Morello…

David Porter's story goes well beyond writing songs and releasing albums for Stax Records. His recent memoir, The Soul Man, tells how he and his partner Isaac Hayes helped invent a sound rich and enduring enough to define American music from the 1960s to today. Together they wrote and produced hits for Sam & Dave, Johnnie Taylor, and dozens of other artists, and in the process built what became known as the Stax sound, a sound Porter still describes as the pursuit of pure emotional connection. Porter grew up on a dead-end street in Memphis that also produced Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire and members of the Bar-Kays. He started out singing in church before eventually singing and producing music for Stax. He never learned to read music. None of the great names at Stax did. Instead, they built songs by ear, in the room, together, a process Porter calls “head arrangements,” and it became the foundation for some of the greatest songs in the history of R&B. Today, Bruce Headlam sits down with David Porter to…

Travis Barker grew up in Fontana, California, and was gifted his first drum kit at the age of four from his mother, who made him promise before she died that he would never stop playing. This was just before he started high school and though he spent his early years dabbling with skateboarding and other interests, he always came back to the drums. After graduating, he moved to Laguna Beach and spent his mornings collecting garbage and his nights playing gigs with punk bands until a touring slot with the Aquabats put him on the same bill as Blink-182, and through happenstance, in the band. What followed was one of the great runs in pop-punk history. Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket sold over 35 million copies worldwide, and Barker’s drumming redefined what a punk or alternative drummer could sound like in the mainstream. On today’s episode, Justin Richmond sits down with Travis Barker to discuss his dedication to his craft, his love of the Misfits and Ramones; and how nightly jams with…

Daniel Kessler grew up between London, Paris, and Washington, D.C., listening to his older brother’s early UK rock records. He picked up guitar as a teenager, the same day he quit skateboarding, and after moving to New York in the late ’90s, he set out to find musicians serious enough to start a band. In 1997, that band became Interpol and when their debut Turn on the Bright Lights came out in 2002, it helped define a new wave of New York indie bands, alongside the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and topped Pitchfork’s year-end list. More than two decades later, Kessler remains the musical architect of Interpol, writing the foundation of the band’s songs, often alone on a classical guitar before bringing them to his bandmates. The band has now made eight albums together, and their latest, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, is their first record made in New York in more than a decade. Produced by Andrew Wyatt, it expands Interpol’s familiar sound with more experimental textures—and features Kessler singing for the first…

Brittany Howard has never been the type to do things quietly. Whether it was fronting Alabama Shakes with a voice that could fill a room and level it in the same breath, or striking out on her own with two solo records that pulled her sound in wilder and more personal directions, she's spent the last decade refusing to stay in one place for long. Now she's back with her bandmates—Zac Cockrell and Heath Fogg— for a new Alabama Shakes album, I Must Be Dreaming, their first in 11 years. And on today's episode, Brittany sits down with Justin Richmond to talk about what it took to get the band back together after a long break and what the new album sounds like on the other side of it. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Brittany Howard and The Alabama Shakes HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Revisionist History's new season The Staten Island Problem, senior producer Ben Naddaff-Hafrey investigates the story of what was, at the time, the biggest secession movement in the U.S. since the Civil War. The Staten Island Problem reconstructs the battle for New York City amidst the turbulent early 1990s—the rise of Rudy Giuliani, the peak of the homicide rate, young Donald Trump, and the first Black mayor of New York—all through the prism of the city’s Forgotten Borough. At the height of the secession movement, the Wu-Tang Clan formed on Staten Island. Here’s a tour of early 1990s hip-hop and the hidden history of the group. Find more episodes of Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem wherever you get podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Harvey Mason Jr. grew up steeped in music. His father, Harvey Mason Sr., was half of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters rhythm section and played on countless sessions through the '70s and '80s. After a brief detour through college basketball, Harvey Mason Jr. built his own life in music, starting where a lot of careers do: writing jingles. From there he assembled a production and songwriting résumé that includes Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, and Beyoncé, along with film work spanning Dreamgirls, Straight Outta Compton, Pitch Perfect, and the recent Michael Jackson biopic. Then, in January 2020, his path took an unexpected turn. The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, installed him as interim and eventually full-time CEO. He stepped into the job at a moment of institutional crisis and set about remaking it from the inside: expanding membership, eliminating secret voting committees, and pushing the organization to be more diverse, transparent, and reflective of modern…

My friend W. Kamau Bell has a new show out, Who's With Me?. Known for having conversations about the issues that divide, enrage, and confuse us, Kamau sits down with someone he admires to give them their flowers, ask his most burning questions, and invite his guest to give him and his audience homework on how to make the world a better place. Daveed Diggs joins Kamau to discuss his hip-hop career, parenthood, breaking out with Hamilton, and pursuing creative projects with friends. Kamau gives Daveed his flowers for being intentional with the work he selects. From his rap group to his role in the final season of The Boys, to his new film Magic Hour, Daveed busts his ass with projects he believes in. Donate to Cool Hand Series at coolhandseries.org to support bringing the arts into the prison systems. Find new episodes of Who's With Me? with W. Kamau Bell on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melissa Auf der Maur came of age in Montreal's bohemian art scene in the '80s and early '90s, at the very moment that alternative rock was becoming the defining sound of a generation. Through an unlikely chain of events, her band Tinker landed an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins, and Billy Corgan, sensing her natural talent on bass, recommended her to Courtney Love. What followed was a turbulent apprenticeship. Auf der Maur joined Hole for the Live Through This tour in 1994, just weeks after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and Hole's prior bassist, Kristen Pfaff. She later toured with the Smashing Pumpkins, released two solo albums, and has since built a life as a musician, photographer, and cultural curator, co-founding Basilica Hudson, a multidisciplinary arts center in New York's Hudson Valley. Melissa Auf der Maur's book, "Even the Good Girls Will Cry" is a bestseller, part rock memoir, part travel diary, and part psychedelic scrapbook. It's a vivid dispatch from the last analog decade that captures that…

Today we're revisiting a conversation with acclaimed British guitarist Johny Marr. Marr started playing guitar as a young teenager growing up in Manchester. When he turned 15 he dropped out of school and moved to London to join the band Sister Ray. A couple years later he would help form The Smiths with Morrissey, Mike Joyce, and Marr’s friend and bassist, Andy Rourke. After The Smiths broke up in 1987, Marr went on to collaborate with an array of different musicians and play in bands like The Pretenders, The The, and Modest Mouse. On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Johnny Marr about his exciting work scoring movies with Pharrell and Hans Zimmer. Marr also recalls the terror he felt performing live in front of stadiums full of fans with The Pretenders on U2’s Joshua Tree tour. And he talks about the time he bought a Fender Stratocaster while hanging out with Oasis’ Noel Gallager. That Strat has nine pickups and it eventually led to him writing one the best songs of his solo career. You can hear a…

Joe Jackson showed up in the late '70s UK New Wave scene, all nervous energy and biting wit, with hits like "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" putting him in the same conversation as Elvis Costello and Squeeze. But where a lot of his peers stayed in their lane musically, Jackson kept moving: into the jump-blues swing of "Jumpin' Jive," into the sophisticated, Latin-tinged jazz of Night and Day, and then into classical composition, into a music-hall concept album framed around a fictional Edwardian performer named Max Champion. He's rarely made the same record twice, and that restlessness has probably cost him the kind of mainstream consistency that turns an artist into a household name. On today's episode, Justin Richmond sits down with Joe to talk about his new studio album Hope and Fury, digging into the songwriting on it and on older records, Joe's collaboration with his longtime and criminally underrated bassist Graham Maby, and why comedy is such an important part of Joe's artistic sensibility. You can…

Ed O'Brien has spent decades crafting some of the most textured, expansive guitar in modern rock. From the fragmented beauty of Kid A and Amnesiac to the experimental layers of The King of Limbs, with the more straightforward muscle of OK Computer somewhere in between, few players have done more to expand what the instrument can do in a rock context. In recent years, Ed has been building a parallel universe, one where he's at the center. It started with Earth in 2020, released under the moniker EOB. Now comes Blue Morpho, out under his full birth name, Ed O'Brien. The title isn't incidental: like the striking butterfly it references, Ed went through a genuine transformation over the six years it took to make this record, and the album reflects it. On today's Broken Record, Ed walks us through the journey, beginning in solitude, playing guitar figures purely for himself, then gradually moving toward collaboration, eventually pulling in a crew of talented friends to help bring the songs to life. He also talks…

Just before the premiere of Earth, Wind & Fire's new Questlove-directed documentary , the three OGs of the group stopped by Broken Record: vocalist Phillip Bailey, singer and percussionist Ralph Johnson, and bass player Verdine White. Host Justin Richmond will tell you straight up that talking about Earth, Wind & Fire's music feels a little beside the point. It exists on a level that resists explanation — spiritual, emotional, somewhere in the body before it reaches the brain. What the conversation reveals instead is the kind of people these three are: warm, grounded, and deeply committed to what they've built together. And maybe that's the whole answer. In this episode, they talk about Maurice White, founder and spiritual leader of the group and Verdine's brother. They listen to some music together. And Phillip finally spills on what "Reasons" is actually about. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Earth, Wind & Fire HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Pornographers have never been easy to pin down. Since forming in Vancouver in the late ’90s, the band became one of the defining acts of the Canadian indie rock explosion. They’re part of a scene that also produced Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and a generation of artists who seemed to operate entirely outside the commercial mainstream. Co-founders Carl Newman and Kathryn Calder have spent more than two decades making records that sound like they arrived fully formed: densely layered, relentlessly melodic, and somehow both euphoric and melancholy at the same time. Their latest album, The Former Site Of, draws on a different kind of raw material. Part of it came from a friend’s terminal illness and the weight of watching someone you love reckon with time running out. Part of it came from something more unexpected: the last remaining payphone in New York City, which became a kind of anchor image for the record, a physical object standing in for everything we hold onto after it stops being useful. On today’s…

Mopreme Shakur is 2Pac's half-brother, a rapper, filmmaker, and record producer living at the intersection of revolutionary politics and hip-hop. He's one of the only surviving members of Thug Life and Outlawz, raised alongside 2Pac in the tradition of Black liberation activism. And now, for the first time, he's telling his own story. His new book, This Thug's Life, is a book about brotherhood, survival, movement building, and the making of a legend. On today's episode Justin Richmond talks to Mopreme about growing up in a family steeped in activism, how he started his rap career with a classic appearance on "Feels Good" by Tony! Toni! Toné!, and what it was like to witness the evolution of 2Pac's career. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Mopreme Shakur HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before Hardy was known as the breakout artist who pushed country music into hard rock territory, he was a self-proclaimed redneck from Philadelphia, Mississippi who studied songwriting at Middle Tennessee State University. Since moving to Nashville in 2013, he's written 22 number ones for artists like Morgan Wallen, Blake Shelton, and Dierks Bentley. In 2018, with the encouragement of producer Joey Moi and his label Big Loud, Hardy started writing songs for himself — and it paid off. He's now a five-time ACM Award winner and two-time CMA Award winner, joining the upper echelon of Big Loud artists that Moi has helped build, alongside Morgan Wallen and Florida Georgia Line. On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Hardy about the craft of writing a song that sticks — including what he's learned from studying artists like Eminem. They also get into how AI is showing up in Nashville's writer's rooms, and why Hardy thinks bro country isn't going anywhere. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from…

Recently, we had visionary music producer Robert Margouleff on the show and today we're sharing an excerpt from his new audiobook, Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music. In legendary studios like Electric Lady and the Record Plant, Margouleff became a pioneering producer and engineer for artists like Billy Preston, Jeff Beck, DEVO, The Isley Brothers, and David Sanborn. A true sonic innovator, he was an early adopter of immersive audio and surround sound, developing new mixing techniques for home theaters that brought some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters to life. Here's a preview of the audiobook, where Margouleff talks about working with The Isley Brothers on their 3+3 album. If you want to hear more, check out Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music wherever you get audiobooks. You can use the code SOUNDS25 at pushkin.fm/shapingsounds to save 25% on the audiobook. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…

Robert Margouleff is one of the most quietly consequential figures in modern music — a sonic architect who helped build some of the most innovative and enduring sounds of the last half century. Together with his partner Malcolm Cecil, Robert created TONTO, the world's largest analog synthesizer, and used it to co-produce a string of era-defining Stevie Wonder classics including Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, and Fulfillingness' First Finale. He went on to work with Jeff Beck, The Isley Brothers, and a scrappy art-punk band from Akron, Ohio called DEVO — helping shape their early sound into something that felt like it arrived from another dimension entirely. You might remember Robert from his Broken Record interview a few years back. Now he's releasing an audiobook, Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music. It's a memoir about creativity, collaboration, and artistic courage, told by someone who was in the room when the future was being invented. On…

Maya Hawke first became known to wide audiences as an actress — especially through her work in Stranger Things — but she's been quietly building a parallel life as a songwriter of genuine depth. Since her debut album Blush in 2020, she's released four records. Her latest, Maitreya Corso, arrives at a pivotal moment: the album follows her marriage to longtime musical collaborator Christian Lee Hutson, and centers on a fictional persona through who Hawke explores ego, ambition, and the strange labor of making something. Recorded in Woodstock and New York City late last year, it's co-produced by Hutson and Jonathan Low, with cover art drawn from watercolors Maya painted herself. On today's episode Justin Richmond sat down with Maya Hawke and her husband and co-producer Christian Lee Hutson live at SXSW to talk about the making of Maitreya Corso, and what it means to finally come together as partners in both life and work. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Maya Hawke and Christian Lee…

In the latest season of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell is looking at the origins and consequences of mistakes—why we make them, the context in which we make them, and what happens after we make them. Years ago a music producer named Irv Gotti—a hitmaker for Jay-Z, Ja Rule, and Ashanti—was tapped by Sony Music to make a record with Jennifer Lopez. They wanted a big hit. And Irv delivered. But then he made the biggest mistake of his career. Find more episodes of Revisionist History wherever you get podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The magic of Bruce Hornsby isn't just that he's one of American music's great piano stylists — or that he wrote one of the most unlikely pop hits of the 1980s, a song about racism with two improvised solos that nobody at his label thought should be the single. It's how relentlessly he's kept moving, long after he had any commercial reason to. Hornsby grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia, and got discovered playing a steak and ale joint across from the Hampton Coliseum by Mike McDonald. He scored his first big hit in 1986 with "The Way It Is. What followed was a long, restless second act: teaching himself two-handed independence by scheduling benefit concerts just to give himself a hard deadline, making jazz records with Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride, bluegrass records with Ricky Skaggs, and going deep into Shostakovich fugues that now shape everything he writes. On today’s episode Bruce Headlam sat down with Bruce Hornsby at the piano to talk about all of it. But they started somewhere unexpected: a…

The magic of Dave Grohl isn't just that he's one of rock music's great raconteurs, or one of its greatest drummers and frontmen of the last thirty-plus years. It's the sheer number of lives he's gotten to live within rock and roll. Dave started out drumming for Scream, one of DC's great, underrated hardcore bands, running in the same circles as Ian MacKaye and the Dischord crowd. Then he joined Nirvana and more than made his mark in one of the most consequential bands since the Beatles, and an indelible piece of Seattle's music story dates all the way back to Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones. And then, as if that weren't enough: Foo Fighters. Which Dave Grohl essentially built by himself — Prince and Stevie Wonder-style — writing and recording nearly every note on the debut alone, save for some guitar from Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs. On today's episode Justin Richmond sits down with Dave at the Foo Fighters' studio to talk about their twelfth album, Your Favorite Toy. But they start somewhere unexpected…

Wyclef Jean may just be the most wide-ranging rapper, producer, performer, and composer of his time. As the lead producer and MC of The Fugees, he helped craft their 1996 landmark album The Score, one of the best-selling hip-hop albums of all time. The following year he released his debut solo album, The Carnival, which included hits like "Guantanamera" featuring Celia Cruz, and the platinum-certified single "Gone Till November." As a writer and producer for other artists, Wyclef is behind Whitney Houston's "My Love Is Your Love," Santana's chart-dominating "Maria Maria," Shakira's global smash "Hips Don't Lie," and Destiny's Child's breakout single "No, No, No." This spring, Wyclef is releasing Clef Notes, Volume One of Quantum Leap — an ambitious seven-album solo project that unfolds over the next year. Each installment is seven tracks and zeroes in on a different genre, ranging from country and reggae to jazz, hip-hop, Haitian kompa, and beyond. Today, we're bringing you a special episode: a live…

Jessie Ware has always moved between worlds. She's a British soul singer who spent the early part of her career making intimate, understated records. Then, in 2020, she released What's Your Pleasure? and morphed into a full-blown disco goddess. The record received widespread critical acclaim, earned Jessie her first top-three album on the UK charts, and was nominated for British Album of the Year at the BRITs. Today Jessie traces that sonic evolution back to an especially ripe creative period in her life, when she launched Table Manners, the podcast she hosts with her mom Lennie. Table Manners has become one of the UK's most beloved shows, racking up over 60 million listens, and in turn gave Jessie a new kind of confidence. This month Jessie is releasing Superbloom, her sixth album. As she has since What's Your Pleasure?, Jessie A&Rs the record herself, staying carefully in control of every creative decision. Her production team included core collaborator James Ford, the producer behind landmark records with…

Patrick Watson first came to international attention in 2007 when his album Close to Paradise won the Polaris Music Prize, Canada's most prestigious award for a Canadian album. Over the course of his career, the Montreal-based singer and composer built a devoted following through his orchestral pop arrangements, his remarkable voice, and live performances that blend intimacy with a theatric sensibility. Watson's music has found a second life far beyond his core fanbase. His song “Je te laisserai des mots" became a viral phenomenon years after its release, accumulating over a billion streams after being discovered by a new generation on social media. His film and television work has brought his sound to audiences worldwide, including his score for the acclaimed French-Canadian series Les Pays d'en haut. Today Bruce Headlam talks to Patrick Watson about making his playful and adventurous new record, Uh Oh—an album he recorded after recovering from a vocal chord hemorrhage on tour. Because of his injury,…

Charlie Puth is a meticulous songwriter whose knowledge of pop music runs deeper than your average chart topper. Charlie, who studied music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music, first gained widespread attention in 2015 with "See You Again," his collaboration with Wiz Khalifa for the Furious 7 soundtrack. The song earned him his first three Grammy nominations. Since then, he's released hits like "Attention," "We Don't Talk Anymore," and "One Call Away," while also writing and producing for other artists, including co-writing and co-producing "Stay" for The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber. His fourth album, Whatever's Clever!, comes out next month. It's his most honest work to date, and as he'll reveal on this episode, the songwriting is far more personal than anything he's released in the past. On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to Charlie Puth about making Whatever's Clever! and the process of recording a song with Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. He discusses the clever way he…

The Black Crowes are one of the great rock bands of the last 30 years, and now they're finally getting their flowers: a 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, alongside Lauryn Hill, Phil Collins, Wu-Tang Clan, and Oasis. To mark the occasion, we're re-running Justin Richmond's 2024 conversation with lead singer Chris Robinson, recorded around the release of their album Happiness Bastards. In the interview, Justin and Chris get into what it was like growing up in Georgia with his brother Rich, their dad's rockabilly career, and how life on the road looks a little different these days — less champagne and substances, more Herman Melville. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Chris Robinsons HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tommy Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist who has spent over six decades mastering the art of fingerstyle acoustic guitar. He's now widely regarded as one of the best acoustic players in the world. Born in 1955, he received his first guitar at age four and he recalls that not long after he knew he wanted to dedicate his life to playing music. He left home to pursue his dream as a teenager and eventually became known for his remarkable ability to make a single guitar sound like an entire band—simultaneously playing bass, rhythm, lead, and percussion. In 1980, Tommy toured with Stevie Wonder as part of the opening act, an experience he's described as enlightening. He's since played hundreds of shows a year and collaborated with artists including Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, and Tina Turner. On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to Tommy Emmanuel about his unique fingerstyle technique and how he developed the ability to make one guitar sound like multiple instruments. He tells the story of opening for Stevie…

Rodney Crowell has been a fixture in Nashville's songwriting community for over 50 years. Born in Houston in 1950, he was influenced early on by songwriters Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. In 1975, he joined Emmylou Harris' Hot Band as a guitarist and harmony singer, playing with her for three years. Rodney became known for his own work with his 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt, an album that made history by producing five consecutive number-one singles. Over his career, he's written songs for Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, and countless others, earning him a place in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Last August, Crowell released his twentieth studio album, Airline Highway, produced by Tyler Bryant and recorded at Dockside Studio in Louisiana. Just a few months ago, Willie Nelson released What a Beautiful World, an entire album of Crowell covers. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks to Rodney Crowell about making Airline Highway and the emotional experience of hearing Willie Nelson's tribute…

FKA twigs has spent over a decade redefining the boundaries of pop music through her innovative blend of electronic production, experimental R&B, and striking visual art. Her albums LP1 and Magdalene earned widespread critical acclaim, establishing her as one of the most forward-thinking voices in contemporary music. Last November, she released EUSEXUA Afterglow, a companion to her Grammy-winning, dance-forward album EUSEXUA. Twigs' new album addresses identity, bodily autonomy, and resistance. On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to FKA twigs about her experiences growing up mixed-race in rural England and how going to Jamaican clubs as a teenager inspired her 2022 mixtape CAPRISONGS. She also explains why she's not a fan of TikTok dances, and she breaks down the precise moment when all of the forces align at a rave that have brought her to the realization that this is the most important moment in culture. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from FKA Twigs HERE. See…

Ben Bridwell has led Band of Horses for over two decades. He describes the band's sound as "y'all-ternative," a genre that tips its hat to Southern rock's deep myriad of musical influences. Next month, Band of Horses is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Everything All the Time, with an expanded reissue featuring previously unreleased demos and live recordings. The album, recorded in 2005 with producer Phil Ek, who's known for producing albums by Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, and The Shins. When Band of Horses started working with Phil, Ben had only been writing songs for a couple of years. He was also new to Seattle, where he'd relocated from Tucson, a city he moved to at 16 after dropping out of high school in his native Irmo, South Carolina. On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Ben Bridwell about recording Everything All the Time. He opens up about hitting rock bottom in South Carolina before moving to Seattle. He also talks about recently breaking the generational curse of…

Grant-Lee Phillips first made his name in the ‘90s as the frontman of Grant Lee Buffalo, a critically acclaimed band that released four albums and toured with Pearl Jam, the Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M. Rolling Stone named Grant-Lee "Best Male Vocalist" in 1994, and his band became known for their folk-infused rock sound and their reflections on American history. After Grant Lee Buffalo disbanded in 1999, Phillips launched a solo career, eventually becoming familiar to a wider audience through his recurring role as the town troubadour on Gilmore Girls. Last September, he released his 12th solo album, In the Hour of Dust. The album's title was inspired by an ancient Indian painting Grant-Lee saw at a museum in Pasadena that depicts the twilight moment when cows are led home and kick up dust as night falls. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks to Grant-Lee Phillips about making In the Hour of Dust. He tells the story of how a trip to the La Brea Tar Pits with his old friend Michael Stipe inspired his song…

Peaches has spent more than two decades pushing boundaries in electronic music and performance art, inspiring the look and sound of edgy pop artists like Lady Gaga and Grimes. But long before she was known for her outrageous stage shows, Peaches got her start as part of a folk trio in Toronto. In the mid-'90s, after discovering she could become a one-woman band with her Roland drum machine, Peaches began developing a provocative new persona. In 2000, she moved to Berlin and released The Teaches of Peaches, featuring the song "Fuck the Pain Away." The track has been cited by Thom Yorke as an inspiration while making Radiohead's In Rainbows, and has appeared in countless movies and TV shows including Lost In Translation, The Handmaid's Tale, and even South Park. Peaches has spent the last several years creating works for stage and screen, including serving as the subject of two recent documentaries. Now, after more than a decade, she's returning with No Lube So Rude, her first album in over 10 years, recorded…

Jacob Collier has built a remarkable career as a multi-instrumentalist and arranger known for his complex harmonic approach and collaborative spirit. He first gained attention as a teenager posting multi-track videos from his childhood bedroom in North London. In 2013, his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" caught the eye of Quincy Jones, who began mentoring him and helped launch his career. Over the past seven years, Jacob’s released four albums in his Djesse series—ambitious, wide-ranging projects featuring collaborations with artists ranging from Coldplay to Tori Amos. He's won multiple Grammy Awards and developed a following through his inventive live performances and his willingness to share his deep knowledge of music theory with fans online. Now, Jacob has made a dramatic shift with his new album, The Light for Days. Recorded in just four days using only a custom five-string guitar, it's a stripped-down, intimate collection that explores folk, classical, and jazz influences with…

Don Was has had a remarkable career moving between different corners of the music world. In the 1980s, he fronted the eclectic band Was (Not Was), mixing funk, rock, and pop in unexpected ways. As a producer, he's helped shape landmark albums for artists like the B-52's and Bonnie Raitt, and worked with Bob Dylan and become a regular producer for the Rolling Stones. For the past decade, Don has led Blue Note Records as its president, bringing new energy to the storied jazz label. Now, Don has released his own album, Groove in the Face of Adversity, a tribute to Detroit and the music that came out of the city where he grew up. On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to Don Was about his wide-ranging career and why his new album is his first under his name. Don also talks about how working with musical heroes like Willie Nelson, Leonard Cohen, and Brian Wilson in the '90s initially shut down his own creative ambitions. And he reflects on his time at Blue Note and how his experience as a touring artist…

When Patty Griffin released Crown of Roses earlier this year, she delivered something both timeless and urgent. It’s an album that draws on gospel, folk, and soul to explore themes of faith, doubt, and resilience. It's a return to the stripped-down intimacy of her earliest work, but with the wisdom and craft of an artist who's spent nearly three decades refining her voice. That voice first emerged in 1996 with Living with Ghosts, recorded on a simple four-track in her Boston apartment. The album introduced a songwriter who could turn personal pain into something universal. Over the years that followed, Griffin’s songs have been covered by everyone from The Chicks to Solomon Burke, while her own recordings have earned her multiple Grammy nominations and a reputation as a songwriter's songwriter. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks to Patty Griffin about the inspiration behind Crown of Roses and how grit has shaped her songwriting throughout her career. They also discuss her early days in Boston's folk…

Joe Henry and Mike Reid brought two distinct but complementary legacies to Life & Times, their new collaborative album. Joe is a celebrated producer and songwriter known for his atmospheric, deeply literary approach to Americana. Over the decades, he's produced albums for artists like Solomon Burke, Bonnie Raitt, and Elvis Costello, while crafting his own work that blurs the line between folk, jazz, and rock. Mike Reid, a former NFL defensive lineman turned Grammy-winning country songwriter, has written hits like "I Can't Make You Love Me" and has long explored the tender spaces between strength and vulnerability. Their album, Life & Times, captures conversations between two seasoned storytellers, their voices and perspectives interweaving across songs that examine memory, mortality, and the passage of time with unflinching honesty. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks to Joe Henry and Mike Reid about how they developed a deep friendship over their shared love of poetry at a songwriter's retreat. They…

Since getting his start in the late ‘60s, Labi Siffre has had an unflinching commitment to writing exactly what he feels. The result was a debut album that announced a singular talent: a British singer-songwriter who could move seamlessly from jazz-inflected soul to tender love songs, all while addressing themes of love, identity, and justice that most pop artists wouldn't touch. Over the next decade, Siffre built a catalog that defied category. Still, his 1972 song "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" became an international success, and his song "Something Inside So Strong"—written years later in response to apartheid—also became a big hit, revealing the true scope of his artistry. And then there's "I Got The..." from his 1975 album Remember My Song that would quietly become one of the most sampled songs in hip-hop history, most famously by Dr. Dre on Eminem's "My Name Is." On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to Labi Siffre about growing up in 1950s London and the music he discovered that set him on his…

When Chicago released their debut album in 1969, they blended brass, jazz sophistication, and rock power into something completely their own. By 1975, when Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits arrived, the band had already amassed an extraordinary catalog of songs that captured both the experimental spirit of the late '60s and the pop sensibility of the '70s. That compilation became one of the best-selling albums of the decade, introducing new listeners to the band's range while cementing their legacy. Now, Chicago is celebrating the 50th anniversary of that landmark release with an expanded edition that offers fans a deeper look at this pivotal moment in the band's history. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks to Lee Loughnane and Jimmy Pankow of Chicago about recording their early albums. They also discuss how they came up with the idea of incorporating a horn section into a rock band. And they explain why after being on the road since the 70’s they don’t even bother to unpack their suitcases anymore.…

Justin joined You'll Hear It's Adam Maness and Peter Martin to talk Still Crazy After All These Years. Paul Simon's Grammy-winning album was born out of divorce, and produced some of his greatest songs of all time, like "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," "My Little Town," and "I Do It For Your Love." They dive into the story behind this remarkable album, including Steve Gadd's famous drum beat and how Stevie Wonder's Innervisions may have been the catalyst for Paul Simon's divorce?! And, we ask: Is this the ultimate sad boy album? Find You'll Hear It wherever you get podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In July, Malcolm Gladwell taped a live episode of Broken Record at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. It was a wonderful night of conversation and music. Drew Holcomb—a Memphis native who has spent the past 20 years performing with his band, The Neighbors—joined Malcolm onstage for the taping. On today’s episode, you’ll hear how growing up with strict Christian parents shaped Drew's artistic sensibilities through the handful of secular artists he was allowed to listen to, and how the crisis of faith he faced after his brother’s death led him to leave seminary and pursue life as a singer-songwriter. You’ll also hear stripped-down performances of Drew's songs live. And you’ll get a taste of his favorite Bruce Springsteen track, “Highway Patrolman,” with impromptu background vocals from Malcolm Gladwell. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When S.G. Goodman released her debut album, Old Time Feeling, in 2020, critics hailed it as a stunning introduction to a bold new voice in Americana. Co-produced with Jim James of My Morning Jacket, the album showcased Goodman's ability to balance classic Southern sounds with progressive ideas, earning widespread acclaim and landing on numerous year-end best-of lists. S.G. was raised in Hickman, Kentucky, in a family of row crop farmers and storytellers. That upbringing shaped her worldview and her songwriting—she sings about small-town living with both deep affection and clear-eyed critique. Now, with her third album, Planting By The Signs, S.G. continues to mine rich themes like love, loss, and reconciliation. The record is inspired in part by the ancient tradition of farming according to the cycles of the moon—a practice passed down through generations in her family. On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks to S.G. Goodman about growing up in a family of storytellers and how that tradition makes its way…