My Favorite Album With Jeremy Dylan

One of today’s most renowned and skilful Americana singer-songwriters, Jason Isbell, talks about the classic record that helped inspire the genre - The Rolling Stones 1971 LP ‘Sticky Fingers’. We talk about how growing up around Muscle Shoals Alabama got Jason into the record as a child, how the album shows the Stones maturing as a band as they entered the 70s, why the self-destructive lyrics of ‘Sway’ resonated with Jason as he endured his own struggles, what he misses about being in the Drive By Truckers, which song from ‘Southeastern’ was inspired by the Stones, how the Stones used their business acumen to assert creative control and whether authenticity matters. Plus Jason reveals special moment when he met Bruce Springsteen recently backstage at New Orleans Jazz Festival, and we argue over the merits of the ganjo and producer Dave Cobb’s wardrobe.

Billions creator Brian Koppelman is one of our most loved returning champions and he joins me once again today to bring things full circle by discussing the album that was the subject of his first ever appearance on the podcast - Jason Isbell's 'Southeastern' - to celebrate it's ten year anniversary. The album that turned Isbell from a cult hero to one of the most acclaimed songwriters of his generation, that set the path and the standard for all his future work and locked in multiple entries in the classic songbook of the 21st century. Brian and I revisit the album's immediate impact on first listen and set it in the context of Isbell's career to date and subsequent acclaimed albums, the discipline and rigour behind his songwriting, his gift for melody, the lack of vanity in his lyrics and much much more.

Today, author, music journalist and podcaster James Campion joins me to delve into one of the most iconic and enduring songs in the history of popular music as he gives a taste of his book Take A Sad Song: The Emotional Currency of Hey Jude. We talk about how McCartney took a song inspired by John Lennon's son Julian's feelings about his parents divorce and refined it into one of the most universal songs ever written, how John Lennon was the first of many people to think it was about himself, the difficulty of writing in second person, the songs unusual take on male friendship and how it acts as a sequel to She Loves You, how the recording saw the Beatles take another leap forward in the studio and the revolutionary elements of the track that now seem classic and inevitable.

A fun change of pace this week on the show. Earlier this year, I co-produced a tribute album to Americana icon Jim Lauderdale, featuring an eclectic group of incredible Australian artists reinterpreting Jim's incredible songbook. Today, Michael Carpenter, who co-produced the record and played the bulk of the music you hear on the album, as well as mixing and mastering the project, joins me to break it down track by track. We get into how each song and artist were chosen, the arrangement process and how each track evolved over the months of production. Blake O’Connor and Sinead Burgess - Hole in My Head Adam Harvey - Where the Sidewalk Ends Imogen Clark - Tough All Over Katie Brianna - You Don’t Seem To Miss Me Georgia Mooney - The Brighter Side of Lonely Ella Hooper and Davey Lane - Halfway Down Charlie Collins - You’ll Know When It’s Right Holiday Sidewinder - Planet of Love Clayton Doley and Jade MacRae - It’s A Trap Georgia State Line - Run Like You Shane Nicholson - El Dorado Melody Pool - When Carolina

Today ARIA-winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer of this podcast Georgia Mooney joins me for a delightful delve into Martha Wainwright’s self-titled debut album. We dig into the Wainwright clan and how they explore their relationships through each other’s music, seeing Martha play outside a prison and falling in love with her, Martha and Georgia’s shared method of songwriting slowly, Martha’s spiky directness in her lyrics, her vocal influence on Georgia, the song Bloody Mother-Fucking Asshole and much more. Plus Georgia talks about her beautiful new single ‘War Romance’.

Today legendary singer-songwriter and founder of iconic band The Go-Betweens, Robert Forster, joins me to pay tribute to the legendary Texan troubadour Guy Clark and his debut album Old No. 1. We revisit the fateful night in Santa Monica on the promo tour for 16 Lovers Lane where Robert saw Guy play live and had a damascene conversion to his music, how it impacted the the second act of his career as a solo artist, why Clark never achieved the broad fame of contemporaries like John Prine and Townes Van Zandt, Clark’s economy of language and melody and why this is “the Astral Weeks of country music”. Plus we delve into Robert’s brilliant new album ‘The Candle and the Flame’, knowing when to stop writing, growing into a better singer as he gets older and how his approach to recording has changed over the years.

Today legendary Australian actor and comedy renaissance man Francis Greenslade joins me to talk about Paul Kelly’s classic album Comedy. We talk about how Francis discovered the record when he was performing with Paul in an Adelaide theatre show, how Paul leaves space in his lyrics for audience interpretation, how his vocals serve the lyrics and he never over sings, From Little Things Big Things Grow, Paul’s off stage introversion and the agelessness of Paul’s music.

Returning champion Eves Karydas (aka Hannah Karydas) joins me for round three as we finally talk about Carole King’s iconic album Tapestry. We talk about the Laurel Canyon scene of the early 70s and the involvement of James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, Carole’s history as a hit successful songwriter in her teens and early 20s, the lost idea of musical communities, the comforting quality of the record, Tapesty as soul music and Hannah’s spellbinding cover of Natural Woman she recorded for Triple J’s Like A Version.

Filmmaker Charles Hood and film journalist and author Drew Taylor return for their fifth appearance on the show to once again count down our three warring lists of the best films of the year just gone. It's been another brilliant year at the movies, and we hope this spoiler-free conversation inspires you to check out some of our choices that you might not yet have seen. Happy New Year everyone!

Reposting this episode in memory of Peter Cooper, who we sadly lost today. Journalist and singer-songwriter Peter Cooper of the Country Music Hall of Fame joins me to talk about Jim Lauderdale’s classic ‘Pretty Close to the Truth’ album and how the changes in country music in the 90s created the need for the Americana music genre, the migration of people like Jim and his friend and collaborator Buddy Miller from California to Nashville, and how Jim helped Peter propose to his wife.

Reposting this episode in memory of Peter Cooper, who we sadly lost today. After crouching to fit under the doorway, singer/songwriter/journalist and gentle giant Peter Cooper steps into the portable pod booth to chat with host Jeremy Dylan about a classic from one of the classiest songwriters in country music - Tom T Hall’s 1971 album “In Search of a Song”. Along the way, they break down tracks including “The Year Clayton Delany Died”, “Trip to Hyden” and “A Million Miles to the City” and talk about Hall’s songwriting research trips, how he broke his own songwriting rules, the difference between poetry and song lyrics and why you shouldn’t waste time complaining about music you hate.

Reposting a classic episode while we take a few weeks off to take a breath and record. Former Deputy Prime Minister, long-serving parliamentarian and occasional DJ Anthony Albanese MP joins me on the show to talk about his favorite album by one of his favorite artists - “The Good Son” (1990) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. We talk about the origins of his Nick Cave fandom, seeing him live with the Birthday Party and later with the Bad Seeds, how this album represents a period of Cave in transition, why ‘The Ship Song’ ended up on his playlist when he guest hosted Rage and which Nick Cave song got people moving in his recent DJ set. Also, we talk about why his electorate has Australia’s best concert venue (the Enmore), the advantages of going to gigs in Canberra, why bad governments breed good music, protest songs and the Reclink Community Cup.

Today we celebrate out milestone 400th episode with a special tribute to one of the all time great TV dramas, which recently concluded it's brilliant run. Better Call Saul is the rare spinoff that not only lived up to its parent show, it actually surpassed it. Today I'm joined by writer/director/executive producer Thomas Schnauz, actors Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin) and Peter Diseth (Bill Oakley), casting director Sharon Bialy and journalist and cultural critic Carrie Wittmer, plus I revisit my 2020 conversation with Jimmy McGill himself, Bob Odenkirk. Thanks for everyone who joined us today, producer Georgia Mooney for helping pull this together and to everyone who has joined me for the past eight years and 400 episodes, either as guest or listener. We're just getting started!

Author Bradley Morgan joins me to dive into his fascinating book 'U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America'. We unpack the political underpinnings of the album, how the album has been recontextualised by the political environment of today, resisting nostalgia, how the members of U2 embraced the myth of America and then dissected it, the anti-cynicism of U2's music, how U2 appeals across political divides while foregrounding politics in their own music, their surprising late awakening to American roots music, the story behind One Tree Hill and Bradley’s pilgrimage to the site of the album cover photo.

Today Better Call Saul writer, director and executive producer Tom Schnauz joins our rare three timer club as he returns to the show to talk about the legendary Monkees. We talk about the false perception of the Monkees as a ‘fake band’, the Monkees TV show and how it introduced Tom to their music, Tom’s friendship with Micky Dolenz, the original audition notice that led to the band’s formation, how and why Tom used two deeper cut Monkees tracks for montages in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and some Monkees trivia direct from Micky himself.

After eight years and almost four hundred episodes, we finally talk about Rush! Better Call Saul Star Patrick Fabian joins me to preach the Canadian gospel as we chat Geddy, Neil and Alex’s classic 1980 album 'Permanent Waves'. We talk about Patrick discovering Rush as a high schooler in Pennsylvania, taking the ‘magic bus’ to see the band at his first ever arena show, ‘growing old’ with the band as he’s gone to see them over four decades, the skewed gender balance of Rush fandom, how Patrick ended up with a pair of Neil Peart’s drumsticks and that time he met Def Leppard.

Today singer-songwriter and actor Lola Kirke joins for a rollercoaster of a conversation about Joni Mitchell’s classic Hejira album and a lot more besides. We talk about how Lola was turned on to Joni by her then boyfriend, only for listening to the music to inspire her to leave him, Joni’s cross-country road trips and how they inspired the songwriting, whether people can write music like this in the ‘content’ era, how Lola forced her way into a Last Waltz tribute where she performed ‘Coyote’, Joni’s social media presence, celebrity autographs and how this record inspired Lola’s latest single ‘All I Had To Do’.

Empire Film Magazine and Fade to Black's Amon Warmann joins me to try and answer one of the great nerd questions of all time: Is a 75 minute animated film from 1993 actually the best Batman film ever made? Warning: This is a spoiler-filled conversation after the first ten minutes. Amon and I go for broke digging into a film we both love dearly covering topics including: - Best Batman film vs best film starring Batman - The love story that drives the film - How the film and its parent show Batman: The Animated Series took key inspiration from classic Hollywood films of the 30s, 40s and 50s. - Why this 'kids' film is one of the most emotionally mature superhero films ever made. - How the film finds a unique way to tell Batman's origin story - Kevin Conroy's definitive and multi-pronged take on Batman - The strategic use of the Joker and how it parallels The Silence of the Lambs and Sexy Beast. - How to go dark without slipping into pretension or self-parody. - Vengance vs Justice. - Shirley Walker's incredible

Today Sam Tsang aka Congee joins me down the line from London, as we look back on one of the iconic records of the last decade - Frank Ocean’s 'Blonde'. We talk about how Frank Ocean builds a new world with each album, and makes the release an event. We talk about the detail of the production, the care put into every choice, stories from the making of the record and speculate on the practical concerns of making a record where every song went through so many iterations. We talk about the guest cameos from everyone from Beyoncé to Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood, the rock influence on the record and what we think Ocean has up his sleeve for the next album.

Eddie Hamilton is one of the greatest filmmakers working in mass entertainment today. A genius editor whose resume stretches from the KINGSMAN franchise to X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and the two best MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE films (Rogue Nation and Fallout), he spent two years working on what has become the cinematic event of 2022 - TOP GUN: MAVERICK. Today, Eddie takes us a journey through the film, using the expertly chosen needle drops - from Hank Williams to T Rex to Lady Gaga - to explore the relentless rigour and refinement that goes into creating a truly epic piece of cinema. Topics covered include: Striking the perfect balance between 80s nostalgia and creating a new timeless classic. Why specially written songs by Kenny Loggins, One Republic and Post Malone, and even a still unreleased Rolling Stones song, didn’t make the finished film. Creating a modern version of the original film’s opening sequence, down to the fonts in the title cards. The long theatrical run and incredible box office success of the film. A n