My Favorite Album With Jeremy Dylan

Today, the woman being El Perro del Mar, Sarah Assbring, goes from subject of this podcast to a guest, as she joins me in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Spiritualized’s 2001 album ‘Let It Come Down’. We talk about how the album shook up Sarah’s life during a period where she had walked away from performing as a singer-songwriter, how the ambition of the record continues to inspire her, the incredible scope of the album’s orchestrations and emotions, the relationship between the album and religiosity, how Sarah has found her own version of the wall of sound used on this album and how she still harbours ambitions to create a record with a similar scope.

Today spellbinding singer-songwriter-doctor Sophie Payten aka Gordi joins me to dive into the world of Bon Iver’s 2016 game changer ‘22, A Million’. We dig into how Sophie feels about frequent comparisons between her and Bon Iver, how this album upended what people thought of as Bon Iver’s sound, different interpretations of the album’s opening line ‘It might be over soon’, what it was like for Sophie to work with this album’s co-producer and mixer on her latest record, the unpronounceable track names and how she ended up singing with Bon Iver on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Plus, we chat about Sophie’s new single, a duet with friend of the show Alex Lahey about my favorite dive bar, Dinos in East Nashville.

Australian comedy legend Colin Lane (Lano and Woodley) is a self-proclaimed sceptic when it comes to people’s deep emotional connection to pop stars, but he proves a game guest on this week’s podcast, as he and I mark Elton John’s first appearance on the show by talking about ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’. We get into the ins and outs of Elton’s partnership with Bernie Taupin, how much the songs reflect Bernie’s point of view over Elton’s, Colin’s own insights on how to keep a creative partnership together over multiple decades, the beautiful ‘naffness’ of Elton’s music, whether it’s becoming more acceptable to sing explicitly about same sex relationships in pop music and a great rollicking chat about the Elton biopic Rocket Man and why we feel like it was far superior than Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Today one Australia’s most compelling artists, Mo’Ju, joins me for a celebration of the love child of Raymond Chandler and the Cookie Monster, Tom Waits, and his classic 1978 album ‘Blue Valentine’. We talk about the Tom Waits musical universe, how Waits uses a clearly defined persona to keep his private life private, the film noir sensibility that pervades Waits’ lyrics, how Mo’Ju chased the sound of Waits’ records in her early music, how Waits made the grotesque and the mundane beautiful, the different definitions of authenticity in art, double standards around lyrical content for different types of artists and much more.

Today music journalist (People, Rolling Stone) and co-host of the Rivals podcast Jordan Runtagh joins me from New York City to finally tackle one of our white whales - The Beach Boys immortal classic ‘Pet Sounds’. Yes, somehow we are in year eight of the show without anyone doing the record. Never fear, we get into it in some detail today, from the background of the record and Brian Wilson’s shift to non-touring creative genius, the intra-family fights between Brian and Mike Love, the contrasts between Pet Sounds and the Beatles' Sgt Pepper, the starkness of the lyrics, the contributions of the Wrecking Crew and Jordan’s experiences interviewing Brian Wilson and how this album helped him connect with his father.

Today we’re bringing you a fascinating conversation with Batwoman’s Nicole Kang on country icon Patsy Cline’s ‘Sentimentally Yours’, the last album the legendary singer recorded before her tragically premature death at age 30. Nicole tells the story of how Cline’s music formed part of the tapestry of her childhood and became an essential shibboleth of her relationship with her taciturn immigrant father and spoke to his relationship with his adopted home country. Nicole tells the story of discovering the album anew as an adult in the midst of heartbreak and how it led her to open a new dialogue with her father about her childhood. We talk about identity, assimilation, direct emotion, the idea of Nicole playing Patsy on Broadway, the mystique around artists who died young and Nicole performs a poem from her one-woman show that speaks to the impact of Patsy Cline’s music on her.

Today New York bred Nashville based singer-songwriter Jillette Johnson joins me on the eve of her new album release, to discuss Patty Griffin’s game-changing genre-defying second album Flaming Red. Like Bob Dylan, Patty shocked a lot of people when she ‘went electric’ on this record, and we get into why this album was different to her folky debut, the reactions upon its release, why it’s impossible to put Patty in a genre box, how Jillette has been inspired to expand and evolve her sound on her new record and more. We dig into seminal songs like ‘One Big Love’, ‘Tony’ and more, the different lyrical modes Patty deploys across the record, and the contributions from producer Jay Joyce and the other stellar musicians who played on the record.

Today, legendary songwriter and Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson joins me to talk about the Joni Mitchell masterpiece that isn’t ‘Blue’ - 1976's ‘Hejira’. We talk about where the title came from, how a teenage infatuation led Dan to Joni, why Jaco Pastorius is like Hannibal Lector, the album’s lyrical themes of groundedness vs freedom, key songs like Amelia and Furry Sings the Blues and how Dan’s relationship with the album changed when he started writing his own songs.

We’re kicking off 2021 with the legendary producer, guitarist and singer/songwriter Daniel Lanois, talking about one of the greatest debut albums of all time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967 barnstormer ‘Are You Experienced?’ We delve into Daniel’s discovery of the record while he was a teenage record producer in Canada, how the album opened up his imagination, the idiosyncrasies and nuances of Hendrix’s guitar playing technique and how it’s influenced Lanois’ own approach to the instrument, Mitch Mitchell’s jazz influenced drumming and some of the studio innovations that made the album special. Daniel also talks about reimagining ‘May This Be Love’ with Emmylou Harris when they recorded it for her classic album ‘Wrecking Ball’. Plus I pick Daniel’s brain about the making of my favorite Willie Nelson album ‘Teatro’, which he produced and was the subject of a previous episode of this show.

Singer/songwriter/fiddle wizard Amanda Shires joins me over chicken-fried steak to talk/argue about the great Leonard Cohen and his 1971 masterpiece 'Songs of Love and Hate'. Is the album depressing? What is Leonard Cohen's best song? Is co-writing good or bad and should Amanda do it? Did she steal one of Cohen's coat hangers? Why did she write a song about wanting to hang out with Cohen? What about the cover of 'I'm Your Man' she did? It's a rambling, insightful, funny and sometimes contentious chat from one of today's most engaging performers. Listen to it and then check out her new album 'To The Sunset'. My Favorite Album is a podcast on the impact great music has on our lives. Each episode features a guest on their favorite album of all time - why they love it, their history with the album and how it's influenced them. Jeremy Dylan is a filmmaker, journalist, concert promoter and photographer. He directed the the feature music documentary Jim Lauderdale: The King of Broken Hearts (out now!) and the film B

We’re on a break at the moment but I thought it would be interesting to revisit this episode from four years ago, our end of the year 2016 wrap up, featuring a bunch of different interviews touching on the big stories in music of the year, including the traumatic aftershock of the US election and the creeping dread of the incoming Trump administration, and the realisation that 2017 maybe was going to be getting worse not better. Thankfully I feel like we’re coming out of this particular hell year of 2020 with a more optimistic outlook on the next year, so I’m posting this today as a way of reflecting to some extent on the horrors of the last half decade and also a feeling that we might be turning at least one page onto a better future now... ------- 10 conversations about the highs and lows of music in 2016: Emmy winner Jeff Greenstein (Friends, Will & Grace) on when David Bowie guest starred on his first TV sitcom. How Melbourne indie soul band Cookin’ on 3 Burners had a smash hit on the French dance ch

Longtime friend of the show and host of the Empire Film Podcast, Chris Hewitt, returns to talk about the classic Hollywood thriller 'The Hunt for Red October', the first film adapted from Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, starring Alec Baldwin as Ryan and the late great Sir Sean Connery as Russian (just go with it) Captain Ramius. We discuss if this is Connery’s best post-Bond role, why Baldwin might be the best Jack Ryan, Hollywood’s need to action up the nerd hero, the incredibly deep bench of supporting players in the cast, the subversive politics of the film, whether John McTiernan will ever direct another movie and we trade duelling questionable Connery impressions. Plus we brainstorm a modern day Broadway version of the film and pitch our dream cast - someone get me Lin-Manuel Miranda and/or Scott Rudin’s email!

Normally on this show we venerate musicians, today we’re mocking them as we present a little compilation of music jokes guests have told me this year, never before heard until now. Listen to gags from Georgia Mooney, Fred Armisen, Stella Mozgawa, Edith Bowman, Seja Vogel, Dan Wilson and even your host.

Today, legendary Nashville singer-songwriter Kim Richey joins me to talk about Joni Mitchell’s classic 1974 double live album ‘Miles of Aisles’. We talk about how the record acts as a great entry point to Joni’s early career, the way Joni and LA Express reinterpret her early folk songs, the difference between Joni’s lyrical style and peers like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, Joni’s influence on Kim’s songwriting and what it was like for Kim to reinterpret her own back catalogue when she recorded a new album of the songs from her classic ‘Glimmer’ record, which came out earlier this year.

Today I’m sharing a conversation I had with the great gentleman of rock’n’roll Nick Lowe, in what was meant to be the first episode of a new podcast about live shows and touring. It turned out 2020 wasn’t the best year to launch a show like that, so instead I’m bringing this chat to you now. We talk about everything from how his mid-career reinvention as the only gracefully ageing man in rock has influenced the style and approach of his shows, how his singing style has changed over the years, rearranging his back catalogue with his backing band Los Straitjackets, the surprising songs his younger fans gravitate toward, how he constructs his set lists, how he keeps playing songs like ‘Cruel to Be Kind’ and ’What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding’ fresh and fun for him and why he closes every show with a cover of his old pal Elvis Costello’s classic song ‘Alison’.

Today I’m joined by songwriting duo and hosts of the brilliant Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast, Simon Barber and Brian O’Connor, to talk about Paul Simon’s classic middle-aged divorcee record Still Crazy After All These Years. We talk about how the album reflects an ‘adult’ approach in subject matter and composition, how aspects of it reveal more as the listener ages, the balance between specificity in Simon’s lyrics but still leaving a place for the listener to find themselves in the song, whether drummer Steve Gadd deserves a writing credit on 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, whether the Simon and Garfunkel reunion song My Little Town fits in the flow of the record and Simon and Brian reflect on their experience interviewing Paul Simon for their podcast.