My Favorite Album With Jeremy Dylan

On the heels of her debut solo EP release, Hayley Mary joins to finally bring Cyndi Lauper into the program. We get into it - the hits you remember, the backstory you didn't know, the Motown and punk influence, how the record portends the future and why the songs mean more now than they did at the time, and how Lauper has inspired Hayley through the years.

Today we head to genius producer, singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson's home studio for a wide ranging journey through the music that has inspired him, from Hank Williams to Maggot Brain. We dig into Hank Williams' alter ego Luke the Drifter, JW's Americana roots, how he finds time to balance working on his solo records vs producing artists like Father John Misty, what California means to him musically, his karaoke past and much more.

New episodes are back for 2020! After being recently knocked out by David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway, I connected with brilliant percussionist Jacquelene Acevedo and asked her to join me on the show to go behind the scenes on this fascinating show. We talk about everything from how her dance background informed the show's unique choreography, the technical demands of staying mobile while playing, joining the show for Broadway after the world tour, her favorite songs in the set to perform, audience reactions, how the show spreads hope and teaches us to be engaged members of society and which celebrities have dropped in to see the performance.

This week, multi-multi-ARIA-winner Ben Lee welcomes me into his Laurel Canyon home to talk about Jonathan Richman and 'Modern Lovers Live'. We delve into the arc of Richman's career, how his music became more and more stripped back and seemingly innocent, the inherent joy that Ben has tried to carry into his own work and some weighty digressions about the artists responsibility to pose questions to their audience, our mutual distaste for unsolicited advice and knowing whether to continue a music career when your best days could lay behind you.

John Leventhal is a master of tastefulness, over decades as a producer, guitarist and songwriter with everyone from Shawn Colvin to Marc Cohn to William Bell and his wife Rosanne Cash. Today he welcomes me to his home studio in New York to talk about Ry Cooder’s 70s classic ‘Paradise and Lunch’. We delve into Ry’s genius as an arranger and reinterpreter of songs, his influence as a musician, how the album puts songs first over guitar flexing, how Ry has influenced John’s playing and production and what it was like for John and his wife Rosanne to collaborate with Ry on new arrangements of Johnny Cash songs.

Today Australia's queen of the dance floor bangers Kira Puru joins me for a long-awaited discussion of Amy Winehouse's classic neo-soul masterpiece 'Back to Black'. We dig into how this record sparked a soul revival and how the music that came in its wake measures up, how Winehouse's artistic sophistication was sometimes masked by her image, the definition of 'cool', what makes Winehouse's lyrics so effective and how producer Mark Ronson helped shaped the album, as well as reflecting on the untimely loss of Amy Winehouse and whether suffering is endemic to great art.

This week comedian and podcaster Tom Ballard joins me to chat about Midlake's concept album 'The Trials of Van Occupanther'. We talk about how the album manages to be timeless but not retro, the conceptual substance behind the lyrics, the 60s and 70s rock influences on the album and we dredge up Tom's 2013 list of the best songs of the past 20 years and hold him accountable for it. We discuss the changing dynamics of a band who has lost its lead singer, solo creative work vs collaboration and I challenge Tom to turn this album into a musical.

MFA Book Month concludes this week with journalist, author and Empire podcast geek queen Helen O'Hara joining me for a journey through the music of superhero cinema, from John Williams' magisterial score for SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE through to Kendrick Lamar's BLACK PANTHER soundtrack and much in between. We discuss the evolution from theme driven symphonic scores to the intense blare of Hans Zimmer, the use of pop music in superhero films from Prince's BATMAN music to the toe-tapping GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, how Marvel found its footing with the scores of the MCU after a slightly muddled beginning and we plug Helen's new book THE ULTIMATE SUPERHERO MOVIE GUIDE. We also get into it about JOKER (no spoilers), what almost drove Helen off Twitter, I offer some lightly controversial takes and it all ends on a very silly note.

Book month continues as I chat to superstar film critic, double bassist and friend of the pod Dr. Mark Kermode about 'How Does It Feel', his memoir of his life and musical misadventures. We chat about Mark's 'how hard can it be?' approach to potentially intimidating musical challenges, the self belief that has sustained his music career and his lifelong desire to become a pop star. We talk about the nature of memory and the process of writing memoirs, details that had to be legally redacted, how skiffle music transformed his musical career, his short-lived stint as musical director for a prime time BBC chat show and that time he launched my career as a filmmaker.

MFA Book Month continues as Rolling Stone's Brian Hiatt joins me to talk about his exhaustive book chronicling the stories behind every single song Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded. We delve into both the stories behind the songs and the stories behind the book, how Brian made sure it had something new both for die hard fans of the Boss and those who only knew the hits - from conflicting stories behind some tracks, the underappreciated gems in Bruce's catalogue, Springsteen's attempt to not sound like "Bruce Springsteen" anymore, how his depression bled into his songwriting, the battle between live and studio versions of some songs and, because I can't help myself, Taylor Swift.

It's the My Favorite Album book club for the next month, trading musicians in for authors of the most exciting books about music and musicians. We kick things off with Will Birch, founding member of The Kursaal Flyers turned journalist and biographer, on his new book 'Cruel to Be Kind', the definitive look at the legendary Nick Lowe's life and career. We talk about Nick's late career reinvention of his sound and image, the infamous Brinsley Schwartz press launch fiasco, Nick's relationship with Elvis Costello, how What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding ended up on the Bodyguard soundtrack, the process of writing the book and much more.

This week I chat to singer-songwriter and Men at Work frontman Colin Hay about Chris Whitley's 'Dirt Floor'. We talk about the allure of the back to basics record, the appeal of living in oft-derided LA, discovering art that deeply affects you far into your career, code-switching as a Scot growing up in Australia and finding comfort in isolation. We also talk about Colin's favourite venues to play, what it's been like to play with Ringo and his All Star Band and writing the title track on Ringo's latest album, plus a bonus story about the time Paul McCartney did his dishes.