My Favorite Album with Jeremy Dylan

Jasmine Rae caps off her release week by joining me to discuss Taking the Long Way, the 2006 album that saw The Chicks rising from the ashes of controversy and persecution to create one of their best records. We dig into the album’s backstory, frontwoman Natalie Maines taking a leading role in the band’s songwriting for the first time, parallels to their new album ‘Gaslighter’, the rock’n’roll collaborators who joined the band on this album, their decision to make the lyrics explicitly personal and specific in a way they never had on previous records and more. Plus, we discuss what it’s like to launch a new record (and play shows) in the midst of the pandemic in Australia, and the precarious nature of planning anything.

31 Jul 202043min

Writer/director Peter Howitt (Sliding Doors, Johnny English, Dangerous Parking) joins me for a good old fashioned Beatles deep dive. We talk about Abbey Road, discovering the records as they came out, why the fascination has endured for over 50 years, Lennon and McCartney’s own ‘sliding doors’ moment, George Harrison’s post-Beatles songwriting trajectory, the Giles Martin remixes, what John Lennon’s music would have been liked if he had lived and much more. Plus, Peter tells me the story of acting with Paul and Linda McCartney on the classic British sitcom ‘Bread’ in 1988.

28 Jul 20201h 10min

Today, country hitmaker Cassadee Pope joins me to talk about the Queen, Shania Twain, and her classic 1995 album ‘The Woman In Me’. We talk about the influence that Shania had on the genre and on successive generation of female country stars, her strength and vulnerability (and why those qualities aren’t in opposition), what Shania taught Cassadee, their in person encounter and her fantasies of them one day duetting.

24 Jul 202025min

Singer/songwriter and country hitmaker Jimmie Allen joins me to talk about Learn to Live, the 2008 album that launched Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish frontman into country superstar. Jimmie talks about sneaking on to Darius’s tour bus when he first moved to Nashville, what it meant to see black artists achieving success in genres outside RnB and hip-hop, the advice Darius gave him, and the historic duet he recorded with Darius and Charley Pride on his new EP Bettie James. Plus, Jimmie reveals why he turned down pop record deals to pursue a career in country music and how even before Jimmie was an established artist, Darius was getting him backstage without even knowing it.

20 Jul 202028min

The great Katie Noonan returns to the show to talk about the classic self-titled debut album by Crowded House. We talk about the band’s origins out of the dissolution of Split Enz, the band’s hit ratio across their four original albums, the classic organ solo on Don’t Dream It’s Over and how Katie reinterpreted the song on her new album, being in bands with siblings, how to deicide if, when and how to reunite a long broken up band, our shared experiences at the Crowded House shows in 2016 and Katie’s childhood aspirations to be a nun.

16 Jul 202050min

Comedy legend David Cross (Mr Show, Arrested Development) joins me for a rollicking conversation that starts with cult alternative rockers Firehose’s ‘Live Totem Pole’ record and winds around through David’s early years in California and his experiences in LA rock clubs, the relationships between alt rock and alt comedy, the bands he has seen the most live over the years, his favorite Australian band and the one musical disagreement he and his longtime creative collaborator Bob Odenkirk could never resolve.

14 Jul 202038min

Today I’m joined by the delightful and amazing Emma Watkins aka Emma Wiggle, to talk about her friends the East Pointers and their most recent album ‘Yours to Break’. How does Australia’s most iconic family entertainment unit intersect with a Canadian progressive folk outfit? Find out as Emma takes me through the story of the Newfoundland family musical tradition and how it birthed the East Pointers, the collaborations between the band’s members and the Wiggles, modernising traditional celtic folk sounds, the unexpected part Emma was playing in their Australian shows and more.

9 Jul 202029min

As a writer and director, Thomas Schnauz has been responsible for some of the most legendary TV of the last 30 years, from The X Files to Breaking Back to Better Call Saul, and he’s been sneaking Pink Floyd references into all of them. Thomas joins me to finally talk about ‘The Wall’ (we’ve only been going for 7 years and not a single Floyd record in that time), Syd Barrett, the Roger Waters spitting incident that inspired the record, his wild journey as a young man to see Roger Waters perform the record in full at the Berlin wall and more… Plus I pitch Thomas what is sure to be the main storyline of Better Call Saul season 5.

6 Jul 202036min