Tierney Tough was the second guest ever on Crash and Ride and she has released a new solo EP. Normally the phenomenally talented bassist, vocalist, and keyboardist for the band The Pauses, Tierney was inspired by the isolation and uncertainty of the Pandemic to create a new EP of haunting and powerful tunes, A Farce to Reckon With. In our most recent conversation, we talk about the Pandemic, her new music, and an absolutely infuriating encounter with an obstreperous soundman. You can hear A...

Episode 88 is Part 2 of my conversation with Jes Skolnik. As I mentioned last week, Jes writes for Bandcamp Daily, the music journalism arm of the Greatest Music Distribution Platform of all time. Besides being an incredibly gifted music journalist, they are also a musician, a trauma survivor, former addict, and a sexual assault survivor. This week we talk about toxic jobs, the journey from freelancer to senior editor, their struggle with drugs and depression, and what they do for self-care! ...

Episode 87 is my interview with Jes Skolnik! Jes writes for Bandcamp Daily, the music journalism arm of the Greatest Music Distribution Platform of all time. Besides being an incredibly gifted music journalist, they are also a musician, a trauma survivor, former addict, and a sexual assault survivor. Together, Jes and I talk about the pandemic, surviving in isolation, overcoming trauma, and how it all relates to playing, loving, and writing about music. CONTENT WARNING: this episode...

photo: Jeff Shipman Adam Klein is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Athens, GA, though he currently lives in Atlanta. Adam has released seven albums, but has also traveled the world doing volunteer work and lived in West Africa for several years. In Mali, he had a radio show that was broadcast over a large swath of remote villages at the edge of the Sahara. He also has a budding acting career in the Atlanta film industry and an album on the way this Spring. We talk about growing...

Jolie Holland is an extraordinarily gifted singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist living in Los Angeles, California. She's possessed of an incredible insight and lyricism and she writes gorgeous and vivid songs that have been praised by luminaries such as Tom Waits. She escaped an abusive and toxic upbringing in a devout family of Jehovah's Witnesses and spent many years on the road, only to eventually settle down and create an enormous and stunning body of work. Jolie is currently...

Eugene Willis is a hip hop artist who performs under the name Black Nerd Ninja. He's a rapper, promoter, IT consultant, father, husband, and also a stroke survivor. He's one of the hardest working men I've ever met, and is a relentlessly positive force for good in the world. We talk about his journey back from his stroke, how he sought to redefine himself in the world after his illness, and how he believes that emotional intelligence might save us all.   You can hear his work here: ...

Pete Krebs has played guitar in so many influential Portland bands that it's hard to list them all: Hazel, Golden Delicious, The Stolen Sweets, The Portland Playboys, and Thee Catnip Brothers. He started his journey playing in punk bands and now he plays Western Swing at the rodeo every year in Pendleton, Oregon. He's a two-time inductee into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, and he's survived cancer twice. I met Pete for the first time in 1992 when our bands played together in Virginia at a...

Che Arthur is a multi-instrumentalist, sound engineer, and tour manager based out of Chicago, IL. I've known Che for 30 years! I touched base to see how 2020 had gone for him, living alone in a pandemic and experiencing America as a Black man during the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd and during the latter days of the Trump Administration. Che is an INCREDIBLY prolific musician and you can find links to much of his work here: http://www.chearthur.com/music/ Here is a...

Tad Doyle! TAD DOYLE of the band TAD! Before the explosion of bands out of the Pacific Northwest changed the entire face of rock music in the early '90s, TAD was crushing live shows and releasing huge sounding slabs of wax on Subpop records. Years later, Tad would struggle with drugs and depression as the "grunge" thing got mutated and commodified into an MTV-ready PRODUCT. Tad, though, is a survivor, and he is still making music "heavier than God's Balls."   I was super-stoked to talk to...

Travis Talbert is the lead guitar player for the band Frontier Folk Nebraska. He also has a solo project called Mavis Guitar where he plays pedal steel and guitar. He's a gifted and thoughtful player and a softspoken, gentle guy. He's also a man who has survived the death of his son. Tobin Talbert lived 7 months and never left the hospital. Travis and his beautiful wife Heather somehow managed to weather this tragedy and come out the other side stronger, braver, and still in love.   This...

Lindsay Powell is a Brooklyn-based singer and multi-instrumentalist who performs under the name Fielded. Her music defies genre classification and nimbly draws influences from trance, hip-hop, Neo-Soul, and new psychedelia. I have been a fan for many years, and after overcoming some shyness about reaching out to someone so accomplished, I made contact and we did one of my favorite interviews ever. Lindsay was very forthcoming about her struggles with mood issues and her restlessness with a...

Heather Smith is the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist behind the band Bone and Bell. She's absurdly talented and is an incredibly generous person to interview. We talk about her brief and doomed attempt to become a playwright, her battles with anxiety and depression, her move from Chicago to Portland, and her five year journey of healing from breaking her wrist. You can hear Bone and Bell here: https://boneandbell.bandcamp.com/ You can see the famous ferris wheel video here: ...

Lindsey Charles is the dynamic and powerful singer of the Chicago band The Cell Phones and also one of the creators of Dagger Cast, a podcast "a horror based podcast dedicated to the LGBTQ, Black, LatinX, female experience." She is also a talented illustrator, actress, and a new mother. We talked about all of that and more while sitting on the porch of her new home in Indianapolis, masked and bundled up against the grey autumn chill. The Cell Phones have a new record out that you can check...

photo: Rod Manning Sorry for the delay! This episode is extra long and extra epic! I spoke with Jem Moloney, the incredibly talented drummer from the Australian band Dead. They've collaborated with members of Harvey Milk and the Melvins- a truly crushing, heavy band. Jem is also one half of the label We Empty Rooms Records in AUS, and works for a suicide prevention charity called HALT. They focus on the well-being of working class men and women who do tradeswork. (We really should start...

photo: Morten Fog There is one globally influential magazine that focuses on Americana and I was fortunate enough to speak with its editor. Hilary Saunders is the human tornado who wrestles No Depression to the presses every quarter, and she is a phenomenal human being. For Episode 75, we had an wide-ranging conversation about her journey to the editorship of No Depression, about life in New York City during these strange times we're living in, and about using guava jelly in hamantaschen....

This is the second half of my interview with the wondrously talented Jodi Shapiro: drone composer, card sharp, photographer, and archivist. She's just an astonishingly talented human being. In the second half, we talk about her experience of being run down by an automobile, how that experience affected her outlook on life, her experiences with meditation, and her undying love of Neil Young. Here is Jodi's photography site: http://samuraiphotog.com/ Also, I mentioned in the intro that I...

Jodi Shapiro is a drone composer, competition poker player, world class photographer, and the best rock and roll tour guide of the Lower East Side of Manhattan that you could ever ask for. She's one of the most accomplished people I've ever met, and yet, surprisingly, she struggles with a sense that her work isn't worthy. We talk about that and so much more in this week's episode of Crash and Ride. This is part 1 and part 2 will be out in just a few days! Here is her photography site: ...

Lilly Hiatt is an absolutely fantastic singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. We talked about her early life, how much more she enjoys recording in home studios vs. big commercial facilities, and how quarantine has made a whole bunch of wandering, nomadic musicians appreciate things like new mattresses and headphones. You can hear more of Lilly's music on her website: https://www.lillyhiatt.com/

Episode 71 is the second half of my interview with Conan Neutron! Conan is a guitar player and singer from Modesto, CA, now living in Milwaukee! He was in the great band Replicator and went on to be in Mt Vicious and the band Victory and Associates. Now he works with a rotating cast of brilliant musicians as Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends! In the second half of our talk we get into the lessons he learned from the breakup of Mt Vicious, the formation of Conan Neutron and the Secret...

This week is the first half of my conversation with Conan Neutron! Conan is a guitar player and singer from Modesto, CA, now living in Milwaukee! He was in the great band Replicator and went on to be in Mt Vicious and the band Victory and Associates. Now he works with a rotating cast of brilliant musicians as Conant Neutron and the Secret Friends! He's played with Dale Crover and David Pajo! And more!  In part one we talk about growing up in the Central Valley of California, the wild days of...

J Christopher Arrison is a guitar player, songwriter, singer, writer for Adult Swim, and a friend I have known for 30 years (!!). His band Trinket had one of the most star-crossed record deals of all time, and the story is all here. Even with that bit of bleakness, this is one of the funniest episodes of Crash and Ride ever, and I'm super proud of it. You can see and hear his work for Fish Center on his Bandcamp: https://murderwizard.bandcamp.com/album/fish-cuts-vol-4 If we ever get to go...

This is the second half of my interview with Brad Wood, engineer and producer from Rockford, Illinois, now living in Los Angeles. We talk more about trying to make a living in music these days, MORE about bikes, and we get into the Crash and Ride 10 Questions. If you haven't heard pt 1, check out Episode 67 on the Patreon Page, or just search for Crash and Ride, Episode 67 on your favorite podcast app! You can hear Brad's work here: http://www.bradwoodmusic.com/

Brad Wood is an engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Rockford, Illinois. He was the producer of the groundbreaking Liz Phair 'Exile in Guyville' and went on produce records by Red Red Meat, Veruca Salt, Ben Lee, and dozens of others. We talk about the year on the road where he played drums behind a deeply ambivalent Liz Phair, we talk about the role that anxiety, depression, and mania can play in the life of a musician, we talk about what he perceives his role to be in the...

In a good year, Hannah Aldridge is one of the hardest working musicians in the business. She tours constantly, is always writing, recording, and releasing new work. In the past four years, she's spent more time in Europe than any performer I know. She never stops. That is to say, she never stops *in a good year*. 2020 is not a good year. I caught up with Hannah by calling her apartment in Murfreesboro and we talked for HOURS; Two salty workhorse musicians who found themselves unexpectedly...