For Episode 65 I finally got to talk to David Pajo. David was, of course, the incredibly influential guitar player in the band Slint,. David later went on to play with Will Oldham, The For Carnation, Tortoise, Stereolab, Royal Trux, King Kong, Bush League, Zwan, Peggy Honeywell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, most recently, Interpol. Despite his incredibly prolific musical career, he still struggled with depression. In the winter of 2015, he attempted to take his own life. As a survivor he has made...

Edward Burch is a singer/songwriter who lives in St Louis. He was a longtime collaborator of Jay Bennett of Titanic Love Affair and Wilco, right up to the end of Jay's life. They had a long and fruitful creative partnership that weathered years of struggle, depression and frustration, drugs, and thousands of miles of touring. We talk about the record that they made together, The Palace at 4AM, and the documentary that was made about Jay's life. It's an extraordinary story.

Mary-Eleanor Joyce is a guitar player and drummer who has played in Maximum Busy Muscle, S****y Candy and the Circus Peanuts, the incredibly influential Athens band Incindiaries, and her new project, Sewer Kitty. She's also a mother and a devoted daughter, which is why I wanted to talk to her: A lot of Gen X musicians have waited late in life to start families, only to find themselves raising young children while balancing caring for aging parents. Her father was in managed care for years...

Episode 62 is a very satisfyingly long interview with Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Monks of Doom, The Third Mind, his incredible solo work). Victor and I met when my band opened for Monks of Doom back when the Earth was still cooling, and he impressed me then as an incredibly talented and genuinely insightful guy. We talk about the stress of having success sort of thrust upon you, fighting to have boundaries in an industry whose default model is to chew up artists and spit them...

I have been waiting for this interview since the very beginning. I absolutely love the work of Will Johnson, from the very beginning with his band Centro-Matic right up through his most recent solo release 'Wire Mountain,' and the million-and-a-half collaborations and releases in between, Will does absolutely tremendous work. We talk about how he's holding up under quarantine, the years he had in Centro-Matic, the decision to take that band off the road, and the work he's done since. You...

Spencer Thomas is an egregiously talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Jackson, Mississippi. His new album 'Hangin' Tough' is an 10-song meditation on depression and love. He was formerly the drummer for the band Young Valley and is currently packing up to relocate to Athens, GA. We talked about his new album, his workaholism, battling imposter syndrome, and Betty Lou, the Greatest Dog Ever.   photo: Drew McKercher

Well, well! Back from the dead! This is one of the Crash and Ride song explications, and this week's is "Revolution Blues" by Neil Young. Seemed apropos! Hopefully it won't be so long before we speak again!

Maurice Rickard is one of the most prolific musicians and composers I have ever met. He is constantly creating. He's also one of the calmest people I know, so I was shocked when he told me that he had battled anxiety his entire life. We talked about how drone music and staying constantly creatively engaged has helped him to focus his mind and stay on top of his periodic bouts of anxiety. You can check out his absolutely voluminous body of work at the following links: ...

My good friend Faiz Razi was my guest for last year's April Fool's episode of Crash and Ride. I interviewed him about his feelings of Imposter Syndrome. This year he wanted to interview me, and so that's what we did. We talked about the genesis if this show, the absurdity and uncertainty of the times we're living in, and we talked about the tragedy of losing our sweet, funny friend Jake Nelson.

Boy, is it good to be back on the air. I'm locked-in to avoid catching Corona virus, but I was able to focus on getting an episode out, finally. Back before the world went sideways, I talked to Ryan Monahan, a guitarist, bassist, recording engineer, and composer about his struggles with childhood trauma and chronic thyroid malfunction. You can check out Easter Island here: https://easterisland.bandcamp.com/ You can watch their Kickstarter video here: ...

Dave Mead and I have known each other since back when the Earth was still cooling. He owned the first drum set I ever got to play and when he dropped out of school to play in the heavy metal band Ambush, he became the first professional rock musician I had ever known.   He grew up in a terribly turbulent home and learned every lesson the hard way. We talk about his journey through a childhood with a charismatic Christian mom, a pugilistic step-father, rock and roll excess and motel life...

  Zack Hembree is the singer of Hembree and the Satan Sisters and the former guitar player in a zillion bands, including the infamous Music Hates You, a band I was also in. We have slept on a thousand floors together and we were as close as brothers for many years. Zack talks about being the son of an abusive drug addict, surviving his own battles with booze and substances, finding redemption in the arms of his beautiful wife, and how we almost started a riot at a VFW Hall in Selma,...

his is a good one: this week I spoke with my friend John MacBeth and he told a whole hell of a lot of truth. We talked about childhood trauma, trying heroin for the first time at 16, a stolen shotgun, and how crack saved his life. You can check out his band Husk here: https://www.facebook.com/huskbandofficial/ You can listen to Dr. Nadine Burk Harris talk about childhood trauma here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk

This will be one of my favorite episodes for a very long time. Doug Grean is an audio engineer, producer, guitar player, and filmmaker with a resume that is truly stunning: Sheryl Crow, Ricki Lee Jones, Corey Glover, Glen Campbell, Cyndi Lauper, Tim McGraw, John Taylor from Duran Duran, Annabella Lwin from Bow Wow Wow, and on and on and on. Most prominently, though, he was music director, production partner, and lead guitar player for Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots. Doug is also a...

This week I spoke with Lemuel Hayes, Nashville session drummer and one of my favorite people in the world. Lemuel has played with Cindy Wilson from the B-52s, Nicki Bluhm, Jaime Wyatt, Reed Turchi, and so much more. He's also a great photographer. We talked about surviving rejection, handling anxiety when you live a life of complete uncertainty, and causing his therapist to have a car accident.   You can hear Lemuel's playing and see his art on his website, here:   ...

This week's episode is an interview with bassist and vocalist Jeff Rapier. Jeff was a member of Athens, GA punk band American Cheeseburger, as well as Donkey Punch and the Dumps. Jeff is the survivor of a deeply chaotic childhood and also the death of his younger brother. We talked about trying to find the balance between meds, self-medication, and surviving.

For Episode 49 I spoke with James Hall! Legendary frontman for so many great bands: The James Hall Band, Mary My Hope, Pleasure Club, and more! James has long been a fixture on the Atlanta and New Orleans music scenes. We talked about being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, being signed by Geffen and being put through the wringer, being a rock and roll dad, and pushing through adversity no matter how dire or frustrating it gets!   Here is the official James Hall website:...

Oh, dang! I'm back from vacation! This week's song explication is one of my favorite tunes ever! Tonight I explored "Quiet Whiskey" by Wynonie Harris, a jump blues classic from 1953! I talk about the evolution from jazz to rock and roll! I talk about saxophones! AND you get to hear my great-grandfather's clock chime 10pm! Check it out!

Matt Aaron is the guitar player, singer/songwriter for the band Endiana. He's also a phenomenal graffiti artist and fine art painter. I sat down with Matt in his house in Indianapolis on the day after Christmas and we talked about military school, Bruce Springsteen, serial killers, and falling off of a mountain. You can check out Endiana's music here: https://endiana.bandcamp.com/ You can hear the song "God Save Rock and Roll" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUSf1aO8Mo You...

This is not a Christmas Episode. It's an episode about kindness. At the end of every interview, I ask my guest ten (or so) questions, the fourth of which is "Tell about a time you received an act of kindness from a stranger." I treasure their answers. Tonight's episode is a compilation of some of my favorites. I know the holidays are tough for a lot of us. Keep each other close. Ask for help if you need it. Be with people you like and don't be afraid to tell toxic people you'll catch up...

This is the third in the Crash and Ride Song Explication series! Tonight I did an episode on "Clampdown" by the Clash! It's my favorite song on one of my favorite albums of all time! My day kind of sucked and this was what I needed to feel better about the world! Check it out!

Leslie Sokal Berg is an extraordinarily gifted singer. She's also a music educator, a mother, and a survivor of suicide. She attended the Jazz program at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, until she fell into a deep depression and attempted to end her life. Since then, she has bounced back, become a music educator, and a mom. She talked frankly and honestly with me about the events that led up to her suicide attempt and the long road back. Leslie is also the mother of...

Hey, it's my second episode in the new song explication series! This week I'm doing "Straight Down" by the Athens band The Glands. The Glands are one of those power pop phenomenons that somehow got overlooked by history, and yet are a FANTASTIC band. This song is one of their strongest. Recorded in 1999 by Ross Shapiro, Joe Rowe, and Craig McQuiston, engineered by Andy Baker, Straight Down is 3:18 of pure joy. You get a little background on The Glands, some thoughts on Shapiro's pathological...

This week's interview is with Timi Conley, guitarist and singer for the band Timi Conley and the Wonderland Rangers, formerly of Kite to the Moon, and Athens band The Fuzzy Sprouts. Timi is also the founder of the annual Athens Halloween Festival, the Wild Rumpus. Timi talks about his father's PTSD and Bi-Polar behavior, as well as the devastation he experienced at the death of his mother.   And also, I get a little bent out of shape in the intro, and I'm not sorry.   In the episode, Timi...

I have a new thing I want to do every week: I'm going to do a song explication of a song that I absolutely love. I'm going to go through the song from beginning to end and talk about the arrangement, the personnel on the track, and all of the details that I think make the song special. The first few of these will be free and available to the public, but in the future it'll be a feature only available to my $10 per month subscribers on the Patreon page! I don't want to put any of the features...