My Favourite Elliott Smith Song My Favourite Elliott Smith Song

Our first guest of the new season is author, Paul Rees.

Paul has had a great career as a music writer. He's held senior positions at magazines such as Q and Kerrang, he's written several books including a best-seller on the life of Robert Plant, and most recently, penned a biography of Elliott Smith titled, Shooting Star.

In this interview we discuss that book, how Paul decided to write about Elliott, the many stories he learnt along the way, and we also discuss his pick for his favourite song too.

At the end of the episode, we also mention this brilliant Elliott Smith tribute from Adam Walton on BBC Wales and this unreleased interview from the year 2000 (courtesy of Mark Benton).

Thank you for listening!

Music in this episode:



Kings Crossing by Elliott Smith
From A Basement On the Hill by Elliott Smith

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

Our guest today is Kimbra.

Kimbra is a musician originally from New Zealand but is now based in New York City. You may have first heard of her when she sang on the track Somebody That I Used To Know in 2011 alongside Gotye, who wrote the single. The pair went on to win two Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

These two Grammy wins are part of a huge career, which includes signing with Warner Bros, multiple collaborations, an appearance on a Sims computer game soundtrack and a total of four albums, with her most recent, A Reckoning, coming out earlier this year.
 
Before releasing this record, Kimbra made the decision to break away from her major label recording contract and work independently.

In this interview, we talk about the reasons behind that decision, the parallels between her career and Elliott Smith's, and, of course, we cover her favourite song choice too.

Extra links:





Everything Reminds Me of Her by Elliott Smith
A Reckoning by Kimbra
Far Out: Elliott Smith's Favourite John Lennon songs

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

Our guest today is John Vanderslice.

John is a musician, producer and the owner of the legendary Tiny Telephone studio, which initially began in the Mission district of San Francisco. Bands who've recorded at Tiny Telephone with John include the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Okkervil River, the Mountain Goats, St. Vincent and many, many more.

Embarking on his musical odyssey as a singer/songwriter, John  has left an indelible mark with the release of 17 albums since 2000. Recently, he underwent a significant evolution by immersing himself in the vibrant realm of electronic music. Notably, he continues to manage Tiny Telephone Oakland.

In this interview, he tells us about how Larry Crane introduced him to Elliott Smith, his experience of seeing him live and we also talk about John's changing relationship with narrative in music.

Photo by Maria Brand

Extra links: 



Say Yes by Elliott Smith
Dear Elliott by Graciela Maria and Sneaky
Bellza on Bandcamp
Gruesome Details on Bandcamp
Tiny Telephone (website)

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

Joining us for our last episode of the year is musician, Margaret Glaspy.

Margaret, who is based in New York City, released her latest album - Echo the Diamond - in August this year. The record is Margaret's third full-length album, and follows on from 2020's Devotion and 2016's Emotions and Math.

Margaret says Elliott Smith has been a big influence across her career, so in this episode we dive deeper into that, how she defines the Elliott 'vibe' and why her favourite song pick means so much to her.

Extra things to look at and listen to:





Stupidity Tries by Elliott Smith
Margaret Glaspy's website
Line of Best Fit review of Echo the Diamond
Kolby Dickens plays us out with Say Yes

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

Welcome to our first episode of 2024 with Shannon Lay!

Shannon is a solo musician based in Los Angeles, who's released four solo albums, as well as a collection of covers that came out last year. And on that covers album is a version of Angeles (by Elliott Smith), which you can hear at the very end of this episode.

Before that though, we have the full interview with Shannon, where she discusses Figure 8, listening to albums from start to finish and the lyrical mastery in her favourite song pick.

Hope you enjoy it!

Extra things:





Can't Make a Sound by Elliott Smith
You can find Shannon's cover of Angeles here

Shannon's website
Photo of Shannon is by Kai McKnight

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

Our guest today is Lily O'Farrell, who you may know by her online name @vulgadrawings.

Lily is a cartoonist and writer based in London. She began publishing feminist cartoons on Instagram in 2018 and has since reached more than 300,000 followers. She's also published a book, released a podcast (her recent series No Worries If Not is well worth listening to) and, yes, even created a number of Elliott Smith memes.

In this interview, we discuss what makes Elliott's music meme-worthy, whether or not you should date an ES fan and the impact her favourite song pick has had on her life.

Hope you enjoy listening to it!

Extra things:





Happiness/The Gondola Man by Elliott Smith 
Happiness by Elliott Smith live in Paris
No Worries If Not - Lily's podcast
Follow Lily on Instagram
We also share a clip of Calebo playing Happiness at a recent tribute show in London - you can find them here

Photo by Holly Whitaker

My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.

myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com