My Favorite Album With Jeremy Dylan

Today we’re bringing you the first in a new regular feature on the podcast. Once a month, I’ll be joined by a guest from music, movies, politics, literature or more, but not to discuss their favorite album. These will be compelling conversations about their favorite film, or book, or maybe even important world events. Today, friend of the show, Emmy-winning writer/director Jeff Greenstein (Friends, Will & Grace, Mom, Desperate Housewives) returns to delve into the eerily relevant 1976 Alan J Pakula classic thriller ‘All the President’s Men’, which tells the true story of how Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke open the incredible Watergate scandal and helped bring down President Richard Nixon. We talk about the film’s commitment to truth and authenticity, the blending of real archival footage with actors playing real people, how Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman compare to the real life Woodward and Bernstein, differences between the book and film, the way Deep Throat has ent

Today I’m joined by composer David Hirschfelder (Australia, Strictly Ballroom, Sliding Doors) to take the show’s first cautious steps into the world of jazz fusion, with Weather Report’s 1977 classic ‘Heavy Weather’. After a brief discussion of David’s majestic 80s mullet, we dive into all of it - fusing electronic sounds and rock attitude into celebrations of trad jazz, the surprising hit status of ‘Birdland’, how it inspired David to fuse electronic and acoustic sounds and influenced his scores for films like ‘Strictly Ballroom’, how the album has dated in a positive way, seeing the band live in their heyday and the genius of bass legend Jaco Pastorius.

Long time friend of the show and queen of the sadcore bangers Emma Swift returns to mark release day for new album ‘Blonde on the Tracks’, which features her beautiful interpretations of songs from across Bob Dylan’s vast songbook. We delve into how the project came to be, how each song was chosen, the different challenges in recording obscure and well known Dylan songs, why ‘I Contain Multitudes’ forced her to learn to record at home during lockdown so she could add it to the record, lyrical pronouns and subverting gender norms, how to cast songs for her voice, recording the album in the city where Dylan cut some of his own masterworks and much more. Songs discussed include Queen Jane Approximately, I Contain Multitudes, One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later), Simple Twist of Fate, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, The Man in Me, Going Going Gone, You’re A Big Girl Now

Guitar icon Joe Satriani joins me to dive into Jimi Hendrix’s magnum opus ‘Electric Ladyland’. Starting with discovering Hendrix through his older sisters back in the late 60s, Joe opens up about what makes the album so special and how its influence has loomed over him for more than fifty years. We discuss how music of the era reflected social upheaval, the progression and maturation of Hendrix’s music leading up to this album, how the album was recorded and how it pushed the technological boundaries of the era, the contributions of guest musicians and engineer Eddie Kramer, the influence Hendrix had on his 60s guitar hero peers and more. Plus, we talk about Joe’s time playing Hendrix’s material live on the Experience Hendrix tour and his philosophy on how to approach the songs and how to avoid doing an impression of his hero.

Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Sarah Jarosz joins me to talk about Shawn Colvin’s classic ‘A Few Small Repairs’ album, from discovering it as a prepubescent growing up in Texas to falling in love with the album on a whole new level during an I’m With Her tour a few years ago. We dig into the way the Texas singer-songwriter scene loomed over Sarah as a child, meeting and working with Shawn and other legendary musicians including Paul Simon, the many subtleties in the arrangements throughout the album and how she teamed up with the album’s producer, friend of the show John Leventhal, to make her brilliant new album ‘World on the Ground’.

Note: This interview was recorded before the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests. This week, TV legend Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield, SWAT, Timeless and more) takes me back in time 30 years to talk about the debut album by The Beautiful South ‘Welcome to the Beautiful South’. Shawn talks about discovering music in the pre-internet age, the lineage of the Beautiful South in cult heroes The Housemartins, the contradictions between the albums’ sound and lyrical content, the controversial album cover and how the album served as a bizarre soundtrack to the Rodney King police brutality and aftermath in 1991. Plus we talk about how Shawn has used music in his TV projects, discovering new music through his work, the music he loves to write to and why Coldplay earned his respect on The Shield.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Legendary record producer Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Sheryl Crow, Randy Newman) joins me to unpack ‘The Genius of Ray Charles’, the audaciously titled classic album where Charles took his first ambitious step outside of R&B into full on jazz. We unpack Charles’s brilliant piano solos, Quincy Jones’s arrangements, the combining of Ray’s band with musicians from Count Basie and Duke Ellington’s orchestras, how to breathe new life into songs that have been recorded many times and how Mitchell bonded with Randy Newman over their shared love of this record. Plus, Mitchell talks about writing and producing ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ with Sheryl Crow, why he won’t write his memoirs, what it’s like to hear songs he’s produced while out in the world and gives insight and updates on the new upcoming Crowded House record he and the rest of the band have been working on during isolation.

This week I'm joined by musician, activist, author, filmmaker, photographer and former actress Rose McGowan for a wide ranging chat about Cocteau Twins' classic album 'Heaven or Las Vegas' and her own record ‘Planet 9’. We chat about the Cocteau Twins indecipherable lyrics, how it soundtracked the writing of Rose’s memoir ‘Brave’ and the emotional malleability of the record. Rose also takes me into the process of creating her album ‘Planet 9', the best reviews she's gotten, how she shot her own visual art to accompany the album, how she intends to tour her music while creating an art hub accessible to everyone, why she doesn't want to be a 'pop star', her love of country music and much more.