After the Deluge

Jonathan Bernstein is a Senior Research Editor for Rolling Stone and author of the new book What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome? — the authorized biography of Justin Townes Earle. You can buy it now.

We talk about the night we learned of Justin's death, songs about heroin and crack, writing descriptively about finger picking, Justin made his father the villain, the last quarter-century of roots music, O Brother, Where Art Thou?...

Jim-E Stack the producer of Bon Iver’s 2025 record SABLE, fABLE among many other projects. We talk about how they made the record, Justin Vernon’s patient creativity, playing drums in San Francisco, remixing songs in the blogging glory days, the novelty of this record’s EP/LP track listing, working with Lorde, playing with LEGOS, Vernon on the mixing board, whether they discussed this as the last Bon record, and a little bit about ...

Alex Robert Ross is a writer and editor based in Toronto. He wrote the Pitchfork review for SABLE, fABLE and for many years served as Editorial Director of The FADER. 

We talk about how most Bon Iver articles start in the cabin, reviewing the new record, Pitchfork and Bon Iver over the years, “the best album Genesis never made,” releasing the Sable EP last fall, S P E Y S I D E, playing with expectations, “January ain’t the whole wo...

Chris Messina co-produced the Bon Iver records 22, a Million and I,i, among dozens more by other artists. This is a bonus of sorts before we finish up at SABLE, fABLE.

Chris and I casually talk about records made on unconventional instruments, exaggerated narratives around 22, a Million, turning April Base into a proper studio, living in Eau Claire for nine years, using gear incorrectly, adapting these kinds of songs live, big-ass ...

Avery Adams is a producer, musician, and chef, and Kevin W. Smith is a writer and radio host. We talk about Bon Iver’s fourth album, I,i (Jagjaguar), released on August 9, 2019, an 8.8 Best New Music on Pitchfork. Also: Music writing circa 2007, For Emma vinyl sales, Vernon's non-falsetto register, Naeem drums, sliding on cardboard, no click, Texas, Hornsby, Beck, this album's got moments, “Hey, Ma,” bass lines, an Aaron Ro...

Ian Grant is the host of the Jokermen podcast. We discuss Bon Iver's 2016 record 22, a Million (Jagjaguar). After dipping into the 9.0 Pitchfork review, we talk about a For Emma sunrise show at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, having his mind blown by this record in impact (and me ignoring it) in 2016, that year's prez election, the OP-1 synth, “It might be over soon,” Kanye briefly, Stevie Nicks singing “Wild Heart," l...

Mark Richardson is former Editor in Chief at Pitchfork and current Rock and Pop Critic at the Wall Street Journal. We talk about the 2011 album Bon Iver, Bon Iver, for which Mark wrote the Pitchfork review (9.5). We talk about the anticipation around this record, fusing adult-contemporary and the avant-garde, Animal Collective, Bonnie Raitt, 80s R&B, sincerity vs. irony, is this “sad” music?, a careful use of arrangement and dy...

Chris DeVille is Managing Editor at Stereogum and author of the book Such Great Heights, available for preorder now. We talk about the 2007 Bon Iver debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. Also going cabin-mode in the Wisconsin winter, this album's lore, the indie landscape in '08, Pitchfork kingmaking, The OC, Garden State, Popt*mism, gentrifying indie music, hearing "Skinny Love" at my bad recession-era office job, "Flume" as a thesi...

Michele Catalano has posted prolifically about music on the internet for years. She’s 62 years old and recently launched ihavethatonvinyl.com. We talk seeking out new music as we age, classic rock, new wave, 2015 was a bad music year for her, she bought her new website’s domain in 2004 and forgot she had it, writing about her record collection, Songs for the Deaf, Brand New, Covid collecting, any regretful purges of records?, we’re...

Longmont Potion Castle is a beloved recording artist and anonymous prank caller from Colorado. Interview starts at 11 mins. We talk about touring-band soundtracks, flipwild, deep and uncontrollable laughter, bruschotti, piglets, “After the Deluge” by Sodom, his daily conversation style, the Longmont documentary, whether his calls are mean-spirited, squid sandwiches, Otis, he’s not a comedian, a complete Darwinian society, his funky...

Dylan Tupper Rupert is the host of the podcast series, Groupies. It's the latest season of KCRW's Lost Notes. She's also Producer Emeritus for Bandsplain. We talk about birth control, the dawn of punk, a scandalous take on Cosmo in 1971, making a show about sexual relationships between rock stars and teens, that Cormac McCarthy Vanity Fair story, the vampiric energy of Jimmy Page, Pamela Des Barres, Dee Dee Keel, empowerment vs. ex...

Jason Stewart is co-host of the podcast How Long Gone. We talk about foreplay in interviewing, lightweight counter-programming when everything's political, Ep. 50 with Willy Staley, listening to podcasts is Gen Z meditation, early Adam Carolla, The Mount Rushmore of Glendale Podcasters, not asking bands about their music, How Long Gone’s marketing strategy, the Snail Mail episode, Guns & Roses bassist Duff McKagan spiked his interv...

Today it's a short one about a couple of quintessential Jackson Browne songs. My guest is Patrick Lyons and the impetus for this episode is these two recent articles about the songs "These Days" and "The Pretender." Patrick wrote the latter, and both articles are great.

The Song That Connects Jackson Browne, Nico and Margot Tenenbaum, by Bob Mehr (NYT)

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/arts/music/jackson-browne-these-days-nico.html

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This is a conversation about the 2024 Bright Eyes record Five Dice, All Threes. My guest is Justin Corwin and we discuss The National, Elon Musk in virgin whites, Cat Power, the Alex Orange Drink discourse, Bright Eyes and friendship, Mogis/Nate Walcott, Down in the Weeds, movie-dialogue motif, actually Scorsese is good and Frank Sinatra sucks, Phoebe Bridgers, Real Feel 105, Stevie Nicks singing “Silver Springs,” Conor Oberst live...

Alex plays in The So So Glos and was a formative influence on the new Bright Eyes record, Five Dice, All Threes — out Sept 20th. We talk about Waxahatchee, islands in the PNW, why his body can’t break down protein, his cancer diagnosis, living as if you’re dying, crashing at Conor Oberst's house in LA, casually writing new Bright Eyes songs, a stripped-down record, phone calls between Alex and Conor during treatment, The So So ...

Pieter Pastoor is the host of Listening Lyrics, a weekly radio show on KDRTfm in Davis, CA. Pieter is 79 years old and he puts out a radio show every week. The first podcast-adjacent thing I ever did was go on his show a decade ago. Fun one for me.

We talk about his failed attempt to interview poets in the “late 1900s,” open mic nights, recording live and not overthinking it, interviewing locals > interviewing pros, KDRT, Rita ...

Daniel Ralston is the writer and producer of the podcast series The True Story of the Fake Zombies, available everywhere. We talk about “Time of the Season” blowing up without The Zombies knowing about it, Rolling Stone's Ben Fong Torres, Buzzfeed’s longform era, turning an article into a podcast, ? & the Mysterians, the ZZ Top of it all, small-town history museums, Huell Howser, 70s artists that popped off in the 80s, Jaso...