Episode 268: Rhiannon Giddens

“You Louisiana Man”

Rhiannon Giddens has released five solo albums since 2015. Before that, she was a member of the Grammy-winning band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She is now also the artistic director of the Silkroad Ensemble, the musical supergroup that Yo-Yo Ma founded.

Rhiannon Giddens is one of those people where I feel like they have to start inventing new awards, because she’s already won all of them. She’s got multiple Grammys, she won the Pulitzer Prize for an opera she co-wrote called Omar, she’s a MacArthur Genius, and the new Beyonce song “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the one that features the banjo? That’s Rhiannon Giddens playing the banjo. (I guess that’s not technically an award, but it feels like one to me.)

In 2023, Rhiannon released an album called You’re the One, and I talked to her about the song she wrote called “You Louisiana Man,” which was nominated for a Grammy for Best American Roots Performance.

You can buy or stream “You Louisiana Man” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Jack Splash – producer
Niwel Tsumbu – acoustic guitar
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Contra dance (versus English country dance)
Freedom Highway
Fretless banjo

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Episode 267: Green Day

“Basket Case”

Green Day is a punk band from the East Bay in California. Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool have playing music together since 1987. They’ve sold over 90 million records. They’ve won four Grammys, including twice for Best Rock Album. They put out their first album in 1990, and in 91, they put out their second album, Kerplunk!. And then they moved to a major label, and in 1994 they put out their third album, Dookie, which was huge. It helped bring punk into the mainstream. And this month is its 30th anniversary. So for this episode, I talked to Billie Joe Armstrong about the making of one of Green Day’s biggest hits of all time: “Basket Case.”

Coming up, you’ll also hear from Rob Cavallo, who produced the album. Plus you’ll hear two different demo versions of “Basket Case,” the first of which is basically a totally different song.

Billie Joe Amstrong traces the history of “Basket Case,” from its origins as a cassette recording in a punk basement, all the way to becoming a song that helped define an era of music.

You can buy or stream “Basket Case” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Andy Ernst’s studio, Art of Ears
Fantasy Studios
The Muffs’ self-titled album

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Episode 266: The Postal Service

“The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
Deluxe Anniversary Edition

The first episode of Song Exploder, about The Postal Service song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” came out 10 years ago, in January 2014. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the podcast, we’re doing what bands do, and putting out a deluxe, expanded edition of our very first release: this version features a new interview, new insights, and new pieces of the song and demo.

The Postal Service formed in 2001. Their debut album came out in 2003, and it was a game changer. Their combination of electronic music and indie rock not only sold over a million copies; their songs were everywhere on TV and in film, and influenced a generation of artists. Last year, they played sold-out concerts across the US in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the album, and there are more shows to come in 2024. A few weeks ago, I spoke to Ben Gibbard, and I combined that with my original interview from 2013 with Jimmy Tamborello. And here, together, the two of them tell the story of how they made their song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.”

You can buy or stream “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Jenny Lewis, who sings backing vocals, was the singer of Rilo Kiley
Dntel“(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan”
Jimmy’s band Arca once played with Death Cab For Cutie at Spaceland in Los Angeles
Pedro Benito of Sunday’s Best and The Jealous Sound
Jimmy used a Macintosh Quadra to control his Kurzweil K2000 synth
BjorkHomogenic
Black Cat – Music venue in Washington, D.C.
Audio-Technica 4033 – Microphone
Barsuk Records

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