Shania Twain is a singer and songwriter from Ontario, Canada. She’s the only female artist to have had three consecutive Diamond albums  —  albums that have each sold over ten million copies. Actually, her 1997 album Come On Over is the best-selling album by a female solo artist of all time. One of the most iconic songs from that iconic album is “You’re Still The One.” It was co-written and produced by Mutt Lange, who had previously produced some other classic albums, like AC/DC’s Back in Black and Def Leppard’s Pyromania. He had also produced Shania Twain’s previous album, The Woman in Me. For this episode, Shania told me the story of writing “You’re Still The One.” She told me about what the song meant to her when she was making it, over 25 years ago, and what it means to her now.

You can buy or stream “You’re Still The One” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Paul Leim – drums
John Hobbs – organ
Bruce Bouton – steel guitar
Mutt had also produced albums for Foreigner and The Cars
Shania’s childhood repertoire included Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and George Jones

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Danny Brown started his career in 2007 by handing out mixtapes in Detroit, where he’s from. In 2011, he put out his acclaimed second album, XXX. Since then, he’s collaborated with rappers like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky and JPEGMafia, but he’s also worked with electronic bands like Purity Ring and The Avalanches, and he did a verse on a remix for Korn.

When I first heard him, around when XXX came out, I was really drawn to his voice. And I also appreciated that, given how young so many artists are now when they get really famous, Danny Brown’s career really started taking off in his 30s. He put out his sixth album, Quaranta, in 2023. And for this episode, I talked to him about one of the songs from that album, called “Y.B.P.,” which features guest vocals from Bruiser Wolf.

You can buy or stream “Y.B.P.” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Skywlkr and Kassa Overall – producers
Bruiser’s verse mentions Rodney Peete, Barry Sanders, Isiah “Zeke” Thomas, Malice Green, Y.B.I., and Butch Jones
Blade Icewood, J Dilla, Nelly

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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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