Knit to This
Song Exploder
Living in Nashville means you often talk to musicians without even knowing they’re musicians. This week, I discovered that the guy who rebuilt my dryer vent is a drummer, and has a band, and plays in his church’s band, and has three sons in bands, and generally probably thinks about music a lot more often than he thinks about ductwork and vent flaps.
I mention this because I love hearing musicians talk about music. I’ve got three musicians here in the house, so maybe I’m just strong for it. This is why my latest podcast discovery is so juicy: Song Exploder allows me to hear musicians talk about how a particular song came to be.
The host is Hrishikesh Hirway. His name may be familiar because he is also co-host of another MDK-certified Knit to This podcast, The West Wing Weekly. Clearly, Hrishikesh is a freakin’ genius at creating unexpected entertainments.
I picked my first episode of Song Exploder because I’d heard of the band, Old Crow Medicine Show. The song is “Dearly Departed Friend.”
https://soundcloud.com/hrishihirway/song-exploder-old-crow-medicine-show
It’s a good story, but I think a bolder way to dig into Song Exploder is to click on a random episode of the 105 episodes to date. You probably won’t have heard of the artist, and that’s where the fun is.
If you’re feeling the need for some guidance, Hrishikesh tells you his own 10 favorite episodes.
Music is the answer! MOAR MUSIC!
PS Jeff, the drummer/dryer vent guy, built me an amazing new dryer vent. I mean, it blows 21 mph.
You never disappoint. You constantly givie me entertainment and information that sucks me in! Please note Ann that my man, Andrew Bird, is on Episode 77. My 15 year old and I saw him at Carnegie Hall where he performed with Chris Thiele last December, coming home at 2 am on a school night. Good or bad parenting, you decide. (Her 16th birthday is this week and her sister kept her out late to see May Day Parade and Good Charlotte, nothing like Andrew Bird, but apparently Amazing according to them). I’ll be sharing this podcast series with them!
EXCELLENT parenting! Off to listen to Andrew Bird. And May Day Parade. And Good Charlotte. So many musicsssss!
I’ve heard of at least a half-dozen of these acts, and I now know how I’m going to be spending my weekend! If only he had Adele on there…
BTW, I didn’t know Kermit is a musician. What does he play? Glockenspiel?
Kermit is more of a producer than musician, honestly. If he had thumbs he’d play mandolin, I’m pretty sure.
It blows 21 mph? That sounds a little kinky.
So many musics is right, but sadly I was not very familiar with Chris Cornell. We’ve been listening on our trips to school in the morning. I know Marissa will love this podcast series, it’s right up her alley.