Music Podcast Archives - The Bluegrass Situation

The Working Songwriter: David Shaw of The Revivalists

Posted on October 30, 2026 by Cindy Howes

Our guest this week is David Shaw, the lead singer and principal songwriter of the rock band The Revivalists.

Originally hailing from Hamilton, Ohio, Shaw moved south to New Orleans after college graduation. A chance encounter with guitarist Zack Feinberg helped launch The Revivalists in 2007. After years of relentless touring, the band broke through nationally with 2015’s Men Amongst Mountains and the single “Wish I Knew You,” which went to number one at alternative radio and has since been certified triple platinum. The band has since amassed more than 1.6 billion streams worldwide.

Along the way, The Revivalists have opened for The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, and Dr. John. They’ve appeared at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, the New Orleans Jazz Fest. They’ve also performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Austin City Limits.

“Wish I Knew You” earned an iHeartRadio Music Award nomination for Alternative Rock Song of the Year, while the band was nominated for Best New Rock/Alternative Rock Artist. Rolling Stone described their sound as “a Crescent City-rhythm spin on jam-band jubilee,” and Billboard has called them “a compelling blend of musical ingenuity and heart.”

I got a chance to catch up with David a few weeks ago to hear about his musical journey so far.

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Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen

The Working Songwriter: Erin McAnally

Posted on October 16, 2026 by Cindy Howes

Our guest this week is Erin McAnally. Born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and raised in Nashville, Erin grew up surrounded by the music business as the daughter of legendary songwriter and guitarist Mac McAnally. Over the years, she has worked in A&R, music publishing, and film and television scoring.

Alongside her husband and frequent collaborator Mick Utley, she co-wrote songs with Jimmy Buffett, including “Audience of One” and “Nobody Works on Friday,” both of which appeared on Buffett’s final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, released posthumously in 2023. She is also a founding member of Floating Collective, a musical project with Utley and Brendan Mayer, all three of whom are children of members of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. The group released its debut album in 2024.

Today, Erin serves as Executive Director of Songwriters of North America, advocating for the rights of working songwriters. Her work has taken her to SXSW, Americanafest, and Folk Alliance.

I got a chance to catch up with Erin McAnally to hear about her musical journey so far.

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Photo Credit: Erin McAnally

The Working Songwriter: John Moreland (Live Episode)

Posted on October 2, 2026 by Cindy Howes

Recorded live at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago at the Working Songwriter Forum, our guest is beloved songwriter John Moreland. TWS Forum is an annual event that the podcast hosts in June. Listeners take in concerts by the headlining artists and then attend workshops from them during the day. This was the second annual event. The headliners and dates for next year’s Forum will be announced this month.

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Photo Credit: John Moreland

The Working Songwriter: Jim James

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Editor

Our guest this week is one of Louisville, Kentucky’s favorite sons. Jim James is a native Kentuckian who rose to prominence as the vocalist and creative force behind the celebrated rock group My Morning Jacket.

“The Jacket,” as they are affectionately called by their fans, released their debut album The Tennessee Fire in 1999 and took the country by storm with their legendary live show. Since then they’ve released a slew of critically acclaimed albums, including 2008’s Evil Urges and 2011’s Circuital, which both charted in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200.

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The group has recorded for Capitol, RCA, ATO, and V2, and toured with Bob Dylan, Wilco, Guided by Voices, and the Foo Fighters. In addition, the hard-charging band has appeared at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Newport Folk Festival, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Glastonbury, the Bridge School Benefit, and pretty much any festival of note.

They’ve also been frequent guests on late-night TV including Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In more recent years, Jim has been part of the group Monsters of Folk, along with M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis, and he’s also released a string of solo albums including this year’s title, Wowed Out.

Pitchfork has called the Jacket’s sound “huge, ghostly, terrifying rock ‘n’ roll.” The Guardian has dubbed the band’s output as “seven albums of resplendent melodies.” And NPR has said that his music has “the sound of a lost soul in search of something bigger than himself.”

I got a chance to catch up with Jim a few weeks ago to hear about his musical journey so far.

Photo Credit: Danny Clinch

The Other 22 Hours: Brandy Clark (Reissue)

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Editor

We are often sold the myth that success cures insecurity. Brandy Clark joins us to unravel that narrative. Named one of the ‘“30 Greatest Living Songwriters” earlier this year by the New York Times, she is also a Grammy Award-winning artist who has placed her songs with Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, and Keith Urban. In addition, she is the co-writer of the Tony Award-winning musical Shucked.

In this beautiful conversation, originally aired in November 2024, she opens up about her fifteen-year journey to a breakthrough, the courage it takes to be a gay woman in country music, and the importance of only staying in rooms where you feel like a genius.

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In This Episode:

– Brandy Clark
– Cyndi Forman
– Dave Brainard
– Shucked Musical
– Ep 60 – Lori McKenna
– Jessie Jo Dillon
– Ep 43 – Gretchen Peters
– Ep 46 – Mary Chapin Carpenter
– Keith Urban
– Dwight Yoakam
– Brandi Carlile
– Shangri-La Studio– Shane McAnally
– k.d. lang
– Ep 126 – Chely Wright
– Ep 97 – Fancy Hagood

Explore: Find similar conversations in these themed playlists.
Connect: Join the conversation on Instagram.

The Other 22 Hours is hosted by Aaron Shafer-Haiss (producer, mixer, musician) and Michaela Anne (songwriter, artist, creative coach). More about Aaron’s work. More about Michaela Anne’s work.

Photo Credit: Pamela Springsteen

The Other 22 Hours: Maggie Smith (Reissue)

Posted on August 26, 2026August 27, 2026 by Editor

What if the messiness of life isn’t an obstacle to making art, but the very material itself? In this reissued conversation from our archives, we sit down with New York Times bestselling poet and author Maggie Smith (Good Bones, Dear Writer). Together, we explore what happens when you dismantle the dividing wall between art and everyday life, the discipline of staying in solitude rather than catering to an audience, and how learning to trust your own instincts becomes the ultimate safety net for a sustainable creative life.

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In This Episode:

– Maggie Smith
– “Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life”
– “My Thoughts Have Wings”
– “For Dear Life” – Maggie’s Substack
– Lucinda Williams
– Joan Didion – The Center Will Not Hold documentary
– Jane Goodall
– “Good Bones”
– Jim Carrey commencement speech
– Tara Brach
– Stanley Plumly

Go Deeper:

Watch: View this entire conversation above or on YouTube.
Explore: Find similar conversations in these themed playlists.
Connect: Join the conversation on Instagram.

The Other 22 Hours is hosted by Aaron Shafer-Haiss (producer, mixer, musician) and Michaela Anne (songwriter, artist, creative coach). More about Aaron’s work. More about Michaela Anne’s work.

Photo Credit: Chad Cochran

Folk Files: Beat the Drum Slowly

Posted on August 21, 2026September 16, 2026 by Editor

The Anglo-Irish ballad “The Unfortunate Lad,” the cowboy classic “Streets of Laredo,” and the blues song “St. James Infirmary” are often considered different versions of the same song. But it’s possible that this categorization was influenced by careless and dubious scholarship. In addition to examining the relationship between these different songs, this episode of Folk Files looks at how these ballads (#2 in the Roud Folk Song Index) functioned as PSAs that educated listeners about public health concerns. (Content note: this episode discusses STIs).

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Find a list of all musical excerpts used in this episode.

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Host: Olivia Harding
Assistant Producer: Aaron J. Morton

The Working Songwriter: Fruit Bats

Posted on August 21, 2026 by Editor

Our guest this week is one of Chicago’s favorite sons. Eric D. Johnson is the songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist behind Fruit Bats, which started in the late 1990s as a four-track recording project before growing into a full touring band. Over the years, Johnson has been a member of The Shins and played with Califone and Vetiver. Besides Fruit Bats, Johnson is also one-third of Bonny Light Horseman alongside Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman.

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Fruit Bats have toured with acts including Modest Mouse, The Shins, Iron & Wine, My Morning Jacket, Son Volt, Ray LaMontagne and Guster. Bonny Light Horseman’s debut album earned two Grammy nominations in 2020 for Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Performance (“Deep in Love”). NPR described Fruit Bats as “sweetly flavored folk-pop.” Pitchfork wrote that Johnson has “got a good ear for a classic melody.” And Relix called him “a veteran of the contemporary folk-rock world” with an “instantly recognizable voice.”

I got a chance to catch up with Eric about his journey since our last talk!

Photo Credit: Kelsey Gallagher

Basic Folk: Keb’ Mo’ Defines the Blues as “Honesty Music”

Posted on August 20, 2026August 20, 2026 by Editor

We are so honored to welcome Keb’ Mo’ (aka Kevin Moore) on the show for our 350th episode! After many decades of incredible music, his new solo acoustic album, The Breakdown, was written and recorded at his home studio near Nashville following open-heart surgery and personal life changes. He’s also recently released his second collaborative album with the legendary Taj Mahal.

We were blown away by Keb’ Mo’s definition of the blues: “honesty music.” There’s a lot of debate nowadays whether the blues is something that includes a formal set of requirements. Is it a genre? Is it a type of sound that’s trapped in a particular historical era? Kevin didn’t even give the time of day to any of those gatekeeper explanations. He said if the music has that honesty, has the moan and the sense of speaking to Black experience for a Black audience who understand what it’s like to struggle, that’s what the blues is.

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There’s a spectrum of humility to ego in music. Some artists use music and performance as vehicles for their own notoriety. During this interview, I was struck by how far on the opposite end of the spectrum Keb’ Mo’ falls. Kevin went from being a kid in Compton asking his parents for a guitar, knowing how much $25 meant in those days, to now being an artist sponsored by so many guitar companies. He still remembers a time when the idea of having a collection of guitars was crazy talk.

His humility during our conversation is so present. I asked Kevin, “What does success mean to you and do you think you’ve achieved it?” His answer was, “I get to keep playing and I don’t have to get a regular job.” Even after all these years and so many accolades, it’s a privilege for him to play his own original music in front of people and to be a part of this tradition.

I just wanna shout out how generous Kevin is as a conversation partner. I came into this interview nervous because he’s one of the more legendary guests that we’ve had on the show. I found myself a number of times having to sit back and receive a compliment. He’s the first to say, “That was a great question. You’re really thoughtful. You’re killing it!” So I was really lucky to interview him.

Photo Credit: Rachel Deeb

The Other 22 Hours: Rodney Crowell (Reissue)

Posted on August 19, 2026September 1, 2026 by Editor

With two Grammy Awards, 15 number one singles, and a songwriting catalog recorded by legends like Emmylou Harris, Bob Seger, and Waylon Jennings, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Rodney Crowell stands as one of Americana’s most enduring icons. Yet, after 50 years in Nashville, Rodney’s relationship to his craft is grounded not in recognition, but in the quiet, daily act of showing up.

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In this conversation from 2023, Rodney reflects on the early years of roaming Nashville alongside Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt to evolving past the need for applause, the spiritual discipline of 7-day vision quests, and why a song can take 40 years to finally tell you what it wants to be.

In This Episode:

– Rodney Crowell
– Jedd Hughes
– Marty Stuart
– JD Miller’s Recording Studio
– The Wilburn Brothers
– Emmylou Harris
– Guy Clark
– Mickey Newbury
– Bob Seger

Go Deeper:

Watch: View this entire conversation above or on YouTube.
Explore: Find similar conversations in these themed playlists.
Connect: Join the conversation on Instagram.

The Other 22 Hours is hosted by Aaron Shafer-Haiss (producer, mixer, musician) and Michaela Anne (songwriter, artist, creative coach). More about Aaron’s work. More about Michaela Anne’s work.

Produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss. Original music written, performed and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.

Photo Credit: Neilson Hubbard