Caropop

Marshall Crenshaw is a master of smart, instantly indelible guitar-pop-rock songs, starting with his outstanding 1982 self-titled debut album (“Someday, Someway,” “Cynical Girl,” “Mary Anne”…) and continuing with Field Day (“Whenever You’re on My Mind”) and beyond. He grew up in the Detroit area, played John Lennon in productions of Beatlemania but always saw himself as a solo artist, not a band m...

The second half of this lively conversation with the great Graham Parker covers his classic run of ‘70s and ’80s albums, including the first five with the Rumour. What impact did producers Nick Lowe, Mutt Lange, Jack Nitzsche, Jimmy Iovine and Jack Douglas have on his music? Did Parker have any inkling that Squeezing Out Sparks would become so revered? Which of his albums does he consider a “stone...

From his 1976 debut album with the Rumour, Howlin’ Wind , through the all-time classic Squeezing Out Sparks through his 1980s commercial peaks and much excellent work since then, Graham Parker stands as one of the all-time great singer/songwriter/performers. In Part 1 of a lively, insightful conversation, Parker recalls growing up in Deepcut (!), England, and falling under the spell of the Beatles...

Jennifer Egan is a rare novelist whose work is innovative, fiercely intelligent, emotionally potent and fun to read—and she’s equally thoughtful and provocative in conversation. She won the Pulitzer Prize for A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010), and The Candy House , just out in paperback, made Barack Obama’s list of favorite 2022 books. Those novels’ interconnected stories and characters occupy th...

The Bangles specialized in intricate harmonies and tough, taut, tuneful guitar songs yet broke through with relatively glossy versions of “Manic Monday,” “If She Knew What She Wants” and “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Drummer/singer Debbi Peterson recounts the female foursome’s formation in L.A. with her sister, Vicki Peterson, and Susanna Hoffs, both of whom wrote, sang and played guitar. Debbi sang “G...

Cary Baker was a Chicago music writer and fanzine creator who made a good impression on R.E.M. and wound up running publicity for the band and its label, I.R.S. Records. There he also worked with the Go-Go’s, General Public, Fine Young Cannibals, the Alarm, Concrete Blonde and Timbuk 3, whom he got booked onto Saturday Night Live . After R.E.M. left the label, Baker did too, moving to Capitol Reco...

When Adrian Belew was brought in to record his mind-bending guitar solos on what became Taking Heads’ landmark 1980 album Remain in Light, he felt an unprecedented amount of freedom. He was presented not with almost-finished songs but unstructured grooves that felt like vast open spaces for him to color in. That he did, brilliantly, and Belew and Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads are now revisiting...

Peter Case is a singer-songwriter who has covered a tremendous amount of ground, both physically and stylistically, over a long, impressive career. He played pop-punk with the Nerves, power-pop with the Plimsouls (“A Million Miles Away”), Americana as a solo artist before Americana was a thing, and many styles since then, including the pounding piano blues of his upcoming Doctor Moan . Here he rec...

Denny Laine was the one full-time Wings member whose last name isn’t McCartney—as well as a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee with the Moody Blues. Wings went through multiple lineup changes during the 1970s, and for Band on the Run and much of London Town , the band was down to just Paul and Linda McCartney and Laine. Which Wings lineup does Laine consider the strongest? What was co-writing w...

David Pasquesi is an actor who makes an impression even if you don’t know his name. He brightens The Book of Boba Fett as the sly, untrustworthy Majordomo. He’s the smiling, conniving Veep ex-husband Andrew Meyer. He’s the ever-searching alchemist Blaise St. John on the cult-fave series Lodge 49 . You also may have caught him on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (another cheerful scoundrel), At Home with...

Robyn Hitchcock has been writing surreal, catchy, muscular, gentle, haunting, melodic pop rock songs from his late-'70s/early '80s work with the Soft Boys through his excellent new album, Shufflemania! He still sounds young yet digs into aging and mortality in his music and this conversation. He also discusses whether he absorbs or echoes such influences as Syd Barrett and John Lennon, how his col...

Brendan Benson is an accomplished solo artist who also happens to co-lead a popular band, the Raconteurs. He'd released three albums of tuneful, smart rock when he played an unfinished song for his Detroit friend Jack White. The White Stripes frontman completed it, they recorded it with another band’s rhythm section, and a supergroup was born, along with its first hit, “Steady, As She Goes.” Now B...

Mastering engineer Kevin Gray returns to Caropop to break down mono vs. stereo and other issues of sound. Gray has been remastering Blue Note’s acclaimed Tone Poet and Classic Vinyl series, including separate mono and stereo releases of John Coltrane’s Blue Train . Which does Gray prefer and why? Are there time periods when mono is likely to be superior to stereo and vice versa? How are the rules...

Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard played herself on TV’s Ally McBeal , performing at the characters’ favorite piano bar, and she co-wrote and sang the show’s theme song, “Searchin’ My Soul.” But even with multiple Ally McBeal -tie-in albums, there’s been much more to Shepard’s career than the show. She performed her first gig as a 14-year-old, toured in Rickie Lee Jones’ band and duetted with Dan Hi...

Guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter was an original Steely Dan member who played on the band's indelible first three albums: Can’t Buy a Thrill , Countdown to Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic. Those are his memorable solos on “My Old School” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” When Steely Dan quit touring, he found more success with the Doobie Brothers and eventually brought in singer Michael McDonald, who pus...

Nora Dunn is a smart, funny, very talented actor and writer who has put up with much bad behavior and isn’t afraid to call it out. Despite all of her excellent work that followed, she feels like she’ll always be associated with Saturday Night Live . She and Jan Hooks were the lounge-singing Sweeney Sisters, she played talk-show host Pat Stevens, and she famously boycotted an episode hosted by come...

Kelly Hogan is fantastic singer who sounds equally at home singing lead or providing sublime harmonies with Mavis Staples, Neko Case, the Decemberists and her fellow members of the Flat Five. She delivered a torchy jazz-twang-rock hybrid with the Jody Grind, her early ’90s band from Atlanta’s Cabbagetown neighborhood, before moving to Chicago and proving in many contexts that she can sing anything...

Soul singer Bettye LaVette has had an epic career. She recorded her first single "My Man — He's a Lovin' Man" as a 16-year-old Detroiter in 1962, and its success put her on tour with Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter and a young Otis Redding. Yet it was another 20 years before her first album was released and another 20 years before her career finally caught fire and the accolades and Grammy nomination...

Please enjoy this brief Happy Thanksgiving message from the Caropop team, plus a countdown of the Top 10 most downloaded episodes and a preview of next week's guest. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks, everybody!

Drummer Stan Demeski has held down the crazy rhythms of the Feelies for four decades, with a stint in the alt-rock supergroup Luna in between. He replaced the late Anton Fier in the Feelies and played in the related bands the Trypes, Yung Wu and the Willies before appearing on his first Feelies album, the classic The Good Earth . Demeski takes us inside the idiosyncrasies and dynamics of this prop...

As Part 2 of this Caropop conversation with this astute producer/label owner begins, Fairport Convention has reached its peak, but lead singer Sandy Denny is suddenly out. Did she jump or was she pushed? We also hear about Boyd’s Hollywood stint, the story of how "Dueling Banjos" became a fluke hit and his role in Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace film and why it sat on the shelf for decades. Then t...

When Joe Boyd moved to London in the mid-‘60s, he had no idea how he’d change the music world. He opened the soon-to-be-legendary underground UFO Club and produced the first single by its house band, Pink Floyd. He also produced Fairport Convention, which rebounded from a tragic crash and basically invented British folk rock; the Incredible String Band, whose Woodstock appearance remains Boyd’s bi...

If all Klaus Voormann had done was design the cover of the Beatles’ Revolver , his place in rock history would be secure. The band needed artwork to match their bold musical leap forward, and he delivered striking black-and-white line drawings of his friends, with photos woven through their flowing hair. He recalls hearing the mind-blowing new music in the studio and struggling to draw one particu...

Dave Davies is constantly searching for answers beyond ordinary human comprehension, so a conversation with the trailblazing Kinks guitarist isn’t just a chance to geek out on music questions. We dig into the band's past, present and future, including the songs he wrote (“Death of a Clown,” “Strangers”…), the indelible harmonies he sang and the new box set showcasing Muswell Hillbillies and Everyb...

Glam band Slade ruled England in the early 1970s, with six No. 1 singles, including “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” “Cum on Feel the Noize” and “Merry Xmas Everybody.” Drummer Don Powell supplied the stomping beat but in 1973 was in a horrific car crash that killed his girlfriend and left him seriously injured and with amnesia. He returned to the band within two months. Powell takes us through Slade’s...