The Other 22 Hours

How do you build a sustainable life around your art when the traditional definitions of success feel increasingly narrow? In this conversation, we sit down with musician, songwriter, and educator James Gardin. While his joyous, infectious music has found a global audience through major sync campaigns for brands like Apple, Tommy Hilfiger, and Saks Fifth Avenue, James’s core creative philosophy is...

It is easy to look at a lifetime spent traveling on a tour bus in a famous family and assume the creative path was completely clear. We sit down with GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter and guitar player Lukas Nelson ('A Star Is Born,' Promise of the Real, Neil Young) for an incredibly honest conversation about moving past the shadow of his father Willie Nelson's towering legacy, and deta...

"We write to find out who we are." For over six decades, Judy Collins has been a pillar of American music: from GRAMMY awards, platinum records, and Oscar nominations, to writing 8+ books and landing her first No. 1 album at 80 years old. But behind the staggering accolades is an artist who still treats her craft as a sacred, daily blue-collar job. In this conversation, we explore the quie...

What does it mean to treat music not as a commodity, but as a multi-generational way of life? We sit down with father-daughter side musicians Cranston and Annie Clements. Cranston, a cornerstone of New Orleans music history, has played guitar with royalty like Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and Irma Thomas. His daughter Annie is a bass player for massive acts including Sugarland, Maren Morris, and Hoo...

We often look at an artist's career through the lens of industry accolades: the tours, the streaming numbers, the awards. But what happens when you intentionally dismantle your creative ego to build something focused entirely on collective liberation? Heather Mae is an award-winning independent artist, the founder of Singing Resistance Nashville, and a prominent voice in organized musical acti...

We often treat commercial success as the final destination of a creative life, but for legendary songwriter Matraca Berg, it was just the first act. She was the first woman to have five different country No. 1s in a single year and her songs have been recorded by everyone from Linda Ronstadt, Trisha Yearwood, and Deana Carter to the Chicks, Chris Stapleton, and Reba McEntire. Matraca’s catalog def...

Behind nearly every influential indie-rock and pop record of the last 15 years has been the brilliant mind and hand of string arranger and multi-instrumentalist Rob Moose. The three-time GRAMMY winner has contributed to thousands of records by the likes of Paul Simon, Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, St. Vincent, Bruce Hornsby, and Mumford & Sons. In this calming, deeply reflective con...

To celebrate our 150th episode, we try a bit of an experiment: interviewing ourselves, for the first time. After nearly two decades of partnership, we examine the evolution of the creative self. Michaela Anne – whose fifth record, 'These Are The Days,' marks her first in over a 10 years for which she retains total ownership – discusses the "massive shift of self" required to walk a...

Molly Tuttle has shared stages with Ringo Starr and Billy Strings, yet she still grapples with the unpredictable "ups and downs" of a musician's schedule, and the inherent instability of the road. We talk with the GRAMMY-winning artist, and first woman to win IBMA Guitarist of the Year, about the "baggage" of turning a passion into a profession. We explore the necessity of trus...

Ray Benson is an absolute pillar of American music, a nine-time GRAMMY winner whose band, Asleep at the Wheel, has defined western swing for over half a century. In this conversation, we talk with Ray about the "geographical imperative," rebuilding his career from a broke-down bus to a musical institution, and the delicate balance between the craft of music and the business of image. This...

As a founding member of the legendary Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a three-time Grammy winner, Jeff Hanna has navigated nearly sixty years in the industry, which also includes credits with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, and many others. In this conversation we explore the geography of inspiration, from the 1970s Troubadour scene to his forty-year anchor in Nashville’s song...

As the architect behind Rolling Stone Country and the host of the Nashville Now podcast, Joe Hudak has spent decades at the center of the industry. Along with Alison Abbey Hudak, a veteran editor who has shaped the narrative of Nashville’s elite lifestyle media, they offer a wealth of experience in creative survival. This conversation dives into the "show business" of art , the moral weigh...

What happens to the creative spirit when you have been a professional "lifer" since the age of nine? Derek Trucks, widely considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time and a veteran of the Allman Brothers Band and Eric Clapton’s touring lineup, joins us to discuss longevity and leading a 12-piece musical circus. We explore the gradual shift from student to teacher, the grounding fo...

How does an artist outlast the industry machine to build a career entirely on her own terms? We sit down with GRAMMY-winner, ACM Vocalist of the year, and CMA Horizon Award recipient Suzy Bogguss to explore the evolution of a 40-year career that spans platinum records and her 2026 induction into the Grand Ole Opry. This conversation is an invitation to reconsider what we value, moving away from th...

GRAMMY-nominated songwriter Amythyst Kiah has performed with Moby and Billy Strings and is a member of the supergroup Our Native Daughters. She joins us for a startlingly honest look at the "farce of surface-level success." After a label debut and a whirlwind of global exposure, she found herself "barely hanging on for dear life" amidst the pressure of a rat race industry. We explo...

James Victore is an Emmy Award-winning artist and author whose work is held in the permanent collection of the Louvre and has been exhibited many times at MoMA (NYC). Victore has shaped the visual language of institutions from 'The New York Times' to the City of New York. In this conversation, we explore the spiritual gravity of "staying in the pool" when creativity gets hard, disc...

Singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman has earned critical acclaim, award nominations, and has worked with legends like Tyler Childers, Jason Isbell, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. In this episode, we discuss the grueling physical and mental requirements of "making it." From working manual labor to stay afloat while not on the road to navigating the complex realities of running a bona fide bu...

5-time GRAMMY-nominee Hunter Hayes has spent his entire life on the national stage, from performing at the White House at age seven to sharing stadium spotlights with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift. Yet, behind the multi-platinum accolades was a realization that his professional development had far outpaced his personal life. In this episode, we explore the vulnerability of "growi...

Butch Walker has spent decades at the summit of the music industry, producing multi-platinum records for icons like Pink, Katy Perry, and Green Day while fronting his own high-energy solo tours. Yet, despite reaching that peak, he found himself "climbing the hill" so intently that he had forgotten to look at the view, leading to burnout and a desire to step back. In this conversation, we e...

Kathleen Edwards has been releasing records for over 20 years on labels such as Rounder and Dualtone, she is critically acclaimed by NPR, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone, and has worked with Jason Isbell, Bon Iver, John Doe, Marren Morris. We talk to Kathleen about winning the lottery, quitting as an ego reset, why musicians are the bottom of the food chain, finishing on a po...

UMAW (the United Musicians and Allied Workers) is a labor organization that 'Aims to organize music workers to fight for a more just music industry and to join with other workers in the struggle for a better society.' Their campaigns include Fair Pay at SXSW, #MyMerch (raising awareness of venues taking an unfair cut), Justice at Spotify, and probably most prominently, The Living Wage For...

Chely Wright has sold over 1.5 million records with 90s country anthems like "Single White Female" and "Shut Up and Drive," she released her landmark autobiography, "Like Me" in 2010, becoming the first mainstream country star to come out, and forcing open conversations about LGBTQ identity, after a 10 year absence she returned to The Opry in 2019, released another book &#3...

Jim Keller started in the music industry as part of Tommy Tutone, writing the hit '867-5309/Jenny', then the bands career sank and he left performing, landing as an assistant and then manager for Phillip Glass, Nico Muhly, Ravi Shankar, and others, before 'retiring' and returning to making music by hosting jam sessions with members of The Black Crowes, Levon Helm's band, The Be...

Max Wanger is an LA-based photographer who has shot the likes of Taylor Swift, Mandy Moore, Blake Mills, Glen Hansard, Madison Cunningham and past guests of ours Lucius, The Watson Twins, and The Milk Carton Kids, as well as Conde Nast Traveler, Virgin Records, Vans, Nike and many many more. We talk to Max about listening to the lull, doing jobs that pay the bills while protecting play and soul in...

Raye Zaragoza has released 4+ records all independently, toured as Tigerlily in the Broadway touring version of Peter Pan (updated for indigenous representation by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse), wrote the music for the Netflix series 'Spirit Rangers', and has placed songs in a substantial number of TV shows from Greys Anatomy to Station 19. We talk to Raye about the toxic h...