Badass Records

Richard Davis is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a veteran, and a local musician. He's also a fascinating dude with a fascinating story, and he's my guest for Episode No. 104. I'm thankful that our paths crossed when they did, and I was able to talk him in to swinging by to sit down for a bit. We chatted life, growing up, recording music, and of course, a couple of Richard's favorite albums...

Fritz Hutchison trekked over on a January snow day and sat with me for two hours to bullshit about music and life, and I gotta tell ya' -- it was one of my favorite conversations in recent memory. I couldn't put a finger on it until several days after we recorded, but there were a number of reasons why I was -- more so than others -- looking forward to this interview. My son -- perpetually eyeing...

Delighted to've had the lovely Autumn Hayes join me for Episode No. 102. Stream her single, "If You Stay" wherever you get your digital music, and be sure to check her out on Facebook and Instagram . In our conversation we talked about growing up with music, developing relationships with stringed instruments, plus recording and gigging. We also talked about a few of Autumn's favorite records. Thos...

Ethan Brown is one of my favorite human beings on the planet. He joined me 20 months ago for Episode No. 14 (which you should totally check out), and he's back again for the second installment of Wu-Tang 101, in which we examine the solo work of the Rebel INS. Yes, indeed. It's Episode No. 101, and we're talking Inspectah Deck. Under zero pretentiousness and -- in my case -- even less than zero kn...

Reaching this milestone shouldn't go unmentioned and so it shan't; I'm pretty gosh-darn jazzed. The year it took to get this thing alive and breathing felt like two, and the two years of recording episodes I'm closing in on have flashed. And I'm embarrassingly proud of the whole thing. I've had upset and disappointment, frustration and humiliation. I've laughed and smiled more than I knew was imag...

Mike Garry is a son, a brother, a dad, a businessman, a podcaster, a friend to many, and he's my guest for The Wayne Gretzky Episode, a.k.a., #99. Mike and I connected via a pair of mutuals, and sitting down to chat with him about his journey was a pleasure and a treat. We talked about The Kansas City Chiefs Football Club, microdosing, life, family, and his adventures with the Let Freedom Trip pod...

Christie Smerchek is a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mom, a dental hygienist, and a top-notch Taylor Swift fan. I'm absolutely thrilled that she was willing and able to join me for the second installment of Becoming a Swifty , and -- much like my inaugural guest in the series -- she killed it. We talked a little bit about a few of her non T. Swift favorites, i.e. The Postal Service's Giv...

Peregrine Honig is a daughter, a sister, a wife, an aunt, a friend to many, and an artist (or so she's told). She's also my guest for Episode No. 97. And before you read any more about her, please know that she has a solo show on display right now in two spaces. And before I tell you where they are, know that one of them closes this Saturday, December 23, 2023. So you literally have to go today, t...

I had the pleasure of meeting Shawn M. Stewart when we convened to record Episode No. 96 of Badass Records , and what a delight our conversation was. Shawn is a son and a brother and a husband and a father and a musician and a fantastic fat-chewing partner. Please consider checking out his musical endeavors on Soundcloud , Spotify , or on his Web site , and thank you in advance for tuning in to ou...

I'm so very excited about this episode for a variety of reasons. For starters, it's the first installment of the Becoming a Swifty series that I hope has a number of future guests ( Note: Number two's already on the books! ). This is an idea that's been cooking in the back of my brain for a good little bit, and it's always nice to see an idea come to fruition, whatever that may look like. And -- b...

Mr. Mojo Risin'! Yes, yes, it's Episode #94, featuring the astute-and-talented Andrew Morris, ladies and gentlemen. What an absolute treat. I can't tell you how excited I was to become acquainted with this perfect stranger and rap the evening away talking life and music. Many thanks to Andrew for being so giving of his time. We talked road life, life in Germany, the craft of musicianship, instrume...

Please give it up for #KCgirl, April Lemon, y'all! Yes, yes. It's Episode No. 93, and it's one heckuva party, for sure. April and I go back a few clicks to the early 2000s, when we were doing the hospitality-industry thing together, which -- for the record -- were such good times. Thank you, Mark & James, for opening cool joints. Anyway...April is in the event-planning/P.R./promotions world th...

Dan Jones, Dan Jones, Dan Jones. What an absolute treat it was to meet the Squidmaster himself and chat a little bit about his life, his journey as a musician, and a few of his favorite records along the way. Dan and I had a fantastic phone call at some point over the summer, and my gratitude for him seeing our conversation through is really firing on all cylinders. Even now, three weeks after we...

What's crackin', y'all? If you read these on the reg', thank you. I appreciate you. You might know that I'm prone to screw things up from time to time when a) interviewing, b) recording, c) producing, and d) all of the above. Nothin' sweeter than doing it on consecutive episodes, though. Yep. I goofed. Again. And as a result, the guest video comes in late. So...my apologies to Will Moulthrop, my p...

It's the Ryan O'Reilly episode, y'all...#90!Okay. Silliness? Check. Now let's get the gaffe outta the way. In a nutshell, I was so excited to have this week's guest in the chair that I literally forgot to hit "record" on her camera. So...no video, which is a shame as Meg Kumin's face is far too adorable to waste on the incompetencies of a cotton-headed ninnymuggins such as myself. I did, however,...

Sometimes I nerd out and assign the jersey number of one of my favorite (current or former) players from one of my favorite teams to the episode I'm posting about. So, for Episode No. 89, the default move would be to go Otis Taylor. I could also throw in Jason "Big Diesel" Dunn or Keith Cash, but -- since Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes came up in this episode's conversation, it's gotta be the Andre Rison e...

Don't tell my guest from Episode No. 29 (as he is a hater through and through), but -- but -- it's the Tony Gonzalez episode! That' right. Rollin' along towards the big podcasting c-note, here we are at Episode No. 88, and I couldn't be more stoked to say that my guest is none other than the esteemed three-peat-appearance, Sammy Sanchez. The first time Sammy joined the podcast (Episode No. 44), we...

What up? Back with another solo episode, and this time we're checking out Medeski, Martin, & Wood's 1996 release, Shack-man .It's an all-time fave, and I had a blast diving in to it. Thank you for stopping by. Hope you enjoy the show.copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the audio samples. They are clips from various selections off of the aforementioned MMW record, c/o Gramav...

Nineteen eighty-six was wild. The Royals had just won their first World Series. We watched the Space Shuttle Challenger launch on a wheeled-in A/V cart (with its top-shelf television). Saturday Night Live was about to enter one of its golden eras. D.A.R.E. was alive and breathing fear into the minds of kids, and Kansas City police officers handed out Chiefs cards to area youth wherever and wheneve...

It's Episode #85! It's Marc Boerigter! It's Don Denkinger! It's...it's...Shwaggy Roaches! Yes, yes, my friends. Stoney-Doom! was in the house talking band life, Kansas cannabis law reform, and some of that sweet, sweet music. Please give them a follow on the ol' Instagram machine and check out their bandcamp as well, where I'm sure you'll be able to find some sweet snacks for the members of your g...

Steve Tulipana is a son and a brother and a husband and a musician. He's also the co-owner of recordBar and miniBar , as well as partner in Lemonade Park . Last but not least, he's my guest for Episode No. 84.I'm beyond pleased that Steve took some time out of his very-busy, very-demanding schedule to come sit with me and talk a little bit about his story as a musician in many outfits, a recording...

Being sensitive has got to be one of the oddest characteristics about being a human. During my correspondence via D.M.s (as a total stranger) with Til Willis, I had a small moment of panic. It was the kind of moment wherein the rabbit hole of questioning the way you go about life doesn't suddenly gape, but it doesn't not open a little bit, either. Anyway...it was a handful of months back, and we w...

Hi. I'm Blair Johnson, and I host this thing. Normally I'm writing these deals up about the episode's guest; today I don't have to do that. I will anyway, though. Just for grins. I'm a son and a brother and a dad and an uncle and a pretty big, goddamn nerd. The point of this podcast is to chat with people about some of their favorite music. So, today, I chat with you about one of my favorite album...

Whew. What an experience it was to put this one together. Second time recording away from the studio. Second time sitting down with a venue owner/operator, and possibly not the last. But I doubt they'll get much better than Jeffrey Calkins. Aztec Jeff, everybody! Aztec Jeff! Jeff and I connected a number of weeks back, and I never could've imagined finding myself in a situation wherein a prospecti...

Duke Ross is a son and a brother and a husband and a father and an all-around righteous dude. When he's not otherwise occupied behind the steering wheel of a tow truck, he can likely be found in the crowd at a Dead & Company show, or -- perhaps -- on a Mexican beach with a cold cocktail in his hand. Duke and I connected a little over two years ago via a Facebook group called Kansas City Dead H...