Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Rick Rubin connected with Pharrell Williams over Zoom recently to talk through and listen to some of the biggest hits from Pharrell’s illustrious career. They chat about what Pharrell is currently working on (Rihanna!), the French powdered drink mix that helped P write “Get Lucky” with Daft Punk, and why Pharrell thinks he sounds like a sick billy goat on the hook for Snoop Dogg’s “Beautiful.” And...

It’s hard to believe Andrew Watt is only 30 years old. He's built up an impressive and diverse roster of collaborators over the last five years including Ozzy Osbourne, Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith, and Justin Bieber. He’s quietly become one of the biggest producers in the industry … leading to a nomination at the upcoming Grammys for Producer of the Year. Rick Rubin chats with Andrew Watt this episode...

The runway to success was short for Black Pumas. Five months after releasing their debut album in 2019, the Austin-based band was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys. And now, one year later, Black Pumas are up for Album of the Year for the deluxe version of their debut. Guitarist/Producer Adrian Quesada and Singer Eric Burton met at a crossroads in both of their careers. Adrian left his...

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is a prolific songwriter and he's ready to share his secrets. They're all in his new book, How to Write One Song . On today's episode, Tweedy shares some of his techniques with Malcolm Gladwell and explains why songwriting isn't, in his view, a mystical practice but a practical one. And at the end of the episode, he holds his own master class where he breaks down the song "Opal...

Leslie Odom Jr., best known for playing Aaron Burr in Hamilton , speaks to Bruce Headlam about his career on stage and in music and also his new Christmas album. The Christmas Album is Leslie's second crack at a holiday album but his first time not having to do it on a budget. They also discuss Leslie's favorite Christmas music, what it was like playing a Founding Father as a Black Man, and lesson...

Mike Campbell, guitarist, co-writer and original Heartbreaker talks to Rick Rubin about growing up with Tom Petty, working on Wildflowers and about his new album, Wreckless Abandon , with band The Dirty Knobs. It’s the first band Mike’s ever been a part of without Petty - who he started playing with in the early 70’s in Mudcrutch. And it’s the first time Rick’s been able to catch up with Mike sinc...

There’s no playbook for successfully releasing music during a pandemic. Especially if you’re an indie artist, the stakes really couldn’t be higher. But Deep Sea Diver has managed to put all that aside to drop a thrilling and relevant new album. While the Seattle-based band’s only recently started to find their place in the indie rock landscape, Jessica Dobson has played in some of the genre’s most...

Kentucky singer/songwriter Sturgill Simpson was in his mid-30s when he found fame as a country artist in Nashville. He had already lived a full life including a stint in the Navy, and years spent working in Salt Lake City rail yards. His outsider status in Nashville boosted his outlaw appeal. But as time passed, Sturgill began to despise the relentless expectations of the major label system. In tr...

In the opening lines of his New York Times bestselling memoir, Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz writes that he is deeply two-sided. His young life was all about opposites and extremes—black and white. He grew up between his West Indian grandparent’s home in Brooklyn, and his parent’s home on the Upper East Side where he was surrounded by his family’s famous friends like Miles Davis and Duke Ellington....

S.G. Goodman turns traditional Southern storytelling on its head with songs that present a deeper, more complex look at life below the Mason-Dixon line. As a queer person who lives with mental illness, she often sings about the social and political change she'd like to see in her part of the country. Goodman talks to Bruce Headlam about her new album, produced by My Morning Jacket's Jim James, and...

Maya Hawke has managed to escape the long shadow of her very famous parents, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. She’s made a name for herself, first as an actor in Stranger Things, Little Women, and Tarantino’s latest, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . And now Maya Hawke is breaking new ground as a singer/songwriter. Maya’s debut album, Blush , is an invitation into her vivid inner life. On it, she’s figu...

Carlos Santana, along with his wife and drummer, Cindy Blackman got together with Rick Rubin to discuss the 2019 album they recorded together, Africa Speaks , and also to talk about Santana's early days in San Francisco. They discuss how Santana found his unique playing style, his friendship with Miles Davis and more. Subscribe to Broken Record's YouTube channel to hear old and new interviews, oft...

Bruce Springsteen is a national treasure. Since his debut album nearly 50 years ago, Springsteen has helped define the American working-class psyche through a collection of world-renowned hit songs. In this interview with Malcolm Gladwell and Rick Rubin, Bruce talks about how listening to Born To Run 45 years after it was released made him realize just how good he really is. He also talks about ho...

Rick Rubin talks to Arcade Fire's Win Butler on the occasion of the The Suburb 's tenth anniversary. The band's third record was their first number one album in the US. Subscribe to Broken Record's YouTube channel to hear old and new interviews, often with bonus content: https://www.youtube.com/brokenrecordpodcast You can also check out past episodes here: https://brokenrecordpodcast.com/ Learn mo...

To celebrate the release of Tom Petty's Wildflowers & All The Rest box set, Rick Rubin connected with Heartbreakers keyboardist, Benmont Tench for a conversation. Benmont started playing with Tom back in Florida with a band called Mudcrutch. He stayed with Tom as they became the Heartbreakers, moved to LA, created some of the most memorable music of all time and was ultimately with him all the...

Tom Petty crafted another of his many perfect albums back in 1994, this time with Rick Rubin producing. Wildflowers was released as a single disc, Petty's first for Warner Brothers. But Petty had always intended for it to be a double record. Those unreleased songs have been the holy grail for Petty fans for years. And now they're finally being released, thanks to the careful work of Tom's daughter...

Joe Henry is likely one of the best living singer-songwriters that you've never heard of. But even if you don't recognize his name, you've probably heard his work. He's been at it for 34 years: having released 15 solo albums, won three Grammys and produced music for the likes of Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt, and his sister-in-law, Madonna. During her cowgirl phase in the early 2000'...

Khruangbin will tell you they did everything wrong. Gave their band a Thai name, play mostly instrumental music, two members wear wigs, they record in barn ... and yet, they've had a charmed existence since they released their first record almost exactly five years ago. They've crushed the festival circuit, opened up for Wu Tang and found themselves on Obama's summer playlist. Justin Richmond chat...

Burt Bacharach is a living legend. He's written hits sung by Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello, Dusty Springfield and so many more. With that kind of a resume, he doesn't need to still be working at 92. But he recently found a new muse in collaborator Daniel Tashian. Daniel just won Album of the Year at the Grammy's for co-writing and producing Kacey Musgrave's breakout, Golden Hour...

Buffy Sainte-Marie tells Rick Rubin there's a reason she isn’t a household name in the U.S. A pioneering artist in the Greenwich Village folk scene, she could've been Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell or Paul Simon. But in the early days of Vietnam when Buffy was singing protest songs about the casualties of war, she was blacklisted by the U.S. government. Her music was barely played on radio. But she stil...

Rick Rubin talk to Don was about his early days in Detroit, his time in Was Not Was and his wide ranging career producing defining-albums for the B-52's, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. He also talks about how he became the president of legendary Jazz label Blue Note Records. Plus he explains how he messed up an audition to be in Dead and Co. with Bob Weir and John Mayer. Subscribe...

Flying Lotus is one of those producers who creates an entire aesthetic world with the music he makes. Over the past 13 years he’s released four solo albums, and produced tracks for a ton of artists including Kendrick Lamar, Thom Yorke, and Thundercat. In this episode FlyLo talks to Rick Rubin about visiting his great aunt Alice Coltrane’s ashram, his peak creative hours, and why he directed a horr...

Into the Zone is a podcast about opposites, and how borders are never as clear as we think. Country? Rap? Lil Nas X’s chart-topping “Old Town Road” revived a long debate about borders and boundaries in American popular music. To sort out this strange history, Hari heads down to the foothills of Virginia, where a legendary collection of blues records holds the key to understanding the insidious sep...

Brandi Carlile came by Shangri La last year to talk to Rick Rubin with Tanya Tucker about the album they made together, While I'm Livin' . After Tanya left, Brandi stayed behind to talk about her love of Joni Mitchell's music, how she was present for a star studded jam that led to Joni singing for the first time since her stroke, and also about the beginning of her career, when Rick helped to disc...

Our episode with Justin Townes Earle was scheduled to run next month. But after we heard about Earle's passing over the weekend, we decided to put it out sooner. It's a deeply sad conversation in some places. Especially given his passing. However, it's also incredibly soulful, funny and searching. And the performances, culled from Earle's last release, The Saint of Lost Causes , are brilliant. Bru...