Caropop

Beatles author Bruce Spizer wrote the liner notes for the new vinyl box The Beatles U.S. 1964 Albums in Mono, and here he digs into the history of these reconfigured U.S. Capitol albums, from Meet the Beatles! through Beatles ’65 and The Early Beatles. Spizer is a New Orleans tax lawyer and CPA, and that expertise has helped him untangle the Beatles’ early dealings with labels such as Chicago’s Ve...

Steve Conte became lead guitarist in one legendary band, the New York Dolls, and co-wrote half of his latest album, The Concrete Jangle , with the main singer-songwriter of another one: Andy Partridge of XTC. Conte is a longtime New York working musician who has played with such artists as Paul Simon, Peter Wolf, Phoebe Snow and, in a great story, Chuck Berry. Now he has released two solo albums o...

Don Was may be an accomplished performer and producer, as covered in Pt. l, but he’s also got quite the day job: president of Blue Note Records. How did this rock-funk musician become the top executive at one of the most prestigious, influential jazz labels? What was the Blue Note album that turned him on to jazz when he was 14 years old? What early mistakes did he make at the label, and how did t...

His ‘80s band Was (Not Was) scored a top 10 hit, “Walk the Dinosaur,” but Don Was has had an even greater impact on the music world as a producer. In 1989 he produced two big comebacks: Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning Nick of Time and “Love Shack” and other songs on the B-52’s Cosmic Thing . Then came work with Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Willie Nelson and—in a long, fruitful collaboration—the Rolling Ston...

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you so much for listening to Caropop since our launch in the fall of 2021. We’re now 157 episodes and more than three years in, and we can’t wait to share more great conversations about creative work with you. Please enjoy this brief message from the Caropop team, and take this opportunity to catch up on any episodes you may have missed, and we'll be back with another fan...

Graham Gouldman already had written classic ‘60s hits—including the Yardbirds’ “For Your Love” and “Heart Full of Soul,” the Hollies’ “Bus Stop” and “Look Through Any Window” and Herman’s Hermits’ “No Milk Today”—by the time he and Manchester schoolmates Lol Creme and Kevin Godley plus ex-Mindbender Eric Stewart formed one of the '70s’ most tuneful, innovative bands, 10cc. These four singer-songwr...

“It felt like I just stepped into a rodeo, and they shut the gate behind me.” That’s how Grant Achatz describes his first day of working in the kitchen of Charlie Trotter’s, then considered one of the world’s finest restaurants. The future 3-Michelin-star Alinea chef was just 21 in the summer of 1995 when he convinced Trotter to give him a shot at his namesake Chicago restaurant. But Achatz did no...

Susan Cowsill was the kid sister of the family band the Cowsills, and she made an indelible impression singing “and spaghetti’d!” on the Cowsills’ 1968 hit version of “Hair.” Jump to the 1990s, and she was singing and, for the first time, writing songs in the indie supergroup the Continental Drifters, which also included her friend Vicki Peterson of the Bangles and Peter Holsapple of the dB’s. Wit...

Sima Cunningham has had two albums released this year: Not God from Finom, her band with fellow Chicago singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart; and a long-gestating solo project, High Roller . With Finom kicking off a tour this weekend and a solo album launch and a Roches-themed show coming up, Cunningham is enjoying the culmination of a lifetime of music-making and collaboration. H...

Iain Matthews was an early member of the pioneering British folk-rock band Fairport Convention, singing on its first two albums and leaving during the recording of the third one, Unhalfbricking . Since then this singer-songwriter has formed other bands — Matthews Southern Comfort, Plainsong — and released much solo work, including the just-released How Much Is Enough. He has scored some hits — Sou...

Joan Osborne is best known for a certain big hit yet has amassed an impressive career since then. Her latest album, Nobody Owns You , may be her most personal yet, with songs about her mother’s Alzheimer’s, the impact of time spent in “Too Many Airports” and the title track addressed to her daughter. Yet she remains as enthusiastic interpreting others’ songs as her own. One early such song, Eric B...

When the young Zion, Ill., band Local H shrunk from four members to two, leader Scott Lucas decided he liked the guitar-and-drums attack and has stuck with it for more than 30 years. Local H has had its moments of popularity (the 1996 album As Good As Dead and single “Bound for the Floor” ) , critical triumphs that fell short commercially (1998’s dazzling concept album Pack Up the Cats ) and subse...

To mark Episode 150 of Caropop, we’re doing something different. My friend Steve Dawson— an awesome singer-songwriter who was my guest back on Episode 10, as well as my co-author on Take It to the Bridge: Unlocking the Great Songs Inside You —said he wanted to turn the tables and interview me for an episode. So here we go, with Steve probing me on what drove me to become a newspaper writer and, ev...

This week’s episode takes us behind the scenes of an independent record label and record store out of Portland, Oregon: Jackpot Records, with its founder Isaac Slusarenko. He opened the store in 1997 as a place that was all about music, no T-shirts or candles. He launched the label in 2004 with a vinyl edition of the 1971 self-titled psychedelic soul album by Beauregard, a Portland wrestler, follo...

Immediately after Uncle Tupelo co-leaders Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy parted ways 30 years ago, bassist John Stirratt and his fellow bandmates followed Tweedy into a new band, Wilco. Now Stirratt and Tweedy are the only members left from that original lineup, and Stirratt reflects on Wilco’s exciting, turbulent early years as well as the more stable past two decades with the same lineup. Then there...

The Dream Syndicate/Baseball Project singer-songwriter-guitarist just released a new memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, and solo album, Make It Right. But Steve Wynn’s second Caropop visit is no mere rehash of his book and career. He loves talking about music, and our subjects this time include the guitars that got away, the fun of hunting for obscure records in the pre-digital era, and...

Jeff McDonald’s band Redd Kross is marking its 45th anniversary this year, which is all the more impressive given that the singer-songwriter-guitarist is barely in his 60s. Jeff and his younger brother, bassist Steven, started the band in their teens, and their songs are as catchy and powerful as ever on their new self-titled double album. (A Redd Kross documentary and memoir also are out this yea...

Wanted to let you know that we’re taking the last three weeks of August off, and we’ll be back the Thursday after Labor Day, Sept. 5, all refreshed and ready with a new Caropop conversation. In the meantime, we encourage you to explore our back catalog. There are 145 episodes, after all. Have you listened to Ep. 102 with jazz-R&B pianist/singer/composer Patrice Rushen? How about Ep. 90 with Su...

When I spoke with guitarist Jimmy James a few weeks ago for Caropop Ep. 143, he cited Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the M.G.’s. as a key inspiration. Listen to James’ work with the organ trio Parlor Greens and, before that, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, and you hear how he, like Cropper, is a rhythmic guitarist who never overplays yet can make your head spin. I told James I’d love to hear him to...

Dan Zanes enjoyed a good run with the Boston band the Del Fuegos but had no idea what broader, more enthusiastic audiences awaited him when he began making “family music” with friends such as Sheryl Crow and Suzanne Vega. The Dan Zanes and Friends albums and concerts got fans young and old dancing and singing along—and earned him a Grammy Award . Now he and his wife, Claudia Zanes, have a new albu...

Jimmy James is a fantastic, funky guitarist who never plays more than is needed yet can seize any moment. This Seattle native is a longtime member of the big soul-funk band True Loves but may have been best known for his standout work in the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. He left that group (and discusses his departure here) and now plays in a new, all-star organ trio, Parlor Greens, with Hammond playe...

Guitarist Chris Stein was a driving force behind Blondie and, with longtime songwriting/personal partner Debbie Harry, co-wrote many of its classic songs, including “Rip Her to Shreds,” “Heart of Glass,” “Dreaming,” “The Hardest Part” and “Rapture.” His passion for exploration pushed Blondie beyond its punk roots into disco, pop, reggae and rap, and in this conversation we dig into the details. Wh...

After a fluky financial windfall, Mona Best bought a Victorian mansion in Liverpool, opened the Casbah Coffee Club in the cellar, and the Quarrymen, an early version of the Beatles, became the resident band. When the Beatles needed a drummer for their 1960 Hamburg residency, they called on Mona's son Pete. Pete Best became a key player in the Beatles' evolution before being unceremoniously replace...

With the Fourth of July falling on a Thursday, we encourage your independence to explore the 140 Caropop episodes so far. Go to Caropop.com/caropopcast —you can scroll through them or use the search tool—and you also can find the epsiodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Some suggestions based on artists now touring: Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon of the Baseball Project; Jody Stephens...

Graham Maby is one of rock’s most revered bassists, known especially for his work with Joe Jackson. Maby and Jackson were in another band together in England before Jackson proposed forming his own band with Maby’s bass front and center. That was the approach of Jackson’s first three albums—starting with 1979’s Look Sharp! —and the ever-gracious Maby reflects on how his indelible parts came to be....