Music Person

Zoh Amba from New York City and Kingsport, Tennessee. Zoh and Dylan discuss reclaiming Tennessee pride, fireflies, reinvention, devotional music, seeking wisdom within artist interviews, and keeping what’s precious close to your chest. + Zoh gives a letter of recommendation. Artists we mentioned: Wednesday, Michael Chapman, Bridget St. John, Jim White, the Dirty Three, Jason Molina, PJ Harvey, Cou...

Swamp Dogg from the San Fernando Valley, CA. Swamp Dogg and Dylan discuss his status as cult legend of soul music, the country and Americana scene embracing his legacy, his friendship with John Prine, his cure for the male loneliness epidemic, his ceaselessly chirping smoke alarm, his late wife Yvonne’s steadying influence, and what it takes to sustain a music career over seven decades. + Swamp Do...

To celebrate Music Person’s very first birthday—June 18—Dylan Tupper Rupert answers your questions for a change! About music, scenes, phones, life, lore, live…laugh..and love… + Dip gives a letter of recommendation. Happy birthday, little podcast. Thank YOU for listening to Music Person, the elite question-asking podcast about indie music. Follow Music Person on Instagram at @musicpersonpodcast. S...

Hannah Frances from Vermont. Hannah and Dylan discuss musician towns versus band towns, longing for the shire, loose pants, her career paths of healer vs. astrologer vs. musician, a Saturn return analysis, Hejira as a musical compass, the connection between EMDR therapy and guitar, and family. + Hannah gets something off her chest. Artists we mentioned: Jenn Wasner aka Flock of Dimes, King Tuff, L...

Charlotte Cornfield from Toronto, Ontario. Charlotte and Dylan discuss being Wilco Teens, the Toronto aughts music scene, finding permission in Lucinda Williams’ memoir, the logistics of bringing your baby on the road, her group chat of working musician mothers, + Charlotte answers a listener advice question. Artists we mentioned: Friendship, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Broken Social Scen...

Kyle Thomas of King Tuff from Brattleboro, Vermont. Kyle and Dylan discuss foundational powerpop classics, returning to his Vermont homeland, memory lane, orbs, Bigfoot, UFOs, playing Ringo Starr’s birthday party, and Carvel Cake’s Cookie Puss. + Kyle answers a listener advice question. Artists we mentioned: The Nerves, Modern Lovers, Happy Birthday, Kevin Morby, Hand Habits, Sasami, Shannon and t...

Kevin Morby from Los Angeles, CA and Kansas City, MO. Kevin and Dylan discuss butterflies, his return to Los Angeles, the nuances between Kansas and Missouri culture, his life with partner and fellow songwriter Katie Crutchfield, a canon of indie musicians who play the long game, examining your own mythos, Elvis, and tennis. + Kevin gives a letter of recommendation. ++ Kevin asks the Magic 8 Ball...

Luke Temple of Los Angeles, CA. Luke and Dylan discuss advocating for yourself as an artist, taking War on Drugs and Big Thief on the road as openers, the distinction between being a studio guy versus a road guy, Krautrock changing your brain, time travel, plus: a heady argument regarding Dylan’s bread and butter (music criticism, and lyricism).  + Luke gives us a letter of recommendation. Artists...

Jenn Wasner of Flock of Dimes from Los Angeles. Jenn and Dylan discuss touring with Bon Iver versus playing basement shows, aging with intention as a female artist, being your own creative engine, and writing about addiction and codependence. + Jenn answers a listener advice question.  Artists we mentioned: Sylvan Esso, Bon Iver, Wye Oak, Madeline Kenney. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

Brian of PHILM (@phishonphilm) from Durham, North Carolina. Brian and Dylan discuss the connection between jam band culture and indie rock, how people (guys) treat music like sports, the realities of being a prolific music poster, AA, the fickle algo, and sticking your neck out online for what you believe in. + Brian gives us a letter of recommendation. Artists we mentioned: Phish (obviously), Gra...

Folk Bitch Trio from Melbourne, Australia. Folk Bitch Trio and Dylan discuss what it actually looks like to break into America as Aussies, housing espresso martinis at SXSW, meeting your bandmates at age twelve, astrology, formative cultural artifacts, and growing up as Gleeks. + Folk Bitch Trio gets something off their chest. Cultural references we mentioned: Michael Jackson, Glee, Step Up, Grump...

Greg Freeman from Burlington, Vermont.  Greg and Dylan discuss the Burlington music scene, Delta Blues YouTube wormholes, the Northeast, the strangeness of the artistic statement, and Greg’s Saturn return.  + Greg gives us a letter of recommendation. Artists we mentioned: Greaseface, Robber Robber, Dari Bay, Lily Seabird, Rockin’ Worms, Fugazi, Bill Callahan, The White Stripes, Son House, Neil You...

Toody Cole of Dead Moon, Pierced Arrows, and the Rats from Portland, Oregon. Recorded live onstage at Treefort Music Fest on March 26, 2026. Dylan and Toody discuss her life as a pioneering woman in punk, love at first sight, homesteading in the woods, building a punk house temple from scratch and salvaged scrap, raising children, how the grunge era hit different in middle age, and continuing the...

Buck Meek of Big Thief from Los Angeles, CA.  Buck and Dylan discuss growing up in Texas Hill County amongst guitar legends, channeling youth with older legends, unpacking the mythology of Big Thief’s relational intelligence, working alongside your ex-wife, your current wife, and your brother, wearing suits, and regional BBQ.  + Buck answers a listener advice question.  Artists we mentioned: Big T...

Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning from South London, England.  Florence and Dylan discuss the difficulties of international touring, what your brain feels like on art school, black plastics, wanting to become a horse, reaching an associative songwriting state, and riding the bus as an idea-generating machine. + Florence gets something off her chest. Artists we mentioned: Cate Le Bon, Ryan Davis, Black...

Join Dylan as she catches up with a hit parade of music friends from the 2025 season of Music Person! Cozy up by the fire (or whatever) for a warm chat as we take a fond look back at our best music memories of 2025, and look ahead to a very exciting 2026.    Featuring: Ryan Davis, Aaron Dowdy of Fust, Madi Diaz, Esther Rose, Georgia Maq, Merce Lemon, and a surprise holiday visit from Lily Seabird....

The final installment of a 3-part travelogue mini-series exploring the music life in the Hudson Valley, New York.  For this very special Christmas Eve episode, Dylan sits down with Dan Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell of the band Ida, and their daughter, singer-songwriter Storey Littleton have a wide-ranging discussion about the multigenerational experience of living the music life. Starting off i...

Part 2 of a 3-part travelogue mini-series exploring the music life in the Hudson Valley, New York. Maya Bon and Ryan Albert of Babehoven from Hudson, New York. Maya, Ryan, and Dylan discuss the seasonality of creativity, moving from the West Coast to the Northeast, gardening, doing a ton of drugs in old age for fun, unconventional wedding brainstorming, Hilma af Klint, and water. + Music journalis...

A 3-part travelogue mini-series exploring the music life in the Hudson Valley, New York. Hannah Cohen of the Catskill Mountains, New York, featuring Sam Evian. Hannah and Dylan discuss building the residential recording studio of your dreams, connecting to the seasons, small town living forcing you to grow up, and the music community in and around Woodstock today. + Dylan, Jenn Pelly, Olivia Bee,...

Daniel Bateman of Frog from New Rochelle, New York. Dylan and Daniel discuss fathering twins, working in film production, cult fandom, improvisation, and whether New Rochelle is the best city in the entire world. Artists we referenced: Uncles, Count Basie, Weirs, Ariel Pink, Holy Shit, Girls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S.G. Goodman from Murray, Kentucky. S.G. and Dylan discuss slow burn careers, connections between manual labor and songwriting, mental health and life on the road, how a Southern Baptist kid becomes a Calvinist teenager, and spreadin’ them toes out all across the nation. Artists we referenced: Tyler Childers, Erin Rae, the Savage Radleys, Fust. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...

Ryan Davis of Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band from Louisville, Kentucky. Dylan and Ryan discuss music life in the Southern Midwest, being a reluctant entrepreneur, Air Guitar by Dave Hickey, how much the UK loves literary songwriters, being embarrassed by your vision addiction, and cracking the case. + Ryan gives a letter of recommendation. Music stuff we referenced: Sophomore Lounge Records, Cr...

A scene report from Dylanfest 2025. It was on August 2nd, on Orcas Island, in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. It was a weekend-long mini music festival produced by Dylan, in collaboration with Jay Blackington and Jocelyn Cecil of Houlme, and R.J. Myers and Ali Boe of Alder Vulture. Live sound was by Caleb Turner at Going Left Sound. Check out @dylanfest on Instagram for more. (Dylanfest...

Madi Diaz of Nashville, Tennessee. Madi and Dylan discuss her rural homeschooled childhood to her Philly punk scene adolescence, fucking around songs and finding out songs, post-breakup shame, tabbing out, the real artists of Nashville, and faith. + Madi answers a listener advice question. Artists we referenced: Allison Kraus, Mannequin Pussy, Turnstile, Japanther, Lightning Bolt, Marren Morris, B...

Melina Duterte of Jay Som from Los Angeles, CA. Melina and Dylan discuss her pandemic pivot to music production, distinctions between the algorithm and OG social media, the Bay Area, the changing landscape of indie success, how love helped her music career, and b*dr**m p*p. + Melina answers a listener advice question. Artists we referenced: boygenius, Chastity Belt, Bachelor, Routine, Whitmer Thom...