Nakedly Examined Music Podcast

Eric Goulden started in 1977 as label-mate to Elvis Costello and Ian Dury, but after three albums he went indie and was an early practitioner of home recording, releasing albums in the second half of the ’80s under various band names like Captains of Industry and The Len Bright Combo. He eventually re-embraced his Wreckless Eric moniker and now records on his own and with his wife Amy Rigby,...

Tom is best known as a steel guitar player who has guested with artists like Alejandro Escovedo, John Doe, and Sonny Smith. He started in the late ’80s as the lead guitarist and backup songwriter for the Philadelphia energetic alt-country band Go to Blazes. After five albums with them, he moved to San Francisco in 1997 and has since released six solo albums of Dylan-esque, lyrically driven f...

Tim first released music as co-frontman of The Windbreakers (with Bobby Sutliff) in Mississippi in 1982, with seven releases in under that moniker plus other collaborations coming out in the ’80s. He recorded two solo albums as the ’80s ended and then retired from the road and recording until the late ’90s, when he started again releasing solo albums, with his wife Susan Bauer Le...

Andy has released 16 solo albums and a few collaborations since 1986. He tours almost exclusively solo with an acoustic guitar and has written three books. We discuss “The Happiness Index” from AT (2023), his second collaboration with Tim Finn; the title track from The Guilty and the Innocent (2017); and “Speechless” from Out There (1992). End song: “Italian Girls on...

Glenn has put out albums with the Feelies since 1980, filling in gaps with other bands (e.g., The Willies in the early ’80s, Wake Ooloo in the ’90s) and a couple of solo albums. His albums have a unique sound, due to his insistence that production is part of the composing process. On this interview conducted in 2017, we discuss two songs from the 2017 Feelies album In Between : “...

Richard with Tom Verlaine were the groundbreaking NYC dual guitar monster that was Television from 1973-1978 plus reunions (totaling three albums), and Richard has fronted seven solo albums while also touring and recording as a guitarist with Matthew Sweet, John Doe, Rocket from the Tomb, and others.  We discuss “So Sad” from The Countdown (2018), “Glurp” from Radiant...

Ivan is the keyboardist/singer/multi-instrumentalist son of Aaron Neville and has played with the Neville Brothers, The Rolling Stones and Keith Richards’ solo band, The Spin Doctors, Soul Asylum, and Robbie Robertson among others. He has released eight albums since 1988, half of these under the band name Dumpstaphunk (a collaboration that includes his cousin Ian Neville). We discuss “...

Mikaela has a degree in harp performance and has been recording since 2011. We discuss “Cinderella” (and listen at the end to “Leave It Alone”) from her second label-released album, And Southern Star (2023), “Left Hand Path” (2002, released on the compilation album Spelljams ), and “In My Groove” from Delivery (2018). Intro: “When You’re...

Alan started in the late ’70s in Leicester as the singer/ songwriter/ guitarist for The Deep Freeze Mice, which recorded 10 albums through 1989. He then headed several more collaborative projects including The Chrysanthemums (4 albums’86-’91), Ruth’s Refrigerator (2 albums ’90-’92), and The Creams (8 albums ’92-’98), released 8 albums as the experime...

Chris started in the mid 70s playing with his childhood friend Mitch Easter in Sneakers, then backing Alex Chilton, starting a home-based record label that released Chris Bell’s legendary single “I Am the Cosmos,” and then most famously founding the dB’s, which he left after two albums in 1983. He then became a producer, played with The Golden Palominos with folks like Mich...

Bonjo started in the ’70s as a session hand percussionist with groups like the Foundations and Desmond Dekker, played for a few years with Creation Rebel, and became a band leader in 1980, first recording a bit as Noah House of Dread, then joining with British producer Adrian Sherwood to create African Head Charge, which has had more than 20 releases, all recorded with percussion (and maybe...

Swans started in the early ’80s in New York with a brutal sound which by the middle of the decade became more subtle and textured. The band broke up in 1995 after ten albums (and three other releases under the name World of Skin), then Michael released a couple of solo albums and six alt-country releases as Angels of Light before starting a new chapter of Swans in 2010 which has now released...

Nick started as a teen punk jazz guitarist in Chicago and has fronted 10+ carefully arranged solo albums in various styles from R&B to Latin to alt-country. He has also been in groups with Alejandro Escovedo (Fauntleroys), Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick ( Candy Golde ), and now the Chi-Town Social Club . He’s also a teacher and has scored 40+ films. We discuss “Amanda and the God’s...

Vashti was discovered in the mid-60s by the Rolling Stones manager, recorded a seminal (though commercially unsuccessful) acoustic album in 1970, then quit music until her children were grown, recording two more albums since 2005, touring, and her old songs have appeared on several commercials and soundtracks. She’s just released her autobiography, Wayward: Just Another Life to Live . We dis...

Initially compared as a rock singer with John Lennon in the late ’70s and early ’80s with The Nerves and The Plimsouls, his subsequent sixteen solo albums beginning in 1986 have embraced blues, solo acoustic guitar, and on his new album, highly percussive piano (on his new album). We discuss “Have You Ever Been in Trouble?” from Dr. Moan (2023), “Every 24 Hours”...

Ivan started as a teen guitarist in the early ’70s touring with The Foundations and then in 1977 was a founding member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids. After an album with them (and a recording with The Clash), he fronted The Outsets through the early ’80s and then toured with Shriekback, briefly co-led a group called Lovelies, toured and recorded with Matthew Sweet, was in a band wit...

John is on the left, Chris is hiding behind his hair and John’s guitar on the right. Chris and John were friends since the ’80s in the Portland music scene, playing separately in several bands (sometimes as front men, sometimes not). By the ’00s, John was drumming for bands like the Decembrists, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and Elliot Smith, while Chris was doing a stint on bas...

Jad estimates he’s sung on 2000 songs and released over 180 albums between his band, solo, and collaborative work. He started Half Japanese as an improvisational punk band with his brother David in 1975, and its style evolved through jazz, rock,   and alternative; they opened for Nirvana on one of their biggest tours. The band was based in Maryland for most of its existence, though...

Claire started in the early ’70s as a folk prodigy, took some detours through country and Elton-John-esque pop rock, played with Wishbone Ash and members of Yes in the late ’70s and early ’80s, had her real career break-out as a New Age artist in the mid ’80s (with some of her music used extensively by the BBC), did a dance record, and has most recently released several rec...

Pat played saxophone and guitar with Lydia Lunch’s group 8-Eyed Spy in 1979, and then moved on to The Raybeats, a “neo-surf rock combo,” which recorded four albums through 1984. He wrote for stage shows and eventually joined the B-52s as a second guitarist/keyboardist in support of their Cosmic Thing album in 1989. In 1992 he had his first musical director role for TV with Rocco&...

Richard garnered early fame as drummer for 60s New Jersey garage band The Doughboys and has put out 11 albums, largely as a one-man band, since 1988. In this episode from late 2017, we discuss the title track (and near the end play “And Then”) from Incognito (2017) and Cornerstone (1998) and “Agnostic’s Prayer” from Tiers and Other Stories (2011). End song (new for this reissue): &#822...

Eszter is an actor/musician, gaining initial fame starring in Jim Jarmusch’s first major film Stranger Than Paradise (1984). She has released four albums of often autobiographical songs since 1998. We discuss “The First Day” (and end by listening to “Freaks”) from I Hate Memory (2022) feat. Stew and Syd Straw; this album has been made into a stage show. We then turn t...

Simon has produced programmed dance music since the early ’90s, and has won Grammys and topped charts with his partner Felix Buxton as Basement Jaxx through their seven albums and several EPs. We discuss his most recent project, Village of the Sun (the song of that name from First Light ), which he recorded with jazz drummer Moses Boyd and his partner, the saxophonist Binker Golding. Then we...

Bruce is best known as Elvis Costello’s bassist on about a dozen albums as The Attractions, but he’s been in bands since 1970 and has done numerous session gigs, most notably for Al Stewart’s early albums, plus The Pretenders, John Wesley Harding, Billy Bragg, and many more. We discuss his work on “Blood Makes Noise” by Susanne Vega from 99.9 Degrees (1992), play clip...

Mike has put out 18 releases of largely instrumental guitar music since 2004, sometimes with his jazz quintet or as a duo with trumpeter Kris Tiner, and more recently in more of an instrumental rock format with legendary bassist Mike Watt and with drums by either Jim Keltner (Traveling Wilburys, Ry Cooder) or Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits). We discuss the title track to Everywhen We Go (2022), “...