Nathans & Roncast

In Aaron & Michael’s first real-life podcast adventure, they take to the high seas in search of whales. What could possibly go wrong? (Hint: almost EVERYTHING goes wrong.) So how do our heroes manage to sully what should be a straightforward whale watch on a beautiful day off the coast of Boston? Tune in as Aaron and Michael recap their adventure, complete with audio from the boat, and reflect...

This week we are featuring an old friend of mine, Beth Kille, who fronts the Beth Kille Band in Madison, Wisconsin. I lived in Madison in the late 90s until the mid 2000’s, and that’s where I learned the craft of songwriting as a member of the Madison Songwriters Group. It was a group that met monthly at a local brewery, and we sat at a table in the private back room and critiqued each others’ new...

We dive deep into the ocean — and the past — to explore whales, Earth’s most fascinating animals, with Dr. Nick Pyenson. He is the curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., as well as author of the acclaimed non-fiction book “Spying on Whales: The Past, Present and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures.”  His work h...

This week we are featuring a good friend of Aaron’s, a very special artist named Meghan Cary. The singer-songwriters in Philadelphia know that Meghan is the sun around which the rest of us planets orbit. She’s an extrovert, a songleader, convener of the tribe, and a wonderful, empathetic soul. The song we feature this week is “River Rock,” off of her 2017 release “Sing Louder.” You can find more i...

Lost in Holland was Michael’s duo with Josh Hisle from 2008 to 2012. “Son of a Roofer” is off Lost in Holland’s new EP, “The Next Great Loss,” their first newly released recorded music in more than a decade. Hisle, a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war, is one of the most honest and passionate songwriters today. His work with Neil Young and Crosby, Stills and Nash in the film “Déjà vu” sped him i...

Aaron’s song “Sorry, Alan” explores the inspirational and tragic life of Alan Turing, father of computer science and World War II hero. To take a deeper look at Turing, we speak with George Dyson, author of “Turing’s Cathedral: Origins of the Digital Universe.” It’s the story of how in the 1940s and ‘50s, a small group of people gathered in Princeton, New Jersey to build one of the first computers...

The Ronstadt family has been in Tucson, AZ for five generations and the next generation is growing fast! That being said, if we rewind back to 1995, Michael J. Ronstadt, father of cellist Michael G. Ronstadt of the Nathans & Roncast, we find some music that has never seen the digital light of day.  Michael J. Ronstadt (“Papa Mike”) closed down the Ronstadt Pump Company in the early 90’s to tak...

This song by Aaron explores the simple pleasures of a parent playing in the snow with their child. We are pleased to interview Doug Hamilton, whose fiddle plays an important part in the sound of this song. He describes himself as classically trained, but physically drained by years of violin playing. A polymath and veteran of half a century performing in venues from tiny bookstores to arenas, Hami...

In this first mini-episode, we feature “My World,” by Michael’s cousin, Bobby Ronstadt. Bobby was born and raised in Tucson, spent some years in Los Angeles until one too many earthquakes brought him back home in 1995. He has since been hosting Monthly Music nights, been featured on numerous recordings and is currently a member of PD Ronstadt and the Company. Bobby brings his own musical reflectio...

“I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome, I took some comfort there,” wrote Paul Simon in “The Boxer.” That’s the theme of “Without the Cold,” the third track on the Nathans & Ronstadt album “Hello World.” Melancholy isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it can be a feeling of peace. That was the idea of Alan Jay Prescott, who contributed to a Nathans & Ronstadt Kickstarter campaign...

Who was Dr. Morris Joelson? In this episode we revisit the life of a physician in Paterson, New Jersey who was famous for having delivered 20,000 babies during his lifetime. But Dr. Joelson (1885-1958) was also a beloved family doctor, willing to brave any weather to pay a house call, and if the family couldn’t afford it, not only would he refuse payment — he might just leave a little money under...

Learning any new skill requires that scary first step. We’re honored to take our first step into podcasting with our guest Brian Kernighan, a groundbreaking computer scientist whose “Hello, World!” program reshaped the way people learned to program computers. If a budding coder can successfully input a few lines, they are rewarded with seeing “Hello, World!” on their screen, and suddenly they are...

Here's a teaser about out new podcast! Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt welcome you to the Nathans & Roncast, in which we do a deep dive on a single story song for each episode. We begin with the 10 tracks of our new album, "Hello World."