Tell You What! the Podcast

Jason Narducy is quite a busy fellow . He graciously made the time to talk about his musical work and his new book, Mostly the Van, a wonderfully entertaining collection of stories woven from his fascinating life. A man of many projects, Jason is currently spending time touring with Chicago actor Michael Shannon on their highly acclaimed live project playing the music of R.E.M. Jason has been a me...

Cody Diekhoff is the person behind the musical moniker Chicago Farmer; he has been performing under that name both as a solo act and as a band for over two decades. Chicago Farmer’s recently released album, “Homeaid” is an excellent collection of songs; Cody and his band the Field Notes deliver his stories of rural life, family, and midwestern history with passion and integrity. In our conversatio...

I had a great chat with Soren Staff from the Eau Claire, Wisconsin based band Them Coulee Boys. The band released their fifth full length album last year, “No Fun in the Chrysalis”, it’s an excellent record on which Soren really displays his songwriting skills. We discuss the creative environment that is Eau Claire, and how Them Coulee Boys, who are known for their raucous, fun and emotionally cha...

I sat down with Rob Miller to discuss his new book “The Hours are Long but the Pay is Low; a Curious Life in Independent Music”. Rob was co-founder of the Bloodshot Records label here in Chicago, which featured independent artists that blended the spirit of punk and country music. Although Bloodshot nurtured unknown artists into grammy winners and sellers of hundreds of thousands of albums, Miller...

Born and raised in Toronto, Tami Neilson eventually made her home in Auckland, New Zealand, where she has become one of her adopted home country’s most beloved artists, with multiple chart topping/award winning albums to her credit. She has been making a bit of a stir here in North America as well, collaborating, touring, and hanging with Willie Nelson, and debuting on the Grand Old Opry in 2024....

I sat down with Steve Poltz at DelFest Bluegrass Festival in Cumberland Maryland, after his set on the main stage there, which was, according to Steve, the greatest show he had ever played. The next day I saw him play a completely different set at the festival, which was, according to Steve, even greater, making that the best show of his life. In between these great sets we had a wide (wide) rangi...

I had a blast talking with Chicago based musician and songwriter Elizabeth Moen, she is funny, thoughtful, honest, and has an absolute overflowing reservoir of musical talent. As you will hear, Elizabeth was born and raised in Iowa but has made Chicago her musical home for a number of years. She has a few albums under her belt including 2022’s excellent "Wherever You Aren’t". She has been working...

We sat down with New Zealand artist Mel Parsons at the 2025 Fok Alliance International Conference in Montreal in February. Mel is a deft and powerful songwriter, her lyrics are put together with wit and wisdom, and she plays a powerful guitar amid excellent arragements. Her latest album, Sabotage, is a real gem. We had a lovely chat, talked about not talking about songs, and creating from the unco...

Twisted Pine is a boundary jumping string band; although based in bluegrass their music defies categorization in a joyous and exhilarating fashion. We sat down with Kathleen Parks, Dan Bui, Anh Phung and Chris Sartori at the Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots Festival in Vermont. Topics include their wonderful new record “Love Your Mind”, late night bluegrass festival doings, shifting musical role...

We sat down with Canadian musician Bob Sumner at AmericanaFest in Nashville; we discuss his recent record "Some Place to Rest Easy", which has become one of my favorite releases of 2024. The musical vibes are lovely, echoing the sounds of my favorite Randy Travis records of the 90’s, but Bob also hits us with gut punch lyricism that brings to mind Townes van Zandt and Steve Earle. Bob is a wonderf...

Dylan MacDonald is the artist who creates under the name Field Guide. He sat down with me at the fabulous Mile of Music Festival in Appleton Wisconsin, we talked about Field Guide’s latest, most excellent record Rootin’ For Ya. It turns out that Dylan was in a band for many years with my previous guest Boy Golden (Liam Duncan), they were high school associates. We spend some time talking about the...

Jamie McKeogh plays guitar and sings lead vocals for the Irish band JigJam. We sat down at the DelFest music festival in Cumberland Maryland where JigJam had played two fiery sets to a legion of newly won-over fans. We discuss JigJam's recent excellent album Across the Pond, and how their music is a fascinating blend of the traditional Irish music the band grew up playing and the American bluegras...

Our guest for episode number 57 is Portland based musician and songwriter Jeffrey Martin; we discuss his most excellent 2023 album, Thank God We Left the Garden. Recorded in an 8 x 10 shed he built in his backyard, these songs explore religious/spiritual/existential questions, contradictions, mysteries and paradoxes. Jeffrey tells us about making the difficult decision to leave his position teachi...

Abe Partridge is a talented songwriter/musician, visual artist, podcast star, former preacher, Air Force veteran, and so on. Hear Abe tell his own long and winding story; it is a fascinating tale told with honesty, incredible insight, and good humor. This conversation was one of my favorites of all time. Check out all things Abe at abepartridge.com including his latest record, Love in the Dark, an...

Willy Tea Taylor is a gifted songwriter: a storyteller, a truth teller. His recent record, The Great Western Hangover, features an all-star cast of musicians who bring rock and roll energy to Willy’s superbly crafted songs. Willy sat down with us at Tell You What! Studios for a wide ranging, highly entertaining, and insightful conversation. We hear about Willy’s early years writing poetry and fron...

Gabe Lee, Nashville born and raised, joins us to talk about his latest record, the excellent Drink the River. His fourth album, Gabe chose a more stripped down sound, and assembled a killer set of musicians to create beautiful soundscapes for the story songs he wrote. We discuss Gabe's training as a classical pianist and his resulting love affair with melody, and how he thinks about perspective in...

Siri Undlin is the musician who records and performs as Humbird. I sat down with Siri (and a mysterious cat) at the most excellent Mile of Music festival in Appleton Wisconsin. We take a trip through Humbird’s varied song catalog as a way of learning about Siri’s creative journey, which included time spent on a post-grad fellowship studying folklore in northern Europe. Siri tells us about the plac...

Jobi Riccio is a Nashville based musician and songwriter. Jobi was born and raised in the mountains of Colorado before heading to Boston and The Berklee College of Music; eventually finding her way to her current musical home of Nashville. Jobi has just released her debut album, Whiplash, on Yep Roc Records. We discuss the origin stories of some of these excellent songs, as well as the winding roa...

Chris Pierce is an L.A. based musician, singer, and songwriter. He has released a number of solo records, is a part of the duo War and Pierce with Sunny War, the trio Leon Creek, writes songs for television and movies, teaches songwriting and the business of music. I got tired just typing that and I missed a number of his projects. Chris’ latest record, “Let All Who Will” will be released in Septe...

Idaho based musician and songwriter Eilen Jewell discusses her latest record, Get Behind the Wheel, and her difficult personal journey of the last few years that shaped this collection of songs. Eilen went through a divorce from her husband, who was also her drummer and manager, and the untimely deaths of some close friends and family. We hear about how through meditation practices and beneficial...

Blair Howerton is a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for the Austin based band Why Bonnie. We discuss the making of their recent album 90 in November, comprised mainly of songs Blair wrote during quarantine in her New York City apartment. The songs, self described by the band as “shoegazeicana” in style, blend fuzzy 90’s guitars with some country twang, and Blair’s lyrics evoke wonderful imagery...

Nashville singer-songwriter Brit Taylor joins us to talk about her 2023 record Kentucky Blue, which was produced by Sturgill Simpson. Brit talks about what she learned from working with Sturgill, how she got her first guitar by singing “Landslide’ in a music store, how her first song “fell out the sky” when she was a youngster and how songs have continued to appear to her from her muse. Also cover...

I had the chance to sit down and chat at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City with all three members of the Brooklyn based band Damn Tall Buildings: Sasha, Max, and Avery. Damn Tall Buildings make smart, witty, infectious music that has a bluegrass heart but swirls in some swing, blues, jazz, and other stuff-it’s a winning recipe. The band met at Berklee College of Music, and...

Folk singer and poet Willi Carlisle talks about his excellent record "Peculiar, Missouri"; exploring folk traditions in the Ozarks; his love for (addiction to?) live performance and touring; and his messages of optimism and love for a slightly broken world. Also discussed: square dance calling, advice from a clown, and bad puppeteering.

Kevin McKeown is one half of the high octane Austin rock duo Black Pistol Fire, providing guitar and vocals alongside drummer Eric Owen. They have released 6 albums over the last 10 years, the most recent being 2021’s Look Alive, and the band has built a reputation for their incendiary live performances. As a big fan of the band, I was quite excited to sit down with Kevin to discuss his creative p...