That's How I Remember It

My guest today is Sam Beam, who writes and records music as Iron & Wine. Sam is an incredibly beautiful and vivid songwriter who has just released a great new album called Light Verse. We talked about whether this might be his funniest record, as well as college shows, The Rescuers, Davey Crocket, wisdom vs. experience, and the value of art being in the creation more than the reception. I loved sp...

Matthew Houck from Phosphorescent is my guest on this episode of That’s How I Remember It. I’ve loved Matthew’s music for years and was excited to talk to him about his great new record Revelator, what he learns from covering other artist’s songs, whether geographic moves affect his music, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, moon phases, and his most well-known song "Song for Zula". Matthew was a fantastic...

We are back with a new episode of That’s How I Remember It, and we celebrate being back with excellent guest Eric Burton of the Black Pumas. The Black Pumas formed in 2018 and their rise can only be called meteoric. The band went from a bar residency to Grammy nominations and worldwide touring. We talked about this, skateboarding to Albert King, external meanings being attached to the BP song “Col...

This episode was recorded March 2, 2024 in front of a live audience at The Moth Club in London. I was just wrapping up a solo tour with Scott Lavene as the support act, and he was also my first guest of the afternoon. We talked about his upcoming record and his excellent memory for what he had for breakfast each day of our tour. My second guest was the amazing Mat Osman, who was the bassist and fo...

Welcome to a bonus episode of That’s How I Remember It. This episode was recorded live at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn the first night of the Hold Steady’s annual Massive Nights celebration in November 2023. The first guest is Peter Shapiro, stellar music promoter, owner of the Brooklyn Bowls, former owner of The Wetlands music club, the list goes on. We talked about his philosophies about multi-ni...

Jason Isbell is my guest on the final episode of Season 3 of That’s How I Remember It. Jason is, of course, one of the great songwriters of our time. His newest record with his band The 400 Unit is 2023’s Weathervanes. It continues an incredible and probably unrivaled streak of great records in this past decade. We talked about that as well as Patterson Hood’s songs, Pentecostal band chaos, sequen...

Alynda Segarra makes music as Hurray For The Riff Raff and they are my guest on this episode of That’s How I Remember It. I’ve been really loving Alynda’s new record The Past is Still Alive so we talked about that as well as the surprising nature of grief, ABC NO RIO, songs as monuments, taking lessons from nature, and Blood on the Tracks weather. This was such a great talk with a fantastic artist...

Josh Ritter is my guest on this episode of That’s How I Remember It. Josh is an immensely talented and prolific songwriter and author. I really dug his most recent record, 2023’s Spectral Lines. We talked about that as well as Lutheran hymns, looking back on old records, the night we met at a Springsteen tribute at Carnagie Hall, and Bob Dylan covering a song that he wrote. Josh is a fascinating g...

Jay Sweet is my guest on this episode of That’s How I Remember It. Jay has done a lot of things but is best known as the force behind the Newport Folk Festival. I have been at Newport for the past two years and have been blown away by the music and the community. Jay and his staff are in the business of making memories at Newport. We talked about that special vibe as well as Lewis Carrol, his firs...

Duff McKagan is my guest on the newest That’s How I Remember It. Duff is, of course, a founding member of Guns & Roses, one of the biggest rock bands of all time. He also is a million other things: old-school punk, martial arts enthusiast, history buff, etc. In 2023, Duff toured with Guns & Roses and found the time to release his own record Lighthouse. We talked about all of that as well as the in...

Tom Scharpling is my guest on today’s episode of That’s How I Remember It. Tom is the host and creator of The Best Show, a comedy and music radio show that has run since 2000. He has also written for television and, in 2021, published a great memoir called It Never Ends. We talked about the book, bad behavior at rock concerts, trying out for the New Monkees, the aggrieved yet positive tone of The...

Dennis Lehane is my guest on this episode of That’s How I Remember It. Dennis is the author of over a dozen fantastic novels. Some of these, such as Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone Baby Gone, have been made into successful films. We talked about his most recent novel Small Mercies as well as Boston bussing protests, “Strawberry Letter 23,” the '70s hangover of the Vietnam War in America, ni...

Slaughter Beach, Dog’s Jake Ewald is my guest on this week’s That’s How I Remember It. Jake is a fantastic songwriter and storyteller, and in 2023 he released a killer record called Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling. We talked about the record as well as novelty songs, being a “talky” singer, artists with large catalogs, Delaware beach towns, and much more. Jake was such a fun cool guest and I rea...

My guest on this week’s That’s How I Remember It is M.C. Taylor of the band Hiss Golden Messenger. This year, he released a great record called Jump for Joy and we talked about that as well as Goth vs. Death Rock, his old band Ex-Ignota and how hardcore still influences him, changing band lineups, his hometown of Irvine, CA, and much much more. M.C. Taylor is a dream guest, he’s wise and thoughtfu...

My guest on this episode of THIRI is Dessa. She’s at true multi-hyphenate artist: a rapper, singer, author, podcast host, and more. This year she released a great album called Bury the Lede and we talked about that as well as her 2018 book My Own Devices, lutes, secret songs on CDs, lucid dreams, the term “breaking news”, our hometown of Minneapolis, and a whole lot more. It was a really great con...

This week’s THIRI guest is Johnny Marr. Johnny is truly one of the all-time great rock and roll guitarists, and has created a musical body of work that has very few rivals. He’s recently released a new book called Marr’s Guitars as well as Spirit Power, a collection pulled from his solo records. We talked about all of that as well as his emotional response to colors, “street bands”, the life-chang...

Today my guest on That’s How I Remember It is Peter Jesperson. Peter has written an awesome book called Euphoric Recall which details a rock and roll life filled with amazing music stories. We talked about our mutual hometown of Minneapolis, hearing the White Album for the first time, early 1970s concerts, managing the Replacements, whether the Replacements should have been bigger, his fandom for...

Today on That’s How I Remember It, I welcome John McCauley and Ian O’Neil from Deer Tick. This year they put out a new album called Emotional Contracts, and I think it’s their best yet. We talked about that as well as songs about space, John playing with Los Lobos at Newport Folk Festival this year, playing covers, and increasingly shared songwriting duties. It was a great talk and the first doubl...

This week on That’s How I Remember It, I am thrilled to host an absolute hero of mine, Bob Mould. In his seminal '80s band Husker Du, in the '90s with Sugar, and across all decades as a solo artist, Bob is an artistic force that shows no signs of slowing down. We talked about '60s pop music, taking guitar lessons, visiting The Replacements Tim sessions, the 1984 Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll, and...

Welcome back to That’s How I Remember It. I’m honored to have the incredible songwriter Lucinda Williams here to kick off Season 3. Lucinda is an all time great American songwriter and a three time Grammy winner. This year she put out a fascinating memoir and a great new album as well. I talked to her about all of this as well as seeing Jimi Hendrix in concert, getting past grieving to write songs...

We are back. Season 3 of That’s How I Remember It is here and we’ve got some fantastic guests coming up to talk about how memory affects the stories we tell ourselves and others. And so much more. Listen and subscribe!

Hope everyone is having a great summer. In this flash episode I share some of my favorite summer rock festival moments and let you all know about upcoming Positive Jam festival that The Hold Steady is hosting on August 5 in Accord, NY. I give thoughts on all the bands on the lineup: Guided by Voices, The Tallest Man on Earth, Laura Stevenson, I Get Wild, and Oceanator. We’ll be back before too lon...

That’s a wrap on Season 2! School is out for summer. We had a great time here with some incredible guests. Here I reflect on the season that was: the great conversations, what I enjoyed, what I learned, etc. I also let you know what I’m doing this summer and where I’m going to be. A huge thanks to everyone that listened and we’ll be back for Season 3 in a little bit. Stay Positive! 

The Hold Steady is my guest on this week’s episode of That's How I Remember It. It was recorded live in front of a wonderful audience at Rev Hall Show Bar in Portland Oregon during our amazing weekend of shows there. This was our first episode with more than one guest, and it all worked out pretty great. I asked my fellow band members about their memories, especially how it relates to our twenty y...

This week on THIRI we take a break from hosting guests. I take the time to give a quick update on all the things I have going on in the next few months. Lots of shows, mostly with The Hold Steady. Next week we’ll be back with guests and our second-ever live audience taping. Listen and subscribe!