The Music Book Podcast

On this episode, Marc talks Barry Walters , author of "Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000," published in May of 2026. It's a fascinating version of music history focused on LGBTQ musicians and audiences, with chapters centered on specific artistsm from the Velvet Underground through David Bowie up to Judas Priest, Diana Ross, Prince, Depeche Mode, and so many more. Wal...

On this episode, Marc talks Steve Lowenthal , author of "Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist, " published in June of 2014. It's an enthralling biography of the legendary guitarist, writer, painter, and music historian, whose solo instrumental guitar work drew on so many sources and added so much that an entire genre became associated with him. "Dance of D...

On this episode, Marc talks with Ben Cardew , author of "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music: The Story of Stereolab in 20 Songs," published in April of 2026. It's a mix of biography and criticism that gets at both how Stereolab made their music and why it's had such an effect on so many people. The 20 song framework helps Cardew structure the narrative well, but he is also not behol...

On this episode, Marc talks with Caryn Rose , author of Why Patti Smith Matters , published by the University of Texas Press, and Three Chords and Blessed Noise: A Patti Smith Tour Chronicle , a chapbook released on her own Till Victory Press imprint. The former is part biography, part memoir of Smith fandom, and part critical analysis of Smith's work and life. The latter is a tour diary that...

On this episode, Marc talks with Richard Langston , author of "The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul," published in April of 2026. It's an excellent oral history of the Clean, the band started by brothers David and Hamish Kilgour along with Peter Gutteridge, and then Robert Scott. Langston tells their story thoroughly through interviews with the band and the many New Ze...

On this episode, Marc talks with Steve Bowie , author of "Concerto for Cootie: The Life and Times of Cootie Williams," released in October of 2025. It's an in-depth look at the saga of a revered trumpet player who was a vital member of Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman's groups, as well as spending 20 years as a band leader of his own. He was a massively popular artist who consi...

On this episode, Marc talks with Melvin Gibbs , author of "How Black Music Took Over The World, " published today, April 14, 2026. It's a unique look at what Gibbs considers "the science of Black Music," a combination of musical theory, analysis, history, and memoir.  Gibbs has played in such diverse projects as Defunkt, Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, Roll...

On this episode, Marc talks to two authors, Peter J. Woods and John Melillo . Peter is an assistant professor in learning sciences at the University of Nottingham in England, and John is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Arizona. They've both written academic books about noise: Woods' "Learning Through Noise" was published in early 2025, and Melillo's...

On this episode, Marc talks with Adele Bertei , author of "No New York: A Memoir of No Wave and the Women Who Shaped the Scene," released today, March 31, 2026. It's an insightful and super-entertaining chronicle of Bertei's journey through New York music and art in the late 70s, including her time in Contortions and The Bloods as well as her solo career. It also delves deep in...

On this episode, Marc talks with Kembrew McLeod , the author of two closely related books: "Parallel Lines," an entry on Blondie's 1978 album for the 33.3 series published in 2016, and "The Downtown Pop Underground: New York City and the Literary Punks, Renegade Artists, DIY Filmmakers, Mad Playwrights, and Rock 'N' Roll Glitter Queens Who Revolutionized Culture,&quot...

On this episode, Marc talks with Ronen Givony , author of "Us v. Them: The Age of Indie Music and a Decade in New York (2004-2014)," published in March of 2026. It's a fascinating history of the indie and underground music scene in Brooklyn during a time when Givony ran the Wordless Music concert series, worked for Nonesuch records, and pursued many other music-related activities. G...

On this episode, Marc talks to Andy Beta , author of "Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane," published in March of 2026. It's a thorough and insightful biography of the musician and her various lives as a prodigious young student, a seasoned jazz player, a wife and mother tightly bonded to her husband John Coltrane, and a swami who reached spiritual heigh...

On this episode, Marc talks with Daniel Rachel , author of "This Ain't Rock'n'Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich," published in February of 2026. It's an enthralling and massively important look at many of the bands and artists who have flirted with, or even flat out adopted, Nazi iconography in their art, music, dress, performances, and more. Rachel l...

On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Fishman , author of "To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse" , published in May of 2023. It's part biography, part detective story, as Fishman combs through the facts and myths behind singer and guitarist Connie Converse, who made music in the 1950s that went unreleased in her time, and then vanished in the mi...

On this episode, Marc talks with Matthew Blackwell , author of "Plunderphonics," part of the 33.3 "Genres" series of books focusing on specific musical styles and movements. "Plunderphonics" covers artists who use other people's recordings in their music without permission, often to make a statement about copyright law, the idea of fair use, and so forth. Blackwe...

On this episode, Marc talks with Seth Neblett , author of "Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic," published in September of 2025. It's a fascinating oral history of the female members of Parliament and Funkadelic, particularly those in the P-Funk sister groups Parlet and the Brides of Funkenstein: Mallia Franklin, Lynn Mabry, Dawn Silva, Debbie Wright, and Shirle...

On this episode, Marc talks with Josh Bloom , author of "The Apples In Stereo," published in December of 2025. It's all about the Denver band The Apples in Stereo, who began in the early 90s and were part of the Elephant 6 Collective alongside Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, of Montreal, and more. Josh has known members of the band for decades, particularly their main lea...

On this episode, Marc talks with Al Shipley , author of "Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music," published in August 2025. It's a thoughtful, detailed, and revealing look into a music movement that grew organically in Baltimore clubs, radio stations, and record stores, with beats and other musical ideas passed around quickly so that the styles and sounds morphed constantly...

On this episode, Marc talks with Simon Raymonde , author of "In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor, and Me," published in America in November of 2025. It's a sharp, enthusiastic, and funny memoir of Raymonde's life as a musician, member of the legendary UK band Cocteau Twins (with Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie), and owner of the vital indie record label Bella Union. Simon also d...

On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Weulfing . He's the author of Descenes and Discords , an anthology of two fanzines he edited in the early 1980s, documenting the burgeoning underground rock scene in DC at the time. Descenes featured interviews, record reviews, live reviews, and more, with most of the focus on DC. Discords also covered scenes around the country, publishing reports from...

On this episode, Marc talks with Bill Janovitz , author of "The Cars: Let The Stories Be Told," published in September 2025. It's a deeply researched, deftly crafted story of the Boston band, led by Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, who started peppering the charts with hits from their self-titled 1978 debut album, and kept making great music and selling tons of records for the next deca...

On this episode, Marc talks with Joe Bonomo, author of "Play This Book Loud: Noisy Essays," published in May of 2025. It's a collection of pieces Bonomo wrote for various publications, primarily the website The Normal School , covering a wide range of music subjects and formats. Among the topics explored are the Cramps, the Who, the Stooges, the Jam, an exploration of the history of...

On this episode, Marc talks to Sahan Jayasuriya , author of "Don't Say Please: The Oral History of Die Kreuzen," published in August of 2025. It's a thorough look at the band who began in the early 80s as one of the most vital and unique hardcore groups, but quickly evolved past that tag toward mixture of punk, metal, and proto-grunge that influenced many indie-rock bands of th...

On this episode, Marc talks to Ellen Koskoff, author of "Bittersweet Sounds of Passage: Balinese Gamelan Angklung Cremation Music," published in July of 2025. It's a fascinating look into a specific kind of gamelan music in Bali that is an essential part of cremation ceremonies, performed by village members who don't even consider themselves musicians. Koskoff learned to play t...

On this episode, Marc talks with Pat Blashil l, author of "Someday All the Adults Will Die!: The Birth of Texas Punk," released in September of 2025. It's a narrated oral history of the early days of punk in Texas, exploring the many bands and figures who created a distinct strain of punk rock in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, including Big Boys, the Dicks, MDC, and Butth...