The Show On The Road with Z. Lupetin

Many artists have those sliding door moments - being at the right place at the right time with just the right amount of talent, style and looks to make it out of having to work a “real job." Growing up in New York and then Paris where a young Madeleine began singing on the street, harnessing her deeply warm and eerily timeless voice (close your eyes and you might hear Billie Holiday) she went from...

It’s not fair to say every song that roots songwriting master John Moreland puts into the world is tinged with sadness and a palpable gravity. And yet, whether or not you’re seeing his big presence in person or hearing his deep and tender voice that can somehow cut through any loud bar like a laser to the heart - fans have been coming back to join Moreland in processing whatever grief they may be...

This week we bring you an intimate talk with rising Cuban roots-pop singer-songwriter Daymé Arocena. Known for her honey-voiced records that honor Cuba’s joyous folk and jazz traditions, her newest Alkemi’ takes a sonic leap into the powerful pop and suave R&B music that she admired as a girl - Sade, Whitney Houston and even Beyoncé - while also paying homage to her grandmother’s lifelong practice...

John Oates has been at this for a while. Ever since his family moved from New York to a small town outside of Philly in the early 1950s, he has been feverishly creating American roots music, blues, rock n roll and unabashed pop. After teaming up with his Temple college mate Daryl Hall at the dawn of the 1970s - Oates co-created a mind-melting run of funky rock-pop hits that still play on constant...

What if you said the darkest thing you ever thought…or actually sang it out loud in a packed room of cheerful many-tattooed like-minded fans? You might find yourself at an Amigo The Devil concert - an experience that longtime self-professed “murder-folk” master Danny Kiranos has dutifully worked on for a decade and a half - bringing the banjo and acoustic guitar into a world once only populated by...

This week we dive into the many lives and evolving music of much-respected singer and troubadour Peter One. Coming from humble beginnings in his native Ivory Coast, One became a folk hero for creating a new type of African roots music that was the backdrop for Nelson Mandela’s fight against apartheid and gained him a following around the globe.  His partnership with longtime friend Jess Sah Bi cre...

We’re back for season six with a special conversation with a true blues and world music legend, Taj Mahal. Touring in his seventh decade behind nearly fifty albums and counting (including fourteen Grammy nominations) we dive into his new LP Swingin’ Live At The Church In Tulsa, how he toured with the Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus in the 1970s, and how classics like “Statesboro Blues” from his...

Remember when Easy Listening became the Smooth Jazz section of pop and rock n’ roll? But maybe we could use things a little easier these days. In the second part of my epic talk with Bahamas from his cozy cottage in Nova Scotia - we lean into embracing that softer side of ourselves as songwriters, fathers and edgy citizens just trying to make sense of a changing world. Afie Jervanen isn't shy abou...

What’s the first thing you think about a mustachioed songwriter who enjoys rocking wind-breaker sweat suits and lives and creates on the edge of icy Nova Scotia? That he’s going to write maybe the best old-school Nashville country record of the year, of course.  Maybe the warm, slightly humorous diversion is right in his tropical name. But with his newest LP Bootcut, beloved Canadian singer-songwr...

Putting on a new record can feel like an instant sonic vacation for your mind - or maybe it’s the best type of time travel? This week we take a trip to the teaming clubs of Bogotá and Cali Colombia (or shall we say, Colombia came to a movie studio conference room here in LA) to talk to multi-lingual lead singer Catalina García who for the last fourteen years has led adored jazzy roots-pop icons Mo...

What if you sang before you spoke? When you come from a vibrant San Juan musical family like iLe (the creative persona of Ileana Mercedes Cabra Joglar), it all makes sense. Singing has been in iLe’s bloodstream from day one: from listening to her actress mother and singer-composer grandmother, to joining school choir and then stealing the show as a teenager in her stepbrothers’ superstar Puerto Ri...

What do legends like Bob Seger, The Doobie Brothers, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt and Pink Floyd all have in common? They’ve all tapped pianist and master keyboardist Bill Payne - one of the co-founders of folky-funk cult favorites Little Feat to lend his special sauce to their records or touring bands. Stories? Yeah, Bill’s got a few to tell us. In this second part of our epic talk...

Most bands who started in the tumultuous year of 1969 like Little Feat never make it out of that creative cauldron. How many heroes faded away or flamed out and can only be found now on classic rock radio or in dusty record bins? Little Feat is still here. And while the group lost talented but tempestuous lead singer and guitarist Lowell George along the way - as we learned in the first part of ou...

Think you know renegade roots songwriter icon Ani DiFranco? Think again! We are happy to bring you this special rebroadcast as Ani celebrates the 25th anniversary reissues of legendary albums Living In Clip and Little Plastic Castles which we dive into in this talk. Ani is more than a songwriter and singer of course. Call her an activist, author, and free-spirited feminist folk leader - who recent...

We are in the most anxious time in human history - yet how do we still create compelling, joyful art and be a sane human being at the same time? We're back with the second part of our talk with rising singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza who is celebrating the release of her striking new LP Hold That Spirit.  We talk about her mother’s trying immigrant story told through her song “Change Your Name” and...

Raye is about to have the craziest year of her life. Not only did she just get cast playing an iconic indigenous character in the national tour of a reimagined Peter Pan (Broadway bound?) but is also taking off from her Long Beach, CA home on her first headlining tour supporting her new LP Hold That Spirit.  In this first chapter of our conversation, I was able to catch up with Raye before she hit...

What if you started a band with your best friend in high school - and the first song you put out went straight to the top of the charts? Sure, the journey singer/guitarist Clemons Rehbein and drummer/bassist Philipp Dausch have been on after meeting up in Kassel Germany isn't that simple...but it is remarkable that a decade after "Stolen Dance" and the blockbuster album behind it Sadnecessary chan...

How does a hit song stay beloved thirty years later? Sure, Smash Mouth's oddball blend of vintage rock, ska and unabashed 90s pop isn't for everyone - but they've weathered a generation of changing tastes and tens of thousands still go nuts every time they show up at a festival or concert anywhere in the world. Trust me, if you sang "All Star" anywhere on earth, people would be singing along, whet...

Ok, you know "All Star". But on Part 1 of my chat with new frontman Zach Goode, we learn about how Smash Mouth's underrated ear worm hits like "Walking On The Sun" and radio (and Shrek soundtrack) smash covers like "I'm A Believer" came to be, how the band began in San Jose steeped in the ska world, and Zach's whirlwind journey playing in rock bands in relative obscurity to playing in front of 75,...

We’re back with David Shaw of the New Orleans soul-rockers The Revivalists to dive into what happens after the band really takes off - how being the conductor of a massive machine that plays before thousands every night and is faced with trying to top their radio hit, can mess with your head - if you let it. We dive more into the making of their powerful new LP Pour It Into The Night, how new babi...

We dialed into New Orleans to chat with the tireless and talented lead singer- songwriter of beloved soulful rock n’ rollers The Revivalists. We dive into their bold fifth studio LP Pour It Out Into The Night, how their big-hearted hit "Wish I Knew You” changed everything and sent them around the world - and how David went from being a lonesome Ohio transplant laying pipe on a construction crew in...

This week, we bring back an old friend of the show, Fort Worth-based trickster singer/multi-instrumentalist Robert Ellis.  We last spoke in 2018 while we were were both criss-crossing the Netherlands. Then he was in full character as the Texas Piano Man, jumping across the stage between keyboards and guitars with cheeky ear worms like “Topo Chico” and searing Harry Neilsen-esque ballads like “Fuck...

This week, we dive into the revelatory first solo record from rising Louisiana-born roots-soul singer-songwriter Durand Jones.  Wait Til I Get Over is years in the making. While nearly giving up on his dream to be a singer several times, Jones was diligently collecting songs about his upbringing living in his father’s trailer in the tiny Mississippi River town of Hillaryville, his grandmother givi...

This week, we call into Nashville to speak to one of the preeminent and most prolific singer-songwriters of our time, Courtney Marie Andrews. Born in Arizona, Andrews first started singing at Phoenix-area karaoke bars with her mom before setting out to see the country in Greyhound busses as a teenager, finding a place in bands like Jimmy Eat World with her signature high-aching voice and talent on...

This week, we feature a talk with genre-leaping singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian who is back with a remarkable new LP, Love You Anyway. Shapeshifting between danceable southern soul, hip-hop, silky R&B, and AM gold rock n roll, the record isn’t afraid to confront the thorny politics of voting rights and wrongful incarceration while still celebrating a newly revolutionary Black joy. Raised in Phi...