Troubled Men Podcast

The novelist, filmmaker, and publisher of Dirty Magick Magazine is also a college professor and director of the absurdist band showcase "Escape from the Secret Lab." He spent years living in Beverly Hills with a rock star while hobnobbing with indie film darlings, writing screenplays, and accumulating massive debt. With his fourth novel "Midnight Brew" coming out this month, Charlie joins the Trou...

The guitarist, songwriter, and singer with John “Papa" Gros, Adam Pearce, and Layla Musselwhite has teamed up with a supergroup of veteran sidemen as Captain Buckles, now celebrating the release of "Hurry Up," their first full-length album. Alex and bandmates Smitti Supab, Phil Breen, Rob Davis, and EZ Smith  are taking the wheel and are charting their own course. Tonight Alex sails into the Chris...

The award-winning cartoonist, animator, and illustrator behind Mogihead comics is a founding member of the 24-hour Draw-A-Thon, the comics editor for Antigravity magazine, and board president of the Krewe of 'tit Rex, where his handmade micro “Qomix" are a much sought-after parade throw. His early obsession with Charles Schulz's "Peanuts” comic strip and preteen exposure to a Bunny Matthews' "Vic...

The legendary singer, guitarist, and songwriter, once named artist of the decade, started with the Nuns in the early days of the San Francisco punk scene and opened for the Sex Pistols' final show. Later forming Rank and File with ex-Dils Chip and Tony Kinman, he went on to start the True Believers with brother Javier before launching a solo career that has yielded 20 albums. His latest release is...

The singer, guitarist , accordion player, and songwriter has been barnstorming the festival circuit in advance of his "Mid-City" album. After growing up in Houma, Louisiana, in a musical family with blues titan brother Tab Benoit and studying with Elaine Aiken at the Actors Conservatory in NYC, Tyron was destined for a career in showbiz. Two combat tours with the U.S. Marines during Operation Dese...

The veteran tenor saxophone player grew up with family friends Louis Prima and Sam Butera as his mentors, becoming bandleader of his own group the Emperors at age 12. By 17, Johnny was playing the biggest clubs on Bourbon St., later working with recording stars including Freddy Fender, Ernie K-Doe, Dr. John, Frankie Ford, Sam Cooke, and Kenny Rogers. Now with Vince Vance and the Valiants, the Loui...

The 3rd-generation multi-instrumentalist spent his formative years in his family band, Ovi G. and Los Ranas (the Froggies), the latest incarnation of a group started in the 1940s by his grandfather as a marimba orchestra in Guatemala. Growing up in New Orleans with his master musician father, Ovi started playing professionally at 8 years old, and eventually was recruited to be a drummer at NOCCA....

The drummer and manager for Little Freddie King has been with the legendary electric country blues man for over three decades, sheparding every aspect of his career. Wacko started out with the Nightowls playing at the notorious Mary's Tavern, and later backed a fresh-out-of-Angola Freddy Fender at Papa Joe's on Bourbon St. His long partnership with Little Freddie has taken them to over 150 cities...

The award-winning vocalist, piano player, songwriter, and WWOZ radio host grew up in the Caribbean community in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, singing in the Seventh Day Adventist church. After years spent in New York and Europe recording jingles and touring with other artists, she relocated to New Orleans to focus on her solo career. With a new live release, "Give Power To The People," coming out Septe...

The Grammy-nominated drummer and bandleader of Cha Wa first encountered the rhythms of the Mardi Gras Indians during a lesson with Idris Muhammad while studying at Berklee. After a move to New Orleans and years spent playing with the Wild Magnolias and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, he decided to strike out on his own. With Cha Wa's new record "Rise Up" coming out, Joe enters the Feral Zone with René a...

The award-winning jewelry and metalwork designer whose work is currently on view at Sullivan Gallery has also exhibited at RHINO Gallery, the Contemporary Arts Center, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. A perennial favorite at the N.O. Jazz Fest Contemporary Craft Village, she has exhibited her work there since the late '80s. Having recently completed a pilgrimage in Spain on the Camino de Santiag...

The singer, songwriter, and guitarist of Human Drama started with the Models in the early '80s New Orleans punk scene before relocating the group to L.A., changing the name, and signing a record deal with RCA. Dissatisfaction with major label politics led to a move to Triple X Records and string a of successful releases and videos, cultivating a large fanbase in Mexico along the way. Now back in t...

The two-time Grammy Award-winning guitarist, songwriter and singer with the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Louis Michot's Swamp Magic is also a founding member of the dreamy pop outfit Brass Bed and their lo-fi offshoot Carbon Poppies. The first album "Droste" from his solo ambient pedal steel guitar project Weeks Island was recently reissued on vinyl by LCD Soundsystem's DFA label, while Brass Bed just...

The fine art model and George Dureau muse known as Kathy B is also Kitty Baudoin and Fraulein Frances, singer with the Sleazeball Orchestra and Funhouse. Her time in the Tenderloin of late 80s San Francisco, as chronicled in Joe Westmoreland's book "Tramps Like Us," added musical performance art to the mix. With the recent publication of some iconic photographs of her in the new "George Valentine...

The guitar player, songwriter, and singer with Big In The 90s, the Walrus, and the Breton Sound also spent years playing with the hard-touring Cowboy Mouth. With his popular "Ranking The Beatles" podcast, he hosts fellow fanatics as they indulge their obsession with the group and its catalogue. Tonight Jonathan sits in with the Troubled Men and finds out what a hard day's night is really about.  ...

The Junior League songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist mastermind has also played and recorded with the Minus 5 with Scott McCaughy and REM's Peter Buck. A Beatles devotee since he heard "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on oldies radio at the age of 4, he's channeled his power-pop influences including Big Star, the Monkees, Bowie, Badfinger, and the Kinks into over a dozen excellent records. To...

The indie filmmaker, photographer, firefighter, and former teacher went from USC film school in South Central L.A. to the war zone of a New Orleans-area high school classroom. His latest film “The Great Davini” stars Snake and Jake’s beloved owner Dave Clements in the title role. Jason’s service as a first responder in the Katrina aftermath tested his mettle in ways most never encounter. A world t...

The guitar player, singer, and songwriter has released over a dozen records under his own name and as leader of the Brides of Jesus and the Restless Natives. Stints playing with Anders Osborne, the Wild Magnolias, and his Iko Allstars, in addition to tour managing the Neville Brothers, the Funky Meters, and George Porter and the Running Pardners, have put him in the thick of the New Orleans funk m...

The singer, bandleader, and accordion and harmonica player for Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots was previously an NFL football player and a U.S. park ranger. International tours with Paul Simon, Sting, and his own band have carried him far from his upbringing in rural Arkansas. Sunpie's childhood experience handling poisonous vipers in the backwoods serves him well as he sits down with the Trou...

The award-winning radio documentarian, musicologist, and long-running WWOZ DJ showcases his deep knowledge of music every Tuesday at 10pm with his Freaknology Lunatique radio show. By day David is the music curator for the Louisiana State Museum and curator of the New Orleans Jazz Museum, producing exhibitions and live programming and caretaking their 71,000-piece collection. His reign as emcee fo...

The Folk/Trip Hop songwriter, singer, and guitarist left the Stella Adler Conservatory, recorded an independent record, and got signed to Atlantic. Disillusioned with the major label experience, he fell in with Nels Cline and the NYC Downtown scene, recording music outside the dying corporate music machine. Tonight, on a break from house concert tours, Dustan drops in for an intimate evening with...

The Grammy Award-winning trombone player and bandleader of the Tropicales, his 1960s-styled Caribbean lounge group, has been a mainstay of the Trad Jazz and Frenchmen St scenes since his arrival in town almost two decades ago. A chance encounter with mastermind Jimbo Mathis led to years touring and recording with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. With the Tropicales’ schedule heating up, Charlie drops by...

The songwriter, singer, and guitar player has been making records as a solo artist and with his band Varnaline for over two decades. His collaborations with Son Volt’s Jay Farrar include the “New Multitudes” project with Jim James of My Morning Jacket which paired unused Woody Guthrie lyrics with new music. With a show of his oil paintings currently running at Nola ’Nacular gallery and a summer to...

The award-winning reporter, music critic, playwright, and author of the excellent book "Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival" has written for many top news outlets and publications, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, ABC News, Downbeat, and Mojo among them. The Chicago native who now splits his time between there and New Orlean...

The singer and musician with Les Cenelles Creole Ensemble, early music group Musica da Camera, and rock band Shot Down in Equador Jr. has recently completed the "Musique(s)!” project (w/ Louis Michot, Leyla McCalla, Sweet Crude, and Sunpie Barnes) for the American Folklife Center resulting in an album, book, film, and exhibition documenting French and Creole music in Louisiana. An antique bookbind...