Troubled Men Podcast

The Naughty Professor cofounding trumpet player and point man for the Naughty Horns has also worked with the Temptations, Rickie Lee Jones, the Afghan Whigs, and Galactic. He discusses the band’s formation, his home-schooled childhood, and his many collaborations with hip hop artists including Chali 2na. For being the youngest guest to date, John really has his head together. The Troubled Men want...

The swampy Americana songwriter, singer, and guitarist, covered by  Levon Helm, Keith Richards, and Lucinda Williams, has traveled a twisted road from juke joints in Monroe, La., and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop to his Nashville home. Out on a string of dates with the Iguanas, he joins the band on a night off to issue a communiqué from the tour, in the final installment of a two-part episode. As KG...

The swampy Americana songwriter, singer, and guitarist, covered by Keith Richards, Irma Thomas, and Sonny Burgess, has traveled a twisted road from juke joints in Monroe, La., and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop to his Nashville home. Out on a string of dates with the Iguanas, he joins the band on a night off to issue a communiqué from the tour, in the first installment of a two-part episode. As KG say...

The accomplished visual artist and former Piety Recording Studio manager has worked with an impressive list of creative superstars and maladjusted misfits during her storied career. Stints as a chimney sweep, absinthe brewer, and crime scene photo tech round out her resume. Tonight Shawn brings her incisive intellect and easy laugh to a meeting of the minds with the Troubled Men. Pearls before swi...

The harmonica master and singer with Canned Heat and Poncho Sanchez grew up in the musical hotbed of Downey, California, with Phil and Dave Alvin. Influenced early on by the Louis Jordan records of his trumpet-playing mother, he caught the blues bug hearing artists like the Paul Butterfield Band, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee at the Ash Grove and the Golden Bear in L.A. Comfortable in a variety...

The legendary Muffs bass player, along with singer/guitarist Kim Shattuck and drummer Roy McDonald, blasted out their infectious, melodic brand of punk rock from 1990 until Kim’s passing in 2019. Cresting at the top of the Indie rock wave, they counted the Ramones, Elvis Costello, and Ronnie Spector among their fans and picked up a platinum record for their hit recording of “Kids In America.” With...

A Grammy-winning veteran of Dr. John, Papa Grows Funk, the Nightcrawlers, and Galactic, the saxophone, clarinet, and flute player is a devotee of the New Orleans R&B and jazz canon. Now, as a college instructor, he passes this knowledge on to impressionable young minds. With his first record as a bandleader soon to be released, Jason jumps into the fray with the Troubled Men to recall career h...

The rockabilly and roots guitarist, singer, and bandleader of the Hitmen, O.L.D., and the Blue Vipers has been an intergral part of the New Orleans scene since his arrival in the early ’80s. He’s worked with greats like Alex Chilton, Wayne Bennett, Joe Clay, George the Max, and Dave Turgeon. Tonight Johnny J. Beninati goes on the record with fellow travelers the Troubled Men to illuminate the dark...

The record producer and recording engineer had spent years working with bands including the Pixies, Frank Black, and the Breeders before taking over the fabled Studio In The Country and returning it to its former glory. The recent release of the Geraniums’ “Hope Is Not For The Weak” represents the final 10 years of material recorded with him there at the mixing board. Always unflappable, Ben joins...

The iconoclastic screenwriter, essayist, and former Siberia Bar owner recently self-cancelled from social media after her commentaries drew the ire of the online mob. She now unleashes her polemics in Quillette Magazine and on the Substack platform. This Joan Didion acolyte is no shrinking violet. Tonight Meghann comes on like a runaway train, and the Troubled Men hang on for dear life as it nearl...

The innovative multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer with the Royal Roses, the Monocle, the Panorama Jazz Band, and the Klezmer All Stars turns up to discuss her many projects, as well as her rural, hippie childhood and eventual escape to New Orleans. Her lightness of spirit is a breath of fresh air. Aurora had lots of interdisciplinary training at Oberlin College and Paris' Jacques LeCoq...

The Tony Award-winning actor and musician returns to discuss his latest role on HBO’s new “Gilded Age” period drama and his band Loose Cattle’s recent “Heavy Lifting” album. Guitarist and composer Jonathan Freilich joins the proceedings to add his two cents. Everyone’s been through a lot in the last few years, and Michael is no exception. Tonight he enters the Feral Zone as we search for the first...

The guitarist and songwriter for the Geraniums and Tribe Nunzio and co-owner of the Mermaid Lounge has just released “Hope Is Not For The Weak,” a double album of Geraniums recordings the Bukowski-meets-the-Velvet-Underground outfit collected from years of sessions at the famed Studio in the Country. He discusses the band’s long history, as well as the recent passing of singer and lyricist Brendan...

The Dream Syndicate and Continental Drifters (Susan Cowsill, Vicki Peterson, Peter Holsapple) bassist, vocalist, and songwriter covered a lot of territory from L.A.’s Paisley Underground to the New Orleans-based indie-rock supergroup. Tonight Mark reaches out from his post-Katrina Las Vegas Safe House, where he places his bet and takes his chances with the Troubled Men. Topics include postponed to...

The award-winning filmmaker behind classic music docs like “Deep Blues,” “The Kingdom of Zydeco,” and “Gospel According to Al Green” has spent decades highlighting American jazz, soul, and roots artists like Sun Ra, Gil Scott-Heron, Sonny Rollins, and Robert Johnson. His post-Katrina feature ”New Orleans Music In Exile” chronicled the dispersion of musical refugees across the region and their stru...

The powerhouse drummer and vocalist with the Emmy Award-winnng Imagination Movers spent 20 years propelling Dash Rip Rock’s punkabilly onslaught from coast to coast. From “Let’s Go Smoke Some Pot” to “I Want My Mommy,” he plays it all with intensity and finesse. As the School of Rock music director, he passes on his unbridled love of rocking out to the next generation. Since Kyle’s used to dealing...

He’s a multi-instrumentalist, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thelonious Monster collaborator, and a cofounder, along with Flea, of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. His career includes playing viola in the orchestra for Ray Charles and playing saxophone with the Chili Peppers, naked except for a sock. Crediting his high school music program with saving his life, he felt compelled to return the favo...

The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and guitar master’s work with Americana legends like Dave Alvin, Chris Gaffney, and Wanda Jackson as well as his many excellent solo records, including his latest, “Love & Desperation,” speaks for itself. Cutting his teeth in the Southern California honky tonks, the San Bernadino-bred Telecaster slinger has seen it all from the inside out. An artist of su...

The virtuoso sousaphone pioneer with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Treme Brass Band, and his own Backyard Groove reinvented the instrument in the modern band context. Singled out as a star among stars, he’s played and recorded with Elvis Costello, Luther Dickinson, Dr. John, and Bobby Rush. In keeping with his flagship band’s moniker, Kirk keeps it dirty as he goes tit for tat with the Troubled Men....

The radio personality, bar owner (Circle Bar, Lakeside Lounge NYC), and rock ’n’ roll musicologist moved to the punk rock ground zero of 1977 Lower East Side at age 18, meeting the Cramps, the Ramones, Richard Hell, and Lester Bangs on his very first day in town. His original WFMU radio show (’85-’97) established an outlet for unhinged rockers, blues wailers, greaseball classics, and instrumental...

The master drummer and percussionist with Anders Osborne, Karl Denson, and Pimps of Joytime cut his teeth in the Bay Area drum corps scene as a member of the World Champion Santa Clara Vanguard Drumline. That discipline and precision has served him over a career traveling the globe with rock gods, jazz legends, funk royalty, and punk revolutionaries. Eric has flourished in spite of life-threatenin...

The guitar wiz with George Porter Jr., Maria Muldaur, and Marc Broussard escaped the cultural void of Florida and found a home in the musical mecca of New Orleans. No matter what the situation, Chris always knows just what to play. Tonight he joins the Troubled Men and figures out what to say. Topics include election results, future candidates, a sand trap, a Brass Against pissing contest, Thanksg...

The clarinet player, arranger, and driving force behind the Panorama Jazz Band has an affinity for exotic folk music from around the world. A founding member of the N.O. Klezmer All Stars, he’s been mining this vein since he first got to town. Panorama’s “Good Music for You” song-of-the-month subscription service keeps the fresh releases coming. Ben makes time to spell it all out for the Troubled...

Guitarist Rick Miller and bassist Mary Huff along with Dave Hartman on drums play rockabilly, surf, country, R&B, and Americana from the wrong side of the tracks. Southern-fried favorites with fans and critics alike, Southern Culture’s decades of hard touring and prolific record releases have only sharpened their humor and whet their appetite for rocking. With their latest record, “At Home Wit...

The folk and Western recording artist is a modern troubadour traveling and writing songs of cowboy life in Big Sky country. The singer, guitarist and mandolin player’s latest record, “Range of the Buffalo,” is nominated for multiple International Western Music Assoc. awards. Kerry is comfortable around the campfire and legendary at the Sands Motel. Tonight he joins the Troubled Men with some tall...