You, Me and An Album

Send us Fan Mail This week, Miami-based recording artist, producer and visual artist Michael Lazar joins me to chat about Britney Spears’ 2007 album, Blackout. Michael talks about his experience of learning to play music using the Suzuki method, why he decided to move on from musical theatre, how he came to be a self-produced recording artist and why Blackout is one of his favorite albums. You can...

Send us Fan Mail My awakening from sleepwalking through the 2010s musically continues on this episode, as singer/songwriter D.K. Lyons introduces me to The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It. D.K. talked about his eclectic yet immersive music-listening habits, his connection to Tom Petty’s music, his love for watching and making music videos and what he...

Send us Fan Mail Portland-based guitarist, singer and songwriter Casey Neill (Casey Neill and The Norway Rats, The Minus 5, Big Bridges) joins the show to talk about Marianne Faithfull’s 2004 album, Before the Poison, which includes major contributions from P.J. Harvey, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. In addition to delving into each of the albums 10 tracks, we talked Casey’s current studio work, his...

Send us Fan Mail Country rock and bluegrass musician Ryan Shupe introduces me to the world of progressive bluegrass by way of The Best of New Grass Revival on this episode. We discussed some of Ryan’s favorite songwriters, the influence that New Grass Revival has had on Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband and several of his favorite tracks on this 1994 greatest hits compilation. Note: On this episode, w...

Send us Fan Mail Songwriter/guitarist/vocalist/producer/arranger Kate Schutt nudges me out of my comfort zone for this episode of You, Me and An Album, as we discuss Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (1956), the first pre-1960s album featured on this podcast. We talked about Kate’s latest album (Bright Nowhere), how she absorbed Ella Fitzgerald’s music by osmosis during her childhood...

Send us Fan Mail Actor (I Know This Much Is True, Red Dead Redemption II) and Infinity Podcast co-host Scott Thomas introduces me to an album that is epic in nearly every possible way. We discussed Titus Andronicus’ second album, The Monitor, a Civil War-themed treatment of grappling with life as a young white man in an “uptight” North Jersey suburb. We talked about Scott’s current projects, the e...

Send us Fan Mail I know Danielle Salinger from her writing and tweeting on mental health and as a member of the fantasy sports community, and on this episode, we all get to know her for her love of music and of Prince. Danielle chose the first double album to be covered on a You, Me and An Album episode, as we discussed Prince’s 1999. In addition to discussing all four sides of this decade-shaping...

Send us Fan Mail Actor/writer David Greenman (Gilmore Girls, Bones, About Last Night) introduces me to the Canadian supergroup, The New Pornographers, and their second album, Electric Version. In addition to discussing this album, we talked about The New Pornographers’ upcoming tour, David’s love of 80s music and the projects he has been working on recently. Correction: I had talked about how a co...

Send us Fan Mail Over the course of doing 30 episodes of You, Me and An Album, there have been parts of each conversation that have stuck with me long after the episode got published. There have been a few of those that I continue to think about frequently, because I have been puzzled as to why I had such a different reaction to a song than my guest did. I went back to seven of those songs and gav...

Send us Fan Mail Fantasy baseball analyst and podcaster Michael Govier comes aboard this week to share his love for Built to Spill’s 1999 album, Keep It Like a Secret. Michael and Al talked about Michael’s various podcasts, how his love for listening to and playing music has grown and waned and grown again over the years, and how he came to be a fan of this Boise-based band and this particular alb...

Send us Fan Mail You, Me and An Album travels across the Atlantic for this episode, and then our guest takes us to the moon! This week’s guest is Rat, the guitarist for Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and Obey Robots, and he delves into Public Service Broadcasting’s The Race for Space. In addition to discussing each track on the album, Rat explains how he became a fan of PSB, which guitarists have influenced...

Send us Fan Mail Rudy Gamble, co-founder of Razzball, pays the show a visit to introduce Al to Old 97's and the world of alt-country. His selection to discuss is 1997's Too Far to Care, the Dallas quartet's third album. He and Al not only talk about the album and dig into specific tracks, but Rudy also recounts his experiences with screenwriting and songwriting and his journey from...

Send us Fan Mail Actor/writer/musician/songwriter Nat Cassidy took Al somewhere on this episode that he thought he'd never go back to – the 90’s swing revival. He chose Rapid City Muscle Car by the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies (aka The Daddies), which to Al's surprise was more than just a swing album. They talked about the variety of genres represented on the album, what Nat loves about variou...

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca Clay Cole (The Minders, Wild Flag) returns to You, Me and An Album, picking up where she left off...discussing Jimmy Buffett! This time, we're chatting about his 1974 album, A-1-A. In addition to breaking down the album's tracks, we talk about how the Elephant 6 collective came together, Rebecca's mom's cool musical tastes and how Jimmy Buffett helps bo...

Send us Fan Mail Nick Pollack, the founder and president of Pitcher List (https://www.pitcherlist.com/), threw me a curve on this episode, sending me into the genre of progressive metal --  a world I had barely explored. He chose The Devin Townsend Band’s Accelerated Evolution as our album to discuss. We talked about Nick’s own history as a guitarist, how one bridges the gap between progressive ro...

Send us Fan Mail JB Brubaker, lead guitarist for the Grammy-nominated metalcore group August Burns Red joins me for this episode of You, Me and An Album. He introduces me to Weezer’s 1994 debut album, aka The Blue Album. More accurately, JB introduces me to 70 percent of the album – that is, the portion of the album that didn’t get played on the radio. We discussed his musical evolution as a guita...

Send us Fan Mail Patrick Grant, creator of Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars,  introduces me to an album that I long avoided because I thought it might be “scary,” but his quest is to show us that it's just scary good. The album in question is Devo’s “Q. Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!”, and Patrick breaks down the album’s many innovations. We also talked about Switched On Bach,...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, You, Me and An Album becomes You, Me and a Song. Back in late March, Rebecca Clay Cole (The Minders, Wild Flag, Telekinesis) posted a tweet in which she bemoaned that Jimmy Buffett’s The Great Filling Station Holdup didn’t hold a more beloved place in the country music canon. On this episode, Rebecca makes her case for that song’s deservingness in a longer, more d...

Send us Fan Mail Football writer, radio host and podcaster Jason La Canfora has had eclectic taste in music going back to his teen years, so it’s only appropriate that he chose a band with a range of eclectic sounds to discuss on this episode of You, Me and An Album. Jason introduced me to Fishbone’s Truth and Soul, which features ska, soul, funk, metal and punk across its dozen tracks. In additio...

Send us Fan Mail Back when I was recording Episode 16 (Quasi, Field Studies) with Mariana Timony of Bandcamp Daily, I had promised that there would be a second part of our discussion forthcoming. This is that second part! Mariana and I spent nearly an hour discussing Quasi drummer/vocalist Janet Weiss’ other band (though, sadly, one she is no longer a part of), Sleater-Kinney. We each offer our ra...

Send us Fan Mail Actor/writer/director Eric Gilde stops by to discuss Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, an album he had on repeat for an entire summer and one that still intrigues him nearly two decades later. We discuss Eric’s latest projects, some of his favorite underrated albums and this particular Neutral Milk Hotel album in great detail. You can find Eric on Twitter and Ins...

Send us Fan Mail This week’s guest is no stranger to me on podcasts…it’s Derek VanRiper, my co-host (along with Michael Beller) on The Athletic’s Fantasy Baseball in 15. (It’s just a small part of all the writing, podcasting and producing that DVR does at The Athletic.) DVR chose Houndmouth’s Little Neon Limelight as our album to discuss. We talked about the people and technologies that have influ...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Brown pays You, Me and An Album a visit, bringing a copy of Frank Ocean’s Blonde along with him. Andrew is a business analyst for Buzzfeed and a former analyst for the Texas Rangers, and incidentally, he is also my nephew. Andrew and I chat about how he listens to music, how Blonde wound up becoming one of his favorite albums and what makes several of the album’s tracks wor...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mariana Timony of Bandcamp Daily introduces me to Field Studies, a 1999 album by Quasi – a band I have only discovered during the past year. We discuss how Mariana got into music journalism, her path to Quasi fandom, what makes Quasi such a special group and, of course, what makes Field Studies one of her favorite albums. You can find Mariana on Twitter here: @marianati...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the first-ever three-person episode of You, Me and An Album! Yankees beat writer Lindsey Adler of The Athletic and play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown (ESPN, Baltimore Orioles) join me to discuss Oasis’ 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe. We talk about what makes Oasis a band that one can get immersed in, which tracks were Lindsey’s and Kevin’s favorites, and lots of talk abou...