Walls of Sound

On this episode of Walls of Sound, we sit down with Brendan Canty, drummer, producer, composer, and a central figure in the D.C. music community through Deadline, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, and The Messthetics. We recorded this conversation a good while ago (as you can probably tell from the Kennedy Center discussion), back when we were still finding our footing with the podcast. Brendan reflects on formative spaces like Fort Reno, DC Space, and the 9:30 Club, along with free shows, all ages rooms, and the strange, fragile ecosystems that let scenes actually take root. It’s a wide ranging conversation about touring, venues, and why the places still matter as much as the music.

On Part Two of our Honky Tonk case study, we pick up when the genre hits the national spotlight. We start with Urban Cowboy and Gillies in Pasadena, when a real club turned into a movie set and the movie turned into a blueprint. Neon spreads, mechanical bulls become symbols, and the honky tonk stops feeling local. From there, we follow how honky tonk starts pulling in opposing directions. One side leans toward polish and crossover. The other stays tied to the barroom roots. We talk about how venues change when entertainment competes with the stage, how tourism districts turn into curated versions of themselves, and how the culture keeps pushing back through new traditionalists and smaller scenes. Part Two is about that tension, and why honky tonk never really disappears, even when it gets dressed up and sold back to us.

In Part One of this two-part episode, we look at the honky tonk as a real place, not the cartoon version people picture today. We talk about why these bars existed and who they were for. Honky tonks were working-class spaces where people went after long days to drink, dance, blow off steam, and get through the night. We trace how honky tonks grew out of older Southern nightlife like saloons, barrelhouses, juke joints, and dance halls, and how the rooms shaped the music. Loud crowds meant louder bands. Jukeboxes and electric instruments were practical tools in packed rooms where no one was going to stop talking. From Texas and Oklahoma to Bakersfield to Nashville and beyond, we follow honky tonk’s rise through the 1940s and 50s and the artists who helped define it, including Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Kitty Wells, and Webb Pierce. Part One sets the groundwork for why honky tonks mattered in the first place.

On this episode, we explore the San Francisco post punk scene from 1978 to 1984. A brief but explosive period that emerged from the collapse of the hippie era and the city’s long history of reinvention. We look at how disillusionment, politics, and geography helped fuel one of the most experimental and genre defying scenes in modern music. We trace the venues, bands, and ideas that shaped the moment, from Mabuhay Gardens and the Deaf Club to one off spaces, performance art, Target Video, and artists like Tuxedomoon, Chrome, Flipper, Crime, Dead Kennedys, and Negativland. What emerges is a portrait of a city that embraced risk, weirdness, and urgency, and in doing so changed the shape of underground music far beyond San Francisco.

On this episode of Walls of Sound, we sit down with John Strohm, who went from being a teenage hardcore punk drummer to founding the Blake Babies and becoming the guitar player for the Lemonheads. He served as president of Rounder Records and has represented artists like Alabama Shakes, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Phoebe Bridgers, The Civil Wars, Ruston Kelly, Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings, and The Red Clay Strays. We talk growing up in a small college town, early hardcore scenes, the economics of van tours in the 80s, and life-changing venue experiences. It is a conversation about building a life in music and how those early scenes still shape the work today.

In this episode of Walls of Sound, hosts Brian Teasley and Ryan Murphy head to Muscle Shoals to sit down with Traci Thomas, the publicist and longtime manager for Jason Isbell and many others. She shares hard earned lessons about slow growth, artist care, and why small rooms are the lifeblood of any scene. Thomas also talks about tending the legacy of Muscle Shoals and pushing it forward into a vibrant live ecosystem through community spaces, thoughtful venue culture, and events like ShoalsFest. From the lore of overly packed shows at the Slow Bar to the complex realities of touring, this is a grounded conversation about building sustainable careers and keeping a music town alive.

In this episode, Brian Teasley and Ryan Murphy talk with NYC music historian Jesse Rifkin, author of This Must Be the Place and creator of Walk on the Wild Side tours, about the vanished venues and shifting scenes of New York City. They explore how DIY culture, real estate, and memory collide in a city that keeps reinventing itself. It’s a love letter and a cautionary tale for anyone who has ever gotten lost in the noise.