Off The Record - An American Songwriter Podcast

On this episode of Off the Record, host Lisa Konicki talks with Shaboozey about his path from Virginia, to the top of the charts. He explains how hip-hop’s sense of regional pride pushed him to find a sound for his home state—“I want to bring a feeling and create a sound for Virginia that I felt like we didn’t have”—and reveals that the vocal on “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was the original demo, recorded with just a guitar.Most of the episode centers on his new album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, a revisionist Western about a sheriff’s daughter seeking revenge on the outlaws who killed her father. “That’s why I call it an epic. I don’t really just call it a story,” he says. He walks through how the song “Stray Bullet” sparked the whole storyline and how the album ties into a companion comic. He also talks about recording interludes with Sam Elliott and Jamie Foxx and working with guests like Orville Peck, Kehlani, and Teyana Taylor.Shaboozey opens up about his imposter syndrome and his ambitions in film, including a TV pilot about the DC punk scene. He closes with advice for aspiring songwriters: “It changed my life just trusting my ideas. So I think that’s my advice. Trust your ideas.”Let's go Off the Record with Shaboozey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Linda Perry joins host Lisa Konicki for the latest episode of Off the Record while in Nashville on tour with the Indigo Girls to discuss her new documentary and album, both titled Let It Die Here. The film follows a turbulent time in her life, including her mother entering hospice, her breast cancer diagnosis, and an emotional breakdown caught on camera.Perry also opens up about her songwriting process, which starts with chords and ad-libbing rather than lyrics, and puts melody and phrasing first. “I come from heart 100%,” she says. She admits that while she’s nurturing with other artists, she’s brutally hard on herself, and that watching the documentary is what finally unlocked her own songs.She discusses the making of the album, from writing “What Lies With You” at 2 a.m. and recording it with a full band and strings within hours, to turning her documentary score into the record’s instrumental interludes. Perry reflects on her complicated love for her mother, the closure they found in her final months, and the lesson she carries into raising her son: “The greatest teacher I had about what not to do is my mom.”Let’s go Off the Record with Linda Perry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the latest episode of Off the Record, Vince Gill sits down with host Lisa Konicki to look back on the moment he left Oklahoma as a teenager 50 years ago. That move is at the heart of his 50 Years From Home project, a monthly series of EPs drawn from roughly 150 new songs. As Gill puts it, “I don’t want to check out of here with a whole bunch of songs in the desk drawer.”Gill shares the stories behind the latest EP, Stillwater Night, from writing with wife Amy Grant to singing with daughter Corrinna, plus collaborations with artists like Wyatt Flores, HARDY and Post Malone. Gill also teases the upcoming Marty and Me with Marty Stuart and shares how he finally finished a song he’d been stuck on for 35 years. His guiding principle for it all: “Don’t impress me, but move me.”The conversation gets candid and funny, too, as Gill talks about getting fired by Ricky Skaggs, his concerns about AI in music, a heartfelt tribute to Dolly Parton, and behind-the-scenes stories from a decade with the Eagles. It’s a warm, vulnerable look at one of country music’s most beloved artists.Let’s go Off the Record with Vince Gill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Off the Record, Lisa Konicki sits down with Wynonna for a raw, revealing conversation. After a heartfelt tribute to the late Dolly Parton, the talk turns to The Hard Truth, the album Wynonna spent five years making with husband and producer Cactus Moser, and the first on which she wrote nine of the ten songs. She admits releasing something so personal is frightening, but explains why she had to: "We kept a secret and secrets keep you sick and there's no secret anymore."Wynonna walks through the stories behind the songs: discovering at 30 who her biological father was, only for him to die before they met; the grandmother who raised her spirits; her daughter's addiction and incarceration; and her complicated bond with her mother, Naomi Judd. "I love her so much that I forgot myself," she says, while describing the forgiveness the album helped her find. Her humor shines through too, as when she describes her two kids as "one on parole and one on patrol."Moser joins for the final stretch of the episode, sharing how the couple met on tour in 1989 and why he wanted the album's sound stripped-down and gritty. The episode closes on a hopeful note, with Wynonna teasing a more joyful next record. As she puts it, "The Hard Truth allowed me to be free."Let’s go Off the Record with Wynonna. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Off the Record, host Lisa Konicki talks with hit songwriter Jessie Jo Dillon, the first songwriter ever to win ACM Songwriter of the Year three years in a row. The episode opens with a game that pits her own hits against each other and includes a video tribute from actor-singer-songwriter Luke Grimes praising her work on his album Red Bird.Dillon talks about growing up as the daughter of legendary songwriter Dean Dillon, why she avoided songwriting at first, and how she approaches her craft: lyrics first, one clear emotion, and a focus on what the artist wants to say. She also shares stories behind hits like "Am I Okay?" with Megan Moroney, "10,000 Hours" with Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber, and Jelly Roll's FIFA anthem "Lighter."The episode ends with her new imprint, Gatsby, which she named after her favorite novel, and its first artist, Carter Faith. She also leaves us with advice to aspiring writers: “write from the heart and outwork everyone.”Let’s go Off the Record with Jessie Jo Dillon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices