Alchemy with Anthony Mason

The Irish singer CMAT, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, has had a big breakout over the past eighteen months, including an electrifying performance at Glastonbury. Her latest album, Euro-Country, won Britain's Ivor Novello — the prestigious songwriting award. She talks with us about why she resisted country music for years, the blunt advice from Charli xcx that changed her life, and the meticulous method behind every album. 00:00 Intro 01:00 Making sense of a breakout year 02:08 The dream: headlining the Olympia 03:52 The best part: the gigs 04:49 Glastonbury and the Pyramid Stage 08:11 Borrowing from Pulp ‘97 and hiring a fiddle player 08:53 Winning the Ivor Novello 10:40 “I’m going to be a pop star” 12:21 Studying the Beatles one download at a time 13:51 Trinity College and dropping out 17:40 Open mics, shop jobs, and £50 a show 20:26 The Charli XCX listening session 27:06 Brat and what it meant for Euro-Country 30:42 Sponsor: The FLAG Art Foundation 31:45 “I Want to Be a Cowboy, Baby!” and resisting country 33:13 Writing Taylor Swift rip-offs at 11 36:37 Inspiration vs. perspiration 42:31 Willie Nelson and having something to say 44:09 Her process: voice notes to corkboard 48:34 Every album has to be about something 52:38 Co-writing and label pressure on album two 58:03 The surprise songs: “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” and “Jamie Oliver Petrol Station” New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one. ⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠. For brand partnerships: [email protected] For press inquiries: [email protected] For bookings: [email protected] About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠: The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠. About Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Taj Mahal is a blues legend. He's won a handful of GRAMMYs, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and influenced generations of artists from Keith Richards to Hozier. "He's got it all together," Keith said, "and always did have." He was born Henry St. Claire Fredericks, Jr. in Harlem. A multi-instrumentalist and music scholar, Taj was exploring world music before it was even a genre. Taj, who once seriously considered becoming a farmer, has lost count of how many albums he's made. He's been making music since the '50s — and at 84, he's still on tour. 00:00 Welcome to Alchemy 00:36 Introducing Taj Mahal 01:39 The Unreleased Bill Withers Song & GRAMMY Wins 05:29 Family Roots: A Third-Generation Garveyite 11:05 Hearing Music Without Genre Lines 13:46 Rising Sons & the Ash Grove Days 17:04 The 1960s LA Scene & Opening for Otis Redding 19:05 UMass, Farming, and a 1979 Africa Tour 22:00 Music as a Spiritual Calling 25:07 A Word From Our Sponsor, the FLAG Art Foundation 26:19 Losing His Father Young 29:03 Learning to Write & the Story Behind "Taj Mahal" 31:32 Columbia, Clive Davis & the Blues Legends 35:16 Scoring "Sounder" & Life on the Road 39:12 Playing Alone: Connecting to "the Great Creator" 42:39 Songwriting, Enya, and His Philosophy on Music New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one. ⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠. For brand partnerships: [email protected] For press inquiries: [email protected] For bookings: [email protected] About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠: The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠. About Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Over the past decade, Carly Pearce has been one of country music’s most successful female artists with half a dozen platinum singles. She's won four ACM awards and another three CMAs. Her new album, “Honest Woman,” takes a bold look at the price of that success.  00:00 "I lost the ability to see myself" 01:02 Dollywood at 16, Nashville at 19 04:46 "Dream Come True" and the house at the end of the cul-de-sac 07:27 The award, and the text messages the next morning 10:36 The heartbreak ballad that felt like career suicide 11:33 Cleaning Airbnbs in a ten-year town 13:32 The caveman and the diamond 15:32 "It was whiplash" 19:29 Was it all worth it? 20:53 Circus animals: the truth about touring 22:56 Going back to her bluegrass roots 25:30 "There's no timeline" 28:30 The weirdo music kid who started writing at 11 31:11 The songs that scared her 32:31 "Church Girl," faith, and the backlash 36:03 Finding her sound with Dan Tyminski and Molly Tuttle 38:20 Losing busbee and what he told her at the end 41:20 Kelsea Ballerini, her safe place 44:53 Her mom's note: "You are enough" 49:00 Finding the joy again New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one. ⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠. For brand partnerships: [email protected] For press inquiries: [email protected] For bookings: [email protected] About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠: The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠. About Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Since 1993, every book by Barbara Kingsolver has made The New York Times bestseller list. Her last novel, “Demon Copperhead,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her latest, “Partita,” the story of a Tennessee piano teacher, is the book Kingsolver says she’s been waiting her whole life to write. 00:00 Intro 01:26 Book No. 19: Does It Ever Get Easier? 02:25 Digging for Gold: Throwing Out 100 Pages 04:36 Meet Partita's Piano Teacher 06:27 The Substack Post That Sparked the Novel 09:27 How Do You Follow Demon Copperhead? 12:11 A Novel Told in Seven Days 14:32 Young Love vs. Mature Love 18:34 Lying on the Floor With Her Father's Records 20:06 "Music Is Made of Tension" 22:41 Why She Left Music School 26:46 What "Partita" Means and the Toni Morrison Quote 28:34 Writing About Her Mother 31:24 Carrying Grief on the Page 33:13 Outlines, Excel Spreadsheets and Dickens 36:57 Characters Who Serve the Plot 39:44 The "Thrift Shop File" 41:47 Living With Dupuytren's Contracture 45:08 Why She Won't Use Speech-to-Text 48:12 Wendell Berry and What's Next New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one. ⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠. For brand partnerships: [email protected] For press inquiries: [email protected] For bookings: [email protected] About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠: The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠. About Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Brandon Flowers is best known as the frontman of The Killers. All seven of their albums have gone top 10 in the U.S. and to number one in the U.K. Flowers has also had a successful solo career and he’s back with his third solo album THRASHER, out August 21. 00:00 Cold Open 00:26 Welcome to Alchemy 01:05 Recording THRASHER Live in Nashville 02:38 Returning to His Nephi, Utah Roots 05:18 From Golf Course to First Songs 07:12 The Mentor Who Opened Up Music 08:48 Answering Dave Keuning's Ad and Becoming a Singer 12:36 Discovering His Frontman Persona 14:18 Family, Golf, and Finding His Own Lane 18:13 The Real People Behind THRASHER's Characters 22:06 Ambiguity and His Encounter with Elvis 26:46 Sponsor Break / The FLAG Art Foundation 29:01 Balancing Stage Persona and Family Life 30:15 22 Years Since Hot Fuss: Writing "Mr. Brightside" and "Human" 35:42 How Fan-Favorite Deep Cuts Emerge 38:06 Songwriting as a Daily Discipline 40:02 Two New Albums and Where The Killers Stand Now 42:38 Trusting His Own Judgment Over Critics 44:10 Vampire Weekend and Creative Competition 48:12 Closing Thanks New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one. ⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠. For brand partnerships: [email protected] For press inquiries: [email protected] For bookings: [email protected] About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠: The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠. About Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.