WNXP Podcasts

In Nashville, there are more people who work in the music industry per capita than any other city in the world. It’s the perfect setting for Music Citizens, a series about the people behind the scenes who make music work. Episode 1 is about Bruce Fitzpatrick, owner of The End. We’re doing this series at a time when independent music venues like The End are in trouble. And it’s all precariously held together by one 80-year old man who does the job of 10 people.Voices in the episode include: Jason Moon Wilkins — Host Justin Barney — Reporter, Producer Bruce Fitzpatrick — Owner of The End Alyson Estes — Assistant GM of The End Michelle Egnasko — Legacy Promotions Jason Ringenberg — Lead singer of Jason & the Scorchers Danie Pujol — Lead singer of Pujol Brennan Wedl – Musician Amy Dee – Owner of Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge This episode was produced by Justin Barney, Emily Siner and Jason Moon Wilkins. Mixing and Mastering by Michael Pollard. Special thanks to Tony Gonzalez, Jewly Hight, Rachel Iacovone, Marquis Munson, LaTonya Turner, Meribah Knight, Jesse Strauss, Carly Butler, Stephanie O’Byrne, Emily Young and everyone who helped. Institutional support from Metro Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, Metro Arts Thrive and First Horizon Foundation.Follow WNXP on social platforms as @WNXPNashville. and for more on Music Citizens you can head over to WNXP.org/musiccitizens/

Interview: Eric Bobo of Cypress Hill

Daisha McBride was just messing around when she started posting raps from her MTSU dorm room about a decade ago, but quickly got serious about her hip-hop career. She could’ve chased trends, or a record deal. Instead, she’s learned to veer away from what doesn’t work for her while steering towards what does. The paradox is that her new project, an EP titled People Like Me, offers both the clearest view of her creative and professional ethic to date and her most multi-faceted music-making. Senior music writer Jewly Hight, who’s chronicled McBride’s evolution over the years, digs in to the latest phase.

WNXP and Nashville Public Radio are proud to announce a new podcast series about the people in the music industry who make music work: Music Citizens. Each episode will explore the behind the scenes jobs of music's working class and the folks who do them. Episode one features The End’s owner/operator Bruce Fitzpatrick, “The Lifer.”Music Citizens launches its first episode on Thursday, June 20, on 91.ONE FM, at wnxp.org and through all podcast outlets.

Donald "DJ" Johnson is the percussionist for, and one third of, the Texas trio Khruangbin, which released its fourth studio LP called A La Sala in April. The band that draws inspiration from funk, soul and psychedelic rock made all across the globe is currently touring the states and playing A La Sala front-to-back. They also play Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee June 14. Hear Johnson describe dusting off the rust to prepare for touring this year, how the band continues to grow and connect with each record, how festival sets necessarily differ from Khruangbin headlining shows and an item he's learned he cannot live without while traveling.

Saturday is 615 Day with a daytime event happening at the National Museum of African American Music, and at night, our subject for this week’s What Where When-sday: 615 Day at The Basement East. WNXP spoke with Gee Slab of Six One Tribe about the event. 

Before his show at City Winery Nashville on Monday, Terrace Martin, producer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, joined us to discuss when he fell in love with music, his creative process, working with Dinner Party, and what to expect from his live show on Tuesday. 

 In honor of Black Music Month, this week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Sound Makers happening throughout June at the National Museum of African American Music with Dion Brown and Noelle Taylor. 

Brother duo Hermanos Gutiérrez's second LP for Nashville-based label Easy Eye Sound is called Sonido Cósmico, which finds the instrumental guitar band leaving the desert and ascending to space thanks to their trusted blood relative synchronicity you just can't fabricate, plus the help of extra instrumentalists in Music City. Hear the conversation with Estevan and Alejandro  Gutiérrez from WNXP's Sonic Cathedral discussing our Record of the Week, Sonido Cósmico, released in full on June 14.

 This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Blue June Music Fest with John Vincent III. Happening at Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday, the touring one-day music fest will highlight folk, Americana, roots and country through local and non-local artists from Cece Coakley, Kara Jackson, and Vincent himself. He joined us to talk about how the event came together. 

Jack Antonoff has produced albums for Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent and FKA Twigs in the past couple years, he even co-produced the most recent Kendrick Lamar diss track, but what is a Jack Antonoff album like when he is in front of the mic instead of behind the producers booth? The result is our Record of the Week on WNXP.

Mannequin Pussy is impossible to ignore. Sure, the name catches your attention immediately, but the music holds you hostage. The Philadelphia rock band combines power pop with punk to create unapologetic, in-your-face anthems. On paper, the combination shouldn’t work, but Mannequin Pussy’s latest album I Got Heaven proves time and time again that it does, weaving in and out from lush harmonies and hazy guitars to abrasive yelling and shredding.

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Mindful Creative “Off the Record.” Taking place at 100 Taylor on Thursday, the mix and mingle for the creative community of Nashville will be a vinyl show and tell, discussing your favorite records and the art that inspires us to create. Kaylah Symone, the founder of Mindful Creative, spoke to us about the event.

 When you hear the title of Chicano Batman's latest album, Notebook Fantasy, you might be reminded of that time in school when your imagination took you in another direction from the subject the teacher was teaching. As our minds would float off into these hopes and dreams, as young people, we would use our notebook to illustrate those ideas. Guitarist Carlos Arevalo says it represented this time when you were young, or you could be any age, and you write down your hopes, dreams and aspirations in your journal. This was that him, Bardo Martinez, and Eduardo Arenas vision on this record. Aspiring to be greater than the last record and the records before that.

Office Dog is a newer band out of Auckland, New Zealand — just now about to embark on its first U.S. tour in support of New West Records labelmates Nada Surf — born from the solo artist burnout of singer-songwriter-guitarist Kane Strang, who sought the collaboration of friends Mitchell “Mitch” Innes (drums) and Rassani “Ras” Tolovaa (bass). Office Dog’s debut record is called ‘Spiel’ and we spoke to Strang about its creation.

Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden were in their early twenties when they painted their faces for the album cover of their decade-defining album Oracular Spectacular in 2007. They were self-proclaimed psychonauts exploring the subconscious unknown though heroic doses of psychedelic drugs, looking to find what any twenty-year-old is looking for, the answers to life. And what did they find? The answer comes after a decade of reflection in the last song off their new album Loss of Life, which is a bit of a trip in itself.

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Creative Girls Rock Expo: Broken Crayons Still In Color at Tennessee State University with founder and CEO Charmin Bates. The organization based in Nashville mission is to educate and empower young girls to utilize their creative talents in unique ways. In honor of Mental Health and Wellness Month, this Saturday they are offering a Creative Girls Rock Expo: Broken Crayons Steel C.O.L.O.R., an acronym for Cultivating Our Lives One Radiant Hue at a time. Main host, along with Creative Girls Rock, is an organization called Smooth founded by Sabrina Greenlee, the mother of DeAndre Hopkins, wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans. 

Former WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month Kyshona has a collaborative songwriting program called Your Song whose mission is helping people find their voices through songs, writing their story, and find healing through songwriting. On her latest album Legacy, our WNXP Record of the Week, she does just that. An album she’s been making for a decade goes back multiple generations of her family legacy and history. She discusses the album’s concept and the importance of family on this record.

Most bands that start in a college dorm room don’t last past graduation. Not Rainbow Kitten Surprise. The group came close to calling it quits, but its willingness to evolve has kept it going for well over a decade. Leading up to the new album “Love Hate Music Box,” R-K-S underwent profound change. Senior music writer Jewly Hight reports it’s the band’s first project since singer Ela Melo transitioned ... and imagined new musical possibilities for the group.

This Saturday, the Strawberry Jubilee makes its return. Courtney Cotton oversees marketing at the Nashville Farmers Market spoke about the event and Sunday is, of course, Mother’s Day. So, if you don’t have plans yet, listen up. Nashville Public Radio’s resident foodie Rachel Iacovone is here to save the day.