Tell You What! the Podcast

Musician and songwriter Jordie Lane spent some time at Tell You What! Studios to talk with us about his creative life and his new album, Habitual. Jordie talks about his early days growing up in Australia; adventures he’s had since coming to America working their way into his songs; and how recording this album old school analog style was a decision made to break old habits. We hear of traveling circuses, unicycles, squeezeboxes, and sunburn; and Jordie shares some fascinating insights into his somewhat unorthodox creative process. Habitual is a truly excellent record, capturing Jordie’s gift for stories, his sense of humor and his varied musical talents in a wonderful collection of thoughtfully produced songs.

Jason Narducy is quite a busy fellow . He graciously made the time to talk about his musical work and his new book, Mostly the Van, a wonderfully entertaining collection of stories woven from his fascinating life. A man of many projects, Jason is currently spending time touring with Chicago actor Michael Shannon on their highly acclaimed live project playing the music of R.E.M. Jason has been a member of Bob Mould’s band for several decades, plays bass on tour with the indie band Superchunk, and recently toured playing guitar and singing backup vocals for the emo band Sunny Day Real Estate. His solo project, Split Single has released three albums featuring contributions from the likes of Spoon’s Britt Daniel, John Stirratt of Wilco, and R.E.M.’s Mike Mills. We discuss how nice it is to live in our shared hometown of Evanston, how Jason wrote the songs for a staged musical based on his ten year old self’s punk band Verboten, playing a show (and sleeping) in Bill Berry’s childhood home, and Michael Shannon’s podcast hosting skills. You can order a copy of Mostly the Van at Porchlight Books, free shipping available; it’s a fun and compelling read and a “Tell You What!” book club featured selection.

Cody Diekhoff is the person behind the musical moniker Chicago Farmer; he has been performing under that name both as a solo act and as a band for over two decades. Chicago Farmer’s recently released album, “Homeaid” is an excellent collection of songs; Cody and his band the Field Notes deliver his stories of rural life, family, and midwestern history with passion and integrity. In our conversation Cody discusses his life journeys and musical arc as he travelled from his small farm town in Illinois across the highways of America on tours, his time living in Chicago, and back down to the Illinois heartland again, all the while penning his working class folk songs. We hear about what he learned from his friendship with the late Todd Snider, the use of humor and storytelling in his songcraft and performances, and losing a talent show to farmers shooting marshmallows out of their noses.

I had a great chat with Soren Staff from the Eau Claire, Wisconsin based band Them Coulee Boys. The band released their fifth full length album last year, “No Fun in the Chrysalis”, it’s an excellent record on which Soren really displays his songwriting skills. We discuss the creative environment that is Eau Claire, and how Them Coulee Boys, who are known for their raucous, fun and emotionally charged shows, work to involve their audiences in the live experience. We spend some time digging in the songwriting weeds - there is talk of complicated rhyme schemes (what rhymes with toothbrush?) and unresolved choruses. Enjoy this conversation and then spend some time with “No Fun in the Chrysalis”, both great listens.

I sat down with Rob Miller to discuss his new book “The Hours are Long but the Pay is Low; a Curious Life in Independent Music”. Rob was co-founder of the Bloodshot Records label here in Chicago, which featured independent artists that blended the spirit of punk and country music. Although Bloodshot nurtured unknown artists into grammy winners and sellers of hundreds of thousands of albums, Miller and the label remained fiercely independent for more than 25 years, helping build the music community in Chicago and prioritizing off-the-beaten-path showcases, indie record stores, and music venues like the ones Miller worked at in his boyhood city of Detroit as a stage manager, roadie, and end-of the-night custodian. It’s a great book that weaves a funny and compelling underdog story of the championing of music and musicians that would have otherwise likely fallen through the cracks of the corporate music complex; Rob was a fun guest with a fascinating tale to spin.