Episodes

Today we're sharing an episode from our friend Sam Sanders over at NPR’s It's Been a Minute podcast. This year marks the 35th anniversary of Janet Jackson's classic album, Control. That album was her first real commercial hit and, looking back, helped redefine all of pop music. It also helped establish two star producers in Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In the late 80s and 90s, Janet was one of the biggest stars of our time—right up there with her brother Michael and Madonna. And yet, Jackson isn't...

Pino Palladino and Blake Mills are renowned session musicians who recently collaborated on their own album, Notes With Attachments. It’s an experimental, jazz-leaning project that blew Rick Rubin’s mind. Pino Palladino is a bass player who has played on records with everyone from D’Angelo to The Who to Adele. Guitarist Blake Mills co-founded the band Dawes in 2005, and he has gone on to release critically acclaimed solo albums and produce records for the Alabama Shakes, John Legend and Fiona App...

Welcome to part two of Rick Rubin’s conversation with Neil Young. Today we'll hear how Neil's song “I Believe In You” from his 1970 masterpiece After the Gold Rush inspired a mystical experience for Rick. Neil also talks about recording After the Gold Rush and the parallels between that album and his latest release, Barn. And, Neil explains why he started writing and recording music around the cycles of the moon, and his massive archive of unreleased material that spans several decades. Subscri...

When we first talked about making Broken Record, we had a short list of absolute dream guests for the podcast and Neil Young was at the top of that list. So when Neil’s new record, Barn, was announced and we were told he wanted to speak with Rick about it we were beyond excited. On today’s episode, Rick and Neil talk about the new album, and all of the archival projects he plans on releasing in the coming year. They also reminisce about the time they spent working together on some abandoned son...

24 year-old singer/songwriter Faye Webster stopped by Shangri-La earlier this month in between stops on her tour opening for Wilco to chat with Justin Richmond and play some songs off of her latest album, I Know I’m Funny haha. Faye started releasing music independently when she was just 16 years-old. In 2017 her second album was released through Awful Records—home to the Atlanta hip-hop collective. Faye was a bit of an outlier on the rap-heavy label but working with them gave her a different pe...

Today we have a special Broken Record Holiday episode with Nashville singer Amanda Shires. Shires’ new holiday album, For Christmas, isn’t meant to make you feel merry and bright. Instead it’s an acknowledgment of the complicated feelings that can come along with the holidays, like disappointment, longing and maybe a little bit of lust. In addition to her solo career, Amanda Shires plays fiddle and sings in her husband Jason Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit. She is also a founding member of the fema...

Mary Gauthier is a folk singer/songwriter whose songs have quite literally saved her life. Writing music did not come easily to Gauthier. She began abusing drugs and alcohol as a young girl growing up in Louisiana. After years of struggling with addiction, Gauthier got clean at age 27 and began frequenting open mics around Boston. She released her debut album, Dixie Kitchen, in 1997 and moved to Nashville not long after. She has since become known for her ability to write vivid, literary-style l...

Michelle Zauner is the lead singer and creative force behind the indie, dream pop band, Japanese Breakfast. This year Zauner released a series of career-defining projects that propelled her band to widespread critical acclaim including her New York Times best-selling memoir, Crying In H Mart, and Japanese Breakfast's third and most ambitious album, Jubilee. On today’s episode Broken Record producer Leah Rose talks to Michelle Zauner about her triumphant year, and exactly how big she wants her ba...

Justin Richmond shares the first chapter of a new book he's been working on with Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam. It’s called Miracle And Wonder, Conversations with Paul Simon. Download the audiobook today at miracleaudiobook.com and receive an exclusive listener's guide featuring additional commentary from Bruce Headlam and the producers of Miracle and Wonder. Miracle and Wonder is culled from 30 hours of conversations between Malcolm, Bruce and Paul himself. Paul breaks down his musical ev...

According to Time Magazine, singer Angelique Kidjo is “Africa’s premier diva.” Kidjo started out singing traditional music in her native Benin, West Africa when she was a teenager. In 1983, she escaped the conflict-riddled Benin for Paris, where she studied music and eventually signed her first record deal with Island Records. Kidjo has since released 16 albums and won four World Music Grammys. Her latest album, Mother Nature, was released in June and features young African musicians like Sampa ...

Pastor T.L. Barrett has been known on Chicago’s South side as a religious and community leader for 50 years. But it wasn’t until recently that people started to uncover Barrett’s trove of gospel music. In the 1970s, Barrett began making recordings of the music performed in his church. These were sermons he’d turn into songs that sat around for years until rappers started sampling them in the last decade. People like Kanye West, T.I., DJ Khalid, Alicia Keys. All this recent attention on Pastor T....

Today we are sharing an episode of Pushkin’s newest show, Backstage Pass, hosted by Eric Vetro, the voice coach to the stars. From Camila Cabello, to Shawn Mendes, to John Legend, Eric Vetro has guided your favorite singers during some of the most iconic moments of their musical lives. Today we'll hear Justin Richmond talk to Eric about his journey to becoming the most trusted celebrity voice coach. Then you'll get a preview of Backstage Pass with Ariana Grande, where she talks to Eric about he...

If you’ve sung along to a power ballad in the last 30 years, chances are you’re already intimately familiar with Diane Warren’s songs. Some of her biggest hits include Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me,” and Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.” Over the span of her 35 year-career, Diane Warren has penned hits for hip-hop, country, R&B, and adult contemporary artists. In late August she finally released her own album, The Cave Sessions Volume 1, The g...

On her intimate new album Wary + Strange, Amythyst Kiah sings her heart out about losing her mom to suicide, and what it’s like being the only black person in the room at country gigs. She created the album with Phoebe Bridger’s producer, Tony Berg, and the result is a project expertly fuses Kiah’s love for ‘90s alt-rock with her old-time, country sensibility. Amythyst Kiah performs two of her new songs on today’s episode and talks to Bruce Headlam about what it was like for a black teengager t...

Houston rapper Scarface is one of the most recognizable, respected voices in hip-hop. When he was just 17 years-old, Scarface was recruited to join Bushwik Bill and Willie D in the Geto Boys. The group was one of Rick Rubin’s earliest rap signings for his post Def Jam label, Def American. On today’s episode, Scarface and Rick reminisce about working together, and Face talks about how his recent experience with covid was eerily similar to his classic verse on “Mind Playing Tricks On Me.” Scarfac...

Cristobal Tapia de Veer is the composer and musician behind Mike White’s HBO show, White Lotus. The sounds in the score range from percussive African and Latin American instruments to guttural human chants. On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to de Veer about how he came up with White Lotus’ striking soundscape. De Veer plays stems from the score and explains about how he initially set out to create a Hawaiian Hitchcock sound. He also talks about how he created the signature tribal-sounding...

Lindsey Buckingham’s signature finger-style guitar is perhaps as recognizable as the countless classic songs he wrote while he was in Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham is a self-taught guitar virtuoso and songwriter who famously joined Fleetwood Mac in the mid ‘70s with his then girlfriend, Stevie Nicks. The band had been around since ‘67 with various singers, guitarists and songwriters. The only constant was their rhythm section: drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. But the band didn’t blow u...

Ringo Starr is one of the most iconic musicians living today. Famed drummer for The Beatles and a prolific songwriter in his own right, at 81, Ringo’s gearing up to release his latest EP, Change The World. Rick Rubin and Ringo recorded this interview on the day it was announced that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed away. On today’s episode you’ll hear Ringo reminisce about partying with Charlie and Led Zeppelin's drummer John Bonham. Ringo also talks about how he was a drunk heckler a...

John Hiatt is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter whose songs have been covered by a wide range of popular artists including Iggy Pop, Paula Abdul and Jimmy Buffet. Hiatt recorded his latest album, Leftover Feelings, with the Jerry Douglas Band. Douglas, who’s a famed producer and session musician, has won 14 Grammys for his solo work and collaborations with a slew of successful musicians. On today’s episode John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas perform three songs off their new album and talk to Bruce ...

Henry Rollins speaks with Rick Rubin from Shangri-La pre-pandemic and in full Rollins fashion, the stories just poured out of him. Henry talks about the time he was christened a lead singer by H.R. from Bad Brains, the day he woke up and realized he was done writing music, and why he’ll never be the old guy on stage performing his greatest hits. Subscribe to Broken Record’s YouTube channel to hear all of our interviews: https://www.youtube.com/brokenrecordpodcast and follow us on Twitter @Broke...

Jaden Smith has proved to be much more than just the sum of his famous parents. At 23 he’s spent more than half of his life working as an actor, a musician, and an entrepreneur. Since the release of Jaden’s debut mixtape in 2012, he has gone on to put out three studio albums that loosely follow a semi-autobiographical character named Syre who chases sunsets after a painful breakup. Jaden’s latest album, Cool Tape Volume 3: Day Tripper’s Edition, picks up with Syre’s personal journey—but this tim...

Growing up in a family full of musicians, Lukas Nelson was basically raised on stage. He started playing guitar in his dad Willie Nelson’s band when he was just 11 years-old. In 2008, Lukas formed his acclaimed band, Promise of the Real, who’ve also spent the last six years as Neil Young’s touring band. In 2017 Lukas was hired as Bradley Cooper's authenticity consultant for A Star Is Born. Lukas also co-wrote songs on the movie's soundtrack including the unforgettable opening riff of "Shallow." ...

The Broken Record team has been revisiting some of our favorite episodes and releasing new extended cuts via PushNik, our Apple Podcasts subscription program. Today we’re giving you a taste of what those cuts sound like with the extended, ad-free cut of Rick Rubin's conversation with Brian Eno. This episode was recorded just before the debut of Eno’s Sonos radio station, The Lighthouse, where Eno’s programmed days worth of unreleased tracks from various eras in his career. In this episode we get...

Over Jeff Goldblum's 50-year acting career, he’s played dozens of unforgettable roles. Off-camera, Jeff Goldblum is also a surprisingly dedicated Jazz pianist who has been playing in clubs and bars for over 30 years. He’s released two albums with his band the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Their latest, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, features vocals from Gregory Porter, Fiona Apple, and Miley Cyrus. On today's episode Broken Record host Justin Richmond and producer Leah Rose talk to Goldblum abou...