In this savory and sweet episode of Introverted but Willing to Discuss Tori Amos, we are joined by Timothy Pakron, cookbook author, photographer, food stylist, recipe architect, gardener, and the creative force behind Mississippi Vegan.

Timothy’s acclaimed cookbook Mississippi Vegan reimagines Southern, Cajun, and Creole cuisine through a plant-based lens, with recipes rooted in the food, land, traditions, and family stories of his Mississippi Gulf Coast childhood. His work celebrates place, memory, beauty, queerness, ritual, and the ever-evolving idea of comfort.

But behind all that lush, edible magic is something else we obviously needed to discuss: Timothy is a huge Tori Amos fan. In this conversation, we talk about his personal Tori origin story, the songs and performances that shaped him, and the creative world he has built through food, gardening, music, and self-making.

We also get into the full-circle magic of Timothy’s forthcoming book Garden Variety being endorsed by none other than Tori herself — a moment that feels less like “famous person liked my book” and more like an artist who helped shape Timothy’s inner world finding her way into something he created from that very world.

Using Timothy’s special Garden Variety-inspired YouTube playlist as our guide, we wander through gardens, kitchens, songs, sensuality, Southernness, memory, and the strange little portals that open when music, food, and creative devotion meet.

Join us as we show you the things you’ve been missing, show you the ways you forgot to be speaking, and show you the ways to get back to the garden.

Mississippi Vegan instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mississippivegan/

Timothy's Garden Variety playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwpcDMwM6mqjq9stvIPBa5c25kYUglMDg&si=wxNxzAbIdjzn1u8q

Tori Amos offers quarantine comfort with a recipe for vegan mushroom stew: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/04/849110966/tori-amos-offers-quarantine-comfort-with-a-recipe-for-vegan-mushroom-stew

Welcome to all of our sonic librarians and album archivists! In this episode we are doing something extremely dangerous to our reputations in the Tori fandom, and maybe even with Tori herself… We are ranking the albums.

AAHHHHHHhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before anyone lights a candle circle around their #1 album and starts sending nasty messages, this is not definitive, objective, or scientific Tori scholarship. This is just three longtime fans having fun and seeing where our hearts land right now, in this particular moment, because honestly In Times of Dragons has scrambled our brains a little bit. The new album has us realizing some albums have quietly climbed the ranks while others maybe hit us differently than they used to. And this new one came crashing in.

To be clear: this isn’t about declaring “the best” Tori Amos album. It’s about where these records live for us right now, what’s grown with us.

Will we contradict ourselves? Absolutely. Will we offend somebody by ranking their favorite at the bottom? Completely. But that’s part of the fun. As a wise woman once said, “if it’s too loud turn it up” and we’re going to do just that.

So unzip your religion, lower your expectations for objectivity, and let’s rank some Tori Amos albums!

RANKED LIST ***SPOILER***
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16 Midwinter Graces
15 The Beekeeper
14 Ocean to Ocean
13 Unrepentant Geraldines
12 Abnormally Attracted to Sin
11 Night of Hunters
10 Little Earthquakes
9 American Doll Posse
8 Strange Little Girls
7 In Times of Dragons
6 To Venus and Back
5 Boys for Pele
4 Under the Pink
3 Scarlet’s Walk

2 Native Invader

1 From the Choirgirl Hotel

We’re joined today by John Philip Shenale. AGAIN! What a compliment. JPS is a producer, composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, and one of Tori Amos’ most essential longtime creative collaborators. He’s been behind some of the most defining sonic worlds in her catalog for decades.

In this episode, we go deep into 23 Peaks, the closing track from In Times of Dragons. And while we don’t seek to be completist or archivist with this look at 23 Peaks, we know that people want more. This song is not really just a song. It feels more like crossing a threshold into an entirely new world. Ethereal, devastating, cinematic, cathartic, hopeful. And already one of the most talked-about, deeply felt moments in the Tori Amos catalog, even though we’ve only held this song in our hands for merely 2 official weeks.

Listen to our Q&A with John Philip Shenale on 23 Peaks.