Folkie Americana indie hero Drew Holcomb joins us to chat about the songwriting process and which of his songs he's not a fan of!

PART ONE
Scott and Paul debrief the experience of recently seeing the 74-year-old Bruce Springsteen perform with the energy of a teenager

PART TWO
Our in-depth conversation with Drew Holcomb

ABOUT DREW HOLCOMB
Memphis native Drew Holcomb first broke through on the national scene with the 2011 album Chasing Someday, credited to his band Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors. Subsequent studio albums, such as Good Light, Medicine, Souvenir, and Dragons hit the Top 10 on Billboard's folk and indie charts and earned Holcomb and his bandmates a loyal following. The fiercely independent group is widely regarded as a live performance powerhouse, while Holcomb's original songs have found particular resonance with music supervisors who have made them staples of film and TV show synch placements. Whether working with the band, solo, or as a duo with his wife and fellow singer/songwriter, Ellie Holcomb, Drew's literate folk-based Americana represents a craftman's approach to the songwriting process. The most recent album from Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors is called Strangers No More.

Grammy winners and astonishingly fabulous musicians Chris Thile, Sean Watkins, and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek join us to chat about their fresh approach to songwriting on their most recent album, Celebrants.

PART ONE
Paul and Scott chat about musical virtuosity, Beyonce, Ricky Skaggs, and the blending of musical genres.

PART TWO
Our in-depth conversation with Nickel Creek

ABOUT NICKEL CREEK

GRAMMY Award-winning trio Nickel Creek—mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins, and guitarist Sean Watkins—formed a group as young children in Southern California and honed their chops on the bluegrass circuit for a decade before signing with Sugar Hill Records. Their platinum-selling debut self-titled album was produced by Alison Krauss in 2000 and revolutionized bluegrass and folk music, helping usher in a new era of what we now know as Americana. The genre-bending group has earned nine Grammy nominations across categories in bluegrass, country, folk, contemporary folk, Americana, and American Roots.

Each member of Nickel Creek has taken part in a number of outside projects over the years. Thile is a 2012 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and served as the host of the radio show Live from Here (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion) from 2016 to 2020. He has also released collaborative albums with world-renowned musicians as well as six studio albums with his Grammy-winning band Punch Brothers. Sean Watkins is a co-founder of Watkins Family Hour alongside Sara, which has released three albums and maintains a long-running collaborative show in Los Angeles. Sean has also released a string of solo albums, while Sara’s extracurricular projects include the aforementioned Watkins Family Hour, as well as the Grammy-winning roots trio I’m With Her. Sara has released four studio albums and has contributed fiddle to recordings by artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, the Killers and John Mayer.

The Grammy-nominated Celebrants, Nickel Creek’s fifth studio album and first project in nine years, was recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A and released to overwhelming critical acclaim in 2023.

Ninety-eight-year-old Songwriters Hall of Famer Alan Bergman chats with us about a wide-ranging career that started with Johnny Mercer and continues to today.

PART ONE
Paul and Scott talk about the Abba Voyage virtual concert and scare themselves with the possibilities of digital technology.

PART TWO
Our in-depth interview with Alan Bergman

ABOUT ALAN BERGMAN
Alan Bergman and his late wife Marilyn joined forces professionally in the 1950s to create one of the most successful songwriting teams of all time. Though both musicians, the pair are best known as lyricists, and they found particular success writing for the silver screen. The Bergmans earned eleven Grammy nominations, including four nominations for Song of Year. They won the Song of the Year honor for “The Way We Were” from the Barbra Streisand film of the same name. They received fifteen Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song, winning twice for “The Windmills of Your Mind” and “The Way We Were,” and earning a record-setting three nominations in a single year in 1982. The following year they won their third Oscar, for Best Original Song Score, for the Yentl soundtrack, which included Best Original Song nominees “Papa, Can You Hear Me” and “The Way He Makes Me Feel.” Other highlights from the Bergman catalog include “Nice ‘n Easy” performed by Frank Sinatra, “The Summer Knows,” recorded by Sarah Vaughn, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” which they wrote with Neil Diamond, “Someone in the Dark,” which Michael Jackson recorded for the E.T. soundtrack, and “I Knew I Loved You,” which was recorded by Celine Dion. Additionally, the four-time Emmy award winners were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and were recipients of the National Music Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award. The Bergmans held a number of executive positions in various organizations, including serving on the executive committee of the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and as board members of the National Academy of Songwriters. From 1994-2009 Marilyn served as the president of ASCAP. Their songs have been recorded by Fred Astaire, Johnny Mathis, Sergio Mendes, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Stan Getz, Dusty Springfield, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Glen Campbell, Sting, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, Norah Jones, and countless others. We’re thrilled to share this conversation with the now 98-year-old Alan Bergman, recorded at his home back in August.