Music Is My Life

Lee "Scratch" Perry on working with Bob Marley, inventing dub, and a lifetime of being "the Upsetter."

Ian Parton and Ninja of the Go! Team talk about how to turn a solo kitchen recording project into an energetic live ensemble that stays together for nearly 20 years.

Joe Wong talks to Pat Healy on hosting The Trap Set podcast, creating his solo debut, "Nite Creatures," and scoring for shows like Russian Doll and Master of None. Visit musicismylifepod.com and save…

Molly Tuttle’s brand new … but i’d rather be with you is a collection of seemingly disparate cover songs—running the gamut from Rancid to the Grateful Dead—that got the singer through tough times in …

Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz on the eve of releasing Haunted Painting, her second album under the SAD13 moniker, discusses her life in music, words, and math. Math? Yes, math!

Summer’s here and the time is right for taking time to appreciate the legendary Martha Reeves, of “Dancing in the Street” fame! Along with her backing singers, the Vandellas, Martha Reeves recorded o…

Janet Billig Rich became interested in music when she first saw the Replacements. After taking in about 100 shows she went on to sell merch at indie rock shows, intern at Caroline Records, and then m…

Vanessa Carlton speaks candidly about the seedy underbelly of the music industry, and why followups to “A Thousand Miles” were more successful than the men on her team wanted her to believe. She disc…

Sam Hales is the songwriter, singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and now the producer of most of Jungle Giants’ music. They have released three albums and two EPs, and for the first EP, Sam wor…

Lisa Loeb shares how her parents encouraged her and her siblings' musical development, but cautioned them against going into the music industry. But now they are all musicians. She also shares how sh…

Matt Ward discusses how a closeted $25 guitar and a Beatles book started him on a journey that led him to his latest album, Migration Stories. He also discusses collaborating with Zooey Deschanel in …

Katherine Paul discusses Black Belt Eagle Scout, her youth on the Swinomish reservation, her fondness for her Radical Indigenous Queer Feminist T-shirt, how working as a booker at a club helped her g…

Ron Pope wrote "A Drop in the Ocean," a mammoth hit that he had no idea would resonate with an audience so much. Then he wrote "One Grain of Sand" and enjoyed similar astronomical success. He talks t…

Spider Stacy met Shane MacGowan at a Ramones gig in England when they were both teens. Shortly after, they formed the Pogues, a band that merged folk styling and punk rock delivery with Irish rebel s…

You may know Andy Stack as one half of the duo Wye Oak, along with Jenn Wasner. But he’s also one WHOLE of Joyero, whose debut came out on Merge in 2019. He talks to Pat Healy as Wye Oak assembles fo…

Lumar LeBlanc, Julian Gosin, and Marcus Hubbard, three generations of the New Orleans band Soul Rebels discuss how high school marching band was fundamental to their musical development, how the orig…

Ritzy Bryan of the Joy Formidable discusses why her Welsh heritage is so important to her music, how her time on Atlantic Records helped inform her understanding of the music business, and how her gu…

Bonnie Hayes talks songwriting for Bonnie Raitt, touring with Bob Seger, playing keys for Billy Idol, and being blown away by the Sex Pistols in 1978, and how all of that led to her coming to teach a…

With a career that spans more than 60 years, and includes just about as many hits, Chip Taylor doesn’t need to write any more songs. But that doesn’t mean he’s showing any signs of stopping. He relea…