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For generations of music lovers, the liner notes on albums were a central part of the way music was heard. You bought an album and it came with an accompanying narrative: a digression, an aside, a backstory—maybe even an invented history. We intuitively understood that great music required not just listening but conversation between the artist and the audience and the audience and the rest of the world.

Broken Record is a podcast that restarts those conversations—in a world without liner notes—for a new audience of music lovers.

Broken Record is hosted by Justin Richmond with interviews by producer Rick Rubin, writer Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam.

Most Recent Episode

Soccer Mommy

Soccer Mommy is one of the stand-out singer/songwriters to emerge over the last half decade. She was born Sophia Allison and raised in Nashville, Tennessee where she started playing guitar…

Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg came up in East London—Barking, Essex to be exact. It's fitting given the characteristic howl of his vocals. Listening to him these days, it’s hard not to recall…

Julian Lage & Don Was: Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Series

We occasionally field emails and DMs from Broken Record listeners telling us who they’d like to hear on the program. The past handful of years, one name has come up…

Charles Lloyd & Don Was: Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Series

A conversation with Charles Lloyd feels like a veritable interaction with the pages of history. I was continuously surprised throughout my conversation with Charles, along with Don Was, about the…

Meshell Ndegeocello & Don Was: Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Series

Meshell Ndegeocello doesn’t fit neatly into any “jazz” label - or any label of any kind for that matter. She’s a phenomenal bass player, deep songwriter, beautiful interpreter of song,…

Ron Carter & Don Was: Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Series

We’re continuing our celebration of Blue Note Records’ 85th Anniversary this week with a conversation with a certified living legend: Ron Carter. For starters Ron Carter was a key member…

Norah Jones & Don Was: Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Series

Blue Note is one of the first and longest standing institutions of Jazz music. Since its formation in 1939 the label has put out albums by Robert Glasper, Lee Morgan, John Coltrane,…

Wesley Morris & Robert Margouleff on Stevie Wonder

We have a two-part episode for you today in honor of the great Stevie Wonder. First we will hear the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Wesley Morris talk about the making…

Lainey Wilson

At just 8 years-old, Lainey Wilson announced to her family that she was destined to become a country music star. There were no other musicians in her family to speak…

Crowded House

Crowded House had one of the most enduring hits of the 80s with “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” The commercial and critical success of that song launched the Australian-New Zealand band…

Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq is one of the great R&B writers and producers of the last 30 years. He started out fronting and playing bass in the group Tony! Toni! Toné! with…

Suki Waterhouse

Suki Waterhouse started professional life as a model and actress in the UK. A full-fledged music career might’ve seemed far-fetched but she quickly found an authentic voice as a singer-songwriter.…

Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux is a jazz-inspired singer songwriter who got her start singing in street bands in Paris as a teenager. In 1996, Atlantic Records released Madeline’s debut album where she…

Remi Wolf

Singer, songwriter Remi Wolf burst out of the pandemic like a ray of light, spreading joy with her infectious production, capricious outlook and jaunty hooks. She appeared to come to…

Captain Kirk Douglas

Captain Kirk Douglas is the longtime guitarist for The Roots. Over the past 21 years he’s seen the group evolve from a touring act, to the house band for The Tonight…

Interpol’s Paul Banks

While Paul Banks is technically the lead singer of Interpol, he sees himself more as a member of a gang of musicians. Interpol formed in 1997 after lead guitarist Daniel…

Tinashe

Tinashe’s changing what success in pop music can look like. Back in 2014 her song "2 On" featuring Schoolboy Q hit big on Billboard. With major success looming, Tinashe released…

Heavy MakeUp

True to her Texas roots, Edie Brickell can seemingly find a song anywhere—including out of thin air. Here It Comes is the new album from Edie and her collaborators, CJ Camerieri and…

Shannon & The Clams

Shannon & The Clams were long time regulars in the Bay Area music scene. The band’s two main songwriters—Shannon Shaw and Cody Blanchard met in college in Oakland, California. They…

Randy Bachman

Randy Bachman is the Canadian guitarist and songwriter behind a slew of hits with the bands The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Although he was based far from the…

Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian made his first foray into public life as the idiosyncratic lead singer of the late ‘90s metal band System Of A Down. After releasing five platinum-selling albums with…

Camila Cabello

Camila Cabello is in the midst of a creative revival. Her brand new album, C,XOXO was recently dubbed “hyper-pop” by Rolling Stone in the wake of the frenetic first single, “I Luv…

John Leventhal

John Leventhal is a bit of a secret weapon in music. Though he started out as a session musician in the '80s, he quickly found writing and producing music for…

RAYE

"Genesis" the new work from RAYE discussed in this episode is out now: https://raye.orcd.co/genesis RAYE is an English pop singer/songwriter whose debut album, My 21st Century Blues, snagged Album Of the Year at…

Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser

Michael McDonald’s husky baritone is one of the most instantly recognizable voices from the ‘70s and ‘80s. As a member of The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and a hitmaking solo…

Sarah Jarosz

Sarah Jarosz is a singer/songwriter who also happens to be a killer banjo, guitar, and mandolin player. The Wimberly, Texas-native's latest album, Polaroid Lovers, was produced by former Broken Record…

DJ Premier

DJ Premier is one of the most celebrated producers in hip-hop history. Known as the architect of hip-hop’s venerated boom-bap sound, Preemo first caught people’s attention with Guru in Gang…

Corinne Bailey Rae

Corinne Bailey Rae independently released one of our favorite albums of 2023: Black Rainbows. Justin Richmond spoke to Corinne over Zoom at the end of the year about the place that…

Heart’s Ann Wilson

Ann Wilson is the powerhouse lead singer of the band Heart, whose celebrated classic debut album, Dreamboat Annie, came out nearly 50 years ago. Last week we featured an interview…

Heart’s Nancy Wilson

Guitarist and songwriter Nancy Wilson is one half of the rock band Heart, along with her older sister Ann Wilson. Nancy and Ann have been the face of the band…

Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament are two of the Seattle scene’s most foundational musicians from the 80’s and 90’s. Stone and Jeff started playing together in 1984 as members of…

Chris Robinson

16 years have passed since The Black Crowes released an album of new material. The world has changed a lot since then—and so have the Robinson brothers. Chris and Rich…

Stewart Copeland

Famed drummer for the Police and composer Stewart Copeland has one of the more fascinating bios in modern music. His father was a founding member of the CIA and his…

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake is one of the most high achieving pop phenomenons of the past three decades. In 1993 he helped relaunch the Mickey Mouse Club where he sang and danced alongside Rylan…

Brandi Carlile and Tish Melton

Brandi Carlile’s knack for uplifting the musicians she loves is exemplary. After her own hard-earned ascent to fame over the course of seven studio albums, Brandi started to turn her…

Natalia Lafourcade

Natalia Lafourcade is a force. As you’ll hear when she sings during our conversation today she has a gorgeous voice. But she’s also a deft songwriter who’s able to weave…

Kim Gordon

At 70 years-old, Kim Gordon—the former bassist and founding member of Sonic Youth—is just now making the most abrasive music of her career. She just dropped her second solo album, The…

PJ Harvey & John Parish

Polly Jean Harvey—better known as PJ Harvey—is without question one of the most gifted songwriters of our time. Her debut album, Dry, came out in 1993 and was what the…

Jason Isbell

The last couple of years have been huge for Jason Isbell. The Alabama-born singer-songwriter’s latest album Weathervanes won the Grammy for Best Americana album this year. He also snagged a role in…

IDLES

Since releasing their critically acclaimed debut album, Brutalism, in 2017, the British band IDLES have dropped four other albums in quick succession. The band’s bombastic sound brilliantly balances joy, chaos, and an…

Duff McKagan

In the minds of many rock fans, Duff McKagan will forever be known first and foremost as the bassist for Guns N' Roses. The band’s white-hot reign in the late…

James Fauntleroy

James Fauntleroy is one of the most prolific pop songwriters of the past 15-plus years. Some of his most prized placements include writing songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and…

Future Islands

The Baltimore-based synth-pop band Future Islands was first thrust into the national spotlight in 2014 after making their TV debut on The Late Show With David Letterman. The band’s unassuming frontman Samuel…

Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney has long been a safe space for band members Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. What started as a group born out of the feminist punk riot grrrl scene in…