Music

Music

episodes

Interviews with musicians and scholars of music about their new books.

Margaret Heffernan, "Embracing Uncertainty: How Writers, Musicians and Artists Thrive In An Unpredictable World" (Policy Press, 2025)

April 11, 2026

Embracing Uncertainty

Margaret Heffernan
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Most people hate and fear uncertainty. It causes such stress and anxiety that we often choose certain surrender over doubt, becoming passive, dependen…

David Arditi, "Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok" (Anthem Press, 2026)

April 7, 2026

Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy

David Arditi
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Who makes a living from the music industry? In Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok (Anthem Press, 2026) …

Peter Richardson, "Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine" (U California Press, 2026)

April 7, 2026

Brand New Beat

Peter Richardson
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Rolling Stone's first decade was truly rock and roll: chaotic, wild, and unpredictable. Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine (U Cal…

Daniel Rachel, "This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich" (Akashic Books, 2026)

April 4, 2026

This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll

Daniel Rachel
Hosted by Bradley Morgan

Over the last seven decades, some of rock 'n' roll's most celebrated figureheads have flirted with the imagery and theater of the Third Reich. From Ke…

Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn, "Dreaming Japanese" (Permuted Press, 2024)

April 3, 2026

Dreaming Japanese

Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn

Marty Friedman is a multi-platinum recording artist and government-appointed Ambassador to Japan Heritage. He has written three books in Japanese and …

Melissa Auf der Maur, "Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir" (DaCapo, 2026)

April 2, 2026

Even the Good Girls Will Cry

Melissa Auf der Maur
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Melissa Auf der Maur's new memoir, Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir(DaCapo, 2026) is a remarkably open-hearted, clear-eyed memoir of t…

The 50th Anniversary Tour of Patti Smith's Horses: A Conversation with Caryn Rose

March 28, 2026

Three Chords and Blessed Noise

Caryn Rose
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Caryn Rose's Three Chords and Blessed Noise (2026) is an ode to the lost art of the tour diary. In November of 2025, Patti Smith and her band embarked…

Martha Feldman, "Castrato Phantoms: Moreschi, Fellini, and the Sacred Vernacular in Rome" (Zone Books, 2026)

March 22, 2026

Castrato Phantoms

Martha Feldman
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Around 1830, opera houses stopped using castrati, and Rome and the Vatican became home to their glorious singing, engineered by surgery and intensive …

Mike Huguenor, "Elvis Is Dead, I'm Still Alive: The Story of Asian Man Records" (Clash, 2026)

March 21, 2026

Elvis Is Dead, I'm Still Alive

Mike Huguenor
Hosted by Gregory Soden

Sourced from over a hundred hours of interviews with musicians, producers, booking agents, label owners, writers, fans, employees, volunteers, friends…

Jewface: “Yiddish” Dialect Songs of Tin Pan Alley

March 16, 2026

Jewface

Hosted by YIVO Institute

With his fake beard, putty nose, and thick Yiddish accent, the “stage Jew” was once a common character in vaudeville, part of a genre that mocked immi…

Podcast Intellectuals Podcast Panel #1 with Benjamen Walker and Fanny Gribenski

March 12, 2026

Podcast Intellectuals Podcast Panel #1

Benjamen Walker and Fanny Gribenski

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU’s Journalism Institute hosted a day-lo…

Austin McCoy, "Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made" (Atria/One Signal, 2026)

March 11, 2026

Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age

Austin McCoy
Hosted by Michael Stauch

For fans of Dilla Time and The Chronicles of DOOM, a culturally connected celebration of the groundbreaking hip-hop group De La Soul, and how they cha…

Ani DiFranco and Lauren Coyle Rosen, "The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music, and Freedom" (Akashic Books, 2026)

March 3, 2026

The Spirit of Ani

Ani DiFranco and Lauren Coyle Rosen
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Rebekah Buchanan talks with Ani DiFranco about her latest collaborative work The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music and Freed…

Ailbhe Kenny, "Music Refuge: Living Asylum through Music" (Oxford UP, Press 2025)

March 3, 2026

Music Refuge

Ailbhe Kenny
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How can music change people’s lives? In Music Refuge: Living Asylum Through Music (Oxford UP, Press 2025) Ailbhe Kenny, an Associate Professor in Musi…

Maurice Rafael Magaña, "Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico" (U California Press, 2020)

March 1, 2026

Cartographies of Youth Resistance

Maurice Rafael Magaña
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

In Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico (U California Press, 2020), based on a decade of ethnographic fieldw…

Michael Glover Smith, "Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think" (McNidder and Grace, 2026)

February 28, 2026

Bob Dylan as Filmmaker

Michael Glover Smith
Hosted by Bradley Morgan

A deep dive into one of the most overlooked -- and fascinating -- sides of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature winner: Bob Dylan, the filmmaker. While …

Stephen Stacks, "The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song After 1968" (U Illinois Press, 2025)

February 24, 2026

The Resounding Revolution

Stephen Stacks
Hosted by Kristen Turner

What happened to freedom singing after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination? Stephen Stacks considers this question in The Resounding Revolution: F…

Paul Rees, "Raised on Radio: Power Ballads, Cocaine and Payola - the AOR Glory Years 1976-1986" (De Capo, 2026)

February 14, 2026

Raised on Radio

Paul Rees
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Paul Rees' Raised on Radio: Power Ballads, Cocaine and Payola - the AOR Glory Years 1976-1986 (De Capo, 2026) is a massively entertaining oral biograp…

Ian Gittins, "The Cure: A Perfect Dream" (Gemini Books, 2025)

February 12, 2026

The Cure

Ian Gittins
Hosted by Bradley Morgan

The story of The Cure: a tall tale of a truly unique British band. The Cure's story is a fantastical pop fable, but their trajectory has not been one…

Areum Jeong, "K-Pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

February 10, 2026

K-Pop Fandom

Areum Jeong
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

K-Pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today (U Michigan Press, 2026) insists that K-pop fan practices and activities constitute a central …