Allison Russell is a singer and songwriter originally from Montreal and now based in Nashville. She’s a Grammy-winner and an eight-time Grammy nominee. And she’s also won Canada’s Juno Award, an Americana award, and more. She starred in Hadestown on Broadway. She spent years in bands and collaborating with others before she released her first solo album in 2021. Her most recent album came out in 2026, and is called In The Hour of Chaos. But for this episode, Allison and I talked about the title track from her second album, The Returner, which came out in 2023. She recorded it with an all-female ensemble that included Wendy & Lisa of The Revolution. It was co-written with JT Nero, her husband, and Drew Lindsay, her brother-in-law, and the two of them also co-produced the song with Allison.

You can buy or stream “The Returner” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

in this episode:
Lisa Coleman – piano
Wendy Melvoin – bass
Megan Coleman – drums
Megan McCormick – electric guitar
Joy Clark – acoustic guitar
Elizabeth Pupo-Walker – percussion
Larissa Maestro – string arrangements, cello, vocal harmony
Chauntee Ross – violin, vocal harmony
Kerenza Peacock – violin
Monique Ross – cello, vocal harmony
Brandi Carlile
Joni Mitchell
Birds of Chicago
Chaplin Recording Studios

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Elvis Costello is a singer and songwriter whose career spans five decades and over 30 albums. He’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter Hall of Fame. He’s won Grammy Awards, Ivor Novello Awards, a BAFTA, and he’s on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest songwriters of all time. He put out his first album, My Aim Is True, in 1977. This month, he released a 49th anniversary edition of the album. So for this episode, I spoke to Elvis Costello about the making of “Alison,” from that debut album. Coming up, you’ll hear the isolated tracks from the original recording, as well as some additional parts that didn’t make the cut. And, in discussing the origin story of his song, we also ended up talking about the origin story of Elvis Costello himself.

You can buy or stream “Alison” here and you can buy the 49th Anniversary Edition box set of My Aim Is True here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

in this episode:
Nick Lowe – producer
John McFee – guitar
Johnny Ciambotti- bass
Sean Hopper – keyboards
MMicky Shine – drums
Stiff Records
Clover
“Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver)”
Pathway Studios
“Ghetto Child” – written by Thom Bell for The Spinners
“Alison” cover by Linda Rondstadt

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Olivia Rodrigo is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. In June 2026, she released her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love. The day it came out, it broke streaming records on Spotify and Amazon Music, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard Charts. I talked to Olivia Rodrigo here in my studio, and I also visited her long-time producer and co-writer Dan Nigro at his studio. Dan Nigro won the Grammy for Producer of the Year in 2025, in part for his work with Olivia Rodrigo. For this episode, the two of them told me the story of making Olivia’s song “The Cure,” from the original voice memo to the final version.

You can buy or stream “The Cure” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

in this episode:
Paul Cartwright – strings
Sterling Laws – drums
“Lovesong” by The Cure
“First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes
“Video Games” by Lana Del Rey

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