In My Earholes, Volume 2

"It falls apart, we all got work to do. It gets dark, we all got work to do."

Nov 17, 2024

I am never without sound. Every moment of my life includes some form of auditory stimulation. Whether it’s music, spoken word, white noise, or just my immediate natural environment, I’m engaged with sound every minute of every day.

Things have been pretty crazy lately. Here are the sounds that are helping me maintain.

Listen to Joshua Ray Walker

This is America

If you were to ask me to name one person who exemplified the USA — not the voters, but the genuine U.S.A. — the heart and soul of who we really are — I’d say, “Joshua Ray Walker.”

He’s a truck driver’s son who (to quote one of his songs ) is “a big, big man, not just in size or stature…in terms of space that can’t be filled…a bottomless canyon without a drop to spill.”

Joshua is a master storyteller who has released several critically acclaimed albums of his own songs, but his most recent record flipped the script on what a country artist from Dallas can do.

“I realized how influential female pop records and artists have been on me as a person,” he said, “even more than in a creative sense.” That realization led to What Is It Even?, an 11-track cover album consisting of songs made famous by female pop acts.

To me, a male artist willing to take on songs by Lizzo and Cher demonstrates an incredible self-awareness that few people I know possess. The performances are frankly epic.

I’ve had the opportunity to see Joshua live twice, both of them before he was diagnosed with colon cancer in January 2024. Weeks after announcing he had completed six months of treatment for that, the word came down that it appeared to have spread to his lungs, and he expected to be diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. The prognosis was not good.

Fortunately, it now appears that was a misdiagnosis, and we will have the opportunity to listen to new Joshua Ray Walker tunes well into the future.

Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.

Reaching Rural America

with One Country’s Hot Dish

Democrats who wonder how the Party can communicate with rural and small-town Americans need look no further than this gem of a podcast hosted by former U.S. Senator from North Dakota Heidi Heitkamp and her brother Joel, a radio talk show host. (Full disclosure: I produce this show.)

Heidi and Joel have a deep, lifelong understanding of people in the middle of the country — the farmers, small business owners, veterans, Native Americans, and everyday folks — think and feel about the issues that affect this country.

They interview a variety of experienced guests working in these communities about what really matters, and bring their stories to life.

They never shy away from examining, and even criticizing, the Democratic Party, but always bring their energetic and entertaining sibling rivalry to the conversation.

If you want to understand what’s happening in rest of the country, listen to One Country’s Hot Dish.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Manning Fireworks

by MJ Lenderman

I first heard of MJ Lenderman because he sings on Waxahatchee’s latest album, which I talked about in my last “Earholes” post. Curios about him, I checked out his band Wednesday, but they were just a little too energetic for my middle-aged sensibilities.

Then his new solo record, Manning Fireworks, came out. I listened to it often because it felt like my 25-year-old self was back. If I had learned to play music and write songs in my 20s (instead of in my 40s), this is what it would have sounded like.

After the election, the record came roaring back into my psyche.

The chorus of “She’s Leaving You" isn’t about the state of the country, but I still recall it with a vengeance every time I read about another Trump cabinet appointment:

It falls apart, we all got work to do. It gets dark, we all got work to do.

Man, that feels so real right now.

If you watch the music video, you may get the sense that perhaps it is about the state of our Nation. “She’s Leaving You” may not be about a lover hitting the road; it could easily be about liberal democracy walking out on us.

Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.

Stuff You Should Know

A snuggly ‘ol information blanky

I make podcasts for a living. Obviously, I haven’t always done that. I used to do political and public affairs communications. Actually, I guess I do both. My company makes political and public affairs podcasts.

But the catalyst that started my career journey to podcasting was Stuff You Should Know.

If you listen to podcasts, you’ve probably heard of SYSK. It’s consistently been in the Top 10 of all podcasts since it launched in 2008. (Yes, it is one of the original great podcasts.) I’ve been listening since 2010.

I even wrote an article about the show when I was at The Brookings Institution.

I’ll admit, the show isn’t for everyone. You have to be able to appreciate the comfort and ridiculousness of two middle-aged men telling you about a topic that they have a rudimentary, cursory understanding of.

I sometimes call it “Dudesplaining” because their explanations contain none of the superiority or certainty associated with “Mansplaining.” They approach everything with a spirit that I can best express as, “Dude, I gotta tell you about this article I just read!”

After fourteen years of listening, they still make me laugh. I learn something new in every episode and occasionally email them to let them know they got something wrong. (They get stuff wrong all the time, but make corrections with humility.)

These days, it’s nice to have a familiar escape from the day-to-day; it’s something solid to hang on to. Josh, Chuck, Jeri, and the rest of the SYSK gang are like family, and I’m grateful they are still around.