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Supreme Intentions
Season 5 Episode 510
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Our story begins not with sequins but with a housing project.
Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard both grew up in Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass …
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Feedback and Fire
Season 5 Episode 509
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Today, we turn to a musician whose care there were moves separations long stretches were Jimmy simply simply had to figure things out on h…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
The Queen of Soul
Season 5 Episode 508
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Today we turn to a voice that has become a kind of measuring stick. A singer you can’t ignore, can’t casually imitate, and certainly can’t…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Dylan and the Fall
Season 5 Episode 507
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If you grew up in a certain era, his name isn’t just a performer on a poster. It’s a weather system. A shift in air pressure. A bulletin f…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
California Counterpoints
Season 5 Episode 506
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Today’s pairing may look odd until you start really listening:
The Beach Boys and The Grateful Dead.
Two California bands. Two American inst…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Tickets and Conscience
Season 5 Episode 505
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Today I want to put two names in the same frame—Joan Baez and Taylor Swift—not because they sound alike or have the same values but becaus…
4 months ago
Enduring Stones
Season 5 Episode 504
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In a recent episode, we spent time with a man who changed popular culture and then became a warning about what fame, isolation, and addict…
4 months ago
The Beatles Blueprint
Season 5 Episode 503
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I’d like to begin, not in Liverpool or Hamburg or Abbey Road, but in an American living room—mine, and millions of others—on a Sunday nigh…
4 months ago
The Elvis Trap
Season 5 Episode 502
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Today we’re stepping into complicated territory.
Not a personal hero of mine.
Not a composer whose scores I pore over, or a bandleader whose…
4 months ago
Rock’s Rough Architect
Season 5 Episode 501
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Before we talk about charts and riffs and influence, I want to begin with a memory.
Years ago, I saw Chuck Berry live at the Paramount Thea…
4 months ago