1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: Okay, double elvis. I sit here waiting on some exciting

2
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,080
Speaker 1: news for Sound of Our Town. Once it's confirmed, I'll

3
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,439
Speaker 1: be sharing it here on the feed. But while I

4
00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,119
Speaker 1: prepare for that moment, I wanted to try something slightly

5
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,479
Speaker 1: different here, And I'll explain. When I started the show,

6
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,480
Speaker 1: I was fairly new to the world of podcasts, never

7
00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,120
Speaker 1: mind podcasting, and there was this one other podcast that

8
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,159
Speaker 1: jumped out to me while I was making Season one

9
00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,800
Speaker 1: of Sound of Our Town that I felt in immediate

10
00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,199
Speaker 1: kinship too. And since I've missed the mic and traveling

11
00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,800
Speaker 1: around city to city preparing episodes for you, I thought

12
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,920
Speaker 1: maybe i'd share with you this new favorite show of mine,

13
00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:50,559
Speaker 1: something to tide us over until I can get to

14
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,240
Speaker 1: that good news. And I think this is something that

15
00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,600
Speaker 1: feeds that travel bug and that live music bug as well.

16
00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,760
Speaker 1: Vanishing Postcards is a documentary travelogue that invites listeners on

17
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:07,080
Speaker 1: a road trip exploring the hidden dives, traditions, and frequently

18
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,480
Speaker 1: threatened histories just off of our interstates. And if you

19
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,040
Speaker 1: enjoyed episode ten of Santavar Town, where we visited Tulsa,

20
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,560
Speaker 1: then you're going to want to check out Vanishing Postcards.

21
00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,360
Speaker 1: Episode five, where my friend and host Evan Stern, it

22
00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,200
Speaker 1: spends a whole show diving deep into the Vatican of

23
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:31,120
Speaker 1: Tulsa Kine's ballroom. Episodes of Vanishing Postcards are expertly crafted,

24
00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,480
Speaker 1: meticulously researched, and features some of the most fascinating voices

25
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,479
Speaker 1: you'll hear throughout America. I had the pleasure of sitting

26
00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,800
Speaker 1: down with Evan Stern a couple weeks ago where I

27
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,520
Speaker 1: got to ask them all kinds of questions, including what

28
00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,920
Speaker 1: is podcasting? And I got my answers. I'd also like

29
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,000
Speaker 1: to share some of that conversation with you right here,

30
00:01:50,680 --> 00:02:00,000
Speaker 1: right now, Here's Evan Stern van your early life? Uh,

31
00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 1: do you have performance in your past? Is there a

32
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,080
Speaker 1: part of you you feel it sounds when I'm listening

33
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,200
Speaker 1: to you. You're not just like didn wake up one

34
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:09,880
Speaker 1: day and say I'm gonna do a podcast or something

35
00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,239
Speaker 1: about you that is called to this. Absolutely not. It's

36
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,640
Speaker 1: it was a very slow evolution that led me to

37
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,520
Speaker 1: podcasting where I am now. But yes, my background is

38
00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,840
Speaker 1: actually as an actor. Um, and I've done a lot

39
00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,920
Speaker 1: of singing in my past as as well. You know,

40
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,120
Speaker 1: I moved to I moved to New York. Straight out

41
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,760
Speaker 1: of college. I realized that no doors were about to

42
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,080
Speaker 1: open for me, and I realized I had to do

43
00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,440
Speaker 1: something on my own. I initially thought about writing a

44
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,160
Speaker 1: one man show. Then I realized I didn't have the

45
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,080
Speaker 1: time or patience to put something together that was going

46
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,880
Speaker 1: to be quality enough that people would actually want to

47
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,240
Speaker 1: sit through and watch it. And I said, well, you

48
00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 1: know what with with Cabaret, the songs are there, the

49
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,119
Speaker 1: history is there. So I put together a one man

50
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,920
Speaker 1: show that focused on the songs of World War Two,

51
00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,600
Speaker 1: and I ended up doing a lot of work in

52
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,560
Speaker 1: in New York's Caba Racing. UM. And I've been privileged

53
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,639
Speaker 1: to perform on the stage of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center,

54
00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,280
Speaker 1: a number of tremendous venues. UM. But I really am

55
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,400
Speaker 1: one of those people who just fell in love with

56
00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,320
Speaker 1: podcasting over the course of the last ten years. You know,

57
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,399
Speaker 1: I'd be listening to podcasts when I was cooking or cleaning,

58
00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:25,200
Speaker 1: programs like The Moth, The Kitchen Sisters, Cocaine and Rhinestones,

59
00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,639
Speaker 1: and I just slowly kind of started hearing these whispers say, well,

60
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,160
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there is something that you could do

61
00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,840
Speaker 1: here with this, and UM, it was also around this

62
00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,960
Speaker 1: time that the YouTube algorithm kept suggesting these travel vlog

63
00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,560
Speaker 1: videos and I would watch them and I would rarely

64
00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,440
Speaker 1: see the way that I enjoyed traveling represented because it

65
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 1: was you know, of course, there are some exceptions, but

66
00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,840
Speaker 1: more often than not, the people doing these vlogs weren't saying,

67
00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:57,680
Speaker 1: look at this place. It was much more about, oh, well,

68
00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,920
Speaker 1: look at me and how fabulous and cute I am

69
00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:06,200
Speaker 1: in this place. And somehow I came up with this

70
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 1: idea that I wanted to put together a musical travelogue

71
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,640
Speaker 1: of Mexico, which is so much of why I respect

72
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,720
Speaker 1: what you're doing with the sound of our town because basically,

73
00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,280
Speaker 1: long story short, um, I went to go put together

74
00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,800
Speaker 1: a pilot and I went to Merida, Yucatan, and I

75
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,480
Speaker 1: interviewed some musicians. And it's one thing to be writing

76
00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 1: in a vacuum where you're thinking, oh man, this is

77
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,599
Speaker 1: gonna be great. Then you get back, you take a

78
00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:36,800
Speaker 1: look at what you've done and you're like, oh man,

79
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:41,000
Speaker 1: I have missed the mark so terribly. And what it

80
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,680
Speaker 1: occurred to me in working on that is, yes, I

81
00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,480
Speaker 1: talked a lot about the city of Merida, but you

82
00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,360
Speaker 1: actually didn't feel the city of Merida in listening to

83
00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,960
Speaker 1: this piece, and I realized, well, I have to learn

84
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,479
Speaker 1: so much more about audio production before tackling something ambitious

85
00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,000
Speaker 1: of this nature. I also realized, I'm proficient in Spanish,

86
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,320
Speaker 1: I'm not fluent, but so it's challenging to get the

87
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,240
Speaker 1: level of rapport going with the subject. For that reason,

88
00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,279
Speaker 1: but more than that, the human voice has such great color,

89
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,640
Speaker 1: shade and nuance to it. That you get an actor

90
00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,440
Speaker 1: to come in and dub over these voices, you lose

91
00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,599
Speaker 1: so much. And so I said, Okay, I've got to

92
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:24,880
Speaker 1: learn more, and in January I went back home to Texas.

93
00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:27,719
Speaker 1: I'm totally a messed in the gig economy up here

94
00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,520
Speaker 1: in New York. I kind of at that point, I

95
00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:31,480
Speaker 1: kind of built my life so that I could escape

96
00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,280
Speaker 1: the brutal winter for a little while. So January twenty

97
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,120
Speaker 1: I went back home to Texas. Because if there's one

98
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,680
Speaker 1: thing I know, it's that Texas people love to talk

99
00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,120
Speaker 1: and they tell great stories. And I didn't really know

100
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,200
Speaker 1: what I was gonna do at that point, but I

101
00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,400
Speaker 1: just walked into this old dive bar in Austin called

102
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,679
Speaker 1: the Dry Creek Cafe, and I started talking to people,

103
00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,000
Speaker 1: and I just kept collecting stories at different places, and

104
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,440
Speaker 1: I stepped back and I said, Okay, so what do

105
00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:03,359
Speaker 1: I have here? I realized that each episode provided a

106
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,240
Speaker 1: snapshot of a different place. What is that? That's a postcard?

107
00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,520
Speaker 1: And if there's a common thread in the places that

108
00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,120
Speaker 1: I visit is that you don't know how much longer

109
00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,719
Speaker 1: a lot of them are going to be around. UM

110
00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:20,320
Speaker 1: or they're really representative of broader, fading cultures, histories, traditions

111
00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,360
Speaker 1: that you just don't hear so much about anymore. And

112
00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:31,080
Speaker 1: it's been an incredible, exhilarating ride. And UM, I'm incredibly

113
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:36,719
Speaker 1: honored that I've been able to have the resources to

114
00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:40,080
Speaker 1: to put all of this together. So my first season

115
00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,360
Speaker 1: was that was Texas based. UM. The current season that's

116
00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,320
Speaker 1: out right now is all about Root sixty six. UM.

117
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:50,160
Speaker 1: I drove Root sixty six from Oklahoma to California, drove

118
00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,919
Speaker 1: six thousand, eight hundred forty five miles. I spoke with

119
00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,600
Speaker 1: over a hundred people along the way. UM. It was

120
00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:00,200
Speaker 1: an incredibly it's been an incredibly epic ordeal. UM. But

121
00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,520
Speaker 1: what's wonderful now is that I embarked on all of

122
00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:07,719
Speaker 1: this as a solo traveler and now I feel like

123
00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,280
Speaker 1: people are on this ride with me as I share

124
00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,440
Speaker 1: these stories and the season in series now And so

125
00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:20,880
Speaker 1: it was starting with Texas. Were there things that just

126
00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:23,320
Speaker 1: blew your You're from the state where there are things

127
00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,080
Speaker 1: that blew your mind that you discovered on that first season. Well,

128
00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,800
Speaker 1: it's it's all. It really is all about the people

129
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,560
Speaker 1: that you meet. I'll tell you what I am. The

130
00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:41,040
Speaker 1: second piece I put together, UM was on this dance

131
00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,320
Speaker 1: hall in this town called Seaton, Texas. They have a

132
00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:48,000
Speaker 1: population of you know, maybe fifty people lived there. I'd

133
00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:54,040
Speaker 1: never been to this place before. Um, but each weekend,

134
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,760
Speaker 1: every Sunday, they have dances at this old dance hall,

135
00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,520
Speaker 1: which is the oldest family run dance hall in Texas.

136
00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,720
Speaker 1: And you go to this place and I met people

137
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,120
Speaker 1: there who still spoke check. You know, they've been in

138
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,920
Speaker 1: Texas for generations and they still spoke in check one another.

139
00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,360
Speaker 1: And UM, you know, I'm walking around this dance hall.

140
00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:16,720
Speaker 1: I'm totally conspicuous. I have my shotgun, microphone, I have

141
00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,160
Speaker 1: my headphones. This old man comes up to me. He's

142
00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:24,440
Speaker 1: just so curious and he starts talking to me and

143
00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,400
Speaker 1: turns out this guy is about to turn a hundred

144
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,240
Speaker 1: years old. He tells me in June, I'm gonna be

145
00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,439
Speaker 1: a hundred years old. Turns out he was a normandy veteran,

146
00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:39,120
Speaker 1: and he tells me that one night recently he showed

147
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,319
Speaker 1: up there and he danced with thirty two different women.

148
00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:46,560
Speaker 1: And it's really it's just I find that the best

149
00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:49,800
Speaker 1: stories you find, the best people that you find, are

150
00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,120
Speaker 1: in the hidden places. They're in places that are are

151
00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,240
Speaker 1: getting the least amount of attention. I mean, I think

152
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:02,120
Speaker 1: that the concept of vanishing postcards is global. I mean,

153
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,760
Speaker 1: there's no reason why I couldn't do it in New

154
00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:11,480
Speaker 1: York City or Dublin or Mexico City or wherever. Um.

155
00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,839
Speaker 1: But I just find that, you know, when you get

156
00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,680
Speaker 1: to these small towns, the rewards are just incredibly rich.

157
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,920
Speaker 1: And how have you been changed by some of those

158
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:27,320
Speaker 1: adventures from talking to somebody? How has it affected you

159
00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:32,360
Speaker 1: as a person in these um adventures and these conversations

160
00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,440
Speaker 1: and the digging that you do which is so rich

161
00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:41,200
Speaker 1: and in depth. And I feel special when I'm listening

162
00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,880
Speaker 1: to it because I have that person's voice in my

163
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,560
Speaker 1: head and your reflection of it. How has all that

164
00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:53,520
Speaker 1: affected you? As a person. Well, we live in a

165
00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:59,319
Speaker 1: horribly divided world in nation right now. Um I will

166
00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,320
Speaker 1: be the first say I don't think that anything about

167
00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,920
Speaker 1: what we've lived through over the last six years should

168
00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,040
Speaker 1: be normalized at all. And um, I don't. I don't

169
00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:10,839
Speaker 1: want to sound like a Polly and I actually think

170
00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:16,800
Speaker 1: of myself as being relatively cynical. But when you are

171
00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,640
Speaker 1: sitting across the table from someone, it's amazing how much

172
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:25,840
Speaker 1: shared experience and empathy can be found. And I think

173
00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:30,320
Speaker 1: it's important to find areas of agreement in our world

174
00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:35,760
Speaker 1: right now, and culture is one of those rare areas

175
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:40,920
Speaker 1: of agreement. And I spoke to someone recently who who

176
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,439
Speaker 1: said to me, well, why can't they come to you?

177
00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,120
Speaker 1: You know, why do you have to to to go

178
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,439
Speaker 1: to them? And my reaction that is, you know, if

179
00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,480
Speaker 1: we can't appreciate what is good and beautiful about our

180
00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,240
Speaker 1: small towns and rural America, how can we expect them

181
00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,000
Speaker 1: to appreciate what is good and beautiful about New York

182
00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:05,800
Speaker 1: City or Boston or San Francisco or wherever. Absolutely, that's

183
00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,160
Speaker 1: what I love about this connection and this conversation that

184
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,760
Speaker 1: we're having is that both shows side of our town

185
00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:16,680
Speaker 1: and vanishing postcards. They just have this call to return

186
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:23,120
Speaker 1: to humanity. And did you know you're getting into that

187
00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:28,000
Speaker 1: when you started this? No, not not at all. I'll

188
00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,040
Speaker 1: tell you I didn't have a clue what I was

189
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,840
Speaker 1: doing when when when I started. When I started doing this, um,

190
00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 1: it all just revealed itself to me as I got

191
00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,480
Speaker 1: to work on it. Um. But I think that there

192
00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,000
Speaker 1: is great as as we've talked about. I just think

193
00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:51,080
Speaker 1: it's very important that we have conversations about what we

194
00:11:51,120 --> 00:12:06,240
Speaker 1: can do to preserve and honor and celebrate culture. Obviously,

195
00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,000
Speaker 1: one of my favorite episodes is the Can's Ballroom episode,

196
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,680
Speaker 1: which we are visiting. We're going to Tulsa this season,

197
00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,240
Speaker 1: so I think you can probably guess in each episode

198
00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,600
Speaker 1: side of our town. We have that distinction of the Vatican,

199
00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:20,680
Speaker 1: you know, the sonic Vatican of the city, and it

200
00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,839
Speaker 1: can it can vary, you know, um, but I think

201
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:29,760
Speaker 1: you can probably guess Kanes will be the Vatican of Hell. Yeah,

202
00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,520
Speaker 1: I should hope. So have you have you been to

203
00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:35,920
Speaker 1: Canes before you were in there and interviewing everybody. I

204
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,040
Speaker 1: had never been to Canes before, but I knew, but

205
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,839
Speaker 1: I absolutely knew about Canes, and I knew that, you know,

206
00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:47,120
Speaker 1: Root sixty six goes through Tulsa. It was non negotiable

207
00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,760
Speaker 1: for me that I do have peace on Kane's Ballroom.

208
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,959
Speaker 1: And and I found out that Asleep at the Wheel

209
00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,760
Speaker 1: was going to be performing there, and um, I tell

210
00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,760
Speaker 1: you what, man I I pretty much organized my whole

211
00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,520
Speaker 1: Root sixty six trip around that date so that I

212
00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,720
Speaker 1: could be there to experience Ray Benson and Asleep at

213
00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,120
Speaker 1: the Wheel at Kine's ball Room. And it was fantastic.

214
00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:14,520
Speaker 1: My goodness, my goodness. And that is really what is

215
00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,760
Speaker 1: so important right now. Is a friend of mine set

216
00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:22,160
Speaker 1: to me recently about sports stadiums and the good ones

217
00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,560
Speaker 1: that have been around forever, Wrigular or Fenway Park. But

218
00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:29,520
Speaker 1: there's just decades and sometimes centuries of all this human

219
00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:34,080
Speaker 1: emotion that's happened, the losses, the heartbreak, the victories, the anger,

220
00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:39,120
Speaker 1: the sadness, and it's all kind of absorbed somehow, all

221
00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,000
Speaker 1: that energy gets absorbed. And when you walk into some

222
00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,280
Speaker 1: of these places, you feel it right away, you know,

223
00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,960
Speaker 1: and I know you felt that when you walk into Keynes.

224
00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,559
Speaker 1: How do you feel? Are there other spots on the

225
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,760
Speaker 1: Root sixty six tour or are all spots like that

226
00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,319
Speaker 1: for you when you walk in and you can just

227
00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,800
Speaker 1: kind of feel something. Well, certainly not all spots have,

228
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:08,319
Speaker 1: absolutely not, But um I do find that I do

229
00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 1: seek out places that have a certain sacred feeling to them.

230
00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,720
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's very different. It's it's not

231
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,640
Speaker 1: a music venue. But I mean one place that I

232
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,760
Speaker 1: discovered was this small town, Miama, Oklahoma. It's just about

233
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,600
Speaker 1: twelve miles south of the Kansas line, sits right on

234
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:33,360
Speaker 1: Route sixty. But you go to the cemetery there and

235
00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:37,080
Speaker 1: you'll discover they have a Union Jack flag flying, and

236
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,800
Speaker 1: they're fifteen graves that have the badge of the Royal

237
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,840
Speaker 1: Air Force seal on them. And what it was In

238
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 1: World War Two, um Britain shipped a bunch of fly

239
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:52,000
Speaker 1: boys over to train, you know, in Miama, Oklahoma, and

240
00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,640
Speaker 1: a number of them were killed in accidents or they

241
00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:56,880
Speaker 1: died in training while they were there and were never

242
00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:00,280
Speaker 1: able to get shipped home. But this small town still

243
00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:06,760
Speaker 1: holds remembrance ceremonies for these fallen soldiers each year. And

244
00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:12,000
Speaker 1: to walk amongst those graves and you know, to see

245
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:16,360
Speaker 1: the way in which this community has eighty years on,

246
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,840
Speaker 1: you know, kept these stories and honored their memories. You know,

247
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,680
Speaker 1: it just didn't brought chills to my spine the second

248
00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 1: I arrived there. Right, that's beautiful. So do you have Texas?

249
00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:36,040
Speaker 1: You have roots sixty six? Ah? How those are big

250
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:43,320
Speaker 1: spaces and very long space. Uh, you're doing a workload

251
00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:47,840
Speaker 1: that I don't over How do I not overstate this?

252
00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,240
Speaker 1: It's uh, it's mammoth. It's um there's a Pulitzer level

253
00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,840
Speaker 1: of of care to do something like that as as

254
00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,920
Speaker 1: one person. Um, I'm I'm learning the workload of this

255
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,320
Speaker 1: in my first season. Really, you know, in between playing

256
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:07,480
Speaker 1: shows and then writing about shows, how do you balance

257
00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:12,560
Speaker 1: this and how do you make there's so much presence

258
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,640
Speaker 1: in your show? How are you taking care of the

259
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:22,480
Speaker 1: presence and researching and making vanishing postcards and uh balancing

260
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,000
Speaker 1: your life? Well, I mean, first of all, it's it's

261
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,560
Speaker 1: a love project, and I mean it it is indeed

262
00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,960
Speaker 1: a mammoth amount of work. I mean, it really is

263
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,960
Speaker 1: an act of insanity. But at the same time, I mean,

264
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,960
Speaker 1: when you are doing stuff for love, it doesn't necessarily

265
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:46,920
Speaker 1: always feel like work. I draw a great energy from it. Um,

266
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,600
Speaker 1: But um, self care is also something that I feel

267
00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:54,840
Speaker 1: like I've always handled instinctively. Um I find that I'm

268
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:58,640
Speaker 1: pretty good at setting knowing. You know, if if a

269
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,040
Speaker 1: deadline is going to be too much, I I know

270
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,119
Speaker 1: when to step away. And I mean, for instance, talking

271
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:06,919
Speaker 1: about Root sixty six and what I did there, I

272
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,960
Speaker 1: mean it was you know, you can relate being a

273
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,760
Speaker 1: touring musician. I mean, we're talking like a different motel

274
00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,399
Speaker 1: every night. But you know, I came up with rules

275
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,600
Speaker 1: for myself. I'm I'm not going to drive more than

276
00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,960
Speaker 1: five hours in a day for starters, you know, and

277
00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,560
Speaker 1: you've got to make certain that you're you're well fed.

278
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,119
Speaker 1: Um I tried my best to you know, I'm not

279
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,600
Speaker 1: a health nut by any stretch of the imagination, but

280
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,360
Speaker 1: tried not to load up on too too many burgers

281
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,040
Speaker 1: or chicken fried stay steaks along the way. Um it

282
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,400
Speaker 1: it's but you you also do have to remind yourself

283
00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,119
Speaker 1: at times about why you are doing this. And I

284
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,439
Speaker 1: mean I I do think that the stories that I showcase,

285
00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,760
Speaker 1: you know, are are bigger than me. And I draw

286
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,680
Speaker 1: energy from the people that I meet and their stories

287
00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:57,480
Speaker 1: because it's really it's much more about them than me.

288
00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:02,359
Speaker 1: And I draw a lot of energy from from them. Mhmm. Yeah,

289
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,840
Speaker 1: you cannot fall prey to the easy food on the highway.

290
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,440
Speaker 1: You I learned that years ago, and now I just

291
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:13,600
Speaker 1: pack food with me when I get on the road.

292
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,320
Speaker 1: I have to bring stuff that will sustain me, or

293
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,040
Speaker 1: else I won't make it to the stage. It's a challenge.

294
00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,199
Speaker 1: It's a challenge out there. I usually get out of

295
00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:24,880
Speaker 1: the car now every hour and a half and don't

296
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:26,879
Speaker 1: push beyond an hour and a half and do a

297
00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,200
Speaker 1: hundred jumping jacks, just get my body moving, or else

298
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:35,200
Speaker 1: sitting for too long. Just eat away you slowly. Um,

299
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,240
Speaker 1: and and so tell them I want to go back

300
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,640
Speaker 1: to something you mentioned earlier and something we've you've talked

301
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,919
Speaker 1: to me about before, and that's Mexico. Do you dream

302
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:50,400
Speaker 1: of doing this show in Mexico. It's not it's not

303
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,640
Speaker 1: out of the realm of possibility. I mean I think that, Um,

304
00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,160
Speaker 1: you know, Mexico really is kind of like a second

305
00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,719
Speaker 1: home for me in a lot of ways. I mean,

306
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:02,679
Speaker 1: I grew up, you know, growing up, we would just

307
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,320
Speaker 1: hop in the car and drive all over Mexico for

308
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,359
Speaker 1: all of our vacations, being from Texas. And you know,

309
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,560
Speaker 1: later as part of you know, after I left home

310
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,760
Speaker 1: for college as part of my empty nest syndrome, my

311
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: parents bought and restored an acienda down there. So Mexico

312
00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,080
Speaker 1: is a big part of my life, and I believe

313
00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,920
Speaker 1: that Mexico deserves a Valentine Um. You know. You you

314
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,960
Speaker 1: see so much negative coverage of Mexico in the media.

315
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,600
Speaker 1: There's so many terrible misconceptions, and I would absolutely love

316
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,960
Speaker 1: to love to do something down there. So it's it's

317
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,200
Speaker 1: not out of the room of possibility. Well, that's what

318
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:44,560
Speaker 1: I love about vanishing postcards is I just feel connected

319
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:50,280
Speaker 1: to all the little corners of America that I'm removed from.

320
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,119
Speaker 1: Even you say, even as a performer who travels a

321
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,400
Speaker 1: lot and I get to see the world, I sometimes

322
00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:58,720
Speaker 1: I'm playing in the major cities too often, you know,

323
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,760
Speaker 1: which is why you know why I art with Portland,

324
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,320
Speaker 1: Maine instead of New York or you know what we

325
00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:05,480
Speaker 1: did l A this season, but we can start there.

326
00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,000
Speaker 1: There's plenty of And what I noticed too, when I

327
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:11,840
Speaker 1: go play Europe, they love talking about Boston because there's

328
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 1: a lot of narrative for New York and l A

329
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,720
Speaker 1: throughout the world. That's how they see America and vanishing

330
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:24,000
Speaker 1: postcards allows Americans to see the richness of their country,

331
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,680
Speaker 1: but also, like you said about the dance hall, the

332
00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,439
Speaker 1: love that the communities have and bearing on some of

333
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:36,640
Speaker 1: these traditions. So um, I applaud you for bringing these

334
00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:42,600
Speaker 1: stories to the forefront with such grace and care and

335
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:48,000
Speaker 1: and hearing the characters and vanishing postcards. It's just so wonderful. Well,

336
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 1: I thank you so much for that. I do. And

337
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,120
Speaker 1: and to kind of like picking back a little off

338
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:57,119
Speaker 1: of what you're saying, is, you know, the best some

339
00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,639
Speaker 1: of the best art and artists come from places that

340
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 1: I mean, people are the first to dismiss, you know.

341
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:10,040
Speaker 1: I always say that Detroit gave us Motown, Clarksdale, Mississippi

342
00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,919
Speaker 1: gave us the Blues, And I mean one episode I

343
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,879
Speaker 1: really look forward to sharing with everyone is I went

344
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,399
Speaker 1: to Bakersfield, and I'm doing a whole piece on the

345
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,880
Speaker 1: because Bakersfield, you know, doesn't sit on Root sixty six,

346
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 1: but it's story is absolutely intertwined with it because that's

347
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,399
Speaker 1: where all the oaky migrants, that's the road that they

348
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 1: all drove in Bakersfield is where they end up, and

349
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:36,000
Speaker 1: the music that they formed there in Bakersfield completely revolutionized

350
00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:41,320
Speaker 1: American music. And it's a story. You know, you mentioned,

351
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: you know, Bakersfield to maybe someone from San Francisco, they'll

352
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: be like, well, what the what the hell are you

353
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:48,520
Speaker 1: doing going to Bakersfield's like, why the hell wouldn't I

354
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 1: go to Bakersfield. This is incredible and it's a story

355
00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 1: that needs to be remembered, absolutely absolutely, and it's a

356
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,080
Speaker 1: story that we haven't heard a million times. And and

357
00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:01,920
Speaker 1: like you said about the Troy and you mentioned the

358
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,400
Speaker 1: New York in the seventies, then seventies of New York

359
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,879
Speaker 1: gave us the talking Heads and the Romans because they

360
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 1: could afford to live there because everyone had blown it.

361
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:18,560
Speaker 1: And the more we can find balance to keeping our

362
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,040
Speaker 1: old stories alive, our news story is alive, and working

363
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,840
Speaker 1: together and having artists that feel like they can afford

364
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,680
Speaker 1: New York in Boston and San Francisco. I'm in full agreement, man,

365
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 1: less likely likely you are to have these crashes. Artists

366
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,000
Speaker 1: keep us all connected. They do. And you know, like

367
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,159
Speaker 1: I've said, it's not you know, you won't hear me

368
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,919
Speaker 1: talk about stuff like this in the show itself. But

369
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,520
Speaker 1: the reason my hometown of Austin you know, had this

370
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,240
Speaker 1: incredible music scene, and the music scene is still there

371
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,880
Speaker 1: in present. But the reason that music scene was born

372
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 1: is because it was a great town to be broken.

373
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 1: That's that's those days are. That's never coming back. But

374
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:02,080
Speaker 1: we can have conversations about maybe, you know, let's see

375
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,680
Speaker 1: if we can get some affordable housing going on for artists.

376
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: You know, let's see what you know, tax abatements we

377
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,720
Speaker 1: can provide to businesses that are supporting this because it

378
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: is so crucial we save and protect live music in

379
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: places like Austin absolutely absolutely, or or the dance that

380
00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:24,639
Speaker 1: has been going on. You know, all these little things

381
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:30,920
Speaker 1: all matter, and and I think, uh, I think we're

382
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,640
Speaker 1: going to find a return to balance in the next

383
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: ten years because uh, like I said, it hasn't been

384
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,040
Speaker 1: that fun in the last six Yeah, right now, from

385
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:44,399
Speaker 1: your lips to God's ears, will, I haven't thank you

386
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,639
Speaker 1: so much, man, I'm so glad that we're connected. Um.

387
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,200
Speaker 1: I've learned and gained so much from listening to vantished postcards.

388
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: I have a whole other season, you know, I've listened

389
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: to sixty six so far, but I have a whole

390
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,119
Speaker 1: other season than I haven't, you know, even going to

391
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,440
Speaker 1: dive into yet, so it's great. Well believe we will.

392
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: The honor is mine. As as I said, you know,

393
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 1: you've kind of figured out a way to navigate a

394
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,639
Speaker 1: lot of the problems that I've encountered through your show,

395
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,560
Speaker 1: and I draw a great inspiration from your work as well.

396
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 1: Absolutely please back back at you, and I'm still figuring

397
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,640
Speaker 1: this thing out, but it's been absolutely wonderful and having

398
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 1: this opportunity with you is actually really reaffirming, so awesome.