Curious Goldfish Podcast
by Jason English
MusicE · Explicit
Latest episode
Ella Hooper on Being Too Young, Then Too Old, and Finally an…
Ella Hooper on Being Too Young, Then Too Old, and Finally an…
About this podcast
Curious Goldfish is a podcast about independent music and the people who make it.
The name comes from two Ted Lasso episodes. In one, Ted tells a struggling player that the happiest animal on earth is a goldfish, because it has a 10-second memory. The lesson: forget the mistake and move forward. In another, Ted quotes Walt Whitman before a dart match: "Be curious, not judgmental." Both stuck with me.
I can't sing. I don't play an instrument. But I've spent years being genuinely curious about people who write something honest and then perform it for strangers. How they do it. Why they keep doing it. What it costs.
The guests are Americana, folk, roots, rock, and country artists who aren't on the radio and probably won't be. Some have 500 monthly listeners. Some have 100,000. The common thread is that they chose the independent path and they're figuring it out in real time.
We cover songwriting, the business of music, the touring life, and the moments that made an artist who they are. The conversations keep getting better.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 147 episodes
- Ella Hooper on Being Too Young, Then Too Old, and Finally an Overnight Success · 34 min · Episode 157Too young as a teenager, too old at 30. Ella Hooper is in her calling-it-out era. Get the stories behind the episodes: https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Cam Cole: Legendary Ted Lasso Busker Wants the Street to Still Decide · 41 min · Episode 156Fined £10,000 for busking, then cast on Ted Lasso. He still busks to see if strangers stop. Get the stories behind the episodes: https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Brendan Abernathy: He Didn't Get it All Wrong · 40 min · Episode 155Millions of strangers decided who Brendan Abernathy was in 30 seconds. He kept writing. Get the stories behind the episodes: https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Nigel Wearne: Pocket Full of Empathy · 34 min · Episode 154A pocket full of empathy: an Australian songwriter on understanding people you completely disagree with. Get the stories behind the episodes…
- Ryman: Driven Past the Ryman the Day He Was Born · 23 min · Episode 153He signed with a hip-hop label at 15. His debut was built on his dad's folk records. Get the stories behind the episodes: https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Lyal Strickland: Missouri Farmer Trades Seeds for Songs · 45 min · Episode 152Lyal Strickland sold most of his cattle herd to make his first album in about ten years. Get the stories behind the episodes: https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Michael Rudd: He's Facing Cancer Head-On with Music & Gratitude · 47 min · Episode 151Michael Rudd went 30 years without writing a song. Then came four albums in three years. Get the stories behind the episodes -> https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Shannon Lay: Getting Dropped Saved Her · 25 min · Episode 150Sub Pop dropped her. That loss is exactly what made her new album possible. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity (…
- Chrissi Poland:A Soulful Journey to Muscle Shoals · 39 min · Episode 149What's in the Muscle Shoals water? A New York soul singer went to find out. Get the stories behind the episodes -> https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Chris Pierce: He Can't Hear the Crowd He Sings For · 49 min · Episode 148He can't hear the crowd, and he calls every song he writes a love song. Get the stories behind the episodes → https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Abe Partridge: Immersed in Two Mysteries · 29 min · Episode 147One of American roots music's most singular voices, caught in a season of not knowing. Get the stories behind the episodes → ( https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup ) Abe…
- The CEO Who Hid His Guitar: A Chat with George Barrett · 40 min · Episode 146He ran a Fortune 500 company and hid that he was a musician; He tells me why he returned to his first love. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity…
- Voiceless No More: A Chat with Alicia Blue · 35 min · Episode 145She never sang a note in college. Now Shooter Jennings produces her. Get the stories behind the episodes -> Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity (…
- 50 Years & Still Building: A Chat with Garry Tallent of the E Street Band · 30 min · Episode 144A founding E Street Band bassist, fifty-five years in, still says he's no maestro. Get the stories behind the episodes -> https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
- Quiet in the Chaos: A Chat with Anna May · 26 min · Episode 143She wrote her funniest song while crying in a grocery store. A songwriter with a PhD in breakups. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity (…
- 17 Albums. Now What? A Chat with Michelle Malone · 30 min · Episode 142Seventeen records in, she is not sure the eighteenth is worth making. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity (…
- From Pretty Boy Teen Folky to Lifetime Achievement: A Chat with Rhett Miller · 55 min · Episode 141Rhett Miller got the lifetime achievement award. He almost dreaded the speech. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity (…
- Three Records in Three Years After a Lifetime of Waiting: A Chat with Lance Cowan · 47 min · Episode 140He spent 38 years pitching Nashville's legends. Almost none of them knew he wrote songs too. Get the stories behind the episodes → Subscribe to Chords of Curiosity (…
- The Chorus Came in a Dream: A Chat with Dwight + Nicole · 56 min · Episode 139They turned down the record deals their families begged them to sign. Twenty years later, still here. Get the stories behind the episodes ->…
- Chris Trapper: Twelve Albums, No Backup Plan · 44 min · Episode 138He wrote a song about loss. Months later, his brother died. The song already knew. Get the stories behind the episodes -> https://www.curiousgoldfish.com/?modal=signup (…
