Do You Have a Podcast Yet?

By ROB PATTERSON

Podcasts are all the rage with the generations younger than I am. Podcasting is predicted to be a nearly $95 million worldwide market by 2028.

It’s a new media mode that, at this juncture, remains open for the average Joe or Jane to break into and achieve substantial impact. There’s little better proof of that, as well as fine example of podcasting excellence, than “Cocaine and Rhinestones,” a history of 20th Century country music hosted and produced by Tyler Mahan Coe, who is the son of notorious country singer and songwriter David Allan Coe.

Having grown up in Nashville within the Music City community, Tyler says in each show’s intro, “I’ve heard these stories my whole life.” Not surprising, given how tales and gossip swirl throughout country music’s hometown. He says the podcast seeks to tell the truth about them.

And it does so with impressive and deliciously entertaining brilliance. In my music journalism career, I’ve written for six magazines here in the US and UK that had “country” in their name (including the Country Music Hall of Fame), was the interviewer for a widely syndicated radio show called “Country Closeup,” and written about country music and artists for mainstream music publications and my syndicated daily newspaper column I wrote from the mid-1970s into the early 1980s. I may not consider myself a country expert, per se, but have felt with all my writing and reading about the subject to be very well-versed in it.

But on listening to virtually every one of the 19 episodes I’ve consumed so far, I must confess, and happily so, that “Cocaine and Rhinestones” – an expression that came from a conversation Coe had with another second generation country music kid, the late Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve Earle – informs me on so much I didn’t yet know about the genre.

Meticulously researched, it’s an oceanic trench deep dive into the music and its creators as well as the business around that. Coe is a warm, friendly audio presence who knows how to regale listeners as a host and storyteller. The New Yorker predicted that the podcast’s second season would be a “dazzling adventure,” and I’ll second the notion. Whenever these days I hop in the car for a drive that will take maybe 20 minutes or more, I’m playing “Cocaine and Rhinestones,” and delighted by the information, revelations, stories and snippets of more significant country songs than I can count.

Coe also has another podcast I get one hella kick out of, “Your Favorite Band Sucks,” co-hosted with his pal and fellow music buff Mark Mosley. If you have a sense of humor about your beloved musical acts and don’t take your fandom too seriously, you’ll enjoy the banter between the hosts as they jab at their flaws, foibles, pretensions, silliness and other Achilles heels with keen blood-drawing aim.

Another podcast I’ve enjoyed that should appeal to both rock music fans, as well as spying and intelligence service buffs (I’m guilty on both counts) is “My Dad the Spy” by Stewart Copeland, drummer for the superstar rock band The Police. His father, Miles Axe Copeland II, was indeed a spy for the World War II OSS and the CIA that grew out of it. Stewart and his siblings grew up in the Middle East not really knowing all that their father did for a living, and he explores his father’s life and legacy (which includes assassinations and overthrowing governments) in seven episodes jam packed with fascinating information and stories (such as how infamous British double agent and defector to the USSR Kim Philby was a family friend). Stewart calls on his bother Miles III and sister Lennie to round out the family memories (sadly, I miss the presence of their brother Ian, who I was friends with in my New York City years, and died in 2006) and features leading intelligence experts and historians in this superb exploration of his father’s adventurous and intriguing life.

Populist Picks

Feature Film: “Crazy” – This movie’s central character, Hank Garland, was a seminal member of Nashville’s “A Team” of studio musicians and a guitarist of rare talent and stylistic breadth, discussed in a number of “Cocaine and Rhinestones” episodes. As a movie it may have its shortcomings, but the portrayal of Garland by Waylon Payne – yet another country music second gen offspring; the son of singer Sammi Smith and longtime Willie Nelson Family guitarist Jody Payne – is a superb live-wire presence in its center (his music albums are also excellent cut-to-the-bone artistry).

TV Docuseries: “Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami” – Following further through on themes; A captivating six-episode story of the rise of two Cuban-American high school dropouts to becoming the biggest smugglers of nose candy into the US and their eventual inevitable downfall.

Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.

From The Progressive Populist, November 15, 2021

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