Asleep at the Wheel on artistic identity, the vow of poverty, and why the geographic imperative is BS.

Charlie Worsham has spent twenty years becoming the guitar player Nashville calls first. He’s played in the bands of Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley, toured with Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift, and been named CMA Musician of the Year and 2x ACM acoustic guitarist of the year. In August 2026, twenty years to the day after moving to town from Mississippi, he was invited by Vince Gill to join the Grand Ole Opry. He has also just released his first independent record after two solo records and two EPs for Warner Music. And still, the end of a tour is a hard place to land. In this conversation, Charlie talks openly about coming home, the question he asks himself before he reaches for anything that numbs, and what it took for a lifelong A+ student to make peace with a C-. Plus, we talk about his tools and approaches to balancing mental health both at home and on the road. He also tells us about playing alongside a band of incarcerated men at Parchman Farm in Mississippi, and why those were some of the most important shows he’s ever played. In This Episode: Charlie Worsham Porter’s Call Onsite MusiCares Cumberland Heights Backline Anthony Bourdain Wendell Berry What About Bob? Ep 166 - Jim James Music Community Foundation Country Music Association (CMA) Jerry Pentecost Brad Paisley Parchman Farm Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic

If you don't know Buddy Miller by name, you probably know his work. He joined Emmylou Harris's band, has worked with artists from Robert Plant to Patty Griffin, is a Grammy winner and a multiple-time Instrumentalist of the Year with the Americana Music Association, and served as executive music producer of the television series Nashville. Yet the collaboration he returns to most is the one at home. Buddy and his wife, Julie Miller, have made music together for more than forty years, through bankruptcy, a van full of gear, and the point where the road became too hard on her. In this open conversation, Buddy reflects on the pull between producer and partner, his honesty about where he fell short, and the record they made in the corner of their bedroom with red lights glowing in the dark. "We survived," he says. "We came out different."

Dan Wilson’s songs have shaped our collective cultural landscape, from Semisonic’s enduring anthem "Closing Time" to multi-Grammy-winning collaborations like Adele’s "Someone Like You," The Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice," and landmark works with Jon Batiste, Taylor Swift, and Chris Stapleton. Yet behind four decades of catalog mastery lies a quiet, rigorous inner examination of what it means to build an artistic life.

Between late-night TV appearances and relentless album sprints, how does a working artist remain anchored in their own life? This week, we sit down with Nick Carpenter (Medium Build), whose catalog of raw, empathetic storytelling has earned him critical acclaim, tours with Mumford and Sons and Tyler Childers, and fans likes of Elton John, John Mayer, and boygenius. We discuss the exhausting trap of algorithmic omnipresence, the Jungian necessity of integrating our shadows rather than suppressing them, and the profound wisdom passed to him by Ben Kweller on honoring the muse. It is a generous, disarming exploration into stepping off the treadmill of validation and reclaiming art as an act of service rather than a product.

What does it mean to witness ourselves transform? Singer-songwriter and bluegrass powerhouse Lindsay Lou, a frequent collaborator with artists like Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Sierra Hull, as well as a member of the Sweet Water Warblers and a festival staple in her own right, joins us to explore the tender, high-stakes choreography of modern artist-parenthood.