Show Notes
My guest today is someone I’ve spent time in court with several months ago. I was with David Browne and fortunately neither one of us was in legal trouble. We were both there in a stuffy NYC criminal courtroom covering the then-ongoing trial involving Don Henley and some allegedly stolen Eagles lyrics, he for Rolling Stone and I for Ultimate Classic Rock. That case ended up being dropped… But I digress! I actually met David in person for the first time before that at the Bitter End, one of the West Village’s few remaining music venues left over from its folk scene days. (Here is a picture of Joni playing at it in 1968.) We spoke a little bit at the time about a new book he was writing, and now here we are, discussing said book: Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital (out September 17). David did warn me that Joni herself doesn’t play a large role in the book, but I would argue that she was still an integral figure in the Greenwich Village folk scene, even if she was only a part of it for a short time. If you’re into music history pretty much of any kind, this will be a book you’ll want to get your hands on — excellently researched and chock full of detail. Here’s David and I… Thanks for listening x * Allison
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More from Big Yellow Podcast
Well, this is another milestone for Big Yellow Podcast: our first guest who has sold out Madison Square Garden. My guest today is the exceptionally talented Lizzy McAlpine, who is scheduled to play MSG in June of 2027, but that’s frankly just one bit of her incredible resume. She’s also acted on Broadway and she just recently released her fourth studio album, Angel, which is much of the focus of our conversation here. She’s also, of course, a huge fan of Joni’s, as you’ll be able to tell from our chat and from listening to Angel, which was inspired heavily by albums like Blue and Hejira. But I’ll let Lizzy do that explaining! More information about Lizzy’s music and her tour can be found on her website. As always, thanks for listening x * Allison
I must thank my friend Matthew Ingate for getting me connecting with Naomi in Blue, my guest for this episode. I can’t emphasize enough how grateful I am that many of you out there have helped point me in the right direction in terms of incredible interview guests. The British-Chilean singer-songwriter Naomi in Blue — she’ll explain her stage name in this episode, fear not — has released her debut (!!) album, Is This Body Mine? and it’s an wonderfully visceral piece of work. She draws from Joni, but you’ll also here essences of people like Patti Smith, Fiona Apple and Nico here. More on Naomi’s music on her Bandcamp page. Thanks for listening x * Allison
We’re on a bit of a roll here at Big Yellow Pod. Today I present you with a wonderful conversation I had with Brianna Falcone, a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles — I stumbled across a video of her covering Joni on Instagram of all things. As we note in the show, Brianna has a new song coming out on September 12th, which she recorded live, outside under a tree. But there’s plenty more of her work to explore via her website if you should choose. As always, thanks for listening x * Allison
Welcome back to another Big Yellow Podcast interview episode! Today’s guest is Violet Grohl, a singer-songwriter out of Los Angeles who released her debut album, Be Sweet to Me, in May of this year. If you listen to Be Sweet to Me, and I hope that you do, you’ll hear its most prominent influences — acts like the Breeders, L7 and other punk rock sorts. (You can probably guess where that came from if you think just a little bit about her last name…) But Joni, Violet tells me, is a foundational influence for her, as you’ll hear in this episode. (And if you want more on Violet, check out her website, where she’s got a whole bunch of tour dates listed for this year.) As always, thanks for listening x * Allison
We’re wrapping up the final four of Joni’s studio albums today: ‘Taming the Tiger’ (1998), ‘Both Sides Now’ (2000), ‘Travelogue’ (2002) and ‘Shine’ (2007). As I mention in this episode…full transparency here: I’m not totally sure where this show will go from here. There likely won’t be consistent guests, but trust me when I say I’m always hearing about new people that I think would make excellent guests, the kind that are carrying similar artistic torches to the one Joni did and still is. If anyone out there has recommendations, I’m always ears. As always, thanks for listening x * Allison