SHEROES: Recent Episodes
Carmel Holt & Talkhouse
Inspired by creator and host Carmel Holt’s own 25 year career in radio, and lifetime devoted to music, SHEROES is a podcast that amplifies the voices of women and gender expansive folx in song and conversation. Hear a wide range of guests spanning genres and generations sharing their experiences in the male-dominated field of music, exploring perspectives of new voices and womxn who paved the way. SHEROES podcast is a companion to the weekly syndicated public radio show SHEROES Radio which includes interviews from the radio show, live tapings, roundtables and more.
Alicia Bognanno is a triple threat: artist, producer, and engineer. Recording and performing under the moniker Bully for the past decade, she has historically done everything herself. But her fourth album, Lucky For You, marks a new chapter in her career with lots of firsts - sharing production duties (with Nashville producer JT Daly), inviting an outside voice to sing on a couple tracks (Sophie Allison aka Soccer Mommy) - and with a supportive and trusted team of her management and label now in place, she is no longer carrying the weight of it all on her own. Alicia Bognanno sits down with host Carmel Holt to talk about how all of this led to making her best album to date, how sobriety has made her work more focused and present than ever, and the importance of her "whisper network" of female peers having each others backs.
Brandy Clark is an eleven-time Grammy-nominated songwriter and artist, who became a Tony Award-nominated Broadway composer earlier this year for the musical Shucked. Her recently released self-titled fourth album was produced by Brandi Carlile, and in a year that also marks the 10th anniversary of her debut 12 Stories, Brandy Clark reflects on the journey that led her to sharing her most vulnerable work to date.
SHEROES returned to Newport Folk Festival this year with special guest Neko Case, who just released the vinyl edition of her career-spanning retrospective, Wild Creatures, and discusses her many current writing projects : music for a Broadway musical, songs for a new album, a book, and her ongoing Substack, Entering The Lung. She and Carmel Holt also talk in depth about her relationship with her audience, the influence of the Indigo Girls, and the importance of queer/BIPOC/women's spaces.
Thirty years into her illustrious career, which included pioneering the "folktronica" sound of her early albums in the mid 90's, Beth Orton released one of her best albums to date last year. She joins Carmel Holt to discuss the critically acclaimed Weather Alive, finding her agency in midlife as a producer, and how the success of her eighth album gave her hope.
Bethany Cosentino sat down with Carmel Holt back in May on the day her solo debut Natural Disaster was announced. It was her first interview about the SHERO's Journey that led to breaking away from Best Coast to record this album, and now that the album release day is finally here, you're invited to take a deep dive with Bethany and Carmel discussing the complexities of being a musician who wants to be a mom, the roots of Bethany's feminism, and finally finding confidence in her voice as a singer and solo artist.
A universally revered SHERO of indie rock, the Canadian singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer Feist joins Carmel Holt for a fascinating conversation about the intersection of her art, motherhood, grief, and recent experimentation with communal, interactive performance. The aptly titled sixth album and show, Multitudes, shows once again just how eternally artful and visionary Feist's work is, and reflective of the changing nature of time.
Imposter syndrome is super common amongst womxn and nonbinary artists, especially when it comes to taking the reins in the recording studio. What we will learn today is that even when you grow up knowing that music is in your DNA and is a possible career path for you and/or your innate talent and passion gets you into one of the best music schools in the country, that doesn’t necessarily spare you from struggles with self confidence, or escaping the challenges of navigating music’s male dominated spaces and industry. Madison McFerrin was born in 1992, the daughter of Grammy-winning vocalist and songwriter Bobby McFerrin, and granddaughter of Robert McFerrin, Sr., the first black man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, this singer, songwriter and producer first put out a pair of independently released, a-cappella-based EP’s called Finding Foundations Vol. I in 2016, Vol II in 2018, and then began to flesh out her sound on the 2019 EP You + I, a collaboration with her brother, musician/producer Taylor McFerrin. In today’s conversation, we’ll hear how Madison overcame her own imposter syndrome, took the production reins, and made her most fully realized album to date, I Hope You Can Forgive Me.
Singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and visual artist Hannah Hooper co-founded the band Grouplove with her husband Christian Zucconi fourteen years ago, and rarely does interviews alone. But on the heels of releasing the band's sixth album, I Want It All Right Now, Hannah sits down with Carmel Holt for an in-depth conversation about the journey from solitary visual artist to a catsuit-wearing band leader, singing on some of the world's largest stages.
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, Indigo De Souza returns to SHEROES to talk with Carmel Holt about her new album All Of This Will End, and the necessary changes she made in her personal and professional life over the last couple years, resulting in her most confident work to date.
Our Pride Month series SHEROES & QUEEROES comes to a close with an in-depth conversation and look back at ani difranco's iconic and most commercially successful eighth studio album, 1998's Little Plastic Castle. The 25th anniversary reissue has arrived, and with it, many reflections on that chapter of ani's career. Ani holds nothing back in openly discussing the complexities of that time, as many of her queer fans expressed feelings of betrayal when their SHERO/QUEERO ani difranco married a man (gasp!), and her anti-capitalist fans called her a sellout for producing what was her most polished studio album to date and all the media attention that came with it. Yet, its massive success and magazine cover stories was a major accomplishment for this openly bisexual woman who had blazed trails in every way, including building her career from the ground up as a 100% independent artist who started one of the very first female owned, "queer happy" record labels in 1990, Righteous Babe Records. And while, haters gonna hate, there were countless young women and queer folx who finally found their SHERO, felt seen, and found inspiration and empowerment by witnessing ani's against-all-odds success.
As part of SHEROES Pride Month series, SHEROES & QUEEROES, Carmel Holt sits down with acclaimed singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and eleven-time Grammy nominee, Meshell Ndegeocello, who has just released her 13th album, The Omnichord Real Book.
Romy Madley Croft of The xx has just announced her solo debut album, Mid Air (out September 8), and Carmel Holt invited Romy to take part in her month-long celebration of Pride by joining her for a special SHEROES & QUEEROES Pride Hour, that features a playlist curated by Romy, a peek at the new album, and in depth conversation about the journey that led her here.
At 16 years old, Danielle Ponder was given her first guitar and that same year her brother was sent to prison. These two events would chart the course of the rest of her life. After two decades working as a public defender and activist, while moonlighting as a touring musician, Danielle Ponder finally took the leap to devote herself entirely to music, and word of her talent and inspiring story has spread like wildfire. In this not to miss episode, Danielle joins Carmel Holt to share her extraordinary journey and discuss her stunning debut album Some of Us Are Brave.
With a fanbase of millions and a decade-long career behind her, Malaysian singer/songwriter/producer Yuna has become an internationally known artist on her own terms, staying true to her identity as a Muslim Southeast Asian woman who wears the hijab. Carmel Holt sits down with Yuna to talk about her 5th full length album Y5, and the journey that led her here.
Following the heartbreaking loss of Mimi Parker of Low who passed away due to ovarian cancer on November 5th, 2022, SHEROES host Carmel Holt took to social media to gather song requests and remembrances from fans, collaborators, and fellow musicians, reached out to Minnesota radio hosts for guest DJ spots, and spoke to Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, who produced Low's 2013 album The Invisible Way. The result is a moving two-hour communal tribute to Mimi, that includes an encore presentation of her SHEROES interview from January 2022, where she had first revealed her cancer diagnosis to the public. **Special thanks to Low and Sub Pop Records for granting permission to release this radio episode as a podcast, with full songs intact.
The multi-Grammy winning and internationally acclaimed Mexican artist Natalia Lafourcade joins Carmel Holt to discuss her first album of original material in seven years, De Todas las Flores. Natalia Lafourcade hails from the Mexican state of Veracruz. She is the daughter of two musicians, and grew up studying and playing several instruments, including piano, flute, saxophone, singing and guitar. Natalia joined her first band while still in high school, a pop music group called Twist, but came into her own within a few years, releasing her 2002 self titled debut - a combo of latin, pop, and bossa nova, which earned Natalia her first Latin Grammy award as best new artist. Over the past two decades, Natalia has gone on to win 13 Latin Grammys, and two Grammy awards, has been nominated nearly three times that number between the two awards, and has become one of the most successful singers to emerge from Latin America, earning international acclaim. Across her nine albums, Natalia evolved her sound from original songs rooted in pop, rock, latin rhythm, and bossa nova, to, in recent years, exploring more traditional music and songs of Mexico and Latin america. Now, twenty years after her debut, and seven since her last album of all original material, Natalia Lafourcade is back with her tenth studio release, De Todas las Flores - or, Of All the Flowers, which sees her stepping into a new realm of her sound and her songcraft with a new group of players including guitarist Marc Ribot, and Fiona Apple’s bassist Sebastien Steinberg.
Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer Courtney Marie Andrews sits down with Carmel Holt on the heels of releasing her eighth album, Loose Future, to both discuss her newest work, and share the journey that led her here. From growing up as a latchkey kid in Phoenix, Arizona, raised by a single mom, her grandmother, and surrounded by a family of women, to founding her first band in her early teens as a feminist punk rocker, to hitting the road by age 17 to pursue music. We learn how her sound has evolved, and how she has learned to navigate a still male-dominated music industry.
Tegan and Sara return to SHEROES, this time as the featured guests, joining Carmel Holt to discuss their 10th studio album Crybaby, and what this chapter in the Tegan and Sara story is all about. They go deep about Sara's newest role as mom to a newborn, and the new questions it raises about what the future looks like, lessons learned from the pandemic pause in touring, and the importance of swinging big to pave the way for women and LQBTQ voices in music.
An in-depth conversation with the multi-talented Maya Hawke - currently best known as an actress (Stranger Things, Do Revenge) but who is quickly becoming as beloved as a musician and songwriter. Maya sits down with Carmel Holt to discuss her second album Moss, and how her hunger for life manifests in her boundless creative energy. A brilliant young woman who won the gene-pool lottery as the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, Maya opens up about how wonderful, yet complicated, the life of a professional family can be, how it is to walk through the world in her "girl body", and how she freely approaches her gender presentation as play.
Award-winning and Grammy-nominated blues, soul and Americana singer Shemekia Copeland joins Carmel Holt to discuss her 11th album, Done Come Too Far, and the SHERO's journey she's been on since her teens when she first took the stage to open for her father, the Texas-bluesman Johnny Copeland. Nearly 25 years into her career, Shemekia has always used music to confront tough issues, especially for women, and her latest album completes a trilogy of albums addressing issues like racism, xenophobia, and gun violence, alongside messages of hope and lighthearted humor.
As we celebrate the release of Cool It Down, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' fifth, and first album in nine years, Carmel Holt welcomes the iconic front-woman, songwriter, and vocalist Karen O for an in-depth, SHEROES conversation. While talking about the joy and inspiration behind the new album, Karen opens up about the struggles she's had in the (still) male dominated world of rock to be taken seriously as an artist and writer, the ways she has carved out a space for herself, and the life-affirming effect of seeing more and more Asian American and Pacific Islander women emerge as forces in indie rock.
On this episode of SHEROES, Amy Ray sits down with Carmel Holt in Nashville on the day between receiving an Americana Music Award with Indigo Girls and the release of her 10th solo album, If It All Goes South. Listen in as they discuss her journey as a queer feminist musician and the importance of intersectional feminism, the role that her solo work has had to play for her creative expression, aging as a woman, and the song Amy wrote for their mutual friend and radio SHERO, the late Rita Houston.
On this special episode of SHEROES, host Carmel Holt bring Tegan and Sara together with their SHERO Ani DiFranco for the very first time to discuss her landmark live album Living In Clip, which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year.
As a long time fan of the band Low, Carmel Holt realized that she hadn't heard many (or perhaps any?) interviews that focused on drummer, singer, and songwriter Mimi Parker. When they sat down together for an interview back in January of this year, Carmel couldn’t have anticipated how important and rare this conversation would be. In addition to hearing about her nearly three decade journey with Low, the band she co-founded and has been in with her husband Alan Sparhawk since 1993, and the new high water mark of their latest album - 2021’s Hey What - what Mimi Parker opens up and shares with us in this very special SHEROES interview was something she had not yet discussed publicly. And as their U.S. tour starts back up in less than a month, it’s an amazing time to hear this SHERO’S journey.
Bonnie Raitt is a living legend. A Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, and multi-Grammy winning artist who just won a Lifetime Achievement Award this year, she is not only one of the greatest guitarists of our time, she is an incredible singer who brings as much passion to interpreting others songs as she does to her own. A lifelong activist and environmentalist, Bonnie is an artist who works overtime at giving back and giving voice to the causes she believes in, and all while overseeing her own Redwing Records label, and maintaining a busy tour schedule which has been back in full swing since she released her latest album Just Like That.... It was from the road that I caught up with Bonnie to chat about the new album and got her thoughts on sexism and ageism in the music industry, and her personal experiences.
In the midst of what’s been a crazy busy weekend for Amelia Meath, being here with the A’s on Friday, her record label Psychic Hotline’s showcase on Saturday, and a TON of collaborations, she made some time to sit down with Carmel ahead of Sylvan Esso’s performance Sunday afternoon - which you may have heard, was a surprise live unveiling of Sylvan Esso's new album No Rules Sandy which drops August 12th!! Hear Amelia talk about the new album, the new label, and charting a path forward that puts art and equality first, ahead of commerce.
The last time Natalie Merchant was at Newport Folk Festival was in 2000, and today Carmel sat down with Natalie on Newport Folk Festival's Foundation Stage, to discuss where her career continues to take her. She revealed plans for a new album (or two), aging in the music business, and what it was like when she first started her career with 10,000 Maniacs.
On this SHEROES Heart episode, Arooj Aftab talks about the difficulty of not only being a woman in the music industry, but existing in a patriarchy. Arooj shares her discovery that “recognition buys you a voice”, and how important it is to build a team that you can trust. She tells us how she has endured through misogyny and discrimination, and she and Carmel discuss how her background in production and audio engineering ended up playing a crucial role in creating her Grammy-winning third album, Vulture Prince.
On this first SHEROES Heart episode, hear Angel Olsen discuss gender, the “different styles of patriarchy,” equality, and what it’s like being an AFAB, queer musician in today’s world. Fresh off the release of her sixth album Big Time, Angel gets deep about coming out, as well as navigating expectations men have when working with womxn, the challenges of being the boss, the internalized systems she is dismantling, and “learning to be straight up.”