0:08

This is all of it. I'm Kusha

0:10

Navadar in for Alison Stewart. Hey, thanks

0:12

for dropping by this afternoon. We're glad

0:14

to have you with us. Coming up

0:16

on today's show, we'll talk about wedding

0:18

music with DJ Karen Fialman. She's got

0:20

some advice for how to craft the

0:22

musical arc of a wedding celebration from

0:24

the romance of the couple's first dance

0:26

to the party jams you'll want so

0:28

everyone's on the dance floor till the

0:30

venue kicks you out. We'll also hear

0:32

the latest on Kendrick Lamar's public beef

0:34

with Drake. Vulture's Craig Jenkins is here

0:36

to share the history of the

0:38

diss track and how it's evolved

0:40

over time. We're also going to

0:42

take your calls for that one.

0:45

So if you've got opinions, get

0:47

ready. Plus we'll hear about the

0:49

Pulitzer winning play primary trust with

0:51

playwright Ebony Booth and star William

0:53

Jackson Harper. So that's the plan

0:55

and let's get this thing started

0:57

with some stereophonic. Last

1:08

week, the new play stereophonic

1:11

made history becoming the first

1:13

play to ever receive 13

1:16

Tony nominations. Now let's celebrate with

1:19

the creative team responsible for bringing

1:21

this show to life. The show

1:23

is set in 1976. It

1:27

follows a band on the rise

1:29

coming together to record what they

1:31

hope will be their big hit

1:33

album. And like any band, the

1:35

group is full of talent and

1:38

ego. There's lead singer Diana whose

1:40

solo songs are rising on the

1:42

charts. Her romantic partner and lead

1:45

guitarist Peter seems slightly jealous of

1:47

her success. Keyboard player Holly is

1:49

in a troubled relationship with alcoholic

1:52

bass player Reg and drummer

1:54

Simon just wants to finish the record so

1:56

he can get home to his kids. Engineering

1:59

it all Paul is Grover who

2:01

has lied to get his job

2:03

but finds himself growing more confident

2:05

and assertive even as the relationship

2:07

between the band members starts to

2:09

fracture. The intricate and

2:12

intimate script is written by

2:14

David Adjme who makes sure

2:16

to give each character a

2:18

moment to shine. The

2:20

incredibly catchy original music that's written

2:22

by former frontman for Arcade Fire,

2:24

Bill Butler and directing all

2:26

of this madness with ease is

2:29

Daniel Auchin. All three are

2:31

Tony nominated for their work on Stereophonic which

2:33

is running now at the Golden Theatre and

2:35

they are all three with us right now

2:37

in studio. David, Daniel, Will, welcome to all

2:40

of it. Thank you. Hello.

2:43

Thanks for having us. Absolutely. It's

2:45

such a pleasure to have you all here. David, want

2:47

to get started with you. What first inspired you to

2:49

write the story? Did you realize immediately how ambitious it

2:51

would be to actually stage it? Yeah,

2:53

I didn't know how to do it when I first got

2:56

the idea. I first got the idea when I was on

2:58

a plane ride going to a conference and I listened in

3:00

to In Flight Radio. They were playing a Led Zeppelin song

3:02

called Babe I'm Gonna Leave You which is a cover. And

3:05

I knew it because my brother used to play the chords when I was

3:07

a little kid so I just knew the

3:10

basic skeleton of that music. But

3:12

there's something about the

3:15

way that just the intensity

3:17

of the vocals were so profound

3:19

and because I was trapped on a plane I was

3:22

really forced to listen to it and experience it. And

3:25

I just immediately visualized this studio and I

3:27

sort of tried to picture the scene and

3:30

then suddenly I went, wait a minute, this

3:32

could be a play. But I didn't know

3:34

what the play could be because that would

3:36

be boring to just have people

3:38

in a studio recording an album. But

3:40

I knew the sonic possibilities of using

3:43

something like that as a dramatic landscape, like

3:47

a recording studio and I thought, oh

3:49

I could do something really cool with it but I didn't

3:51

know quite what it would be. So I knew it would

3:53

be, yes, I knew it would be ambitious and I

3:56

didn't know anything about recording

3:59

or animating. analog recording or any

4:01

of that stuff. I'm not that

4:03

much of an aficionado of music.

4:05

I love music, but not to

4:07

that extent. So it

4:09

was definitely a learning process and it

4:11

took years and years for me to get

4:14

really granular and detailed about it. I was gonna

4:16

ask you about that because one thing that really

4:19

stuck out to me in the script is how

4:21

granular the music terminology is and how intricate the

4:23

music is to that. How did you get that

4:25

kind of fluency to put it into the script

4:27

so naturally? It was a weird

4:29

thing of fake it till you make it. So I

4:31

was kind of watching a lot of documentaries and reading

4:33

stuff and then taking cribbing

4:36

phrases or just trying to kind of write

4:38

down whatever

4:42

I could figure out in the moment. And then I sort

4:44

of made a kind of, it's

4:47

almost like scratch vocals in music. This is temporary,

4:49

okay. Maybe this makes sense.

4:51

And then my director, Daniel,

4:53

knew real engineers who worked in the

4:56

period and would say, that

4:58

doesn't make sense. That doesn't make sense. Try

5:00

that, try that. And so I would sort of,

5:03

it was like a kind of trial and error

5:05

thing that went on really, I mean literally for

5:07

years. Wow, and Will, when did you get started

5:09

on this project? What's the story behind that? I

5:12

met David a decade ago in November 2014. A

5:15

friend of a friend was like, this play

5:17

writer's working on a play about a band in the studio.

5:19

Do you wanna go and meet him and maybe write songs

5:21

for it? Maybe just talk about it, maybe consult. And yeah,

5:24

we had lunch in a diner and hit

5:26

it off and just kind

5:28

of, I mean, David was furiously

5:31

working for many years and I was casually working for

5:33

many years and then furiously working for many years after

5:35

that. So we had to spend about 10 years. What

5:37

was it that drew you into it? I

5:40

just instantly got the whole image of it and

5:43

just that it would be in a studio, as

5:45

David was saying, just the dramatic landscape of

5:48

that is so ripe with possibility. And then

5:50

I, the

5:52

shape of the music was pretty clear.

5:54

Not that specific songs, but that you

5:56

hear a demo and you experience a

5:58

moment of transcendence that... can't make

6:00

the record because you couldn't capture it again

6:03

or you've captured it in the wrong way

6:05

or and then yelling at the sound engineer

6:07

because it's actually because of your relationship with

6:09

your father but it's you're mad at how

6:12

it sounds and just the whole emotional landscape

6:14

of the music and the bits and

6:16

pieces of it were instantly compelling. You know, I'm

6:19

listening to all of these elements that really bring

6:21

the play into some kind of visceral form as

6:23

soon as you start to read it and you

6:25

know, Daniel, for you, I wonder that is a

6:27

lot to wrap your arms around. I mean, not

6:29

only are we hearing about all the musical

6:31

terminology and having to bring in sound engineers,

6:33

but also the set and just all of

6:35

the intricate dialogue that we hear. How did

6:37

you react when you first read the script

6:39

and where did you even want to begin

6:42

in order to get a grip on this thing?

6:46

Well, yeah, it's a

6:48

huge undertaking and you

6:50

just you just go through, you know, to get

6:52

to a place where I think

6:55

this goes for the music too, even though I had little

6:57

to do with that aspect of

7:00

it, but to get

7:02

the actors to do all this stuff with

7:04

a feeling of ease just takes a lot

7:06

of time and a lot of repetition and

7:08

we're just blessed with this extraordinary cast. But

7:11

there's no substitute for just doing things over

7:13

and over and over and over again and

7:15

eventually things start to sink in and it

7:17

starts to feel natural and this very, this

7:21

really intricate written script

7:23

starts to feel alive

7:26

in their mouths and not forced and

7:28

has a sort of documentary feeling about

7:30

it. If you're just joining us, we're

7:32

talking about the show Stereophonic, which is

7:34

running right now at the Golden Theatre.

7:36

We're lucky to be joined by David

7:38

Adjme, who's the playwright, Daniel Auchin, the

7:40

director and Will Butler, the music and

7:43

lyrics. Hey, heads up, guys. This

7:45

has been nominated for 13 Tony

7:47

Awards, including best play. Daniel,

7:49

you mentioned the repetition and the cast

7:52

being a big part of this. What

7:54

were you looking for when you were

7:56

casting the show? Was musical ability a

7:58

big part of it? We

8:01

certainly, you know,

8:03

Justin, our music director,

8:07

and Will were a huge part of the casting

8:09

process and we had to cast people who we

8:11

credibly believed, once we cast

8:13

them, had either

8:15

already had or would have enough musical ability

8:18

to get them to a place where they

8:20

could be this credible band. And

8:22

then the acting challenge of it is huge too.

8:24

So, you know, the

8:27

sort of rough rubric I said was we have

8:29

to cast actors who would be excited

8:31

to see an Echekov play. It has that

8:33

kind of demands on an actor. And

8:36

so it's really a very dreamy

8:38

cast and they

8:41

had to be up for both and they

8:43

all were. Yeah, you know,

8:45

Will, I read in the New York Times that

8:47

you invited this group to play as

8:49

a band, as an opening act for you at

8:51

Elsewhere in Brooklyn. Why did you do that? What

8:53

do you hope to bring out of it when

8:55

you're doing that for them? Again, they're great actors

8:58

and they're just such sponges for experience and for,

9:00

and part of part of the experience of this

9:02

was not, was just building them as a band.

9:04

Like they needed to be a credible band and

9:06

in order to do that, they actually had to

9:08

be a band and you, you learn

9:10

so much by going on stage. And

9:14

the different thing about performing at a rock show

9:16

is it's either yourself or

9:18

a persona of yourself facing out into

9:20

the crowd and it's very scary

9:23

in a certain sense, particularly for an

9:25

actor who's used to playing a character and used to having

9:27

a fourth wall and all these things. And

9:30

I just wanted to give them a taste of that. And almost

9:34

the most, almost the most important

9:36

part of it was they sat down at soundcheck and

9:38

they started playing and they're like, oh, it's

9:41

too loud. Like they accidentally left the

9:43

volume too loud. And like, no, that's how loud

9:45

you are. That's how loud music is. That's how

9:47

loud a drum is. That's how deep a bass

9:50

is. Like you play the bass and you feel

9:52

it rumble because that doesn't have in

9:54

the theater, they're on headphones and they're in the

9:56

studio and studio work is different thing. But I

9:58

wanted them to have the feeling. of just like

10:01

making an earthquake in a space and seeing people respond

10:03

to it. Was there any element when you were reading

10:05

the script where you thought, man, this is an element

10:07

of me as a musician in my life as a

10:09

career musician that's really speaking to me? Maybe

10:12

a specific character, maybe just like one element where you

10:14

thought, man, this is something that really picks up on

10:16

what it's like behind the scenes. Yeah,

10:19

it's horrible. No,

10:22

it's like offensively close to my life. It was

10:24

like, oh, I can't watch this. This is too

10:26

real. No, just

10:28

the process of I really

10:31

there's a scene where Holly loses it and

10:33

throws her headphones off and screams at the

10:35

engineer and it's because of other things in

10:38

her life. And I've just had that experience

10:40

of getting mad at something

10:42

technical and you

10:44

blame it on some technical aspect. But it's

10:46

because of your life. It's because of your

10:48

love and your relationships and your family and

10:50

all these things. And you're trying to take

10:53

it out on something technical. You're trying to

10:55

do a technical task while you're like swimming

10:57

in this ocean of emotion. Yeah, David, you

10:59

know, it makes me wonder the characters are

11:01

really what drives this show in addition to

11:03

the music of all the characters who took

11:05

you the longest to really figure out. Well,

11:08

Holly, because I don't I still don't

11:10

understand her. She's really, really private and

11:12

she's private even from me. Like I

11:14

feel like there was a wall with

11:17

that character and I tried penetrating the

11:19

character and

11:21

it's at some point I it just became fake.

11:23

I was like, no, she does not want me to

11:26

know her up to a certain point. And so I

11:28

have to respect that. All

11:30

the other characters were totally transparent to

11:32

me. Like I could I could get it

11:35

every single one of them except for her weird. That's so interesting.

11:37

And you just kind of left. You were like, this is the

11:39

barrier. This will be how that character is. I just felt it

11:41

sometimes it was like it was like a puzzle that I was

11:43

determined to solve. And then I felt like there was something like

11:45

perverse about me trying to solve it. So I was like, I'm

11:48

going to leave her alone. Like this is as

11:50

far as she wants me to go. You know,

11:52

Will, you have this daunting task of writing the

11:54

songs that sound like they could have been recorded

11:56

in 1976. Let's

11:58

listen to one and talk about on the other. This is not good.

12:34

So Will, the music in this

12:36

play is so captivating and while

12:38

I was watching last night and

12:40

listening, I was thinking about your

12:43

strategy for writing a song in

12:45

1976 in a way that felt authentic

12:47

but not like a parody or a copycat.

12:49

It felt fresh. Can you walk us through

12:51

that, how you approached that? Yeah,

12:53

I mean the biggest task was writing a

12:56

good song and writing enough good songs that you

12:58

could have good songs and then taking a good

13:00

song and making it better and making it a

13:02

very good song. Because if you have a good

13:04

song, if you have a great song, it

13:06

can support many interpretations. Like if

13:09

you have a great song, you can play it in 1976, you can play it in 1982, you

13:11

can play it in 1995, you can play it in the year 2000 and it still is alive.

13:18

You could play a rock and roll,

13:20

you could play a Chuck Berry song today and people would

13:22

respond to it and you could make it sound like 2024.

13:26

But yeah, it was primarily just

13:30

write a great song and then immerse it in

13:32

the material culture and have it come out of

13:34

a guitar amp from the 70s and have it

13:37

hit tape and let the material culture

13:39

drive the sound but really just focus on the songwriting.

13:41

So for you, before you thought about this is a

13:43

song that would be played in the 70s, you thought

13:45

this is what a good song would be that comes

13:47

to me and then this is kind of how they

13:50

would approach it in the 70s? Is that fair? This

13:52

is a good song that would come to Diana. This

13:54

is a good song that would come to Holly. It

13:56

was a little bit method writing

13:58

in some way where it's... You're trying to let

14:00

it emerge from the script, emerge from the characters,

14:03

and then yeah, just trying to craft it to the best of your

14:05

ability. And having David there the

14:07

whole time also is like really editing

14:09

it and producing it together. Yeah,

14:12

it was just like song, song, song, lyric, song,

14:14

lyric, just refining, refining, refining. That's wonderful. Well, we're

14:17

going to go take a quick break, but when

14:19

we come back, I want to talk more about

14:21

the set of this stage and then how we

14:23

actually pulled it all together, maybe hear a little

14:25

bit more music. We're talking about Stereophonic, which is

14:28

running now at the Golden Theatre, where with David

14:30

Adjmee, the playwright, Daniel Auchen, the director, and Will

14:32

Butler, who did music and lyrics, this is all

14:34

of it. Stick with us. We'll

14:38

be right back. This

14:46

is all of it on WNYC. I'm

14:48

Kusha Navadar, in for Alison Stewart. We're

14:51

talking about Stereophonic, which is running right

14:53

now at the Golden Theatre. We've got

14:55

David Adjmee, who is the playwright, Daniel

14:57

Auchen, the director, and Will Butler, who

14:59

did the music and lyrics. This show

15:01

was nominated for 13 Tony

15:03

Awards, including Best Play. That's the most

15:05

Tony Awards for any show in the

15:07

history of the Tonys, I believe, and

15:09

it is just a fantastic experience. Daniel,

15:11

one of the biggest pieces

15:13

of enjoyment for me during the show was the

15:15

set. You've got this

15:17

split-level set, a sound booth on the

15:19

top part of the stage, a huge

15:23

console and the recording part in the bottom.

15:25

I'm wondering, how did you want to play

15:27

with that split-stage design, especially since it almost

15:30

has a quality of having the

15:32

band beyond display the whole time? Until

15:37

we did the first production of it at Playwright's Horizons,

15:39

we didn't know for sure how well it would work.

15:42

We'd done workshops of it before, but it

15:44

was all just like, put up a screen

15:46

and pretend it's soundproof and pretend you can't

15:48

hear each other. After we

15:50

were really doing it for real, we

15:54

couldn't know, but we had

15:56

intuitions about it and we Had

15:59

a theatre behind us. There is rising to really

16:01

gave us the resources in the time to

16:03

find that stuff in it at took a

16:05

took a long time as to go. Okayed.

16:09

I know this why. I know this works

16:11

on paper, but is this gonna work in

16:13

reality and we figured it out slowly. Is

16:15

it correct for me to say that the

16:17

Council on Stage actually controlled the mixing that

16:19

we heard during it because it seemed like

16:21

when the the engineer grover was playing with

16:23

Cedars, it was actually affecting the music that

16:26

we heard. There are places where that is

16:28

true. Okay, got it. Yeah, How did you

16:30

determine. The Elements That who Are Agassi.

16:32

What I really want to ask your

16:34

is what was a big challenge that

16:36

you faced with controlling that kind of

16:39

set that you had to sigur out

16:41

either. In terms of how you block

16:43

their how you Know paste Yeah is

16:45

sort of a combination of sonic and

16:47

compositional. Ah, balance. And all in this,

16:50

scientists have the legibility of what was

16:52

what the story worth telling in that

16:54

particular moment. And so you know what?

16:56

How somebody is moving when somebody says

16:58

something Amazon equality. it's. Just it's just

17:00

an extra. A. Big extra layer

17:02

than you would typically has to.

17:05

Deal. With in apply but also

17:07

an enormous or of play and

17:09

enormously rich palette to play with

17:12

so. Ah yeah, it's just

17:14

like good. Doing it again and again.

17:16

Say all that didn't work. let's try

17:18

to different way and distal. You know

17:20

what is the legibility of this? Can

17:22

I? Can I follow it? Does this

17:24

feel allies? Does this has a very

17:26

says improvisational. Feel.

17:28

To it. Ah, an overdose. A funny story

17:30

is one of the Axis friends who saw

17:33

it twice. In the second time they said

17:35

i I I I didn't think you're going

17:37

to do at the same way. The second

17:39

time they sort of his improvised the greatest

17:41

syria That repetition they talk about reminds me

17:43

so much of what we seen the show

17:46

which is this is how piece of music

17:48

it's recorded. It is done over and over

17:50

again and that sense of improvisation leads me

17:52

to think about that naturalistic approach to the

17:54

scripts which David I really want to talk

17:56

to you about. You know, just. People talking

17:59

over one. Not one. Another sibling with instruments

18:01

while they talk to each other. People

18:03

aren't properly introduced at first and a

18:05

lot of this show I noticed is

18:07

about the relationship, maybe even the conflict

18:10

between bandmates and and the audience and

18:12

my soaps was so responsive and engaged

18:14

not to just what was said but

18:16

the silence around everything that was said.

18:19

Celica was a masterclass in how to

18:21

write good arguments on stage. so I

18:23

guess my question to you is how

18:25

do you write a good argument had

18:27

you make it feel so natural. Well.

18:31

I mean. I.

18:33

Think for me writing a good

18:36

argument on stage and the scene

18:38

is about tracking the characters and

18:40

just letting them. Say. With

18:42

they need to say or if

18:44

they feel blocked, letting that block

18:46

register and become legible so you

18:49

know there's a big scene in

18:51

the middle of the play. Rather,

18:54

it's may be the middle of the first

18:56

pass where Peter and Diana have a big

18:58

argument and it goes on of really long

19:00

time. And you think

19:02

it's gonna and and then it starts to

19:04

unfold in some new way. And that does

19:06

happens in the writing and I just followed

19:08

them where they went with it and I

19:11

didn't censor them that I. Think sometimes playwrights

19:13

and there seems to early so I

19:15

like to keep let it go a

19:17

little bit longer than it should to

19:19

see what happens and I'm and and

19:21

I'll and I love it because they're

19:23

all of these dimensions, they're both right

19:25

and different ways and they're both wrong

19:27

in different ways and I didn't wanna

19:29

do a play with someone's a villain

19:31

or someone's an angel and I at

19:33

the is so boring to me as

19:35

so I wanted people to get lost

19:37

in degree say and dislikes and of

19:40

gray area. And.

19:42

Just swim around in that I'm I cause

19:45

I love ambiguity in plays and I think

19:47

of people are just so complex and I

19:49

really wanted to draw that out. How do

19:51

you know when a seen as over. It's

19:56

all intuition. Yeah, it's it's really all intuition.

19:58

But I do like to let me the

20:00

scenes go on a little bit longer and

20:03

then I'll just sit them later if the

20:05

if if it's just you know too much

20:07

the Or as I thought a lot of

20:09

the humor came from letting things go a

20:11

little bit longer to especially the silences that

20:14

we hear just so much humor and just

20:16

people holding their reactions on stage. It was

20:18

really really lovely. And you know you, you

20:20

mentioned a lot of the ten cents. Diana

20:23

and Peter will a lot of attention. The

20:25

shower revolves around These two characters are the

20:27

Peter the lead guitarist and producer on the

20:29

album. Steiner rights these beautiful songs that

20:31

she's very protective of and has a

20:34

hard time when Peter wants to change

20:36

something about. On let's listen to one

20:38

first. The way she presents it's the

20:40

band's this is one version of the

20:43

song Plate Curators. To

21:09

him. And

21:14

now let's hear the version that Peter Wants

21:16

which has sped up. Here is that same

21:18

song recorded a different way. Will

21:51

what went into crafting this particular song

21:53

which become so much of the tension

21:56

in the play? And do you think

21:58

either of these characters are creatively. Right

22:00

or wrong about the best way to record it. I

22:04

think. Peter And then there's

22:06

a third version after this where Peter,

22:08

much like David is, he has working

22:10

off intuition a lot of the time

22:13

and I think Peter does have good

22:15

instincts and I think Peter is a

22:17

good producer and. Again,

22:19

I think a good song can support

22:21

numerous interpretations, but there is. Some.

22:24

Are more right than others. Nanda.

22:26

Know. I was when I was writing a

22:28

song, I was I was sitting the piano

22:31

and the character Diane I can play piano

22:33

was not a piano player is not as

22:35

limited power abilities. I just sat at the

22:37

piano and tried to play something simple and

22:39

tried to put myself. In

22:41

the mind of this character and just. A

22:44

little bit. Turn. Off the conscious

22:46

brain and open up your lizard brain

22:48

his men and see what emerges and

22:50

then. I honestly think.

22:53

That's. What Peter is doing a lot of a

22:55

time when he's producing the record and. That

22:58

is your unconscious mind cannot

23:00

cannot. Can. Really get you places

23:03

but also. Again, If

23:05

you're not thinking of the people around you eats,

23:07

it can start to rub up against them and

23:09

their. Yet. At the

23:11

way they work together in the way that Peter

23:13

works within the band. Feels very real.

23:15

feels like the bands that I've been

23:18

and and feel like you're trying. Everyone

23:20

is trying to serve the music in

23:22

a good band. People trying to serve

23:24

the music. And. And

23:27

there's no right or wrong. but there is.

23:30

There. Is a slow to at in. it's.

23:33

It's it's it's mysterious. It as a mysterious

23:35

process, the process of creation and you must

23:37

find out about it. Seemed the reactions of

23:39

other members in the band seem like thousand

23:41

and element of the the the show to

23:43

and enough people are presenting. Hey how's the

23:45

seal and their system? Electricity in they are.

23:47

This is one specific moment that I'm thinking

23:49

of that that young I can ruin anything

23:51

but it is that sense of all. as

23:53

a group collective this this we recognize the

23:55

way that things feel good right And it's

23:57

and a strange thing about making a record

23:59

as you. Those moments and and sometimes you go

24:01

back and listen to and you're like oh it didn't.

24:04

They didn't make it through the microphone but I felt

24:06

at like we all felt it. And. Yet

24:08

somehow didn't happen. I mean this is unstable

24:10

my like our another player but his but

24:12

ass. But there is this mysterious thing that

24:14

happens between people like on a very spiritual

24:17

level and it is it's own separate creation

24:19

and of feels like. I mean it's suffice

24:21

it to say suffice to say I was

24:23

messed that up. Suffice to say there is

24:25

this sense of audiences really resonating with that.

24:27

I mean Daniel Thirteen Tony Noms The most

24:29

one place ever received. How did you feel

24:32

getting that news. I'm

24:34

still digesting as as as a

24:36

lot to process and them. When

24:39

or are we were

24:41

rural Enormously grateful for

24:43

the response. and ah,

24:45

just just. Taking. Deep

24:48

breaths. Have you

24:50

noticed there being any added energy sense to

24:52

getting that news to? The shows feel different

24:54

as the cast is Bring it in and

24:56

that's what's made people feel good about it all

24:58

along. has that's than for you. I.

25:00

Mean, I think every every show is

25:02

his own fragile thing and you know

25:05

and you can't you can never with

25:07

a showed. This is a very challenging

25:09

so to be and and with anything

25:12

like this they they really have to

25:14

really bring it every night And and

25:16

they do. And but it's also something

25:19

that I have to watch regularly because

25:21

it's it's just it's just like any

25:23

like anything. It's

25:26

it's it's vital to. Stereophonics

25:29

is running now at the Golden Cedar.

25:31

It up for thirteen Tony awards including

25:34

best Play. We've been joined by Play

25:36

Right David add Me and Directorate Daniel

25:38

Och and thank you to so much

25:40

for joining us! And you

25:43

thanks and will we're gonna talk to

25:45

you for another Men About the Public

25:47

Song Project File: David and Daniel are

25:49

very patient and sit here and be

25:51

a cheerleading squad for both of us.

25:54

Molly Do this Will! You're one of

25:56

our guests contributors for the Public Song

25:58

Project this year. You and

26:00

your Band Sisters Square, Rookie Sister Squares recorded

26:02

a cover of George Ira Gershwin's the Man

26:05

I Love, which I know has some personal

26:07

significance for you and your family can talk

26:09

about your relationship that song a little bit.

26:11

See My grandparents were jazz musicians, my grandma

26:13

was said Louise King and she was in

26:16

a group. Ah, the two sisters with our

26:18

sisters and made my Grandpa as a man.

26:20

And now the Oh Raves A guitar player

26:22

who moved to New York one hundred years

26:25

ago and lived in as the Hotel Pennsylvania

26:27

while they were building the Empire State Building

26:29

and was. Like one of the

26:31

first jazz guitarist. And

26:33

ever as jazz was blue and ended,

26:35

the electric guitar didn't even exist yet.

26:37

Mm yeah. my my grandma and her

26:40

sisters sang the man I Love Them

26:42

and my grandpa was taking music lessons

26:44

from a guy that top versus all

26:46

else out. Of. A

26:48

piece of the history and and a

26:50

piece of New York history as well.

26:52

What? let's we ever? A clip of

26:55

the song Let's See here Will Butler's

26:57

Grandma Kings Sisters, The Man I Love

26:59

Here does. Your

27:21

version of the Man I Love sounds pretty

27:23

different from the classic versus listeners might be

27:25

familiar with. I'm thinking of the likes of

27:27

new Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Can you

27:30

tell me what approached your or what inspired

27:32

your approach to the song? Yep!

27:35

Heart is part of my approach. resists

27:37

approaching it's very tired Second, so tired

27:40

and I'm thinking of the man I

27:42

love. sit there and just like of

27:44

China very wearied version of at and

27:47

just like I just open to that

27:49

melancholy up at cause cause how my

27:51

grandma saying it as a very a

27:54

it again at a great song supports

27:56

many interpretations. but it it works as

27:58

an upbeat. Total. Any a mocking

28:00

to New York and I'm thinking about the man

28:03

I love and. And. There is something

28:05

the probably in response to that rose like oh

28:07

i wanna hear it. As. A contemplative

28:09

as like something deeply melancholy within it. Where did

28:11

the melancholy come from? It's a something that you

28:13

heard in the lyrics or is it something the

28:15

heard of the music or just eve You thought

28:18

this is a different aspect of that frame. The.

28:20

Music and lyrics. I mean dispersants thinking of

28:22

the man I love and it's not. It's

28:24

not real yet and then you know it's

28:26

a dream as a dream that you're having

28:28

and you know it's a dream and you're

28:30

kind of a fool for having a dream

28:32

and as you keep having a dream him

28:34

in a eating one verse in the song

28:36

for your version and said as still build

28:38

a little home just meant for to you

28:40

saying we'll build a little home in Brooklyn

28:43

Heights Why that sense that was actually from

28:45

my my grandma's version as they have a

28:47

jokey. A jokey verse about Brooklyn Heights

28:49

and I was like and I couldn't even find

28:51

the attribution. I don't know who wrote at earth

28:53

is just the arranger came up with it one

28:55

day how they actually I'm going around going to

28:57

keep the died and then I tweaks Adverse about

28:59

Brooklyn Heights am. Just. Cut it, It felt.

29:02

Hundred Thousand Nice to talk about Brooklyn. I

29:04

live in Brooklyn New York. I as the

29:06

Low Brooklinen them a song lyric like say

29:09

and yet there might be some listeners out

29:11

there still on the sense that are submitting

29:13

to the project they have until May twelfth

29:15

to send in a song is and got

29:18

awnyc.org/public Song Projects last person for you. From

29:20

your own experience picking and recording songs, what

29:22

would you say to somebody deciding whether or

29:24

not to get involved. Do. It

29:26

and dislike. Dig into the public domain. I

29:28

love the public domain and there's so many

29:31

beautiful song from one hundred years ago and

29:33

I'm so glad more and more songs are

29:35

into every year now. But it's yeah, there's

29:37

just some beautiful beautiful stuff. All the Berlin

29:39

knowledge, not all of it, but a lot

29:41

of the Irving Berlin. Anyway, it's wonderful discolors

29:44

know much old stepson and supplant. Take a

29:46

firm Butler, he just told you what to

29:48

do. We've been talking to Will Butler about

29:50

his new show Stereo Phonic and his participation

29:52

in this year's Public Song Project Will thank

29:54

you so much! Anagram Here's Will Butler. and

29:56

sisters squares with the man i love

29:59

written by george and Ira Gershwin and

30:01

published in 1924. Let's

30:03

take a little listen. Someday

30:20

he'll come along

30:23

as the man I love

30:29

and he'll be big and strong as

30:33

the man I love and

30:38

when he comes my way I'll

30:43

do my best to

30:46

make him

30:49

stay and

30:56

look at you smile, I understand

31:04

and in the wild take

31:09

my hand those

31:14

seeds of sun come and

31:18

go, always

31:20

say good I

31:45

will build

31:52

a home

32:01

and broken eyes. There

32:06

was room for just a bit and

32:10

I didn't fight. And

32:15

so all that shit went and

32:19

you there and

32:21

there. And

32:30

I didn't fight. Tennessee

33:00

just sounds perfect. Whether that's

33:02

live music, the crack of

33:04

a campfire, or kids laughing

33:07

on an adventure. To start

33:09

planning your trip, visit tnvacation.com.

33:11

Tennessee sounds perfect.

33:18

I'm David Remnick, host of the New Yorker Radio Hour. There's

33:21

nothing like finding a story you can really

33:23

sink into that lets

33:25

you tune out the noise and focus on what matters.

33:28

In print or here on the podcast, the New Yorker brings

33:30

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33:32

even humor that you can't find anywhere else.

33:36

So please join me every week for the New Yorker Radio Hour or

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