Morse Code Podcast with Korby Lenker

Ken Kesey’s sketch and the album cover; Faye and “the black dog and the wandering boy”Larry McMurtry: Stanford, rare books, $100 book reviews, single fatherhoodFirst guitar from his dad, three chords from his mom; Johnny Cash, Kristofferson, Norman BlakeDrop C tuning, “Melinda,” “Saint Mary of the Woods”Writing backwards from dialogue; “12 O’Clock Whistle” and his grandmother’s wordsMaking records these days so there’s a reason to tourLive: “Sons of the Second Sons” with BettySooThe red dress in Tennessee; music is politicsImmigration, detention, and a disagreement about reaching the other side Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Thomas Austin is a Nashville singer-songwriter who calls his music theo-folk. A pastor's kid from Maryland, he spent years as a worship leader, and now goes to an Anglican church. His song "Normal Church" went viral on Instagram and brought a comment section full of theology arguments he'd rather not have. He and Korby talk worship music, metaphor, doubt, and whether emotion is a lesser kind of truth. Thomas plays "Just Emotion" and "Normal Church" live in the studio.00:00 How "Normal Church" went viral04:40 Growing up a pastor's kid: "Coldplay concert followed by TED Talk"13:00 Korby on praise and worship music, and five years at Mass without converting27:54 Christianity's discomfort with metaphor, and songs that write themselvesMid-episode: "Just Emotion" (live)39:50 The altar call, the wedding day, and Peter on the beach47:26 Faith without feeling, and raising a daughter to know the stories1:01:59 Pickleball as a spiritual discipline1:15:42 Christian Wiman, Dostoevsky, and suffering without answersClosing: "Normal Church" (live)Mentioned: C.S. Lewis (The Great Divorce, The Silver Chair, The Problem of Pain), Christian Wiman (My Bright Abyss), Wendell Berry (Jayber Crow), Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek), Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov), G.K. Chesterton, Kierkegaard, George MacDonald, the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil," and The Rabbit Room. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Korby talks with journalist and author Jordan Ritter Conn about his new book American Men, interviewing 50+ men about masculinity, the four men whose stories made the book (Ryan, Gideon, Joseph, Nate), the process of getting men to be vulnerable, the permission structure concept, his first day at UC Berkeley journalism school, the cancer scare he hoped would get him out, the notepad as superpower, the Scotland trip with his dad, the impact of the book on his own friendships, Tom Wolfe, narrative journalism, the literary market and male readers, video games as time thief, Bowling Alone, male loneliness, the hardball league, and getting together in a room. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Tonight's the thing. 100 episodes of the Morse Code Podcast, celebrated at The 5 Spot in East Nashville. 6 p.m. Guests from the show - Bre Kennedy, Andi Marie Tillman, Tyler Merritt, Leah Blevins, Tim Easton, Ryan Rado, Jessica Willis Fisher, Paul McDonald, Packy Lundholm, Randa Newman, Joy Todd, and me - playing songs, an author interview, a film screening, live painting, more. Come join us. Tickets here.Molly Tuttle was the first person I ever co-wrote with in Nashville. She’d just moved to town. I had a title. She had a guitar riff. We wrote “Friend and a Friend.” It made her debut album. Best-of nominations followed. A decade later she’s a 3x Grammy winner with a right hand that launched a thousand YouTube tutorials.We talked about growing up in Palo Alto with a bluegrass-teaching dad who found the music through Hank Williams on a farm in Illinois, the kids-on-bluegrass festivals where she first met Sierra Hull and Sarah Jarosz and realized there were other kids in America who could already play, what it was like the first time she went to the Grammys (deer in headlights) and the second time (she handed Joni Mitchell a trophy and went through a goth phase inspired by Måneskin’s pyrotechnics), and the part that doesn’t go away no matter how famous you get — the work of keeping a band together, coordinating schedules, writing for the next release. Even at her level, its a sacrifice.Then she played ”Friend and a Friend”. Solo in the room. Fantastic.🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube🎸 Watch Molly perform “Friend and a Friend”AFTER THE CONVERSATION After the Conversation is my Substack essay series where I keep thinking after the microphones are off. This week: the song we wrote on a swinging gate, cargo pants and homemade bread in the Bellingham woods, and an announcement about what’s next for the Morse Code Podcast. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Tabitha Meeks moved to Nashville from West Palm Beach with a folk band and a voice she’d been told five or six times wasn’t strong enough. The band didn’t last. One of her first Nashville experiences was getting fired as a backup singer 30 minutes into rehearsal. The guy who fired her said she’d have plenty of time for opportunities like this — she was, what, 21, 22? She was 28.That could have been the end of the story. Instead, Tabitha got a gig at a bar called Sambuca during COVID, where nobody was around and she was forced to be the lead singer for the first time. That’s where she found her voice. She released 30 or 40 songs over the next few years — different tempos, different moods, different sides of herself — and watched to see what people responded to. The retro pop thing hit. Nancy Sinatra meets Nora Jones, she calls it. Happy energy, piano solos, not taking life too seriously.We talked about the Pitch Meeting show she co-founded with her now-husband (and Morse Code Alum) Eric Fortlaza, building a social media following by posting nothing but live performance videos, the sync placements that are starting to pay off (including a Hulu show she can’t name yet), living in a shitty house so she could follow her dreams, the two voices in every artist’s head, and why couples therapy is non-negotiable. Then she played ”Waiting For My Day” on piano — a song about patiently trusting that your day is coming.She actually played two songs in the studio. I picked Waiting For My Day to be the standalone because it showed a more tender version of the Tabitha I know. But this girl has serious chops as a pianist! For eveidence here is a link to the moment in the main conversation where she plays her (much flashier) set piece “Life of the Party” Watch it.🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube🎸 Watch Tabitha perform “Waiting For My Day” Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Korby talks with Chris Capozzoli — musician, meme-maker, and the man behind Phony Rice Unit — about his Instagram bluegrass memes, the spirit animal dogs carousel, the Harris Teeter years, Vanderbilt, a history degree he can't use, jazz piano and Randy Newman, getting fired from ASCAP, the escape fire metaphor from Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire, Hillsborough Village as a lost Greenwich Village, the Largo years, Anglo-Saxon history, the Rest Is History podcast, Terry Gross and Dick Cavett, 9/11 and growing up in New Jersey, the impermanence of existence at 14, fatherhood, staying awake to life, and the universe as your friend if you let it be. Chris performs "Hard Work" (exclusive) and "Blue Ridge Hills Far Away" live. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Korby talks with singer-songwriter Tim Easton about his new album fIREHORSE, his sister Susan Easton's painting that inspired the record, the Chinese zodiac Year of the Fire Horse, busking in Europe, getting a record deal with New West, a publishing deal with Madonna's Maverick Music, recording with members of Wilco, tours with Lucinda Williams and John Hiatt, the hand-painted vinyl that got him dropped, opening for Townes Van Zandt in his last year, the promoter who asked "is this the way you want to live your life?", sobriety, fatherhood, the romance of the Kerouac fantasy, making records with Laney Wilson's band, Nashville's music business ecosystem, the Largo years in LA, managing envy, the troubadour lifestyle vs. building a home base, Liz Longley's merch table hustle, the folk spot in Nebraska, and thinking in albums. Tim performs "River" live. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Korby talks with Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll about his 10th record We're Only Human, writing intentionally for an album as a piece for the first time, the two-phase creative process of free creation and editing, catching lightning bolts vs. honing craft, the monkey mind, journaling, The Artist's Way morning pages, growing up a latchkey kid in The Woodlands, the Kenny Rogers greatest hits tape, hearing Dylan at the Unitarian Church at 15, Crystal Beach dive bars, Bob's Sports Bar, the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, Townes Van Zandt, the fear of being defined by a funny song, Todd Snider and Ray Wiley Hubbard's advice, humor and vulnerability in songwriting, midlife reassessment, scaling down ambitions, sobriety and stillness, Milan Kundera, Captain James Cook, social media anxiety, the handprint man story, and co-writing with MC Taylor. Hayes performs "I Think I'll Stay Here a While" live. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

The Brook and the Bluff members Joseph Settine and Alec Bolton came over to talk about Werewolf, their new record - and a conscious departure from the studio experimentation of their last few releases. After years of working with producer Micah Tawlks - chasing sounds, layering tracks, driving a mobile studio into the mountains of north Georgia - they went back to the room. Five guys plugged in, reacting to each other live. Joseph calls it getting back to that 15-year-old teaching himself guitar in his bedroom. Alec calls it the thing that made it worth playing in the first place.The conversation also covers how drummer John Canada saved the band by showing up with his Type A brain and a question nobody else had thought to ask, why Birmingham is a sneaky music town, the tension between experimentation and identity, and Alec’s observation that the live show might be the last place where a group of people are fully present with each other. Then the full band played ”Can’t Figure It Out” and baby Zuzu got so amped she did the Arsenio arm from across the room.🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube🎸 Watch the Brook and the Bluff perform “Can’t Figure It OutAFTER THE CONVERSATIONAfter the Conversation is my paid essay series where I keep thinking after the microphones are off. This week it's a short story loosely based on real life, that ends with a thought I think most musicians have had at least once: someday I will be glad I did this. I'll take a shower tomorrow. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe

Korby talks with Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods about his new album Squander Your Gifts, the deliberate restraint in his songwriting, growing up around reticent men, the reluctant narrator, words-first writing process, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, leaving small-town Ontario to be an actor in Toronto, the Canadian grant system, why he won't learn production or improve at guitar, the specialist vs. generalist path, James McMurtry, recovery and uniting your two halves, divorce, co-parenting, conflict as the source of language, poetry, and Seamus Heaney. Donovan performs "I Talk About You" live on acoustic guitar. Get full access to Morse Code with Korby Lenker at korby.substack.com/subscribe