This Song: Beth Ditto (Rerun)

In this rerun from 2018, Beth Ditto, former lead singer of the band Gossip, talks about how Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam" helped her grapple with complex feelings about her home state, Arkansas. She also talks about returning home after heartbreak and explores making her first record "Fake Sugar."

In this rerun from 2018, Liz Phair talks about hearing The Soft Boys "I Wanna Destroy You," revisiting her 1991 Girly-Sound Tapes and 1993 debut album, and parenting realities.

John Prine explains how Bob Dylan's "The Lonsesome Death of Hattie Carroll" changed his life and goes in depth about his own songwriting process for his album "The Tree of Forgiveness."

Thao Nguyen from Thao and the Get Down Stay Down talks to host Elizabeth McQueen about the inspiration behind her new song "Temple," and about what it was like to release music during a pandemic. She also shares how making the new album helped prepare her to address her sexuality publicly and to create a safe space in her life where she could exist as her full self.

Kathy Valentine, bass player in the seminal 80s all-girl rock group the Go-Go's, recently wrote a memoir titled All I Ever Wanted. In this episode of, Kathy explains what "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream taught her about herself when she was 9 years old,  describes how she found her creative process as an author and details how music and storytelling intersected in her new book.

In this episode, St. Vincent explores how music from early Disney films helped her lay the foundation for beauty and wonder in her life and work. She also explains why she approached the songs on Masseduction with a Disney-esque lack of irony.

Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw from  Metric talk about  hearing "Teardrop" by Massive Attack early in their musical partnership and how it inspired them, terrified them and helped them find a collaborative way of making music that still works for them today.

In this episode of This Song, originally published last February, Jackie Venson talks about how "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita changed the way she listened to music and thought about herself.

This week we have a special treat for you! A full episode of the new Song Confessional Podcast! In  this episode you'll hear a tale of family, weed and secrets, the song it inspired written by Brooklyn based Vlad Holiday, and an interview with Holiday about his boozy creative process.

Devendra Bahnart talks about how hearing "Just Another Diamond Day" by Vashti Bunyan  when he was busking on the streets of Paris comforted him  with a feeling of motherly love that he still turns to today and how themes of motherhood, love, fear and compassion show up on his latest record "Ma."