S7 Ep8: Aaron Lee Tasjan (Independence Day)

Our guest today is musician Sofia Jensen of Free Range.  Despite still being only 22 years old, Sofia already has two acclaimed albums to their name: Practice, which came out in 2022, and Lost and Found, which was released last year.  They are now writing new material for the next Free Range record. Sofia is also a huge Elliott Smith fan. In this episode, we discuss their favourite song selection - The Biggest Lie from the self-titled album - the ES subreddit and the joys of playing the full Elliott discography in chronological order.  Extra links:  The Biggest Lie on Spotify  Elliott Smith by Elliott Smith on Spotify Follow Free Range on Instagram  Free Range on Bandcamp My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com 

Our guest today is Aaron Lee Tasjan. Aaron is a musician, songwriter and producer from Tennessee. We first connected with Aaron when he played at the All My Rowdy Friends Elliott Smith tribute show in Los Angeles hosted by New Monkey Studio in 2024, and we've been keen to get him on ever since. At that event, he played Independence Day - the song he's discussing here. Hope you enjoy it!Extra links: Independence Day by Elliott Smith on Spotify XO by Elliott Smith on Spotify Follow Aaron Lee Tasjan on Instagram  My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com 

Our guest today is Chan Kinchla, a musician and the guitarist in the band Blues Traveler.Blues Traveler are a long-running band combining blues, rock, and soul. In addition to performing with them, Chan leads his own band, W4rhors3.Chan chose “Clementine” from Elliott Smith’s self-titled album — a track we had never previously discussed on the podcast. He talks about only fairly recently becoming a devoted Elliott fan and goes deep into what draws him to the song.Because Chan was excited to see New Monkey Studio, we recorded the episode there last spring. During the conversation, he also shares an unexpected coincidence that connects him and the show’s co-host, Elizabeth Withstandley, back to New York in the mid-1990s.Extra links: Clementine by Elliott Smith on Spotify Elliott Smith self-titled album on Spotify Follow W4rhors3 on Instagram Follow Blues Traveler My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com 

Hello! We're doing something slightly different in this episode. As we had two guests who both selected the same song, we’ve combined both their interviews together. In this episode, you'll hear from Anthony Vaccaro, who is the guitarist in the band Beach Bunny and also a solo artist (he plays under the name Helicopter Leaves), and we also have Tess Parks a musician and photographer.  They're both talking about the song Rose Parade from Either/Or. Anthony is speaking to Elizabeth Withstandley and Tess is speaking to Rob Comba. Extra links: Rose Parade by Elliott Smith on Spotify Either/Or by Elliott Smith on Spotify Follow Anthony on Instagram  Follow Tess on Instagram My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com Photo of Tess Parks is by Ki Price

Our guest today is musician, Charlie Barnes.  Charlie is a singer-songrwriter and producer based here in the UK, who also plays with the band Bastille. Charlie's a big Elliott Smith fan and was kind enough to share his thoughts on track Bottle Up and Explode! from the album XO, as well as his interesting route to discovering the song, how Elliott has shaped his approach to music and much more besides.This is Charlie speaking to podcast co-host, Elizabeth Withstandley. Extra links: Bottle Up and Explode! by Elliott Smith on Spotify XO by Elliott Smith on Spotify Follow Charlie Barnes on Instagram Charlie Barnes website My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com 

Our guest today is Haley Fohr aka Circuit des Yeux. Haley is a Chicago based experimental musician who has been releasing music under the Circuit des Yeux name since 2007. And she released her seventh studio album, Halo on the Inside, in March of last year.  Haley's been a big Elliott Smith fan since discovering his music while she was in high school. In this interview, she talks about taking long drives as a teenager with only Elliott for company, how she saw herself in his music and we go deep into her pick: Everything means nothing to me from Figure 8. Photo by Dana Trippe.Extra links: Everything Means Nothing to Me by Elliott Smith on Spotify Figure 8 by Elliott Smith on Spotify Follow Circuit des Yeux on Instagram  My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com 

Joining us for episode three of the season is Greg Mendez.Greg is a musician based in Philadelphia, who began making music in 2006. Although he had been playing for some time already, it was the success of Greg's 2023 self-titled album that brought him greater recognition. After releasing that album he also joined the Dead Oceans label, which he then released his EP First Time/Alone under. Like many others, I got to know his music after hearing his self-titled record and became a big fan, so it was great to have this opportunity to speak to him. Hope you enjoy it!Additional links: St. Ides Heaven on Spotify  Elliott Smith (self-titled) on Spotify Greg Mendez Bandcamp Our episode with Rebecca Gates discussing St. Ides Heaven My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

Joining us today is musician, Madison Cunningham. Madison is a grammy award winning singer-songwriter who recently released her third studio album, which is titled Ace. This podcast's co-host, Elizabeth Withstandley, recorded the interview with Madison backstage at last year's All My Rowdy Friends tribute show in LA hosted by the good people at New Monkey Studio - the studio that Elliott Smith used to own. Thanks as always to Joel, Robert and Greg at NMS for all their support! photo by Claire Marie VogelExtra links Sweet Adeline by Elliott Smith on Spotify XO by Elliott Smith on Spotify Ace by Madison Cunningham on Spotify Follow New Monkey Studio  My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

We're back! And joining us for a brand new season is musician and actor, Elliott Fullam. Elliott is known for his acting work in the films Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3, as well as the Apple TV show Get Rolling with Otis. He's also a solo artist and releases music under his own name. Elliott is our first guest to be named after Elliott Smith, so we couldn't think of anyone better to kick off our new season. Hope you enjoy listening to the episode. photo by : Jeff Harris Extra links Alameda by Elliott Smith on Spotify  Either/Or by Elliott Smith on Spotify Follow Elliott Fullam on Instagram Follow us on Instagram My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong. myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com

Joining us for the final episode of the season are Will Taylor and Nick Hill of Flyte.Will and Nick are very talented songwriters based in London. As Flyte, they have released three studio albums so far - with their most recent record, called Flyte, coming out towards the end of last year. They've also worked with some well-known names too, including the likes of Madison Cunningham, Laura Marling and the actor Florence Pugh. We first saw Will was an Elliott Smith fan when he listed the Elliott self-titled album as one of his all-time favourites. We then got in touch to set up this interview, which Nick very kindly joined. In it, we discuss that self-titled record, what Elliott Smith might have been like at school and their favourite song pick - which they seemed to both agree on without ever discussing it. Hope you enjoy listening to it! Extra things: Coming Up Roses by Elliott Smith  Coming Up Roses music video (which Will and Nick reference in the episode) Losing You music video by Flyte (inspired by Coming Up Roses) Our episode with Ross Harris Flyte website My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. Find us on social media @myfavesmithsong.myfavouriteelliottsmithsong.com