Badass Records

by Blair Johnson

Music Commentary Music History Music Interviews

Episode #106, Kirstie Lynn

Pleased as punch to have had Kirstie Lynn join me for Episode No. 106 of Badass Records, and I'm just as excited to have you check out our conversation. I ran into Kirstie in the ol' downtownage, and -- before I knew it -- we were swapping e-mail messages in order to get this chat on the books. She's a classically trained opera singer, a songwriter, a musician, a live-music performer, a veteran of the gigging road, and -- if my two hours with her are a good measuring stick -- she's one heck of a fascinating human being. One might even go so far as to say wonderful. We talked about the east coast, continuing education, opportunities, family and friends, relationships, and so much more. We also took a peek at a few of her favorite records, which were these: Ladies of the Canyon (1970), Joni Mitchell Angel Olsen's Halfway Home (2012) Bury Me at Makeout Creek (2014), Mitski Big Thief's Masterpiece (2016) Nothing for Me, Please (2023), Dean Johnson Please check out Kirstie's array of musical offerings at kirstielynn.com. You can buy, download, or stream her stuff on Amazon Music, Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, and -- to keep in the know -- you should follow her on Instagram. Thank you very much, Kirstie Lynn, and thank you, kind listener, for being here. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are clips from a Thievery Corporation tune called, "Tower Seven" from they 2011 release, Culture of Fear (c/o Primary Wave Music).

Episode #105, Sid Sowder

Sid Sowder! Episode No. 105! Too Much Rock! Wow! So much coolness. I was honored to meet and visit with Mr. Sowder, who has been doing his Kansas City music-community thing for a quarter of a century! Insane! Too Much Rock is his Web site, and I would really appreciate it if you would check it out. Even if just for a moment. He shoots concerts and curates his footage and images from numerous local live performances. He cranks out a weekly podcast that has been dropping weekly half-hour episodes for more than 12 years. And -- and! -- he produces a vinyl singles series! It's pretty wild. Sid was kind enough to share a little bit of his time with me, and we chatted life, this passion project of his, and a little bit about a few of his favorite albums. Those were these: Paranoid (1970), Black Sabbath Joe Jackson's Look Sharp! (1979) Entertainment! (1979), Gang of Four Angry Samoans's Inside My Brain (1980) The Crew (1984), 7 Seconds So, check out Too Much Rock. Check out my conversation with Sid. And, I don't wanna be that guy, but...sometimes ya' gotta be that guy: Please support local music. Thank you. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are clips taken from a Gang Starr track called, "From a Distance (featuring Jeru the Damaja)," from their 2019 record, One of the Best Yet (c/o 2019 TTT/Gang Starr Enterprises, LLC).

Episode #104, Richard Davis

Richard Davis is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a veteran, and a local musician. He's also a fascinating dude with a fascinating story, and he's my guest for Episode No. 104. I'm thankful that our paths crossed when they did, and I was able to talk him in to swinging by to sit down for a bit. We chatted life, growing up, recording music, and of course, a couple of Richard's favorite albums. Those were these: King Crimson's Discipline (1981) The Story of the Ghost (1998), Phish Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade's Live Frogs, Sets I & II (2001) Amputechture (2006), The Mars Volta Khruangbin's Con Todo el Mundo (2018) It was a pleasure and a joy to visit with Richard, and -- since our conversation -- he put out a new, 40-minute, 10-track release called, G.O.A.T. (Guitar Over Assorted Trash), which you can find here on Apple Music. While you're there, be sure to check out his other full-length release plus his single and pair of EPs. If Spotify's your jam, you can check out some of his stuff there. He's got some stuff on Amazon Music, and probably most places you might think to look, i.e. SoundCloud. Whatever the case may be, please check him out and consider giving him a follow. If you're still reading, thank you for being here, and thank you for supporting the podcast. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the audio samples contained within this episode. They are clips from a track called, "What's the Use" by Phish, which I lifted from their 2000 release, The Siket Disc, c/o 1999-2015 Phish.

Episode #103, Fritz Hutchison

Fritz Hutchison trekked over on a January snow day and sat with me for two hours to bullshit about music and life, and I gotta tell ya' -- it was one of my favorite conversations in recent memory. I couldn't put a finger on it until several days after we recorded, but there were a number of reasons why I was -- more so than others -- looking forward to this interview. My son -- perpetually eyeing in some fashion or other my calendar of upcoming guests -- made me giggle a time or two about Fritz's upcoming date. And after an oral-surgeon appointment for both of our kids, my ex-wife helped me connect that dots that I know his dad. Neither of those mattered, though. It just turned out to be that Fritz is a charismatic dude with a great sense of humor, a wild world of knowledge in his head, and he's a pretty darn good musician, too, it turns out. It was as if the cosmos was telling me I had a good guest on the books, and Fritz -- even though I managed to just...boorishly butcher his name several times -- did not disappoint. It's Episode No. 103, and one could follow this episode's guest, were one so inclined. He's on the good ol' Instagrams, and he's got himself a handsome bandcamp page, too. Anyway, we talked life and family, musicianship and gigging, recording, and loving music. And we may've gone a skosh overboard in our heralding of Deep Purple's "Highway Star," but...what's a guy to do. During the music-loving portion of our talk, we did pause briefly from shenanigans to mention a few of Fritz's all-time-favorite albums, and those were these: Milestones (1958), Miles Davis Deep Purple's Machine Head (1972) Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 (2006), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Big Thief's Two Hands (2019) Suffice to say that this was a fun one, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio clips featured in this episode. They are samples from a track called "Can It All Be So Simple" by El Michels Affair, from his 2012 release, Enter the 37th Chamber, c/o Fat Beats Records.

Episode #102, Autumn Hayes

Delighted to've had the lovely Autumn Hayes join me for Episode No. 102. Stream her single, "If You Stay" wherever you get your digital music, and be sure to check her out on Facebook and Instagram. In our conversation we talked about growing up with music, developing relationships with stringed instruments, plus recording and gigging. We also talked about a few of Autumn's favorite records. Those were these: Moving Pictures (1981), Rush Peter Gabriel's So (1986) Journey, Greatest Hits (1988) Hope you enjoy our chat. Thank you for stopping by. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are snippets from a track called, "Rational Culture" by Tim Maia from his 1975 release, Racional, Vol. 1 (c/o Vitoria Regia Discos Ltda.).

Episode #101, Wu-Tang 101: Inspectah Deck, featuring Ethan Brown

Ethan Brown is one of my favorite human beings on the planet. He joined me 20 months ago for Episode No. 14 (which you should totally check out), and he's back again for the second installment of Wu-Tang 101, in which we examine the solo work of the Rebel INS. Yes, indeed. It's Episode No. 101, and we're talking Inspectah Deck. Under zero pretentiousness and -- in my case -- even less than zero knowledge, we took a peek at the following albums: Uncontrolled Substance (1999) The Movement (2003) The Resident Patient (2006) Manifesto (2010) Chamber No. 9 (2019) And when I say "peek," I mean we paused our chat about life, love, basketball, and The Kansas City Chiefs Football Club to talk for a second about a few hip-hop records. I, for one, could do this with Ethan all day. He's that awesome. So, thank you for checking out our conversation. I appreciate you stopping by. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are clips from a Joe Satriani tune called, "Day at the Beach (New Rays from an Ancient Sun)," from his 1989 release, Flying in a Blue Dream (c/o Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment).

Episode #100, Jessica Johnson

Reaching this milestone shouldn't go unmentioned and so it shan't; I'm pretty gosh-darn jazzed. The year it took to get this thing alive and breathing felt like two, and the two years of recording episodes I'm closing in on have flashed. And I'm embarrassingly proud of the whole thing. I've had upset and disappointment, frustration and humiliation. I've laughed and smiled more than I knew was imaginable, had more than a couple late nights trying to meet self-imposed deadlines, met a bunch of really cool people, and learned a ton of neat things while listening to a bananas amount of music. So, thank you to all of you that have helped and supported me, been guests on episodes, offered feedback and compliments, liked, subscribed, streamed, downloaded, and shared. I truly appreciate you. Jessica Johnson hopped in the chair for this particular century mark, and I had some good fun with her. She's a daughter and an aunt, a friend to many, and has been called everything from "Mom/Mama" to "The Cruise Director." And I'm proud to call her my sister. We peeked at Jess's journey from childhood to today, giggled at her being a true shot caller, and paused for a moment to chat about a few of her favorite records. Those were these: Tech N9ne's The Calm Before the Storm (1999) 2001 (1999), Dr. Dre Passion Pit's Manners (2009) Midnights (2022), Taylor Swift Thank you for stopping by. Hope you enjoy the 100th episode of Badass Records. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained in this episode. They are clips from a Phish tune called, "David Bowie" from their 1989 album, Junta (c/o Phish Inc.).

Episode #99, Mike Garry

Mike Garry is a son, a brother, a dad, a businessman, a podcaster, a friend to many, and he's my guest for The Wayne Gretzky Episode, a.k.a., #99. Mike and I connected via a pair of mutuals, and sitting down to chat with him about his journey was a pleasure and a treat. We talked about The Kansas City Chiefs Football Club, microdosing, life, family, and his adventures with the Let Freedom Trip podcast. And of course we talked about music, which included a few of Mike's favorite records: Harvest (1972), Neil Young Pearl Jam's Vs (1993) The Bends (1995), Radiohead Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) As part of the Neil Young portion of our conversation, I need to add a few notes: 1) Tim Drummond plays bass on that record. 2) Harvest has features by James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and The London Symphony Orchestra! 3) The Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd thing is nicely summed up here. So, that's that. Please check out our chat and Mike's podcast. Next up: triple digits! copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained in this episode. They are snippets from a tune called, "Why Don't You Quit" by Eddie Harris off his 1970 release, Come On Down! (c/o Atlantic Recording Corp. manufactured by Warner Strategic Marketing).

Episode #98, Becoming a Swifty, featuring Christie Smerchek

Christie Smerchek is a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mom, a dental hygienist, and a top-notch Taylor Swift fan. I'm absolutely thrilled that she was willing and able to join me for the second installment of Becoming a Swifty, and -- much like my inaugural guest in the series -- she killed it. We talked a little bit about a few of her non T. Swift favorites, i.e. The Postal Service's Give Up (2003), Final Straw (2003) by Snow Patrol, Imogen Heap's Speak for Yourself (2005), and Even If It Kills Me (2007) by Motion City Soundtrack, but a bunch of our focus went both in the direction of Miss Swift's career trajectory, as well as Christie's top three Taylor Swift albums, which were these: Speak Now* (2010) 1989* (2014) Midnights (2022) We also talked about Christie's fortune in the department of catching T. Swift live and in concert, her fun-and-noble efforts in the Noonday Collection department, and so much more. So, please join us in our lengthy conversation, and make sure you give Christie a follow over on the 'Gram! copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio clips contained in this episode. They are samples from a tune called "Horn" by a band named Phish. The track comes from Rift, their 1993 release, c/o Elektra Entertainment, A Division of Warner Communications Inc. for the United States and WEA International for the world outside of the United States. *While I have listed the original release year for these records, it remains imperative to know that -- for all intents and purposes -- Taylor's Version is the one you should seek, stream, and purchase.

Episode #97, Peregrine Honig

Peregrine Honig is a daughter, a sister, a wife, an aunt, a friend to many, and an artist (or so she's told). She's also my guest for Episode No. 97. And before you read any more about her, please know that she has a solo show on display right now in two spaces. And before I tell you where they are, know that one of them closes this Saturday, December 23, 2023. So you literally have to go today, tomorrow, or the day after that. Otherwise you'll have missed out on a tremendous opportunity to see some super-cool pieces that were crafted by one of Kansas City's own. Please consider making your way down to Studios Inc Exhibit Hall -- at 1708 Campbell St., KCMO 64108 -- to see her show, Player, in the next 72 hours. Please also consider checking out Understudies & Auditions at Blue Gallery (118 Southwest Blvd., KCMO 64108) between now and December 30. You can find out a little bit more about Peregrine's work on her site, or you could consider giving her a follow on the 'Gram. I found our conversation to be a delight, and I couldn't be more grateful for Mrs. Honig taking the time out of her super-busy schedule to come sit down with me to talk about life, family, art, and music. The latter part of that -- by the way -- included a few of her favorite albums. Those were these: Nina Simone's I Put a Spell on You (1965) The Trinity Sessions (1988), Cowboy Junkies The Fugees's The Score (1996) Animal Serenade (2004), Lou Reed Mike Dillon's Functioning Broke (2016) A great list from a great new acquaintance. Many thanks. copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples found within this episode. They are snippets from a cut called "Changes, Pt. 1" by Neal Francis, a 2019 single made available to you and I c/o Karma Chief Records, a division of Colemine Records.

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