My absolute favourite podcast in the world right now is Andrew Hickey's revelatory history of rock music through 500 songs, and it is so painstakingly researched, considered and presented that it can take weeks to get a new episode.
Any and all delays with the podcast are fine by me - complaining that creators take too long to produce your favourite stuff is so fucking crass - but I need to have something to listen to while doing the housework or wandering around the suburbs, and Hickey's regular shout-outs to Tyler Mahan Coe's Cocaine and Rhinestones podcast made it an obvious choice.
Both podcasts end each episode by talking about the importance of word of mouth to grow an audience, and it certainly worked in this case, because I am very much not a country music person, and would not have sought out something like this on my own.
Even though I grew up around adults that loved the twang of country, I just don't know shit about that type of music. I always appreciate the ragged cowboys like Townes Van Zandt, and immortal voices like big Johnny Cash, but my knowledge wasn't ridiculously limited
But now I'm having a great time hearing about country stars I know nothing, and their weird and wonderful stories. It's all new to me.
Fuck, isn't that what we're here for? Isn't that why we're here on this planet? To learn new things, to gather new information and throw it into the churning infinite mass of your mind, and the less you know about the subject going, the more pours into your head, and shapes who you are in tiny ways.
Plus you get to learn how fucking evil Spade Cooley was, and gather further contempt for the fools who tried to rehabilitate his image.
There hasn't been a new episode since 2022, because the older I get, the longer it takes me to catch up with everyone else. But there is plenty of listening about country music and all its mysteries before Hickey does his next podcast, and learning of the glory of George Jones while doing the dishes.
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