Israel Nash describes how hearing the Hollies' "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" inspired him to start writing songs and explains what role inspiration played in the writing and recording his latest record "Lifted."

Chris Dowd, keyboardist, vocalist and founding member of  the iconic ska/punk/funk/rock band Fishbone describes how “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash changed his life when he was a kid and explores the reasons that Fishbone’s music is as relevant today as it was in the 80’s and 90’s. Fishbone is now touring with […]

Thomas Ross Turner from Ghostland Observatory explains how hearing "White Horse" by Laid Back piqued his interest in electronic music and started him on his journey as a musician.

Liz Phair describes how The Soft Boys “I Wanna Destroy You” put her in touch with her anger and talks about what it’s been like to revisit the music she wrote for the Girly-Sound tapes and Exile in Guyville. Plus she gives host Elizabeth McQueen insight into motherhood. Liz’s Phair’s Exile in Guyville turned 25 […]

Janelle Monáe talks to host Elizabeth McQueen after her performance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival about music, love and voting.

In this This Song Extra Elvis Costello explains why he wanted to get outside of himself and tell other people's stories in an expansive musical style on his new record Look Now.

The This Song listener episode is finally here! Listen as Emily La Framboise, Lee Miller, Joanna Castillo and Charlie Press talk about their life changing musical experiences.

Superfónicos' Jaime Ospina talks about his love for Gary Clark Jr's song "When My Train Pulls In" and how the Blues Brothers soundtrack pushed him to discover roots music from his own country. Plus, he tells us how African American music can help us all survive and thrive in an increasingly chaotic world.

Matthew Murphy, aka “Murph,” from the British rock band The Wombats describes how hearing Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” and Radiohead’s “Creep” when he was a teenager set him on an alt-rock path, and describes what it’s like to talk about songwriting with Paul McCartney. Listen to this episode of This Song   Listen to […]

Rapper and songwriter Duckwrth talks about how "If 6 was 9" by Jimi Hendrix opened his mind to the universe, why San Francisco and psychedelia call to him and what the key to finding peace might be.

Jeremy Rogers, of Austin's BUHU descrobes how his band member and wife, Tiffany, along with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes," inspired him to be more open and vulnerable in his work. Later Tiffany explores how "I Wanna Win" by Jaako Eino Kalevi made her feel safe enough to let loose.

Meggan Carney and Matt Sheffer of Austin's Zettajoule tell us how Kate Bush's "Running Up that Hill (A Deal With God)" and Rufus Wainwright's "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" helped them expand their ideas about the possibilities of pop music and explain what inspired them to record their new low-fi electronic EP, Always Looking Up, on an iPhone.

Andrew Savage from Parquet Courts loves karaoke. Hear from whence that love springs, how that love led him to Roxy Music and why he love that band's song "Re-Make / Re-Model."

Austin based singer and songwriter Charlie Faye describes how her childhood love of "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes helped her find her musical way and how it inspired the band's new single "I Don't Need No Baby."

Nik Ewing, leader of the band Chewing and bass player and vocalist for Local Natives, explains why he chose to cover Dennis Wilson's solo album "Pacific Ocean Blue" in it's entirety. This project is part of Turntable Kitchen's Sounds Delicious series.

Hrishikesh Hirway describes how hearing Asha Bhosle’s “Yeh Hai Reshmi Zulfon Ka Andhera,” at the age of 6 helped him understand a feeling that he would be able to draw inspiration from for his entire life. Then Thao Nguyen explains how Lucinda Williams helped her understand the power of "the good hurt."

Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall tells us how seeing Beck's Loser on MTV as a kid pushed her to pursue her own music and how his willingness to experiment with styles and genres continues to inspire her.

Sharon Van Etten explores how how listening to Neil Young's "Harvest" as a kid helped her connect with her father. She also shares how her own experiences with parenthood pushed her to pursue her own music again after a long break working on other projects.

Shy Beast front woman Mariclaire Glaeser describes how the music of the Cardigans helped her navigate a difficult childhood, bond with her older brother and find her musical way.

Dana Falconberry talks about the profound impact being in the band "Peter and the Wolf" when she first moved to Austin. It's two Austin musicians, talking how Austin Music changed their lives. Enjoy!

Sahana Srinivasan, host of the popular Netflix science show for kids Brainchild explains how listening to "Where Will I Go" by Sweet Valley helped her find her voice a young artist. She also tells us about the artistic journey that led her to host Brainchild, and what it's like being the kind of role model she never had growing up.

Jackie Venson explains how seeing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," from the movie Evita, changed the way she listened to music and the way she saw herself.

Bayonne, KUTX's Artist of the Month, explains how "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys taught him the power of vulnerability and openness and how to embrace it in his own music.

On this episode, Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland of British electronic pop outfit Jungle, tell us about the Jai Paul's "Jasmine," and how it helped their band get comfortable with sonic experimentation.

Meredith Goldstein is host of the Love Letters podcast, the love advice columnist and entertainment writer for the Boston Globe and one of host Elizabeth McQueen's oldest and dearest friends.  In this episode she explores all the reasons she loves the sexy, pleading desperation of "Father Figure" by George Michael.

Allison Moorer Moorer describes how "Every Breath You Take"  by the Police gave her a window into an entire other world of music, and helped her define herself apart from her family.

Cara Tillman, vocalist and instrumentalist from Moving Panoramas, describes the joy that Elton John's "Burn Down the Mission" brings her, followed by guitarist Rosie Castoe exploring her life long love of Peter Gabriel's "Steam." And lead singer and songwriter Leslie Sisson explains why "Some Song" by Elliot Smith made her feel less alone.

Amanda Palmer explores how seeing Nick Cave's performance of "Magneto" in the documentary "On More Time With Feeling" showed her how powerful inviting an audience into deeply personal experiences could be. "The ability too walk into the dark and carefully take people with you is why we do our jobs."

Warren Hood describes how hearing the song "High Hill" gave him a deep appreciation for the music of Uncle Walt's band while helping him process his grief around the loss of his father.

Jenny Lewis' describes the effect that hearing  "Govinda Jai Jai" by Alice Coltrane while on a road trip across California with Jim James and Gary Burden had on her spirit and on her approach to her new record "On the Line."

Patty Griffin latest record "Patty Griffin" is a gorgeous acoustic exercise in vulnerability.  Listen as she explores all the ways that Peter Gabriel's  "Secret World" impacted her life and her music.

Cautious Clay explains how the video for Outkast's "B.O.B" blew his mind as a 7 year old and tells us how that experience continues to have a profound impact on his own work, especially on his new project "Table of Context."

Ian Graham,  guitarist, songwriter and singer for the Austin psych metal band The Well, describes how hearing "Ocean Size" by Jane's Addiction when he was a kid showed him how powerfully music could convey a feeling by  transporting him "to somebody else's movie."

Producer and multi-instrumentalist GRiZ explains how seeing Disney's "Fanstasia"as a child helped him understand music's ability to take the listener on an emotional journey and piqued his interest in making music on the computer. The listen as he explains why he wanted to explore his own complex emotional journey on his latest record "Ride Waves."

Citizen Cope details how his emotional connections to legends such as Randy Newman and Trouble Funk aided his understanding of the powerful energy that music can have. Cope then goes on to discusses how his experiences of the last seven years led him to the songs on his latest record "Heroin and Helicopters."

Austin's Pocket Sounds is the solo project of singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Mike St Clair. Listen as he describes how hearing Dionne Warwick's version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"  at a kiddie pool party inspired him to meld the classical, jazz, pop and rock parts of himself, and influenced his new song "Radio Song."

Austin rapper The Teeta breaks down all the reasons he loves "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen and how it influenced the direction he took on "Rain" from his latest record  Teeta World. 

Writer and entrepreneur Thea Wood describes how hearing Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" while watching the documentary of the same name  reignited her passion for music and inspired her to create the "Backstage Chats With Women in Music" podcast as well as the the Backstage Chats Foundation.

Our May Artist of the Month- The Bishops explain that hearing "Soundtrack to My Life" by Kid Cudi for the first time as middle schoolers changed what they thought hip-hop music could be.

Timothy Showalter, who leads the folk-rock band Strand of Oaks describes how hearing David Bowie's "Lazarus" at the end of the recording process helped him see how powerful documenting dark times could be.

Musician, writer, and frontman for Old 97’s Rhett Miller launched his own podcast “Wheel’s Off With Rhett Miller” earlier this year.  In it, he talks to artists about what it’s really like to live a creative life. In this 2017 episode, he describes how hearing the Jewish Lesbian Folk singer Phranc perform ‘The Lonesome Death […]

Austin based sisters Tori, Tiffany and Sofia Baltierra have been playing as the Tiarra Girls since they were in elementary and middle school. Listen as they describe how seeing the video for No Doubt's "Just a Girl" influenced them all stylistically and helped them find their voices as young women in music.

On this episode of This Song, Elizabeth McQueen sits down with Eric Burton, the lead singer of Black Pumas to talk about what he learned about honesty an connection from Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" and how went  from busking on the Santa Monica Pier to fronting the Black Pumas in Austin Texas.

On the last episode of This Song until the fall, Krissy Teegerstrom, a self-made artist, creative consultant, podcaster, and designer at Featherweight Studio talks about how listening to "Mojo Pin" by Jeff Buckley transported her to a place beyond the real and showed her how to follow her creative intuition.

Ezra Koenig, lead singer and songwriter for the band Vampire Weekend, explains why he recently became obsessed with  "I Don't Think Much About Her No More" by country singer and songwriter Mickey Newbury and explores what it was like to apply country music's direct approach to songwriting to some of the the songs on Father of the Bride.

Carrie Brownstein explains how "Stay" by Rhianna inspired her to write the last track on Sleater-Kinney's latest record,"Broken." 

Singer, songwriter and producer Finneas O'Connell not only writes and produces music with his sister Billie Eilish, but also makes his own music under the name FINNEAS. Listen as he explains why he loved "Holy Sh*t" by Father John Misty from the moment he heard it and how the song helped him expand his ideas of what he could say in his own songs.

This Song host Elizabeth McQueen has been helping produce a new podcast called The Breaks.  Every Saturday from 10pm-1am, Confucius and Fresh host a hip-hop show on KUTX called The Breaks. And now every Monday at 2pm the world can hear highlights from their wide ranging conversations about all things hip-hop, Austin’s hip-hop and R&B scenes […]

British singer, songwriter and producer Shura explains why My Bloody Valentine terrified her and intrigued her she she heard it for the first time, what it's like to write an entire album of love songs and why she felt like now was the right time to use female-gendered pronouns in her work.

La Marisoul, lead singer and songwriter for the band La Santa Cecilia explains how  Mercedes Sosa's version of "Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazon" by Fito Páez helped her understand what a powerful tool music could be for connection and healing.