August 29, 2024 - Girl From the North Country, Janie Barnett, and Already Dead

Turn up the volume because we have three takes on music, from Bob Dylan to Cole Porter to populist punk.First up, the Irish dramatist Conor McPherson wrote and directed a play incorporating 20 songs by Bob Dylan. This is no JukeBox musical. And though it is set in Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, Minnesota it’s no bio-musical either.  It’s titled “Girl From the North Country.” He joins us to talk about  weaving Dylan’s songbook into a deeply stirring show. From there it’s singer-songwriter Janie Barnett. She has reimagined Cole Porter, Americana style. We talk to her about this genre-bending work and what it took to be the queen of the jingle, belting out classic,  commercial earworms.Finally, the populist punk  band “Already Dead”  wrote an anthem about our housing crisis with their track “Landlord.” Now they take on the  economic divide in their new release “The Spirit of Massachusetts Avenue.”