Will Schwartz (The Male Pattern) Turns a Right-Wing Weirdo Into a Concept Album | The J-Card Podcast

Today’s guest is Will Schwartz. Will is a songwriter, novelist, and English professor, and he makes music as the male pattern. His new album, I Was Shot In The Heart!, is out September 25th, and a single off that album called “I’m a Soldier” is out now. Will and I went super in-depth on I Was Shot In The Heart!We talked about his approach to songwriting because as a novelist, obviously the writing part of the songwriting is super important. We talked about how he came up with this concept of a character-driven album, as well as the difference in mindset when it comes to writing a novel versus writing something smaller, like a song. And of course, we got into a mixtape full of outlaw country favorites!More on IG:@themalepattern https://www.instagram.com/themalepatternSubscribe on YouTubeRue Defense Tape Club x GetMusic Collaboration Tape Music Submissions (NOW OPEN):While our regular quarterly subscriber-only cassette compilation for September is almost ready to go, we’ve partnered with GetMusic to bring our subscribers a special BONUS tape. Now’s a great time to become a paid subscriber, and it’s also a great time for any artists out there to submit their own music to us via this dedicated GetMusic submissions form.GetMusic is a music discovery and promotion service. Artists can provide Bandcamp download codes of their work for music fans to discover and add to their collections. You can find releases on there from J-Card Podcast host Alexei Shishkin and Rue Defense founder Graham W. Bell. Artists can sign up here, the first upload is free.The J-Card is presented by Rue Defense Tape Club, a quarterly, mail-order cassette compilation and DIY audio project. Each episode is part music discovery, part oral history, part hangout show. We ask artists, musicians, filmmakers, and other music-minded folks to build us their own personal mixtape and talk about the moments and memories that inspired it.New episodes drop here and wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for watching, and if you liked this one, share it with a friend who also might.Created by Alexei ShishkinAssociate Producer: Alivia StonierBooking: Jamie Halliday📬 Subscribe:Subscribe now📲 Follow us: IG: https://www.instagram.com/ruedefense Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tapeclub.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ruedefenseX: https://x.com/ruedefenseBandcamp: https://ruedefense.bandcamp.comTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@tapeclubLinktree: https://linktr.ee/ruedefense🤝 Support / Sponsorship: https://forms.gle/8L4o4yLvX5fQnpAXA 🎶 Submit Music: https://forms.gle/Mc7En6K8Tb2BbgxJA 📩 Contact: [email protected]⏱️ Chapters:00:00 - Intro to Will Schwartz00:55 - Novelist vs. Songwriter03:40 - Creative Process06:17 - Making The Record12:10 - Writing With Guitar13:14 - The Album Photography17:01 - Visual Album Ideas17:35 - Playing The Character19:22 - The Mixtape20:16 - “The Great Joe Bob (A Regional Tragedy)” by Terry Allen23:43 - “Dweller on the Threshold” by Van Morrison28:13 - “Up Against the Wall, Red Neck” by Jerry Jeff Walker32:45 - “All The Best” by John Prine35:55 - “I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself” by Waylon Jennings40:00 - “Tomorrow We Get Healthy” by Spike F**k43:38 - Honorable Mentions45:56 - Game: Play, Pause, Stop58:13 - Plugs & Outro This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tapeclub.substack.com/subscribe