Nakedly Examined Music Podcast

With his roots in folk, Josh released three rock albums in the ’90s before his big hit “Camera One,” from Useful Music (2001), which is getting a Silver Anniversary rework/reissue (The intro music for this episode is the newly recorded version). He has released seven albums since then, typically as The Josh Joplin Group, but sometimes as Among the Oak & Ash. We discuss “Goodbye Berlin” from GpYr (2025), “History of I Do” from Figure Drawing (2023) (music by Wes Langois), “Juniper” from Boxing Nostalgic (1997), and conclude by listening to “High, Low & Wide” from the self-titled album by his folk unit, Among the Oak & Ash (2008). More at joshjoplingroup.com. Watch the original video for “Camera One” and the silver-anniversary new recording/video. Hear the big-budget, Josh-rejected version of what would have been his second single from that album, “I’ve Changed.” There’s also a video for the solo version. Watch him back in the day playing the song on Letterman, and with just a guitar at a cafe in 2008. Watch the Josh Joplin Group live recently, and as a duo with Wes Langois. Watch him talk and perform with Garrison Starr as Among the Oak and Ash. Watch that full band live in 2010. That band did lots of folk standards, but also a Smiths cover. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

Bruce started as guitarist for the ’90s for Vulgar Unicorn and started Pineapple Thief as a solo project in 1999, though it quickly became a full band (and has for the last several albums been a true 4-way collaboration featuring King Crimson/Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison). He’s released 16 studio albums with Pineapple Thief and four solo albums (plus a collaboration album with Jonas Renske from Katatonia). More at brucesoord.com and pineapplethief.com. We discuss “Pillars” from Ghosts in the Park (his 2026 solo album) and some Pineapple Thief tracks: the title track from It Leads to This (2024), “Clapham” from 10 Stories Down (2005), remixed for 3000 Days (2008), plus to conclude “Alone at Sea” from Magnolia (2014). Intro: “Private Paradise” by from Abducted at Birth (1999, originally called Abducting the Unicorn). Hear all of “Private Paradise.” There’s an official video for “Pillars.” Here’s one for another new song “Meet Me On the Downs.” Watch Bruce live solo, and live with his “solo band.” Watch the latest Pineapple Thief video, and here’s a nice one from 2020. Here they are live with Gavin. Here’s a whole live show from 2017 shortly after Gavin joined. Watch Bruce talk about his gear. There’s much more at their YouTube channel. The Vulgar Unicorn albums are Under the Umbrella (1995), Sleeps With the Fishes (1996), and Jet Set Radio (2000). They also put out an album as Persona Non Grata (not released until 2004). Bruce’s partner in that band was Neil Randall, who currently puts out music as Niederrad 16. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic for access to more Linsenmayer/Soord interaction via our bonus 2018 partial interview.

Michael is the songwriter and guitarist for the Canadian band Cowboy Junkies (featuring two of his siblings and a childhood friend), with whom he’s released 20+ studio albums and several live albums since 1989. We discuss “Throw a Match” from Such Ferocious Beauty (2023), “He Will Call You Baby” from More Acoustic Junk (2025), remade from One Soul Now (2004), and “Rock and Bird” from The Caution Horses (1990). End song: ” Unanswered Letter” from The Wilderness-The Nomad Series, Vol. 4 (2012). Intro: “Misguided Angel” from The Trinity Session (1988). More at cowboyjunkies.com. Follow along in Mark’s notes (Google has inexplicably decided that the file looks dangerous and might warn you of this, but it’s just the same as all the rest of them; you can ignore the warning.) Watch the video for “Misguided Angel.” Here’s that video/alternate version of “Rock and Bird” featuring Bruce Hornsby (my previous guest!) as depicted in the video by Stephen Wright. Hear the original version of “He Will Call You Baby.” Hear the acoustic version of “The Wilderness.” Hear their tune with John Prine. Watch a full live set from 2008. Watch them live on Carson in 1989, on Leno in 1994 and on Letterman in 1996. Here’s a video for one of their cover tunes (a David Bowie tune!). Watch the video for a tune by one of Michael’s side projects, Lee Harvey Osmond (the singer is Tom Wilson). Listen to one of Michael’s solo album improvisations. Here’s his film soundtrack from 2017. Here’s his 1983 band with Alan, Germinal, and his even earlier band Hunger Project. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

Teddy, golden-voiced son on Richard and Linda, is more tied to ’50s/’60s rock and country than he his to his parents’ folk influences, and he’s recorded ten solo albums of tuneful, straightforward but highly idiosyncratic rock and country tunes since 2000. We discuss “Come Back” (and listen at the end to “So This Is Heartache”) from Never Be the Same (2026), “Move At Speed” from Heartbreaker Please (2020), and “I Should Get Up” from Separate Ways (2006). Intro: “In My Arms” from A Piece of What You Need (2008). More at teddythompson.net. Watch the video for “In My Arms.” Another song from the new album that I mention is “Not What I Need,” and its great closing tune is “Same Old Song.” Teddy’s previous album is My Love of Country. Hear the song Teddy mentions, “No Way to Be,” featuring his father and Garth Hudson. Watch Teddy play “I Should Get Up” solo live. Here’s a whole, very recent live solo show. Watch Teddy and Richard sing “Persuasion” (the great song Richard wrote with Tim Finn) live in 1999 (here’s the studio version, and here’s Tim’s version). Here’s the tune he wrote with his mother for her most recent album (she has vocal issues now, so a series of guest vocalists sing all the tunes). Here’s a trailer for the Family album by Thompson (2014). Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

Richard joined the British art-rock band Japan in 1975, playing with them through their five albums, 1982 break-up, and 1991 one-off reformation (as Rain Tree Crow). He continued to collaborate with Japan drummer Steve Jansen, recording four instrumental ambient albums with him (and one pop album in 1987 as Dolphin Brothers), between 1985 and 1995, adding Japan bassist Nick Karn for a couple more albums, plus 1994 album with No-Man singer Tim Bowness and two albums (’12-’13) with Marillion singer Steve Hogarth. In 1995 he joined Porcupine Tree, and this has been his main gig, recording 25+ albums with them. In 2004 he finally released his first solo album, a second one in 2008, and then a steady stream of albums and EPs since 2017 (so around eight solo albums’ worth of material in total). We discuss “A New Simulation” from Hauntings (2026), “All Fall Down” from Stranger Inside (2008), and “Sleepers Awake” by Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri from Stone to Flesh (1995). End song: “Waiting to Be Born” by Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri, recorded 2015 and released as the lead track to an EP by that name in 2023. Intro: “The Experience of Swimming” by Japan, a B-side from Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980). More at richardbarbieri.bandcamp.com. Hear all of “The Experience of Swimming.” A more famous Japan song from just after that which Richard contributed heavily to is “Ghosts.” Watch the band’s final show from 1982. Here’s a live version of “Sleepers Awake.” (Actually, the live version I was referring to is from the live album Lumen; since he said it was only played live once, these may well be the same performance.) Here’s a song Richard co-wrote for Porcupine Tree. Here’s another he also co-wrote, but played live. Here’s one he recorded with his wife Suzanne in 1997 as Indigo Falls. You can hear the full 1987 Dolphin Brothers album that Richard says was kind of a mistake. Here’s a tune Richard played synth on for David Sylvian’s 1984 solo album (he was the singer for Japan). Here’s one of the Rain Tree Crow (1991) songs he is credited with co-writing. Watch a cool “360 degree” video of one of his recent instrumentals, “Serpentine.” Here’s another cool one along the same lines. The song we briefly discuss with virtuoso bassist Percy Jones is “Path Not Taken.” Watch Richard playing live solo. Watch him messing around with gear. Here’s an older tune with Steve Hogarth and one with Tim Bowness. For more general info about LFOs (low-frequency oscillators), here’s a video. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

Tom was an integral member of the Greenwich Village early ’60s folk scene (playing originals regularly before Bob Dylan did). His tunes have been covered by Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Harry Belafonte, and many others. He received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2009. We talk about “Rebel Gal” from Together Again (2026) (a collaborative album with John McCutcheon), “If the Poor Don’t Matter” from Redemption Road (2015), “Mr. Blue” from Morning Again (1968), and “The Death of Stephen Biko” (with Anne Hills and Bob Gibson) from Best of Friends (live in 1984, released in 2004; the song was originally recorded for Heroes, 1978). Intro: “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” from Rambin’ Boy (1964). More at tompaxton.com. Hear all of “I Can’t Help But Wonder…” From that same album, here’s “Goin’ to the Zoo.” Here he is playing it live in 2024. Some of his other classic ’60s folk tunes are “Bottle of Wine,” “The Last Thing on My Mind,” and “Ramblin’ Boy.“ Hear the cover version of “Mr. Blue” by Clear Light that we discuss. One of the crazier arrangements by Tom himself from this period is “Icarus” (1971). Not too many years after that, a lot of his material was quite relaxed and safe, e.g. “Something in My Life” from the 1975 album of that name. One of his slick ’80s tunes is “And Lovin’ You,” co-written with Bob Gibson. (FYI Tom’s hero Bob Gibson’s most famous song was “Abeline,” from 1957.) Hear the original 1978 version of “The Death of Stephen Biko.” (Here’s the Peter Gabriel tune about the same topic that Mark mentions.) An important tune from the ’00s for Tom is “Comedians & Angels.” Probably my favorite album from his later career is 2008’s “Looking for the Moon.” Here’s the tune from the new album that Mark mentions, “Lay This Old Guitar Down.” Watch Tom and John perform “Same Old Crap” from their first album together; a lot of their tunes together are funny ones like this. Another funny one from a different recent collaboration (with Jon Vezner; this 2019 live album is credited to Tom Paxton & The DonJuans) is “All My Stalkers.” He has remained politically relevant, releasing “No Kings Here!” last September. Listen to my interview with John McCutcheon. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.