50 episodes on, 'Essential Tremors' is still riffing on a brilliant concept

We open this segment with the music of Steve Gunn, one of the artists featured in a recent episode of Essential Tremors, a terrific and very popular podcast from WYPR's Podcast Central that explores the musical influences of composers and performers across a full spectrum of musical genres. The podcast debuted in 2018, and it's just dropped its 50th episode. Joining Tom now to talk about the podcast's concept, and how it's worked for the past three-plus years, are Essential Tremors' creators and co-hosts: Matt Byars is the drummer and sound processor in the DC-based band The Caribbean, and plays as Attorneys General and The Jarvik 6; he is also a middle school English teacher. He was previously a contributor to WYPR’s “The Signal.” Matt was raised in Kentucky and has lived in Baltimore since the mid-1990s. Lee Gardner has been a professional journalist and music writer for more than 25 years. He’s the former music editor, and editor in chief, of Baltimore City Paper. Lee is currently a senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, DC. His writing has appeared in or on The Wire, Newmusicbox, Nylon, National Public Radio, and numerous altweeklies. He was born in Tennessee. Lee Gardner and Matt Byars join us on Zoom from Baltimore. Essential Tremors streams on WYPR's Podcast Central and other platforms. It's also broadcast on WYPR on the second Sunday of every month at 7:00 PM on 88.1 FM and at wypr.org. Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.