Rick Rubin
In addition to being a podcast host, Frederick Jay “Rick” Rubin is an American record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, he is the co-founder…
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On her intimate new album Wary + Strange, Amythyst Kiah sings her heart out about losing her mom to suicide, and what it’s like being the only black person in the room at country gigs. She created the album with Phoebe Bridgers’ producer, Tony Berg, and the result is a project expertly fuses Kiah’s love for ‘90s alt-rock with her old-time, country sensibility.
Amythyst Kiah performs two of her new songs on today’s episode and talks to Bruce Headlam about what it was like for a black teenager to come out as gay in a white Christian southern town. She also explains how learning of the West African roots of Bluegrass helped reaffirm her place in Americana music.
Just a warning, this episode contains talk of suicide.
Check out our favorite Amythyst Kiah songs HERE.
The Hosts
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers,…
Justin Richmond
Justin Richmond is producer and co-host of the music podcast Broken Record with writer Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times editor Bruce Headlam, and music producer—and Def Jam co-founder—Rick Rubin. Justin…
Bruce Headlam
Bruce Headlam is one of the co-creators of the music podcast Broken Record. He worked at The New York Times for 19 years, including two years running the 50-person Video…