We’re excited to share an episode from one of our favorite podcasts, Heavyweight, a new addition to the Pushkin slate of shows. Heavyweight, hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, creates space for difficult conversations and resolving long-standing regrets and unanswered questions. Balancing humor and empathy, host Jonathan Goldstein helps his subjects pinpoint the moment things went wrong and joins them on a quest to make them right. This episode features Michael, who, as a high school senior got his lucky break—the chance to star in a big-budget movie. Shooting wrapped, a premier date was set…and then he found out that his success was all based on a lie.

Find Heavyweight on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Joe Boyd has spent more than six decades as a producer, label executive, and writer whose influence extends far beyond the studio. From producing Nick Drake's luminous folk albums to working with Fairport Convention, Pink Floyd, and R.E.M., Boyd has shaped some of the most enduring recordings in modern music history.

But Joe Boyd isn't just a behind-the-scenes architect of sound—he's also a chronicler of the music he loves. In his 2007 memoir, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s, he offered an insider's perspective on a transformative era, while his latest book, And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music, published in 2024, takes readers across continents in search of the traditions that continue to shape contemporary sound. From Cuba to Mali, from Brazil to Bulgaria, Boyd traces the connections that bind global music together and celebrates the artists who keep these traditions alive.

On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Joe Boyd about working with famed Warner Brothers CEO Mo Ostin in the ‘60s. He also talks about the exhaustive research he did in writing his latest book and why he decided to pinpoint three specific Global regions as the genesis for all popular music. And Joe recalls how he came to produce the seminal 1973 documentary on Jimi Hendrix.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Joe Boyd HERE.

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Jensen McRae writes songs that cut straight to the bone—intimate, unflinching examinations of identity, relationships, and the complexities of coming of age in today's world. Since releasing her debut EP, Who Hurt You?, in 2021, she's garnered attention for her literary approach to songwriting and her ability to balance vulnerability with sharp observation.

Her music often grapples with difficult subjects: navigating mixed-race identity, processing heartbreak, and confronting the uncomfortable truths we tell ourselves. But there's also warmth and humor in her work which can be heard that today when she performs three songs live—"Savannah" and “Let Me Be Wrong” from her new album I Don't Know How But They Found Me, and "White Boy" from her 2022 full-length release, Are You Happy Now?

On today’s episode I talk to Jensen McCrae about her journey as an artist, why she gravitates toward niche communities online like Reddit, and her list of goals that include both winning the Grammy for Album of the Year and a mayoral run in her native Los Angeles.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Jensen McRae HERE.

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