Grammy-winning guitarist and producer Larry Mitchell doesn’t talk about creativity the way most people do. For him it isn’t a discipline - it’s a pulse. In this wide-ranging conversation with Ben, Larry breaks open some of the biggest questions facing artists today: does creativity require struggle? What happens when technology erases hardship? And what becomes of music when AI can generate 7 million new tracks a day?

Growing up sick in Brooklyn, Larry found refuge in the guitar - not as a career path, but as company. That instinct for expression shaped everything that followed: the early bands, the touring years, the records he produced, and the new work he crafted alone in lockdown while others froze. Covid, he says, became a dividing line between the artists who could write - and the ones who couldn’t.

Ben and Larry explore the strange, unsettling rise of AI-generated music - from the “everyman producer” effect to the copyright grey zone where someone else’s prompt might unknowingly contain your lyrics. They talk about how streaming platforms have devalued music, how live performance might become the last safe place for the soul of art, and why humanity may have to rediscover intimacy and imperfection just to stay human.

It’s a conversation that drifts from Brooklyn to Brisbane, from blues riffs recorded into phones to the eerie future where anyone can summon Jimi Hendrix on demand. But through it all, Larry keeps circling one truth: art still matters - precisely because it can’t be automated. Not really. Not where it counts.

This isn’t a gear chat. This is a meditation on what music becomes when it’s a lifeline, and what it means to keep creating in a world racing toward automation.

Iconophonic (adj.) /ˌaɪ.kɑː.nəˈfɑː.nɪk/ (of a musician or artist) Possessing a sound, tone, or musical voice so distinctive and influential that it has become instantly recognizable and culturally significant; iconic in sound.

Example: "Larry Mitchell is an iconophonic guitarist whose tone is instantly identifiable." (of sound, music, or performance) Characterized by an instantly recognizable and culturally significant sonic signature.

Example: "His iconophonic guitar work has shaped the sound of contemporary music." Etymology: From Greek eikōn (image, icon) + phōnē (sound, voice) Related forms: Iconophonically (adv.) Iconophony (n.) - the quality or state of being iconophonic

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Grammy-winning producer and guitarist Larry Mitchell doesn’t talk about music like a technician - he talks about it like it’s oxygen. In this enlightening sit-down with Ben, he riffs on growing up sick in Brooklyn with only a guitar for company, the moment Prince blew his teenage mind, how he railed against comparisons to Hendrix, and how the music industry continues to be a deep and dark forest of danger for artists.

From tour buses with Tracy Chapman to a Grammy for world music he never saw coming, Larry lays out a career shaped less by chasing trends and more by chasing truth. He’s still hungry, still experimenting, still chasing tones no one’s bottled yet.

This isn’t a gear-nerd chat. It’s a reminder of what music feels like when it’s a lifeline.

Recorded November, 2024 at Umbrella Creative, Brisbane.

Iconophonic (adj.) /ˌaɪ.kɑː.nəˈfɑː.nɪk/

(of a musician or artist) Possessing a sound, tone, or musical voice so distinctive and influential that it has become instantly recognizable and culturally significant; iconic in sound.

Example: "Larry Mitchell is an iconophonic guitarist whose tone is instantly identifiable."

(of sound, music, or performance) Characterized by an instantly recognizable and culturally significant sonic signature.

Example: "His iconophonic guitar work has shaped the sound of contemporary music."

Etymology: From Greek eikōn (image, icon) + phōnē (sound, voice)

Related forms:

Iconophonically (adv.)

Iconophony (n.) - the quality or state of being iconophonic

Episode One Notes:

This is my first effort at being a podcast host, and Larry was incredibly gracious in agreeing to be my first guest. Luke Dunning of Umbrella Creative was also so damn generous in helping me out with lending me his skills and studio. Much love to both of you!

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