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Gregory Alan Isakov On Barn Tunes And Sand Dunes

Gregory Alan Isakov
Rebecca Caridad
/
Courtesy of the artist
Gregory Alan Isakov

For this session, we took a trip out to Colorado to spend time with Gregory Alan Isakov. OK, not a real trip, but a radio trip.

Gregory was born in South Africa and raised in Philadelphia but now lives on his own farm in Colorado. That's where he made his latest album, Evening Machines, from inside a barn. His process includes writing snippets of ideas on colored Post-it Notes and putting them up on the walls.

Outside, he's growing salad greens and cucumbers, and when Gregory needs to get away from the hustle and bustle of the farm to really clear his head, he takes a solo drive out to the sand dunes and writes under the stars.

Sounds magical? It is. So are the songs. We'll talk, but first we start off with a performance of "Dark, Dark, Dark." Listen in the player.

Copyright 2021 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.
Since 2017, John Myers has been the producer of NPR's World Cafe, which is produced by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously he spent about eight years working on the other side of Philly at WHYY as a producer on the staff of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. John was also a member of the team of public radio veterans recruited to develop original programming for Audible and has worked extensively as a freelance producer. His portfolio includes work for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, The Association for Public Art and the radio documentary, Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio. He's taught radio production to preschoolers and college students and, in the late 90's, spent a couple of years traveling around the country as a roadie for the rock band Huffamoose.
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