We're celebrating our 10th anniversary all year by digging in the vaults to re-present classic episodes with fresh commentary. Today, we're revisiting our 2017 conversation with Jimmy Webb.

ABOUT JIMMY WEBB

Jimmy Webb emerged as a superstar songwriter and arranger in 1967 when two of his songs – The 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away” and Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” - were among the five nominees for the Grammy’s Song of the Year award. He went on to write a string of major hits for Campbell, including “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” "Where’s the Playground Susie,” “Honey Come Back,” and many others. Additionally, he penned “MacArthur Park,” which was a hit for a diverse range of artists, including Richard Harris, Waylon Jennings, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, and Donna Summer; “The Worst That Could Happen,” which was a Top 5 hit for The Brooklyn Bridge; “Didn’t We,” which was recorded by Thelma Houston, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, and Barbra Streisand; “All I Know,” which became a Top 10 hit for Art Garfunkel; “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress,” which has been recorded by Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, and Josh Groban; and “If These Walls Could Speak,” which was recorded by Glen Campbell, Amy Grant, Nanci Griffith, and Shawn Colvin.

Others who’ve covered material from the Jimmy Webb songbook include Diana Ross, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, The Four Tops, Roberta Flack, The Temptations, The Association, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Cass Elliot, Harry Nilsson, Nancy Wilson, Cher, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Nick Cave, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Sheena Easton, David Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, R.E.M., Aimee Mann, America, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Peggy Lee, Bette Midler, James Taylor, Carrie Underwood, Dwight Yoakam, and The Highwaymen (consisting of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson), who took Jimmy’s song “Highwayman” to #1, earning him a Grammy for Country Song of the Year.

As an artist, he has released more than a dozen albums. One of the most celebrated songwriters on the planet, Jimmy is the only individual to win Grammy awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. Additionally, he has received ASCAP’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Influential Songwriter Award from the National Music Publishers Association, and the Academy of Country Music’s prestigious Poets Award. In 2015 he was named among Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Jimmy’s memoir, The Cake and the Rain, details his formative years and early career through 1973. It’s available now from St. Martin’s Press.

Grammy-winning songwriter and Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner chats about his process, from the earliest days of the band to to the most recent album, Slowly But Shirley

PART ONE:
Paul and Scott talk about movie soundtracks, music discovery, and how technology changes but the power of music endures.

PART TWO:
Our in-depth conversation with Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum.

ABOUT DAVE PIRNER
Dave Pirner is best known as the lead singer, frontman, and primary songwriter for the Grammy-winning alternative rock band Soul Asylum. Formed in Minneapolis in the early 1980s, the group has blended punk, roots music, power pop and other influences to create its own unique sound. After a series of indie releases and two albums for A&M, the band’s widespread commercial breakthrough came with Columbia Records’ release of the Grave Dancer’s Union album in 1992. “Black Gold” and “Somebody to Shove” were hits on Billboard’s Alternative Rock chart, with the latter reaching #1. “Runaway Train” was a top-5 pop single and earned Pirner a Grammy for Best Rock Song. The follow-up album, Let Your Dim Light Shine, produced the top 20 singles “Misery” and “Just Like Anyone.” To date, Soul Asylum has released over a dozen studio albums and Pirner has released one solo album, Faces & Names, in 2002. The band’s most recent record, Slowly But Shirley, was released in September of 2024.

We're celebrating our 10th anniversary all year by digging in the vaults to re-present classic episodes with fresh commentary. Today, we're revisiting our 2021 conversation with Steve Perry.

ABOUT STEVE PERRY
One of the most iconic voices in rock music history, Steve Perry is best known as the lead singer of the band Journey during the group’s most successful period. His first Top 20 pop hit as either a performer or songwriter was the solo-written “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” which became a hit for the band in 1979. In the following decade he co-wrote an unbelievable streak of classic songs with Neil Shon and Jonathan Cain, including “Any Way You Want It,” “Who’s Crying Now,” “Open Arms,” “Separate Ways,” ”Send Her My Love,” and “Don’t Stop Believin',” a single that’s been certified five times platinum. His 1984 debut solo album Street Talk produced the classic singles “Oh Sherrie” and “Foolish Heart.” After penning additional Journey hits “Be Good to Yourself,” “Girl Can’t Help It,” and “I’ll be Alright Without You” he departed the band and released his second solo album, For the Love of Strange Medicine, featuring the single “You Better Wait.” After briefly reuniting with Journey and co-writing the additional hits “When You Love a Woman” and “Message of Love” in the mid-1990s, he stepped away from recording. Steve returned in 2018 with his third solo album, Traces. In 2021 he released his fourth solo record, a holiday collection called The Season, produced by Steve and Thom Flowers, and featuring contributions from multi-instrumentalist Dallas Kruse. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, whom Rolling Stone magazine named among the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” joins us to talk about exploring the great American Christmas songbook from a writer’s perspective, to share some stories about his own songs, and to offer some insight into his approach to the craft.