Josh Crutchmer

Wheels Off with Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller

Music, Performing Arts, Arts

4.9 • 609 Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After telling the story of the musicians who shaped his Oklahoma roots in his 2020 book Red Dirt, journalist and author Josh Crutchmer saw an opportunity to dig deeper into the artists that shaped independent roots music. His second book, The Motel Cowboy Show, is about the Americana music in the American West that began with cowboy poetry and lives on today in artists like Reckless Kelly, Micky and the Motorcars, and Ned LeDoux. A New York Times editor by day, Crutchmer also spent three years chronicling the return of the Turnpike Troubadours to the stage and studio for Rolling Stone, as well as the final concert for Robert Earl Keen. In this episode, he joins Rhett to talk about the path that led him to writing, how he approaches his role as a storyteller, and the personal obstacle he uncovered while working on his latest book. The Motel Cowboy Show and Red Dirt are available here. Josh Crutchmer's website Follow Josh on IG @jscrutchmer Rhett Miller website Follow Rhett on IG @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive produced by Kirsten Cluthe. Editing by Matt Dwyer. Music by OLD 97’s. Episode artwork by Katherine Boils and Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Distributed in partnership with Osiris Media. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, The Milk Carton Kids, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Osiris.
0:04.0	Welcome to Wheels Off, a show about the messy reality of the creative life. I'm Rhett Miller.
0:10.0	That's when it got wheels off.
0:13.0	He started ugly ain't gonna stop.
0:16.0	Oh, she made me feel like a good God. That's when it got wheels off. Josh Krujmer is a journalist.
0:25.6	In fact, he's the planning editor for the New York Times.
0:28.6	A big job, like a real journalism job.
0:33.6	Maybe one of the biggest in the world. But he's also, and I wonder if his heart might, in fact,
0:41.9	be more in this second line of work. He's also a chronicler of music, specifically, red dirt,
0:52.4	Americana, Independent Country Music.
0:54.9	He grew up in Oklahoma.
0:56.9	He came up around a bunch of the artists that make up the core of the Red Dirt music scene.
1:03.6	And he has done a brilliant job writing about that music scene.
1:09.6	His book, Red Dirt, is must read for those interested in that kind of music.
1:16.0	And his new book, The Motel Cowboys Show, is a really beautiful chronicle of the Braun Brothers Reunion,
1:23.7	music festival that happens way up in Chalice, Idaho, and sort of the music that spins out from
1:30.9	that world.
1:33.6	So he's living kind of a double life, and as you'll hear him explain during the course of this
1:38.7	interview, I think it's that duality that keeps him centered and energizes him each for the other,
1:49.0	if you know what I mean.
1:51.1	Josh Kutchmer is a really smart guy.
1:54.6	He's a great interviewer.
	...

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