What does it take to stay in the game for 30 years and still want to pick up the guitar?

Why would I retire so I could travel around and play guitar?

I mean, that's what I do anyway, and they pay me for it.

Brett Miller has fronted the old 97th since the early 90s written songs that broke your heart and saved your life

and survived the kind of mental health spiral most people never talk about.

You want to see trauma? Listen to the lyrics of my first eight albums. That was childhood trauma.

In an industry built on hype and hustle, Red's story is about something way more difficult,

sticking around. Through labels, breakdowns, tours, health scares, and therapy, he's still here,

still writing, still trying to figure it out.

The creative economy is broken, but some people are still making it work. We're here to find out

how. I'm open Mike Eagle. And I'm Anna Marie Cox, and this is Past Dew.

Hey, welcome to the show, Rhett. Hello, Anna. How are you? Let's not talk about me.

In this economy?

No. So our first question for guests, answer any way you feel comfortable, is when's the last time you worried about making your monthly nut?

For you, it might be a while, but that will be very satisfying to me.

Oh, my God.

Isn't that funny?

I'll probably bring up a few times, so I'll go ahead and name check her at the time. My wife, Erica, and I talk about this a lot, because we live in kind of a small town,

a small college town north of Manhattan, New Paltz.

And folks think, not just in New Paltz, but I think in general, that someone who's had the

longevity of the career I've had and put out as many records and done weird stuff,

Guardians of the Galaxy, we talked about before we started taping.

...