Advertise on podcast: Wheels Off with Rhett Miller

Singer-songwriter Lily Meola joins Rhett to talk about her debut album, Lucky to Be. She's been singing for a living since her first paid gig at age 10, but for years she was certain songwriting wasn't for her. Lily talks about the people who changed her mind, including a Nashville writer who tracked her down through a YouTube video. She also discusses the long road to recording her debut album, including a year-long hunt to clear a sample from an old Western for her opener, "Sleeping With My Boots On" — why touring is exhausting, yet still one of her favorite things, and the simple motto that keeps her grounded. Lily Meola is a singer-songwriter from Maui, now based in Nashville. Her debut album, Lucky to Be is available now. Follow Lily @lilymeola Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric D. Johnson has spent over a decade making records as Fruit Bats, and more recently as one-third of Bonny Light Horseman alongside Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman. He joins Rhett to talk about why coming up in the indie rock world of late-’90s Chicago was a gift, why the calm in his music isn’t quite what it seems, and the question every songwriter wrestles with: how do you know when a song is finished? The new Fruit Bats album is out now. Follow Eric @fruitbats Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rhett sits down with Hrishikesh Hirway — creator, host, and executive producer of Song Exploder, the podcast where musicians break down how their songs came together — for a rare turn on the other side of the microphone. Hrishi recently returned to making music after years away with his new album, In the Last Hour of Light, and he and Rhett dig into what pulled him from songwriting into podcasting, the difference between hustle and talent, the mental math of comparing yourself to the artists you interview for a living, and how co-writing over Zoom during the pandemic changed his process.  About Hrishikesh Hirway: Hrishikesh Hirway is the creator, host, and executive producer of Song Exploder, the podcast — and Netflix series — in which musicians break down how one of their songs was made; Vulture called it "probably the best use of the podcast format ever." He's also produced and co-hosted Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat and The West Wing Weekly with Joshua Malina, and composed music for the film Companion and Netflix's Everything Sucks!, among other projects. In the Last Hour of Light is his new album. Guest: Hrishikesh Hirway — website · Song Exploder · Spotify · Apple Music · Instagram New album In the Last Hour of Light Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

North Carolina singer-songwriter Caleb Caudle joins Rhett ahead of a run of Texas and Louisiana dates with Old 97's. Caleb talks about his new album, Heavy Thrill, and his brand-new label, Handplow Records; recording at Johnny Cash's Cash Cabin studio; and how a punk-rock kid ended up writing alt-country. He and Rhett also get into burning out on the road, and Caleb shares what 13 years of sobriety have taught him. His new album Heavy Thrill (Handplow Records) is available now. Follow Caleb @calebcaudle Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rhett sits down with Kishi Bashi for a wide-ranging conversation about creative growth, touring, and what it means to keep making honest work after 15 years in music. They talk about the 10-year anniversary of Sonderlust, and the shift from trying to make “the album” to treating each record as a snapshot of a creative moment. They get into his background as a jazz violinist, his Berklee years, and how boredom, nature, and surfing shape his songwriting process. Kishi Bashi is an Emmy-nominated virtuoso violinist, songwriter, and filmmaker renowned for his loop-based live performances and cinematic blend of indie pop and orchestral arrangements. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he has released five critically acclaimed solo albums and composed major soundtracks, including the Apple TV+ series Stillwater and his documentary Omoiyari. Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. The 10th anniversary Edition of Sonderlust is out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jobi Riccio is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter with a resume that already includes the John Prine Songwriters Fellowship, a Grand Ole Opry appearance, and tours with Jason Isbell, Lucius, and Iron & Wine. She joins Rhett to talk about her musical path, which runs from bluegrass jams to the indie-leaning rock of her latest record, Face the Feeling. Riccio is candid about quieting her inner critic and the songwriting lesson that helped her face down imposter syndrome. She and Rhett also dig into how climate activism fuels her writing, and what she's learned about holding her own as a solo performer. Face the Feeling is out now.  Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rhett welcomes Jim Ward — frontman and guitarist of Sparta, and a member of At the Drive-In — who dials in from El Paso to talk about the new Sparta record, his punk rock roots, and building guitar tone. Ward and Rhett dig deep into songwriting: co-writing over email, and why Ward always writes music before lyrics. He explains his one hard rule for songwriting and shares a peek into his own process, from voice memos to old notebooks. The two get into gear mode, digging into Vox amps, $500 Telecasters, and the pedalboard tricks behind Ward's sound. Sparta’s new album is out now.  Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rhett welcomes Tift Merritt — Grammy-nominated songwriter and one of Americana's most influential voices — to talk about Sugar, her first album in nearly a decade, recorded live in Nashville and shaped by everything that happened in the years between. Now based in her hometown of Raleigh, Merritt reflects on leaving New York, finding meaning offstage, and returning to music with renewed purpose. She traces the origin of "Everyday Singing" — built from feminist letters and recorded with a choir of women affected by lost research funding — talks through her strategies for quieting the inner critic, and offers hard-won advice to young artists: trust your instincts, and "put love in the world." Tift’s new album is out now Follow Tift @tiftmerritt Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97's. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Ritter has built a twenty-year career writing songs that collapse the distance between folk tradition, literature, and revelation. He joins Rhett from his home in Brooklyn where he’s doing what he calls “rehaunting” his world — the intentional process of reintroducing strangeness and synchronicity after a long stretch on the road. Ritter and Rhett also get into the interior work — imposter syndrome, comparison as the thief of joy, and why gratitude isn’t soft wisdom but a practical creative strategy. Plus: the Pete Seeger postcard that arrived a year after Ritter mailed a cassette from high school, and what it finally meant when he was old enough to understand it. Josh will be joining Rhett at his Songwriting Is Magic retreat in September. Learn more here. Follow Josh @joshritter | Follow Rhett @rhettmiller  Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes of Wheels Off drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron Lee Tasjan joins Rhett for a conversation about joy as armor, the craft of songwriting, and the long game of staying creatively alive. Tasjan talks about why he does his best work from a higher, more positive frequency — and what that actually means for writing songs. He unpacks why creativity gets harder with age, the books that shaped his process, and why the most powerful thing a young artist can do is realize they have more time than they think. Pre-order Get Over It Underdog.  Follow Aaron Lee Tasjan @aaronleetassjan Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Aaron will be joining Rhett at his Songwriting Is Magic retreat in September. Learn more here. Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, 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

Author Emily Franklin joins Rhett to talk about her 25th novel, Love and Other Monsters — the untold origin story of Frankenstein and the monsters we create on the page. They get into what it takes to sustain a prolific creative life. Emily also opens up about shedding critical inner voices, why poetry is the structural foundation of everything, and what it means to take bigger creative risks later in a career. Emily Franklin is the bestselling author of twenty-five books including The Lioness of Boston, now in its eleventh printing and recently a Jeopardy! clue. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, and JAMA, and been featured on NPR. Follow Emily @emilyfranklinauthor Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven.  Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, 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

Anthony Horowitz, one of the world's most prolific and versatile storytellers, joins Rhett for a conversation about creativity, craft, and the enduring power of the mystery novel. Horowitz reflects on a career built from the most unlikely of beginnings: a miserable boarding school, a library that became a refuge, and a boy who learned to make friends by telling stories. The two discuss his new book A Deadly Episode, and what it was like to write a book about filming a TV episode while simultaneously writing the TV episode itself. Drawing on decades of experience across every storytelling medium, Horowitz makes a compelling case for why murder mysteries aren't mere entertainment — they're a meaningful antidote to a world increasingly short on truth.  Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day, and With a Mind to Kill; the mystery novels featuring book editor Susan Ryeland: Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders, and Marble Hall Murders, and the Detective Hawthorne novels: The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, A Line To Kill, The Twist of a Knife, Close to Death, and now A DEADLY EPISODE. He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, which has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery, Magpie Murders, and the follow up Moonflower Murders, were both adapted for TV and aired on PBS – the Marble Hall Murders series will air in September 2026. He lives in London with his wife and dog.  A Deadly Episode is out now. More on Anthony at anthonyhorowitz.com. Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven.  Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, 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

Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells joins Rhett to talk about making music for 17+ years, trusting instinct over trends, and navigating anxiety, identity, and the pressures of the modern music industry. Follow Alexis @alexiskrauss Follow Sleigh Bells @sleighbells Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, 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

Rhett catches up with Kevn Kinney, frontman of Atlanta roots-rock institution Drivin N' Cryin, one day after his 65th birthday and on the eve of a new album. Recorded while Rhett's the Old 97's are deep in sessions at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, the conversation is a warm, wide-ranging exchange between two lifers. Kevn talks about the new record (produced by former bandmate Sadler Vaden, with Peter Buck on guitars), why he's likely done making full albums after this one, five years of sobriety, and the philosophy that has kept him performing with genuine joy for four decades. Pre-order the new Drivin n Cryin album here Follow Kevn @kevnkinney312 Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, 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

Theater director, playwright, and multimedia artist Jared Mezzocchi joins Rhett for a conversation about what it means to make ambitious, technology-forward work without losing the human heart of the story. Mezzocchi shares how he’s drawn to projects that seem “impossible” on paper—from a pandemic-era play about content moderation, to a site-specific production about the 1944 Hartford circus fire. He explains why impossibility isn’t a deterrent, but an opportunity for experimentation. The conversation moves into the emotional reality of creative life: the grief of letting go after opening night, the dangerous pull of people-pleasing, and the long work of strengthening what Mezzocchi calls a “sense of self.” He reflects on losing his father at 19, how that shaped his relationship to theater and film, and why mortality, impermanence, and presence sit at the center of his work. Rhett and Jared also talk about AI, technology anxiety, and why friction between machines and humanity may actually clarify what makes art—and people—matter.  Follow Jared @jaredmezzocchi Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on Spotify, and listen 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, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, 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