Advertise on podcast: Ann Delisi's Essential Conversations

In this rare 1994 interview with folk singer Ted Hawkins – recorded one year before his death – Ann Delisi speaks with Hawkins about going from busking on Venice Beach to getting a major label record deal, and appreciating the past to look forward to the future.

Husband and wife duo Ida Mae (Chris Turpin and Stephanie Jean Ward) join Ann Delisi to talk about their blues influences, relocating to the U.S. from London, and their 2019 album “Chasing Lights,” recorded at Real World Studios.

Joshua Henry has been in every one of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musicals, starting with In the Heights (2008), and including his role as Aaron Burr in the first U.S. tour of Hamilton (2016). Henry talked with Ann Delisi about his career, and his new EP, Guarantee.

Nearly 20 years ago, Robert Stiles discovered 29 unknown works by virtuosic bassist and composer Serge Koussevitzky. Now, Stiles is the Principal Librarian for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he puts his knowledge of music history and U.S. copyright law to work. Stiles spoke with Ann Delisi about his early career, discovering Koussevitzky’s works, and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how orchestra find and obtain the music for their performances.

Gregory Porter is an accomplished singer and songwriter, but he didn’t do it on his own. In this episode of Essential Conversations, Ann Delisi talks with Porter about how his brother and mother were foundational in his career, which includes two Grammy wins for Best Jazz Vocal Album (Liquid Spirit, 2014; Take Me to the Alley, 2017). Plus, Don Was tells the story of how signing Gregory Porter was his first act as president of Blue Note Records.

Al Sutton talks with Ann Delisi about his award-winning career as a music producer. They talk about Sutton’s creative process working with some of rock music’s top talent at Rust Belt Studios, including Greta Van Fleet and Kid Rock. Sutton also tells the story of the “Wolfbox,” a key component of the Motown sound.

British blues rocker Joanne Shaw Taylor spoke with Ann Delisi about being discovered by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, performing alongside Paul McCartney and Elton John, idolizing Stevie Ray Vaughn, and moving to Detroit from the United Kingdom.

Prolific musician and activist Ani DiFranco joins Ann Delisi to talk about her new single, “Do or Die,” how activism and social movements have defined her career, and why she chose to shave her head (again).

In this rare 1994 interview, Ann Delisi talks with avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson about her decades-long career as a performance artist, her love/hate relationship with technology, writing a retrospective on her career, and getting out of creative ruts.

Jeff Mills is one of the pioneers of electronic music. He talked with Ann Delisi about co-founding The Underground Resistance in Detroit, the early days of radio, and the challenges of working with Classical musicians.

John Sinclair co-founded the White Panthers, managed the MC5, and was at the center of a landmark 1972 wiretapping case that went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Sinclair joined Ann Delisi to talk about his revolutionary life and work in Detroit as an artist and activist.

The War and Treaty are a vocal powerhouse with a story as moving as their music. The husband/wife duo spoke with Ann Delisi about how they met, writing music while deployed in Iraq, and playing Saddam Hussein’s piano. Blue Note Records president Don Was also joins the conversation and remembers the first time he heard them sing.