JPR on NPR

When I was editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine, I got a call from Bob Boilen, then one of the directors of NPR’s All Things Considered, with an amazing invitation: to become a contributor to NPR.

By then I had written extensively for magazines and newspapers but had zero background in radio or broadcast media. So Bob and others at NPR helped me learn the ropes: how to record location interviews and ambient sound, how to write for radio (so different than print!), how to create a script, and—trickiest of all—how to read on air and somehow sound like you are not reading. And in 2002 my first-ever piece of radio journalism aired on one of the biggest shows in public radio, All Things Considered.

Here are a few favorite stories I put together. For the full archive, see the NPR site.

John Fogerty profile (2013)

This piece is based on a mind-boggling day of reporting, when I visited Dave Grohl in his studio in the morning, then spent the afternoon with John Fogerty at his house—and took a break in the middle to interview Brad Paisley on the phone.

Online recording (2007)

At a time when many musicians were just beginning to grasp the possibilities of online collaboration, I put this piece together, demonstrating the process with a home recording of my own tune “Wasting Time No More.”

Indian rock band Thermal and a Quarter (2005)

I so appreciated how Bob Boilen and others at NPR were open to stories about music far off the beaten track. Like this profile of a progressive rock band I first encountered while living in Chennai, India.

Issa/Jane Siberry (2008)

At the time I put together this story, the brilliant songwriter/performer Jane Siberry had dropped her name and almost all of her belongings and was known as Issa. Later, she resumed her life and career as Jane Siberry. (Personal side note: I wrote “Here,” the closing track of Humming My Way Back Home, while on the road to Philadelphia to conduct this interview. No doubt the spirit of Issa/Siberry inspired that song.)

A concert hall in Amish country (2003)

During a short period living in the midwest, I was introduced to this remarkable venue in rural Indiana. The owner of the concert hall (unfortunately no longer in operation) later told me that after this story aired, music fans traveled hundreds of miles to catch shows there.