Deeper Cuts

What grabs you as a kid listening to songs on the radio may still grab you as an adult... but the nuances often come out after you've had years to process them, all informed by life experience. This was true for Rob and Steely Dan's 1972 debut record Can't Buy a Thrill. It was an album he immersed himself in his twenties during his first flush of CD buying. But as a little kid, the big radio singles sounded weird and even terrifying – and sometimes hilarious – to him. So, what's the real identity of the music beyond what listeners hear in it wherever they are in their lives? It's a big question. Of course, as always, music is weird, with a lot of it splitting rooms and creating friction among otherwise friendly discussions between music fans. Does that play out here among the Deeper Cuts trio? Where do they stand on the Steely Dan divide? Where do musical expectations come into this discussion of how we hear music from one point in our lives to another? And what of this album, specifically? Is it a thrill? Or do the Deeper Cuts Trio not buy it? Not going to click to find out? C'mon. Only a fool would say that (just kidding, please click). The music from every episode this season can be found our Spotify Playlist. Also, don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts! Special thanks to Alex Kennard for our theme song and Scot Clarke for our logo and ID graphics. This year's "Vox Pops" heard at the start of every episode included Michael Powell (6.1), Joy Piedmont (6.2), Francis Bradley (6.3), Lacy Baugher-Milas (6.4), Jen Burt (6.5) and Jay Wilson (6.6). Deeper Cuts will return. Thanks for listening.

When you find out your friend is in a band and has made a record, it's like finding out that they're a practicing wizard, a superhero, or secret agent. It often turns music fans/friends into evangelists – “Everyone! Listen to what my friend made!” In the heady days when melancholic northern new wave roamed the earth, Graeme's friend Bob, alias “Simon DeBeaupre”, along with his bandmates in Age of Mirrors put out 1987's Screenplay. Graeme made sure we all had a copy. He's still making sure of that by way of this episode of our show – thirty-five years later! So, all these years later, how do the songs carry? What about the personal connections to the music? Do they skew the results as to how listeners judge its quality? Overall, what does the Deeper Cuts Trio think about this album? Does this record scale the cinematic heights? Or does the plot fall flat? Jump on that play button to find out. You can take a shallow or even a deep dive into this past season courtesy of our Spotify Playlist which covers every episode, as well as the recently completed miniseries, The Live Sessions. And, hey, don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts! In the episode Graeme talked about having a signed, limited edition copy of Screenplay. Here's some photos of Graeme with that copy (which, naturally, is the first of 30!)

Music runs deep and has the power to enlighten, educate, and empower. This doesn't have to be a didactic thing and the best of it isn't. Great songs can do all of those things as one listens and enjoys them. It does all that at the soul level. Music is weird – and sometimes very, very sneaky. Shannon connected with the world of acapella from her time in college, solidifying her well-earned status as theater and choir kid. All the while, the music of Sweet Honey in the Rock and their album Breaths was a stalwart influence to change her perspective on what acapella music could be. It introduced the idea of protest and politics in acapella music – a new idea for her as a young music-maker. So, how did the Deeper Cuts trio react? Did the album take our breaths away, or was it a battle for our lives? Do the thing with the clicking to listen. You can come back to all the songs sung this season thanks to our Spotify Playlist which covers every episode, as well as the recently completed miniseries, The Live Sessions. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

There reaches a point in a young music fan's life when they begin to detect the emotional complexities of the songs and albums they love. This usually corresponds with a capacity for sensing these things in real life between real people. One discovers that some things can seem happy on the surface, while being full of tumult and struggle underneath. Nick Heyward's 1983 debut record North of a Miracle was the key example for Rob when he was 14 and going on 15. It also provided the soundtrack for what followed in his own life as things changed dramatically in his household at the time. How does that happy/sad dynamic in the music read for him today? How does this dynamic play in general when one is feeling down or in a period of uncertainty? Most of all what did Rob's co-hosts think of the album? Was it a guiding north star to musical bliss? Or did it go south fast? Get with the clickity-click to discover the answer. Our Spotify Playlist will cover each episode of this season, as well as the recently completed miniseries, The Live Sessions. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

We often find an attachment to certain music during times of emotional upheaval and loss. And it can be a double-edged blade. We love it and find it painful at the same time... because, hey, music is weird – and mysterious. For Graeme, the ending of a relationship led him to this exact place. Around that time, Sarah McLachlan's 1997 record Surfacing was his soundtrack – not just on his personal stereo, but with the music playing as a musical accompaniment in his head as he navigated his way through a painful period. Join Graeme, Shannon and Rob as they ask: what makes a great break-up record anyway? Is there a way to reconcile an album we associate with emotionally harrowing times to just appreciate it over time as great music? Overall, what did the Deeper Cuts trio think of this record as a whole? Did it breach the surface for us, or did it sink to the bottom? You know what to do to find out! Our Spotify Playlist will cover each episode of this season, as well as the recently completed miniseries, The Live Sessions. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

As is often the case with music, love can grow in increments. The Deeper Cuts trio touched on that in our discussion on Tom Waits' Mule Variations album all the way back in Season Two when Shannon first saw the artist's incendiary performance of “Chocolate Jesus” on Letterman. But even as listeners grow into a sound over time, artists themselves reveal something of their art through various stages of their careers, too. It was this phenomenon that struck Shannon when she heard 1974's The Heart of Saturday Night, which presents Tom Waits in an earlier incarnation. The album revealed new depths and new perspectives for her on his work, solidifying her fandom for all time. But what were the impressions of her two cohorts? Did we all sidle up to the bar and knock a few back in celebration of the weekend, or did we get bogged down by the threat of Monday morning? Make with the clicking to find out, friends as we begin our sixth, yes that's right, sixth season of Deeper Cuts. As ever, our nifty Spotify Playlist will cover each episode of this season, as well as the recently completed miniseries, The Live Sessions. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Twas two weeks before Christmas (a little bit less) and all through the podcast, Shannon, Graeme and Rob were receiving holiday presents... from our listeners! That's right, this year we've outsourced our traditional gift exchange. Listeners Martin Hajovsky, Drew Walco and Sarah Irvin have given Graeme, Shannon and Rob respectively albums that they like. Will the Deeper Cuts trio have a holly jolly Christmas with the listener gifts? Or will they be like the abominable snowman before Hermey the Elf's dentistry? As ever, we liven up the proceedings with questions about music and making the show from even more of our faithful listeners. Grab yourself an egg nog and enjoy the music of this special on our Spotify Playlist, which covers all the albums gifted here, as well as all the albums in our Live Sessions. Also, don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts! Special thanks to Andrea Burk for the "Vox Pop" at the start of the episode. Deeper Cuts will be back with Season 6 on January 10, 2023!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. After exploring a theater and a concert hall as a setting for great live records, this time we consider the large-scale outdoor live show. To illustrate this context best, Shannon showcases a go-to live album for her – Paul Simon's 1991 live offering, Concert in the Park. For Shannon, it was a high school record; a put-it-on-in-the-car-and-drive-anywhere record. It meant freedom, adventure, and was a taste of the independence she would find later on when she made the setting of this record, New York, her adopted home. But how did this work for the Deeper Cuts trio? What did we think of an album that covers so much ground across a mighty discography? How do the songs translate on such a large scale? Can they emerge from the shadow of not only their original recorded versions but Simon and Garfunkel's Central Park Concert from a decade earlier? And how does it figure in the life of the artist, known as a purveyor of folk music across the decades? And, as always, what were the highlights and lowlights of this release? Reserve your spot on the Great Lawn, spread the blanket, and join us for this final installment of our Live Sessions miniseries of Deeper Cuts. Our Spotify Playlist covers each episode of this miniseries. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. During a hellscape of a summer marked by a never-ending work crisis, Graeme learned about the Indigo Girls' new live album through a Deeper Cuts fan (and friend of the program) Sarah Irvin. This new album-- a collaboration with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra-- pushed the boundaries of a live performance for the folk duo, and proved to be a balm for Graeme during a difficult time. In this second of our Live Sessions, Graeme, Shannon and Rob discuss this album as a hallmark of the "experimental" live album and whether combining an orchestra with the Indigo Girls' unique brand of music works and, if so, why. And what is it about the Indigo Girls' music that makes it work for this sort of a departure. The conductor is tapping his baton, so let's, as the Indigo Girls sing, GO! Our Spotify Playlist covers each episode of this miniseries. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions – a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the live music albums that were meaningful to them, and pondering what makes a great live album. There are wake-up calls and there are WAKE UP! calls. When Rob was growing up, his Dad's copy of James Brown and the Famous Flames' Live at the Apollo record was one of those... and in more than one respect. For Rob, one form was literal, while another form took hold over a much longer term, helping to shape his musical outlook for all time. In this first of three episodes of Deeper Cuts: The Live Sessions, Rob, Shannon and Graeme talk about what makes a great live record with this one as something of a gold standard. We'll talk about what the dynamics between artist and audience mean to how well they work, the value of an album as a "souvenir" of a concert in a particular time and plance, and of course what the significance of such albums are to us as music fans and as people. So – are you ready for Star Time? If so, the stage awaits! Our Spotify Playlist covers each episode of this miniseries. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Our annual holiday special has returned and so has our traditional gift exchange! Join Shannon, Graeme and Rob as they exchange albums with each other (this year as a duo-- double the potential catastrophization!) and find out if their gift is a stocking hung by the chimney with care, or a Grinch-robbed home instead. Throughout, the Deeper Cuts trio will be answering listener questions about holiday music and about the show! It's the one holiday party you can be guaranteed a good time. Stay warm, metaphorically speaking, from the glow of our Spotify Playlist, which covers all the albums covered in this special, as well as just about every album in season five, and our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago for good measure. Also, don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts! Special thanks to Deborah Stanish for the "vox pop" at the start of the episode. We'll be back with lots more Deeper Cuts in 2022!

In part two of our exploration of the 2015 soundtrack to the musical Hamilton, the Deeper Cuts trio continue their discussion of the resonant themes in the musical that helped Shannon become the person she wanted to be and how music can help us set our values. We also talk about what Hamilton has to say about American history and the musical's use of references to other works. For this finale episode to the fifth series of the Deeper Cuts, Shannon, Graeme and Rob throw in everything but the kitchen sink (and possibly even that). Will we find a way to say no to this? Or will this episode still be the room where it happens? Join us and listen in to the discussion. You can listen to our Spotify Playlist, which covers just about every album in season five, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. Also, don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts! Special thanks to Alex Kennard for our theme song and Scot Clarke for our logo and ID graphics. This year's "Vox Pops" heard at the start of every episode included Dan Speerin (5.1), Tammy Cunningham (5.2), Erik Stadnik (5.4), Julie Hopkins (5.5), KatyBeth Schmid (5.6) and Nick Abadzis (5.7). Thanks to those wonderful people for helping out. The opening to 5.3 was a reprise of the one heard in episode 4.4, which featured NPR's Petra Mayer, who died this past November and who we all miss. Come back in a couple of days for our 2021 holiday episode! And we'll be back with more Deeper Cuts in 2022.

How can art shape our very identities? How can it give us a sense of direction from the people we are to the people we want to be – shaping our very values? Shannon adopted the city of New York as her home, and many of her album selections for this show across multiple seasons demonstrate her love for the city as she made memories there and became an independent and more confident person. But with the 2015 musical Hamilton, New York loved her right back, and the production transformed her. What was it about this grand and unique production that resonated with her to such a degree? How did it change her perceptions of her surroundings, her city, her values as a human being? And how did her two co-hosts respond to a musical that inspired one of the only rules for album selection on Deeper Cuts? Will we raise the glass to the three of us? Or will we throw away our shot? Check out this episode and find out. Listen! No, really, you can listen to our Spotify Playlist, which covers the albums covered in this season, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. Also, don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

When one is at a young age, the way isn't always as straightforward as we initially think. This is true of the subcultures, ideology and even faith communities we find ourselves in. But what remains after we find ourselves on a different path years later? How do those lessons we picked up from a bygone age play now? They remain with us perhaps just as unexpectedly, even when we've become completely different people years down the line. Steve Taylor's 1985 album On the Fritz, an example of the emerging movement of Christian Contemporary Music in 1980s, was an artifact from a different era for Graeme, when he was a very different person. What drew his interest in the music when he first heard it as a 14-year old member of the Evangelical church? And how did he respond to the songs on the album today now that he's left that subculture far behind? More importantly, how did his two Deeper Cuts colleagues react to the record? Was it a come to Jesus moment? Or was it more like a Miltonian fall from grace? Alas, On The Fritz is out of print (though you can find the album to listen to on on YouTube). Our Spotify Playlist covers the rest of the albums covered in this season, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Being connected. Feeling surrounded by those who support you. It's vital to happiness, particularly during life-altering events like the birth of a child, for instance. This was on Rob's mind as he anticipated the arrival of a new daughter, and the feelings associated with being surrounded by an extended support system of soon-to-be aunties, uncles, and grandparents, too. The soundtrack for all this was 2004's Everyone is Here by the Finn Brothers, a record that is about these very same sorts of connections and how they affect who we are and how we perceive the world. So, what did Rob's fellow Deeper Cuts crew members think of the album? Was it a case of a warm familial embrace, or an argument around the dinner table? Our Spotify Playlist covers the albums covered in this season, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Romance! Everyone has an idea of what it means to them. It is certainly attached to intense emotional states, especially when we're young. By the late eighties, Graeme was in college in doing content creation in a time before podcasts – this time as co-editor of the school newspaper. It was there that his fellow editor turned him onto the finer things in literature and in music – including Van Morrison's Poetic Champions Compose. The record spoke to Graeme in his earnest romantic state of mind during a time when he was trying to find his way through the briar patch of youthful infatuation. It was also Graeme's intro to jazzier textures within pop music that provided his soundtrack by which to feel things - deeply. So, what did the Deeper Cuts trio think of this record? Did we fall in love hard? Or, did this album make us forget that love existed? Our Spotify Playlist covers the albums covered in this season, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

A clean slate. A new era. A dedication to a new focus. When Shannon moved to Boston's Fenway neighborhood for graduate school, these were some of the things that characterized her life at that time. As we've learned by now, for every era in a music fan's life, there is a soundtrack. Regina Spektor's 2006 record Begin to Hope was just that, as Shannon immersed herself in the world of books, academia, and a new sense of independence as a person living in the city – a theme that would certainly recur in her life from there. So, what did her Deeper Cuts co-hosts think of the album? Is it on our personal radio, or is it a case of 20 years of snow? Find out in this, our second episode of season five. Our Spotify Playlist covers the albums covered in this season, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Some records become the soundtrack for pivotal periods of self-discovery in our lives, even if we're not aware of the importance of those times to our personal development – maybe even especially so. In the summer of 1987, Rob took a trip to Barbados to stay with his cousin. Driving around the island, A-Ha's 1985 album Hunting High and Low played in the car often; music from a northern and sometimes wintry country serving as a sonic backdrop to adventures in the sunny Caribbean. More importantly, its underlying tone and emotional content allowed 18-year-old Rob the space to consider his direction, his values, and what type of person he wanted to be. All these years later, how does the music resonate with him and with his Deeper Cuts co-hosts? Join Shannon, Rob and Graeme as they embark on Deeper Cuts' fifth season and consider this example of danceable synthpop at its finest: does the sun always shine on this record? Or are we hunting high and low for the exits? Our Spotify Playlist covers the albums covered in this season, as well as our Soundtrack Sessions from a few months ago. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Soundtrack Sessions - a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the the intersection between film and music while looking at albums that were meaningful to one of them. As a teenager, Graeme was drawn to the world of orchestral film scores. Thanks to a friend at church who gave him a (wait for it) mix tape of movie soundtracks, Graeme was well on his way. One of the big ones around this time was Ennio Morricone's score for the 1986 film The Mission, a story about faith, politics, colonialism, and ultimate violence. That soundtrack helped to shape Graeme's awareness and love for the unique role that orchestral scores play in telling stories, the texture scoring adds to a film and how viewers perceive those stories. In returning to Morricone's music for the film, what did Shannon and Rob think of it? Did they embrace the faith, or did they wind up going over the falls? Have a listen and find out. Our Spotify Playlist covers each episode of this miniseries. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts! Deeper Cuts season 5 will start in November! We can't wait for you to hear it!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Soundtrack Sessions - a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the the intersection between film and music while looking at albums that were meaningful to one of them. When favourite films and favourite soundtracks converge at exactly the right time in our lives, magic happens! In Shannon's case, this was also a time when she worked in a video store with her fellow movie and music tastemakers among the all-female staff, so she had the additional joy of reveling in pop culture banter at the retail level, experiencing geek wisdom, and a sense of coolness and belonging. A freshman in high school at the time, the High Fidelity movie and its accompanying soundtrack provided young Shannon with her very own mixtape to an impressionable time and helped create a kind of affinity with the characters in the movie, with their sense of taste, style, and expression - snark and snobbery included. But what did Graeme and Rob make of the High Fidelity soundtrack as a listening experience? Did they ring it up at the till, or banish it to the mall? Explore the answer here in our second episode in the Deeper Cuts soundtrack mini-series! Our Spotify Playlist covers each episode of this miniseries. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: The Soundtrack Sessions - a three-episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio looking at the the intersection between film and music while looking at albums that were meaningful to one of them. Some years really stand out as landmarks in our lives. The summer of 1989 was one such year for Rob (and for Graeme): a "crossfade year" which was both the end to an era and the beginning of another all at the same time. This was Rob's gap year, working his first full time job at a bookstore and with the possibilities of the future an open frontier ahead of him. It was a last hurrah as the embers of teenage-hood faded. It was also the year of Tim Burton's Batman movie. Prince's soundtrack to that movie became a soundtrack for that whole summer when Rob and Graeme were all so young and hopeful for the future. What of the music after all these years? What does Shannon make of this nostalgic trip? What does Graeme remember about that summer? When it comes to this record, are we partying in Wayne Manor or languishing in Arkham Asylum? Our Spotify Playlist covers each episode of this miniseries. And don't forget to talk to us on Twitter (@deepercutscast) and to rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts!

Our annual holiday special has returned and so has our traditional gift exchange! Join Shannon, Graeme and Rob as they exchange albums with each other and find out if their gift a Christmas cracker or a lump of coal. But this time they're not alone: we did this episode live in front of an audience on Zoom! Join the Deeper Cuts trio for Q and A and find out what their pals are bringing as musical gifts for the rest of us. It's a holiday party you don't want to miss... and you have the best seat in the house! Check out our Spotify playlist our gifts to each other plus the albums discussed this past season (and our COVID Sessions earlier this year). We also have all the albums and songs our listeners recommended in this episode!

Why are there so many songs about rainbows? In this last episode of our fourth season, the Deeper Cuts trio indulge in some comfort listening, true to our well-established Muppet Agenda. This time, it revolves around the soundtrack album to 1979’s The Muppet Movie. Saving his money from a paper route, a young Graeme bought this, his first self-financed music purchase and, as much as he loved the movie, this soundtrack was a separate and equally worthy experience for him. Years later, what value remains to be found between the grooves of this platter that still matters? What are the impressions of Graeme’s fellow musical sojourners who also have a history in Muppet fandom? Join us in this, our season finale, and let’s get movin’ right along! Our Spotify playlist has everything from this and the rest of this past season (plus our COVID Sessions earlier this year). Special thanks, as ever, to Alex Kennard for our theme song, to Scot Clarke for our logo and ID graphics and to this season's "Vox Pops": Kim Rogers, Gordon Dymowski, Cory Funk, Petra Mayer, Sarah Friedman and Jason Kurylo. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! We'll be holding a Deeper Cuts Holiday Party live on Zoom on Saturday, November 21 at 3 p.m. (EST). We'll be recording our 2020 Holiday Special in front of a live audience with special Q and A and much more. If you want to take part email us at holidayparty@deepercuts.com

A year and a half in a new city. A raffle for concert tickets. The tail-end of a slowly declining and not very healthy relationship. It was a time when Shannon realized that things were coming to a head in that phase of her life. This was Shannon's emotional context when she went to a concert as a part of the PBS series The Artist’s Den and saw Rufus Wainwright for the first time. Rufus was singing songs from his then new album, 2012’s Out of the Game and the music, and the artist, attached themselves to Shannon’s spirit as she underwent a life-changing metamorphosis that marked the beginning of her real time in New York City. How can music help us to move forward in our lives? And what do her fellow Deeper Cuts trio members have to say about the record? Are they going to welcome it to the ball, or are we all going to cry bitter tears instead? Pull up a pew, have a seat, and explore those questions, among others, along with us. You can listen to everything on this album, everything in this season of Deeper Cuts and indeed everything from our COVID sessions earlier this year by checking out our Spotify playlist.

Remember record stores? Those magical places which seemingly contained all the music in the world? Rob remembers one such record store fondly -- Cactus Records in Oakville -- because it was there he encountered an album that he'd been interested in for years: Sade's sophisiti-pop opus Diamond Life. How were Sade's stylish sounds received by Rob's fellow panelists? What were their favourite record stores of yore? What strategies did everyone employ when they shopped at record stores... and what were their great finds? Come with us, dear listeners, as the Deeper Cuts trio write a collective love letter to the record store. Discover the albums we’re listening to this season, along with the songs from our COVID Sessions earlier this year, on our Spotify playlist. And visit your local record store... they could use the support right now.

Parents are good for one or two things. Sometimes, one of them is how they serve as vectors for great music; how to spot it, what to listen for, and how to form your own lifelong love for musical artistry. At a young age, Shannon’s dad helped her hone an appreciation for music by listening to records with her, and particularly ones centered around the guitar. One of the big ones at the time was 1967’s Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience; a formative album for many generations of music fans. The album was representative of a sea change during a very turbulent time of the late 1960s, a time when politics, technology, and musical forms converged seemingly all at once in one big colourful explosion. But how does the Deeper Cuts trio process all this in 2020? Is it fire or just a bunch of purple haze? How do The Wonder Years, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Ken Burns, Les Paul and Mary Ford, and J.R.R Tolkien fit into all of this? Put on your paisley prints and dive in to find out! You can experience all the albums we’re listening to this season, along with the songs from our COVID Sessions earlier this year, on our Spotify playlist. (Note for music nerds: we're using the CD version of this album, which adds a couple of tracks not on the original U.S. version of the album)

The end of a road can take on many different forms. Sometimes, the road branches off in two or more directions. Sometimes, it’s a dead end. At other times, that road is shrouded in mist with no road signs to indicate what’s ahead. In any of these situations, you have to decide on what to do next to the best of your ability. At the end of his university career, Rob faced the end of a road, and the end of an era while the way forward became suddenly uncertain. During that time, Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ 1996 record All This Useless Beauty was his soundtrack, an album replete with tales of uncertainty, ambiguity, disappointment, and complicated shadows to say the least. How did this inform his perspective at the time? What does he and the rest of the Deeper Cuts trio make of the album all these years later? Join us for our second episode in our fourth season to discover whether it’s beauty resonated or turned out to be useless after all. Our Spotify Playlist will have the albums we're looking at this season, along with the songs from our COVID Sessions earlier this year.

Sometimes, you find yourself growing up. You realize that some of the things you believed and thought were solid in your life really aren’t – and in fact are even harmful to you. You find you have to question those things to create a new path for yourself. You’ve got to start again. This was Graeme’s experience at the end of his high school years and the beginning of his college years. Sting’s 1987 record …Nothing Like the Sun was Graeme's "first grown-up record" and was an important part of his personal soundtrack at the time when he was calling his belief system into question. This is an album that also touches on life-changing events and challenges to meet a world that is often perplexing, cruel, and sometimes even violent. How did this album help Graeme create clarity during a tumultuous time in his life? How did the Deeper Cuts trio process the music? Did it go straight to the heart? Or does Graeme dance alone on this one? There’s only one way to find out! Join our new main host Shannon Dohar (alongside Rob Jones and Graeme Burk) for this first episode of our fourth (!) season. Our Spotify Playlist will have the albums we're looking at this season, along with the songs from our COVID Sessions earlier this year.

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions -- a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Living in modern times can be exciting, and also terrifying. Sometimes, it feels like we’re just children in a big imposing world, sparking our anxieties, and making us feel overwhelmed. While sheltering in place during this strange and scary COVID-19 era, Shannon turned to fellow New Yorker John Mulaney’s Sack Lunch Bunch soundtrack, an accompaniment to his Netflix special of the same name. What can a series of children’s songs teach us about anxiety? How does this help us in this period of uncertainty? In the last of our COVID Sessions, the trio works it out, discovering among other things that even in the darkest times, there is music to be found here, there, and everywhere, even as we worry about whether flowers can exist at night. Our Spotify Playlist is here covering each episode of this miniseries! And don't forget to comment on our website (at its new URL deepercuts.com) or talk to us on Twitter -- our account is @deepercutscast. We'll be back for season four of Deeper Cuts in a few months! Stay tuned. And stay safe!

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions -- a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now during the COVID-19 lockdown, a lot of us find ourselves waiting. We're waiting for conditions to change, waiting for a resumption of everyday things, waiting for any good news whatsoever. Graeme's go-to album during this pandemic that's he's been waiting with is Bruce Cockburn's 1973 album Night Vision which Cockburn mega-fan Graeme... never really liked all that much before now. So what happened to change all that for him? And how does the album speak to our condition now? The Deeper Cuts trio talk about that and about how music can help us while we wait. Our Spotify Playlist is here covering each episode of this miniseries! And don't forget to comment on our website (at its new URL deepercuts.com) or talk to us on Twitter -- our account is @deepercutscast.

Welcome to Deeper Cuts: the COVID Sessions -- a three episode miniseries which finds the Deeper Cuts trio taking deep dives into music with deep meaning for us right now as we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. During his time sheltering in place, Rob turned to Fountains of Wayne’s 2007 album Traffic and Weather, a record that’s all about everyday things, of sometimes mundane travels, vignettes of middle-class suburban life, and of the quiet drama and raw humanity that lies at the heart of all that. What he found while listening is that there is beauty, and even poetry, to be found in day to day life. Sometimes it’s easy to miss. But in times when your world gets shaken up by strange circumstances, you miss them in quite another way. With those things in the frame for many of the songs on the record, he was reminded that sometimes, and maybe even most times, it’s the small things that count the most. What did the rest of the Deeper Cuts trio think of the album? What were some of the big takeaways? Graeme, Shannon, and Rob lend their collective ears to the record during a very this strange period in history and talk about how we find comfort in the simple things during complicated times. Our Spotify Playlist is back covering each episode of this miniseries! And don't forget to comment on our website (at its new URL deepercuts.com) or talk to us on Twitter -- our account is @deepercutscast.

It’s that time of year again, Deeper Cuts fans; the season of our holiday gift exchange! With some (actually, quite a lot of) trepidation in the hopes that our gifts are yuletide treasures rather than lumps of coal, the Deeper Cuts trio explore a range of musical styles from synthpop to blues-rock to yet another nod to our patented Muppet Agenda. What are the results? A Christmas miracle? Or does Santa’s sleigh crash into the (go tell it on the) mountain? Find out in this special 2019 holiday edition of the Deeper Cuts podcast! And happy holidays, one and all! Don't forget to check out our Spotify Playlist for Season 3 which also includes all the albums which featured in this episode as well. And yes, Deeper Cuts is going to be back in 2020 for a fourth season! We're hoping to record in the spring and have it out later in the year. We'll keep you posted! And stay in touch by commenting on our website at deepercuts.com or talking to us on twitter at @deepercutscast!

Home. What does it mean? What associations do people commonly hold about what their home means to them? How can music help to tie us to home, especially when one is far from it and missing it? When Graeme went to a military school at the age of 12, ABBA’s penultimate 1980 album Super Trouper helped him to keep his feet on the ground while he was regularly apart from his family. How did this record help Graeme during this trying period to make that connection? What is it about this record that brought him joy then, and what is it about it that does the same today? How does music help us keep, or gain, a sense of home? And what did the other members of the Deeper Cuts trio think of Sweden's greatest contribution to pop music? We can face it together the way old friends do, dear listeners! Tune in to this last episode of the third(!) season of the Deeper Cuts podcast and bop (and a half!) along with us! Don't forget to check out our Spotify Playlist for Season 3 which has all the songs on this album and most of the other albums you' heard this season as well.  Special thanks, as ever, to Alex Kennard for our theme song, to Scot Clarke for our logo and ID graphics and to this season's "vox pops" Mark Askwith, Aileen Page, John O'Connor, Heather Murray, Drew Walko and Heather Berberet. We'll be back for season four sometime in the near future. Thank you for the music!

Sometimes, it’s just time to move on. And yet, after struggles, trials and tribulations and painful endings, sometimes that’s not the easiest thing to do. How do you find the right path? How do you redefine your life once an important chapter has closed? This is a situation we all face in one way or another. For Rob, the 2000 album Daisies of the Galaxy by EELS was the soundtrack to a tumultuous chapter in his life. Luckily in that very record, he found some perspective on the subjects of pain and struggle, loneliness, and how to look on the bright side even though the skies were still pretty cloudy. In this episode, the Deeper Cuts trio give their impressions of the record, and the group discuss the business of moving on, and what music has to say about dealing with loss, and finding ourselves again after it’s all over. Put out that smoke and breathe some air, friends! Give us a listen. Don’t forget to check out our Spotify Playlist for Season 3 which has all the songs on this album and most of the other albums you’ll hear this season as well. 

Rebellion. Anger. Even disillusionment. These are only some of what makes up the human experience. This may be even more pertinent during our youth, and when times of great turmoil are reflected in the headlines, and in the lives of the people we know. It could also be just about the drudgery of our existences, and the feeling that we need to get the hell out and find something new! It all makes us want to cry out in protest and demand a better life for ourselves and for everyone in the world along with us. Green Day’s 2004 record American Idiot provided the soundtrack for Shannon’s teenage years, during a time when 9/11 was still a fresh wound, and when George W. Bush secured a second term. What does the Deeper Cuts trio make of this record full of rage and love in 2019? And how does music help us protest? Welcome to this new kind of tension all across the alien nation in this episode that’s all about anger and protest, and the art that helps us express it best. Don't forget to check out our Spotify Playlist for Season 3 which has all the songs on this album and most of the other albums you'll hear this season as well. 

The world can be a place of trouble and darkness. But in that darkness, there is hope to be found if one is open to doing so. That was just the message that Rob needed as grim world events were coming to a head and as the call to fatherhood to a baby daughter beckoned him at the same time, fears, doubts and all. It was former Staples Singer, soul proponent, and civil rights-era voice of hope Mavis Staples’ 2004 album Have A Little Faith that provided a pathway into the next phase of his life as a dad. Among all of the blues, soul, gospel and folk textures to be found on the record, and with the themes of spiritual and sociopolitical struggles intertwining, how did it resonate with the group? What were some of the reactions to Mavis’ call to step into the light? Can we get a witness, good people? Don't forget to check out our Spotify Playlist for Season 3 which has all the songs on this album and most of the other albums you'll hear this season as well.

Some music in our lives gets us at a young age. It bonds itself to our DNA for the rest of our lives, connecting us with memories of unfiltered teenaged joy, posters plastered onto bedroom walls, and the reckless abandon of dance moves and hairbrush microphones in front of the mirror. Our first pop album is all about the heart and about the enthusiasm that came so naturally to us when we were kids. Immortal boyband Backstreet Boys and their 1998 self-titled debut was an impactful force along these lines for our Shannon Dohar. But what does the rest of the Deeper cuts trio think about this unabashed late 90s pop classic? What does it have to teach us about the nature of pop music and its irresistible call to the dance floor? Get it goin’ on right now and have a listen to find out! Don't forget to check out our Spotify Playlist for Season 3 which has all the songs on this album and, as the season progresses, most of the other albums you'll hear as well. 

People are constantly doing things to improve themselves, to help make themselves a little smarter (or make themselves think that they’re smarter). Sometimes music can be part of a self-improvement. That’s what Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach was for Graeme; as the revolutionary electronic music album started the a-little-too-serious teenaged Graeme on an excursion into the wider world of classical music. But how does that seminal record resonate with him all these years later? What do his compatriots in the Deeper Cuts trio think of it? There’s only one way to find out. So, switch on right here! Unfortunately, Switched-On Bach isn't on Spotify but our Spotify Playlist has been updated for Season 3 so check back to find albums from later episodes.

Surprise! Before the new season of Deeper Cuts debuts next week, we did a bonus episode as a surprise party of a podcast for our beloved Deeper Cuts co-host Rob Jones, who turns 50 today (February 15, 2019)! Join Graeme and Shannon as they talk about a favourite band and a favourite album of Rob's, The Band's 1969 self-titled album (which was made the year Rob was born!) Two-thirds of the Deeper Cuts trio also discuss the joy of making, and sharing, music and have a few things to say about the birthday boy himself. So join in the party! (You'll have to get your own piece of cake!)  Our Spotify Playlist has been updated for Season 3. Check out the songs on this album and, as the season progresses, most of the other albums you'll hear in the coming week. 

Happy holidays, Deeper Cuts fans! In anticipation for our upcoming third season, we have the 2018 edition of our holiday episode. This time, the Deeper Cuts trio gather around the yuletide tree to exchange gifts to celebrate the season. What gifts are we exchanging? Music, of course. Each of us gave another of our group a musical gift; an album each chosen specifically for Graeme, Shannon, and Rob based on their tastes, and wrapped up in a bow. What albums are we talking about here? Do our gifts to each other light up the Christmas tree? Or do they pour water on the yuletide hearth? Find out right now. And once again – happy holidays! Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from the albums in our little gift exchange, as well as all albums we covered in season two of Deeper Cuts, so check it out! Lord willing that the creek don’t rise, we’ll have season three of Deeper Cuts out starting toward the end of February 2018 (there was a slight delay, but it will be worth it!) As ever, you can stay connected to us on our twitter feed at @deepercutscast and visit our website at www.deepercutspodcast.com for regular updates.  

Spirituality. It’s a pretty open-ended term. But one thing common across the faith spectrum (or the absence thereof) may be the sense of becoming part of something bigger than yourself and experiencing mystery and wonder. It isn’t easily defined and categorized as some systems of faith might have us believe. But it’s significant all the same. Former fundamentalist Christian Graeme associates Canadian singer-songwriter-guitarist Bruce Cockburn’s 1979 album Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws as the soundtrack to a significant shift to how he perceived spiritual things. What were those things? What sticks with him now? What did his compatriots in the Deeper Cuts trio think? And what makes music spiritual? Open your hymn books (or just put on your headphones) and find out. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we've been adding all the other albums we've covered this season to it as well, so check it out! This is the final episode of season two of Deeper Cuts! We'll be back sooner than you think in autumn 2018 for a third season. But you can stay connected to us on our twitter feed at @deepercutscast and visit our website at www.deepercutspodcast.com for regular updates.

Music doesn’t always make it easy on you. It often challenges you. It shocks you. It confuses you. And through that, it makes you hear other music differently after a journey down a twisty path leading you through unfamiliar cultural and artistic territory to destinations you didn’t anticipate. Soon, you find yourself both challenged and delighted, too. That’s what Charles Mingus’ classic 1959 LP Mingus Ah Um did for Rob as a young jazz fan. What lessons did he take from it? What do his bandmates in the Deeper Cuts trio think of the record? What journeys did they find themselves on? Put on your porkpie hats and find out, dear listeners. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we've been adding all the other albums we've covered this season to it as well, so check it out!

Moving on. We all find ourselves at the end of one era of our lives and with a new one ahead of us. It can be exciting. It can be sad. It can be both at the same time. Sometimes, it happens when you’re a kid, and there’s a feeling of helplessness attached to leaving a place and a time behind you. That’s what Shannon experienced at one point as a child. It was Nanci Griffith’s 1994 record Flyer that provided the soundtrack during a time when life in one place was ending, and one in a new place loomed on the horizon ahead. How does the record resonate with her now with that state of things in mind? What did the Deeper Cuts trio think of the record and its themes, with many songs touching on what it is to be in motion through a series of endings and beginnings? Get your ears ready, kids, and prepare for take-off. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we've been adding all the other albums we've covered this season to it as well, so check it out!

Sometimes, that’s the best advice you can follow is shut up and listen. That way you learn more, particularly about the stories of others that often remain hidden from you, yet are vital to know and understand. During a period of discovery for Rob around the issues of feminism and the burdens placed on women by our culture, Tori Amos’ 1994 Under the Pink album served as his primary soundtrack. What role did the songs play in his journey? How do the Deeper Cuts trio react to the record, and how are the issues to which it alludes very much apply 24 (eek!) years later? Find out in this week’s episode. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we've been adding all the other albums we've covered this season to it as well, so check it out!

The comfort album: in times of trial, it offers just the right song to make things bearable. It give us lyrics that speak directly to us when we’re most in need. They make us feel less alone, and remind us that “this too shall pass” – sometimes very literally. That was Graeme’s predicament at one point. And it was OK Go’s 2010 record Of The Blue Colour of the Sky that provided the aural comfort food he needed to get through. What did the Deeper Cuts trio think of the album, though? What surprises lay in store, musically and thematically speaking? What layers of meaning did Graeme find in listening to the record these many years later? Delve in deeply with us, kids into own our little Rube Goldberg machine of an episode that reveals the healing power of a pop music. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we'll add the other albums we cover this season to it as well, so check it out!

Sometimes an album can offer you a point of departure: that moment when suddenly – WHAM! – everything clicks and new musical vistas are in front of you.  We return to a theme we discussed back in episode 7 of our first season as we talk about Shannon’s journey with Tom Waits, specifically with his 1999 album Mule Variations. In this episode, we talk about how we perceive music and its affectations. We talk about how we are confronted and challenged by music that comes out of left field in a way we don’t expect. We talk about how we’re charmed by it, changed by it, even annoyed by it. Graeme isn’t convinced, but Shannon and Rob certainly are – and lively discussion ensues! And after our journey is over, where do we end up? There’s only one way to find out, kids. Lend us your ears. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we'll add the other albums we cover this season to it as well, so check it out!

Your parents’ music. It can shape your own taste in various capacities. Or it can give you something to rebel against. Sometimes, it can be both. Either way, the music your parents put on when you were a kid isn’t just a soundtrack to your childhood; it’s a part of the tapestry of their personalities, of what they value. And that in turn helps to tell you something about yourself, as well. These threads are a part of Graeme’s connection to Anne Murray’s 1978 record Let’s Keep It That Way, an album bought by has parents on the basis of "as seen on TV". But, what did the Deeper Cuts trio think of this album and its unbridled excursion into MOR country pop, as well as (on many levels!) into Canadian passive aggression, albeit an affectionate one. There’s only one way to find out, kids: have a listen! Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we'll all the other albums we'll cover this season to it as well, so check it out!

Sometimes you find your favourite music. But in those rarer moments, that music seems to find you. That’s the experience Rob had with 1971’s Bryter Layter by singer-songwriter Nick Drake. The record was Drake’s second album, exploring English folk-rock textures with some chamber pop and jazz thrown in, and with some interesting lyrical content to ponder, too. The Deeper Cuts trio talks about that and the album that finds you: music that seemed as if had been waiting for us all our lives. They also discuss the surprises found in Bryter Layter even years later and the beauty that can be found in its details: hopefulness and melancholy living together in an enchanting way that enfolds the listener every time. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we'll all the other albums we'll cover this season to it as well, so check it out!

Break-ups! Autobiography! Pop crossovers! Season 2 of Deeper Cuts kicks off with a HUGE record from the late nineties, and a formative one for Shannon to boot while she was a musically curious 14-year old. Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill consolidated the nu-soul movement as it connected with hip-hop, reggae, and other genres by the end of the twentieth century. It also provides some clarity on some of the ways that young people learn, correctly and incorrectly, about how love works and how it doesn’t. Dipping our toes back in for season 2, Graeme, Shannon and Rob talk about all of that as they navigate through a musical and cultural landscape unfamiliar to them... and discover how compelling it is, and how relatable the themes they evoke are, even today. Our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album. Each week, we'll all the other albums we'll cover this season to it as well, so check it out! Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast, and to rate and review it on iTunes, or make a comment on our website at deepercutspodcast.com, or talk to us on twitter @deepercutscast.

What is it about Christmas and holiday music? One thing’s for sure, it definitely takes us back to our childhoods. That’s precisely where the Graeme, Shannon, and Rob went on this special holiday episode of  Deeper Cuts; specifically, to the 1979 album John Denver and The Muppets - A Christmas Together. They discuss favourite tracks, common themes, and what makes for a great Christmas record (and even throw in a few Muppet impressions for good measure!) Together, the Deeper Cuts trio explore why this album still checks all of the boxes, and why our favourite holiday music stays with us no matter how old we get. So, look what’s under the tree for you this episode, everyone. And Happy Holidays from all of us to all of you! As ever, our Spotify playlist has all the songs from this album and all the other albums we covered in our first season, so check it out! Deeper Cuts will return in spring 2018 with its second season. But you can stay connected to us on our twitter feed at @deepercutscast and visit our website at www.deepercutspodcast.com for regular updates.

Pop music; we all have to start somewhere. For Graeme, pop music was a big part of his journey as a pre-teen, skipping a grade in school and finding himself surrounded by the monstrous reality known as Junior High School. During that time of awkwardness and alienation, it was Supertramp's massively popular 1979 album Breakfast in America that made him happy and gave him solace. It was his starting point to music he could call his own. In episode 9 -- the final episode of this first season of Deeper Cuts -- we talk about pop music starter albums and what makes a good one. We talk about the dreaded middle of the road, and there are a few differences of opinion along the way, as you'd expect from music fans. And we re-discover the importance of a vital mantra; like what you like, friends! Take the logical step, and listen in now!