SassyBlack discusses how mental health and Afrofuturism feature on her latest album. A Tribe Called Red talks about how the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls comes up in their music and Abigail Echo-Hawk of the Seattle Indian Health Board discusses how Seattle has the highest numbers of MMIWG in the nation. The Seattle-artist ZEMBU talks about how her song, “Human” is about her mother’s suicide. We hear stories of how music has helped listeners through their struggles with mental health.

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Natalie Hemby of the supergroup, Highwomen says their new album pushes for more female representation and narratives in country music. Sean Carey and Jenn Wasner of Bon Iver talk about the band’s change in sound. Plus, a panel discussion about how many music venues in Seattle are at risk of closure. (Panelists include Dana Sims of El Corazon/Funhouse, Dane Wilson of Re-Bar and James Keblas, former Director of Seattle’s Office of Film and Music.)

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Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Black Belt Eagle Scout and Jay Som talk new music. Noah Gundersen on how he’s getting away from the sad male singer/songwriter trope with his most personal album to date. Former frontman of The Presidents of the United States of America, Chris Ballew says he feels more himself now that he's writing music for kids.

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ODESZA discusses their songwriting process, The Head and the Heart, iLe and Aurora discuss the themes in their new albums, Imogen Heap talks about her ideas to transform the music industry with technology.

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Carrie Brownstein talks about Sleater-Kinney’s latest album, The Center Won't Hold, Portishead reflects on the 25th anniversary of Dummy, and a panel discussion on why it’s so hard for international artists to tour in the USA.

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We’ll hear how the song “Nothing Arrived” by Villagers connected with one woman and helped her process her loss after a miscarriage. Weyes Blood will talk about how love and movies influenced her latest album, Titanic Rising. The band Lemolo will talk about their new single about self love and vulnerability. We’ll hear about the copyright infringement case involving Katy Perry’s 2013 hit Dark Horse and what it means for producers and songwriters moving forward.

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Lil Nas X of the country/trap song, Old Town Road was able to break the record for longest running #1 song on the billboard charts. (It’s been there since early April.) Yet billboard has denied the song from the country chart. We’ll hear what race might have to do with that. We'll also hear what has made the song a hit. Cherry Glazerr will talk about her songwriting process and John Van Deusen will talk about how issues with depression, the church and social media influenced the songs on his latest album.

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Of Monsters and Men discuss their latest album, musicians who have lived in larger cities discuss if Seattle's growing population and cost of living is really that bad, KEXP DJ Darek Mazzone talks about how extreme vetting is making it harder for international musicians to tour in the US, Washington State's Poet Laureate talks about how her experience fleeing El Salvador's civil war impacts her writing.

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KEXP's Owen Murphy and Troy Nelson break down a cover song for Mariah Carey's Fantasy. Frontman of the band Sky Cries Mary talks about rubbing elbows with the rising stars of the Seattle grunge scene in the late 80s and going on to make treehouses for the rich and famous. Rapper Perry Porter discusses how visual art influences his music and how black artists have been largely ignored from the art world.

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Nate Sloan (Vox Media's Switched On Pop) discusses how streaming has impacted song length and formats, Chris Molanphy (Hit Parade Podcast, Slate) talks about how musicians are gaming the billboard charts in the streaming era through "bundling." We explore the differences between Seattle and LA’s music scene by chatting with a musician who moved from LA to Seattle (Jessica Dobson of Deep Sea Diver) and talk with another who left Seattle for LA (Jenn Champion).

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This week's episode is all about drag queens and gay cowboys. We'll hear from the first openly gay country band, Lavender Country and hear how that band influenced the country music of Orville Peck today. We'll also hear about the controversies around Drag Queen Story Time.

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The first episode of KEXP’s Sound & Vision podcast features: Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, on the role that distance running has played in his life and struggles with alcohol abuse. Exoneree Amanda Knox, on the role music played during her time incarcerated in an Italian prison. US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, telling the story of her life, activism and political career through music. Seattle-based rock band IMIJ, on navigating the music industry as an all-Black rock act in the 1990s, as interviewed by Eva Walker of The Black Tones.

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Get a preview of Sound & Vision, the new podcast from KEXP featuring interviews, panels, reporting and commentary that digs into the stories behind the music, with in-depth discussion of the most important issues facing music and arts communities. Sound & Vision is hosted by Emily Fox and John Richards.

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