PODCAST

The Music Show

ABC Australia

All kinds of music and all kinds of musicians in conversation with Andrew Ford.

music music interviews

All Episodes

0:54:36

Kate Miller-Heidke on Handel and planning for the...

The Music Show ·

2026/08/14

Kate Miller-Heidke's new album, the first since 2020's Child In Reverse a a very theatrical and sometimes funny slice of gothic-folk called The Kiss and the Abyss. In between live performances of two new songs, Kate talks about referencing Handel and planning for the end of the world.Pianist Maki Namekawa has an enduring relationship with Philip Glass - performing the world premiere of several of his pieces, including the Piano Etudes. Namekawa is in Australia to perform the first

0:54:36

Grace Cummings' Bloodhorse! and the legacy of...

The Music Show ·

2026/08/14

Grace Cummings’ latest album is called Bloodhorse! and it's fantastic and fantastically strange. Her ragged, bluesy voice floats through a lush, ornate sound world on tracks like 'The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Morphine', and 'WITCH! WITCH! WITCH!', the latter of which was recorded whilst Grace wielded a grim reaper style scythe in the studio. She joins Andy to take us into the highly-strung world of the record.Anna Maria della Pieta was a Venetian orphan who was taught,

0:54:37

Tom Service on the classical music that shapes us

The Music Show ·

2026/08/07

Can you tell the history of the world in fifty pieces of music? No, but BBC Radio 3 presenter and writer Tom Service has given it a red hot go in A History of the World in 50 Pieces: The Classical Music That Shapes Us. He joins Andy to talk through the surprising stories behind some of those pieces, from Handel to Happy Birthday. Music heard in the show:Title: Overture from The Marriage of FigaroArtist: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo MutiComposer: Mozart, Wolfgang

0:54:37

The travelling community of the Grateful Dead, Don...

The Music Show ·

2026/08/07

All The Grateful Dead are one of the iconic bands of the last century, not just for their music, but for their extended tours, which saw their fans follow them across America and create a very special sort of travelling community. Mischa Richter shares stories from the road and explores his new documentary Summer Tour.Don Walker talks basement recordings, lessons from Nashville, and his new album Love Songs, plus he shares a memory of Glenn A Baker.And in a church in Germany, an

0:54:36

The dangerous jazz life of Anita O'Day

The Music Show ·

2026/08/01

Anita O'Day was a jazz singer who lived 'the jazz life'. She's been compared to people like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald: an incredible singer, storyteller, and a deeply troubled drug user and alcoholic. Despite the turmoil of her personal life, she's one of the most precise singers of her generation, on the beat and right in tune for every note. Author James Gavin, who knew O'Day, returns to The Music Show with his fresh biography, Cool Heat: Anita O’Day and Her Dangerous

0:54:27

William Basinski hosts a sleepover, Will Swenson...

The Music Show ·

2026/07/31

American composer William Basinski's very long and much celebrated avant-garde electronic work The Disintegration Loops was born from the gradual decay of magnetic tape. It was created over a month in August and September 2001, during which time Basinski witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Centre from his New York apartment. 25 years later, the piece is being presented in its entirety in Melbourne, with Basinski hosting a sleepover of sorts as part of the Now or Never

0:54:27

Music Now & Then: Liza Lim

The Music Show ·

2026/07/26

The latest in our Music Now & Then series with composer Liza Lim, who first appeared on The Music Show in its early years when she was in her mid twenties, where both her youth and the 'difficulty' of her music were remarked upon. As her opera The Oresteia is remounted by Sydney Chamber Opera and ELISION Ensemble, Andy speaks with Liza on stage about revisiting works and ideas over more than thirty years. The Oresteia is staged at Sydney's Carriageworks 24-31 July.Music heard

0:54:34

Music for winter stillness and electromagnetic storms

The Music Show ·

2026/07/24

The Veils frontman Finn Andrews joins Andy to talk about love, death, and Sinead O'Connor, all features of their latest and aptly named album Fragile World.Married couple Anna Maria Friman and Arve Henriksen are both Norwegian musicians who've benefited from Norway's remarkably genre-blind attitude to making music. She's a classical vocalist (one third of Trio Mediæval), he's a jazz trumpeter, and together they're teaming up with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for a program of

0:54:36

Middle of the Air: The Music Show at Sydney Writers'...

The Music Show ·

2026/07/17

Ziggy Ramo, Leah Senior, and Kate Fagan join Andy to talk about the art of turning poetry into song.Recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival, in partnership with Red Room Poetry.Songs performed live:Ziggy Ramo: Little Things (after Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly)Leah Senior: The Arbour (text by Giles Watson)Kate Fagan: Child Upon the Road (Kate Fagan, based on Child Ballad #3, The False Knight Upon the Road)The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wurundjeri Woi

0:54:36

Songs about fish, divorce, and moth DNA: Montaigne,...

The Music Show ·

2026/07/17

Electropop singer, songwriter and producer Montaigne took the plunge into the world of independent music after over a decade with a big label a couple of years back. Their first offering in the indie era is an album called it's hard to be a fish. But they've not left their earlier music behind entirely: Montaigne joins Andy to talk about taking their 2016 album Glorious Heights on the road in August.Elissa Goodrich is a composer and percussionist whose album Gene Tree is the result

0:54:36

"An ecosystem for song people": 25 years of Koori Radio

The Music Show ·

2026/07/10

Guringai writer and creator Kaylene Langford is behind the mic for NAIDOC Week, with a celebration of Koori Radio for its 25th anniversary."It's an ecosystem for song people" says Stiff Gins' Nardi Simpson, one of the acts championed by Sydney's Indigenous station.From beginnings in a Redfern terrace with a knocked-through wall to a cornerstone of Indigenous culture, it's a story of local connection and global solidarity.Kaylene is joined by co-founder Cathy Craigie, program

0:54:36

ELISION Ensemble turn 40 and Rosie McDonald on The Go...

The Music Show ·

2026/07/10

ELISION Ensemble began as a Melbourne new music ensemble, but have gone on to become international in both focus and reputation, building enduring collaborations with some of the world's best modern composers. Elision turns 40 this year and the artistic director Daryl Buckley reflects on the ensemble's history and their birthday celebrations.The Go Twos began as a collaboration between Rosie McDonald and Nigel Lever - a blend of traditional Celtic and more contemporary folk, along

0:54:36

Cover Story: Can’t Buy Me Love

The Music Show ·

2026/07/03

It’s almost impossible to choose a Beatles song for Cover Story (we’ve been putting it off for three series). The band’s productivity in 1964 alone would give us ten good options. It was the year of their first - and second! - US tours, their one Australian tour, and the film A Hard Day’s Night. Can’t Buy Me Love inspired a wide and wild range of covers, so strap in with DOBBY and Vanessa Hughes for jazz, bossa nova, and raunchy madrigal takes on the classic. Every great song gets

0:54:38

Stephen Foster: The bicentenary of the father of...

The Music Show ·

2026/07/03

Stephen Foster's songs remain among the best known music to come out of the United States, with classics like Oh! Susannah, Hard Times (Come Again No More), and Old Folks At Home still covered to this day. He wrote with an ear to melody that saw his songs performed both in minstrel shows and in the parlour, and with an ambiguity that led to his lyrics being claimed by both sides prior to the civil war.July 4 marks 200 years since Foster's birth and, on his bicentenary, Christopher

0:54:36

Cover Story: Never Tear Us Apart

The Music Show ·

2026/06/26

Never Tear Us Apart began its life as a bluesy demo by INXS’s keyboardist and songwriter Andrew Farris. Frontman Michael Hutchence gave it lyrics, producer Chris Thomas gave it synthesisers, and the public gave it a place on every Australian Music best-of list. And the covers come from far and wide: you’ll hear English, American, Welsh, French and Lanarkshire accents amongst the covers. Andy’s guests are ABC Classic’s Alice Keath, and Double J’s Al Newstead. Every great song gets

0:54:36

Embracing the choir: Alina Pash returns to Ukraine...

The Music Show ·

2026/06/26

Alina Pash was last on the show back in 2021, before the Russian invasion of her country began. At that point, Pash said that she wanted to stay in Ukraine and be part of a strong emerging music scene there. Circumstances changed and Alina is now based in the USA, but she returned home last year with the Belgian-Canadian producer Apashe. Together, they recorded with local choirs in Kyiv, drawing on the traditional music of Ukraine to create something very modern.Singer-songwriter

0:54:36

Cover Story: Wonderwall

The Music Show ·

2026/06/19

A love song, a football anthem, and a weapon of war for men with acoustic guitars: Noel Gallagher said he thought Wonderwall was an annoying song when he wrote it. Cover Story dips more than a toe into the world of Britpop with composer and ex-Go-Between Amanda Brown, and conductor, composer and singer Dan Walker. Every great song gets covered. Sometimes beautifully, sometimes badly, and sometimes by people who clearly should have known better.Cover Story, returning for its third

0:54:36

A solo debut from Trials and Isobel D'Cruz Barnes is...

The Music Show ·

2026/06/19

As one-half of A.B. Original, Trials was responsible for one of the key moments in Australian hip-hop over the last decade with the album Reclaim Australia. Away from that collaboration he’s worked with everyone from Paul Kelly to the Hilltop Hoods. His latest work though marks a debut of sorts - his first solo release, called Hendle.Shadow puppetry, dance theatre, and music are all part of a new show called In Shadows, featuring a live composition by Hantu. Isobel D’Cruz

0:54:36

Cover Story: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

The Music Show ·

2026/06/12

Cover Story makes a long overdue visit to the songwriting of Carole King, who with her then-husband Gerry Goffin wrote Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow as songwriters-for-hire in the Brill Building music factory of 1960s New York. Originally recorded and made famous by The Shirelles, King's own version of the song on 1971's Tapestry might be its most famous iteration, but there are many brilliant, unforgivable, and indefinable versions for Andy and his guests, Felix Cross and Laura

0:54:37

David Mills' glamour and despair and Lawrence Power...

The Music Show ·

2026/06/12

Comedian David Mills takes his acerbic humour into the world of cabaret for this year's Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He joins Andy to talk about pessimism, storytelling, and picking the right song for the moment.Violist Lawrence Power joins the Australian Chamber Orchestra this month for a program wending its way through the rolling hills of English music, from Thomas Tallis and Henry Purcell to Jonny Greenwood and Kate Bush. Music heard in this program:Title: The Man With The Child

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