x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

pplpod

pplpod is a podcast about people, places and lots of other stuff. Each episode takes a deep dive into the lives, choices, and legacies of fascinating figures from history, culture, music, and beyond. From icons who shaped entire generations to hidden stories that deserve the spotlight, pplpod brings you closer to the people behind the headlines and the legends.Thoughtful, engaging, and story-driven, pplpod explores what makes these lives extraordinary—and what we can learn from them today.

history music history

All Episodes

20:44

6604: The horse champion behind Rose Garden

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Imagine a world -class horse racer who becomes a national TV star, right. And then she wins a Grammy for this massive pop country crossover hit that basically defines an entire decade. But then years later, she makes these really sensational headlines for punching a police officer over a shoplift at Harry Potter DVD. And she doesn't just cover it, she absolutely nails it. Her version actually out charts the original, hitting number 17 on the Billboard country singles list in 1970. It's such a

en

19:59

6603: The Guitar God in the Rhinestone Suit

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

I want you to close your eyes for a second and just picture the singer of the ultimate shiny 1970s pop country anthem. Oh, I think I know exactly where you're going with this. Yeah, you almost certainly know the song. And if you picture the man singing it, you're probably visualizing like the big hair, the glittering, heavily embroidered suit, and that wide, impossibly perfect television smile. I mean, he played for Elvis Presley. He actually helped record the soundtrack for Viva Las Vegas. He

en

53:45

6602: The Fractured Reality of Johnny Cash

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

You know, usually when we think about a forest fire, we picture like lightning strikes or a prolonged drought or maybe a careless camper leaving a fire smoldering in the brush. But I want you to put yourself in California in 1965. A massive, terrifying wall of flame is just tearing through the Los Padres National Forest. We are talking about an absolute inferno that eventually consumes 508 acres of land. And Marshall Grant played the upright bass, slapping the strings to create a percussive thump

en

23:05

6601: The 500 Million Dollar Cowboy Capitalist

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

You've got a guy who starts out as an unemployed oil field worker in Oklahoma. Just a completely standard, gritty, blue -collar beginning. And he tries out for a professional football team, doesn't make the cut, and ends up settling for a spot on a semi -pro farm club. Right, the conventional path is fragile. You have to rely on your own hustle and just be ready when an unconventional back door opens. And that deep skepticism of the system is exactly what fuels the next major turning point in our

en

21:18

6600: Tammy Wynette Beyond Stand By Your Man

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

I want you to picture something for a second. Just think of the ultimate symbol of the dutiful, subservient, traditional 1960s housewife. Oh, I mean, it's an archetype that is just practically burned into the cultural consciousness. You probably hear that iconic song Stand By Your Man playing in your head. So producers like Sherrill started replacing traditional fiddles and steel guitars with lush orchestral strings and background choirs. They were sweetening the sound to cross over to pop radio. So

en

19:39

6599: Steve Earle from jail to the Opry

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

I want you to imagine a resume for a second and try to picture the actual human being attached to it. So on one hand, this person has been married seven times, which, by the way, includes being married twice to the exact same woman. And they dropped out of school at 16, and they actually spent time in jail for heroin, cocaine, and weapons possession. sit in a cubicle with a guitar, write a song with a catchy hook by noon and pitch it to a clean cut country star by 3 p. And Steve Earl is trying to

en

18:29

6598: Sara Evans and Her Masterclass in Survival

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Picture the absolute blinding peak of celebrity success. Like what comes to mind for you when you think of that. Oh, usually something incredibly glamorous, right. Like sold out arenas or red carpets. And the track was actually meant to be pitched to country star Patti Loveless. But legendary Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard hears Evans' vocal on the tape instead. He is completely blown away by her traditional sound and he secures her an audition with an RCA executive. She sings three songs live

en

18:03

6597: Rosanne Cash Beyond the Man in Black

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Imagine your dad is Johnny Cash. You're just starting to figure out who you are, what you care about, and what you actually want to do with your life. But she doesn't just walk up to a microphone and demand a record deal. She actually starts as a wardrobe assistant on his road show. She worked her way into the ecosystem slowly. She transitioned from wardrobe to background vocals. Because if you only know her as the famous daughter of the man in black, you are missing the real story She was born in

en

20:31

6596: Rodney Crowell Breaking the Nashville Mold

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Imagine you are an artist, right. You've just poured absolutely everything, I mean every ounce of your sweat, your creative energy, your lived experience into a brand new album. So you take those master tapes into the executive boardroom at your massive record label, Warner Bros in this case. You're sitting there, you're waiting for the applause. That synthesis set the stage for his dual identity. He was the solitary, intellectual writer who was simultaneously a seasoned, crowd -pleasing performer

en

47:45

6595: Patsy Cline and the Sound of Survival

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Usually when we think of like a Hollywood tragedy, we picture something meticulously scripted. Like a room full of writers, engineering, maximum devastation. But I want you to picture a scene that is entirely real, unfolding in real time. The agency takes 97 % of your paycheck and you do all the heavy lifting. And Four Star wasn't even a massive distributor themselves. They leased her recordings out to the larger Deco Records. Today's profile feels like a sweeping cinematic epic, but every single

en

19:54

6594: Mickey Guyton and the Nashville Truth

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Imagine, for just a second, being undeniably gifted. Like, you have a voice so powerful it literally stops traffic. Right, like a true generational talent. And you've worked for years, you're scraping by, and you finally land a major label record deal into one of the most competitive, cutthroat music cities on the planet. So in LA, she connects with a record producer named Julian Raymond, who hears her voice and immediately understands her potential. And he introduces her to Gary Borman and Steve

en

14:53

6593: Mark Chesnutt versus the Nashville machine

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Imagine for a second you're a master chef, like a total purist. And you finally win your absolute biggest award. But you get it for microwaving a hot dog. Oh man, that would be soul crushing. He became the house band for a local Beaumont club called Cutters. Talk about building vocal stamina. And starting when Mark was just 17, his dad began driving him back and forth to Nashville, just knocking on doors, trying to get him to record on small regional labels. And they did that for a decade,

en

19:17

6592: Lainey Wilson outlasted Nashville in a camper

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

In 2023, Taylor Swift's record as like the last woman to win country music's top honor was finally shattered. Which was a huge deal in the industry. It wasn't broken by some music industry insider or a carefully groomed pop prodigy. It was broken by a girl from a Louisiana town of exactly 170 people. Because this is usually where the story pivots, right. A record executive hears a demo tape and magically changes the artist's life. But instead, Lainey moves to Music City and moves into a camper

en

17:24

6591: John Prine From Mailman to Songwriting Legend

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

So you're sitting in a small kind of smoky club in New York City called The Bitter End. Up on stage is a guy who just a few months prior was spending his days trudging through the snow delivering mail in a Chicago suburb. He's unassuming, nervous, maybe even a little awkward. He's playing his songs, just him and an acoustic guitar, and then this figure steps out of the shadows. He does the same thing on Angel from Montgomery, written for the perspective of a lonely middle -aged woman in a stagnant

en

20:23

6590: Jo Dee Messina outlasted the music machine

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

I want you to picture the year 1996. You've just released an absolute smash hit, a song called Heads Carolina, Tails California. You are suddenly in such high demand to the point where you perform an exhausting 215 shows in a single year. But getting the deal takes us right back to the massive contradiction we opened with. Because signing that contract wasn't a fairy tale ending. We transition right into the whiplash of fame. She releases her self -titled debut album and heads Carolina. We are

en

18:12

6589: Jelly Roll s impossible path to redemption

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

I want you to imagine, just for a second, looking at a resume that seems, well, completely physically impossible. So you are holding two pieces of paper. And on the first page, you're reading the profile of a teenager who is just caught in this brutal decade -long cycle of incarceration. We are talking serious heavy charges here. And it hits over six point three million views on YouTube. That kind of organic traction was monumental for a fully independent artist at that time. And it led him to

en

19:07

6588: How Survivor Guilt Forged Outlaw Country

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

It's the early hours of February 3rd, 1959. The middle of this absolutely freezing winter tour in the Midwest. And you have this young, exhausted bass player who is just shivering on a tour bus. And he decides to give up his seat on a chartered plane to a fellow musician. He flees to the Arizona desert to try and figure out who he is. He relocates to the Phoenix area, essentially hiding out in local bars. But his talent is just undeniable. He builds such a massive local following that two

en

22:14

6587: How Kris Kristofferson became a Nashville janitor

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

I want you to imagine a guy with a resume so impossibly perfect. It honestly sounds like, well, like a mid -century fiction writer just made it up. It's almost cartoonish how perfect it is. I mean, we are talking about an Oxford Rhodes scholar, an elite collegiate athlete who was actually featured in Sports Illustrated because he was dominating in three different sports. And because sweeping floors doesn't pay enough to support a family, he leans on his military training and gets a job as a

en

22:07

6586: How Faith Hill Conquered Country and Pop

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

A 19 -year -old girl raised in a devoutly Christian home in a tiny Mississippi town decides she's just, well, she's had enough of college. She drops out, packs up her life, and moves to Nashville with this singular burning dream. She is going to be a country music singer. It's the classic Nashville gamble. If you were singing there, Even as a backup, you are running a gauntlet in front of industry heavyweights. You're in the room where it happens. And second, you cannot fake her instrument. She has

en

19:02

6584: Guy Clark and the Handmade Song

pplpod ·

2026/06/14

Usually, when we talk about a musical pioneer, there's this expectation of a lasting, tangible monument. Right, like a statue in a hometown square. Exactly, or a sprawling museum exhibit, just something you can physically run your hands over. Because there are a lot of talented people there. But the answer lies in the undeniable structural quality of his work. People didn't flock to his house just for the parties. Though the sources definitely confirm those parties were epic. Because even if you

en

7,536 results

Similar Podcasts

The History on Film Podcast

Ross Lennon

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

pplpod

pplpod

Based on a True Story

Dan LeFebvre