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PODCAST

Caropop

There may be nothing more inspiring and entertaining than relaxed, candid conversations among creative people. Mark Caro, a relentlessly curious journalist and on-stage interviewer, loves digging into the creative process with artists and drawing out surprising stories that illuminate the work that has become part of our lives. The Caropopcast is for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the music, movies, food and culture that they love.

music music interviews

All Episodes

71:41

Jim Babjak (The Smithereens)

Caropop ·

2026/10/01

Smithereens guitarist Jim Babjak shared a love of the British Invasion and Beach Boys with classmate and drummer (and previous Caropop guest) Dennis Diken when they teamed up with bassist Mike Mesaros and signed on singer-songwriter-guitarist Pat DiNizio. Babjak describes this New Jersey power-pop group’s rise, fall and current resurgence as a live band featuring a rotating roster of lead singers substituting for the late DiNizio, including previous Caropop guests Marshall Crenshaw, John Cowsill and

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89:40

Bill Wyman (Writer)

Caropop ·

2026/09/24

Song-ranking articles can be annoying clickbait, but those written by longtime journalist Bill Wyman are endlessly provocative, entertaining and informative, with individual entries becoming deep-diving, mind-opening essays. For Vulture, Wyman ranked every song by the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, the Clash and Pink Floyd, as well as every Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Now Wyman has added Nirvana and the Eagles songs to the mix and compiled it all in Bill Wyman’s Rock & Roll

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68:28

Natalie Merchant

Caropop ·

2026/09/17

After making widely loved music as a solo artist and, beforehand, with 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant is focusing on children with her latest project, Cabinet of Wonder. Spurred by her work with Head Start preschoolers in upstate New York, Merchant set Mother Goose verses to music and collaborated with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Children’s Theatre to bring the recordings and videos to life. In this wide-ranging conversation, Merchant speaks of the allure and legend of

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66:33

Susan Orlean

Caropop ·

2026/09/10

Susan Orlean has a brilliant talent for crafting compelling narratives from idiosyncratic topics that have piqued her interest: orchid poachers in Florida for The Orchid Thief, a movie star dog for Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and the Los Angeles Central Library for The Library Book, among others. Last year she shifted the focus to herself for a revealing, inspirational memoir, Joyride, that celebrates pursuing one’s curiosity into odd corners. Here Orlean, who preceded me at the Boston

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1:15

Caropop Summer Recess 2026

Caropop ·

2026/08/13

We're going on break! We'll be back the Thursday after Labor Day! In the meantime, you can listen to this message and catch up on old Caropop episodes (no way you've heard all 237!) and check out what we've posted on our Caropop YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Caropopcast. Please hit "subscribe" while you're there. Enjoy your late summer, and we'll be back with you soon!

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55:31

Laura Benanti

Caropop ·

2026/08/06

Laura Benanti is a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star who noticed some things while looking back on her life and career. She has channeled these observations—about being a perpetual people-pleaser and evolving from The Sound of Music-starring ingenue to a fortysomething singer, actor and mother—into a one-woman comedy-musical show Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (which plays at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Aug. 6-9). Here she talks about how she created the material and co-wrote the songs, how

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65:16

Michael Hampton (Funkadelic/Parliament)

Caropop ·

2026/07/30

Michael Hampton earned the nickname Kidd Funkadelic as the hotshot guitarist who at age 17 joined the Funkadelic/Parliament universe after wowing P-Funk leader George Clinton with his rendition of Eddie Hazel’s epic “Maggot Brain” solo. Hampton eventually made “Maggot Brain” his own and turned in much more head-spinning guitar work, including on Funkadelic’s relentlessly funky “(Not Just) Knee Deep.” Hampton takes us along for the concurrent run of classic 1970s Parliament and Funkadelic albums,

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68:51

Urge Overkill/Exit the Dragon

Caropop ·

2026/07/23

Urge Overkill appeared to be riding high after the critical triumph of its 1993 album, Saturation, and the prominent appearance of its Neil Diamond cover, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” in Pulp Fiction in 1994. But by the time the alt-rock trio reunited with producers the Butcher Bros. to record the follow-up album, expectations and circumstances had changed. As singer-songwriter-guitarists Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser recall here in stark detail, the two of them were in different places

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73:16

Jason Ringenberg (Jason and the Scorchers/Still...

Caropop ·

2026/07/16

Jason and the Scorchers (née Jason and the Nashville Scorchers) were cowpunk trailblazers before anyone was talking about alt-country or Americana. Frontman/songwriter Jason Ringenberg and his bandmates, including fiery guitarist Warner Hodges, infused country music with punk energy to thrilling effect. After EMI America signed the band and added its high-octane cover of Bob Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie” to its 1983 EP, Fervor, hopes were high. The first album, Lost & Found, generated rave

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56:15

Glenn Morrow (Bar/None, Cry for Help)

Caropop ·

2026/07/09

Glenn Morrow owned and ran Bar/None Records for decades, signing acts such as They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, Alex Chilton, Ezra Furman and the Feelies. Morrow previously was a writer/editor at the influential punk/new wave magazine New York Rocker, and he fronted bands: “a” was the first to play at the late, great Maxwell’s in Hoboken; the Individuals boosted the power-pop scene; Rage To Live was Bar/None’s first signee; and Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help, his current group, is

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45:59

Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), Pt. 2

Caropop ·

2026/07/02

In Pt. 2 of this lively, insightful conversation with Liberty DeVitto’, Billy Joel’s longtime drummer revisits the challenge of drumming in the synth-driven 1980s; the making of Joel’s albums The Bridge, Storm Front and River of Dreams; the creation of the smash single “We Didn’t Start the Fire”; the reason DeVitto plays on only one River of Dreams song; and his irate fax that wound up on that last album’s control room wall. DeVitto also addresses his high-profile split from Joel and subsequent

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45:09

Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), Pt. 1

Caropop ·

2026/06/25

Hired when Billy Joel wanted “a New York-style drummer,” Liberty DeVitto laid down indelible parts for the singer-songwriter-pianist’s music from 1976’s Turnstiles onward. In part one of a lively two-part conversation, this big-talent, big-personality drummer takes us from his early years, when his and Joel’s teenage bands crossed paths, through their shared success with The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man. Which Joel song does DeVitto call “the hardest to

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73:32

Rachel Lichtman

Caropop ·

2026/06/18

Rachel Lichtman grew up listening to 1970s AM radio and watching local TV—a world of soothing music, tacky ads, eye-grabbing graphics and reruns galore. A keen-eyed and -eared graphic artist, comedian and filmmaker, Lichtman evokes the humor and beauty of that era in Programme 4, her would-be-station-turned-film she is touring alongside live musical/comedy performances. Based in fictional Golden Sands, Programme 4 presents opening credit sequences for TV shows that should have been (The William Joel

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54:59

Swamp Dogg

Caropop ·

2026/06/11

Swamp Dogg turns 84 on July 12, making him 24 days younger than Paul McCartney, yet he’s still on the rise. He’s been gaining new fans through the 2024 documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted; his 31st album, Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife, is out June 19; and then there’s his cookbook, If You Can Kill It, I Can Cook It. Formerly known as Jerry Williams and Little Jerry Williams, Swamp Dogg is an all-time talent and character. The cover of his 1971 album Rat On! is hall-of-fame worthy

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72:32

Ike Reilly

Caropop ·

2026/06/04

Singer-songwriter Ike Reilly has been reaching critical mass. He shared a microphone with Bruce Springsteen in January, has gained new fans with the 2024 documentary Don’t Turn Your Back on Friday Night (as well as his SiriusXM show), and is wowing more listeners than ever with his longtime band the Ike Reilly Assassination. He has made music his family business, with his three sons performing with him while his oldest son, Shane, is featured on his new album, Blind and Surrounded, out June 12

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62:31

Tom "Grover" Biery (Pet Sounds)

Caropop ·

2026/05/28

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Interscope-Capitol has released a limited-edition Definitive Sound Series One Step version of this landmark album. Tom “Grover” Biery, who oversaw the project, tells of its unusual sourcing, which involves the 1972 master of Pet Sounds that was released as part of a double LP with the then-new Beach Boys album Carl and the Passions “So Tough.” Why was that 1972 Pet Sounds so revered, and how did it come to be used here instead of the

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60:02

Bill Million (The Feelies)

Caropop ·

2026/05/21

Bill Million’s percussive strumming propels the Crazy Rhythms of the Feelies, who are playing their only two 2026 shows—and perhaps their final shows ever—May 22 and 23 in Jersey City, New Jersey. As the band marks its 50th anniversary, Million reflects on his songwriting partnership and dueling guitar sounds with lead singer/guitarist Glenn Mercer. How did Mercer and he decide which guitars to play, and did Million always see himself as a rhythm guy? Did they know the Feelies would return, even

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51:33

Dave Gregory 2026, Pt. 2 (XTC)

Caropop ·

2026/05/14

Part 2 of this splendid conversation with XTC guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Gregory picks up with the band’s ill-fated 1982 trip to the U.S. and the end of its touring days. How did he deal with the financial ramifications? Was it necessary for XTC to stop touring to reach its subsequent creative heights? Was the studio Gregory’s happy place, or did he long to be back on stage? How did he balance virtuosity vs. trying to play the perfect part for each song? Which XTC songs did he most regret

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55:18

Dave Gregory 2026, Pt. 1 (XTC)

Caropop ·

2026/05/07

We’re so happy to welcome back to Caropop one of our favorite musicians, XTC guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Gregory. The occasion is the Record Store Day release—and upcoming CD—of XTC’s fast, furious performance on Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, 17th April 1981. In Pt. 1 of this two-parter, Gregory discusses why the band played everything at such breakneck speed and whether he admires or regrets that approach now; what he thinks of the “bootleg” sound quality; how XTC

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60:18

Zev Feldman/Jazz Showcase

Caropop ·

2026/04/30

Joe Segal, who would have turned 100 on April 24, recorded 8- to-10,000 shows at his own Jazz Showcase and other Chicago clubs. In 2011, “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman began visiting Segal and exploring his vast archive. Joe Segal died in 2020, but Feldman continued to work with Segal’s son, current Jazz Showcase owner Wayne Segal, and on Record Store Day, live-at-the-Jazz-Showcase albums were released from Joe Henderson, Ahmad Jamal, Yusef Lateef and Mal Waldron, plus an earlier Segal-recorded

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250 results

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