American Song

Joe Hines
  • 5.0 (4)
  • MUSIC HISTORY
  • UPDATED DAILY

American Song is a podcast that traces the origins and development of American - and ultimately world-wide - forms of modern musical entertainment. Over time, we will trace every major genre from its origins through the current day.American Song looks at the development of our music through the lens of social, political, and economic changes that were occurring in each case, and we'll feature the most important musicians in each genre.Every episode is chock-full of the music we love and where possible, we include archival interviews so you can hear about, in the actual words and voices of these great musicians and singers, the motives and passions that drove their creativity.

  1. NOV 9

    Bruce Springsteen and the American Reckoning: Part Five - Last Man Standing

    Get in touch! Part Five starts with a funeral and a realization: when Bruce's friend and former Castile's band mate, George Theiss, dies, Bruce becomes the last man left from his teenage band. That shock pushes him into Springsteen on Broadway, Western Stars, and Letter to You—projects that ask what kind of ancestor, and what kind of citizen, you want to be when you’re running out of time.  We follow him into those late-career marathon shows and finally to a 2025 European stage, where he calls out a "incompetent, corrupt, and treasonous administration" and then sings about hope, duty, and “we the people” anyway.  This final chapter ties Bruce back to everyone we’ve studied in 2025 on American Song—including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, Randy Newman, Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne —and makes the subtext plain: if we want a better America, we’re going to have to live up to the American values embodied in the songs of the artists we say we admire. Music In This Episode: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band My City of RuinsShackled and DrawnRocky GroundSundownHello SunshineLast Man StandingOne Minute You're HereThe Power of PrayerLong Walk HomeWe Shall OvercomeArchival Interviews Rick Rubin/ Malcolm Gladwell Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    46 min

  2. NOV 9

    Bruce Springsteen and the American Reckoning: Part Four - Breakups, Ghosts, and Trump’s America

    Get in touch! Part Four is where the story cuts close to the bone. Bruce lets the E Street Band go, stares down his own failures on Tunnel of Love, and writes The Ghost of Tom Joad for the people that some Americans prefer not to see: migrants, the unemployed, the left-behind.  The band reunites, “American Skin (41 Shots)” forces a conversation about race and fear, and The Rising and Wrecking Ball turn grief and economic anger into something like a shared civic ritual. We carry all of that forward into Trump’s first administration and Charlottesville, and we hold Bruce’s choices up as a different model of Americanness—one where loving your country means telling it the truth and standing with the people it’s hurting, even when that costs you. Music in This Episode: Bruce Springsteen (With and Without) the E Street Band Tunnel of LoveHuman TouchLiving ProofThe Ghost of Tom JoadTheme from Ken Burns 'The Civil War'*The Price You Pay**American Skin (41 Shots)This Land Is Your LandArchival Interviews Rick Rubin/ Malcolm Gladwell Mark Maron Howard SternBank Street Podcast *As performed by my second cousin, Molly Hines of Wilmington, NC. A massively talented violinist, during our family reunion in Yellowstone National Park; Summer, 2025. Thank you, Molly! Visit https://www.mollyjhines.com/ ** E Street Band backing track; no vocals.  Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    51 min

  3. NOV 9

    Bruce Springsteen and the American Reckoning: Part Three: Darkness, The River, Nebraska, and Berlin ’88

    Get in touch! Factories closing, marriages cracking, the glitter of the ’80s hiding a lot of hurt—Part 3 lives right in that gap between the American dream and the American day-to-day. Bruce digs into Darkness, The River, and Nebraska, writing about people who rarely get a mic: laid-off workers, young couples in over their heads, neighbors hanging on by their fingernails. Then Born in the U.S.A. turns into a worldwide roar, and politicians try to strip the songs of their doubts and their compassion. We end in East Berlin, 1988, with Springsteen singing to a divided crowd about freedom and walls coming down, and we ask: what if this kind of complicated, honest patriotism was the version we measured ourselves against instead of the cheap, loud kind? Music in this Episode: Bruce Spingsteen (With and Without) the E Street Band I Fought the Law - LiveBadlandsThe Promised LandProve it All Night - Live from Hammersmith Odeon. 1978The Ties That BindThe River album medley: Point Blank/ The River/ Hungry Heart/ Cadillac Ranch/ I'm a Rocker/ Drive All NightAtlantic CityJohnny 99Born in the USABorn in the USA Nebraska era demoDownbound TrainDancing in the DarkChimes of Freedom - Live in East Berlin 1988Archival Interviews Letter to You era interviewNPR/ Loren Anki - Born in the USANPR/ Terry Gross Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    52 min

  4. NOV 9

    Bruce Springsteen and the American Reckoning: Part Two - Born to Run, Bomb Scares, and the Edge of Fame

    Get in touch! Part two picks up in the clubs and dives where Bruce and the band are trying to outrun obscurity. We walk with them through the struggle to get the first records heard, the critics who saw the spark, and the brutal work of making Born to Run: months of second-guessing, endless mixes, and the very real possibility that it might all collapse under its own ambition. We hear about Jon Landau’s famous “I saw rock and roll future” review, the Bottom Line breakthrough, the U.K. trip that almost derailed him, and the strange, exhausting new life of a band suddenly under the lights. This chapter closes with one of the great stories in the Springsteen mythos: the bomb scare in Milwaukee, the evacuated club, and a night that turns from chaos into a legendary, delayed show—a perfect snapshot of how fragile and how powerful this whole thing really was. Music in this Episode: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Born to RunThunder RoadJunglelandTenth Avenue Freeze OutKitty's BackMountain of LoveI Fought the LawArchival Interviews Mark Maron Interview Rick Rubin/ Malcolm  Gladwell Interview Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    41 min

  5. NOV 9

    Bruce Springsteen and the American Reckoning: Part One - Freehold to Cherry Hill

    Get in touch! We start the episode in 2025, at Springsteen's show in Manchester, UK where he makes a landmark statement about America's "leadership" before we flash back to his formative years. A cramped house in Freehold. A father smoking in the dark kitchen. A kid staring at the radio like it’s a way out and a way in. In Part one, we meet Bruce not as a legend, but as a working-class American kid learning early what struggle, pride, and community look like. As we follow him into those early Jersey bar gigs and up to the Cherry Hill shows, we start using his story as a counterexample to our current politics: a picture of American life rooted in responsibility, neighborliness, and the refusal to quit on your own town. Music in This Episode: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Land of Hopes and Dreams Growin' Up Baby I*  It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City Spirit in the Night Rosalita * Bruce's first teenage band, The Castiles.  Archival Interviews Mark Maron  Howard Stern Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    49 min

  6. AUG 16

    Lives in the Balance: Jackson Browne and the Fight for America’s Soul

    Get in touch! For over five decades, Jackson Browne has stood at the intersection of melody and message—crafting songs that speak not only to the heart, but also to the conscience. In an age of division and disinformation, his music feels like a lifeline to an older, more grounded sense of American democratic values—truth, empathy, accountability, and moral courage. This episode dives into Browne’s lifelong journey as both a master songwriter and a tireless activist, examining how his music has evolved into a public reckoning with the soul of the nation. He grew up in Southern California, crossing the "Orange Curtain" from the sleepy bedroom towns of Orange County and making his way into Laurel Canyon, and from his earliest days playing shows at the Troubadour, Browne’s lyrics were already infused with a deep introspection and a search for authenticity. But as the political landscape shifted in the 1980s and beyond, so too did his writing—growing sharper, more explicit, and unapologetically political. With albums like Lives in the Balance and The Naked Ride Home, he began naming names, challenging war, corporate greed, and environmental neglect. Browne wasn’t content to merely reflect the times—he wanted to change them. This episode traces the arc of his transformation—from a quiet observer to a clarion voice for peace, climate justice, and human rights. We explore his deep friendships with figures like David Crosby and Bonnie Raitt, his influence on the Eagles and the Southern California sound, and his early alliances with causes like MUSE and the anti-nuclear movement. But we also go deeper: into the heartbreak of Phyllis Major’s death, the personal toll of activism, and the spiritual core that drives his pursuit of justice. Jackson Browne’s legacy is not one of stardom chased or fame inflated. It’s a body of work that demands we pay attention—not just to the world around us, but to the values we claim to stand for. In a moment where America seems to be asking itself who it really is, Jackson Browne has never stopped answering with clarity, humility, and song. In This Episode Songs by Jackson Browne, except where noted otherwise These DaysWhere I’m FromThese Days (Nico (From Chelsea Girl)To Ramona - Bob DylanDoctor My EyesTake It Easy (Jackson Browne/ The Eagles mash-up)Wooden Ships (Crosby, Stills & Nash)For Every ManRunning on EmptyBefore the DelugeLives in the BalanceI Am a PatriotI’m AliveWhich SideDownhill From EverywhereStanding in the BreachDig Deeper To learn more about several of the topics discussed in this episode, I encouirage you to check out these other American Song episode. Action: Reaction - American Bands and American Society Respond to the English Invasion Punk - The Shot Heard Round the World The Singer-Songwriters Part Two: Truth to Power Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    1h 48m

  7. JUL 18

    Warren Zevon's Beautiful Wreckage

    Get in touch! In this episode of American Song, we explore the life and legacy of Warren Zevon, one of America’s most fearless and darkly funny songwriters. Known for his biting wit and uncompromising honesty, Zevon built a career chronicling the messier sides of the human experience—addiction, regret, heartbreak, and mortality. From his early days as a struggling songwriter in Los Angeles to the unexpected success of “Werewolves of London,” Zevon never stopped grappling with the contradictions of fame and self-destruction. We trace how his battles with alcoholism nearly cost him everything, and how sobriety led to some of his most poignant work, including “Detox Mansion” and “Reconsider Me.” When faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Zevon responded the only way he knew how: with humor and unflinching clarity. His final message—“Enjoy every sandwich”—has become a lasting reminder to savor the ordinary moments, even when life feels overwhelming. Drawing parallels between Zevon’s story and today’s America, we consider what his example has to offer in an era of division, anxiety, and distrust. In a time when many feel adrift, Zevon’s insistence on telling the truth—even when it was uncomfortable—feels more important than ever. His songs are proof that honesty and irony can coexist with tenderness and hope. Through archival interviews, cultural commentary, and the music itself, this episode reflects on what it means to face your demons, make peace with impermanence, and still find something worth laughing about. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or just discovering his work, this is an invitation to see Warren Zevon not just as a songwriter, but as a guide to living—and dying—with your eyes wide open. Warren Zevon's Songs In This Episode Desperadoes Under the EavesVeracruzI'm Your Mutineer (Bob Dylan)French InhalerOutside Chance (The Turtles)Follow Me (Lyme & Cybelle)Poor, Poor Pitiful MeTenderness on the BlockWerewolves of LondonLawyers, Guns & MoneyDetox MansionSentimental HygieneRaspberry Beret (Prince Cover)Run Straight DownSplendid IsolationI Was in the House Til the House Burned DownFor My Next Trick, I'll Need a VolunteerDisorder in the HouseKeep Me in Your Heart For A WhileMutineerKeep Me in Your Hear For A While (Eddie Vedder)Looking For the Next Best ThingArchival Interviews Crystal ZevonWaddy WachtelJason ZevonWarren ZevonDavid LettermanRelated Episodes - Dig Deeper! The Singer-Songwriters: Truth to Power/ Bruce Cockburn God's Song and Other American Prayers: The Story of Randy Newman The Singer-Songwriters: Part One/ Bob Dylan The Masters of Funk Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    1h 31m

  8. JUN 19

    God’s Song and Other American Prayers: The Story of Randy Newman

    Get in touch! You could think of Randy Newman as a musical Mark Twain.  His songs draw up from a range of curiously disconnected observations about life in this era’s America in some of the same ways that Twain’s pen spoke of the America he lived in. Twain’s Mississippi paddlewheels churned the dark waters of that rolling river mixing old and new, sacred and profane and In his songs, Newman is doing the same thing. He draws from American roots music, Tin Pan Alley, the blues, and orchestral pop. You’ll instantly recognize a Randy Newman song from his instantly hummable tunes mixed with wry humor, irony, and social commentary.  His songs are full of wry observations about slightly uncomfortable subjects. Randy Newman knows America in all its contradictions—its kindness and cruelty, its promises and hypocrisies. His songs expose the voices we pretend not to hear, from backroom bigots to lonely losers, from crooked politicians to a God who’s tempted to give up on us. Listening to Randy is like reading between the lines of the American songbook—he doesn’t just entertain, he reveals. And maybe, by sitting with his uncomfortable truths, we can wake from our own fog, and see this country—its history, its people, its future—with clearer eyes.  If ever there was a time when we needed clearer eyes, this is that time. In This Episode Piano: You've Got a Friend in MeRandy Newman - Golden Gridiron BoySoundtrack from The Grapes of WrathMarilyn Monroe - Diamonds are a Girl's Best FriendSoundtrack from Hello DollyThree Dog Night - Mama Told Me Not to ComeRandy Newman - Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing BearRandy Newman - I Think It's Going to Rain TodayRandy Newman - Short PeopleRandy Newman - How Great Our LordRandy Newman - ShameRandy Newman - You Can Leave Your Hat OnJoe Cocker - You Can Leave Your Hat OnRandy Newman - BaltimoreRandy Newman - God's SongRandy Newman - Sail AwayRandy Newman - Political ScienceRandy Newman - RednecksRandy Newman - The Girls In My Life (Part 1)Randy Newman - Old Kentucky HomeRandy Newman - The NaturalRandy Newman/ Billy Crystal/ John Goodman - If I Didn't Have YouRandy Newman/ Sarah McLachlan - When She Loved MeRandy Newman -  A Few Words in Defense of Our CountryRandy Newman - I'm DreamingRandy Newman - I Love L.A. Join our community and continue your journey through American Song: Visit us on Facebook. There, you'll get more information, video content, and more about the music and personalities covered in all our episodes.

    1h 21m
See All (53)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

American Song is a podcast that traces the origins and development of American - and ultimately world-wide - forms of modern musical entertainment. Over time, we will trace every major genre from its origins through the current day.American Song looks at the development of our music through the lens of social, political, and economic changes that were occurring in each case, and we'll feature the most important musicians in each genre.Every episode is chock-full of the music we love and where possible, we include archival interviews so you can hear about, in the actual words and voices of these great musicians and singers, the motives and passions that drove their creativity.

Information

  • Creator
    Joe Hines
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 American Song
  • Show Website
    American Song