Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Sober Sunrise
  • 4.6 (67)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Daily

Sober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points. We are not affiliated with AA in anyway.

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  1. 23h ago

    I Belonged in the Universe Again - AA Speaker - Michael B.

    At his first AA meeting, Michael looked past seven older men in polyester plaid pants and recognized in their eyes the peace he had last known as a five-year-old sitting in the high grass of the Andes. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Michael shares a funny, thoughtful Alcoholics Anonymous story about growing up gay in a loving and privileged family, spending his childhood in the Peruvian Andes, and becoming a periodic blackout drinker whose life narrowed into violence, loneliness, frightening situations, and serious mental health crises. He arrived at AA intending to get out of trouble rather than stop drinking, immediately judged the seven older men in the room, and then realized he was the most prejudiced person there. What kept him coming back was the unmistakable peace in their eyes. Michael describes the difference between reading about life and living it, memorizing the Twelve Steps and finally taking them, and gradually learning that prayer could mean putting his beliefs into action. With 21 years of sobriety, a writing career, enduring relationships, a young daughter, service in Madison’s AIDS community, and a fellowship that helped him face profound grief, Michael shows how AA returned him to humor, love, usefulness, and the feeling that he belonged. Michael B. from Madison, WI speaking at the 11th Gay/Lesbian Live & Let Live Roundup in Kansas City, MO - September 1st 1991 Recording note: The tape slows down near the end, causing Michael’s voice to sound deeper and distorted. Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  2. 1d ago

    From a Hospital Bed to a Ph.D. - AA Speaker - Dave D.

    Dave returned to Alcoholics Anonymous at 22 from a hospital bed, unable to move and given little hope, then used the same AA actions that kept him sober to return to college and earn a Ph.D. in engineering. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Speaking with nearly 15 years sober, Dave uses the Big Book chapter “A Vision for You” to explain why hope without action remained only a delusion in his life. He first entered Alcoholics Anonymous at 19, looked around at members decades older than him, and could not imagine what their fellowship could offer a young man who still wanted bright lights and fast times. Three years of painful returns followed, including a relapse in Tijuana after completing only the first three Steps. Back in Maryland, Dave quickly returned to wrecked cars, jail, violent encounters, and the hospital injury that left him unable to move and uncertain whether he would survive. A sponsor carried AA to his bedside, took him through the Big Book and all Twelve Steps, and gave him a new foundation of action, commitment, fellowship, and reliance on God. When Dave regained his physical abilities, that same sponsor told him to return to college and apply the AA approach: arrive early, stay late, sit in front, ask for help, find the winners, and trust God. Dave eventually became the outstanding graduate in his department and continued through a master’s degree and Ph.D. in engineering. He also describes lifelong amends to the grandfather who raised him, learning about the father he lost in Vietnam, helping his mother and his father’s fellow servicemen heal, and becoming the husband and father he once dreamed of being. Dave’s vision of recovery is ultimately larger than education or outward success; it is the character built through consistent action and the willingness to stand near the door so the next suffering alcoholic can find the way inside. Dave D. from Severna Park, MD speaking at Acts of Recovery in Newark, DE - April 9th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  3. 2d ago

    Match Calamity with Serenity - AA Speaker - Mary T.

    At 19 years sober, Mary realized she knew the Big Book well enough to keep everyone away from her, and AA asked her to trade a God of reason for a God she could trust as a friend. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Mary, 34 years sober, traces her Alcoholics Anonymous story from a proper but emotionally distant New England upbringing through boarding school drinking, an abusive marriage, blackouts, single motherhood, and a move to Southern California intended to outrun her reputation. Her daughter’s babysitter lived with a woman in AA who quietly watched Mary’s drinking progress for a year and a half before inviting her to an open meeting. There, an old-timer’s story broke through Mary’s defenses, a hug and the words “welcome home” gave her permission to feel, and 17 yes answers on the 20 questions finally allowed her to recognize her alcoholism. Early recovery brought difficult withdrawal, constant meetings, Big Book study, sponsorship, and a woman who called herself Mary’s temporary sponsor for the next 25 years. After moving back to Maine with five years sober, Mary started a Big Book meeting and became deeply knowledgeable about the program, but eventually discovered that knowledge itself had become another barrier. At 18 or 19 years sober, she was more frightened than when she arrived because she could quote the book while keeping people at a distance. Mary describes how teachability, inventory, service, grief work, and an evolving relationship with God changed her recovery again. Her message is not that long-term sobriety prevents trials; it is that a growing spiritual life allows an alcoholic to meet those trials with honesty, trust, courage, humility, and enough reliance on God to match calamity with serenity. Mary T. from Santa Fe, NM speaking at The 42nd Annual New Hampshire Convention in North Conway, NH - April 12th 2008 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  4. 4d ago

    The War Was Over. I Lost. Thank God. - AA Speaker - Rick M.

    Rick reached Alcoholics Anonymous from a cable-equipped tent beside the Russian River, where even the town drunks had begun looking at him with pity, and discovered that losing the war was how he finally got his life back. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Rick grew up on a small farm in Fortuna, California, surrounded by drinking, family conflict, tremendous freedom, and a determination to grow up and escape as quickly as possible. Drinking and using gradually carried him through school trouble, bartending in the Russian River area, damaged relationships, police encounters, repeated upheaval, and a life in which cars, jobs, homes, and partners disappeared in a familiar cycle. By 1994, he was living in an elaborate tent at Johnson’s Beach with cable television, trying to maintain a job while even the local drinkers began regarding him with pity. A simple observation from someone close to him finally reached a place that years of warnings could not, and Rick asked to attend an AA meeting that night. Treatment counselors told his group of 18 that perhaps one person would make it, so Rick committed himself to meetings, service, sponsorship, fellowship, and a slow paragraph-by-paragraph study of the Big Book. The Steps helped him clean up old harm, reconnect with his family, build a loving long-term partnership, and exchange bitterness for a life he genuinely enjoys. Rick is equally honest that sobriety does not make every day inspirational or his behavior perfect; sometimes the spiritual victory is recognizing a broken filter, making the correction, and remembering that Alcoholics Anonymous asks for progress while insisting that life should still be enjoyed. Rick M. from Santa Rosa, CA speaking at River City Roundup - November 10th 2002 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  5. 5d ago

    The Rottweilers That Kept Me in AA - AA Speaker - Don L.

    At six months sober, Don had decided Alcoholics Anonymous did not work and was ready to quit; then two loose Rottweilers chased him down a hill, put him completely in the moment, and sent him back to his sponsor and the Steps. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Don, 15 years sober, describes how alcohol once transported him to “the land of I don’t care,” bringing down the wall between him and the world before gradually destroying every plan, relationship, and opportunity he was given. By 25, he knew exactly what drinking was doing to him, but self-knowledge could not protect him from the daily “miracle of three o’clock,” when every promise to stop became a plan to have just a couple. A move from Los Angeles to Boston changed nothing, and the years that followed brought blackouts, jail cells, a missed Christmas flight, family wreckage, and a humiliating realization involving a highly accomplished police dog. Don initially entered Alcoholics Anonymous only to keep his family from throwing him out, but an assigned sponsor taught him that the actions work regardless of his motives. He was sent to 14 meetings a week, put to work setting up and cleaning up, placed on a framing crew, directed into court to face old warrants, and pushed toward the inventory he kept refusing to write. When two Rottweilers interrupted his plan to quit AA, Don finally moved from a program of distraction into the Twelve Steps. Through amends, service, sponsorship, paying back the IRS, rebuilding trust with his mother, and becoming useful in his new fellowship, he discovered that recovery is not merely being saved; its real joy is turning toward the next alcoholic and preserving what was freely given to him. Don L. from Bellingham, WA speaking at the Aberdeen Wednesday Night Group's Quarterly Meeting in Aberdeen, SD - 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  6. 6d ago

    After 46 Years, the Prison Still Smelled Like Fear - AA Speaker - Johnnie H.

    Johnnie returned to the Folsom cell where he had lived 46 years earlier, then crossed the old mess hall to carry the Alcoholics Anonymous message to 300 prisoners: you don’t have to live like this anymore. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Nearly 45 years sober, Johnnie delivers a funny, forceful AA talk about singleness of purpose, service, sponsorship, home groups, and promises that only materialize through action. He traces his path from drinking at nine, repeated imprisonment, a courtroom collapse, and solitary confinement to the desperate request for God’s help that eventually brought an AA member into his life. That man did not diagnose or condemn him; he said he understood and told Johnnie he did not have to live that way anymore. Although Johnnie studied the Big Book in prison, his sponsor taught him how to live it by arriving early, staying late, washing cups, sweeping floors, making coffee, helping newcomers, and showing up consistently for a home group. He also remembers losing a possible opportunity with the St. Louis Cardinals because drinking took over again, returning decades later to his former Folsom cell, and carrying the message to hundreds of men sitting where he once sat. Through family loss, business failures, depression, and difficult sober years, Johnnie found his safe harbor in meetings and service. His conclusion is that sobriety itself is not the final payoff; the payoff is watching another person return from the land of the living dead and seeing the light come back into their eyes. Johnnie H. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at "The Promises and Service" 2-day convention in Stockholm, Sweden - May 29th 2004 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  7. Jul 29

    I Don’t Drink Alcohol, I Drink Life - AA Speaker - Lila R.

    Lila arrived at a basement meeting called the Hole in the Ground planning to stay for a few weeks; 25 years later, she is still learning that the hardest spiritual practice is sometimes to do nothing and wait. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Lila marks 25 years sober with a funny, spiritually direct AA talk from a smoke-filled convention in Reno. She remembers dressing up for the Hole in the Ground in Huntington Park, shaking so badly she could barely control her coffee, and expecting to stay only long enough to recover her health, clean up her surroundings, and put her life back together. Instead, old-timers who cared only whether she wanted sobriety taught her to keep coming back, read the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve, find God, and pay attention to the thinking that begins long before a relapse. Between jokes about casinos, near beer, missing jelly donuts, and long-term members surviving one another, Lila traces how the Steps moved her from fear and control toward honesty, hope, faith, willingness, humility, compassion, and service. Her point after a quarter century is simple but demanding: the outside life can look complete and something may still be missing, so recovery keeps asking her to stay present, make room, and trust that she never has to face life alone or take another drink. Lila R. from Santa Monica, CA speaking at We Are Family in Reno, NV - October 2nd 1994 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  8. Jul 28

    Thank God It Didn’t All Happen in the First Year - AA Speaker - Pat L.

    Pat’s recovery did not arrive as one tidy awakening. It unfolded through hard-won amends, fatherhood, sponsorship, 25 years of meetings, and a trip to Akron he finally bought as a gift to himself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Pat, sober since September 17, 1981, gives a raw, funny, deeply personal AA talk about growing up in a multigenerational alcoholic home, carrying childhood trauma, and becoming convinced he would not live past 20. Alcohol and drugs shaped nearly every decision until a final morning of desperation led him to ask God for help, enter a psychiatric ward, go through detox and treatment, and reach Alcoholics Anonymous. Pat admits that he initially stayed sober while making up his own rules and waiting for everyone around him to change. Over time, the Steps, sponsorship, fatherhood, amends, and acceptance began changing him instead. He describes the final amends that helped him forgive his dying father, learning to love his sons without trying to control them, and discovering a God he could reach without borrowing anyone else’s definition. For his 25th sobriety anniversary, Pat canceled a large party and bought himself something he had almost never allowed: a gift just for him. That gift was a trip to Akron, where Dr. Bob’s home, grave, and hospital chapel turned AA history into a personal spiritual experience. His message is that recovery kept unfolding long after the first year. Pat L. from Saskatoon, SK, speaking at the Nipawin Roundup in Nipawin, SK, Canada - December 2, 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

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About

Sober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points. We are not affiliated with AA in anyway.

Information

  • Creator
    Sober Sunrise
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    428
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Sober Sunrise
  • Show Website
    Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast
  • Provider
    Benjamin Shepherd

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