Willie Nelson, K-Pop & A Real Life Desert Island Jukebox

On the occasion of Willie Nelson’s 66th studio release, Jim and Greg review the American icon’s wide-ranging career with Texas music authority Joe Nick Patoski. And later, they get some advice from a real-life Desert Island DJ.

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Much like the bubblegum pop of One Direction and its ilk, K Pop - Korean pop music - remains firmly under the radar for most American music fans over age 15. But don't write this super-shiny Korean export off; according to Spin magazine editor David Bevan, K Pop could have a major impact on the U.S. music industry. Bevan recently visited Korea, and he explains to Jim and Greg how entertainment companies there build K Pop boy and girl groups from the ground up. After training teenage recruits in song craft, choreography and foreign language, companies like YG and JYP form them into multilingual pop products specially designed to target international markets. It's a business model so efficient you can bet struggling American record labels are taking notes.

Joe Nick Patoski on Willie Nelson

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At age 79, Texas musician Willie Nelson has released his 66th studio album, Heroes . Few artists can rival Nelson's longevity, or boast a more wide-ranging musical career. In his many decades making music, Willie has never fit into any boxes-rock/country, religious/profane. On the occasion of Heroes, Jim and Greg revisit their conversation with Nelson biographer  Joe Nick Patoski. As Patoski reveals in his book Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, Nelson's non-conformity is what makes him such an amazing musician and such a thriving American icon. Jim and Greg discuss with Joe Nick the difficulties Willie had in making the transition from a songwriter to a successful solo artist. They also talk about his family history, his outlaw status, both literal and figurative, and his role as the "zen bubba" of pot.

Stranded For Real

Jim and Greg never get tired of asking each other the rock fan's favorite question: What record would you take with you if stranded on a desert island? But for listener Alex Gunderson, this parlor game was real life. After graduating with a degree in biology, he tells Jim and Greg, he found himself studying the sea bird in the Galapagos Islands for seven months. With only a solar-powered discman for musical company, Alex had a choice to make: What CDs to bring? Sadly, he says even old standbys like Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, and The Allman Brothers got old after the thousandth listen. His recommendation for real-life desert island DJs? Take something to the island you haven't yet figured out.

Greg

Still smarting from Jim's put-down of The Jam during our Best Second Acts show, Greg goes with the mod-rock group's track "That’s Entertainment" for his Desert Island Jukebox pick this week. From the group's fifth studio album Sound Affects, "That's Entertainment" takes its name from a song in the old Hollywood movie The Band Wagon. Greg says the title choice was tongue-in-cheek. For songwriter and vocalist  Paul Weller, "entertainment" is walking though his working class British neighborhood, chronicling the ordinary lives of dissatisfied people dreaming of something better. The real sense of empathy comes from Weller's falsetto voice, says Greg, which combined with Bruce Foxton's harmonies puts the song over the top.

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