The Art of Longevity Season 7, Episode 5: Ben Folds

The Art of Longevity Season 7, Episode 5: Ben Folds

Author: The Song Sommelier May 28, 2023 Duration: 52:34
For Ben Folds, coming back on the scene with a new studio album feels like a breeze, literally: “I Feel like the expectations are lowered but I have the wind on my back”. In June 2023 Ben releases What Matters Most, his fifth studio album and his first in over six years, almost an ice age in today’s breathless music biz. But part of the reason and the joy it has taken him so damn long to make, is a focus on the craft that is part of Folds’ raison d'être as a musician some three decades into ...

The Art of Longevity, hosted by The Song Sommelier, sits at the crossroads of music, history, and the often-unseen business behind it. This isn't a typical interview podcast; it's a series of candid, in-depth dialogues with artists who have built careers spanning decades. Each conversation explores the real journey-how these musicians have weathered the industry's constant shifts, creative droughts, and commercial pressures to not just survive, but to continue evolving and connecting with audiences. We get into the specifics: the collaboration that saved a career, the business decision that changed everything, the fanbase that grew quietly over years. The discussions move fluidly between past triumphs, current projects, and future ambitions, always grounded in the artist's personal definition of success. It's about the resilience required to make art for a lifetime. Tune in for these uniquely honest reflections on what it truly means to last.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

The Art of Longevity
Podcast Episodes
The Art of Longevity Season 11, Episode 3: Tindersticks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:34
Great bands and great records shouldn't come down to a competition, but by way of bringing it to your attention, Tindersticks’ Soft Tissue was my choice of 5th best album of 2024. I’m touched that Stuart Staples seems ge…
The Art of Longevity Season 11, Episode 2: Doves [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:04
Doves have yet to have a big 'moment', but in the music business of 2025, those moments no longer even exist. Instead, bands of ‘modest success’ must crack on, do their best work, put it out in the world and hope people…
Season 11, Episode 1: The Lumineers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:06
If the route to longevity is to be bendable into the music industry’s rules for success, The Lumineers really shouldn’t be here at all. It makes no sense. Their stripped back, rootsy ‘Americana’ (if that’s what we can ca…
The Art of Longevity Episode 69: Artists On Vinyl Side A [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:16
This episode is brought to you in collaboration with War Child. This is a special episode of The Art of Longevity celebrating vinyl and the ongoing importance of vinyl and the album form to artists and to music fans. In…
The Art of Longevity Episode 68: Joan As Police Woman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:28
There are always some central pillars to a great party playlist - songs that just work. One of those is the Joan As Police Woman song Holy City. The song is always an instant hit at parties, guaranteed to elicit excitabl…
The Art of Longevity Episode 67: Keane [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:27
Of all the bands to grace our company on The Art of Longevity, Keane have ridden the music industry rollercoaster through all the stations of the cross: struggle, success, excess, disintegration and if you’re lucky - enl…
The Art of Longevity Episode 66: Los Campesinos! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:37
What happens when you are a cult band (indeed when Pitchfork refers to you as “the ultimate cult band”) and you make the most accessible, most ‘mainstream’ album of your career? It’s a relevant question for many bands th…
The Art of Longevity Episode 65: David Gray [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:44
Artists have a duty to claim that their most recent project is the best work they have ever done. But what if it’s true? I’m so taken with David Gray’s new album Dear Life (released January 2025) - and so too is David of…
That One Guitar (pilot) Episode 1: Gale Paridjanian, Turin Brakes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:41
My guest for this pilot episode is Gale Paridjanian of (the magnificent) Turin Brakes. If you listen to the song Underdog (Save me) by Turin Brakes, it will tell you a lot about how Gale plays and what he brings to a son…