Shawn Colvin – songwriter, storyteller, urban cowgirl, singing waitress

Shawn Colvin – songwriter, storyteller, urban cowgirl, singing waitress

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold September 8, 2026 Duration: 27:45

Shawn Colvin was in the spotlight from the age of 10 playing her parents’ parties, singing in bars at college, acting off-Broadway and joining country swing bands before making 12 solo albums. She’s touring the UK and Ireland from late September and looks back on it all with us from her home in Austin, Texas. Lots of great moments here, these among them …

 

… growing up on hymns, Pete Seeger and the Kingston Trio with a Dad who tried to get stoned at a Judy Collins gig

 

… being a spoons-playing singing waitress with Maria Muldaur in an off-Broadway musical

 

… playing four sets a night of Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel for tips and beer on the Illinois bar circuit

 

… acting in the Simpsons and Larry Sanders

 

… life in dance halls in country swing bands

 

… her part in “the great ‘80s Urban Cowboy Scare”

 

… how to connect with festival crowds when it’s raining

 

… the Richard Thompson glass bowl requests system

 

… and covers she never tires of playing – Joan Baez, U2, Gnarls Barkley.


Shawn Colvin tickets here: https://tix.to/ShawnUK26

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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Word In Your Ear
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