Songwriters on Process

Ben Opipari

In-depth interviews with songwriters about their songwriting process. Nothing else. No talk of band drama, band names, or tour stories. Treating songwriters as writers, plain and simple. By Ben Opipari, English Lit Ph.D.

Subscribe Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

202 episodes
Updated July 27
Explicit

Episodes202

Newest first

April 2 · 50 min
Carl Newman (The New Pornographers)
It's the return of Carl Newman of The New Pornographers! We were just kids back in 2015 when I first interviewed Newman and we discussed his love of the 10cc song "Dreadlock Holiday." We return to that song in this episode, and we span the entirety of Newman's songwriting process, including a great discussion of why writing badly is so important and why gibberish is a great way to jump start the process. The New Pornographers' latest album is The Former Site Of on Merge Records.
March 28 · 50 min
King Tuff (Kyle Thomas)
"I'm a jacket man," King Tuff (aka Kyle Thomas) told me as we discussed why feeling good is important to the songwriting process. I had mentioned a writer who told me that he must wear a winter coat when he writes--even during the Washington, DC summers where he lives. This is not a complicated idea: if we're in a good headspace, we're more likely to be productive and write good songs. "I want to feel like I'm sparkling and then want the songs to feel like treasure, like candy," Thomas says. But touch is not the only sense that puts King Tuff in creative mode. Like most of us, the primitive sense of smell does it for him. "I love the smell of hose water on cement and of wood smoke in the frozen air," he says. King Tuff's latest album is Moo.
March 24 · 49 min
Snail Mail (Lindsey Jordan)
"I very much consider myself a writer," Lindsey Jordan (Snail Mail) says. And any good writer has a ritual. Part of Jordan's ritual involves the balance between keeping the writing process precious and recognizing that too much preciousness can create a rut. Regardless, Jordan's love of reading (and poetry!) makes her one hell of a lyricist. Snail Mail's latest album is Ricochet.
March 17 · 40 min
Nate Ruess
Nate Ruess's songwriting catalog includes his Grammy winning band Fun; his co-write and co-performance with P!nk on "Just Give Me a Reason"; and songs for Hayley Williams, Kesha, and Young Thug. After feeling no urge to write for ten years, he's back with the first new material in twenty years for his band The Format. Their new album is Boycott Heaven. And as you'll hear, nothing gets Ruess in the songwriting groove quite like a good, long run along the beach.
March 4 · 46 min
Tyler Ballgame
Procrastinators unite! Thank you, Tyler Ballgame, you are a kindred spirit. Finally someone who admits that procrastination is a great tool for writing. So much has been written on the evils of procrastination, yet some people achieve peak efficiency only when they're under pressure. But sleep works for Ballgame too: as you'll hear, some of his best songs started as dreams. And his ideal state of mind for songwriting is what he calls "mindlessness." Tyler Ballgame's debut album is For the First Time, Again on Rough Trade Records.
February 25 · 45 min
Buck Meek (Big Thief)
“When I go to the grocery store, that’s part of the songwriting process. When I work on my truck, that’s part of my songwriting process. Every aspect of our life feeds into our creativity. The more present I can be, the better the songs,” says Buck Meek. Meek, the guitarist in Big Thief, is the first songwriter to discuss how “fluid dynamics” impact his songwriting. The ocean—with its waves, shifting sand, temperature fluctuation, and changing tides—inspires him because these shifting elements mirror his creative process. And when Meek towels off, getting started is usually easy because he doesn’t believe in writer’s block, calling it "a privileged idea that comes from a pursuit of excellence or even perfection. I start my process with as little preciousness as possible by allowing myself to be trite, silly, childish, or playful, for example. I’m much more likely to experiment when I start in these states.” Buck Meek’s latest album is The Mirror. Here’s the link to my 2017 transcribed interview with Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker.
February 22 · 52 min
Hotel Fiction
Jade Long and Jessica Thompson of Athens, Georgia based Hotel Fiction have a simple routine for their songwriting sessions: make some brownies, pour some wine. And they like to be outside. It's not complicated. But while food, drink, and the outdoors are all common sources of inspiration for songwriters, one element of the Hotel Fiction writing process is unique. When they're outside, they often prefer the top of a parking deck on the University of Georgia's campus. (Long and Thompson are both UGA alums.) I've been a big Hotel Fiction fan ever since discovering them on a trip to Athens a few years ago. Our daughter is also a UGA alum and still lives in Athens, so we go there often. The city obviously has a rich music history, and there's still a lot of great music there. Hotel Fiction's latest album is Staring at the Sun.
February 12 · 58 min
Nat and Alex Wolff
Nat and Alex Wolff had me at Sam Shepard. The playwright/writer/actor was one of my dissertation topics and the brothers acted in his plays, so we agreed early on that he's one of our favorite writers. (After you listen, please read Shepard's Pulitzer Prize winning play Buried Child.) I’ve interviewed other actors who are also songwriters, and as you’ll hear, all channel their stage experience when they write songs. The Wolff brothers call these elements “artistic nutrients”: all the things we ingest that help us hone our craft. As an aside, this could’ve been the most fun I’ve had on a podcast. And in a first, we were somehow able to connect Watergate to the songwriting process. Nat and Alex Wolff's self-titled album is out now.
February 5 · 43 min
Patton Magee (The Nude Party)
Patton Magee of The Nude Party has the best reason why reading makes you a better songwriter: it gives you a stronger and more wide-ranging vocabulary, which in turn gives you more ways to express yourself. "Words that you rarely use are a lot more fun to play around with," he says on the pod. This reminds me of one of my favorite lines in William Zinsser's book On Writing Well, when he says that if a word comes too easily to you, don't use it because it's probably overused. The Nude Party's new album is Look Who's Back.
January 20 · 47 min
Courtney Marie Andrews
"I am a taskmaster," Courtney Marie Andrews told me. When we talked back in 2018, I marveled at Andrews' discipline. She calls it "chunk writing": Andrews doesn't write on tour but instead collects notes and ideas while she's there. Then, when she's home, she blocks off chunks of time on her calendar and does nothing but write. This discipline makes for prolificness: besides being a fantastic songwriter, Andrews is a published poet and a visual artist. And as you'll hear, it all has to go in a green journal. Andrews's latest album is Valentine.
January 7 · 57 min
Lucinda Williams
"To write about something sad and dark, I need to feel content, to feel a sense of well being. I can't write when I'm depressed," Lucinda Williams told me. Much of my discussion with Williams focused on how we prepare to write. By her own admission, she's obsessed with paper. "I could spend hours in an office supply store," says Williams. A comfortable chair is necessary too, but not too comfortable because, well, it's easy to fall asleep in a deep chair. And coffee is important, not necessarily because of the caffeine but because of the nostalgic element. We also did some close reading of her father's poetry. I've been a big fan of Miller Williams for many years and taught his poems when I was in academia. We discussed his ability to take decidedly unpoetic images and phrases like radar detector and cellular phone and make them beautiful. Lucinda Williams' latest album is called World's Gone Wrong.
Dec 30, 2025 · 45 min
KT Tunstall
"I've been very happy lately, and that's worrying," KT Tunstall told me. "It's much easier to write sad songs than happy songs. Happiness makes you want to be present, but pain makes you want to escape. And music has always been a way for me to get out." Tunstall is adamant about not writing every day. "I love doing nothing, so mindless puttering is especially effective. When she finally sits down, she has rules: no blue pens, and the paper has to be unlined. Why unlined? Because she hates being told what to do, and lined paper represents a means of control. Tunstall is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her debut album Eye to the Telescope with a deluxe edition out now.
Dec 15, 2025 · 46 min
Melody's Echo Chamber
Why do so many of us feel the need to clean our space before we create? Melody Prochet (aka Melody's Echo Chamber) and I discuss why it's important to our respective writing processes. When she's not writing in that nice and tiny space, she's walking along the water, another important element to her songwriting. The latest album by Melody's Echo Chamber is called Unclouded.
Dec 2, 2025 · 47 min
Whitney
"Pants delivery was my eureka moment," Julien Ehrlich of Whitney says on the pod, and with that we have my favorite out-of-context pull quote. Ehrlich was not speaking metaphorically: when he and bandmate Max Kakacek were writing Whitney's first album, he drove a clothing delivery van that had no working radio. The monotonous drives were great sources of inspiration. Kakacek, on the other hand, was a competitive swimmer until he turned 18. Swimming endless laps staring at the bottom of the pool was a boon to his creative process. Kakacek runs now, where the monotony takes on a new shape: he listens to the same song over and over for his entire run. "Lyrics don't come naturally to our brain," they said. "Our North Star is the melody." One big change to their process is learning how to tweak less. Whitney's latest album is Small Talk.
Nov 27, 2025 · 43 min
Gatlin
“I’m a ‘go in phases’ type of gal. It took me a year and a half to write this record, but it came in blocks,” Gatlin says. It’s how she manages her routine in those blocks that makes her songwriting process so fascinating. Gatlin is most effective between 3pm and 5pm, and thanks to a typing class she took as a child, she can type those lyrics at 95 words per minute. She finds walks to be particularly inspiring for lyrics, but when she’s with her guitar, Gatlin sits cross-legged and gently rocks back and forth as a way to focus. And just like many songwriters have told me, bathrooms are especially productive. Gatlin’s latest album is Eldest Daughter on Dualtone Records.
Nov 20, 2025 · 48 min
Mariel Buckley
"I made a conscious effort on this album to be more disciplined in my writing because my ideas were getting stale and I was writing from the same place," Mariel Buckley told me. "I realized that my material was becoming repetitive when I was waiting for inspiration to strike." Buckley's new process involved writing every day and writing from a more joyful place. The result is her fantastic new album Strange Trip Ahead.
Nov 10, 2025 · 55 min
Momma Returns!
Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten of Momma return! Momma is my favorite band and their new album Welcome to My Blue Sky is my favorite album of 2025. At least I'm consistent since I said the same thing about them when they were on the pod in 2023. (Their live show is absolutely killer too.) Friedman and Weingarten have been writing together since their teens, and one thing hasn't changed over the years: they still write most of their songs in Etta's bedroom. But as you'll hear, there are exceptions. Weingarten wrote the riff to "Medicine" in the shower, and the title track to the new album got its start in a green room.
Oct 31, 2025 · 51 min
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
"I'm a professional daydreamer," Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes told me. That's the catch-22: are you really daydreaming if you're aware that you're doing it? Daydreaming leads to eureka moments, but only when you don't sit down and say, "I'm going to daydream." As with most people, the eureka moments for Oberst involve mundane activities for a practical reason: no one interrupts him when he's doing the dishes or cleaning a room. The perfect daydream for Oberst involves looking out a window when he's in motion and things are going by. When Oberst writes, he uses both sides of the notebook: the right side is the final version of the lyrics, and the left side is filled with the unpolished, rougher versions. The latest release from Bright Eyes is Kids Table.
Oct 23, 2025 · 53 min
Billie Marten
"I get a physical tingling sensation. It's beyond my control, an impulsive feeling where I have to sit and wait for it," Billie Marten says about that moment before a wave of inspiration strikes. The problem, Marten told me, is that it's been a while since she's written anything. But as we soon realized, Marten has been writing a lot: she pulled out her Notes app and scrolled through all the freewriting and thoughts she's written over the past year. "Look at this," she says. "I haven't written anything, but I've written something every day." Good writers know that pen to paper is only a small part of the writing process. And as you'll hear, when Marten writes songs, she loves to write diagonally. Billie Marten's latest album is called Dog Eared.
Oct 15, 2025 · 41 min
William Prince
"I allow myself to miss the guitar. And the guitar comes calling when I start to feel bored," says William Prince. A multiple JUNO award-winner, Prince is also a member of Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, Canada, writing often about his experience as a member. Prince finds long drives to be productive--and those long drives in Canada are common. "So many voice memos happen on those long drives from Calgary to Vancouver or Winnipeg to Calgary. I’m always trying to recreate the language then." William Prince's latest album is Further From the Country