The Big Listen ended production in May 2018. While this site is no longer updated, all the content remains available for archive purposes.
As a musician and a mom, Laura Veirs has to balance life on tour with school plays, parent-teacher conferences and runny noses.
Hey, pals! Musician Laura Veirs has been working professionally since 1999 when she released her self-titled album. Since then, she’s produced nine more studio albums and has collaborated with a bunch of artists from Sufjan Stevens to Neko Case and k.d. lang. Her latest album, The Lookout, is out April 13.
But for years, something has set Veirs apart from her musician peers — her children. As a parent and an artist, Veirs has had a navigate a world that many of her friends haven’t, complete with diapers and terrible twos and parent-teacher meetings. Touring musicians make their money on the road and for Veirs that means time away from her kids.
So she started a podcast to talk about being a musician mom. It’s called Midnight Lightning and it features conversations with some well known working moms like Roseanne Cash, Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and legendary studio bassist Carol Kaye. They all share stories of life on the road with kids, how being a mom informs their art and the feelings of guilt that come with being away from your child.
Check out Veirs’ interview with neo-soul pioneer Meshell Ndegeocello, who played clubs all over Washington, D.C. while being a very young single parent. Ndegeocello went on to become a parent again later in life as her career grew and she talks about the contrast between the two experiences.
What Else Is On This Week’s Show?
- We Live Here — In 2014, a Ferguson, Missouri police officer fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown. In the weeks and months that followed, the state was wracked with protests and riots. But when the media packed up and the politicians moved on, that’s when the real conversations about change began. St. Louis Public Radio journalists Kameel Stanley and Tim Lloyd have been a part of those conversations. They co-host We Live Here, a show about race and class in a post-Ferguson world. Their show is based in St. Louis, but the issues they address are universal.
- Repeat — For the last few years, police shootings have been very much in the news. And one of the many questions those police shootings have brought up is the question of accountability. Whose job is it to police the police? KPCC investigative reporter Annie Gilbertson wanted to find that out. In the series Repeat, Gilbertson looks at the case of a California sheriff’s deputy who shot four people in the span of seven months. And managed to remain on the job in the wake of the shootings.
- The Energy Gang — Sandy Kreis and Stephen Lacey first met through a podcast. It was a show called Inside Renewable Energy that Lacey hosted a decade ago (he now hosts a show called The Energy Gang from Greentech Media). Kreis loved his voice and figured out a way to meet him. It was love at first sight, but time, space and circumstance conspired to keep them apart. But almost a decade after their first meeting, Kreis and Lacey reunited and fell in love. Today they’re married and they owe it all to a podcast.
- Very attractive listener recommendations: Threshold and The Adam Carolla Show
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