How We Heard It

Note: This week's episode of "How We Heard It" is posting two days earlier than usual, and the podcast will resume its regular schedule next week.
The world lost Dolly Parton on Aug. 25, 2026, touching off waves of public mourning for one of the most beloved artists in entertainment history.
She was a brilliant songwriter and exquisite singer. Yet there was something extra about Parton the person that transcended even Parton the artist. The tributes to Parton by fans, celebrities and world leaders circle around the same themes in describing the singer. She was magically kind and empathetic, and she was a gently fierce defender of the most downtrodden in her determined effort to love everybody.
For those who were fortunate enough to meet her in person, she was everything they hoped she would be.
On this week's "How We Heard It," veteran music journalists and friends Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell, both natives of the same corner of East Tennessee as Parton, talk about their decades of covering Parton, meeting her and talking with scores of others who admired the artist. Joined by their producer and fellow East Tennessean John T. Baker, they talk about what set Parton apart from the rest of the world and her infectious compassion for humanity.
They talk about her inspiring influence and philanthropy - and uncanny humor - through the years, and what we can learn from her at a time when the world seems to have broken apart into polarized factions.
We may have lost Dolly Parton in mortal form, but if we hold on to her spirit and goodwill, we might just be OK.

Memory is a blessing and a curse.
 
On one hand, it educates us, it gives us hope, and it reminds us of the most cherished times of our lives. On the other, it forces us to relive our worst moments, it can open wounds in an instant, and it won't let us let go of our mistakes.
 
In a roundabout way, just about all art, including music, owes a debt to memory - how could we create without drawing on memory? But some music artists are more focused on the concept and function of memory and even incorporate that into their lyrics and themes.
 
This week's "How We Heard It" takes a look at songs that truly strike a nerve with memories, for better and worse.
 
Some of the most common memory-based songs are about a former love or about childhood. Others are about the process of holding on to memories you don't want to forget or trying to erase memories you don't want to remember.
 
Then there are the memory failures - from the once-vibrant woman who now can't even remember her name to the man whose amnesia was induced by trauma.
 
There's also a history lesson for those who question the violent state of their country and an imagined history to explain a post-apocalyptic world.
 
Then there's the coy woman who teases her unimaginative ex for going through the motions with his new love. ("She thinks it's special, but it's all reused.")
 
The show's hosts explore songs by artists from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to Peggy Lee and Barbra Streisand to Bob Seger and Dan Fogelberg to Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo.
 
So take a walk down memory lane and find out if anything rings a bell.

There's always been a place in our hearts, and on our charts, for girl groups - who are actually women, not girls, but we digress.
 
From the Supremes to the Spice Girls to Blackpink, they've showered us with messages of heartache and girl power. Their harmonies have enchanted us across the genres, whether pop, soul, hip-hop or dance. They emerged long ago, when women were rarely the go-to music stars, and they continue through to today, when it seems like women are the majority of the top artists.
 
On this week's "How We Heard It," the hosts pay tribute to the women who have led the charge in representing an alternate voice to the all-dude acts who used to dominate the music world.
 
Many are vocal groups made up entirely of singers, be it from the 1960s (The Shirelles, Martha & The Vandellas), disco days (The Pointer Sisters, Sister Sledge), the '80s (Bananarama, Expose), the '90s (En Vogue, Wilson Phillips) or more modern times (from Fifth Harmony to Katseye).
 
But this episode doesn't overlook the all-woman bands featuring gals who sing and play all the instruments, including a slew of rocking acts from Los Angeles like The Runaways, The Go-Go's, The Bangles and L7 as well as current bands like Haim, The Beaches and The Linda Lindas.
 
And for good measure, the show also breezes through acts associated with female leads but whose lineups also feature men in supporting roles (like Heart, The Breeders and Wet Leg).
 
Behind every great woman is another great woman, so spice up your life and let them all in.

It's time to party up and party down.
End of summer blowout? Back to school bash? Check and check.
Even Halloween shindigs aren't so far away. And after that, Christmas and New Year's Eve and ...
OK, we're getting way ahead of ourselves. Besides, you don't even need to have a party if you want to listen to party songs.
This week on "How We Heard It," your hosts are checking off great party songs for the ages.
Always the methodical one, Chuck comes up with lists of guaranteed crowd-pleasing songs to suit varying age groups with diverse interests in genres and differing levels of interest in music. His rule of thumb: Don't overwhelm partygoers with unfamiliar music, yet don't bore them with cliches. Balance your playlists.
Meanwhile, John thinks a party is just the place to expose partiers to new music because folks will be loose, and his kind of crowd is likely to include mostly dedicated music fans. And Wayne would take it a step further: He's the kind of guy who wouldn't hesitate to break out a James Brown song for a crowd of Gen Zers who never heard of Brown. And Wayne being Wayne, he also shares a generous collection of offbeat party songs you've never heard of.
Obviously, there's disagreement among the guys on the best (and worst) party songs, and there's truth to what each of them has to say. It just depends on the kind of party and the guest list.
Or you could just crank up these songs in your car and take a long drive.
Alone.

We all have our off days, including the most beloved and successful among us. Of course, we tend to let our heroes off the hook by looking the other way and pretending their missteps never happened.
 
Take your favorite singers and bands, for instance. Maybe they did an album that you quietly avoid or they released a hit song you can't bring yourself to play anymore. We just pretend those inferior works don't exist and go on loving the performers who make us happy.
 
But this week, the hosts of the podcast "How We Heard It" boldly criticize the best of the best artists in music, because nobody's perfect and it isn't honest to pretend they are.
 
So during this episode they reveal some of the worst releases (albums and singles) from some of the best artists.
 
No one is spared. They look at the worst work from rock's earliest legends like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Who and Bob Dylan and move on to everyone from Elton John and Michael Jackson to R.E.M. and Prince. And if that's too much testosterone for you, they pick at the worst from iconic women singers like Whitney Houston, Madonna and Mariah Carey, and they even isolate the least-impressive releases from the biggest figures in modern popular music such as Taylor Swift, Drake, Lady Gaga and Beyonce.
 
It's important to note that no one is saying these aren't amazing artists who've created music that millions will forever cherish. The show's hosts are just saying that once in a while even our favorite performers churn out something that's not worth more than a shrug and a "meh."
 
Think about your favorite singer or band. There's got to be something they did that you aren't crazy about.
 
Right?

There's long been some form of "reality TV" kicking around - in the form of news programs, documentaries and game shows, for example. But in the 1990s and especially the 2000s, there was such an explosion of "unscripted" programming on television coinciding with wholesale changes in society that it was hard to separate the two.
It could be argued America in particular has been susceptible to the influence of reality television. The country even elected a reality TV star - Donald Trump of "The Apprentice" - as its president.
Beyond politics, reality TV has become a key platform for upcoming music stars with shows such as "The Voice" and "American Idol" and made stars of people just living their lives in front of the camera on shows like "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," "The Real Housewives" and even "Jersey Shore."
And it seems we've become more likely to reward brash behavior than ever before, pulling for "villains" on shows like "Survivor" and "Big Brother."
As entertainment journalists, Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe, hosts of the podcast "How We Heard It," have had their brushes with reality shows and reality stars over the years. And in this episode of the podcast they discuss and debate their experiences and observations.
Has reality TV made Americans less empathetic? Has it dumbed down the country? Has it helped us in some ways by teaching us lessons about human behavior? Has it diversified our entertainment beyond the generic fare of many scripted shows?
Bottom line: Is reality TV simply another form of escapist entertainment, is it a sinister force in our society, or is the truth somewhere in between?
What do you think?

Just looking at the music you've gathered over the years can give you insight into who you are and what you're about.
 
Whenever the hosts of "How We Heard" dig into their music collections, they always seem to find out more about themselves - sometimes more than they're expecting.
 
The guys are at it again on this week's episode, which prompts a free-flowing conversation about everything from old jazz to electronic dance music, from the glory to the pitfalls of live albums to the vague joy and uncertainty of rediscovering old albums they don't quite remember.
 
They discuss artists ranging from Radiohead and Beck to Santana and Ravi Shankar and focus on far-flung singer-songwriters including Aimee Mann and Ron Sexsmith.
 
Hosts Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe, both veteran music critics, also talk about how they handled reviews of Christian rock for the mainstream media as well as how they dealt with artists who used obscenities in their names or song/album titles.
 
And they dive into the past of Ryan Murphy, acclaimed Emmy-winning producer/director/screenwriter of TV's "Glee," "Nip/Tuck," "American Horror Story" and other shows as well as film adaptations of "Running With Scissors," "Eat, Pray, Love," "The Normal Heart" and "The Prom." Wayne explains what Murphy was doing in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the 1980s and what was he like back then.
 
When was the last time you really looked at your music collection? It could take you places you don't expect to go.

If you can find the energy you need to get through every day, how do you do it?
A well-balanced diet?
A consistent exercise regimen?
Regular restful nights?
Maybe you need a little boost - like, say, a methodically steady stream of caffeine during the day balanced with diphenhydramine HCl at bedtime?
Well, don't forget the power of music. Whether you require a special blast of energy to get through a particularly demanding time or you simply need an extra dose of oomph to help you complete the daily grind, music can help you instantly and cleanly, without all that planning or stress on your kidneys.
This week on "How We Heard It," your hosts compile a list of high-energy songs from the ages that will gas up your tank.
These are the songs that prompt primal reaction with extra electricity and/or jacked-up beats per minute. Or they may use any number of other tricks, such as rousing rhythm sections, spiked vocals or even explosions of horn.
These songs can start suddenly and all at once, without all the prelude and layered setups employed by other songs. And they can bust out of the gate at a full gallop and then just keep gaining momentum until they blow up at the end.
However they do it, they get the job done. And you don't have to go to the gym, eat a power lunch or juice your system with energy drinks.
 

Many of us in the Northern Hemisphere have already had our share of scorching days and steamy nights this summer, and there's only more to come.
But rather than take shelter with a cool drink behind blackout curtains, the hosts of "How We Heard It" decided to face the heat head on with a collection of "hot" songs.
Some are obvious, some you might have forgotten, and some you may never have heard. Some are recent, some go back several years, and some go back before any of us were born.
And "hot" can mean almost anything.
Songs about hot weather? Of course.
Songs about hot people? You bet.
Songs about fire and heat lightning? Naturally.
These songs will make you want to celebrate. They'll make you uncomfortable. They'll turn you on. And they might even freak you out.
But most importantly, they'll help you pass the time until the gentle kiss of autumn billows into your world again.
So embrace the heat (like you have a choice) and make the best of it. It'll be over before you know it.

This week on "How We Heard It," your hosts talk about bands and singers they haven't mentioned often on the show but who deserve to have their stories told.
For example: How did Lauryn Hill squander the record-breaking fame and adulation for her solo debut so badly that she never released another studio album?
Or why didn't Lou Reed's counterpart in The Velvet Underground have anything close to Reed's success?
Then there's the Australian pop sensation who has been churning out hits since the 1980s and has achieved Madonna-like status around the world, even though in the U.S. she's only a minor star ... because she HASN'T had a scandal?
Also, there's the British act that's been a phenomenon all across Europe but has proven too acerbic for Americans.
The episode includes others, from Marty Stuart and The Band to Men At Work and Jamiroquai. And find out what happened to the Chainsmokers during the 2020 pandemic that took them from the middle of everything right off the radar.
That's show business: You can go from overwhelming success one minute to obscurity the next. But it's still better than some mind-numbing office job.