Episode 36: From ‘60s Southern Rock to Nina Simone’s Soul: Peter McDade on His Rock Novel ‘Songs by Honeybird’ with Alan Light on His Bio of Nina Simone, ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’
Peter McDade
As drummer for the rock band Uncle Green, Peter McDade spent fifteen years traveling the highways of America in a series of Ford vans. While the band searched for fame and a safe place to eat before a gig, he began writing short stories and novels. Uncle Green went into semi-retirement after four labels, seven records, and one name change; Peter went to Georgia State University and majored in History and English, eventually earning an MA in History. His first novel, ‘The Weight of Sound’, was published by Wampus Multimedia in 2017 and won the Georgia Author of the Year Award for best debut. ‘Songs By Honeybird’, also published by Wampus Multimedia, was released in 2022. Both books also have soundtracks of original songs.
Alan Light
Alan Light is the former Editor-in-Chief of ‘Vibe’ and ‘Spin’ magazines and a former Senior Writer at ‘Rolling Stone’. He is the author of ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’, a bio of Nina Simone inspired by the Academy Award-nominated documentary of the same title. His other books include ‘The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” ’ and ‘Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain’. Alan is the co-author of best-selling memoirs by Gregg Allman and Peter Frampton. He is a frequent contributor to the ‘New York Times’, the ‘Wall Street Journal’, ‘Esquire’, and various other publications, and from 2016 until earlier this year, he was the co-host of ‘Debatable,’ a daily music talk show on SiriusXM. Alan won an Emmy Award for his work on the FX/Hulu documentary ‘Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson.’
About the Episode
Peter McDade and Christy Alexander Hallberg
EPISODE NOTES:
We’re starting Season 3 with a bang.
Peter McDade is here to talk about his novel ‘Songs by Honeybird’, a story that features a fictional integrated rock band from 1960s Macon, Georgia, that fell off the musical map after a fire killed the lead singer and guitarist and also . . . possibly, the band’s African American drummer. To put it more succinctly, ‘Songs by Honeybird’ is about a band, a romantic break-up, a Ph.D candidate in History’s research, secrets, fathers, racism, Atlanta, the sixties and the repercussions the South still feels from that period, and . . . a talking dog.
In the last segment of the episode Alan Light joins me to talk about musician, civil rights activist, and my fellow native-North Carolinian Nina Simone. The reason I’ve roped Alan into popping in is because one of the two main characters in ‘Songs by Honeybird’, the piano-playing Nina, is named after the legendary artist. Alan is a rock critic, journalist, former editor-in-chief of ‘Spin’ and ‘Vibe’ magazines, a former senior writer at ‘Rolling Stone’, and author of the book ‘What Happened, Miss Simone?’, a biography of Nina Simone inspired by the Academy Award-nominated Netflix documentary of the same title. You won’t want to miss our convo.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel, @ChristyHallberg, to catch the upcoming YouTube-only full interview with Alan Light about Nina Simone.
MUSIC AND MEDIA IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Clip from ‘Hell’s Kitchen’: “It’s coming right now, baby”
Rock is Lit theme music
Clip from Season 3 Announcement/’Duck Tales’/Disney Channel
[Guitar Instrumental Beat] Sad Rock [Free Use Music] Punch Deck—"I Can’t Stop”
Southern Rock Royalty-Free Music
“Keeping Secrets” by Christine McVie
“The Grad Student Shuffle” by Chris Fleming
“Gardenia” from ‘The Weight of Sound’ soundtrack
“Waiting Here” from ‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack
“Heavy Heavy Hands” from ‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack
“Losing Control” from ‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack
“Feeling Good” (Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse) performed by Nina Simone
“The Puppy Song” by Harry Nilsson
“Karma Police” by Radiohead
“Game On!” by Aqours
“What’s Your Name” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
“I Put a Spell on You” (Jay Hawkins) performed by Nina Simone
Jazz music royalty free background café music [Jazz no copyright]—Creative Commons Music
“Little Liza Jane” (Huey P. Smith, John Imbragulio) performed by Nina Simone at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1960
“To Be Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone
“Stars” (Janis Ian) performed by Nina Simone
“I Shall Be Released” (Bob Dylan) performed by Nina Simone
“Ain’t Got No, I Got Life” (Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, James Rado) performed by Nina Simone
Jazz music royalty free background café music [Jazz no copyright]—Creative Commons Music
Swamp Blues Rock Music
Rock is Lit theme music—royalty free background music
LINKS:
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350
Peter McDade’s website: www.peterjmcdade.com
Peter McDade on Twitter: @PeterJMcDade
Peter McDade on Instagram: @peterjmc33
‘The Weight of Sound’ soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://wampusretrospectives.bandcamp.com/album/the-weight-of-sound-original-soundtrack
‘Songs by Honeybird’ soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://wampusretrospectives.bandcamp.com/album/songs-by-honeybird-original-soundtrack
Peter McDade on Season 1 EP15 of Rock is Lit (talking about his novel ‘The Weight of Sound’): https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/rockislitpodcast/petermcdade
Richard Fulco’s new bookstore, Big Red Books, website: https://bigredbooks.net/
Alan Light on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.light.9
Alan Light on Aevitas Creative page: https://www.aevitascreative.com/client/alan-light
Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/
Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, Instagram & YouTube: @ChristyHallberg
Alan Light and Christy Alexander Hallberg
Nina Simone
